RAGE (The Rage Series Book 2) (11 page)

              Was he really even considering this?

              All his life, he'd thought that his father would never rest easy if David didn't exact some sort of revenge on the company that had wronged him.

              But wasn't this better?

              Compensation for a measure of the work he had done, with money going to his family, whom he had loved more than life itself? His mother could finally get the care she needed, and David would never have to worry about money again. The money was Mathers’ money, of course, but it was also his father's.

              “I'll…think about it,” he finally said, draining the remainder of his whiskey in one gulp.

              “Not that it will change anything, but you do that,” Charlotte quipped in return, her eyes flashing with fire. “The money will be in your account by the time we return to New York and after that point...I assume...we won't be seeing one another much anymore.”

              David's heart suddenly ached.

              He didn't want to give her up.

              After all they had been through together and all they still had to go through, he needed her. Despite what Leah and Marshall proclaimed, he
wanted
her.

              “I suppose you're right.” The words were the hardest he'd spoken since keeping up his ruse in the office back in New York. “Starting tomorrow, we're acquaintances again, right?”

              “Right. If my father finds out about this…about the patents and your actual parentage…he'll try to bury you deep.”

              “I doubt he could bury me deeper than he did my father.” David's bitter reply made Charlotte wince slightly, but she shook her head.

              “I'm trying to decide how to approach him about
my
parentage. Why the hell would the man adopt a girl he didn't even want? I don't understand it.”

Setting her drink down on the table, she flopped onto a nearby sofa, letting her arm dangle as she stared at the ceiling. It was clear from the flush at her bosom that she was slightly inebriated. When she sank into a lying position, her knee length night down slid upward, revealing a decadent length of thigh that tested David's composure.

              “Neither do I,” he said in a low voice, setting his own empty glass down on the bar. “No one knows what goes through Emerson Mathers' head.”

              “He's never let me get close to anyone.
No one
.” Laughing bitterly, the young woman shook her head in disgust. “All this time, he's been watching me, and I should have been watching him.”

              “You didn't know, Charlotte.” David felt as if he were outside his own body, watching himself cross the room to sink onto the sofa beside her and stare down at her bare face, glowing in the low light of the suite. “It wasn't your fault.”

              “That doesn't make me
feel
any better.” She groaned, covering her face with her hands for a moment before she looked up at the face hovering over hers, her mouth suddenly parting slightly. The next words she spoke made his heart seize in his chest.

              Reaching up, Charlotte cupped his jaw in a hand, her expression soft. “You're so beautiful, David,” she whispered, the fragrant smell of cherries and pineapple accompanying her statement. “
So
beautiful to have suffered so much.”

              Her words broke him.

              With a tortured sound, David bent his head to mold his mouth to hers. Almost immediately, Charlotte's arms went around his neck, and she moaned as his tongue slid past her lips to plunder her own. She was just as sweet and succulent as he remembered. Her breath was colored by the tropical drink she'd been sipping. David ran his hands through her copious blonde locks, drinking in the feel of her silky strands and sliding over her impossibly soft skin.

              She was absolutely perfect.

              With a groan, he righted them both, pulling her into his lap to have her even closer. Charlotte wrapped her legs around his waist, bringing the crux of her legs flush against his awakening arousal so a jolt of sensation flooded his system.

“David…” His name was a moan on her lips, as she bit and licked at his mouth. “David, I want you.”

              As if he could deny her.

              His hands roved from her shoulders down to span her waist before he encircled her hips, lifting her with him as he stood. Indulgently, he ground his growing erection against her, as their mouths worked against one another in delicious tandem.

              They had never gotten to take the vacation that she wanted, and this almost made up for it. Soft music from the beach drifted in through the window along with the scent of the sea and the rhythm of the waves.

              David lay his golden goddess against the white silken sheets, taking a moment to admire her beauty. Now, he didn't want to think about the past or the future, only the present. Presently, he wanted the woman he'd been denied for so long. Reaching down, he slid the straps of her nightgown from her shoulders, tugging the diaphanous material down her torso until it pooled at her waist, revealing the glorious globes of her breasts.

              Eagerly, David bent to take a nipple into his mouth. When Charlotte's breath immediately hitched in pleasure, the sound went straight to his erection, which was now pulsing painfully within his shorts.  Leisurely, he laved the darkened tips of her beasts with moisture until she was arching and cooing against him, her flesh hard against his tongue. She was like a fine wine that he could never get enough of. He would forever be drugged.

              Reaching for him, Charlotte's hands tangled in his hair to pull him towards her once more. As they shared another heated kiss, she worked his shirt up and over his chest, ultimately tossing it somewhere in the room to be found at a later date. Then, she sat up, pressing her lithe body against him, causing him to moan at the feel of her bare breasts against his chest. Within moments, she had pressed him backward against the mattress, straddling him as she worked at the fastenings of his pants impatiently.

              After a few seconds, however, she finally freed the button and carefully pulled down the zipper. David thought that she might free him of his pants and underwear altogether; but, instead, she merely withdrew his pulsing arousal from the front of his underwear and began to stroke madly, making his thighs tense. He bucked into her grip helplessly, bouncing her with the bower of his lower body.

              Atop him, the blonde woman licked her lips in anticipation, rising slightly to wiggle out of panties that were the same color as her nightgown. Then, he felt the slick, hot wetness of her, as she slid against his cock.

              A strangled noise escaped him as she teased him, rubbing the cleft of herself back and forth over the tip of him. When he finally took hold of her hips, forcing her to take him inside, they made sounds of pleasure. David's rumbled deeply through his chest, as he felt her squeezing him exquisitely.

             
This
was what he had craved.

              When the whole world had been caving in on him, he'd only wanted to be with someone and to have it feel
right
.

              As she rode him, Charlotte's head fell back, her hair tumbling down her back in a grand profusion of curls that had him catching his breath. The way her body undulated, those intoxicating blue eyes stared down at him, and her mouth parted as her inner muscles clamped down on him…

              He wouldn't last long.

              Indeed, the moment she placed his hands on her hips and increased their pace, he began to come apart. Grasping her firmly, he began to move her almost fervently over him until the pressure had his eyes rolling in their sockets. By the frequency of her gasps and moans, Charlotte was close as well. When he gave one final, powerful thrust upward, she cried his name and stiffened atop him, as her muscles milked him exquisitely.

              He could no more resist the pull of his own climax than he could stop breathing. With a hoarse cry, he tumbled over the edge, clutching her for dear life, as his body jerked and pulsed.

Finally, both of them were still. Without a word, Charlotte slid from atop him, finding the edge of the blanket so they could both climb underneath. Then, she nestled close to him, her expression sated and serene.

              Tomorrow would bring complications; but, for now, David wasn't worried about tomorrow. It would come soon enough. Right now, Charlotte was in his arms. He hadn't a care in the world, and everything was right.

              Charlotte was awoken the next morning by an insistent knocking on the door. As she gradually came back to consciousness, the first face that greeted her was David's, still lax from sleep and sporting half a face full of stubble. As the knock came again, her stomach suddenly roiled.

              Bolting upright, she raced for the bathroom, reaching the toilet just in time.

              Christ, she must have had more to drink last night than she'd thought. As she wiped her mouth with a trembling hand, she heard David rise to answer the door. The following exchange made her groan, laying her head back against the toilet seat.

              “Where is she? I know she's in here.”

              “Leah, please.” David still sounded half asleep. “Can't we discuss this later?”

              “David, what are you doing? Have you forgotten that when you get back to the city, Emerson will tear you apart if he catches you with his daughter?”

              “She's not his daughter.”

              “As far as the law is concerned she is. I'm assuming Mathers wouldn't have neglected something as simple as legal adoption. How are we supposed to be forming a relevant case when you can't keep away from her?”

              “Leah, it's not that simple.”

              “
Yes.
It is. You just don't sleep with her, for Christ’s sake. Look, I'm not trying to speak ill of Charlotte's character. We know that she was as much as a victim as you were; but, the man is going to be looking for
any excuse
, David. He could have you charged for rape or molestation if he put the right spin on the story!”

              “Charlotte would never corroborate that,” replied David, firmly and with confidence—making Charlotte smile from within the bathroom. “She'd tell the truth.”

              “David, if Emerson gets his claws in her. If he threatens her or, God forbid,
hurts
her, who knows what she would say?”

              At that moment, Charlotte made her way to her feet to reenter the bedroom, her expression severe. “I would never
ever
let them pin something like that on David.”

              Leah was dressed for their departure in dark slacks and a light sweater. Her hair was pulled back from her livid face into an up-do. “Charlotte, how can you still be so blind? The man has lied and cheated his way to the top of the world. I'm willing to doubt that there is absolutely
nothing
he wouldn't do to get his way.”

              “There's no way I would testify against David. He'd have to drag my bodily to the stand.”

              “That could be arranged.”

              All of them turned, dread pooling in Charlotte's stomach at the sound of the chilling, muffled voice.

              Standing in the doorway was none other than her father. This time he was flanked by what appeared to be members of some secret organization. They wore flashy suits and ties to cover their bulk, but they looked mean. The way they immediately scrutinized her nakedness had her grabbing a nearby cushion to cover her vulnerable bits.

“Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte.” The man's voice had taken a soft, almost pitying tone, that she'd long learned signified danger. “You wound me. This man tries to sabotage the company we built together, lies to you, and breaks your heart and still you crawl through the mud with him.”

              “You're the liar!” Charlotte spat, fury washing over her in hot, sickening waves. “You stole everything. The patents, the prototypes. You even stole another man's wife. Have you ever told the truth about anything in your life?”

              “I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about,” he replied, his gaze cool.

              “We have papers.” Leah threatened. “Evidence that most of Mathers Incorporated patents were stolen from Lester M. Marscomb over a number of years. We won't hesitate to go to the press.”

              “With papers stolen from my private server? I don't think those will hold up very well in court,” he responded, chuckling darkly and shaking his head. “Any information taken without my consent will never see the light of day, this I promise you.”

              “And what about your illness?” asked David, speaking for the first time since Emerson entered the room. He seemed surprisingly calm, considering the last time he'd seen the man he had injured him. “I'm sure that's already seeing the light of day. What treatments are you taking, Mathers? Retrovirals? Preventatives? At your age, HIV is a nasty business.”