Stare Me Down (Stare Down) (15 page)

“That’s better. Did you get yourself hot? Are you ready for me?”

More moisture slid out of her with his words and she nodded.

“Let me check. Oh, yeah.” He was bold in the way he touched her. Spreading her as he examined. “You’re ready.”

Without warning he let go of her and pushed her up against the wall. Gently forcing her forward until her cheek met the tile and her arms were up over her head with hands flat and fingers spayed. She barely had time to breathe before he crushed into her. Everything happened so fast then. With one hand at the back of her neck and his other grasping her hip, he entered her. Hard and deep. There were no pleases, thank-yous or hesitating to give her time to get used to him. Instead, he steadily plunged into her over and over until his breathing became hers. His rhythm became hers. His desire became hers as she gave herself over to the intensity of moment.

When he threaded his finger through her hair and pulled, she went with it. She let her head fall back on his shoulder and moaned while he kissed her. The feel of him invading her body, owning it and commanding her was as exhilarating as it was frightening. He was rough one moment and excruciatingly tender the next. The two extremes played out over and over again until somewhere deep inside it came to her that this experience was touching her in places that weren’t physical. He had tapped into a need. A secret desire she had to be used and he wasn’t disgusted by it. He wasn’t shocked. Instead he was feeding into it and it was tearing her apart. Stitching her back together. Holding her under the heavy waves only to lift her out of the torrents so she could breathe.

He ended the kiss and stopped moving. He still had hold of her hair, so she blinked the rivulets of water aside and looked at him. Both of them were breathing heavy and if she thought the frantic coupling of a moment ago was intense, this moment was more so. The silence brutal. But then he shattered it with a whisper.

“Put your hands between your legs and make yourself come. I want to watch.”

She did as he asked when she closed her eyes and leaned into the comfort of his arms. With the water pelting down on her and him breathing husky words of encouragement in her ear, she relaxed.

“That’s right. Make it good. Breathe.”

She stroked herself, applying pressure on her clit just as he had done earlier, and when the rush built, she followed it. Riding the waves that crashed up her calves, over her thighs and landed with bursts of hard tingles between her legs. She trembled, doing as he instructed, and breathed. Deep and full. The adrenaline climbed, taking her higher and higher. Lifting her so her heart had to race to catch up. The squeeze, God, that muscle-gripping squeeze was heaven as she pulsed around his hardness. The contractions getting stronger.

“Breathe.”

It felt good with him inside her. She flexed and panted and flexed again as his name was torn out of her. “Aries.”

She came so hard, her muscles clenching him so tightly, he groaned, which catapulted her over another crest so swiftly she reached back to grab one of his hips as anchor.

“Put your hands on the wall, Jaxx. Yeah, like that. I’m going to bend you‌—‌fuck, you have the tightest little pussy.”

She was bent over as he hammered into her. Over and over he pumped. In and out, while he caught her bouncing breasts and played with them as he ground against her bottom. Both sites, sensitive from the earlier attention he’d given them, were on fire now and made her ready to climb the walls. But then he slammed home one last time. Going deep and holding his position there as she experienced the branding heat of him and all she could do was relish the hard tremors that intimately pulsed against her while he came.

“Damn.” He growled, disengaging and was gone by the time she stood up on trembling legs. She was monumentally disappointed and just about to slam off the tap when she heard him behind her.

She turned and leaned back against the wall. Her eyes devoured him. Hard rope-like muscles shifted as he walked toward her. His features were sharper, more intense with his hair slicked back and plastered against his skull. The sight calmed her racing heart. “I thought you’d left me.”

“No.” When he smiled her knees went weak. “You’re going to wash me. Right here.” He cupped himself with one hand and held the soap out to her with the other. “On your knees. Two hands. You can touch but only with your hands.”

Jaxx didn’t hesitate and it was the oddest thing, but she suspected she found a piece of herself while doing the task. There in the shower, on her knees, intimately bathing him while he had a hand in her hair. Not tugging or pulling this time. More like holding. Owning. Possessing some part of her she could never seem to hold onto herself. She would have stayed like that forever, but then Aries took the soap from her and let her rinse him off. When she was done, he helped her stand.

“That was nice. Now let’s get you dried.”

*****

By the time Aries tucked her into bed he had to fight the urge to climb in there with her. If he stayed, he’d be all over her again. It was too much too soon. She needed time to process this.

“Mmm,” she purred. “Not that you’ll use it, but the key is on the dresser. How did you get in, by the way?”

“I could have picked the lock. Given how ancient it is, a five-year-old with a fish hook could break into this place. But I didn’t. I took the key out of your hide-a-rock.”

“No.”

“Yeah, I’m a pretty resourceful guy, remember? And FYI that wasn’t fooling anyone.” He got up to get the key. “I’ll only need this to lock the door tonight. Tomorrow I’m sending my locksmith over to change that front reception deadbolt. He’s going to fix the bedroom window locks as well.” He sat on the end of the bed and put on his socks.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“Yes I do. It’s one thing to have shoddy security, but when you invite the crazies to your place? As in, they know where you live?” He tilted his head and stared right at her. “You need to Fort Knox this sucker at night.”

She came up on elbow and smiled. “Last time I checked, it wasn’t a crazy person who broke into my place tonight.”

He grinned. “So I am the saner one out of the two of us. You admit it and this time I didn’t have to cheat.”

She fell back onto her pillow with an
ack.

“What?”

Her head came up and she said, “You know very well. I walked into that one. Tonight you got me.”

She flopped back against the pillow, and he laughed. “No.” He stood and moved to the head of the bed. When he put a hand to her cheek and she leaned into it, the ease of her action made him smile. “I got you, period.”

“Hey, wait.” She grabbed his hand when he turned to leave. “Before you go, tell me why.”

“Why what?”

“Why me? Oh, don’t look at me like that.” She came back up on elbow. “I feel as though I’m waiting for the other shoe to fall. I’m not a woman who needs constant reassurance either, but—”

“You could have fooled me.”

“I just want to understand.”

He took in her wide purple-blue eyes and mass of scattered hair and nodded. “Okay, understand this. If you had any idea what kind of gorgeous, sexy mess you look like right now, you’d be using it to your advantage instead of throwing such a colossal advantage away.”

She sat up. “Are you kidding me?”

Shaking his head, he reached forward and plucked up a fat curl, rubbing it between his forefinger and thumb before letting it go. “No.”

“Really?”

He just stared…‌at her breasts. Waiting for her to notice that when she’d sat up, the duvet had folded down and she was naked to the waist.

“Oh.” She scrambled for cover, and he figured it was a good time for him to make an exit.

“No goodnight kiss?”

“Now you’re learning,” he called over his shoulder without stopping. “And? No.”

He heard her
harrumph
and chuckled until he saw Maggie waiting in her doorway across the adjourning front hall. “Carmichael.” He nodded. “I thought you were exhausted. Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“And I thought you went home.”

Aries swiveled and locked Jaxx’s door. Turning back, he said, “And I thought when I’d picked you and Jaxx up tonight, your turtleneck was right-side out. Yet when I picked you up from Q’s, it wasn’t. Are you sure you want to have this discussion?” He hiked a thumb toward Jaxx’s door. “I could call her down here, and we could all clear the air about things.”

Carmichael’s eyes narrowed. “You think you’re so smart. What happened tonight with her? I thought you were going to lay off the playboy charm?” Her chin went up a notch and her arms were already crossed over her chest. Clearly she’d been waiting for this pissing contest.

“I did exactly what you asked me to do. I was one hundred percent myself tonight. Too bad for you, as clearly she likes me.”

“Unacceptable. She’s not one of your‌—‌your…‌troglodytes.”

That comment brought him up short. He didn’t like that the term. Especially in the same reference as Jaxx. “I’m not in the habit of dating those kinds of women, I assure you.”

She gasped. “You’re dating now?”

Aries didn’t like how the color drained from her face. He wasn’t Caligula for fuck’s sake. “Yes.”

“No.”

He made to step around her but she stopped him. “Don’t do this to her.”

“I’m not doing anything to her.”

“I’ve got a decent man all lined up. Unlike you, he’s perfect for her. And he’s—”

“An egghead?”

“Single.”

He did a double take. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He wasn’t?

“She deserves better than a
sex
club owner.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, counting to three before he said, “I’m a decent man.”

“That’s yet to be seen. What is it that has you interested, anyway? The fact that she brings respectable to the table? Being with a doctor? Does this make you feel important when you’re with her?”

Carmichael was nervous and grasping at straws here, he could tell. She was still pulling on her turtleneck, so when she glared he couldn’t help himself. Grinning, just to annoy her he answered, “Yeah, you hit the nail on the head there, Maggie. Jaxx brings class to the table and I bring what the classy people do below it, that’s the draw between us. It’s a fair exchange, don’t you think?” He was going to let that sit for a few seconds and then tell her to fucking relax and have a little more faith in her friend, but he wasn’t fast enough.

“This is real life, Mr. Taylor. She has patients and a practice. She’s expected to be classy at all time. Remember that or you’ll deal with me.”

He nodded and before he could say anything to that she whispered, “You’d better not hurt her.”

Hearing those words, Aries studied her for a moment. The concern marring her brow was real. The dragon had a heart after all. Finally, a redeeming feature. “And just when I thought I wasn’t going to like you, you go and say something I can respect. Good night, Doctor Carmichael. And I’ll do my best.”

*****

An hour later while Aries waited for Shar to look over the plans, he braced himself. She wasn’t going to be happy. He knew how much she prized her short commute, but he was going to counter the prospect of a longer drive to work with a promotion and pay raise. He figured that would soften the blow. Not that he wanted to have this conversation now. He was bone-tired.

He’d been more than ready to go home after leaving Jaxx’s, but since he’d passed by the club en route, he’d stopped in to speak to his locksmith, who doubled as his head dungeon master. It was right after he’d done that Shar cornered him.

“This is what you’ve been working for the last year? I thought you were planning to make this complex into the next BDSM play park.”

“As you can see by the plans, I’m not.”

“It’s pretty ambitious. You sure you don’t want me to ask my sister to go with you? After your recent court shit you’re going to need someone acceptable in Gabriel’s eyes to balance out all that crap.”

“I’ve got it covered.”

“You found a date?”

He wasn’t having this argument again so he shrugged and gave a vague answer, “It’s all taken care of. Don’t worry.”

“Yay. Your brother’s going to be so surprised when he sees how much you’ve changed. I wish I was going with you.”

Aries tried not to scowl as he collected the preliminary plans and folded them in half and then quarter. It always struck him as strange when Shar made comments like this because they were all wrong. When Aries thought back to the first year of owning the club and meeting Shar, among others, he wanted to groan. He also wanted to tell her those weren’t the old days. In fact they’d been “the new days” where he had no caretaking responsibilities, tons of cash and a grief that he couldn’t cope with. It had taken him nearly a full year to snap out of his self-destructive rampage, but by then he’d pretty much burned the bridge back home to his real “old days” and the only family he had left. His by-the-book and uptight older brother, Gabe.

“You’re going to need some impressive vanilla arm candy to pull this baby off. No tattoos, no piercings. A woman who’s snobby and stiff. Just like him. Otherwise, you’ll never get through the front doors to talk to him.”

He stifled a yawn. And not wanting to turn this into a huge discussion, he sighed. “I know. No worries, I’ve got it covered.”

“You’ve got a way around his bouncer?”

“Steven’s not his bouncer. He’s a house manager. And I told you before he had every right to bar my entry that night. In fact I’m glad he did.”

“What are you going to do if he doesn’t let you in? Have you thought about that?”

He’d been trying not to. Surely enough time has passed that Gabe would be reasonable. “He’ll let me in as I’ll give him no reason not to.” He leaned around her, tossed the plans inside his safe then spinning the dial. It was time to throw her off the topic. “Did I mention that when I relocate the club, you’re getting a promotion and a raise?”

“Cool. How much is the raise?”

His ploy worked as she focused in on this. But it wasn’t until he held his office door open for her to leave five minutes later, that he knew he hadn’t been a hundred percent successful when she hesitated in the doorway and cocked her head.