Stolen: A Bad Boy Romance (32 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Joanna

Willa’s words pounded in my head.
You are staying with him for a reason, Jo. It’s not like you to do anything you don’t want to. So what is it?

I told myself it was because my uncle was threatening me, my father. But he would never hurt us, would he? I didn’t believe that.

Could it be that I was staying with him for his soft smile, or the pain behind his eyes, or the anger in his voice when anyone threatened me? He was strong, and protective, and he looked at me with a fire like no one else had ever done. Those eyes saw into my soul and they melted me, the deep greys and greens of them swirling and mixing and oh so deep.

He was sexy, and he was powerful and it turned me on.

But was it more than that? I buried my head in my hands. It was practically spinning.

My phone buzzed. It was probably Mary finalizing details. I’d called her on my way home from the teashop, but she said she would chat with me later about it.

“Hello?” I said into the phone. I didn’t even look at the number.

“Ah, niece. Glad to hear your voice.”

My blood ran cold, it was Dennis.

“Are you somewhere you can talk?” he asked.

“I’m at the penthouse. Alone.” It was lonely when he wasn’t here, so I couldn’t be closer to the truth.

“Good.” I could hear the smile in his voice and it made me shiver. My uncle wasn’t an archetypical evil person, at least not in my opinion, but I was starting to get a more and more negative view of him. “What information do you have for me?”

“Information?”

“About the family. What can you tell me about their weaknesses? The way they operate.”

I sighed. I knew he wanted this from me, but I just wasn’t ready to start giving him information. To begin with, I didn’t really have anything of value, but it also just felt wrong.

“I don’t-“

“The only way this little arrangement is going to work is if you give me the information I need, Jo.”

“I don’t even want this arrangement,” I said, my eyes filling with tears. The emotion of the forced wedding, of my feelings for Greyson. It was all too much. I couldn’t control the tears that were falling from my face any more than I could control my fate. “I don’t know anything.”

“No matter how small, it could prove helpful.”

“I dunno. His parents fight, his sisters are quiet. One of them never even came home for dinner. Then there is his half-brother.”

“Half-brother?”

“David. He came and offered to marry me, said I would be able to stay at UMBC. But he’s… I don’t trust him. It sounds like he wants power for himself.”

“Very good. See. Anything at all could be helpful, Jo. Now calm down, do some yoga or meditation or whatever you girls do. I’ll be in contact soon.” Click. Just like that he was gone. Off the phone.

And I was alone crying into my hands on the couch.

As soon as I heard the door open I sat up and wiped my eyes, but it was obvious. I’d been crying all afternoon, my nose red and runny, my eyes puffy. I was a mess.

“What’s wrong, Jo?” Greyson asked. He looked like he could kill someone the second he came in.

“It’s nothing,” I said, swallowing and waving him away. How could I tell him that my uncle was a slimeball, my wedding was terrifying me, and I was more afraid than anything else that I was falling for him.

How could I love him when I barely knew him?

“Clearly it isn’t ‘nothing’. Tell me what’s going on.” He sat down next to me and tilted my chin up so that I could look him in the eyes.

It was the last place I wanted to look. I knew when he saw into mine he would see the fraud I really was. A pawn for my uncle and nothing more.

“It’s just, the wedding. It’s all happening so fast and-“

“I know. I’m sorry. This whole thing is my fault.” He bent down and kissed me softly. It wasn’t something I was used to from him and judging by the way he pulled back he wasn’t ready for it either.

“Look, I have to ask you something,” he said.

“What is it?” I asked finally calm enough to stop crying. I sucked in each breath long and slow, letting them calm me until no more pain remained. He was here. He was leaving, again, but he always came back.

“It’s about your uncle,” he explained. I could tell by the look in his eyes that it was serious.

Fuck. Did he know the truth?

“You don’t know anything about his plans, do you?” he asked. I couldn’t believe he was asking me this. Was it a test?

“What do you mean?” I asked honestly.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” He shook his head. “Look, I’ve got somewhere to be, but I want you here tonight when I get home. Can you do that?” he asked.

Why the hell did he make my heart skip a beat? I was so close to this, to him. I didn’t want him to go.

“I’ll try.” I had some last minute work to do, including sending that letter of resignation to the school.

“I’ll be home soon, baby girl. Wait for me.” He kissed me, hard. With every single moment of the kiss I felt the truth overwhelming me. I loved him.

He was half monster and half tortured soul and I loved him.

“Be careful, Greyson.” I said. I wanted to tell him what a horrible man my uncle was, but it wasn’t something he didn’t already know. He was well aware of the inner-workings of the mob. He knew what he was fighting.

“I always am.”

Greyson

I knocked not once, but twice. I knew Dennis O’Brien was there. I had eyes on him and they’d told me beyond a doubt that he was hiding in his mistress’s apartment.

“I’m not going away, O’Brien.” I said finally, knocking one last time.

“Are you serious?” he said as he opened the door. “What the fuck do you want?”

“I want to know what the fuck you think you’re playing at.” I stepped into the room. I was probably a head taller than him, my muscles much more pronounced, but I knew how dangerous he was. He could kill me anytime anyplace. There would be consequences, but he could still do it! I knew that and so did he.

But I would take him down if he ever messed with the family. With Joanna. Even if it meant certain death. Because she deserved to be protected. It was a promise I made to myself. It was a promise I made to her.

“What are you talking about?”

“Jordy, that little piece of shit you were trying to turn over.” I wasn’t about to play games with him. He was a very powerful man, but so was I. Our families were equally matched, it was what made confrontation between them so difficult. We were playing a dangerous game, a race of arms, and we both knew it. Except now the stakes were higher. They didn’t just include some lower level street fights, no. Joanna was all tangled up in it now.

“What?”

“Don’t bullshit me, I just slit his stupid ass throat for lying to me.” My hand itched. I wanted to get my fingers on that belt. I wanted to feel that dagger slice into his flesh. It was sick and twisted, but when I let that part of me out to play I had a hard time getting it back in.

“Just a little bit of recruitment. You think daddy-dearest doesn’t pull the same shit?” He asked as he turned away from me. “Nadine is in the bedroom, hiding. She doesn’t like ‘our type’ whatever that means. Would you like I drink? I had a wet-bar installed.”

“Know how to make a Gin Ricky?” I asked.

“What?” he asked.

“Just a bourbon, then,”  I said. I watched as he poured the drink.

“Might as well make it a double,” Dennis said as he poured a bigger drink and handed it to me. “It’s just business, Greyson. And it happened before our new… arrangement.”

“You mean the one where you blackmail your niece into marrying me? Because you get a merger, or because you get a messenger?” I asked. The thought had crossed my mind more than once. She was smart, she saw everything. I didn’t dare bring up the issue with my father, but I thought about it.

“Does it matter to you?” he asked as he stared me down. “Would you turn her away if she was?”

“I don’t know what you are insinuating.”

“You know exactly what I am trying to communicate.  I see the way you look at her. The way you lust after her. You think I’m not watching you when you talk to her, when you drive her around in that car of yours?” He glared at me. “You don’t even know her. You didn’t watch her grow up, you weren’t her friend.”

“Does it matter?” I asked.

“Does it?” He countered. “If I told you that you could walk away right now, right this instance.”

I glared at him. He knew my answer before I could say it. “I want her.”

A slow grin traversed his face. That was exactly what he was looking for. The confession of my guilt. My love for her.

“And now I know your weakness. You will have her, but you will work with us.”

“What are you proposing?”

“That you support this merger with your father. That you protect my niece. That you do not get in my way.” I ground my teeth. “As long as you don’t fucking betray my father, I think I can do that.”

“Then we’ll have a deal.”

Joanna

I sat there on that couch running my hands through my hair over and over again. He should’ve been home by now, right? It had been hours.

Wait for me, he said. And I did. I sat there and waited for him, my ass glued there until he got home.  It felt like half my life was me there, waiting for him.

And getting knocks on our fucking door. Like the one banging on my door this time.

I stood up and looked through the peephole. David.

God. Fucking. Dammit.

It’s like he knew I was there alone. I hesitated.

“Come on, Jo. I’m not going away until you let me in,” David said. He smiled. “I just want to talk.”

“I, I don’t know.” I couldn’t help but want to grab that door handle and pull. I wanted to be able to give him a chance. To talk to him. Anything.

But it wasn’t safe. He wasn’t safe. I knew that much.

“I can’t,” I said as I leaned against the door. “I don’t even know why I should.”

“Because I want to let you have your own life. Because I don’t want to betray you.”

“You don’t know me.”

“No, but I know my brother. I know my father. You might believe what he tells you. That I’m a bigger monster, but I’m not. I’m a man who wants to help.” I could hear the growl at the edge of his voice. He was every bit the monster I thought he was.

I was so glad I didn’t let him in.

“Better the devil you know,” I said. “Please. I can’t do what you’re asking. I can’t go there.” I slammed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to fight back the headache that was threatening to overwhelm me. My stomach was swirling and my head was pounding. I didn’t need this right now. I didn’t need any of this.

“Joanna, you do not want to deny me,” I could hear the warning in his voice. What the hell? Had he actually gotten to know me, did he understand who I was at all? No, he’d just shown up, twice. What the fuck was he thinking?

I was starting to feel like this man was anything but stable. “Let me in, Jo.”

“I’ve already told you no,” I answered slowly, precisely.

He slammed against the door.

“Get out of here, David.”

“You’re going to respect what I say, or I’m going to call Greyson.” I was deliberate as I said it. “I don’t think you want him to have a reason to go after you.”

“Fuck. You are going to regret this, Joanna. You are going to wish you’d chosen me. You don’t know Greyson, know what he is capable of, but I do. I know everything that could happen to you. I want to protect you from that. Don’t you see? You don’t belong here, with him.”

“I don’t know Greyson, but I also I don’t know you. I want you to leave.” I said finally and then I turned and walked away, and I sat on that couch. I would rather wait for a man like Greyson than be anywhere near a man like David. “Go away.”

“I will, but I’ll be back.”

It was a promise, one I was sure he would keep.

Chapter Fifteen

Joanna

“When did he come?” Greyson asked as he looked at me, his arms crossed.

I was terrified to answer, he looked so angry. Like he could kill someone.  The rage in his eyes made me only want to take away whatever anger he was feeling. I wanted to protect him from himself.

“It happened and he left. I didn’t want to disturb you, I know you were busy,” I explained. I didn’t want to let him know all the details of it. I didn’t want to tell him the threats David made.

It would just cause more pain and trauma than any of us needed.

“That’s why I gave you the number to my cell, so you could call me when things like this happen, Jo.” He may have been admonishing me, but his tone sounded entirely different. He was concerned. Worried.

“Greyson, it sounds like you care,” I joked.

“I do, and I think you are absolutely gorgeous sitting there, all worried like that. You have no idea how everything you do turns me on.” He wrapped his arms around my body and kissed my neck.

He smelled so good and was so warm against my skin.

But this. All of this. It wasn’t my life. I didn’t belong here. What David said ran in my ears. I didn’t know him, didn’t know what he was capable of. But I did know that this wasn’t my life. I was in graduate school, I was getting my PhD. All of the things I should be doing, instead of getting married to man because of our families. It all seemed so stupid to me, so flimsy.

And I couldn’t escape that.

“Greyson, there is something I have to tell you. Something I have to say. I can’t just have sex with you tonight and go back to living with you tomorrow like nothing happened.  We keep playing this game.”

“I like our games. Especially the ones where I get to tie you up,” he said, his breath heavy as he kissed my neck. “But I’m dirty, so much dirtier than that. I want to do more to you. Bind you, spank you, fuck you hard. Make you cum over and over again…” he trailed off.

“I want that too,” I murmured, “but we can’t.”

“Oh yes, yes we can.”

No. This was too important.

I pushed him away from me. “We have sex, we act like it was nothing, we exist  alongside each other. If all of this is going to happen, I need to know that you want more. I need to know that you won’t just turn back into the playboy everyone says you are.”  I swallowed hard. I was so tired of seeing the look in people’s eyes. Like Claire, and David. I was tired of the way they looked at me, questioning me.

Even his own sister looked full of doubt when she saw me.

“Joanna, that isn’t what I want. I think you know that there is something more between us, something that neither of us want to admit. Something we have to explore. Let’s just see where this takes us.” He kissed my temple and said, “I’m glad you didn’t open the door for anyone but me, I can’t help it, but I want you, Jo. I want you so badly.”

I melted, my inability to say no fueled by the responses of my body. The heat flushed through me and flooded my most sensitive areas. The sticky wet feeling that followed it all to familiar.

My body lusted after him and there was nothing I could do. I’d tried fighting it, I’d tried denying myself. I’d done just about everything a woman could do, but now it was time to give in. I just had to enjoy the ride.

So I did.

I kissed him deeply, my tongue invading his mouth, letting me know the passion he held for me. He was responsible for this entire mess, all of it. He couldn’t keep his hands off me that night at that poker game, and he couldn’t help himself. He just had to take me out for the world to see. For my uncle to see. Greyson Fitzgerald started this cascade of events and he alone was responsible for it.

“Tell me, Joanna.” He picked me up and kissed me hard, his teeth bruising my lips as he gripped my flesh. The man was impossible. He couldn’t take pleasure without pain, and to be honest, I didn’t want it any other way.

“What do you want to hear?” I asked, choosing the role of the playful defiant.

“Tell me what you want me.”

“I want you, Greyson. It’s impossible and foolish and likely to get me into a lot of trouble, but I can’t stop myself when it comes to you.” I was so honest in that moment, so raw that I shocked even myself.

His mouth switched from surprise to enjoyment, however and he growled in my ear, the guttural noise of his want overwhelming me.

“How much.”

I kissed him again, showing him just how much I wanted him. All of that emotion. All of that need, that fear, all that raw passion. It was like a dam in me broke somewhere and all of the baggage I’d been carrying with me came tumbling down before him. I didn’t realize it, but somewhere in that kiss I started crying.

I was afraid to admit how much I wanted this. How much I wanted him.

He laid me down on the bed and grinned. “God, Jo, you know exactly how to make a guy feel wanted. Still, I should punish you for not calling me sooner.”

There it was, the darkness I was looking for. I liked that about him, wanted it. I wanted to see the demons in his soul, to know exactly how dark he was. I should’ve run from him, but I couldn’t. I wanted him too fucking much. It was a weakness, it could get me killed. Especially in the world we both resided in.

“I think I might be falling for you,” I said slowly. I saw the anger register in his face, but it was too late.

The words slipped out of my mouth before I realized I was saying them.

“You shouldn’t have said that.” His words betrayed his actions as he came down hard onto me and kissed me deeply. It was like he was a rabid animal, kissing me with more passion than I could handle.

He undressed me quickly, not bothering to care about the state of my clothing when he finally got them off. They were strewn about and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were ripped.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said it, but I could tell from the way he spread my thighs and growled out my name that it was something he wanted to hear.

He spread my legs apart and crawled up me looking at me as I lay under him.

“You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, Joanna. I try not to look but my eyes are drawn to you every time. It doesn’t matter if we are in a room full of people or if it’s just the two of us. You have me under some kind of spell.”

And in that moment I felt it. It was like there was a spell around us, pulling the two of us together.

But he was still dressed, so I reached over and pulled his suit jacket off, then his button down shirt, and on until he was finally in nothing more than his underwear.

“And you, look at you.” He was muscular and solid. Strong.

Every bit the in charge man he claimed to be. I loved and hated that about him. He was the heir to a fortune. To a throne. It was a throne built on murder and depravity, and I knew that, I held no illusions, but it made him into such a decisive man. Even I couldn’t deny the power he held over me. I wasn’t stupid. I knew exactly who he was, it was why I was fighting it so hard. But I couldn’t run anymore. This was happening. This was my life. And I might as well drink it all in.

“I can’t wait any longer, Jo. I need you.”

I needed him too.

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to me as he spread my legs and entered me.

He was so big and strong inside of me, pressing against the walls of my pussy as he filled me.

He drove me to a place of ecstasy almost immediately. But I held on because I wanted to enjoy the journey.

He thrust in and out of me slowly at first and then quicker until he was thrusting into me with full force. And every bit of it felt amazing.

I moaned and pulled him into me, digging my nails into his back. As he arched his back he buried himself further into me, making me moan in return.

He was so damn good at this.

“God, Greyson. Please.” I moaned, begging for him to push harder. Faster.

And he did.

Until I was coming and screaming his name, pressing myself into the sheets, bunching them up and grabbing his sheets and twisting them up.

I screamed out again bucking into him as he came along with me. Our pleasure shared he sunk into the bed and pulled me into his arms.

“I was wrong when I first met you.” He said nuzzling into me. “When you handed me that drink I knew I needed to sample you. I thought one time would be enough. But after the first time I was hit with the powerful urge to have you over and over again. I knew that even though I’d had a taste I needed more. I still need more of you. I don’t know if that will ever go away.”

What was he saying? I blinked, was I just a piece of ass to him, or was he saying something else?

“What do you mean?” I asked slowly, trying to decipher it. My mind was starting to spin with the possibilities and I needed the truth. Honesty.

“What I mean is, I am falling for you too.” He kissed my temple and then pulled me into him. “I won’t let you go. Not now.”

I swallowed, too fearful of the future to allow my heart the chance to soar. He was still part of an organization that could cause his death any moment. But this moment. This was mine.

And I wouldn’t give it up for anything.