Grounded (Up In The Air #3)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Mr. Curious

We watched him stride away.

Roger spoke when he was a good distance away. “Pardon my bluntness, Bianca, but are you at all aware of James’s past?”

I turned to look at him, meeting his eyes very steadily. “What are you referring to exactly?”

He sighed, looking uncomfortable. “He was given into the care of a cousin of his shortly after his parents died. I fought this decision—fought it hard, but I was overturned by his family. I had no legal ability to protect him. I only have my suspicions about his guardian, and it really isn’t my place to be telling you this, but in order to understand some of what James has done, I think you should know—“

“I know all about Spencer, if that’s what you’re getting at. Why are you telling me this?”

He studied me. “He told you about Spencer?”

I nodded.

He looked startled. “It’s probably a very good sign that he shared something like that with you. The reason I bring it up, though, is that after he left Spencer’s care, he became a different kid for a long time. He was wild and unruly. I barely knew him anymore. Whatever happened with his guardian, it affected him in a very negative way. I don’t know if you know this, but he used to be quite…promiscuous.”

I felt my eyes harden as I looked at him. “I’m well aware of that. Trust me when I say that it’s been brought to my attention many times.”

“So you know how he used to be? Up until he met you, he was…”

“He was a slut. Yes, I know. What’s your point?” I felt rude even as I said the words, but God was I sick of this subject.

“Well…I got the impression from James that he would be quite distraught if some things about his past were brought to light. I was led to believe that he feared that you would leave him if you knew about his former indiscretions, and that was why he was so upset about certain things being revealed. Do you know about his…unorthodox preferences?”

I sighed, thoroughly confused and sooo done with the conversation. “Yes. I’m very aware,” I said, trying not to blush as I kept his steady gaze. Something about the man was just so dignified. I couldn’t believe that I was as good as discussing my BDSM lifestyle with him.

His thick, dark eyebrows shot up. “Well, that’s a relief, though it doesn’t exactly clear anything up for me. Again, pardon my bluntness, but perhaps you should let James know that his past won’t scare you off.”

“Why? What is the point to all this? What’s been going on with James?”

He shot a glance behind me and looked particularly uncomfortable. “I am not at liberty to say,” he said absently.

“Now you sound like a lawyer,” I told him.

As I spoke, a firm hand descended to my nape.

“That was quick,” Roger told James, who was pressing himself tightly against my back.

“It was nothing,” James stated dismissively. “What have you two been chatting about? Why does he sound like a lawyer, Love?”

I turned to look at him.

He shifted with me, not relinquishing the hand on my nape.

“What was the emergency?” I asked with an arched brow.

His upper lipped curled. “There wasn’t one. There was only a part-time manager in need of a demotion. Tell me what you were talking about?”

“That’s a nosy question. Did you really demote someone for wasting five minutes of your time?”

He moved until he was standing close against me, pressing himself against my side. Even knowing that he was doing it to distract me, I was far from unaffected by his nearness.

“I demoted him, and put him on probation pending termination, because he is managing one of the most profitable clubs in Manhattan, and he can’t handle a simple wine shortage. Him wasting five minutes of my time only illuminated the facts for me. Your turn. What were you two talking about?”

Roger cleared his throat. “Nothing important, James. I really do need to get going. I’ll call you if I learn anything new.”

Roger shook our hands, bowing his head politely before turning away.


“I’ll walk you out, Roger,” James said to his back.

Roger waved him off. “No, that’s fine. Get some time with Bianca. It’s obvious that you don’t get enough of that. Have a good night.”

“Are you going to tell me what you two talked about?” James asked me as Roger strode out of sight.

I shook my head. “Why are you so curious?”

He moved into me, pressing his front against mine. He bent as though to kiss me. “I’m curious about everything you do, Bianca. What do I need to do to get you to tell me what he said to you?”

I just shook my head at him again.

He let out a little growl in his throat, kissing me. It was an overwhelming, possessive kind of kiss. We were in public, in one of his clubs, but he didn’t hold back. He sucked at my mouth, his hands moving to my butt to pull me hard against the proof of his desire. He rubbed against me like a cat.

I purred. My hand curled into the lapels of his suit jacket, gripping desperately.

He snaked one hand up into my hair, gripping it then pulling it sharply enough to elicit one involuntary little moan. He pulled back just far enough to breathe against my mouth. “You’re in the mood to get f*cked against a wall tonight, aren’t you?”

He was kissing me again before I could respond, the hand on my ass moving to the back of my thigh, hitching it up so that he could grind right into me.

He stopped abruptly, pulling back but not away.

My hips twisted against him before I registered that we weren’t alone. Oh yeah. We’d never been alone. We were in a club.

He pulled back, grabbed my hand, and began to pull me.

“We’ll be right back,” he called out to Stephan. “We’re just going to go have a chat.”

I didn’t look at Stephan, didn’t hear him respond. I was lost in a sensual haze, just putting one foot in front of the other, following him blindly. James had said something about f*cking me against a wall. Yes. That sounded perfect.

He led me out of the VIP lounge, down a long red hallway, and then another. He pulled me into a large office. There was a man behind the desk, typing on a computer. He looked startled at our entrance.

“Give us privacy,” James told him, his voice sharp.

The man beat a hasty retreat.

James shut and locked the door behind him. Handy that, a lock.

He started loosening his tie. When it was untied, he hooked a finger into the hoop at my neck. He pushed my back to the wall. Or rather, the door.

He reached above my head and I looked up. There was a coat hanger above me, hooked over the top of the tall door. James was tying his tie to it with swift, sure motions. He pulled my arms up and together, wrapping the tie around them, tying more swift knots around my wrists. This took longer, and I watched those skillful hands with rapt attention.

“This is going to get loud, Bianca. I’m going to f*ck you so hard that you scream my name. And you are going to scream so loudly that nobody will doubt just why you’re screaming. Would you like to tell me what you and Roger were talking about before I’m inside of you? Or will this be a mid-f*ck confession?”

I just shook my head again.

He smiled a very troublesome smile. Mr. Cavendish was about to take the reins.

He worked on his own clothing first, pulling his shirt out of his pants, then unbuttoning and spreading his slacks open. He pulled that delicious cock out slowly, tauntingly. He stroked himself while he watched me.

He pulled the strapless side of my dress down, saw that I was wearing a strapless bra, and yanked that down too. He bent slightly and began to suck hard at my nipple while he slid his hands up my skirt and slipped my panties off.

He straightened very slowly when he finished, leaning into me, pushing my leg up, and thrusting into me hard with that same motion. I watched him and I saw his cold smile when he elicited a sharp little gasp out of me.

He pounded into me so hard and fast that it did wrench a little scream out of me. A scream that formed into a very long version of the word James. I was on that fine edge when he yanked out, his eyes intense and angry on mine.

“Tell me what you and Roger talked about, Bianca,” he ordered.

It took me long moments to gain any semblance of coherency. When I did, a spark of anger shot through me.

“You can’t use sex to control me, James. You shouldn’t play with my heart like that.”

He laughed. It was sinister. “Oh Love, it’s not your heart I’m playing with. And I’ll play with your body whenever I damn well please.”

He moved back against me and then he was driving roughly into me again. “Don’t even think about letting yourself come,” he murmured to me in an almost offhanded way. He jackhammered into me, so hard and so fast, again and again, for long moments before wrenching out of me again. I made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a scream of distress when he pulled out.

He touched my bottom lip softly with an index finger. “Tell me, Bianca. Tell me what you talked about with Roger.”

“You’re being a bastard,” I told him after a while. He just smiled that sinister smile and stroked my lips with his finger. “A sadistic bastard.”

He laughed. “Yes. I am that. Just tell me what you talked about, Bianca. Before this gets out of hand.”

We had a long, silent standoff before I caved. I did it because I’d realized that it wasn’t really that important, and because I didn’t want to see how far he would go to prove a point just then.

“We talked about you, James. About your past, about your promiscuity, your…preferences. I think he just wanted to know what I knew. He seemed to think that you’d kept me in the dark about it all. I got the sense that he was afraid that something about your past was about to be leaked, and that it was something that would drive me away. Why did he think that, James? What’s going on?”

He cursed fluently. “Goddamn Roger. It’s nothing, Bianca. It’s being taken care of. Someone was threatening to be…indiscreet about some of my exploits. I’m handling it. I’ve been agitated because I’ve been trying to distance myself from my past, to clean up my image, if you will, for your sake, for the sake of our future, and this leak would have the opposite effect. But as I said, I’m handling it. Thank you for answering my question.”

He moved against me again.

I spoke just as he was lining himself up at my entrance. “It’s not like I had a choice,” I muttered sullenly.

He thrust into me, bottoming out in one hard motion.

I cried his name brokenly.

“How about I make it up to you with a handful of orgasms?”

I didn’t answer. He already had me incoherent as he made good on his offer.

He pounded into me relentlessly, one hand pulling my hair, the other rubbing my *. He brought me over, again, and then again. He was merciless. I was completely wrung out by the time he let himself come with a rough groan, grinding deep inside of me, the hand in my hair moving to my chin. He gripped it hard as he watched me.

He gave me one swift kiss before pulling out of me.

He left me where I was, leaning against the door for support, my arms still tied, while he moved to the desk.

He cleaned us both as well as he could with just tissues. He kissed me deeply but softly, a romantic kind of kiss, while he untied my wrists. He pulled me against him, supporting me while I regained my balance, massaging the feeling back into my wrists slowly and thoroughly.

“I love you, Bianca,” he said when he finally pulled back.

“I love you, too, James, but that doesn’t give you a free pass.”

“No, it doesn’t. Being your Dom does that, Love. I’ve compromised far more for you than I’ve ever done for anyone or anything in my life. Controlling you sexually is something I won’t be bending on, but I’m pretty sure you already knew that.”