Noah
All Hallows’ Eve, better known as Halloween.
Cultures from all over the world celebrated the tradition in one form or another for a great many years. Although they each had their own history, no one really knew who had started the tradition or why, though it was most typically tied to pagan roots. Regardless, it remained a day annually celebrated throughout the world, one that allowed us to party with the dead on the one night they were permitted to cross over onto the living plane. It was all smoke and mirrors, fun at the expense of spooking someone else. Given its traditions and the situation at hand, it seemed apt that the all-important board meeting would fall on October thirty-first, a day where it was acceptable to dress up as someone you were not to play tricks on the gullible.
I was not gullible. But then again, neither was David Stone.
Monday morning came quicker than I thought it would. I was nervous, hoping like hell the plan we had concocted would be a success and not somehow backfire in our faces. Either way, by the time the day was through, the fool would definitely be determined.
And to the victor would go the spoils.
Win or lose, the whole masquerade would finally be over, and Lanie and I could live our lives without the fear of someone finding out about the secret we’d been keeping.
When Lanie had arrived home with the original contract in hand, we’d immediately taken it, along with her copy and my shredded version, and burned them in the same trash can she had used to torch the lingerie. Watching the proof of our arrangement disintegrate into ash was like a weight being lifted off our shoulders. Both of our bodies seemed to relax at the same time once the fire burned out, proof of how much stress it had taken on us physically in addition to the mental and emotional turmoil. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. We had given ourselves a new beginning and we weren’t going to take it for granted. Of course, there was still the issue of the copy David had sent by fax.
Dez had been only too happy to show me the prized video from their excursion. I hadn’t known Scott was in the drug biz, but I wasn’t surprised by the fact, either. What I was surprised by was David’s involvement in the whole kit and caboodle. I’d never had an inkling, but then again, it was one of our investors who had turned me on to the auction. I supposed it made sense that David had introduced him to it in the first place. Still, David had been successful at keeping me in the dark. I was sure it had been a very lucrative business for him. Too bad he’d gotten sloppy.
And he was going to get sloppier still by attempting to expose to the board what Lanie and I had done. Talk about your double standards. Luckily for him, I was going for the mercy kill before it even got that far. He could thank the ghosts of my mother and father. They wouldn’t want me to embarrass their friend and partner, David’s father, Harrison.
And so there I was on Monday morning, moments away from the board meeting, and Lanie and I were riding my personal elevator up to my office. She had insisted on accompanying me for moral support and all that jazz, and truthfully, I was glad she was there. If, for whatever reason, shit backfired on us, we needed to be able to form a united front—or get the hell out of town in a hurry. I’d heard Alaska was really nice in the spring.
Lanie put her arms around my waist. “Nervous?”
I shrugged nonchalantly. “Nah, just another day at the office as far as I’m concerned. I’m really hoping the board approves of my newest charitable campaign, though.”
Lanie turned me around and looked up at me. “I’m sure they will. You worked really hard on the presentation all weekend. That can’t be all for nothing, right?”
She smiled, and the reassurance I saw in her eyes set my mind at ease. When she looked at me like that, it gave me a renewed confidence that couldn’t be shaken. It was me and her against the world, and by God, I believed we had a damn good fighting chance.
The bell on the elevator dinged and the doors opened to show the hustle and bustle of the office before us. Employees were always on high alert when it came to board meeting days and tried to look even busier than normal. Everyone was decked out in their most professional attire, their expressions all business. A few looked up and gave me and Lanie a small smile in greeting and then went right back to work.
I let out a breath to steel my nerves. Lanie’s left hand came to rest in the crook of my arm and I looked down at it, feeling like an ass because her ring finger was bare even though we were engaged. I’d have to fix that ASAP. She was still sporting the Crawford cuff bracelet I’d given her, but it wasn’t enough. Marking her as my property back when she actually was, at least contractually, was one thing; symbolizing that she belonged to me by her own choice was something else entirely.
We stepped from the elevator and I escorted her to my office, where she would wait. Board meetings were always closed to the public, so she wouldn’t be able to sit in. Plus there was no way I was going to have her anywhere near Stone. She was cool with waiting in the wings because Polly would be there to keep her company. As my assistant, Mason would be in attendance at the meeting, and he would have his phone dialed into Polly’s so that she and Lanie could secretly overhear the entire meeting from my office.
“Everything in place?” I asked Mason when we walked inside.
I sat Lanie in the chair behind my desk, and Polly took the one on the opposite side. Like they were planning some undercover sting operation, Mason called Polly’s phone and ran a check to make sure everything was a go.
“Yep. You ready, man?” Mason asked me.
I nodded and looked down at Lanie. “Here goes nothing. Can I get a kiss for luck?”
She rose to stand on the tips of her toes and tugged at the lapel on my suit jacket to pull me to her. Her lips found mine and she wrapped her arms around my neck. That kiss was chock full of words that didn’t need to be spoken. When she pulled back, she pressed her forehead to mine and looked me in the eye with certainty. “You don’t need luck,” she told me, “but I’ll take any opportunity I can to taste your lips”—as if she didn’t have free access to them anytime she got a hankering.
“We’re meant to be together,” she continued. “So I have no doubt in my mind that everything will fall into place. Besides, you’re Noah P. Crawford, and that name screams success.”
“God, I love you,” I told her, and I f*cking meant it.
She smiled, triumphant. “I know, and I love you, too.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Mason lean over and kiss the top of Polly’s head. “Let’s go, man. Don’t want Stone to get suspicious.”
“Knock ’em dead!” Polly said with an encouraging smile. Our own personal cheerleader.
I kissed the tip of Lanie’s nose and turned her loose so I could grab my briefcase. With a wink, I walked out of my office, Mason close behind.
Part of our master plan was to have Mason call Mandy Peters, David’s secretary, to inform her that the meeting had been rescheduled for an hour earlier than originally planned. He’d done that this morning. David would have to rush around like a madman to get ready, but he’d do it, of course, because this was his big chance to bring me down. What he didn’t know, however, was that the earlier meeting wouldn’t include any of the actual Scarlet Lotus board members.
Mason and Polly had handled the setting up of the boardroom, instead of allowing the administrative assistant whose job it usually was to do it. It was essential to the plan that there be no interruptions. Plus we didn’t want to run the risk of someone else overhearing all our personal junk.
Once we got to the boardroom, I saw my plan B sitting in the waiting area outside the door and gave her a nod.
“He’s already inside,” she told me.
“And our guest?”
“Waiting in the empty office down the hall.”
“Good. Keep your ears on in case I need you.”
“Will do,” she said. As I started to go inside, she stopped me. “Hey, handle that shit in there, or I will. You feel me?”
Plan A was to confront David with all we knew and the proof that could ultimately destroy him. If that didn’t work, plan B would go into effect. There was also a plan C, but it was a last-ditch effort, a desperate move that we didn’t want to make unless it was absolutely necessary. I hoped like hell it wouldn’t come to that.
A simple nod of my head in understanding was all the exchange we needed. Turning the handle on the door, I stepped inside.
I had to hide my snicker when I saw David’s bruised and battered face, and I wondered what kind of story he’d made up to explain it away. He was already situated toward the front of the table, next to where his father, Harrison, used to—and sometimes still did—sit at its head.
Harrison had turned his control of Scarlet Lotus over to David, and although he sometimes showed up at the board meetings, it was on very rare occasions and only when something big was on the agenda. I had a sneaking suspicion David had insisted he be present for this one because he really thought he had some shit on me that might finally make him look better in his father’s eyes.
I almost felt bad for him.
Almost.
I took my seat across the table from David with Mason at my side. David, the smug bastard, shot me an I-know-something-you-don’t-know grin that looked mighty painful considering the split in his lip (courtesy of moi), but other than that, he kept his trap shut. It was probably the smartest thing he could’ve done. I, on the other hand, found it extremely difficult not to launch myself across the table and kill the f*cker with my bare hands. In my mind, I kept seeing him hovering over my girl, trying to take something that didn’t belong to him, something she had no intention of giving freely. But I kept myself in check. It was time to get this shit over with for good.
His assistant was there, of course, but she shouldn’t have been. At least not for the purpose of this meeting. “Get out, Mandy.”
She and David looked at each other and then at me before he guffawed. “Did you bump your head or something this morning, Crawford? Mandy is my assistant. She doesn’t take orders from you.”
I gave him a stone-cold stare. “You and I need to have ourselves a little chat. You like chatting, remember? Only I don’t think you’re going to want witnesses around for this one.”
He laughed. “Have you been smoking crack?”
“Nope,” I said, relaxing back in my chair. “Haven’t been snorting anything, either.”
He flinched, although it was barely perceptible.
“Fine, Mandy can stay. How’s Izzy?” I asked with a smirk.
There it was. The slight widening of the eyes, the straightening of his posture, and then the look away. “The board meeting didn’t get moved to an hour earlier, did it?”
“Nope.”
David cleared his throat and turned to Mandy. “Give us a moment.”
Confused wasn’t even the word for the expression on Mandy’s face. I’d say clueless fit it to a T, as that was what she was most of the time, but she got up and did as she was told, like a good little assistant.
“And what about your boy?” David asked, clearly indicating Mason’s presence.
“Mason already knows everything. He stays.”
“How about you tell me what this everything is?”
“Gladly. But first, do you have my contract with you?”
He grinned and sat back. “That’s what this is all about?”
“Wasn’t that exactly what you planned to make the board meeting all about?”
“If you pulled this stunt to try to talk me out of it, then you’ve wasted your time and mine,” he said. “But if you’re here to wave a little white flag and hand over your half of Scarlet Lotus in lieu of your total annihilation, I might be convinced to accept.”
“Oh, I don’t think it’s going to go down like that at all. In fact, I think you’ll be the one handing over your shares before we’re done here.”
“What do you know about Izzy? Better yet, how do you know about her? Have you been talking to Scott?” He couldn’t have believed Scott Christopher would rat him out any more than I did. On the other hand, when a ship is sinking, rats tend to hop on board any flotation device they can find to save their own hide. Christopher wasn’t plan A, though.
“Show me your hand and I’ll show you mine,” I challenged.
David sucked at his teeth as he met my stare. His fingers drummed on the table before him until finally he slid his briefcase in front of him, popped it open, and took out a single sheet of paper. After closing the briefcase, he held up the contract for me to see.
“Here you go, Crawford. Proof that my dick really is bigger than yours,” he said with a smug grin.
I’d seen his dick when it was ramming away into my slut of an ex-girlfriend’s ass. Not even close.
“So what is it that you think you have on me?” he asked.
“I know you’re using cocaine.”
David chuckled, the relief in the sound revealing his nervousness about what I’d had to say. “Prove it.”
“A mandatory drug test from the board will handle that.”
He shrugged. “Fine, but it’s nothing more than a slap on the wrist and my promise to get help for my addiction. I’m still sitting pretty, but nice try.”
“You tried to rape Lanie.”
Again he shrugged. “Her word against mine, and I have proof that she’s a whore. Which means all I have to do is tell the police and the board that she told me she’d make that claim if I didn’t pay her money. Simple case of blackmail. I’m the victim. What else do you have?”
I had plan B.
“Mason,” I said without averting my attention from David.
Mason opened up his laptop, picked up the remote to the projector, and pushed a button. The white screen on the opposite wall lit up with the images of the video Lanie and the girls had recorded from the closet next to Scott’s office at Foreplay.
David broke off our staring contest when he heard his own voice claiming a kickboxing accident as the reason for his ugly mug. I chuckled because that shit was funny.
I looked at Mason and jerked my head toward the door. He nodded and went over to stick his head out into the waiting area. A couple of moments later he swung the door open wide, and in sauntered Dez with Scott Christopher in tow.
Scott came to an abrupt halt just inside the door, his attention immediately taken by the giant white screen playing an action-packed movie with all the right ingredients of a blockbuster: highly illegal business dealings mixed with very amateurish porno action.
Mason closed the door behind Dez because we were way past the line of inappropriate behavior in the workplace. Scarlet Lotus didn’t need sexual harassment charges on top of the scandalous activities already well under way.
David bolted out of his chair when he saw Scott. “What the hell are you doing here?” I think it was safe to say he was surprised. And maybe even a little pissed.
If the flexing of his jaw muscles and the clenching of fists at his sides were any indication, I’d say Scott was just as stunned and every bit as pissed. The tension between the two of them was so thick it crowded in like the cramming of a dozen people into a phone booth.
Scott looked at David and then jabbed a finger in the air toward the Oscar-winning performance. “What the f*ck, Stone?”
Plan B was looking very promising.
“You tell me! I thought you said your place was secure!”
Scott glowered at Dez, and I wasn’t about to have that shit, so I stood up and pulled her behind me. Of course, Dez wasn’t going for any of that damsel-in-distress stuff. I’d swear the chick was a dude under that skirt if it weren’t for the fact that she clearly was not.
She stepped around me and lifted her chin in defiance. “I recorded that video. Did a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself. Oh, and I quit. By the way, I’m not scared of you, so if you come after me, you better know I’ll monkey-stomp your goddamn ass.”
Scott waved her off like she was an annoying gnat. I was pretty sure he actually did consider her to be another inconvenience, one he didn’t have time to worry about, which was a good thing. With any luck, he really would leave her alone. The same would not be true for Stone.
My guess was that Scott knew David’s arrogance was what had gotten Scott into this predicament in the first place. Scott had to remedy that right here, right now, or else be prepared to go to war with the drug dealers and influential people he was involved with. It was a given that the suppliers of his cocaine were ruthless killers when it came to protecting their commerce, but he couldn’t discount the high rollers to whom he sold not only cocaine but p-ssy as well. Their hands might have been baby soft and clean as a whistle, but their money allowed those same hands to stretch far and wide and hire another pair willing to get dirty for the right price.
“Do you have any idea what will happen to both of us if this gets out? F*ck that. I’m not going down with you. You better fix this shit. Pronto!” Scott turned toward me and put his hands on his hips. “What’s he got that you want?”
“Half of my parents’ company … and Delaine Talbot’s contract.”
I’d never seen a person’s face turn that shade of red before.
Scott’s head did this really slow turn toward David that sort of reminded me of Linda Blair in her most infamous role. “You stole the contract?” he yelled.
Naturally, I couldn’t have all the yelling. “I’m going to need you to keep your voice down, Christopher. There are other employees here, and the walls aren’t really all that thick. Speaking of which, I’m told yours are pretty thin as well. Might want to get that fixed,” I said with a wink that went unnoticed because he was still glaring at David with murderous intent in his eyes.
“Oh, stop being so dramatic,” David told him, smug as you please. “The contract is safe, and nobody is going to see it as long as Crawford hands over his half of the company. Relax.”
I laughed. “Perhaps you missed the memo, David.” I lifted my hand toward the screen. “Clearly, I’m in a better position than the chick getting cocaine snorted off her stomach while you stuff your clumsy fingers inside her sister’s p-ssy like she’s the Thanksgiving turkey at the crack house down the street.”
David smirked. “I’m calling your bluff. We may not be best friends anymore, but we were once upon a time. I know you. You’re too sweet on that little girl to let me make a fool of her publicly. Hand over the company and destroy all the copies of this goddamn video, or I’m exposing you and her.”
He was right. I would do anything to keep the secret of our relationship from the public eye, even if it meant watching Scarlet Lotus be run into the ground by the likes of David Stone. But I still had one more trick up my sleeve.
Plan C it was, then.
“Mason,” I said for a second time.
Again Mason got down to business with his laptop, and the video from inside Scott’s office stopped, only to be replaced with a different scene. This one did more than make my skin crawl. It made something not altogether human take shape inside me. I couldn’t watch, but there was no escaping the sounds of the conversation that had taken place right before the assault. At first Lanie was pissed and David was smug. When she laughed at his proposal, he was the one who got pissed. And then he tried to force himself on her.
My body shook, fists clenching, jaw ticking, leg bouncing. I wanted to kill him. He was in my sights, a big fat-ass bull’s-eye practically tattooed on his already battered face. The worst part about that moment was watching him sit there expressionless while taking it all in. There wasn’t an ounce of remorse in his whole body. When Lanie screamed, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Turn it off,” I told Mason, who did so as quickly as he could, but not before the scene where I burst through the door and grabbed David to throw him off my girl.
“Kickboxing accident, huh?” Scott asked. “Dude, you’re sick. I can’t believe you did that.”
“Oh, don’t act all self-righteous with me, you prick!”
“What the bloody hell have you done now?” A new voice entered the conversation, and we all whipped around toward the sound. Harrison Stone stood in the doorway with that authoritative look that said we were all in trouble.
In front of his iconic father, David gaped like a fish out of water. “Pop, it’s not what it looks like.”
Harrison waved his cane at his son. “Oh, save it. I already saw everything. Drugs, whores, attempted rape … Jesus, son. What do you do for an encore?”
“I, um …” David paused for several seconds then finally closed his mouth. No way was he going to be able to talk his way out of this one.
I wished I could’ve claimed Harrison’s early arrival as part of my plan, but I couldn’t. As Robert Burns said, the best-laid schemes of mice and men often go awry. Sometimes we just need to leave it all up to the universe to right the wrongs.
Just then Harrison turned toward me, a wide smile on his face, and took my hand in a firm grip. “Noah, my boy! How the hell are ya?”
I couldn’t help the affection I felt for the man. He was my father’s partner, his best friend, and he was family. How he had spawned someone as devilish as David was beyond me.
“I’m good, Harry,” I answered, and because I just couldn’t resist, I added, “Finally met the woman of my dreams and somehow managed to convince her to be my wife.”
The look on David’s face was priceless. He hadn’t heard about our impending nuptials.
“Well, ain’t that a kick in the pants! Congratulations, son!” Harrison clapped me on the back a couple of times, and his strength would’ve knocked me on my ass had he not had a death grip on my hand still. “I damn sure better be on that guest list,” he warned.
Then he said more soberly, “It’s no secret my boy’s been trying to pry your parents’ legacy from your hands. I haven’t exactly been an avid supporter of that, but he’s got a thick skull,” he said, knocking on his own. “Can’t get a lick of sense through to him.”
David growled in frustration. “You founded this company. It’s my legacy, too.”
“Shut up, boy. Noah senior and I founded this company together. It was all his idea. And I can see you’re busting at the seams wanting to tattle something on Noah, but I think I’ll let him tell on himself.” He turned back to me. “What’s he got on you, kid?”
As embarrassed as I was to admit the truth, I knew it would eventually come out anyway. Better it be to Harrison than to the whole board, shaming the memory of my parents.
“I bought a virgin, and then I fell in love with her.” The admission was quick, like yanking off a Band-Aid. And you know what? It didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would.
Harrison didn’t look thrilled, but he didn’t look disappointed, either. Kind of indifferent, in fact. He shrugged.
“And?”
“And isn’t that enough?”
“Let me ask you something, son. Is she worth all this?” He waved his cane around, indicating the shit I was having to put up with from his son.
“Yes, sir, she is,” I said, meaning it. I’d endure David Stone on a daily basis for her if I had to. And then it clicked, as if I’d just put the last piece of the puzzle into place. I didn’t have to. Lanie was all that mattered. My happiness was the only thing my parents ever wanted for me. And it was probably something David Stone would never have. With that realization fresh in my mind, I turned to David. “You can have—”
“Hold on, now,” Harrison said, interrupting me. “Don’t be so quick to throw in the towel, Noah.”
“What are you doing, old man?” David asked, flabbergasted. “You don’t have a say in any of this.”
“The hell I don’t. I still control those shares when you get right down to it. All it takes is an announcement from me to the board and you’re out of here. You’re an embarrassment to the company, and you’re an embarrassment to me. I won’t stand for your shenanigans any longer. Grow the hell up.”
Harrison leaned over the table and took the contract from a stunned David, who couldn’t react fast enough to stop him. He looked it over for only a second before handing it to me.
“Do you have any other copies?” he asked David, who did nothing but shake his head. “Good.” Then he turned toward Scott. “Why the hell are you still here?”
“I have a stake in all this, it seems.”
“And what would that be?”
Scott nodded toward Mason’s laptop. “A video that can never see the light of day. If it does, me and your son are dead.”
“If I can guarantee it won’t, will you swear not to ever have anything to do with my son again?”
“I can do that. I don’t want any trouble. I have my own business to tend to.”
Harrison turned to me with his brows raised in a question. I nodded my acquiescence. I wasn’t going to get everything I wanted out of the deal. As long as I had Lanie safe and sound, I’d let karma handle the rest.
“The video will be destroyed. Now get out of here, you’re stinking up the place.”
Scott wasted no time finding his way out. I didn’t blame him. Harrison had this Clint Eastwood type of way about him that dared you to overstay your welcome.
“It seems the scales are now all tipped in your favor, Noah,” he said, turning back to me. “What is it that you’d like to do now?”
“He bought a whore!” David yelled, clearly agitated by the turn of events.
Harrison lifted his cane to silence him. “One more word and I’ll disown you.” He turned back to me. “Noah?”
I looked up at the ceiling, seeing way past that to whatever great beyond was out there. This was for my parents. All of it. Because of the relationships they had forged in life, they were still looking out for me even in death. I would not allow their memory to be tainted, and that included their legacy.
I dropped my head to see David Stone in a whole new light. I almost felt sorry for him. Though his father was one of the greatest men I’d ever know, David had never seized the opportunity to learn from him. But he’d threatened everything I held most dear, so I couldn’t pity him.
“Listen to me, David,” I seethed quietly. “Not only do I have the ability to release your little personal porno to the public and destroy you, but that video shows evidence of drug and human trafficking, and let’s not forget the other video of an attempted rape. You could spend a very long time in prison.”
Dez leaned in and added, “And FYI, a big Mexican named Chavez already has you on reserve, bitch.”
Harrison had apparently just noticed her for the first time, but judging by the look on his face, he was impressed. Dez had that effect on people. No doubt he’d be asking her out.
The expression on David’s face reminded me of a cornered rat who had nowhere to run, no hole to dive into. “What do you want?” he spat through clenched teeth, clearly not liking the fact he had no other option than to admit defeat.
I gave him the same smug smile he had been wearing every day since I’d found him in my bathroom with Julie. And then I metaphorically reached out and snatched the little bit of cheese his tiny paws had been clutching. “Not much, just your half of the company. Seems like a small price to pay for your freedom. Don’t you think?”
“How do I know you won’t expose the videos anyway?”
“You don’t,” I answered truthfully. “But as much as it pains me to do so, I give you my word. As long as you hold up your end of the bargain, I’ll hold up mine. You can thank Delaine for that. She’s far more forgiving than I could ever be.”
“Or me,” Dez interjected.
“What’s it going to be, Stone?” I asked.
“Fine. It’s yours. It’s all yours,” he conceded.
“Meeting adjourned,” I mumbled triumphantly, and then led Dez and Mason out of the boardroom so I could go collect my winnings.
David’s half of the company was only an added benefit. Delaine was the real prize—one I had every intention of savoring, and none whatsoever of squandering.
“I still can’t believe it’s really over,” Lanie said from the passenger seat of my Lamborghini as we drove down I-55 toward Hillsboro.
It had been nearly a week since the board meeting, and with all the drama we’d survived, we needed a break. Hillsboro was quiet enough to afford us that break while also allowing Lanie a visit with her parents. She thought we were going to get a hotel room. I didn’t make her think any differently.
“It’s over, kitten.” I brought our joined hands to my lips and kissed her bare left ring finger before giving her a crooked grin.
“Aw, there’s the cottage,” Lanie said when we came upon it.
When I released her hand so I could downshift and pull into the driveway, her brow furrowed—until she saw the expression on my face and knew I was remembering the last time we had been there.
“Noah, no. We’re not about to do that again.”
I said nothing as I opened my door and got out of the car. When I walked around to her side and opened the door, she had her arms crossed over her chest defiantly. “No, Noah. We can have all the sex you want at the hotel, but not here, not again. We almost got caught last time.”
“We won’t get caught,” I assured her, then took her hand, pulling her from the passenger seat.
She came with me reluctantly. Linking my fingers through hers, I walked her around to the back of the house and kept going toward the pond and the gazebo.
“What are you doing? Are you insane?” She was frantically searching our surroundings for any evidence that the neighbors had seen us.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.” I pulled her up onto the gazebo step and walked over to the swing. “And it’s your fault. You make me crazy.”
I turned her so that her back was to the swing and lightly pushed down on her shoulders, encouraging her to sit. The sun was setting over the horizon and the orange and pink glow cast by its rays spilled over the perfect features of her face. The little family of ducks swam in an S-shaped pattern to the other side of the pond, their quiet quacks the only sound infiltrating our surroundings.
I kneeled in front of her, noting the confused look on her face. “I want to give you everything you desire, Lanie. Past, present, and future. And I will. I feel terrible for not doing this right in the first place,” I said as I pulled the navy-blue velvet box from my pocket.
She gasped and put her fingertips to her mouth. “Oh, Noah.”
“You know, for being the future Mrs. Noah Crawford, your ring finger sure does look bare.” I smiled up at her and then opened the box to reveal her engagement ring.
It was a one-of-a-kind original, designed for one woman, but handed down to the next in what I hoped would be a very long line of tradition. Three carats of diamond clusters were set in platinum that was intricately woven in loops and swirls around a central emerald-cut sapphire. Nothing too extravagant; simplicity was its allure.
I took it from the box and reached for her shaking hand with a smile. “It was my mother’s, and now I’d like for it to be yours.”
I slipped it onto her finger and looked into her eyes. Tears gathered and spilled down her cheeks. Her smile was the most beautiful I’d ever seen, and I wished I’d hired a f*cking artist to be there to capture the moment in all its infinite glory, forever immortalizing it in time.
I gave her a tender kiss. “I love you, Delaine Talbot.”
“I know. I love you, too,” she whispered, and then she looked down at the ring on her finger. “It’s so beautiful. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, but there’s more,” I told her with a devilish grin as I stood.
Her head snapped up. “More? What more?”
“Come on,” I said, taking her hand and pulling her to stand as well.
I felt like I was dragging her along, and I probably should’ve slowed down some so that she could keep up better, but I was too damned excited to show her the next surprise. When we reached the Lamborghini, I turned and kept going toward the front door.
“Where are you going? Someone’s going to call the police on us!” She tugged on my arm to get me to go back toward the car.
I pulled a little harder on her hand, forcing her to collide with my chest as I wrapped my arm around her. “Calm down, woman. Nobody’s going to call the police on us,” I said with a chuckle, and then I brought my hand from behind her so that she could see what I held: the key to the cottage.
It only took a second for that to register. She looked toward the front yard, finally noticing that the For Sale sign now had a Sold banner over it. “Noah, you didn’t.”
I could feel the smile tug at my cheeks, unable to not show how proud I was of myself for giving the woman I had fallen madly in love with the home of her childhood dreams. “Welcome home, Lanie.” She stood there stunned while I put the key in the lock and opened the door.
As soon as I’d returned home from dropping Lanie off at her folks’ house all those weeks ago, I’d made the deal on the cottage. It had been as good as sold, but when I offered four times the asking price, the owner had practically fallen over himself to accept my offer. Polly took over from there. I thought for sure she was going to spill the beans to Lanie, but I was damn proud of her for managing to keep her big mouth shut. And she didn’t even go overboard on the decorating.
I took Lanie’s hand and guided her over the threshold, closing the door behind me. Walking over to the mantle above the fireplace, I picked up the remote and pressed the button to set the gas logs ablaze.
“What do you think?” I asked when she still hadn’t said anything.
She looked around. There had been some slight remodeling done, but I’d insisted that all the quaint nuances Lanie had gushed about were to be left intact. The floors had been stripped and polished and the furniture was all new, but earthy and plush. Every amenity she might ever want or need was there, complete with huge floor pillows that littered the space in front of the fireplace.
But Lanie still hadn’t said anything, and that made me nervous.
“You don’t have to keep it like this. I had Polly decorate it because I didn’t want it to be empty when I showed it to you. You can redo everything if you don’t like it.”
She turned and closed the distance between us. “Shut up, Noah. You talk too much.” She grabbed me by the shirt and yanked me toward her for a kiss that made my toes curl.
And she didn’t stop there, either.
Her tongue—so soft, so pliant—moved against mine, sweet like cotton candy. I held her to me, taking all that she gave and giving more in return. Her body molded to mine, and the way she moved against me … Oh, God, the way the woman moved was maddening. She had come to me a virgin, with no sexual experience at all. And although my original intention had been to teach her everything I liked, her real teacher had been her own body. She knew what she wanted, and all inhibitions dissolved when it came to getting it. And by answering her own body’s demands, she was answering mine.
Her nimble fingers drifted down the center of my shirt, freeing each button as she passed over them. She never broke the kiss, didn’t come up for air. She didn’t need to; every breath we took fed off the other’s. Her hands slid inside the opening of my shirt and pressed against my bare chest. Every muscle in my body went taut at her touch. When she finally broke the kiss, I felt the loss instantly, but her attention went to the side of my neck, and that was pretty damn okay, too.
Supple lips pulled and sucked at the skin there as her tongue tasted me. I pressed Lanie closer, meeting her questing hips and rubbing the bulge in my pants against her center. She moved to my chest, her tongue swirling over one very hard nipple while cupping the flexed muscle on the other side. And then slowly she moved her hands over my shoulders, pushing my shirt free to slide down my arms and onto the floor.
When she turned her attention to my other nipple, I weaved my fingers through her hair. Chills ran down my spine when I felt her fingernails scrape against my abdominal muscles to the waist of my jeans. She pulled at them, forcing me even closer, and then I felt her hand stroking me through my pants with the perfect amount of pressure.
“Kitten …” It was all I could muster through my heavy breathing, as I was trying desperately not to lose my shit before my cock had even been freed from its prison.
She kicked her shoes off and I found my hands at the hem of her shirt. My thumb caressed the bare skin beneath, but it wasn’t enough. So I lifted the shirt over her head to let it join mine on the floor. She was stunning in the frilly blue bra she wore underneath, the creamy mounds of her breasts spilling over the cups. I palmed them, squeezing and kneading through the thin material, the way I knew she liked it. My thumbs swept over her hardened nipples and she bit the skin on my chest in reaction. Yeah, she liked that. So much so that the button on my jeans popped open and her hand slipped inside for skin-to-skin contact.
I hissed when the heel of her palm swept over the head of my dick. “Christ, Lanie.”
“You’re so hard,” she said in lust-filled amazement. She moved her hand against me as much as the tight confines of my jeans would allow.
I looked down so I could see her hand shoved down the front of my pants because I knew it would look f*cking hot. I was right. The head of my dick was poking out of the top of my waistband, and apparently she saw it, too, because she quickly took her hand from my pants and knelt before me. Her hot little mouth was all over the tip, greedily devouring it. My balls tightened instantly and I had to grab the tops of her arms to pull her up before I shot my load right there.
“You gotta slow down, or I’m not going to last very long,” I warned, holding her at arm’s length.
A sultry gleam illuminated the baby blue of her eyes, and she pushed against my hold to tug on my pants. “I don’t want to slow down, Noah. I want you. I want to feel you, thick and hard inside me. I want to taste your come sliding down my throat. I want to feel your lips and tongue on my p-ssy. I want it all, Noah. I need it all, and you promised you’d give me everything I wanted or needed.”
“F*ck,” I groaned at her dirty talk. It was a weakness, and she knew it. She had me wrapped around her little pinky, knew how to work me just the right way, how to twist my words to work in her favor. And far be it from me to go back on my word. It was as good as gold—and damn it all if I didn’t want the same exact things she wanted. Except I had one more gift for her that was sure to make our evening together so much more pleasurable.
“Wait, Lanie. I have something for you,” I told her as I reached into my pocket.
“More? But Noah, you’ve already given me a house and a diamond ring …”
I gave her a wickedly evil grin as I brought my hand to eye level and released my fist to let the string of pearls I was holding unfold. “Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but pearls are a hell of a lot more fun,” I told her with a waggle of my brows. She looked confused, but it didn’t matter. It was merely a matter of minutes before she saw, or rather felt, for herself.
I grabbed Lanie and yanked her hard against my body, my mouth crashing onto hers as our lips met, our teeth clashed, and our tongues tangoed in a hard, hungry kiss. I sank to my knees on the floor pillows and she followed, never breaking the kiss. Her hands were everywhere, sweeping up my chest and over my shoulders to slowly drift along my biceps. I flexed them for her, knowing she loved it, and she moaned into my mouth.
While she was enjoying feeling me up, I made fast work of her bra, snapping it free to push the straps down her arms and toss it to the side. Her round, firm breasts pressed against my naked chest and my lips found the spot where her neck met her shoulder. She moaned when I ran the pearls over her hardened nipples and sucked at the skin of her neck. Leaving the pearls for a moment, my fingers deftly released her jeans and pushed them over her curvaceous hips.
I kissed along the length of her neck to the spot below her ear and cupped her ass while taking the pearls and exploring her beautiful mound with my fingertips and the satiny smooth roundness of the pearls. The slightest of pressure from the beads teased her, made her beg for more until I pressed harder, rolling them around her swollen *. She gasped and dug her nails into my back as she sucked and nipped at my shoulder. It drove me crazy.
I pulled back to look at her, my cock becoming impossibly harder as I watched the expression on her face tell me everything I needed to know but still wanted to hear. “Is this what you need, kitten?”
She confirmed my suspicion with a breath, “Yes, more.”
“How about this?” Sliding my fingers and the pearls between her wet, silky folds, I coated them in her juices.
She moaned and nipped at my shoulder again while rolling her hips forward. “Mmm, more.”
“So greedy, Delaine,” I murmured against her ear, and then I took her lobe into my mouth, just as two of my fingers found her opening and pushed the pearls inside to give her exactly what she wanted.
She gasped and her head fell back, giving me ample access to her throat. I ran my tongue along her jugular and inhaled deeply. The scent of her arousal mixed with the light perfume she wore, and I licked my lips, suddenly feeling feral and starved.
“I can smell you, Delaine. Your arousal smells so sweet, so enticing.” I pushed more of the strand of pearls inside her. She moaned, undulating and helping my progress until the task was complete. Moving my fingers back and forth at a slow pace, I used the pearls to stroke her G-spot while my thumb applied the right amount of pressure to her little bundle of nerves. She pressed her hips forward, begging for even more still.
“Feels good, doesn’t it, kitten? You like it when I f*ck you with my fingers?”
“Yes. Oh, God, yes.” She spread her thighs as wide as her pants would let her and moved against my hand. “Give me more.”
“More? Like this?” I pumped my fingers inside her with the pearls. She made this sexy little sound that made me want to rip those pearls out and shove my dick deep inside her. She was slick and silky soft, and I thought I was going to lose my mind. “F*ck, kitten. You’re so goddamn wet. I need you to lie back. I want to see.”
Lanie held on to my shoulders and I slowly lowered us until she was lying on the floor pillows. She protested with a pouty groan when I removed my fingers from her to pull her pants the rest of the way off. I needed to see all of her, watch as I worked my fingers inside her. She spread her legs for me, an eager invitation to do as I pleased with her. And I would.
Her wetness glistened in the light of the fire, the string of pearls hanging from her opening to entice me even more. I licked my lips in anticipation of tasting her, but I pushed my fingers back inside her to stir the pearls again. “F*ck, that’s a beautiful p-ssy, Delaine. And it’s all mine.”
Without warning, I hooked the strand of pearls and slowly pulled on them. A low groan came from my girl, growing louder still with the roll of her body. I nipped at her hip, entranced by the sight, but no longer able to help myself. So I ripped the strand out of her all at once.
“Oh, God!” Lanie came, her body arcing off the floor. For a moment I thought maybe I’d hurt her, but she bit down on her lip hard to stifle a keening moan.
My fingers found their mark, plunging inside her to stroke the slightly rough patch of her G-spot, pushing her orgasm to extend beyond measure. She moaned and arched her back, and I leaned over and took one pebbled nipple into my mouth. My tongue flicked over it, back and forth, my teeth grazing it, oh so tenderly.
“Harder, Noah,” she pleaded breathlessly.
I complied, on both ends. Thrusting my fingers in and out of her, sheathing them all the way up to the knuckles, I sucked and pulled at her nipple with my teeth. Her answer was a hard tug on my hair. I f*cking loved the rough stuff, and she knew it.
“I need you inside me now.” She rolled her hips against my hand. “Please?”
Yeah, I felt her pain. I needed to be inside her, too, couldn’t stand not being there any longer. And that kind of pissed me off because there was so much more I wanted to do with her, but I figured, f*ck it, we had the rest of our lives, so I pulled my fingers out of her.
Holding my weight up on one arm, I unzipped my pants and pulled my cock out. My lovely assistant swept her hands over my ass, pushing my jeans down enough to allow me movement. I should’ve taken the time to take them off, but the moment was there and I wasn’t about to press the pause button.
Lanie was eager, lifting her hips, but then I decided a little teasing would be fun. So I rubbed the head of my dick along her slit and then pressed it to her * while rotating my hips. She moaned loudly when she looked between us to watch the head of my cock rubbing against her. I loved to torture her, build up the anticipation, so I slid it back down, pressed forward at her entrance, and then pulled away again to repeat the cycle.
“Please, Noah …”
Yeah, I liked to hear her beg for my cock.
I smirked down at her. “Please what? You want me to f*ck that beautiful p-ssy?”
She nodded and bit down on her lip, her chest rising and falling. To further drive home her point, she brought her knees up and held on to my ass with both hands to undulate beneath me. Yeah, that was enough of that shit. My woman wanted cock, she was getting cock. I looked between us and pressed the head of my dick to her entrance, slowly pushing into her. We both moaned out our pleasure at finally being joined, and I couldn’t help myself—I wanted more of that feeling.
“Goddamn, that feels good, doesn’t it?” I asked her. “There’s just nothing quite like the first time I push into you. The way your p-ssy grips my cock—so hot, so soft, so wet. That feeling … it’s second to none. Let’s try that again, shall we?”
I watched when I pulled out of her. Her juices coated my cock, and her opening, having stretched to accommodate my girth, melted back to the tiny hole it had been before I’d infiltrated it. It was an amazing sight to behold.
The glint of wetness on the pearls to my side caught my eye and a wicked idea formed in my head. I picked them up and wrapped them in a single layer around my cock, making it ribbed, for her pleasure. Lanie grinned at me when she saw what I’d done, the look in her eye reminding me once again of the night we’d traded tit for tat and I’d taken her virginity. She was game. And I was horny as f*ck.
I pushed forward again, watching the head of my dick disappear as she stretched to take me in. My eyes rolled to the back of my head when I felt the pearls shimmy along my shaft. If the sound Lanie made at the same time was any indication, I’d say it was as good for her as it was for me. Knowing that, I couldn’t stop my hips from surging forward as I buried my entire length inside her. She squeezed my ass in her hands, holding me there while she undulated beneath me, rubbing her * against my groin.
I encouraged her, wanted her to do what came naturally, because that was what got me off. “That’s it, kitten. Do what feels good to you. Use my body for your pleasure.”
“You’re so thick, so hard,” she moaned. “I love the way your cock feels inside me. And those pearls …” She growled the last word, her eyes closing in total bliss.
F*cking A. My million-dollar baby had turned pro on me.
I pulled back and slammed back into her. “Like that?”
She dug her nails into the cheeks of my ass. “God, yes! Faster.”
Moving inside her with five quick thrusts, I gave her what she wanted, and then I stilled, completely sheathed. I rotated my hips to give her the friction she needed against her *. Plus it did some pretty amazing things to my cock when those pearls rolled around like that.
She moaned. “Oh, Christ … just like that. Don’t stop.”
I pulled back and rolled my body, pushing back into her over and over again. I managed to find a steady pace that was neither too fast nor too slow. She rocked against me, meeting each push and pull of my hips with her own. The pearls worked me, she worked me. The way her hands gripped my ass and her walls tightened around me as I moved back and forth inside her was indescribable.
“Noah, I’m going to—”
“Do it,” I moaned, still moving inside her. “Let me feel that p-ssy squeezing my dick.” My cock grew impossibly harder with each thrust, my own orgasm building and building until I thought my balls were going to explode.
“Right there, kitten. Right there,” she keened, and then I felt the familiar pulsing of her walls around my cock as she cried out my name with her orgasm.
I quickened my pace, thrusting harder, deeper, helping her to achieve every single plateau of her climax. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was beautiful in the soft glow of the fire. A light sheen of sweat coated her creamy flesh, her lips were bee-stung and cherry red, and her eyes were closed with their thick lashes caressing the soft skin beneath as she let it take over and carry her away.
“I’m the luckiest man in the world,” I whispered, and then I leaned forward to taste those luscious lips.
Once, twice, three times I nipped at her mouth. My cock slid in and out of her, the pearls rolling along my length. Her breasts pressed against my chest, her lips licked at mine, her fingers clung to my ass. It was too much.
“You feel so good, Lanie. I can’t hold on much longer,” I warned her. “I’m going to come all over that beautiful p-ssy of yours.”
Lanie shook her head and then looked me in the eye. “You’ve denied me too many times. I won’t let you deny me again. Come in my mouth, Noah. I want to taste you.”
“Shit … I don’t know if I can hold out … feels … so good,” I warned, doing my best not to come.
“Give it to me, Noah. F*ck my mouth,” she demanded.
I pulled out of her, reluctantly, but like I’d said so many times before, I wouldn’t deny her anything she wanted. She may have started out as my sex slave, but I had become hers.
I made quick work of removing the pearls and then straddled her chest, my cock bobbing and soaked in her juices when I brought it to her mouth. Running the tip across her lips, I coated them in her own come. “Taste me, Delaine. See what my cock tastes like with your juices all over it.”
She opened her mouth and I pushed my cock inside. Her lips closed around my girth and she hummed in appreciation, savoring our joint flavors. I held the back of her head and thrust my dick in and out of her mouth.
“Do we taste good, Lanie? Do you like the way you taste on my cock?”
She answered with a moan and then grabbed my ass, pulling me deeper inside her mouth. I could feel the back of her throat pressed against the head of my dick, and she swallowed, constricting my cock. That was all I could take.
“F*ck, kitten! F*ck, f*ck, f*ck!” I called out as I pushed even deeper still and my cock pulsed with each spurt of come that shot down the back of her throat. With each gulp she took, I could feel more constriction. She slowly bobbed her head back and forth, milking me until I went flaccid in her mouth.
“Goddamn, woman, that’s enough,” I chuckled, forcing her to let go of my dick. “You keep that up and I’ll be hard all over again.”
“And what’s so bad about that?” she asked.
Swear to God, I f*cking loved her.
I dismounted her chest and lay next to her, pulling her body over mine like a blanket so she could rest her head on my chest. Her left hand was on my stomach and I looked down at it. The stones of my mother’s engagement ring caught the light of the fire and reflected a rainbow of colors. It had finally found a home.
I had finally found a home. Which reminded me …
“So you never did say,” I started. “Do you like the house?”
Lanie lifted her head and looked at me. A slow smile crept across her face. “You know I do.”
Yeah, I did.
“But I’m just not sure how all this is going to work,” she continued, drawing patterns on my chest. “How what is going to work?”
“Well, you have the house in Oak Brook and now we have the cottage as well. Where exactly do you plan for us to live?”
“Yeah, about that,” I started, suddenly feeling like an ass for not having discussed any of this with her beforehand. In my defense, I had planned to talk to her about it after showing her the house, but then one thing led to another and … well, there we were. “You know how David is signing over his half of the company to me?”
“Yes …”
“Well, Mason has been so loyal to me over the years, and knows the ins and outs of the company so well, that I thought I’d make him my partner.”
“Noah, that’s wonderful!” she said, her eyes alight with joy. “Polly is going to absolutely flip her shit!”
I laughed, knowing she in fact would.
“Wait a minute, though,” she said, settling back down. “What does that have to do with where we’re going to live?”
“Oh, right,” I said, getting back on track. “It really doesn’t have anything to do with where we live, but eventually Mason’s going to be controlling most of the things that will require a constant presence at the office. So that means we can live wherever you want. If you want to live here on a permanent basis so that you’re closer to your folks, I can set up an office here and work from home.”
“But Noah, your parents’ home … that’s all you have left of your family,” she said, her voice sounding heavy.
I hugged her to me and kissed her forehead because I wanted to, and because she was still being selfless. “You’re my family now, Lanie. And I plan on us having lots and lots of beautiful little Lanies in the future. And maybe at least one Noah to carry on the Crawford name.”
Her brows shot up, her eyes widened, and a broad smile spread across her face. “Babies? You want babies?”
“Mmm-hmm. Lots and lots of babies.”
“Well then,” she said thoughtfully, “we’re going to need an awfully big house to accommodate all those babies, don’t you think?”
I shrugged. “I suppose so.”
“And Polly is going to need someone around to keep her busy while Mason is working long hours at the office. Otherwise, she’s just going to be all over his ass for not being around as much.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
“My mom’s better and Dad’s back to work. And Dez has been looking for a place to stay in the city as well …”
I knew what she was getting at. “Kitten, are you trying to tell me that you want to live at the Crawford estate?”
She got a guilty look on her face. “Is that terrible of me? To not be jumping at the chance to live so close to my parents?”
“Not at all. You can visit them anytime you’d like. After all, we have a quaint little home here as well. Christmas, Easter, a little summer vacation, whatever. We don’t need a reason to drop everything and come for a visit.”
“Plus, we don’t have a nosy neighbor guy back in Chicago. And you don’t have to shirk your responsibilities at Scarlet Lotus, either,” she said.
“Hey! I take offense at that,” I teased playfully, tickling her side.
“I’m kidding! I’m kidding!” she laughed.
“So, Chicago?” I asked, wanting her to make the final call.
She nodded. “Chicago it is.”
“Good,” I said, satisfied with her decision. I forced her to roll over so that I could rise up on one elbow and hover over her with a devious grin. “Now, let’s get started on making those babies.”
I leaned down to kiss her, but she placed her fingers between our lips. “I had that contraceptive shot, remember? I can’t get pregnant right now.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt to practice.”
She giggled and finally relented, letting me kiss her long and hard as the fire crackled in the background. That was the way I wanted it to always be between the two of us: carefree laughs, erotic lovemaking, happy and free. Free of cheating exes, free of backstabbing friends determined to see us ruined, free of feeling like you’re the only one who can save the life of someone you love and taking drastic measures to do so. Free of that isolated feeling of living alone.
It wasn’t exactly the same dream that every other red-blooded American had, but the foundation was the same: someone to love, someone to care for, someone who wanted nothing more than to do the same for you in return—someone who had your back come hell or high water.
And we would have that dream. I’d make damn sure of it. I wasn’t so na?ve that I thought everything would be perfect. We’d have our own small battles to fight, but in the long run, we’d win the f*cking war.
We would have our happily ever after.