His strength.
I stood frozen while that attraction blazed between us. Zapping and demanding. Pulling and pulling and pulling.
I resisted all I could, the tension growing tight. It took all of five seconds before it was me who snapped.
I rushed his direction.
Hating the pull and loving it all the same.
I moaned when he twisted his hands in my soaked hair and spun me, pulling us into the alley before he had me against the wall and his mouth on mine.
Overpowering.
Overwhelming.
So fucking wrong.
So damned right.
His tongue licked out, tangling with mine.
His body hard.
Every. Inch.
“Oh God…you’re so…big.”
He rocked against me. “So much better to fuck you with.”
I gripped his shirt. “There will be no fucking.”
“No?” he challenged as he snaked a hand beneath my jacket and pushed my skirt up high enough that he was able to hitch my leg around his waist.
He angled me perfectly.
His hard cock against my lace-covered clit.
Pleasure pulsed. I gasped for a breath.
“Do you like that, Ms. Redd? Do you like the way you know I’m gonna feel?”
“Yes.” It was a whimper when he rocked again.
His mouth moved along my throat, nipping at my chin, my lips. Nibbling and biting. I swore the man was eating me alive. The hand on my thigh roamed higher, scraping my skin.
His fingers slipped beneath the lace of my panties as the storm raged on around us. He edged back just as lightning flashed, his chiseled face vicious in the impact, dark, dark hair dripping across his forehead and his eyes…his eyes black with lust.
“I told you that when you closed your eyes I’d be the only thing you’d see.” He drove three fingers inside of me.
A moan burst from my throat, and I rocked back against the hard brick wall. “Oh.”
He fucked them in and out, his cock pressed into my thigh as a reminder of who he was, his fingers steadily driving me to a place I couldn’t go.
His voice was grit as he uttered the words ferociously at my ear. “Your pussy is perfection. I can feel it, Lillith. How perfect it is. How tight and sweet. I can’t wait until I make you mine. Mark my words. I will make you mine.”
I wanted to fight and struggle and push him away.
Instead, my knees buckled when he rubbed his thumb in a demanding circle around my clit.
I clung to his shoulders, no longer able to stand.
His fingers drove deeper, his thumb magic as he circled and rubbed and coaxed.
Pleasure built.
Steadily.
Magnificently.
Destructively.
It split.
I swore I could feel the earth tremble around me as bliss rocketed through my being.
So good.
So good.
So good.
I couldn’t see.
Couldn’t think.
Couldn’t stand.
I soared while I remained prisoner to the rain. Prisoner to the man.
Slowly, he eased his fingers out of me and took a step back while I stood there shaking. Shaking and shaking as I came down.
Way, way down where realization and ramifications set in.
Horror took hold of my spirit.
What did I do?
Oh my God, what did I do?
“You.” It was a quiet, trembled accusation.
He sucked his fingers into his mouth. “I warned you to run. And you ran directly to me.”
Before I could stop it, my hand cocked back, and I slapped him across the face. Then I turned and stormed through the driving rain.
I just couldn’t tell if I was angrier with him or myself.
Chapter Seven
Broderick
A grin climbed to my face as I watched her as she strode out of the alley, the tail of that red coat whipping in the wind as freezing cold rain continued to beat down from above.
“That’s right, Lil’ Redd. Run. Because I’m really going to enjoy the chase,” I murmured so quietly into the howling wind, forcing myself to remain standing as she raged down the sidewalk with her chin held high.
Hot waves of lust rippled through my muscles that strained with the effort of restraint. I wanted to chase her down. Push her a little further.
There was something about this woman that had me hanging on by a thread.
I wanted to get deep inside her.
I’d made that much clear.
But there was something more. Something dangerous about the way she forced me to slow down and listen. Take note. The intrigue and respect she commanded with the clear passion that burned through her spirit was never so clear than when we’d sat through the meeting this afternoon.
She’d stood there so sure and defiant, threatening to file the property with the National Register of Historic Places to stall our purchase of the building. Stating it was a historical landmark and citing all the reasons we should leave it standing.
As is.
Clearly, she was no fool, and she knew as well as I did there was little she could do to hinder or halt our plans. Instead, she’d appealed to our better natures with the thinly veiled promise of legal recourse.
She knew she had little grounds. Still, every word had been delivered with strength and an undercurrent of her base faith in humanity.
Somehow, it’d made me crave her all the more.
It was sheer strength that had forced me from her office.
Biding my time.
All too eager to show up at the bar this evening, knowing she would do the same, the lure too much for her to resist.
Shaking myself off, I turned the opposite direction and headed to my hotel, the luscious taste of her still on my tongue, my cock hard as stone as I rode the elevator to the top floor. Entering my suite, I went straight for my laptop still open on the conference table.
You are delicious. I knew you’d be. I can’t wait for the full meal.
It took all of five seconds for a message to show in my inbox—just like I knew one would.
I’d rather starve.
I chuckled beneath my breath. God, there was nothing I liked more than a feisty woman. And I was beginning to think I liked this one best.
*
“Your father is pushing to close this deal by whatever means it needs to be done. So far, he hasn’t sent anyone down there, but you know what will happen if he does.”
Anger ratcheted up in my chest as I stared out the window from the backseat of the Lincoln, my attention hooked on the old building that had seen far better days. “I told him this was my deal and to stay out of it. I’m tired of him making a mess of things. There are protocols that need to be followed.”
James sighed. “He’s not exactly a man who listens to reason. What’s the end goal here?”
I swallowed hard. “The same as it always is.”
“Then I’ll try to hold him off.”
I nodded, even though I knew he couldn’t see it. “Thank you for giving me the heads up.”
“You know I always have your back.”
“I do.”
“Keep me posted.”
“Okay,” I said as I killed the call, giving myself a few moments to study my surroundings. Finally, I sucked in a breath, pushed open the door to the car, stood, and straightened my jacket as I headed straight for the door.
I didn’t hesitate.
I just swung it open and strode inside as if I owned the place.