‘Remove your hand before I detach it from your body,’ I swat Austin Falcon away hard enough to make him step back. Walsh and Thomson move in, but I halt them with my hand.
Who does this jumped up prick think he is?
Austin’s eyes flick to Avery, then to my hand that’s now firmly wrapped around her waist, then back to me with a raised eyebrow.
‘She’s unavailable.’ My voice could freeze hell.
‘Is that right?’ Austin’s smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘Are you two a thing?’
Avery’s two friends stand open-mouthed like they’re watching a soap opera from the front row, while she turns slowly to face me, deliberately dragging her breasts across the side of my chest. Every cell in my body vibrates with the need to take Avery right here, right now in front of everyone and show the world she’s mine.
Except she isn’t.
‘I don’t know. Are we a thing, Killian?’ Her indigo eyes glitter like she’s loving every second of this.
Of course she is.
It’s probably her wet dream to have men physically fight over her. If she had her way, we’d probably be fighting naked too.
How would she feel if she had any idea I killed for her the other day? That I’d kill for her every damn day if it meant keeping her safe, keeping her happy.
But right now, I could cheerfully kill her for putting me in this position.
If I say no, she’ll accept his dinner invitation. I won’t let her past my front door to attend—but that’s irrelevant. It’s the principle of the matter.
If I say yes, the woman has me over a barrel.
I brush her bouncing blonde curls back from her face and inch my lips lower until they brush against the sensitive skin of her earlobe. She’s not the only one who can fight dirty. ‘What do you want me to say, sweetheart?’ I whisper-shout. ‘You want me to tell him that I licked your pretty cunt last week? That I’d do it again in a heartbeat if I wasn’t preoccupied trying to find a man who clearly wants to do the same thing to you?’
A tiny gasp slips from her pink painted lips as they part into a pronounced O.
In my periphery, Austin shifts from one foot to the other beside us. I tighten my grip on Avery’s waist, brushing my thumbs over the curve of her hips.
‘I want you,’ she whispers into my ear. The scent of her peony perfume floods the air between us. ‘But if I can’t have you, I refuse to hang around like a spare part.’
Brat.
She’d go out with him to fucking spite me. To make me watch. And she’d probably get off on every damn second.
That’s what she wants, to get off. She pretty much told me that in my kitchen this morning.
An idea forms in my mind.
‘Tell him you’re mine.’ I graze my lips lower, peppering tiny kisses along the column of her throat as Austin stares on, sporting an expression of half horror, half intrigue.
‘Why?’ Avery inclines backwards, offering deeper access to her throat and pushing her hips against mine in the process. Her eyes widen as my rock solid erection presses into her.
‘Because if you do, I’ll take you somewhere private right now and make you come so hard you’ll see stars. Again.’ I press my dick harder against her to prove my point.
‘You promise?’ Desire flickers in her dilating pupils as she rolls her hips against me. ‘Right now?’
‘Right now,’ I repeat with a nod.
The things this woman drives me to.
This is the last time we’re going out until I catch the stalker. Because I refuse to be forced into this position again.
She twists her head towards Austin. ‘Sorry, Austin,’ she shoots him an apologetic smile. ‘Apparently, we are a thing—at the moment.’
I slide my hands over the pert globes of her ass and pinch hard enough to make her jump. At the moment. I’ve a good mind to put her over my knee.
Austin sighs. ‘I’m devastated.’ He clutches his chest like he’s wounded. He fucking will be if he doesn’t get out of my sight in the next three seconds.
‘Looks like the baby sitting’s going well,’ Kenzi teases, as Austin disappears into the crowd. I make a mental note to run a background check on that brazen fucker the second I get home.
‘We’re going to need details,’ Sophia squeals, picking up her champagne glass.
‘I’ll give you all the details,’ Avery promises with a smirk, ‘Once I’ve had a private chat with Killian. Something’s come up and we need to deal with it quickly.’ Her gaze shifts back to me and that invisible, illicit charge powers between us again.
I said I’d make her come—I didn’t say I’d fuck her.
There’s no way I’m going to reward her brat-like behaviour with my cock. No matter how much I want to. That would only encourage her to do it again. I drop my hands from her waist the second Austin is out of sight.
‘Thomson.’ I touch my earpiece. ‘There’s an office on the third floor. I need you to give it a sweep. Avery and I need to have a private conversation.’
‘How do you know there’s an office on the third floor?’ Avery pins me in a curious stare.
‘One, I wouldn’t be much good at my job if I didn’t have a blueprint for every venue you drag me to, and two, who do you think owns this place?’
Realisation lights in her eyes. ‘You?’
‘Technically Rian does, but it’s under the Beckett umbrella.’ I shrug.
Kenzi pours Avery a glass of champagne and hands it to her. ‘Just in case you need to wet your lips.’ She grins knowingly, then turns to me. ‘What about you? Do you need something to wet your lips?’ she teases.
I don’t dignify her with a reply.
I brush my lips over Avery’s earlobe again. Austin might be gone, but I love to watch the way I make her skin ripple with goosebumps. ‘Don’t drink too much. I don’t feel like putting you to bed. Again.’
‘I thought that’s what people did when they’re a thing.’ She winks and uses her free hand to make air quotes.
I’m going to enjoy watching her beg me to make her come.
‘All clear.’ Thomson’s voice sounds through my earpiece.
‘Stay there. We’re on our way.’ I nod at Walsh and he’s by our side in seconds.
‘Back shortly,’ Avery tells her friends.
That’s what she thinks. I fasten my hand to her lower back and escort her to the nearest exit through a throng of people. I scan the crowd. We attract a few stares, both of us, but this place is notorious for celebrities and there are way more famous people than either of us here tonight.
We take the stairs to the third floor, Walsh first, his hand resting on his holstered gun. Avery follows behind, with me guarding her back. Thomson is waiting outside the office doorway, one hand in his suit pocket. I don’t need to see it to know it’s wrapped around a pistol at the ready.
‘All clear for the… Private conversation.’ A ghost of a smirk steals over his lips before he catches himself. I roll my eyes.
‘Both of you stand guard. Do not leave this door. Even if the place is on fire, understood?’ I glance between the two men.
‘Absolutely boss.’
I usher her in through the deep mahogany door and into the dimly lit room. There’s a large desk with a tall leather chair tucked behind it, a corner lamp, and a metal filing cabinet. I was here with Rian a few weeks ago when he signed the paperwork to this place. This is his private office, not that he uses it much. We each have our own floor in the Beckett office building near Grafton Street. Still, if I wasn’t so adamant about not fucking Avery, I’d take great pleasure in bending her over my baby brother’s desk.
The door clicks behind us ominously. I turn the lock, not because I don’t want anyone coming in, but because I don’t want her getting out until I’m finished with her—which if I’m honest, could be never. As infuriating as she is, there’s something about her that ignites a primal hunger in me which steals all rationale.
She stands in the middle of the room in those goddamn stilettos and that dress which barely covers her fantastic ass, and it’s a battle not to pounce on her like the predator I am. She takes a long slow sip from the champagne glass she’s clutching like a lifeline. ‘Where do you want me?’ She runs her fingers languidly over the dark wooden desk.
‘I hate that you put me in this position,’ I growl, prowling closer. ‘I hate that I let you. But most of all, I hate this wanton chemistry between us. You might have won whatever round of this fucked-up game we’re playing, Avery, but you will never win the war. There’s only one soldier here, and that’s me.’
She sucks in a breath, her teeth digging into her lower lip.
‘What are we fighting over?’
‘You are fighting to distract me from my job. I am fighting for my fucking sanity.’ I lift my hand up and wrap it around a lock of her golden hair, pull it to my nose and inhale the scent of her exotic shampoo.
‘You just need to get better at multitasking.’ Lust clouds her eyes as she sucks in a deep breath.
‘I already mentioned that’s something I excel in.’ I step closer so we’re toe to toe, hip to hip. She grips my bicep, wrapping her fingers around it and squeezing. It hits me like a hammer. Avery is one of the very few people I can tolerate touching me. Nobody gets close. Ever. I don’t let them. Yet in the space of a couple of weeks, she’s wheedled her way in.
Okay, it hasn’t been weeks—not really.
We’ve known each other for years.
I’ve wanted her for years.
Which is why I can’t take her—not properly, anyway. Not with my cock. Because I already know if I do, if I stake that claim on her, I’ll never be able to let her go. I’m worse than any stalker. Way worse.
I dip my face towards hers and trace the outline of her lips with my tongue, savouring the plump rise and fall of her Cupid’s bow. She stands rigid, eyes wide open, boring into my mind like she can see my soul. Like she can see how much it wants to possess her—not just her body, but her heart, her mind, her everything.
But Avery will never give up her job as a glamour model, and I’d never ask her to, but no woman of mine could ever be plastered naked over every glossy magazine for every other man to see, to stare at, to wank over. Not a fucking hope.
So, I’ll just take what I can, give her what I can. And maybe, eventually, my craving for her will wear off… Maybe.
I run my hands up over her stomach to her beautifully formed breasts and squeeze. She hisses.
‘You’re fucking stunning.’ I bite out. ‘But you’re a brat for putting me in this position.’
Her body tenses a hint of wariness clouding the hunger in her eyes. ‘Take your lingerie off and get ready to take your punishment.’
