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Chasing tail for the sake of getting laid was one thing. Allowing yourself to be pussy-whipped was something else entirely.

Crawford hadn’t listened to me. Fresh out of college when his parents died, he had inherited his half of the company and had a gorgeous woman on his arm, and I was all but forgotten. And not just by my supposed best friend. My father had looked at Noah with so much pride and adoration it was almost palpable.

He’d never looked at me that way.

Noah Crawford was a rising star, had everything I didn’t, and I was tired of living in his goddamn shadow.

Why can’t you be more like Noah, David? My father’s voice rang in my ears, a constant reminder that I would never live up to his expectations. I made mistakes; I was young, and I liked to party. But those mistakes were unacceptable to him.

My old man was weak, in my opinion. He shared his company with those fucking Crawfords when he could’ve claimed all of Scarlet Lotus’s success for his own. The goody-goody Crawfords and their Let’s donate a sizable portion of our profits to charities, give back to the community, do something good with the blessings that have been bestowed upon us.

Pfft. Those weren’t blessings. It was hard work, my father’s blood, sweat, and tears. But he never saw it that way. Truthfully, I think he was secretly in love with Elizabeth Crawford. I had seen the way his face lit up whenever she walked into the room. The bitch had him wrapped around her little pinky, and he’d have done anything she asked of him even though he could never have her.

Which just proved my point about the effect women have on men. And my dad wasn’t even hittin’ that.

Speaking of hittin’ that … I had a date.

I opened another button on my shirt, showing more of my bronzed chest of iron—because that was the way I liked it—and then I grabbed my keys. It was getting late. Scott would be closing up shop soon, and he would be waiting for me with a fantastic piece of ass and a fuckload of pixie dust. Damn, but I needed a hit of that. Both of them.

And then afterward I was going to borrow that little nugget of gold I knew he was storing in his office. It was nothing but paper and ink to him, but for me, it was the future of Stone Enterprises.

Lanie

Warm water surrounded our naked bodies as we lounged in the outrageously massive bathtub. Noah’s strong arms encased me and I closed my eyes to experience the sensation of the loofah he moved gently over my exposed breasts. My nipples had been in a constant state of arousal since I set foot in that house.

Funny, I had wanted to hate him so much back then. And there I was, hopelessly in love with the man who had purchased me with the sole purpose of having his wicked way with me whenever, wherever, and however he wanted.

The saying was true: sometimes it’s when we stop looking for love that love finds us. And usually it’s the person we least suspect who manages to lasso our heart and turn us inside out.

The Cooch was all for being turned inside out by the Wonder Peen at the moment. Or, for that matter, upside down and round and round. Insatiable hussy.

As if hearing her plea, Noah’s free hand wandered down my side and over my abdomen until his long, thick fingers could delve between the swollen folds at the apex of my thighs to give her a proper greeting. His deliciously scented breath ghosted over my neck before it was replaced by his hot, wet mouth.

Noah’s tongue was sinfully talented, his lips gifted with the ability to put all my senses on high alert. His teeth scraped my skin teasingly and I lifted my arm to wrap it around his neck. The loofah tumbled from his hand and he cupped my breast, his fingers gently rolling and tugging at the nipple. I could feel his hardness pressed to my lower back while the fingers between my legs explored every nerve ending within his reach. The delicious pressure of his lips, tongue, and teeth against the crook of my neck joined forces with the soft moans at my ear and drove me mad with need.

“Noah. ” My voice was more like a breathless plea.

He never faltered with his manipulations. “Tell me what you want, kitten. ”

The Cooch pulled out pen and paper and started making a list, but I ignored her. There would be so much more time for all the ways she could find for him to worship her later. I wanted to do something for him.

“You. ” I turned in his arms. “I want to taste you. ”

Noah groaned when I got on all fours between his legs and eyed him suggestively while licking my lips. The bathwater rocked with my movements, sloshing against the muscular plains of his abdomen. “Far be it from me to deny you anything you want. ”

He used the brute strength of his arms to lift himself until he was sitting on the ledge. Water cascaded down his body as he took his dick in one hand and began to stroke it teasingly. Another long arm stretched toward me in invitation. “Come, Lanie, suck my cock. ”

His words reminded me of my very first night there, the night he’d sat on his couch completely naked while smoking a cigarette. The skin on my arms pebbled from the memory and a pathetic, wanton mewl escaped my lips as I inched closer to him. When I was within reach, he buried his hand in the hair at the back of my head and guided me to the colossal appendage he had so graciously aimed toward my mouth.

Noah’s hand squeezed the base of his cock and a sexy groan escaped his throat when I took him into my mouth. I circled his tip with my tongue before engulfing as much of his length as I could fit into my eager cavern. My lips stretched around him when he brought my head closer. His hand fisted my hair and he lightly pulled me back and forth, back and forth. When he propped his foot up on the side of the tub and leaned back against the wall to watch me suck him, I suddenly turned into quite the exhibitionist.

I released him momentarily and dipped my head between his legs. Keeping my eyes on his face, I licked his balls, taking them into my mouth one at a time to gently suckle him.

“Goddamnit, ” he moaned, and then his mouth dropped open and his chest began to rise and fall more rapidly.

My tongue made a path from the nook of his balls over his fingers and up his long shaft. Noah pushed my head down on him more forcefully and I could feel the crown of his cock at the back of my throat. My teeth lightly scraped against his smooth skin as he pulled me back and then pushed me forward again. His eyes were trained on my lips and I began to bob my head, sucking him deep. I swallowed and relaxed my throat to take more of him, moaning around the thickness in my mouth like it was the most delicious thing I’d ever tasted. Because it was.

“Fuck. ” His voice was almost a whisper—a rough, barely controlled whisper. “You have no idea how good you look sucking my cock. Harder, kitten. Suck me harder. ”

I sucked so hard my cheeks hollowed out. So hard you couldn’t have convinced me his cock wouldn’t be one giant hickey by the time I was done. Noah groaned and the muscles in his arms, chest, and abdomen clenched. Faster, harder, deeper I took him while he watched with rapt fascination.

I could’ve died a happy woman with his cock in my mouth. Death by cockstrangulation.

He moaned my name and then his face twisted up. “Stop, woman. Stop. ”

I kept going.

“No … fuck …” He growled and cupped my face in his hands, forcing me to release his cock. “I want to be inside you when I come. ” He was breathless, the veins in his neck taut and his eyes dilated, hungry, commanding. “Turn around and hold on to the ledge. ”

I mentally joined the Cooch in a cheer on the sidelines when we found out she was getting called in on the play.

I turned and spread my legs so he could fit between them comfortably, and I might have thrown in a back arch for good measure. When I felt his breath on the back of my neck, his chest pressed against my back, and his cock at my entrance, I nearly orgasmed on the spot.

His mouth was at my ear and I felt the tip of his cock slip between my folds, teasing me, never filling me with what I so desperately needed. I shifted my hips, trying to align my opening with his dick, but he pulled back, causing me to whimper at the loss of contact.

His breath caressed the shell of my ear with a voice that was deep and menacing, but I couldn’t fear him. “Which entrance should I use, Lanie? This one? ” he asked, moving the head of his cock over my opening. “Or this one? ” He slid the tip over my asshole and applied a slight pressure.

“Whichever one you want. Just like you won’t deny me, I won’t deny you. ” My last experience with the backdoor entrance had been uncomfortable, even painful at first, but I still wanted to try it again. And I had indeed said I wanted to do something for him, so if he wanted to fuck my ass, then I was going to let him.

Noah chuckled in my ear, and even though I couldn’t see his smirk, I knew it was there. “Is that so? So brave, Lanie. So giving. I love how willing your body is, how shamelessly you react to my touch. I can’t wait to get my cock in your delectable little ass again, and I will. But this time, I think I’ll go … here. ”

The thick head of his cock pushed into my pussy, stretching and filling me as he sheathed himself completely. I moaned and arched my back so I could rest my head on his shoulder. He cupped my breast in one hand while his other flattened on my stomach. Then he pushed on my abdomen, forcing me to bend ever so slightly, but changing the angle significantly enough that it caused me to gasp.

“Easy, kitten, ” he breathed into my ear. “Goddamn, you feel so good. ”

“You don’t feel so bad yourself, ” I managed.

Noah moved inside me again, slowly rocking in and out while he lavished the back of my neck with openmouthed kisses. My head lolled to the side when the hand on my stomach moved further down and his fingertip began to massage my clit. I moaned again because it felt so incredible, and he pressed his chest even closer to my back.

I knew what he wanted. He wanted me to bend back over, so I did, holding on to the ledge so that he could have his wicked way with me.

And have his wicked way with me he did.

His lips moved over my bare shoulders sending a tingling feeling dancing across my skin. Removing the hand from my breast, he laced his fingers through mine at the ledge of the bathtub, the slight weight of his body on mine engulfing me so perfectly. The other hand moved back to my abdomen and held me there as he thrust in and out with greater purpose. His mouth was at my ear and I could hear every little grunt, feel every exhale of hot breath against my skin with each surge forward.

“I need to be deeper in you, Lanie. Deeper than I’ve ever gone before, ” he mumbled into my neck.

His hand slid down my body until he reached the inside of my left thigh. He pushed against it, urging me to lift my knee until it was perched on the side of the tub. Then he straightened and slowly thrust inside me.

“Ooh …, ” I moaned at the sensation.

“That’s it. Right there, ” he said as he rotated his hips against my ass, causing another moan to spill from my lips. “You like that? ”

“God, yes. ” I could feel his cock swirling inside me, pushing against my walls, and I arched my back even more to give him better access. “I can feel you … your cock feels so … unngh. ”

“Yeah, I like that, too, ” he said as he pulled back a little and pushed back into me.

He made short, quick thrusts, each one more glorious than the last. Everything inside my body bunched up. It was on high alert, threatening to explode with the glorious pleasure only he could give me.

“Harder, Noah. Fuck me harder, ” I said to spur him on.

He did just that. One hand wound itself in my hair and he pulled back on it, forcing me to lift my head while he fucked me like a madman. Long, hard, fast strokes brought his groin against my ass. Skin slapped against skin as his fingertips dug into my hip. My chest constricted, my abdomen coiled, my clit throbbed, my teeth clenched, and my fingers gripped the edge of the tub until my knuckles were white.

And then everything let loose all at once and I cried out with an orgasm that rocked my very foundation.

“Noah … ohhh … Noah, ” I moaned as my heart hammered in my chest.

“I know, kitten, ” he grunted, still thrusting ferociously from behind me. “Right there. I’m going to come. I’m going to …” He let out a growl as his hips slammed against my backside and he held them there for just a second or two before continuing his assault again with sporadic and irregular thrusts.

And then finally he stilled. It was like the calm after the storm clouds pushed away to reveal the sun once more. Blissful, peaceful. Contented.

His body slumped as he pulled from me, his forehead pressed against my back. “Woman … you’re going to be … the death … of me, ” he panted.

Him? I was pretty sure I was in danger of suffering a massive heart attack, judging by the way my heart was trying to burst out of my chest. But boy, what a way to go. It ranked right up there with cockstrangulation.

Noah refused to let me go to Foreplay to meet Dez alone; I refused to let him go anywhere near the club and jeopardize the plan. I also turned down his suggestion that Mason or Samuel accompany me. However, I managed to get him to consent to my taking Polly instead.

I was pretty sure it was because of her mad driving skills. And by mad, I mean the chick was nuts behind the wheel of a car, and we’d be lucky to make it there in one piece. But, according to him, Polly was a force to be reckoned with when push came to shove. Maybe that was because she was pacing back and forth, throwing air punches in the general direction of all the internal organs in a man the height of David Stone. She was amazingly accurate, reeling off the name of each one as her fist found where it would be. It scared me just a little.

So there we were, parked across the street from Foreplay in the dark, waiting for Dez to call with the all-clear. The building looked deserted and lifeless, as far as I could tell. The parking lot was just about empty, and the neon sign had long been extinguished.

Polly was decked out all in black, including a pair of black combat boots. What the hell she was doing with combat boots in her wardrobe was a complete mystery to me. The thought crossed my mind that this might not have been the first secret mission she had been a party to, not that it would surprise me.

“Is your phone even on? ” she asked for the cajillionth time.

“Yes, Polly, it’s on. ”

Her leg bounced up and down like she’d had way too many cups of coffee. Also, I noticed she’d developed a serious case of shifty eyes. I swear, you would’ve thought we were casing the joint to rob it, knowing full well a whole SWAT team was waiting in the bushes.

“Check again, ” she said, because apparently she thought I was an idiot who didn’t know how to work a stupid cell phone.

I rolled my eyes with an annoyed sigh and looked down at my phone, even holding it up for her inspection. Just then it vibrated in my hand, causing me to jump a little.

It was a text from Dez: It’s a negative on the EPT.

Yeah, that would be the all-clear we were waiting for.

“Let’s go, ” I told Polly.

We got out of the car, both of us being careful to shut the doors as soundlessly as we could. Hunched over, we made our way across the street and through the parking lot, all sorts of stealthy-like. The Mission: Impossible theme song kept playing over and over in my head, but I knew Tom Cruise didn’t have jack squat on us. Once we reached the front of the club, we pressed our backs against the wall and I lightly tapped on the door. First two raps, a pause, and then three more.

“Is that the code you guys agreed on for the knock? ” Polly asked in a whisper.

“No. We don’t have one, ” I said with a shrug. “I just thought … Oh, shut it. I’m nervous, okay? ”

Polly let out a squeak of a giggle and then hurriedly covered her mouth to stifle any more sounds. That was about the time Dez opened the door.

“What the fuck are you asshats doing? ” she asked with a stern whisper, then turned her scowling face on Polly. “Are you trying to get us caught? This isn’t a slumber party, Gidget. ”

Polly dropped her hand and did her best to keep a straight face. “Sorry. ”

“Cute outfit, ” she said as she looked Polly over, her tone of voice taking a sudden turn into Valley Girl land, which Dez never did. Polly was definitely rubbing off on her. I’d point it out later and watch her get all defensive because it would be funny.

Polly beamed at the compliment. “Thanks! You too, ” she said, looking her over in turn.

Dez was dressed in much the same way as Polly. In fact, it was the same outfit she’d had on when she’d shown up at Noah’s to “kidnap” me. I was pretty sure it wasn’t what she’d worn to work.

“Did you change? ” I asked her, because that wasn’t at all like Dez, either.

She gave me a well-duh look and stomped one foot lightly. “I couldn’t exactly wear the same thing for both work and this, now could I? ”

I rolled my eyes in Polly’s direction. “Jeez, you are never allowed to talk to my friends again. You’re like a damn disease. ”

Dez looked stunned. “What are you talking about? ”

“You caught Polly’s girly cooties. No worries—we’ll get you fixed up with one quick visit to the prison on conjugal visit day. ”

Polly did the giggle-snort thing again, and then Dez moved aside to usher us inside.

“Is he gone? ” I asked as the door closed behind us.

“I think so, but he always leaves out the back door, so I don’t know. ”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You didn’t check? ” The incredulous tone was evident in my voice even though I was still whispering. I held up my phone to show her the text she’d sent. “You said you’re not pregnant! ”

“Well, I might be a little bit knocked up. Those tests aren’t always accurate. ”

I was going to kill her. I was sure the murderous glare in my eyes made that fact perfectly clear, but my death glare—which I’d practiced for years to get just right—never had any effect on my best friend.

Dez shrugged like it was no big deal. “Fuck it. If he’s here, I figure we can knock him out. ”

I pulled her in close so she could hear me. “Um, Dez? These outfits might make us look like super-badass ninjas and all, but um, we’re not. ”

“Now what are we supposed to do? ” Polly’s shoulders slumped in defeat. I knew it was killing her. Proper planning defined her life, so to have to wing it meant certain disaster in her book.

I threw my shoulders back and straightened to my full height. “We’re going to go find out if he’s here, and then we’re going to get that damn contract, ” I said assertively, taking control of the situation. “Now let’s get our ninja on. ”

The club was dark, though the emergency exit signs provided a minuscule amount of light. Of course Dez knew the layout like the back of her hand, and I knew the direction to the basement from my last trip there, so we were good to go.

As we descended the stairs, I almost expected the club’s doorman to be waiting at the bottom with that damn clipboard that made him think he was a god or something. But he wasn’t there. In fact, it was completely dark, so dark we had to trail our hands along the walls for some navigational guidance. Before we got to the end of the hall, I could see light filtering out from under a door and hear music coming from inside the room.

Scott was still in his office. And then we heard voices coming from the back of the building, headed our way.

Polly grabbed the back of my shirt in her fist, and I did the same to Dez in turn, slightly yanking her back.

“Someone’s coming! Now what? ” I whispered, hurriedly.

Dez yanked my hand off her shirt and turned on me. “Don’t get your thong in a twist, Lanes, and shush before they hear you. I’ve got this covered. Come on. ”

Polly and I followed her down the hall, and we managed to make it inside a little closet that was right beside Scott’s office without making too much of a ruckus. No sooner had we gotten inside than the other voices stopped outside the door.

“Have fun, mate, ” a male voice said.

“That’s Terrence, ” Dez whispered.

“Who’s he talking to? ” I strained my ears, but all I heard was the opening and closing of Scott’s office door.

“So what? We’re just going to wait here until they leave? ” Polly asked.

We were packed in the tiny space like sardines, but it wasn’t like we had any other options. “Yeah, pretty much so, ” I said.

“Not necessarily. ” Dez maneuvered herself so that she could turn toward the wall that was on the opposite side of Scott’s office.

“What are you doing? ” I asked when she started fidgeting with something that looked like a sticker on the plaster.

She pulled at it and then a beam of light shot through a hole. “I might have had a little safeguard placed in here in the event that some hottie was down for some kinky fuckery in the form of a closet quickie. ” She shrugged. “This way I could check to make sure the boss man wasn’t looking for me. ”

“You’re an evil genius, do you know that? ” I asked, impressed with her ingenuity. “A total slut for gettin’ down and dirty in a supply closet, but a genius all the same. ”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, ” she said with a cheeky grin. “The best part is that these walls are paper thin, so the challenge to stay quiet while fireworks explode from my girly bits is particularly erotic. ”

I shook my head at her and leaned toward the hole. When I saw who was in the other room with Scott, I gasped and shot up straight, bonking Polly in the nose in the process. “Holy crap! ”

Dez cupped her hand over my mouth because my whisper was definitely in danger of becoming a whole lot more than that.

“Christ! ” Polly touched her nose gingerly. “You mind telling me why you’re trying to break my nose? ”

I pulled Dez’s hand from my mouth. “It’s David! ”

Polly dropped her hand, her nose forgotten. “That asshole is here to steal the contract! ”

I heard voices, so I leaned back over to look again, wanting to make sure I hadn’t been seeing things. Sure enough, David was sitting on the leather couch next to Scott’s desk. His face was puffy and bruised from his recent beating, courtesy of one Noah P. Crawford.

Scott’s desk, by the way, was loaded down with blocks of what looked to be cocaine.

“Oh my, Jesus! Dez, give me your phone, ” I told her, reaching blindly behind me.

“What? Why? ”

“Just put it on video and give it to me. Hurry! ”

Dez slipped her phone into my hand and I put the lens over the hole, making sure to get a good view on the phone’s screen. Dez wasn’t kidding; those walls were paper thin. I could hear every word they were saying.

“What the hell happened to you? ” Scott’s voice had a bit of humor to it. I sort of wanted to laugh, too.

David put his fingers to the cut over his swollen eye. “Kickboxing accident. I missed the bag. ”

“And what, kicked yourself in the face? A lot? ”

“Shut up. You got another shipment of coke so soon? That’s risky, ” David said, changing the subject. He sounded none too happy.

“It’s not a new shipment. There’s been an increase of in-house requests. Both from those little snot-nosed brats upstairs and the gentlemen down here looking to score a whore and more. ”

“You’re expanding to college kids? That’s not something we’ve discussed. Last I checked, we’re partners on this. ”

“We are. That’s why I called you in. ” Scott stood and walked around to the front of his desk, leaning against it and crossing his legs at the ankles. “So let’s talk about it. ”

“Nothing to talk about. It’s too risky a move. Some punk kid rats and we’re going down like the Titanic. Not smart. Call it off. ”

The right side of Scott’s mouth drew up and he shrugged. “I suppose you’ve got a point, but it does make good business sense to offer the coke as a package deal with the girls. Those rich bastards aren’t blabbing about shit, and you know it. They’ve got too much to lose. A two-for-one will help drive up the starting bid on the auctions. ”

“Now that I can get on board with, ” David said with a politician’s smile. “Speaking of good business sense, my friend the senator will be coming to the next auction. I can’t stress enough how important it is that we make him happy with the goods, both the flake and the ladies. How’s the search for the twins going? Any luck? ”

“Yep, that’s reason number two for calling you in. Trust me, I am about to make your day, your week—hell, your whole year. ” Scott reached over to his phone and pushed a button, leaving the speaker on.

Terrence picked up on the other end. “Yeah, boss? ”

“Show the ladies to my office, T, ” Scott told him, and then disconnected the call with another push of the button.

After a few moments, the office door opened again and two leggy redheads—twins—sauntered into the room. They had identical physical attributes from what I could tell, and wore identical short dresses in silver. Dang, even their saunters were identical.

“Be still, my beating heart, ” David said, adjusting the front of his pants. He flashed them that toothy grin he apparently thought was sexy but which was just creepy even without the Elephant Man mask he was sporting. “Hellooo, ladies. ”

Scott went over to the girls and stood between them. “Meet Izzy and Belle. They’re perfect, right? ”

“Hell, yeah. The senator is going to be very satisfied with this package deal. Gotta admit, I wouldn’t mind sampling some of that for myself. ”

“I thought you might, and really, there isn’t any reason why we can’t. After all, I did say I was going to make your day. ”

David’s lascivious gaze raked over the girl on the right. Down, up, and back down to her legs again, like he was doing his damnedest to undress her with his eyes. He didn’t even bother to look away from her thighs when he said, “Why don’t you come over here and wrap that pair of milky ways around my head, sweetheart? ”

Oh, gag. Fortunately for him, his horrendous pickup line wouldn’t stop him from getting laid. With a few bucks in their pocket those girls would be good to go, but I was pretty sure they were getting paid more than a few bucks.

“Izzy, I want you to be really nice to this gentleman. Really, really nice, ” Scott said, taking her hand and directing her toward David.

Izzy stopped in front of him and Belle walked up behind her sister to unzip her dress, letting it pool on the floor at her feet. Izzy was completely naked underneath. Judging by the look on David’s face, I’d say he about lost his load in his pants right there.

“Goddamn, girl! ” David took Izzy by the hips and buried his face at the apex of her thighs. She giggled and ran her hands through his hair, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back. I didn’t blame her about the closing-her-eyes part. It’d be bad enough to have to feel it—I certainly wouldn’t want to have to watch the man-beast as he ate her.

Scott laughed and walked over to his desk to pick up a couple of baggies of coke and returned to give one to David. “Here, Romeo. Let’s party. ”

I should’ve turned away. What was about to go down in that room was disturbing on so many levels, but I couldn’t look away. I was a very sick individual. It was like watching a freak show. I knew it was going to give me the heebie-jeebies, but I had to see it.

Belle was naked now, and both girls were sprawled out on the couch with David and Scott moving their slimy mouths and hands all over them. The girls didn’t seem to be complaining, but … gross! I watched as David opened a baggie and shook the contents along the length of Izzy’s abdomen. Then he took a straw and snorted the line-shaped powder. Izzy moaned at the same time, and that’s when I saw David was pushing three fingers inside her while Scott looked on.