20.

Phoenix

After three hours at the Loft and no sign of Kennedy, I finish my drink and throw a fifty on the table for Popcorn. Every person who approached me tonight for work or pleasure was sent away without even as much as a second glance.

After Coco revealed her extracurricular activities, which ended up being a clusterfuck, I needed to blow off a little steam. I figured fucking Kennedy could help bring me back to center. I stalk toward the front door, ignoring each person I walk by even when they try to get my attention, every muscle in my body growing tenser with each step.

Sliding into the back of the Escalade, I give Crane a quick nod before firing off a text to Kennedy.

Me: My place. Now.

My hand is wrapped around the phone so tightly, I can hear the case start to crack in my hands.

"Home, Mr. Ash?" Crane asks, keeping his eyes on the road and giving me my privacy.

He already knew I wasn't in the mood for chitchat from the ride to the club earlier. "Please." I glance out the window and turn the phone over in my hand, waiting impatiently for Kennedy's response, but it doesn't come fast enough before I shoot off another.

Me: You have thirty minutes, and then I'm coming for you.

Before I can turn the screen off, I receive a reply.

Kennedy: I'm on my way. Be there in ten.

The knot that's formed at the base of my neck starts to loosen, and I blow out a long, steady breath when I read her reply. Pressing my head into the headrest, I close my eyes and try to push down the anger from the situation with Coco. Kennedy doesn't need my shitty attitude, but I plan to fuck her in a punishing way. The aggression and aggravation that have built up inside me over the last few hours need to go somewhere, and lucky for Kennedy, her pussy is going to be the recipient.

When Crane pulls up to the curb in front of my building, Kennedy's already waiting near the door. Her hands are tucked into the pockets of her jeans, and she's sweeping her foot back and forth against the cement, scuffing the bottom of her black stiletto.

As soon as I open the car door and step down, her eyes meet mine. "Nix." She stills the sweeping motion of her foot.

"Good of you to join me."

Her eyes widen slightly. "Sorry. I've had a shitty day," she says and sinks her teeth into her bottom lip, peering down at her feet as she follows in line with me as I walk.

My hand finds the small of her back, and I usher her through the door at my side. "Good evening, Mr. Ash," Troy says, smiling from ear to ear when we enter the lobby. "Evening to you too, ma'am." He tips his hat, stalking toward the elevator to press the button before I can.

Kennedy's back is tense under my fingertips. She plasters a smile on her face and twists her fingers together in front of her. "Hi, Troy," she says with an overly enthusiastic and completely fake happy tone.

"It's always nice to see you, Troy. Working the night shift all week?" I ask, trying to make small talk so I don't seem like an asshole.

He punches the button with the up arrow. "Yes, sir. You need anything, just ring." He removes his hat and steps away from the door, giving us a little more space.

"I will. Thank you, Troy." My fingers slide underneath Kennedy's shirt and press into warm skin. "I'll get it from here," I tell Troy, ready to be alone with Kennedy and not in the mood for anything but her.

"All right, Mr. Ash. Have a good evening." He smiles, placing the maroon hat banded with a black ribbon back on his head. "Night, ma'am."

"Night, Troy," Kennedy says, tensing underneath my touch.

My thumb strokes the dip of her spine, never missing a beat when the doors slide open and we step inside. She turns to face me before we reach the back wall, but my lips are on hers before she has a chance to speak. My hand tangles in her hair, holding her face to mine and giving her no space to get away.

The kiss is punishing and demanding as my tongue sweeps inside her mouth, relishing the velvety softness as her tongue slides against mine. My leg comes up, pushing her knees apart, and I press my erection against her leg. Every ounce of my body is craving her, needing the release. She moans into my mouth when her clit brushes against my thigh, rocking back and forth.

Her eyes are darker, and she's gasping for air when her tongue pokes out, sweeping against her red, swollen lips. My cock hardens to granite, my heart thumping erratically in my chest from the look in her eyes.

I grab her hand, pulling her out of the elevator and through the door into the penthouse foyer. "I need you," I say, pulling her shirt over her head before the elevator doors have even closed.

"Nix," she says as I drop it to the floor and bury my face in her cleavage.

Her perfume surrounds me, luring me into an erotic trance as my tongue sweeps across her skin, tasting her. She moans, digging her fingers into my hair, and her head tips back when I take her hard nipple in my mouth. I'm drunk on her. Stoned on lust. High with need. In this moment, all of that outweighs the fact that she still has secrets she's keeping from me.

My fingers work the button and zipper of her jeans before yanking them down far enough to dip a finger inside of her. "So wet," I murmur against her breast.

"Nix," she moans, riding my finger and grinding her clit into the fleshy part of my palm.

My teeth bite down, grazing her swollen nipple in a back and forth motion as I draw it into my mouth. Everything else around us, everything that we are falls away, and we're only left with the animalistic desire that's coursing through us.

"Come for me, Kennedy. I want to feel your greedy cunt milk my fingers."

Her fingers curl in my hair, raising my scalp just enough to cause a pleasurable sting that goes straight to my aching dick. I ignore the urge to bend her over the round table that's behind me and fuck her senseless. There's time for that. I plan to fuck her until she's limp and every muscle in her body can't even support her body weight anymore.

Lifting my head when her breathing falters and her pussy clamps down, convulsing against my finger, I cover her mouth with my lips and devour her moans of ecstasy. Kennedy like this, uninhibited and passionate, is the sexiest woman I've ever been with. My cock's pushing against my jeans, straining to be buried deep inside her, and I can't stop the growl crawling up my throat when her hand slides down my front and grabs my shaft with force.

"Fuck me, Nix," she whispers against my lips, breathless and still needy.

Within seconds, I have her facing the other way and her pants down around her ankles before I unfasten my jeans, letting the beast free. In my hunger, I don't run it through her wetness but push inside in one hard thrust, burying myself until my balls slap her clit. She lurches forward with the table from the impact. I place a hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place for what's about to happen, and pull her body back.

I grunt with each thrust-the next more brutal than the last-pulling her backward and punching into her with such force that she starts to mumble something that sounds like she's possessed. Nothing makes sense, just gibberish coming out of her mouth, and her eyes roll back when she slaps her hands down on the edges of the table, and she braces herself.

Keeping a hand on her shoulder, I slide the other down her side, and my fingers dig into her hip. Needing more, not wanting either of us to come yet, I raise my hand and bring it down on the fleshy part of her thigh, causing her to cry out from the impact.

She pushes backward, fucking me with her greedy cunt. Meeting my blows in perfect rhythm, trying to regain control. But I won't let her. I slap her hip again. Harder this time, causing her to buck against me. She turns her face, her eyes piercing into me, angry and dark. But it doesn't stop me. Pressing my hand on the middle of her back between her shoulder blades, I push her chest against the tabletop, trapping her from moving again.

"You love my cock. Don't you, Kennedy?"

Her face is smashed into the wood and her eyes are sealed shut, her hands still firmly curled around the edges of the table. "Not. As. Much. As. You. Love. My. Pussy," she grunts out, each word stunted by my thrusts.

Leaning forward, I cover her back with my front and sink my teeth into the tense, corded muscle of her shoulder where it meets her neck. But I don't bite down hard enough to hurt her, just with enough pressure to cause her core to clamp down around my cock and her body to shiver with the impending climax.

I'm close. I want it. I feel the orgasm building. My balls grow heavy, pulling toward my body as my spine starts to tingle and the hairs on the back of my neck rise. "Beg me to come," I tell her, whispering in her ear through gritted teeth. "Ask for it."

"Nix," she says, but I'm not sure if it's a warning or a plea.

I pull out, leaving just the tip of my cock inside, and suck her earlobe into my mouth, placing it between my teeth. "Beg. For. It."

"Nix, please. I need to come," Kennedy says in the greediest tone as her walls try to pull me back in.

"Good girl," I growl, straightening my back, and I batter her with my dick. "Fuck," I grunt, loving the feel of her pussy squeezing my shaft.

My thighs are burning, but I don't let it stop me. I even my pace-hard and fast-pulling all the way out before slamming back into her. My fingers dig into her shoulder and back, needing to ground myself for the orgasm that's about to rip through me.

Before I can stop it, it unleashes. My thighs that once burned now seize, unable to move from the tremors that course through me, shooting out from my cock like lightning, causing every part of my body to prickle.

I'm so lost in my orgasm that I barely hear her cry out, "I'm coming!"

I can't breathe. I can't control the movement, my body still striking hers from behind. My eyes close, tiny sparks of light exploding behind my lids, and I become light-headed.

When Kennedy's body goes limp under my hands, I collapse forward and try to catch my breath. Her knuckles are white and her fingers are still holding on to the table as she sucks in air with her eyes closed.

I don't want to admit it, but I've never come with anyone the way I do with her. There's so much pent-up energy and anger between us that I become unhinged, resulting in the most mind-blowing orgasms. Kennedy does that to me. She makes me crazy. Makes me a different person. One who's not as careful. A man who doesn't care because I have an insatiable appetite to be inside her and taste her on my tongue that nothing else but doing it quenches the thirst.

As my legs begin to regain strength and my head's back in the game, I pull my cock out and kick off my pants as I back away from her. "Fuck," I groan, running my hands through my hair. I'm fucked. Yep. Completely fucked and not like I just was either.

She turns her face to me. "What's wrong?" She keeps her body plastered against the tabletop that I bought as the centerpiece of the foyer but never found a use for before tonight.

Stalking toward the kitchen, unable to stare at her naked and spread out with the flush on her cheeks, I grab a bottle of whiskey off the counter and chug a quarter of the bottle.

She walks in naked with her skin glistening in the harsher light of the kitchen. "Nix, talk to me," she says and approaches me cautiously.

My eyes are trained on her, studying her face and trying to read her eyes. This woman gets under my skin, and it's not a feeling I'm used to or that sits right with me. Wiping my lips with the back of my hand, I set the bottle on the counter and wrap a hand around her arm. "We can't do this anymore." I don't see any other way around it. I can't be with her. She makes me lose my shit, and I'm known for keeping my shit tight.

Her eyes widen and her lips part when my words hit her. "Why not?"

"I can't think straight when I'm with you. After tonight, we're through, Kennedy."

"But-"

I shake my head and narrow my eyes. "Stop working me. I'm not just another dumb fuck. I live my life in a controlled manner, and you fuck with that. I can't let you, even with your greedy, wet pussy, ruin everything."

She places her hand over mine but doesn't try to pry my grip from her bicep. "Come on, Nix." She takes a step forward and presses her tits against my bare chest. "We have something real. You can't just throw it all away."

"I can't think when I'm with you."

"That's not a bad thing." She smiles softly, and my grip starts to slip along with my willpower. "I forget who I am when I'm with you. I like the Kennedy standing in this room, talking to you. You make me want to be something different, something more." Her mouth comes to my chin, peppering me with kisses before blazing a trail down my neck. "Don't throw us away," she murmurs against my skin. "We're too good together."

As usual, my cock approves of her words and the way she's licking my skin. Even though I just came minutes ago, I harden when she falls to her knees and fists my cock.

"I'll make you forget," she whispers before closing her lips around the head.

I rock my hips and close my eyes, deciding that right now, her mouth is all I want and the rest can wait until later.

21.

Kennedy

The next morning, I wake to the warm brush of Nix's breath across my bare shoulder. He's wrapped around me, his chest to my back, his top leg draped over both of mine.

With anyone else, this would feel suffocating. But with him, it's the opposite. The only time I see a soft, serene Nix is when he's sleeping. There's no calculation or tension in him now because all his walls are down. When he fucks me the way he did last night, I feel more wanted than I knew was possible. His hips pound into me without mercy, seeking release that only I can give him.

But this is different, and in a way, even better. I feel needed by him. Cared for. And God, does it feel amazing to be needed by this man.

Criminal or not, I've fallen for Nix. It doesn't matter to me what his real name is or who he's stolen money from. When I look into his dark eyes, I see his heart and soul. He may love very few people in this world, but he loves them fiercely and without conditions.

Am I one of those people? My stomach tightens into a knot as I think about what I have to tell him. I should have done it last night, but when he laid those tortured, hungry eyes on me, I couldn't think about anything but satisfying him.

He shifts, taking his leg off of mine, and I close my eyes. I'm perfectly still, hoping he won't wake up yet. I'm not ready to let go of the faith he has in me.

With a low, sleepy hum, he kisses my shoulder, his stubbled chin tickling me. He moves on to my neck then, sweeping my hair to the side so he can get to the back. Every kiss is tender and sweet, though my pussy throbs with awareness. I crave the full feeling of him sliding all the way inside me, but I can't give in to my feelings again.

"Morning," he says in my ear, tugging the lobe gently between his teeth.

"Mmm...morning." I pretend I just woke up, though I've been staring at one of the tall windows in his bedroom since before sunrise.

His next kiss on my neck includes a soft swipe of his tongue. "You were perfect last night. Everything I needed. I'm gonna thank you by keeping my face between those gorgeous thighs for a while."

My pussy clenches with approval. He slides his palm down my stomach, and I have to force my legs not to part as he goes lower.

"I need to talk to you," I say, steeling myself.

I haven't been working Nix-at least, not the way I was supposed to be. What's happening between us is real to me, but I don't know if he'll believe that.

"What is it?" he asks as I sit up in bed.

I wrap my arms around my knees and take a deep breath. Nix puts his big, warm palm on my bare back and rubs it up and down. Little does he know I'm upset because I'm about to ruin us.

Sliding out of the bed, I grab one of his dress shirts from the back of a chair and put it on. I can't have this conversation naked. I sit down on the chair and look at him lying in bed, deliciously naked and rumpled.

"Do you know what I do for a living?" I ask tentatively.

He narrows his eyes slightly. "I've got a feeling I don't want to know. What we've got is pleasure, not business. Right?"