Dani blew out a long breath as she approached the club’s exit, then hesitated before she took the final step out into the bitter Boston night, where Rand was waiting for her. She was already regretting her decision to start their arrangement tonight, but she needed to man up. It was just a month, for God’s sake—the sooner she got everything rolling, the sooner it’d be over. And there was no denying that she was making serious bank for this job. She had to stay focused on that.
Speaking of…
She pulled out her phone and dialed the digits she knew by heart, digits she’d punched so often she was surprised her phone’s glass surface hadn’t begun to crack.
This time, at least, Jimmy picked up.
“Hey, Dani,” he said, but there was no relief in his voice, even though she’d left two messages already that she had good news for him. Good news—and he hadn’t even tried to call her back? That was far more troubling than the parade of voicemails that he’d left on her phone over the past few weeks.
“Hey there, Jimmy,” she said, forcing a brightness into her voice to overmatch his gloom. “Did you get my messages? I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“Messages?” There was a pause while Jimmy shifted the phone away from his ear, and Dani imagined him scrolling through the screens. “Yeah, I’m sorry. The last few days have been kind of intense. Between the night shift and the day shift, I guess I lost track of whether I was coming or going.” A bit of Jimmy’s old humor crept back into his voice, but it sounded rusty.
“Well, that’s why I called,” Dani said. “I’ve come into some cash to help you out. Enough, I think, that you should be covered.” But eventually, you’re going to have to tell me what it is I’m paying for, baby brother, she added silently.
“Yeah?” Once again, Jimmy’s voice didn’t have the relief in it she expected. This was the same guy who two weeks ago had been hammering on her for a fix—what had changed? Since when was the promise of money not enough?
Or maybe he just didn’t realize how much she could help.
“Yeah,” Dani said. “Fifty thousand dollars. I can get it to you however you need it.”
That cracked through Jimmy’s facade. “Fifty thous—Are you crazy?” he asked, his voice animated now, his words coming in a rush. “Where in the hell did you get fifty grand, Dani? I can’t take that from you, no way!”
“Yeah, you can,” Dani said, not even trying to keep the emotion out of her words. She was there for him. The money would help—already was helping, if the sound of Jimmy’s voice was any indication. “Hopefully, it will be enough.”
“Enough! God, yes. Yes, it will be enough. It means everything. It changes all of it. What we can do, where we can go. God.”
Dani frowned at the phone. Where they can go? Surely Jimmy wasn’t in such bad trouble that he was thinking of leaving the city. “Um, Jimmy, what exactly are you—”
A crash in the background followed by a thin wail reverberated through the phone, along with the cry of a panicked woman. Katie, Jimmy’s wife. “I gotta go, Dani,” Jimmy said. “I promise we’ll talk tomorrow—the next day. As soon as I can. Thank you! God, thank you so much. I’ll pay you back, I swear it.”
He clicked off before she could respond, but Dani still felt lighter as she pocketed her phone. Whatever Jimmy had gotten himself into, she could help get him out, just like she always had. And that was what was important. She stepped out of the club’s doorway, trotting the short distance down the sidewalk until Rand’s sleek sedan pulled up. She stepped off the curb and opened the door, then slid in beside him.
“How’d it go?”
“I can’t decide what made Lou happier,” she said. “The easy-to-pawn gold, or getting new and extra-special dirt on Boston socialites. You better watch yourself. The moment he’s got anything on you, it’ll be all over the city before dawn.”
“Perhaps I should put him on the payroll,” Rand said. “I can always use good information. Especially about myself.”
Dani snorted. “I can’t imagine you give all that much of a shit about what anyone says about you.”
“Not true. My work with Winston Securities carries a certain expectation of my public face, same as Morrissey. If I were to be compromised, it could damage my profits.”
“And we couldn’t have that.”
“I’d rather not, no.”
Rand maneuvered through the downtown streets, and Dani quickly realized he wasn’t heading out of the city back toward her brownstone. Which meant he really was taking her up on her suggestion to start the clock. Alrighty, then. She didn’t look at him, however. She wasn’t sure how much he could see in her eyes: the adrenaline rush, the satisfaction of a quick but heart-pounding score, her relief at being able to help Jimmy, her nervousness at being alone with him again. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted him to see, either. “So now where are we headed?” she asked.
“The least I can do is offer you my hospitality,” Rand said easily, “after I so rudely interrupted your work this evening.”
“You were pretty rude, come to think about it.”
“It’s one of my best attributes.”
Dani turned her head toward the window and grinned, despite herself. A traitorous riffle of excitement skittered through her as Rand’s sleek sedan hugged another turn, but she knew the score. Rand had set her up for a monthlong game of Truth or Dare, with the Dare switch permanently turned on. Nothing “illegal”; nothing “morally reprehensible”; nothing “damaging to her personally”—but everything else was fair game. When he got the chance, he’d walk her right up to the line of her limits, she suspected. So it was her job to make sure he didn’t get the chance. At least not until she was feeling ready to be pushed a little.
And there was still the question of why Rand had chosen her for this month of playdates. He didn’t want to tell her, clearly. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t find out. Starting now, she needed to be on her toes.
Unbidden, an image of Rand at the Morisseys surged in her mind. She stared out the window, aware of her cheeks heating as she recalled the feel of Rand pressed up against her in that overdecorated living room, the dangerous edge to his sensual assault. He was right about him compromising her job, though. She’d never done anything so stupid before, so risky. Not when she was working.
And God, she’d liked it.
She liked the idea of seeing the inside of Rand’s apartment, too, liked it more than she wanted to think about. And why wouldn’t she? Rand had to live better than anyone she’d ever met. His shoes probably cost more than her monthly rent, and he no doubt had two dozen pairs of those shoes, just lying around some enormous, wood-paneled walk-in closet. Tonight was just a fishing expedition for her to check out how the One Percent lived, no harm in that. Hell, it’d be an education she could actually put to use, too, to better prepare herself for her next con among the glitterati.
The sedan finally slowed as Rand pulled up to the valet station in front of his high-rise condo. The place looked deserted, and he continued into the adjoining parking garage, the real estate of that building probably valued more highly than the condo itself. As soon as they slid into the glowing confines of the garage, however, Dani felt anxious, almost trapped. She sat forward in her seat, as if by memorizing the featureless concrete walls she would somehow be able to escape more easily if cornered.
“A little early for you to get nervous,” Rand said.
“I might be in the market for a new place.” Dani shrugged. “I figured I should get the layout from the ground up.”
He laughed and pulled into a marked spot, not even turning toward her, but popping the doors and exiting the sedan. Dani hauled herself out of the vehicle before he could come over to offer her a hand, and she met him at the back of the car. She still wore her night gear, but given the weather, no one would assume she was dressed for stealth and not warmth. Rand pulled her into his body and kissed her, the touch electric but brief.
Her brows lifted, and she glanced up at the cameras but didn’t say anything as Rand reached past her to punch the elevator button. The unit opened immediately, and he ushered her into the gleaming space, then swiped a key card and hit another button inside.
As soon as the elevator doors closed, however, he crowded up against her, tilting up her head for a long, luxurious kiss. “Seriously?” she asked against his lips, but she didn’t stop his hand as it stole around to her chin, unzipping her parka until her jacket hung open. He palmed her breasts hard through the thick knit fabric, and she slid her hands along his waist. “You have a bet with the guys in security or something?”
By way of response, Rand simply pulled her shirt up and leaned down to press his lips against her breasts, the sudden shock of his movement causing a hard shudder that seemed to reverberate to Dani’s toes. He drew her nipple into his mouth, and she arched against him at this yet-new sensation, bracing herself against his shoulders. Instead of stopping him, though, the feel of her hands against his skin seemed to drive Rand to greater intensity and he thrust forward, lifting her high on the wall of the cage. The rumble of the machine behind her back made her feel unsteady, off-kilter, but Rand absorbed her weight, lifting his head to kiss her hard on the mouth. All of the energy and excitement from the Morrisseys’ house was back, and Dani’s body fairly hummed with pleasure—especially when Rand ground his fingers into her backside, pulling her into him.
“I knew it,” she said, watching Rand’s eyes darken with his own need, almost seeing the calculation there as he considered doing more in the elevator. “You do have a bet with security.”
He smiled. “Not exactly. I own the company that provides the security. The cameras switch off when my key card is used.”
She lifted her brows. “Good to know.”
The twist of Rand’s lips was pure arrogance. “Trust me, you don’t want to steal from me. Especially not here.”
“I don’t know, it seemed to work out for me pretty well the first time.”
“Did it?” At that moment, the elevator dinged. Rand stood away from her only long enough for her to smooth her shirt and jacket back down. Then he pulled her through the open doors. They were in a sort of posh sitting room, clearly still a public space, and he swept the area with a glance. “Cameras stay on in this room 24-7, regardless of the key card used,” he said. “Even building management.”
“Also good to know.” Dani resisted the urge to look around for the devices. Were they obvious or camouflaged beneath the fake ferns? Still, the swath of video-friendly space gave his condo the feeling of having a moat of security around it. She stood by as he swiped his key card against a unit, then punched in a code. The door popped open, and he turned, gesturing her inside. She had a vague sense of sweeping views, high ceilings, and gleaming silver everything—then the door clicked shut behind her and Rand was at her back. She hadn’t even stepped three feet down the hardwood floor.
“Stay right there,” he murmured. “I really, really liked this position.”
And just like that, Dani found herself rooted to the spot as Rand began undressing her. He was unhurried, almost methodical, as he pulled back her hoodie jacket and threw it aside, peeling her thermal shirt up and over her head in one smooth move. It was cool in the apartment, though not freezing, but Dani still shivered in reaction as Rand gripped the sides of her waist and slid his hands up over the sensitized skin, stopping tantalizingly short of her breasts. He paused there and she fought the moan, her body shifting back toward him even as he kept the distance between them. “Something you want, Dani? Because there’s certainly something I want, right now.”
“Looks like it’s your lucky day, then.” Without waiting for him to keep up the slow dance, she turned to face him, and his gaze dropped to her bra. The little lace number was not the most ridiculous thing she owned, but it certainly wasn’t what she would consider typical attire for a night job. Still, it seemed to do the trick. Rand’s face darkened and he brought his hands up, cupping her breasts through the sheer fabric and pressing it against her soft skin. Beneath his touch, her nipples hardened into sharp points, and he amplified the torment by pinching them through the fabric. The brief burst of pain sent an answering quiver of need through her core, and she shifted toward him with a soft groan.
Rand’s smile was hard, sure, but he let her reach out and pull his shirt up as well, lifting his arms so she could slide the thick shirt over his head. Beneath were the hard planes of his chest, his flat nipples also tight. She palmed them, able to see him far more clearly than she had in the dimly lit VIP suite of Club Noir. Rand’s body was lean and sinewy, with all of the almost-cruel beauty of his face. It was a body that was born to be lush, then hammered into submission, the muscles flaring over his stomach and the sharp indentations of his hips just visible above his waistband. She moved her hands to his pants then, his erection tenting the fabric, and he caught her fingers as she slipped them under the waistband.
Their eyes met, and his smile was pure menace. “You drop those pants here, and you get fucked here,” he said. “Right where you stand.”
Smiling, she drew a long finger down his shaft, feeling the thickness of him quiver beneath her touch. “Not if I fuck you first.”
Rand held Dani’s gaze as she unhooked his pants, and fought to keep his breathing even as she slipped long, cool fingers down against his skin, sliding along his cock to reach the soft ballsack below. She fluttered her fingers, then moved to slide his pants all the way down, her own ass rounding as she bent her knees. He kicked off his shoes and she knelt in front of him, drawing his trousers all the way down his legs. When she pulled his boxer briefs down next, his erection sprang free in front of her mouth. “Well, well,” she said, her voice a silky purr. “Look what we have here.” She snaked out her tongue to touch the head, already wet with his ready reaction, and tilted her face upward. The sight of her beautiful eyes, her dark hair, and her sweet, rounded ass caused Rand to growl low in his throat.
She smiled at him, the look one of dangerous seduction. “You want to fuck my mouth, Rand?”
She didn’t wait for an answer and pressed her lips over him. It was his turn to clench with need, her hands digging into his hips, her motions assured, taking him deep. He widened his stance to brace himself and then went very still as her teeth scraped against his shaft, the pressure remaining taut, almost painful. With a guttural moan he thrust forward and Dani clamped down hard on his hips, taking him thrust for thrust until he wrapped his hands around her fingers and peeled them away, stepping back.
She freed his cock with a moist pop and grinned up at him. “Had enough?”
“I think you’re overdressed.”
She shrugged and let him pull her to her feet, then shimmied out of her thick leggings. Rand’s gaze dropped to the thin vee of her thong. Unlike the bra, there was nothing suggestive about it—although anything on Dani’s body would be considered suggestive in his book. As if embarrassed by his gaze, she stepped into his body, brushing up against his twitching cock as she stretched up to kiss him. Instinctively, his hands went to her hips, curling around her ass as he pulled her to him. Her body was on fire, sleek and strong, her skin smooth beneath his hands. He curled his finger into the material of her thong and tugged it down. “Not that this isn’t lovely…,” he murmured, pulling off the sports gear.
“Hey, you try running in a lace thong,” Dani said, her manner unaffected, light. Still, she shivered as he slipped the panties down over her thighs, shimmying away from his hands to kick the material free.
“Almost perfect,” he said, and then his hands went to her bra, freeing her of that restriction as well. Dani stood in front of him, fully naked, her hair down around her shoulders, her eyes large and dark. He wanted to take her now until she collapsed on the floor—and they hadn’t even gotten out of his foyer yet.
She pressed her body up against his again, and any thoughts of slowing down came crashing to a halt. He pushed back against her until she smacked up against the wall, then kissed her hard even as he positioned himself at her entrance. Moist heat slicked his cock and he slid against her folds, her chuckle as warm and inviting as the sensations rocketing through him. “I think you’ll find I’m ready for you,” she murmured.
He pressed up into her, feeling her stretch around him as she hissed out a sharp sigh. Her fingers tightened almost painfully on his shoulders, and she shut her eyes. He found he hated that—hated not seeing every shift, every reaction in her gaze, but he didn’t say a word, only watched her as she absorbed the sensation of him, her eyes finally fluttering open once again to focus on him. “You feel…really good,” she said, and he ground up against her, liking the way her eyes widened slightly at the added intrusion. Liking it a lot.
“I hope you’re not planning on going anywhere anytime soon,” he said, and she tilted her head, her hair hanging in thick waves around her face. Something she must have seen in his face made her gaze flicker a little, and she glanced away.
No. The response within him was immediate and visceral. He didn’t want Dani looking away from him, not even for a moment. Even to catch her breath, to regroup. Especially not that. He wanted her focus, her attention, her entire world to be completely consumed by him. He leaned in and took her mouth with his, his blood pounding in his ears as she opened her lips. She allowed him to plunge his tongue into her mouth, even as she tightened around his cock. She was all wet heat and strength, and he reveled in the feel of her, both unknown and utterly familiar, as if she’d been made for him.
He broke off the kiss and she gasped, breathless, and he saw it again, that wary look in her eye, as if she’d suddenly realized that she was closer to danger than she thought. She should be wary. He stepped back from her, breaking their connection further, and gestured her to move ahead of him. Instead, she offered him a wicked smile and turned around toward the wall. “I think this was where we left off?”
Rand took in the long expanse of her naked back, arching now as she stretched, catlike, against the wall. Her tattooed birds fluttered down her shoulder blades in lessening numbers, the last barely an inch above her waist. Her perfect, round ass taunted him. He clasped her on either side of her waist and slipped back into her body in one smooth thrust. Her soft curse made him smile. “Difficult angle for you?”
“Either that or you just—really—like this position,” Dani said. She shifted again, rolling her ass against him, and he reached out to cup her breasts in his hands, weighing their fullness as he stroked her deeply from within. She relaxed further, and he trailed his right hand down over her abdomen, enjoying her soft hiss as his fingers found the top of her sex and pressed there, laying claim.
“I didn’t get to enjoy this part so much last time,” he murmured, but any answer she might have given was lost as he spread his fingers wide, brushing across her clit and staying there, teasing her, even as she tried to shift away.
“Yeah, well, that’s going to get you a long way really, really fast, so if that’s your intention—”
“That’s my intention.” Rand leaned forward and nuzzled her neck, his teeth pressing against her shoulder as his thrusts grew harder, deeper. The combination of sensations sent a shudder through Dani—a shudder that turned into the tight, intense convulsions that he remembered from the first time he’d sent her over the edge. This time, however, he didn’t stop, lessening the pressure for only a moment until the leading edge of her climax eased, then returning to her clit even as she gasped in protest and tried to squirm away. “Don’t fight it,” he said, the words a soft command. Heat radiated off Dani now, and he could almost smell the spice of panic in it. He smiled, reveling in her reaction, feeling his own climax hovering closer as she moaned against him, letting him seat himself more firmly. He touched the tightly wound nerves and she shattered a second time, this one on a curse, the orgasm driving her body rigid as she clamped so tightly around his cock that his eyes crossed. His hand fell away and she expelled a sound that was half gasp, half laugh, pressing her hands on the wall and pushing outward, the movement so primal that it took him all the way.
Dani moaned in deeply feminine satisfaction as he climaxed, his body stiffening even while hers somehow became more pliant, taking everything he had to give as she moaned in deep satisfaction. “Damn, you feel great,” she sighed, and if he hadn’t already finished, her soft, sultry voice would have sent him over the edge. He realized he was gripping her hard enough to leave marks on her hips, and he forced himself to lessen his hold, the two of them breaking away from each other as if they had been dancing this dance for years and not mere days. Rand motioned to the bathroom and Dani stepped away, unself-conscious even as he stared after her. There were only a few lights on in his home, and the sight of Dani’s long, supple body moving through the shadows pleased him on an almost soul-deep level. She was his for the rest of the night, he knew. After that, he would have to let her go, at least for a little while. Tomorrow night would be here soon enough.
But still.
He turned and padded down the hall, entering the kitchen—a pleasingly large space, despite the fact that he rarely cooked or even ate here. As he ran his hands under the water at the sink, he glanced around as if with new eyes. He slept here. And he entertained. But this space wasn’t meant for living, not really. It was all too affected, all too public.
“You probably don’t even have food in this place, do you?”
Rand turned around, surprised at Dani’s words.
“Why do you say that?”
“Too clean. I get that you have a housecleaning service, but no way do you have a cook.” She opened his refrigerator, and he felt absurdly pleased at her soft exhalation of surprise. “Okay, I stand corrected.” She threw him a glance. “They just come in here and restock once a week, or what?”
He laughed, the sound strange to his ears but welcome, and shook his head. “My refrigerator is also too clean?”
“Nothing’s expired.” She pulled out a bottle of Perrier, holding it up to him. When he shook his head, she glanced again inside the fridge, then shut it. He forestalled his words, somehow knowing she wasn’t going to avail herself of the food inside unless he pushed it, even though she clearly was hungry.
He moved past her and opened the unit again, pulling out a tray of grapes and cheese, the food already set up for entertaining. “What are you hungry for?” he asked, and she laughed.
“Anything that’s not tied down.”
Her words were light, but Rand felt his hand tighten on the tray anyway.