Page 25 of Take Her

I just needed him to know it.

And he waited, up until it was clear I wasn’t stopping, just as the tip of my tongue had parted my lips, before pulling that particular boot away from me.

“Get up,” he said like a curse.

I didn’t know how to feel, elated or scared—I knew I’d pushed things, the only question was if I’d judged him right.

“Why?” I asked, looking up at him adoringly.

Unfamiliar emotions streaked across his face like fast moving thunderclouds. “Because it’s too early for me to drink—and watching you down there makes me want to.”

“Will you stay?” I asked him, with a desperate hitch in my voice.

His eyes took a long moment to search mine before answering. “Yes.” Then he took a step away from me, like he was afraid I might kiss his feet in gratitude. “Go home and get some sleep, Lia,” he said, his voice dark and low. “Come back tomorrow, and we’ll begin your instruction.”

I swallowed, and made my way to standing, pulling down my uniform from all the places that it’d ridden up—and I wasn’t the only one being treated unkindly by my clothing. Rhaim’s erection, long, thick, and low slung, was clearly trapped against the hip crease of his jeans, begging to get free, the same as when I’d felt it riding against my ribs at Vertigo when he’d spanked me. It was hard to look anywhere else—because fuck—fuck—fuck—all I wanted was him in me.

But I knew from the expression on his face that if I said anything right now, he’d personally kick me out of Corvo and demagnetize my keycard.

I managed to look him just in the eyes, nod quickly instead, and say “Yes, sir. See you then” smartly, before darting around him to the rest of the offices outside.

11

RHAIM

Did Nero Ferreo’s little girl just crawl across the floor to greet me like a cat?

Yes.

Did it make me want to fuck her?

Do you even have to ask?

The second Lia was gone I let myself into the bottle of whiskey I’d pretended was so important.

I’d only come into the offices early to beat traffic and go to the gym, after staying away for as long as I could. I’d had no intention of leaving Corvo Enterprises in anything but a casket—but when I’d seen her in the hall unexpectedly, I wanted to see what she was made of.

Because I’d spent the rest of my weekend at the farm trying to figure her out, rolling ideas around like dice in my mind, and I’d only come up with snake-eyes.

Somehow Lia Ferrero had been flipped.

The FBI or the ATF or any number of three lettered agencies, had gotten ahold of Nero Ferreo’s daughter and turned her—pulled her back from her jet-setting life in Europe and told her she had to get in here, to weasel in good and tight.

I imagined she had a boyfriend over there, from back wherever it was her Lambo was being shipped home from. Maybe he’d gotten popped for possession and then once they realized they had her through him, they were waterboarding him in some Eastern European jail until she promised to return with fresher meat.

And while her dear old Daddy might be too busy to pay attention to her, making abrupt business decisions during the day and whoring it up with girls slightly younger than she was at night—there I was, vulnerable to attack.

I was like a stately great white, swimming through the ocean—and she was like a lamprey.

It was the only thing that made sense, and her little game of crawling right now, like I’d told her I’d wanted her to at the club, had sealed it.

I poured myself two shots and knocked them back, but the fire burning in my throat in no way compared to the way I felt after seeing her.

Lia, on her hands and knees, her long dark hair up in that ponytail that now drove me wild, her ass held high as she bent down to?—

I’d only barely remembered my boots were stable boots in time to stop her.

I’d been so mesmerized by the spectacle, I’d almost let her go through with it—just to see what she would’ve done next when she was through.