“Key.” I knew he was close to coming and knew that I should calmly get up off his lap, leave him hanging rock hard and unsatisfied to show him I had the upper hand in this game, and show him I could be just as ruthless as he was when it came to getting what I wanted.

I couldn’t do it, though. I wanted to watch him go over. I wanted to see him come apart for me. I wanted to see this man that manipulated everything and everyone around him fall because he couldn’t control me and his reaction to me. There was a power in that, an intoxication that had me stroking my thumb under the sensitive rim of the head and pumping my fist up and down even faster. I lost myself kissing and licking on the side of his neck until his entire frame coiled up and then shuddered under me as hot liquid burst forth and slicked over both of us. It was a different kind of burn but it felt so good.

A long sigh escaped him as I lifted my head and looked down at him in satisfaction. He didn’t look happy about the situation, but there was no mistaking the heated desire churning inside his eyes. He didn’t touch me, but he wanted to, and the battle was almost a losing one. It was stamped on every line of his face. I leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek again and whispered softly in his ear, “I can’t hate you, Nassir, but I don’t know if I can love you the way you want me to either. They both feel impossible and scary.”

He didn’t say anything, but he did shift so he could pull open a drawer of his desk and grab some Kleenex so I could clean myself up after I climbed off of him. He was rumpled and disheveled. It was a good look for him and I had to admire my handiwork. He situated himself back into his pants and stood so that he was looming over me. The fire in his eyes had banked but it didn’t make him look any less dangerous or fierce.

“The only guarantee in life is that we only have a limited amount of time on this planet, so we better make the most of it. We’ve already wasted a lot of that time skirting around the inevitable, Key. I’m not interested in giving any more of it, or you, up.”

We both turned as the elevator made a whooshing sound, signaling that Chuck was on his way up to the office.

“I’m not giving you my heart.” I said it the exact same way that I had told him I was never coming home. Solidifying the fact that I was a terrible liar.

He reached out a hand like he was going to move some of the bright red hair off my face but then pulled it back at the last minute as if touching me would singe him.

“You don’t have to give it to me, because I’m going to take it one way or the other. I’ve been stealing bits and pieces for years; you were just too busy struggling against me, determined to do things on your own and without me, to notice.”

Had he been?

Was all his silent protection and wordless offering without getting a thing from me in return the way he had been making off with what I was so sure I wasn’t willing to give? When he showed that he could care, that he had the capacity for kindness and compassion, it undid all the warnings he aroused in me. I was going to tell him to stop being sweet so I could think straight, but Chuck barreled through the doors looking stressed and annoyed.

“Why aren’t you answering the phone and did you not just see what went down in the bar?”

His eyes shot to the black monitors behind the desk and then over our rumpled appearances. He shook his head and put his hands on his hips.

“You two are going to be the death of me—or each other. Quit fooling around and get back to business. We have a problem and I need to know how you want to handle it.”

Nassir shot me a look out of the corner of his eye and I flushed.

Business-only arrangement, my ass.

Chapter 8

Nassir

The elevator ride down to the club was silent and the tension popping and snapping between me and Key was electric enough that it could power the entire building. Chuck kept giving me a look out of the corner of his eye that I purposely ignored. My nerves were already taut. Every last bit of self-control had already been used up while I wrestled with every instinct I had in order to keep my hands off of her while she played with me, tormented me. The veneer of civility that I wore was thin at best, and with Key poking at it, battering against it in order to get her own way, there wasn’t much left to hold me in check.

“So some doughy guy and his wife got into it in the bar. Security was just getting ready to intervene when the wife took a beer bottle and smashed it against the edge of the table. She went after him with it, but security got to them before any damage could actually be done.” Chuck shook his head. “Caused business in the bar to shut down for about thirty minutes or so. Security wants to know if you want to call the cops or not.”

I pushed my hands through my hair and smoothed down the thoroughly wrinkled front of my shirt. I heard Key snicker at the motion, and cut her a hard look.

“I don’t want the cops anywhere near this place. King will use any excuse he can find to shut us down and we haven’t even been open for a day. I’ll handle it.” I sighed. “I knew jealous spouses were going to be part of the equation when we opened the doors. One person’s wish list often leaves the other out in the cold.”

Key gave a delicate little snort and was the first to step off the elevator when it hit the ground floor.

“They shouldn’t be together if their wish list isn’t the same. It’ll never work out.” She glided away like she was a queen leaving her peasants to do her bidding, and I watched her until I couldn’t see her anymore.

“You’re in trouble with that one, boss.” Humor liberally laced Chuck’s tone as we turned and went the opposite way from the bar.

“I know, but it’s trouble that will be worth it in the end.” I just had to convince Key of that.

We headed down a long hallway and to another elevator that went to the lower level of the building. Back when it had been offices the lower floor was used mostly to keep files and store information. I had turned it into a mini-jail of sorts. I knew there were going to be problems. Whenever you mixed sex, booze, and no limits, people tended to lose all their inhibitions and basic rationality. I knew that there were going to be club members that didn’t want to follow the rules or respect the club, so I made sure I had a place to deal with them in my own way. All the rooms were made of concrete walls, soundproof and escape-proof; whatever happened down here would never be heard anywhere else in the building. It was a scary place to be and I could see that the couple sequestered in this very unforgiving place knew that.