Beyond Control(31)

"Not in the mood," she said again, smoothing his shirt as they reached the guest quarters. "I've decided we need a few more heroes."

He stopped abruptly and tugged her around to face him, his voice deadly serious. "Shit, Lex. Are you all right? I know it's been a long day, but..."

Things had gone f*cking downhill when she started scaring people with positivity. "I'm ready to go home."





Chapter Twelve



Dallas knew his day had been too f*cking long when he was surprised to find Lex in his suite.

Granted, they hadn't had much time to settle into a routine. And he'd always made a point of collaring outsiders before, women who could fit into his life when and where he wanted them and disappear without drama when one of them tired of the arrangement. The woman made that call, more often than not--some because they'd gotten what they wanted, and others because they wanted what he could never give.

None of them had been around, day in and day out, underfoot and there to witness the days he was too tired to play conquering barbarian, too tired to do anything but fall back on the bed and wait for his thoughts to settle enough for sleep to come. Most nights, he drank them into silence, which meant an early morning with an aching head and a vicious temper, and the women who wanted the fantasy of kneeling for the ruthless Dallas O'Kane didn't want Declan groaning about his throbbing temples.

Christ, he should have thought about that before slapping that collar around Lex's throat. He was too exhausted to take off his own boots, and there she sat, curled up on his couch with a book, gorgeous and patient and deserving a hell of a lot more than a man who'd just fall asleep on top of her.

Especially after the last couple days.

She looked up, her brows drawing together as she closed her book. "You look like hell."

"That's where I've been." He kicked the door shut behind him, and damn. Even the four steps to the couch felt like a battle. He dropped beside her with a heavy sigh and stretched out his legs. "Honestly, I expected a hell of a lot more push-back against this. I didn't expect that I'd have to step on half the guy's necks to keep them from charging out tonight to stake their claims on new territory."

"Some of them are hungry. They want to make names for themselves the way Jas and Bren have. And don't forget the money."

He'd bargained hard with the other sector leaders when it came to defining profit, hard enough that the men would have their chance to get wealthy, if they worked for it. "Yeah, but money won't do 'em a f*ckload of good if they get their brains splattered on the walls by moving too fast and being careless."

"Relax." She slipped behind him on the couch and started rubbing his shoulders. "No one's getting splattered, because you're going to make them understand that wisdom is better than speed."

He snorted but closed his eyes as her fingers dug into a knotted muscle. It hurt, the kind of pain that came with relief on its heels. "I have my doubts that some of them will understand, but they'll damn well obey either way."

She worked his muscles harder. "The first option's easier."

"If everyone's thinking on the same level. God love some of the guys, Lex. They're good and they're loyal...but they're not all Jasper or Bren or Mad."

"So, you pair them up with ones who'll stop and think. The buddy system. You've been doing it for years, haven't you?"

"I suppose..." He leaned forward as Lex's hands worked lower. "But I don't want anyone over there at first except the guys I can trust to keep their heads. We need recon. Intel. If I stuck Six in front of a map, do you think she could figure out what was where?"

Lex brushed her lips over the back of his neck. "Doubtful. She'd do a lot more good on the ground."

"You think she could handle that?"

"She wants to be useful. Let her."

Inside knowledge of Trent's operation and what might be lingering in Three could save him time and headaches. And it wasn't like he'd have to feel guilty about sending her--she stuck to Bren like a burr as it was, and no one would get past him to hurt her.

Lex's lips touched his skin again, and Dallas relaxed into the caress. "Nice to have a second brain to figure this shit out when mine gives up."

"You need sleep." She slid her arms around him. "You've been going nonstop for days. You barely rested when we were in Two."

Sleep. It beckoned with a sharpness that only made his growing erection more ridiculous. "I was thinking about it more seriously before you wrapped yourself around me."

Lex climbed off the couch with a short laugh and pulled at his hands. "No sex until you've slept at least half the night. If you wake up in the middle of it and want to f*ck me numb, you be my guest."

"Someone's feeling bossy," he grumbled, but he couldn't sound irritated. There was something f*cking adorable about Lex when she was like this. He'd seen it with Noelle before, the open affection, the teasing...

Too bad it only made him harder.

"And if you can't sleep..." She moved in close, pressing her body to his as she spun him around so he backed up against the edge of the bed. "I know how to fix that, too."

That perked up his mood and his dick. Amused, he sank to the mattress and lifted his arms so she could drag his shirt over his head. "You gonna read me a bedtime story, Lexie?"

"Better." She dropped his shirt, slid to the floor, and reached for the laces on one of his boots.

He grinned and extended his legs to make it easier. "You're gonna read me a dirty one?"

"Or make one up. This story..." His boots hit the floor, one and then the other. "It's about a king and his concubine."

"Does she have to tell him a story every night?"

Lex threw back her head and laughed. "You want me to be your Scheherazade?"

Of course an educated woman out of Sector Two would understand the reference. Dallas hooked his foot behind her leg and tugged her closer. "Could you think of a thousand and one filthy stories about what the king and his concubine get up to?"

Her fingers curled around his belt buckle and pulled it free. "I'll show you instead." She rose, off her knees, and leaned over him. "The first night, she stripped him naked and danced for him."

More than willing to play along, he lifted his hips without looking away from her face. "Watch the goods, love. This king's been hard since you started touching him."

"If you're waiting for me to complain, you'll wait a long damn time." Her eyes glimmered with amusement, but also appreciation. She peeled his pants down his legs and tossed them aside, leaving him nude and ready.

Then she straightened and stared at him.

Grinning, he stared back...and wrapped his fingers around his aching dick. "I'm imagining you dancing," he lied, dragging his fingers up his shaft. Pleasure formed a lazy haze, but he didn't need to imagine her naked. All he had to do was stare at that collar, at her disheveled hair and dark eyes, and know she was here, in his bedroom.

His.

"Mmm." She swiveled her hips in a slow, languorous circle and licked her lips as she grasped the hem of her loose white T-shirt. Tugging it up a few inches flashed the upper lines of her ink, and her tiny, barely there shorts just begged his gaze to follow her endless legs up to her thighs.

Gorgeous. Fucking beautiful, and if he didn't watch how fast he was stroking himself, he'd blow before she got her hands on him. "You don't hurry it up with the stripping and I'm gonna make a new rule. No clothes in my bedroom."

But she was shaking her head before he even finished his sentence. "You like it too much when I take them off." She crossed her arms, dragging the cotton up, over her head.

There was nothing under it but golden skin and soft, firm curves. Lex opened the button on her shorts with one hand, then eased her thumbs beneath the denim and shimmied it down.

"Fuck, Lex." Skin. Skin and ink, his name, and his blood was fire in his veins. His hand clamped tight, and he shuddered. "I don't suppose the concubine blows the king any time soon in this story."

"You've heard this one." She smiled slowly and kicked free of the denim before climbing astride his legs. "When she was naked too, she sucked him, slow and deep, until he couldn't lie still anymore."

Her hands teased up his thighs. She closed her fingers around his, holding his grip securely in place as she bent damn near in half to flick her tongue over the crown of his cock.

"Christ." Sinking both hands into her hair, Dallas sprawled back on the mattress. Impossible not to clench his hands, not to press up in a silent plea. Maybe he should have demanded, should have f*cked up into her mouth and taken control. That was his promise--his dominance for her submission, his careful control for her abdication of responsibility. It was damn near self-indulgent to lie back and let her do all the work.