Hardwired (The Hardwired Series 1)(70)

“He does, trust me. Whether or not you want to believe it, he’d stop at nothing to have you if it meant getting back at me. After seeing what you went through with Isaac, I couldn’t take that risk again.”

I shook my head. Isaac had caught me off guard, but if Blake had given me a minute longer, I could have gotten him to back off without help.

“I can’t say exactly how or when Max would make his play, but I can promise you he would. He’d make you do things you’d never do just to keep the business, knowing how much it meant to you, knowing how much you mean to me.”

“How can you know that?”

“Jesus, Erica, I’d walk through fire to make sure you were safe. Can you just believe me, that I could see this coming, that I wouldn’t let anything happen to you?”

I closed my eyes. The waves crashed on the beach, and a soft breeze blew over us. I sensed Blake, his magnetic pull willing me closer to him. He was the only man I’d ever loved, and here he was, professing his love for me, promising to protect me from harm, almost too chivalric to be taken seriously, but when I opened my eyes and looked into his, there was no doubt about his intentions.

Everything had become too much. My eyes misted, but I refused to surrender. I wrapped my arms across my chest, holding myself together.

“You’re killing me, Blake.”

“Do you know how many women have pitched me in that boardroom?” he asked.

“How many?”

“One.”

The word lingered in the air, an unbelievable truth that pronounced how perilous my position in this industry could be. If that was true, coming this far was nothing short of a miracle. It also explained why their receptionist looked at me like I had three heads every time I showed up for a meeting.

“Wow.” I shook my head.

“Max and I both wanted you that day, for different reasons. I wasn’t about to let you go without a fight.”

Even with the risks that came with working with Blake, my business was probably safer than it had ever been. Now we just had to figure out how to work together without driving each other completely crazy.

“So now what?” I said, hoping he had some insights.

“Whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t involve Max. Or Isaac.”

“So we’re partners.”

He nodded.

“I’m in charge, Blake. You start telling me how to run my business, and we’re finished.” I meant it. I wouldn’t relent on this point, and fortunately he wasn’t in much of a position to argue since he had funded the project with no legal claim to it.

He rose on his knees and took my glass from me, sinking his and mine into the sand beside us. “You’re the boss, baby.”

He tugged me down on the chair, bunching up my dress and pressing hot kisses up my inner thigh. He removed my panties with expert ease and covered my * with his mouth.

“Oh, God.” I gripped the chair at the sensation.

He parted me with his fingers and his velvet tongue followed. The dueling pressures had me clenching uncontrollably. He slid his slender finger into me and sucked hard, flicking his tongue just so. My head fell back. Yes.

I arched, pressing into his mouth, and he delivered the final blow, stretching me with a second finger. His teeth grazed my clit, taunting me with perfect amount of restraint and just enough pressure to push me over the edge.

“Blake...” I cried out into the dusky air and fought to catch my breath. The breeze cooled my skin, washing over the fine mist of sweat that covered me, but Blake kept on. I came again and again, clenching against his fingers until I was boneless and out of my mind with the hunger to have his cock pounding inside me.

I whimpered his name and begged him to stop, unsure how much more I could take.

He stood, and I clamored for him at the sight of the hard outline of his jeans. He pulled me up and into his embrace before I could unfasten his fly.

“Let’s go in,” he whispered.

I tasted myself on his kiss, his erection pressed into my belly. Always too much and yet never enough, the fierceness of my craving for him still took my breath away.

I followed Blake into the house and he led us to the bedroom, an enormous room with vaulted ceilings and whitewashed walls. The house put the Fitzgerald summer home to shame in size and elegance. They were old money, but the reality was that Blake could probably buy and sell Daniel.

The bed, covered with a fluffy white down comforter, was the centerpiece of the room, and became my sole focus as I counted the seconds until we could be naked on it. Blake unzipped my dress slowly, taking his time and taunting me with light touches. I slipped out of my dress and walked to the bed. I climbed up and sat on my knees, waiting patiently as Blake stripped down. He crawled onto the bed with the lithe grace of a predator stalking his prey, and I was in just the mood to be hunted.

He shifted me until I was under him, spread around his legs as they parted me. Taking my breast into his mouth with a hard suck, he teased the tip with his tongue. I arched into him and hooked my leg around his in a feeble attempt to urge him closer. He didn’t move an inch.

“You are a squirmy little thing,” he teased, trailing his hands along my inner thigh, inches from where I throbbed and craved his touch so much more.

“Touch me, please, Blake.”

His lips curled slightly. “Put your arms up.”