A Dom Is Forever (34 page)

He leaned down and kissed her. No light brushing of the lips. It wasn’t an attempt to persuade her. It was outright domination, and she couldn’t help but respond. The minute he touched her, she melted like warm chocolate. His tongue invaded, forcing her mouth open and rubbing against hers in a way that immediately got her hot. Her pussy didn’t give a crap that he’d lied. All it knew was that he’d trained her to respond. A week of near constant pleasure had done its job. Her arms came up, touching his waist.

“Avery, love, let’s not do this. Baby, I just want to protect you.” That musical voice sang along her skin as he pressed kisses on her face. His hands wound around her, hauling her close. “You mean everything to me. I won’t let you go.”

She was opening herself up to him. She was so stupid. “Stop it. You stop it now. I don’t want this.”

He took a step back, a fierce look on his face. A single finger came out and traced the rigid line of her nipple under the thin robe she wore. “This tells me differently, Avery. I bet your pussy is wet and slick and ready for my cock. I bet your pussy wouldn’t lie to me.”

“My pussy isn’t making the decisions here.” At least not yet. If he stayed close for much longer, it just might. “I don’t want this, Lee…Liam...whatever your name is. Are you going to rape me?”

His eyes closed, his fists clenching at his sides. “Fine. Like I said, I’ll go clean up, and we’ll have a drink. But don’t think for a minute that this is over.”

But don’t
tink
for a minute
dat
dis is
oovver
.
The way he rounded his vowels and cut off some of his consonants was so sexy. And very likely all part of his plan. He snatched up something that had been on the bed. The plug. God, she’d let him put a plug inside her. What had she been thinking? He turned and opened a door at the back of the small room. A bathroom most likely. She heard the water start to run and realized she had seconds to get out of here. She had zero intention of sitting calmly while he pulled her into some sort of whacked-out scheme meant to do god only knew what.

But the question was where would she go? She needed her clothes. She needed a ride. She needed back up.

Her phone was in the locker room, but Liam’s wasn’t. It was on the floor. It had fallen out of his leathers. She snatched it up and nearly ran out of the room. Her hands shook as she tried to remember the number she needed. Adam. Adam and Jake could come and pick her up. Adam and Jake were big enough that Liam might think twice about messing with them, and then she would get the apartment rekeyed and she would tell the concierge not to allow Lee…Liam, or whatever he wanted to call himself, in. He would figure out that she wasn’t going to be an easy mark, and he would lose interest.

Tears blurred her vision making the hallway a watery mess. She turned down the narrow corridor. The Garden had seemed so lovely and decadent, and now it was just alien and a little frightening. She’d been so stupid. She hadn’t known him at all and yet she’d followed him into a
BDSM
club. She’d let him strip her bare in front of people. God, she couldn’t even think about it.

She never stopped walking. She just glanced down and dialed the numbers, grateful she’d always had a good memory. It wasn’t more than a second before Adam’s voice came over the line.

“Hey, what’s up? I didn’t expect you to call. Isn’t this the big night?”

“What?” Had she told Adam about her date?

“Avery? Shit. Is that you?”

The depths of his betrayal hit her squarely in the gut. Adam had known the number. He hadn’t expected a call from this number because he’d known the man it belonged to had a big night.

Adam knew Liam.

“Avery? Sweetie? Is Lee with you?”

So nice. So caring. “Liam is cleaning up. I’m afraid your little game is up, Adam. I know everything.”

“Holy fucking shit. Avery, I don’t know what’s going on, but wherever you are, stay there. Don’t you dare move. Don’t you leave that club. I will be there in fifteen minutes. I will track you down if you leave, do you understand me? It’s dangerous for you out there on your own.”

She let the phone drop. She had no one else to call. Liam was quite brilliant. He’d seen a lonely woman and managed to give her friends, a lover, everything she could need. Why? She didn’t have any money left. She didn’t have connections.

Except to Thomas. Who did have money. Lots of money.

She ran toward the stairs. She had to get out. She would just leave in her robe and go straight to the police. That was what she would do. She wouldn’t stop for her purse or anything else. She would run until she found a station house, and she would tell them everything.

Except she ran into a brick wall before she could find the lifts. She stopped and stared up into the arctic-blue eyes of Liam’s friend Ian.

“Going somewhere, love? Where’s Lee? You shouldn’t run around without your Dom.”

“Liam O’Donnell can go to hell. I’m sure you’re in on whatever scam he’s running. Get out of my way. I’m not staying here.”

She could have sworn the temperature dropped twenty degrees. The look on Ian’s face could have frozen fire. For the first time she got really scared. She backed up, only to run into a wall of flesh.

“Don’t scare her, Ian. I won’t have it.” Liam’s hand found her wrist, hauling her behind him, putting himself between her and Ian.

“You won’t have it? You won’t fucking have it?” Ian seemed to have developed a hard American accent. Well, naturally. She was surrounded by con men. “Tell me she’s brilliant and she managed to find out your real name on her own.”

“I told her,” Liam replied. “I can’t lie to her anymore, Ian. And I want her out of this op. I’ll take her someplace safe in the morning, and you won’t have to see us again. I know I’m fired.”

“Oh, you’ll be lucky if I just fire you. Get her dressed. I want you both in the conference room in ten minutes. I swear if you take off, I’ll find you both. Do you understand me?” Ian stalked off, his boots ringing in a violent rhythm.

Liam sighed, tugging her close. “That went better than expected. He didn’t kill me. I’m calling it a win.”

She tried to pull away. She hated the fact that all she really wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and pray this was all a bad dream. “Let me go.”

“No. You ran. Now we’ll do this my way.” His hand was gentle on her hair. He smoothed it back. “Come on. We’ll get dressed, and you can meet the team.”

“Team?”

“Yeah. Ian owns McKay-Taggart along with Alex. Eve’s the psychologist. Adam’s the communications guy. Jake is pure muscle. Not a brain in his head. They’ll all watch out for you now.”

“I thought you were taking me someplace safe.” She wouldn’t go. She would still find a way out. She held herself stiffly in his arms, not willing to give an inch. He hugged her. It was even worse since the embrace was sweet and gentle without his former predatory aggressiveness.

“I will if I have to. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. I swear on my life.”

“Well, you’ll excuse me if I don’t believe you since you’ve lied to me about everything else.”

“I won’t lie again. Not ever. Not to you.”

He was still lying. The whole thing was a lie. It was ridiculous. She wasn’t involved in some sort of spy thing. He was playing an angle. “I’d like to get dressed now.”

He nodded, brushing his forehead against hers. “Avery, I’m sorry.”

But he was too late. She followed him down the hall, determined to shut him out forever.

* * * *

Liam stared at Avery, wishing he’d kept his bloody mouth shut. She looked pale, fragile sitting in her chair still staring at the computer screen in front of her.

He should have planned it out. He should have planned exactly what he was going to say, and he should have made sure she couldn’t run until she understood. He should have tied her up, fucked her senseless, told her the truth, and then fucked her some more.

“That was the real live prime minister.” Her mouth moved, but her eyes just sat there like she expected the computer screen to talk back.

Thank god for Damon Knight and his connections. She’d been talking about how they were all a group of con artists trying to take her for god only knew what. Knight had made her believe. She hadn’t believed Liam, but apparently when the prime minister told her something, it was gospel. She believed politicians. She definitely needed a keeper.

“I told you.” Knight was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, but even looking so casual, he still radiated authority. And he’d threatened to take Liam’s head off for what he’d done. The good news was his head was still sitting on his shoulders, and Knight had managed to get the prime minister on a video chat to convince Avery that they were serious. “This is a real operation. It’s important to both our countries.” Knight shut the computer screen and pulled it away. “And now you’re involved in a way I don’t think any of us wanted you to be involved.”

“Because we don’t have any proof she’s not in on it,” Ian said as he walked in. He’d changed out of his leathers and wore a dress shirt and slacks. He hadn’t changed his attitude. He still looked like an irritable shark waiting to take a chunk out of anything dumb enough to get close.

“She’s not involved with Molina’s deals.” If there was one thing Liam knew, it was that Avery Charles wouldn’t hurt a fly. If she’d known anything, she would have come forward.

Ian turned on him. “Yeah, I got no proof of that, but I now have to deal with it because apparently your penis took over. Have I told you lately that your penis is a complete dipshit, and it shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions? Did you not get that fucking memo?”

“Must have missed it, boss.” He wasn’t going to let Ian intimidate him. Ian hadn’t had him escorted out of the club and shot. Everything was going to be fine.

“I’m not involved in anything,” Avery said, looking from man to man.

“I know, love,” Liam replied.

“Which is exactly what you would say if you were a counter agent,” Ian shot back, taking the seat across from Avery. He leaned over. “Somehow I don’t think you would just walk in and admit ‘I like money so I sell black market arms to Africa, and I’m trying real hard to get into the Middle East.’ Is that what your Facebook status says?”

Avery shook her head. “I don’t have a Facebook page.”

“There’s your problem. All the best arms dealers are on Facebook.” Ian’s sarcasm seemed never ending.

Liam would be lucky if he didn’t punch his boss tonight. He walked around the conference table and took the seat by Avery. “Sweetheart, no one thinks you’re involved.”

“I think he does. Do I need a lawyer? Can I have my phone back?” She twisted her hands in her lap.

“So you can call Thomas Molina and let him know we’re on to him?” Ian asked.

“Back off, mate,” Liam warned.

Avery took a long breath. “He’s really doing this thing? He’s really letting someone put guns and stuff in our grain shipments?”

For the first time, Liam really understood how hard this was going to be on her. It was just another thing he hadn’t considered when he’d broken out and vomited up the truth. She believed in what she did. Finding out she’d been helping an arms dealer was going to kill her. He’d been concerned with Nelson this whole time, but now he wanted to wrap his hands around Molina’s throat for using Avery the way he had. It didn’t mean a thing to him that the man had physical problems. It would just make the fucker easier to catch.

“You tell me what Molina’s putting in those shipments.” Ian was that immovable object science talked about. “Did you know your shipments are weighed when they leave the docks here? MI6 pulled the records. They don’t match what eventually makes it to the refugee camps.”

Her dark hair shook. “A lot of things can happen to grain in transport. Sometimes, if it’s not properly stored, it can rot or rats can get to it either in the boat or in the storage warehouse. We also have a lot of trouble with thieves.”

“Thieves stole seven hundred pounds of grain from last September’s shipment? How about five hundred from December? Did rats eat nine hundred pounds of grain this February? Those are mighty big rats, Miss Charles.” Ian passed her the reports.

Avery sat there staring as though she couldn’t quite comprehend.

“Nothing to say, huh?” Ian asked.

“Stop it or I’ll walk her out of here and I’ll find a barrister.” It was plan
B
. He didn’t particularly want to follow it since it meant taking her out into the real world, and he was pretty bloody sure she would run at the first opportunity.

The door to the conference room opened, and Eve and Alex stepped in. They were both back in street clothes.

Alex took the seat next to his partner and gave Liam a long smile. “Good for you, man.”

Ian turned. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Hey, I’m a sucker for a happy ending,” Alex said.

“This isn’t a happy ending. This is a nasty, fucked-up ending. This is months’ worth of work down the toilet because Liam over there couldn’t keep his dick from making the decisions.”

“I think it was his heart, man,” Alex shot back, looking at Liam like he was a toddler taking his first steps.

No matter how he felt about Avery, hearing it put like that made him want to vomit. Liam winced. “Jesus, I think I liked it better the way Ian was talking. You’re making me sound like a bloody girl.”

Avery’s hand came out and slapped him across the chest. She gasped. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did that.”

Ah, sweet progress. He gripped her hand and brought it to his lips. “Because that’s what a woman does when her man says something stupid. I’m prepared to be smacked on a regular basis, love.”

She pulled her hand out of his, but not before he’d seen her flush. “I’m not your woman.”

She could fight it for now, but she needed him.

Eve sat on the other side of the table. Liam couldn’t help but notice that she was as far from Alex as she could be. She smiled Avery’s way. “I’m so sorry for the deception. We had to be sure you’re not involved. I hope you understand.”

Ian’s hands came up, his head falling back as he groaned in obvious frustration. “Just because Liam’s dick likes her doesn’t mean she’s not guilty. When did Liam freaking O’Donnell become the world’s leading authority on judging people? Can I remind you of a few of the choices his cock has made before? Cindy Lou Waitress from hell? She took a baseball bat to his car because he didn’t call.”