Breakfast with Mia (4 page)

There it was, that feeling of violent gorgeousness I sought
so desperately.

“No one can take their eyes from you, Mia. You hypnotize
them all.” He breathed long and deep, his chest rising and falling against my
back. I turned my chin just a little toward his face and he pressed his nose to
my temple to stop me from turning further.

“Mr. Vaughn,” I murmured and he tightened his fingers into
my hips in response. “I didn’t know you’d be here tonight.”

“I couldn’t resist the pull to watch you ply drinks from
bewitched men. There’s even a woman at the end of the bar whose eyes grew big
as saucers and her whole body opened itself to you when you passed her. You
didn’t notice. The way you look tonight, it’s destructive.” He teased.

He let go of me with one hand to wave to the bartender. He
flashed his platinum and the bartender didn’t even ask for his order. A bottle
of something dark and sweet and foreign was set on a tray and arranged with
four glasses.

“Turn,” he ordered and pulled me in a half circle so my back
was against the bar and he towered over me. This was the most casual I’d ever
seen him in an expensive button down shirt, the top button undone, dark slacks.
His wrist cuffs were folded halfway up his forearm, flashing his ridiculously
expensive watch to the envy of everyone.

“You are awfully bossy,” I murmured.

He smirked, amused. He reached for my neck, cupped it in his
hand and ran his thumb across the white satin collar. “This needs diamonds.”

I relaxed, but only a little, and pressed my lips to keep
from grinning. “When I get that raise, it’ll be my first purchase. A collar of
diamonds.”

Damian sucked air between his teeth. His eyes widened a
fraction. “It would suit you.”

His hand tightened against the back of my neck and I swear,
I swear he was half a second from dragging me to his body and kissing me. And
it was a terrible idea, I mean, a really terrible kind of idea that struck a
match between my legs. I crossed my ankles and squeezed my body tight to
restrain it, to keep the alcohol drugging my better self from burning us both
to cinders.

“You should go away now. There’s a boy coming back here who
wants to dance with me and you’ll scare him away.”

The hammering in my chest begged him to get the hell out of
here. I didn’t know how long I could behave. Not long. Not with the wolfish
savagery in his eyes that practically ripped my clothes off with each stroke
down my body. He let go of my neck, skimmed his eyes down my bare shoulder to my
left wrist where the other satin ribbon clung. He picked it up and turned it
over, admired the bow but frowned at the fake jewels.

“He’s not coming back,” he said so matter-of-factly it
seemed absurd I’d ever thought he would. “I paid him to leave the club.”

“Of course you did. Stalker.”

“I was doing you a favor. He wouldn’t have known what to do
with an untamed creature like you. You would have eviscerated him.”

“Yes, maybe, but I would have been very enthusiastic about
it.”

He paused, regret chasing his eyes to my throat. Maybe
lower. “Also, I am here on a business meeting and there is someone I want you
to meet.”

I sighed and turned out of his view back to the bar and
waved for another cocktail. “You always know how to ruin a girl’s night.
Mia,
you’re having too much fun and I need you to drop everything and serve my every
beck and call
.”

He grabbed me then, his hands wrapping around my arms just
above my elbows. He snapped me back against him and growled flirtatiously
against my hair, his mouth open but only barely grazing my skin. “Obstinate
little girl, do as you are told for once. I’ve got Todd McKinley here who would
love to gaze at you and I’d love to watch him want you. If he agrees tonight to
let us represent him, I will cut you a check for one hundred thousand dollars
for your trouble.”

The match between my legs went up in flames and seared me
all the way to my heart. I could barely pant for breath as it suffocated me and
the little sounds I made only urged him to tighten his hold and crush himself
against me and me against the bar. I would have given up the hundred thousand
dollars for him to bend me over the bar and take me in front of God and
everyone. This was madness, pure madness, and if he didn’t let me go I might
beg for it.

“Shit,” I gulped. “Todd McKinley. Yes. For that much money
I’ll sit on his lap if it would please you.”

He must have sensed the line he’d nearly shoved me across
and released his hold on me, straightened and turned away, and we both took the
separation to get control of our bodies. I finished my drink, gulped it
greedily to quench the blaze to a smolder of embers, but couldn’t mask the
knowledge that my thighs felt moist and quivery.

“Where are you sitting? I need to go to the lady’s room,
then I’ll come to your table.”

Damian said nothing but returned his hand to my body, the
small of my back, and led me across the room. He pointed out the private booth
three other men were sitting at and I escaped to the bathroom so I could clean
myself up and gain some control on my sanity. I texted my sister, apologized,
told her I’d find her soon and then went to give Mr. McKinley something nice to
look at.

Fortunately, Todd McKinley gave me something nice to look at,
too. He was young, maybe Damian’s age, with honey blond hair a little too long
to be neatly groomed, and tan. Clearly he didn’t live on the East coast. He was
hard cut and very masculine and when I stepped up to the table he stopped in
midsentence to stare at me. Yes, I felt like maybe Damian was right, that I had
the power to bewitch. The conversation was abandoned when Todd McKinley rose
slowly to his feet, like a gentleman, to greet me. The other two men stood as
well, but Damian didn’t bother. He stretched out, relaxed, a glass of wine in
one hand and his elbow on the back of the booth. His legs were stretched out
straight from him and he watched Mr. McKinley’s reaction to me with keen,
smothered interest.

“God, I hope you’re not lost,” he said and reached for my
hand. I gave it to him and he squeezed warmly.

“I hope you’re Mr. McKinley. My name is Mia Waters. I am Mr.
Vaughn’s assistant.”

“No shit?” He pulled me gently into the booth beside him,
across from Damian. His dark, brooding eyes settled on the two of us. He
acknowledged me with a nod. “I’ll double whatever he’s paying you if you come
work for me. I’ll triple it.” The other two men laughed and I laughed with him.

“You’re very generous, Mr. McKinley. I hope I’m not
interrupting. I wanted to come introduce myself and give my condolences to you
personally. You’re all I’ve read about in the papers this week, and I know that
couldn’t have been easy. I hope tonight is finding you in better spirits.”

Todd McKinely didn’t look like a grieving grandson, and when
he slid his arm around my shoulders then down to my waist, he didn’t feel like
a grieving grandson either, but I made my voice sincere and emotional and
Damian was right. He couldn’t look away from me. Or away from the top of my
dress.

“It has been a very trying week and I am glad to be here in
such beautiful company.”

I smiled, crossed my legs, and settled my hands in my lap. Damian
sat up and stretched like a fox, then waved our waitress over. She was one of
the corseted Goddesses with breasts like melons that I honestly wouldn’t have
thought I could compete with, but at this table, I felt like the fucking sun
the way these men were spellbound.

Damian ordered more drinks, and introduced one of the two
men, Henry Clavox, a friend of Todd’s, and reintroduced Edward Boro, one of the
lawyers at Vaughn & Marley who was vying desperately for the McKinley
account. It was clear why The Dragon wasn’t here. She’d make an excellent
representative for Todd McKinley, but would have put a damper on the sex they
begged for with their eyes.

“You look very different outside the office, Mia. It’s a
pleasure to see you like this,” Edward confided, but Todd kept a shoulder
between us. Twice he reached for my thigh and placed his hand there, quickly
worried about my reaction and pulled away. I didn’t encourage or discourage
him. I liked his touches, as unsure as they were, and the burn between my legs
grew increasingly more intense beneath Damian’s gaze which never, ever wavered
from us.

There was probably something morally questionable about all
of our behaviors, but at the moment I was obsessed with the feeling of want and
need being showered upon me. It was quickly addicting and I was thick on the
power of it. Every girl in the world should feel just like this, just once.

The conversation moved smoothly from business to politics
and sometimes back to pleasure. The alcohol made us all quickly bolder and soon
Todd was kissing my shoulder when he thought no one was looking, stroking the
inside of my elbow down to my wrist. Once he slid his hand up my stocking from
my knee to my garter belt and his hold on me tightened and he buried himself
into my body before controlling his outburst and apologizing profusely. Despite
his gentle manhandling, he turned out to be quite brilliant and sweet, too
awkward to be charming but funny in a way he didn’t always mean and he blushed
whenever that happened.

Edward slid out of the booth at some point and when he came
back he had the girl from the bar that Damian had pointed out to me in tow.
When he saw her his eyes grew and he shifted to make room so they would sit
next to me and I gave him a pointed
dirty old man
look and he threw back
a
see how crazy you make everyone
glance.

The booth was scrunched in close though, and Todd took this
as an opportunity to grab me under the knees and pull me into his lap. Everyone
but Damian laughed, though the intensity of his gaze made it impossible to know
if he was angry, and oh God, jealous, or if he was thrown over the edge with
lust. Could a person be both?

The girl’s name was Anna and she was tiny and pale. Her hair
was cut in a neat little blonde bob and she had a couple of prominent freckles
on her cheeks. She was adorable and sexy and I was pleased to have some of the
attention I was drowning beneath shifted. Todd’s hand stayed cupped over my
thigh and once he lost his head and slid it up just high enough to expose the
straps of my garter belt and the whole of Damian changed, momentarily
possessed, he slammed his drink like it was a tequila shot and excused himself
from the table.

“Come back to my hotel room,” Todd begged into my ear and I
shivered when he nipped my earlobe.

“I don’t know if that would be appropriate, Mr. McKinley,” I
answered sincerely, because I wasn’t sure I was willing to go that far. Maybe.
Todd McKinley was a very handsome man and I found him to be especially honest
in a way I didn’t find most wealthy, powerful men to be. And yet, something
held me back from going all the way.

He sighed and nodded and while he seemed disappointed, it
wasn’t in any way angry. “Of course, I know. I know how it must look. You’re
just so beautiful.”

“He’s right, you are very beautiful, Mia,” Anna confided,
much to the delight of the three men that surrounded us. I searched the crowd
for Damian, but smiled appreciatively despite not finding him in the dark club
beyond our hidden corner. “I noticed you right away. You’ve got the most
amazing body. Do you work out?”

“Yes. I hate it, but if I didn’t I wouldn’t get to wear
these awesome dresses.”

Anna gave a little giggle and scooted closer to Todd and me.
She was shameless, this girl who liked the attention of these wealthy men maybe
even more than I did. She put her hand on my waist and made a show of stroking
my dress as if the dress was what she liked best about me. I’ve never been sexual
with a woman before, though I’d kissed a few times, especially in college, and
once spent a somewhat drunk but delicious evening learning to love breasts with
a college roommate and her hot boyfriend. I was not at all turned off by Anna’s
touch and my relaxed stillness seemed to thrill her.

“This
is
a great dress. I would love to have one for
myself. Do you mind?” she asked and I shook my head.

“Not at all.”

Damian decided that was the time to return as Anna climbed
to her knees in the booth and explored my dress with her soft, small hands. She
had red nails and a one shouldered red cocktail dress that looked great with
her fair skin and light hair.

If Damian was upset by what he saw, he didn’t show it. They
all watched Anna discover me with eyes as big as the moon. Henry physically
adjusted himself and Todd…I’d felt his erection since being pulled into his
lap, but he gripped my hips and ground gently up into me so as not to let
anyone know he was doing it and I’ve never, not ever felt so attractive as I
did just then. I wished I could have bottled it up and kept it for a rainy day.

“Mia,” Anna said quietly. “Would it be very bad if I kissed
you? Just a little? Just once?”

I looked to Damian then. I don’t know why, but it was his
permission I knew I needed. He was breathing like a runner, his eyes heavy and
drugged and deliberately slowly, he nodded his wish.

“You flatter me, Anna. Yes. Please. A kiss.”

Anna settled her hand in the crook of my neck and leaned in.
She didn’t make me work for it at all, and her mouth was wonderfully soft, soft
in a way only girl’s mouths can be. She tasted like the sangria drinks they’d
been intoxicating us with, and a little bit like her lip gloss. I opened my
mouth first and she leaned up straighter on her knees and reached for me. Her
tongue was gorgeous and tiny and not like a man’s at all. I licked her tongue
and felt like some kind of predator the way I controlled her panting, begging
mouth. I wrapped my fingers around the back of her thigh and gave her skin a
gentle stroke and tugged her closer. She moaned prettily and around us the men
made their lusts known audibly.