Changing His Game (Entangled Brazen) (Gamers) (4 page)

He raised his right hand slowly, waiting to see if she’d flinch, but she didn’t. She only stared back at him with those beautiful almond-shaped eyes. He wrapped four fingers around the back of her neck, starting with his pinky and then the rest in succession, like a scale on piano keys. At his touch, she sucked in a breath, the skin of her neck pebbling with goose bumps. He wanted to latch onto it, lave the skin with his tongue until it was smooth again.

He settled his thumb into the hollow of her throat, feeling the pulse beat there and then laid his palm flat on her collarbone.

The flush on her face deepened, her eyes glazed, and her breath escaped between her parted lips in gasps.

He caressed her skin with his thumb. “You like my hand at your throat?”

She didn’t answer and doubt crept over him. Maybe he’d misinterpreted, maybe—

“Yes.”

The answer was so soft, so barely spoken, that he thought maybe he hadn’t heard it. He needed more.

“Say it.” His voice was hard, flinty, like the striking of a match.

Her eyelids, which had sunk, fluttered open. “What?”

“Say the words.”

A longer pause, but he was more confident this time, because her body was pliant under his hand.

And when her voice came, it was everything he’d thought it would be. “Yes, I like your hand at my throat.”

That was really all he needed. Moving fast, he turned her so that her back was against the wall in the alcove, his body blocking her from view even though no one could see them unless they purposely meant to be there.

Her hands flew to his biceps and rested there. He waited, wanting to give her time to say no, to stop him if he made her uncomfortable. One word and he’d back away, even if it would feel like peeling his skin off.

And then, with her eyes directly on his, she dropped her arms and laid her palms flat on the wall.

The sight of Marley, submitting to his control, her full breasts and hips on display under a thin dress, had his cock swelling and lengthening in his jeans.

It was painful.

But he ignored himself and focused on her. He leaned in and ran the tip of his nose up her neck, angling his head so his tongue followed the same path. Marley sucked in a breath, murmuring, “Austin,” in that breathy voice that he wanted to play on repeat.

He couldn’t wait anymore. He needed that mouth. And so he took it, tilting her chin so he could delve his tongue between her lips to tangle with her own. She tasted sweet and sour and feminine and he knew he’d never be cured of his desire for her.

Despite her body language, she wasn’t passive in the kiss. She nipped at his lips and ran her tongue over his teeth, tasting him while he tasted her.

His whole body was on fire and Marley was the only thing keeping him from dissolving into ash.

He pulled out of the kiss and placed his lips at her ear. His left hand, which had been clutching her hip, trailed down the outside of her thigh.

“You taste sweet, just like I knew you would, Marley,” he breathed into her ear. His fingertips skimmed along the bottom of her dress, and he reveled in the small gasp that escaped from her lips. He tapped a finger on her inner thigh. “Would you taste as sweet here?”

She moaned, the sound torn from her throat and rippling over his skin as she dropped her forehead onto his shoulder.

Her legs trembled beneath his fingers, and he couldn’t wait any longer. He had to know. He walked his fingers up her thigh, so she knew exactly what he was doing. So she could pull away or protest.

But she didn’t. And when he reached her underwear, he ran one finger along her crease, over the fabric.

Damp.

“My sweet Marley,” he purred in her ear, and her whole body shuddered. “You’re wet already? Just from the sound of my voice, the touch of my hand at your throat, and the taste of my mouth?”

Her breath heated his shirt at his shoulder, and her back rose and fell with deep breaths.

Her consent came seconds later, a soft sound muffled against his shirt. “Please.”

He rotated his right hand so now it cupped the back of her neck, his thumb caressing the vein on the side and keeping her face pressed to his shoulder. And then he hooked her underwear with the thumb of his left hand and delved two fingers into her wetness.

She was soaked, her arousal slippery on his fingers, and he ran his tongue over the lobe of her ear. “Drenched. Could you come from my voice alone?”

Her answer was a low moan, and he thought that would be something they could try another time.

Don’t fuck this up, Austin, or there won’t be another time.

He found the hard bud of her clit with his thumb and began rubbing in a circle. “Is that what you like?” he whispered in her ear. “A slow rub on that pretty little button? Or do you want my fingers, pumping in and out of your pussy?”

She squeaked. At least, it sounded like a squeak, so he took it as an affirmative and plunged two fingers into her softness. She gasped. “I think both,” he answered himself.

He kept up the rhythm, rubbing her hardening, slick clit with his thumb and curling his fingers as he pushed them in and out of her. She was active now, grinding her hips, fucking herself on his hand, small sounds escaping her throat. He gritted his teeth because a couple of shifts of his hips and he would come on her thigh. He refused to do that, because right now was about her.

He kept her face pressed against his shoulder. “Do you want to come, my sweet Marley?” Her only answer was a nod, her whole body shaking and shuddering. “Ride my hand. Take what you want. And
come
.”

She did. On command, just like that, muffling her cries by biting into his shoulder. He latched on to her neck, sucking the skin into his mouth, wanting to mark her.

And then she was finished, her muscles still convulsing around his fingers. He shifted his hand on her neck to push her back against the wall, wanting to see her face.

Her eyes were half-closed, her lips wet and swollen. She looked debauched.

She looked beautiful.

He pulled his fingers out of her underwear and squeezed her neck slightly, signaling her to look at him. To focus.

She did, her eyes widening as he slipped his index finger and second finger between his lips, sucking on them and then pulling them out of his mouth. He smiled. “I was right. Your pussy tastes just as sweet.”

Her breath left her chest in a rush and her eyes dipped down to the front of his pants and then back to him.

He shook his head and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Another time.”

Her mouth opened but no sound came out. She swallowed, her throat working under his hand and tried again. “So now I owe you twice.”

He chuckled. “Then I guess…another time…twice.”

Her gazed bounced around his face before settling on his eyes. “Okay.”

Chapter Four

Chad smacked his gum, blew a bubble, and then popped it with his finger. “You wanna talk about why you were in the lobby so long and then came back all flushed and glassy-eyed?”

They were sitting on her living room floor, passing a tube of refrigerated cookie dough between them.

Marley bit down on a chocolate chip and didn’t answer. After the movies, she’d changed back into sweatpants. Well, she’d tried to go pants-less but Chad grumbled. He changed into some clothes that he kept there. He would probably sleep on her couch later, too. Hopefully she could convince him to make his stuffed French toast the next day.

“Mars?”

She looked up. Chad raised his eyebrows as he sipped his wine.

Boxed wine and cookie dough. The Lake siblings were pure class.

“Um…”

“Austin left after you did and never came back.”

She knew this fact. After their…encounter, he’d told her he planned to stay in the lobby to wait for Sydney. Marley had asked if he wanted to see the rest of the movie. He’d shrugged and said he knew how it ended.

And she’d walked away.

Her cheeks heated as she remembered when she had completely lost her marbles and allowed him to bring her to orgasm with his fingers in a fucking movie theater lobby.

Again, pure class.

Chad’s eyebrows were still raised. Maybe if she didn’t answer, they’d stay that way forever. She sighed. “We made out.”

Chad’s eyebrows rose higher and she marveled at his ability to contort his face. “You made out?”

“Yeah.”

“Where?”

She picked at a hole in her sweatpants. “In the lobby.”

“Holy shit.”

“Mm hmm.”

Chad leaned back on his hands. “He is super hot, even if he talks like my senior biology teacher.”

Marley snorted.

“Well,” Chad patted her knee. “Good for you. You need to let go a little.”

“I know. And it was…” Her cheeks heated again. “Amazing. But I owe him.” A giggle burst from her lips and she waggled her eyebrows at Chad.

“Yeah, okay, no more details.”

“But I don’t have time for a relationship.”

Her brother cocked his head. “Who said anything about that? Just have fun with a hot guy for once in your life, Mars. A guy who can get you off. Enjoy the release. Why do you have to make everything so serious?”

Not everyone can be like you
, she thought. Her brother could do casual. That’s all he ever did. But she’d never done casual. She wasn’t sure she could.

But as she thought of Austin’s husky voice in her ear, the feel of his lips on her skin, his fingers inside of her…

She wanted that again. And again. And maybe one more time in the shower.

She stuck another ball of cookie dough in her mouth and spoke as she chewed. “Don’t even know if I’ll see him again.”

Chad dropped his head and eyed her. “You got off and he didn’t?”

She swallowed and nodded.

“Oh, Mars,” he laughed. “Trust me. You’ll see him again.”

She sure hoped so.

Later that night, after Chad passed out on her couch, she lay awake in her darkened bedroom, staring at her ceiling.

She had never dated much. She’d had a couple of long-term boyfriends who were nice and safe and weren’t threatened by her ambition. But nice and safe boys didn’t hold their hands at her throat. They didn’t slip their hands into her panties in a public place—no matter how secluded—and whisper dirty things into her ear.

She shifted under her covers as she began to get aroused just thinking about him.

She’d always had fantasies, but when she suggested them to her first boyfriend, he’d looked alarmed. Like something was wrong with her for wanting him to use a little force when she’d asked for it. She’d been embarrassed and ashamed and hadn’t bothered any of her other boyfriends with a similar request.

So her fantasies were for her only. She kept a private Tumblr account and a vibrator and she thought that was all she needed. Of course she longed for the real thing, but worried it could never live up to how she thought it would be.

Until Austin.

She picked up her cell from her nightstand and pulled up her Tumblr app on her phone. She scrolled to her favorites and there it was, that GIF that had started it all.

It had always excited her, this vision of the man controlling the pleasure of this woman. Except now she knew what it actually felt like.

And damn, but the reality was better than the fantasy. So much better. Because Austin had brought to life all her senses—the touch of his hands on her skin and the sound of his voice at her ear and the smell of his scent on her skin.

Now she pictured Austin, those sea-green eyes glowing as he stood behind her. She felt his hand at her throat, the pads of his fingers digging into her skin, the constriction of her air, just enough so she couldn’t forget who was in control.

His palm coasting down her stomach. His hand slipping into the front of her thong and dipping between her wet folds.

She moaned softly, and raised her hips, not even realizing her hand had followed the same path and was now inside her panties. Her fingers were a sad substitute for Austin’s but she was achy and aroused and she needed to get off.

She closed her eyes and swirled her fingers around her clit, biting her lip as the orgasm began to build. Quick, so quick. She’d never gotten herself off this fast.

Austin’s words. His breath. His hands. That obscene bulge in the front of his pants.

The orgasm ripped through her and she clamped her other hand over her mouth to stifle the sounds.

She flopped her hands back onto the bed, spent, breathing hard. Wishing she could curl herself around a strong male body—Austin.

She picked up her phone and lazily scrolled through her favorites, lingering on a picture of a woman with her back against the wall, blindfolded. A man kneeled in front of her, one of the woman’s legs thrown over his shoulder, his face pressed into her.

Despite the fact that she’d just come, Marley found herself staring at the picture.

Trust me, you’ll see him again,
her brother’s words echoed in her head.

She turned her phone off and tossed it on the nightstand.

She sure hoped he was right.

…

By Wednesday, she hadn’t seen Austin. Which was fine because she was busy in meetings and getting her team organized for the next issue. She didn’t have time to daydream about Austin.

Which didn’t stop her from zoning out at inappropriate times.

During an unusual lull from work at the end of the day Wednesday, her email pinged. She kept on top of her inbox. Always had. Because as soon as she let that go, her whole job became harder.

So she clicked over and almost swallowed her tongue when she saw the email was from [email protected].

It couldn’t be anyone but him. Could it?

She opened the email:

From: AricoftheLobby

To:[email protected]

Are you wondering how I taste?

—A

She’d never thought she could get wet from six words in plain, Times New Roman font. But as she shifted in her chair, she knew she was. She craved privacy so she could take care of this properly.

Damn him for doing this to her at work. It was so inappropriate, and yet that’s what turned her on the most. That everyone around her thought she was some uptight, controlling, frigid woman, not knowing that Saturday night, she’d been fingered in a movie theater lobby.

How was this her life now?

“Marley?”

She jolted at the sound of her name and quickly closed the email. She brushed her hair behind her ear and turned around. “Yes?”

She knew she looked anything but casual by the way Owen eyed her over the rim of his glasses. “You okay?”

She nodded at her second-in-command. “Yes?”

“Are you asking?”

“No?” She couldn’t stop raising her voice at the end. She was going to kill Austin when she saw him next.
After
she got that damn taste.

Owen leaned a hip on her desk. “Marley.”

She waved a hand and shook herself. “Yes, I’m fine. Just…distracted. Sorry. What’s up?”

He ran a finger over the head of her Yoda paperweight. “How was your weekend?”

She smiled. “It was good.” Owen was the closest friend she had in the office. At first, she’d sensed that many of the men under her resented working for a woman. Or maybe that was her own paranoia. Owen had never acted like that. Not once. And now her employees treated her with nothing but respect. They still didn’t really know her though. Owen’s quiet, steady presence melted some of her frost enough to open up to him.

“Yeah? What’d you do?”

“Went to see
Aric’s Revenge
with my brother.”
And had the best orgasm in my life about fifteen feet away from the popcorn maker.
“How was yours?

He shrugged. “Read that new Connor Takumi mystery.”

One of these days, she was going to drag Owen out on a weekend, even if he was kicking and screaming. “Wow, look at you being wild and crazy.”

He smiled at her. “Not my thing.”

Owen had big, round blue eyes framed with blond lashes. He wore his slicked hair parted to one side. He seemed to do everything he could to blend in, which was a shame, because he was downright adorable. Shy, but adorable.

Like a little nerdy puppy dog.

“So no hot date with some nice librarian in a pencil skirt?” she asked.

His eyes sparkled. “Not my type.”

“A librarian?”

He leaned in closer. “A woman.”

Oh. Well then.
She cocked her head. “I thought my gaydar was better than that.”

He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and winked.

Her email pinged again and she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Owen still stared at her. When she didn’t respond, he straightened and walked away, shaking his head and chuckling.

Cute, nosy brat.

She turned back to her computer and worried her lip as she read Austin’s email again. Then she put her hands on the keyboard.

…

Austin sat in his home office, elbow on the arm of his leather chair, and stared at his computer screen.

He didn’t know why he was doing this to himself. Why the one woman he couldn’t have was the one he wanted with every heartbeat.

He should tell her who he was, that he was technically her boss, but he knew once he did, this would be over. She’d end it—any smart woman would. And Marley wasn’t dumb.

He’d avoided the entire industrial complex that week, not wanting to run into Marley and be unable to school his features. Because all he wanted to do was shove her someplace private and get another taste.

But today, his resolve had broken down.

Emailing her was risky, but Austin had taken all precautions that this email wouldn’t be seen by anyone. If he couldn’t have her physically, then he’d allow himself this, teasing her with filthy words in serif font. Maybe this would be enough, and he could curb the ache for her in his gut. He tried to guess what other fantasies Marley was into. He wasn’t sure if it was torture for her but it was pretty much waterboarding to him.

He still couldn’t stop himself.

He didn’t want a relationship. A relationship meant talking about himself. It meant another person—other than Grant—knowing things about him. He couldn’t do that, didn’t
want
to do that.

He didn’t plan to change, mainly because he didn’t date. When the need for physical affection began to claw at his skin, he traveled out of town and met a woman at a bar. He rented a hotel room and that was that. Of course, that sex was almost always very vanilla, which barely took the edge off, but it was better than nothing.

But Marley… Smart, strong, beautiful Marley. He found himself wondering if she could actually like him for himself. Although he wondered if he even knew who that was anymore. What if he opened up to her? Even a little bit?

It was ridiculous that the one woman he was attracted to in such a long time was his employee.

So no, he wouldn’t tell her who he was. She didn’t need to know, since nothing more would happen. That’s what he told himself, anyway. The last person who’d known everything had been his father, and that had gone to shit. In Austin’s head, keeping people in their own compartments, on a need-to-know basis, made the most sense.

He felt a tug of guilt at not telling Grant about this. But now there was another tug, like two hooks in his chest. Because he was keeping something from Marley, too. Something that could affect her career—and his—if anyone found out.

Goose bumps pricked his arms as he thought about how he was already breaking so many rules with Marley. The public nature of the hotel lobby. These emails—even if he used a fake account.

His body jolted as a return email hit his inbox.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Yes. I’m guessing you’re not cherry flavor.

—M

Austin barked out a laugh. The harsh sound surprised him. When was the last time he laughed like that with a woman about something sexual?

He shifted in his chair as he hardened in his dress pants.

He had wondered if she’d chastise him for emailing her at work. And part of him wondered if she’d realize it was him.