Dancing With Danger (BWWM 2015) (BWWM Billionaire Romance) (13 page)

When she was trembling under him, he started moving, working his hips in smooth strokes, setting a steady, even pace as he moved in and out of her, watching through half lidded eyes as her fingers clenched at the sheets under her.

She was so lovely like this. Her hair spread out across the soft grey of his bedspread, the deep color of her skin bright with sweat and practically gleaming in the low light.

He wanted to have her like this again and again. Under him, on top of him. However he could get her, really.

“Dorian,” she gasped, clenching around him and making him drive into her harder. Her legs came up, wrapping around his hips and holding on with crossed ankles, forcing him deeper and making them both moan. “So good.”

All he could do was nod his agreement. It was amazing, and he was quickly losing himself to the sensations of it, his higher functions shutting down in favor of this and only this.

“So close,” Andrea moaned, and Dorian’s thrusts picked up speed as a result. That white hot pleasure was curling through him, pooling in his lower bits and spreading out to his limbs. He was practically shaking with how good it was, and when Andrea went tight around him and practically cried out his name, Dorian was done. He came with a groan and a shudder, pumping his hips a few more times before he went still, his breath coming in short pants and his heart racing.

“Wow,” he breathed, pushing up onto one shaky arm to brush hair out of his face and look at her.

Andrea’s eyes were closed, but her lips were quirked into a smile. Her hair was a mess, and her dress was rumpled from what they had just been doing, but she looked happy.

“We’re going to do that again, aren’t we?” she asked, cracking open one eye to look at him.

Dorian laughed. “I should certainly hope so.”

The next few minutes were lost to cleaning up with their remaining energy and getting fully undressed, Andrea curling up naked under his sheets and Dorian climbing in behind her.

It felt almost natural to wrap his arms around her and pull her closer so that her back was pressed against his chest and he was spooned behind her. He laid one hand almost possessively over her hip and watched as she drifted off to sleep, following after her in short order.

Of course, the next day was Monday, so as much as Dorian would have loved being able to lay in bed until noon or to wake Andrea with slow, sleepy morning sex, it was actually her who was doing the waking, kissing him softly as she slid out of his arms.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he murmured, cracking an eye open to see that it was still mostly dark outside.

“Work,” she said with an apologetic smile that he could just make out in the dim light. “You go back to sleep, and I’ll see you later.”

He wanted to protest that he didn’t need to go back to sleep or that she should call in sick or something along those lines, but sleep was already claiming him once more, and he sank back into slumber as she got mostly dressed and let herself out of the room.

Dorian wasn’t sure how much later it was when he woke up again, but he was properly alert and sat up with a yawn. His bed still smelled like Andrea, and he laughed when he looked to the foot of the bed and saw her knickers from the night before hanging on the bed post.

He was in a very good mood as he showered and got dressed for the day, whistling as he passed the maids in the hall on his way to the kitchen. The house was strangely quiet, even for this hour of the morning, but he barely noticed it as he made his way down to the kitchen.

Anita was there, as usual, mixing batter in a bowl and muttering to herself in Spanish as she worked.

“Morning, Anita,” Dorian said, moving to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“Mm,” was all he got back, and for the first time, he noticed that something wasn’t right.

Usually there was all kinds of hubbub going on around the manor. Especially on a Monday. The gardeners usually came and tended to the lawns and the flower beds, making sure that everything was neat and tidy for the rest of the week.

The sounds of lawn mowers and hedge clippers usually pervaded the kitchen through the open window, but now not only were the grounds silent, but the window was shut tight.

“Anita,” Dorian tried again. “What’s going on?”

“What makes you think that something is going on?” she asked, nearly splashing batter out of the bowl with the force she was using to mix it.

“Well, for one you’re abusing that batter. And for another, it’s dead silent around here. Something’s happened.”

At first, it had occurred to him that maybe Anita was upset about him being out with Andrea, but he remembered the night before and how she’d smiled at them before they’d left. And that wouldn’t have explained why everything else was so strange.

Anita’s jaw was tight, and worry was starting to eat at him. She didn’t seem sad, more angry than anything, and it took a lot to make Anita truly angry.

Abandoning his coffee he walked over and took the bowl from her. “Tell me what’s going on,” he said firmly.

It was rare that he had to do the whole ‘pulling rank’ thing, but he wasn’t going to have people keeping him out of the loop in his own home. Not when whatever was going on probably directly affected him.

Anita sighed and nodded her head, looking up at him. “There’s been a breach,” she said. “Somehow, someone made it onto the grounds in the early hours of the morning.”

Dorian blinked, shock and fear warring inside of him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, that your guards were patrolling and the camera picked up someone climbing over the gate of all things, like some low rate henchman in a movie. He was taken into custody, of course, but the fact that he was able to get onto the grounds at all is horrible.”

Anger was starting to win out over the fear because he was so tired of living like this. It was bad enough that he had to be flanked by guards wherever he went when he wasn’t at home, but now they were trying to ruin his life and make him feel unsafe in his home as well? He wasn’t going to stand for it.

For a second, all he could think of was going to find wherever they were holding this man and showing him just how sick he was of this whole thing, but then he remembered that Andrea had been up and on her way out early that morning and the fear came rushing back.

“Anita,” he said, grabbing her arm. “Andrea. Is she alright?”

For the first time that morning a smile cracked the older woman’s face. “Yes, she’s fine. Ben was in charge of everything this morning, and he let her out so she could get to work and promised to have everything done by the time she got back. He also was made to swear that he would keep you from doing anything rash.”

Dorian’s lips flickered in a smile. It hadn’t been very long yet, but already he was starting to care about Andrea, and it was really nice to hear that it went both ways, apparently.

He let out a sigh and leaned against the counter. If whoever they had down there was someone who was a part of this whole thing, then now was probably his only chance to get answers, which he wanted more than almost anything else at this point. His father had never told him what he’d done to make people want to kill him, and it had impacted Dorian’s life so much that he felt like he
deserved
to know. Especially since not even his father’s death had stopped them.

Anita could clearly see the way his thoughts were going on his face because she reached out and touched his shoulder. “You should be careful,” she said. “These men are obviously not going to stop until they get what they want. Many of them have been killed, and they keep on coming.”

Dorian nodded. He understood that. He understood that the want of his money was so great for them that they would keep throwing themselves after it until they either got it or were all killed. He understood that his death would make things infinitely easier for them.

And yet.

And yet, he needed to know.

“It will be fine,” he said, smiling, even though there wasn’t much feeling behind it. “Ben and the others will be there, more than likely, and I just want to talk. That’s all.”

It wasn’t even a lie. True, if he got the chance to punch whoever this guy was in the face, he was going to take it, but that wasn’t the reason why he was doing this. It would just be something of a perk.

Carlos walked into the kitchen just then, and Anita sighed, withdrawing from Dorian’s personal space and moving back to her batter. “Men,” she muttered under her breath as she went back to cooking.

Dorian met Carlos’ eyes and knew that his oldest staff member knew what he wanted.

“There are a few rules,” Carlos said. “I told Ben that you would want to see this man, and while he is strongly against it, he understands why. The man is handcuffed and we will be delivering him to the police. Ben says these are nonnegotiable. If you want the police to remain on your side, we will not be taking the law into our own hands.”

Dorian nodded at that. He could understand the reasoning behind it. “Very well,” he said. “Anything else?”

“Ben would like you to be far away from the man, but I told him that you’d probably not agree to that. But you will not be having any contact with him.”

“Alright.”

Clearly Carlos had known him long enough to be moderately suspicious of his agreeability when it came to this because he narrowed his eyes and looked at him for a moment before motioning for him to follow.

Dorian grabbed his coffee and complied.

Under the house was a cellar that was meant to store wine or vegetables or some such thing. For the moment, it was home to old furniture, a small selection of wines, and the man his guards had captured.

He was sitting in a chair, arms cuffed behind him, one eye rapidly swelling. There was nothing exceptional about him at all. In fact, he was quite plain. Nondescript brown hair and a mousey expression, pale skin, and toned limbs. The man leered when Carlos moved out of the way and revealed Dorian behind him, and Dorian met his gaze, keeping his face impassive.

Ben and David were the guards in charge of watching him, Marta and the others probably elsewhere, trying to make sure this didn’t happen again.

As soon as he saw him, Ben took a step forward. “Dorian,” he said. “I’m sorry. This shouldn’t have happened. I take full responsibility-”

Dorian waved a hand, cutting him off. “Nonsense,” he said, shaking his head at him. “Your improvements have been flawless. If not for the new camera system, we might not have known this man was here at all. Needless to say, that would have been a disaster.

None of them seemed to want to think about that, and Dorian didn’t blame them. It was bad enough that one of his former guards had turned out to be a traitor. Having someone who wanted him dead breaking into his house, or even getting close, would have been a major blow. He made a mental note to commend the whole team for their prompt dealing with the situation. His father had always said that if a security team was doing what they were supposed to be doing, then the person being guarded never needed to know that they had been in danger.

And Dorian had slept right through the commotion.

He turned his attention to the man they were holding, then, giving him the full force of his gaze, but not letting anything show on his face. Dorian wasn’t sure what he’d expected to feel when coming face to face with one of the people who had been responsible for making his life miserable. It had been over a decade since the first time he’d started dealing with this whole thing, and this was surprisingly anti-climactic.

When Breckidge had turned out to be a traitor, it had hurt, but he’d put that behind him. He kept it in the past where it belonged and took a step forward, keeping his posture straight and impeccable as it usually was.

“Well,” he said. “I can’t say I ever hoped I would get to speak with one of you vermin in person, but now that I have the chance, I’m certainly not going to let it pass me by.”

The man snorted. “A pleasure, Your Highness,” he taunted, rolling his eyes. “Posh moron.”

Dorian didn’t even react to that. Instead he kept the same look on his face, appearing almost bored. “Quite. Now, I only have a couple of questions for you before I let them drag you off to prison where you belong. It really is in your favor to answer them and answer them honestly.”

“Go on, then. What’ve you got?”

He hadn’t expected it to be that easy, but Dorian gave a mental shrug and pressed on. “First of all, I want to know why are you still chasing me in America.”

The man snorted a laugh. “We
are
American. Some of the gang from England came over here when you did, yeah, but you didn’t think the people your father pissed off were only in England, did you? We’ve got people all over.”

Well. That was just bloody brilliant, wasn’t it? Leave it to his father to manage to anger an entire syndicate that was spread out across multiple countries. But he’d have time to process that later. For now, he had to keep going and hold it together.

“Fine,” Dorian said. “Just one more question, then. Why? What did my father do that set all of this off? I want to know what it is I’m supposed to be paying for.”

He’d expected the man to refuse to tell him or even to lie and say he couldn’t remember or didn’t know. What he hadn’t expected was for the man to start laughing. It started as low chuckles and then escalated into a full body laugh that left him breathless and heaving in the chair.