Sapphire (Rare Gems Series) (7 page)

He looked at the secretary, and she
moved out of the area. She wondered for a moment what it would be like to have
such power that with only a look you could make people do your bidding. Blair
turned back to her and put a bag in her hand.

“What is this?” She held the weight of
it in her hand and wondered what sort thing he’d bring her. Probably a bottle
of poison, and he was going to demand that she drink it down. When he cleared
his throat, she looked up at him.

“Please open it. I bought it for you
because I want to show you…I want you to trust me. I want to trust you, as
well.” She reached for the box that was deep in the bag and opened it. If he
noticed that her hands were shaking, he didn’t comment. When she looked at the
contents, she looked at him.

“I don’t understand.” He nodded and took
out the switchblade and opened it. The silver blade seemed to spark in the
room. “You bought me a silver knife. Why? So I’d kill myself with it and be out
of your misery?”

She flushed when he looked hurt. “No, I
bought it because, like I said, I want to show you that I trust you. Not just
the knife, but with decisions, too. I should have…I’ve treated you badly, and I
want to make up for it.”

“Why?” She could tell he was struggling
with his temper, and for some reason that made her feel good. She wanted him to
struggle with it and not lash out at her like she was stupid.

“I’m sorry. When you came into the
bathroom that morning—” She started to cut him off, but he raised his hand. “Please,
you asked me, and I’m trying to explain. I was embarrassed that you caught me
doing something very childish. Something that men don’t like to be caught
doing.”

“I thought it was sexy.” She watched his
wolf stir along his skin and felt her own wolf as well. “That doesn’t mean I
want you or want to have sex with you. I just thought it was kind of sexy.
Nothing more.”

“Do you have any idea how much I wanted
you to touch me? How much, right now, I’d like to press you back against that
chair and taste you again?” Her body tightened, and she squeezed her thighs together
so he couldn’t smell her. “Don’t close me off. Let me have your scent right
now.”

She was playing with fire, and they both
knew it. Opening her legs just a little, she saw his nostrils flare, and she
moaned softly. When he ran his hand up between her legs, she let him, knowing
that the game they were playing—and it was just a game—was going to hurt them
both.

His fingers brushed against her pussy,
and she opened wider for him. He moved then, blocking her from the elevator and
the desk in front of her. When he slipped his fingers under the elastic of her
panties, she put her hand on his forearm and he stopped immediately.

“This is wrong.” He nodded and stayed
where he was. “You don’t want me. You were sickened by my body and my wounds. You
turned me away.”

“I was a fool, and I wasn’t sickened by anything
about you. Your taste was more than I’d ever dreamed of before. Your body, all
I could think about was how perfect you were, beautiful and all mine.” She
shook her head. “You don’t believe me?”

“I don’t know what to believe from you.
For all I know, you could just want to masturbate again to relieve some tension
in you so you can forget me ten minutes later.” He shook his head this time. “Blair,
we’re not going to be good for each other. You have to know that.”

“All I know right now is that I want you
in my bed, every morning and every night. You’ve no idea what your words do to
me. No clue how much I’d like to find a table, lay you out over it and come all
over you. Then drink from you again until I’m full. Then I’d like to pull you
over my cock and slowly enter you, move inside of you, stretching you until I’m
buried to my balls. I want to fuck you slowly, taste your nipples in my mouth and—”
She moaned as he slid his fingers under her panties and into her sheath. “Come
for me. Come right now and let me lick my fingers clean of you before I have to
take you right here.”

She held onto his arm as she came,
holding her other hand over her mouth while she screamed out against it. When
he moved her hand and took her mouth, she felt his fingers move over her clit,
and she forgot she didn’t like him, didn’t think about the fact that she knew
that this was wrong and was going to hurt them. All she wanted, all she needed
was right here, right now.

Again,
he whispered through her mind,
and she felt her body respond to him as though he owned her. She didn’t want to
be owned by anyone. But it was a moot point, she supposed, when the die had
been cast.

When he slid his hand from her, she
looked at him. Her heart was pounding, and her body wanted more. When he leaned
into her neck and nipped at her ear, she had to hold onto him because she was
sure she was going to fall, and she was sitting down.

“Would you like a minute?” She nodded. “I
can go in and talk to Bruce until you come in. I’ll be waiting for you.” He
stood up, and she looked at him, and then watched as he cupped his cock and
moaned. “I ache, but having you like this makes it worth it. To watch you come
is almost more than a man can stand.” Leaning down, he kissed her mouth quickly
and stood up. When he put his fingers in his mouth and sucked them, she looked
at his cock. She wanted to taste him in the worst kind of way.

“Go to the bathroom before I forget
again where we are and take you right here.” She nodded and he helped her stand
up. She looked into his eyes and saw the need she was feeling looking back at
her. When he turned her and gave her a little push, she felt strangely sexy and
wanton. Sapphire wondered if they ever got to a bed if it would feel this
fucking good. His low growl made her slow her step and put more twist in her
ass. He growled again, and she smiled. This was amazing.

Chapter 7

Blair stood up when she came in the
room. He wanted to take her to the floor and have his way with her, but only
took her hand and led her to her seat. Bruce had explained to him what he
wanted from Sapphire, and he was hard pressed to not tell the man she’d be
working for him, not Bruce. When she sat down, he did as well and took a slow easy
breath.

“Bruce has a client he wants to work
with you on. If you’d be willing to do that for him, I’d like to talk to you
about a partnership. With the two of us.” He glanced at Bruce, who looked like
he was excited. “I need your expertise, and so does Bruce. I think the best way
to handle this is that we share you. In business dealings. If you would like.”

He was working off the top of his head.
He could see a shit load of benefits from this…and a lot of pitfalls, too. Where
could she stay when working here in town where he’d feel like she was safe? Which
one of them would take precedence over the other if a project needed something
and she was working with the other? He tried to seem as calm as he usually did in
business deals, but this one had the most at stake.

“What happens if a client wants
something else when I’m working for the other partner?” He nearly smiled at
her, loving the fact that she wasn’t going to just say no. “And who decides
which ones I work on with whom?”

He looked at Bruce, hoping the man was
going to be okay with this. He wasn’t sure about this and nearly bluffed his
way through it to get what he wanted, but he was trying to change. For her, he realized.

“I don’t know.” He’d never uttered those
words in a deal meeting in his life. “We’ll have to work out the bumps as we
go. We’d have to figure out your pay, vacation, and retirement…all the perks
that one of us would give you if you worked for us singly. Then there are going
to be things we’ve never thought of, things that I’m sure will try the
relationship, but I think this could work to both our benefits.”

“I like it, too. I’ll be able to take on
a few of the bigger clients that I couldn’t with the staff I have now, and with
Sapphire working for both of us we’ll both save money too.” Bruce smiled at
them both and leaned back in his chair. “So, can we get together tomorrow night
for dinner and see what our lawyers can come up with as a working plan?”

Too fast, too fast,
his mind
screamed at him. He wanted to plan, to write out lists. Blair wanted to do cost
studies and work around making it so that all the t’s were crossed and i’s
dotted. He looked at Sapphire, and she was looking at him, and a calmness came
over him like he’d never had before.

“I think we can make that. That is if
Sapphire is in agreement.” He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard Bruce laugh.
“You want to stay here one more night before you go back home?”

“I could do that. If my room isn’t taken
already. I’d already checked out, you see.” She looked nervous then, and he
could hear her heart pounding. “I might have to bunk with you if you have the
room.”

He nodded, unable to think how to
respond without dropping to his knees and begging her to bunk with him. In his
bed. Blair cleared this throat and shifted. He was hurting again. When she
looked at him, he licked his lips and could taste her there. He felt his wolf
snarl at him to take her now.

“How about dinner?” Blair looked at
Bruce when he spoke. He had no idea what the man was talking about, and he
thought he knew it. “Dinner? I’m sure the two of you have worked up an
appetite. I know I have.”

Blair had an appetite all right, and his
dinner was sitting next to him. When she moved on the chair, he could smell her
then. She was aroused, and he opened his mouth to take in more of her.

“I’d like some dinner.” Blair stood when
she did and walked behind her to the door. He didn’t have a clue where they
were going, but he followed her anyway. “How about if we go to that fast-food
place on Linden Avenue? I don’t think it’s far from here.”

“Oh no, this is cause for a celebration.
My treat. We’ll go to Muddy Misers. They have steak and the best ribs in the
state.” Bruce moved them both to the elevator and pressed the button for down
as he continued. “They have these sweet potato fries that are drizzled with
brown sugar and butter. Fabulous, just fabulous.”

Dinner was a blur. It was good, he
supposed, because before he realized it he had a cleaned plate in front of him.
And there were only a few crumbs on his bread plate. He’d been drinking water
since they sat down because Sapphire had, and there were several empty glasses
on the table. But right now he wanted to leave. When Sapphire stood to use the
ladies’ room, Blair looked at Bruce when he laughed.

“You’ve got it bad, don’t you?” Blair didn’t
even pretend to not know what he was talking about and nodded. “How long have
you two been together?”

“We’ve…I’m not….” He looked around the
restaurant. “I don’t know how we got here or what I had to eat. I haven’t a
clue what our waitress looks like or even if we had one. Sapphire is all I can
think about, and I’m afraid of fucking this up. Does that answer your
question?”

“Yeah, it does. And this uncertainty
looks good on you.” Blair frowned at him, not understanding. “You are the most
self-assured, confident man I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. Right now,
I’m seeing you for the man I know you really are and not the hard-assed prick
everyone else sees in you.” Bruce stood up and took the check. “You want to
keep that woman, you show her this side of you more often. You might be able to
keep her if you do.”

With that, he walked away. When Sapphire
was walking toward him, he stood up and watched her. She didn’t seem to be any surer
of herself than he was right now. When she got close to him, he helped her into
her jacket and handed her the purse that was hanging on the back of her chair.
Without a word, he walked her out of the restaurant and into the waiting limo. As
soon as the door closed, he pulled her to him and rolled her to the seat.

~~~

Sapphire felt as if she were drowning in
emotions. Every time he touched her, ran his hand against her, she felt her
skin vibrate and hum with pleasure. When he sat up and pulled her over his lap,
she straddled him. She could feel his hard length beneath her and moved over
him slowly.

“I’m going to come if you keep that up.
And I’d very much like to be naked with you when that happens.” His voice did
things to her that had her wanting him to come, anyway she could have him. “Sapphire,
honey, I don’t want to hurt you, but if you keep this up we’re never leaving
this limo tonight. And as much as I’d like to be deep inside of you right now,
making love to you in the back seat of a car is not the way I’d like to do it
our first time.”

“I ache for you.” He moaned and bit her
breast through her blouse and bra. “Please, Blair. I don’t know what’s happening
here, but I need more. Give it to me.”

He ran his hand up under her skirt and slammed
his fingers into her. Gone was the gentle touch; they were well beyond that,
and she knew it. Riding him hard now, she pulled her blouse free of her skirt
and up over her bra. He growled at her as he lifted the lace up and took as
much of her as he could into his mouth. When he sucked hard on her, she cried
out and curled her fingers into his hair. She wasn’t sure if it was to hold him
there or to hang on.

“I need you.” He growled at her again,
his words fueling her on. “We’re not going to make it. Christ, I need you now.”

He moved her back on his lap and opened
his pants. His cock nearly leapt from him. She couldn’t believe how thick he
was, how hard he looked. When he told her to sit up on her knees, she did so,
and he lifted her skirt over her hips, put his hands around her hips, and held
her panties.

“If you want to stop, now is the time to
say so. Once I tear these from you, I’m going to be inside of you, and it’ll be
too late.” She nodded. “No, say it. I want to hear you say that you want me to take
you. Say it or I stop now.”

She was breathing so hard it hurt. She
wanted him. She needed him. Not wanting to think about what this would mean for
them, she nodded and took his mouth hard before lifting her head and looking
him in the eye.

“Do it. Take me now.” He tore her
panties away, the last barrier between him and her. When he lifted her up, he
kissed her and held her above him. She felt her pussy heat more, and when he
bought her down slowly, the thick head of his cock right at her entrance, she
started to tell him she was afraid. But he pulled her down so hard and so fast
that she screamed before she had a chance to say anything.

Sapphire buried her face in his
shoulder. She hurt, and hurt badly. She wanted him to let her go, to tell him
to…pull away, but she was afraid it would hurt more. When she realized he was
speaking, she lifted her head to understand.

“I didn’t know.” She tried to look away
from him because he sounded so pissed off again. “I’m really sorry, baby. I
just didn’t…I didn’t think that you’d be a virgin.”

She looked at him sharply and snapped
back. “Did you think I slept with anyone that came along? I’ll have you know
that I didn’t even date all that much because of the way men made me feel—” He
cut her off by putting his hand over her mouth.

“I didn’t mean that either. I meant that
I’d’ve never dreamed a man, any man, wouldn’t have convinced you to have sex
with him. Christ, you’re beautiful when you’re pissed.” She started to move,
trying to get away from him looking at her so intently when she felt his hands grip
her hips. “Don’t move, please. I’m barely hanging on here, and you’ve got me so
deep inside of you it’s difficult not to want to come.”

“You like this?” He nodded and chuckled.
“It’s not all that much…your fingers were much better than—” He moved her with
his hands, a rocking motion that rubbed her clit in a way that she saw stars. “Again.”

His hands moved her as he suckled at her
nipples. First one, then the other, until she was dizzy with need. When he
cupped her ass and brought her even harder over him, she moaned.

“I want to roll you to your back on the
seat. When I do, wrap your legs around me like you did the other day.” She
nodded, hoping that this never ended, and when it did that it felt like it did
when he touched her.

When she was on her back, she couldn’t
believe the pleasure she got from this, from him. Wrapping her legs around him
only brought him closer, deeper inside of her, until she was sure she could
feel him at the back of her throat.

“Come for me, Sapphire. Please, baby,
let go and take me with you.” She tilted her head and gave him her throat. When
his tongue licked across her shoulder, she came. Not hard, but a quick punch to
her system that had her needing more. Rolling her hips upward, she felt his
shudder and did it again. He put his hand over her mouth and sank his teeth
into her shoulder.

Screaming, she bit down hard on his hand
as she cried out her release. Her body seemed to explode over and over until
she saw her vision blur. When he roared against her throat, she came again, her
entire being seemed to come apart and shatter, only to come back together in a
vibrating sensation of completion.

He wasn’t heavy on her, but felt…she
supposed
right
would have been the word to use about his weight over
her. When he lifted his head and looked down at her, she felt suddenly
embarrassed.

“I’m sorry,” he said. She looked up at
him as he pulled away from her. “This was neither the time nor the place to do
this in. But you looked so delicious that I couldn’t help myself.”

He’d hurt her again. She wasn’t sure
what he’d said that made her heart feel as if he’d stabbed her, but she sat up
and moved to the other side of the seat. She’d forgotten, if she thought about
it, that they were in a moving car. She adjusted her clothes and tried to act
like this sort of thing happened to her all the time.

“Where is your hotel? I’m going to have
to go to the one on Sales Avenue. My things are there.” She looked up at him
when he didn’t answer her. “What?”

“You’re staying with me, right? I’ve
made arrangements for you and me to stay together.” She nearly said okay, but
he continued. “It would be stupid of you to pay for another room when I have a
perfectly good one at the Royal.”

“Maybe I prefer being stupid over being
with you in the same room.” She felt her temper rise and tried to pull it back.
“This was a major mistake. I let my hormones dictate what happened here, and
now I realize how idiotic it was. I’d very much like for you to take me to my
hotel, and I’ll meet you tomorrow at—”

“No.” She didn’t say anything but looked
out the window, trying very hard not to knock the shit out of him. “Look, we’re
both embarrassed. We’ll go to the hotel, my hotel, and sleep on it. Then in the
morning we’ll make the arrangements for you to move into my apartment and then
have the—”

“I’m not moving in with you.” He started
to speak, but she cut him off again. “I have a house, a family to care for. I’m
not living in some apartment building where I can’t run when I want to and not
see my sisters when I want. We can…we can simply meet at work, and if you want
to do this again, then we’ll find a hotel. But I’m not living with you.”