Taking Control (7 page)

I cut him off. “Of course I can. Your family barely has two dimes to rub together. You probably don’t look at your bills or your mail. No doubt you’ve hired someone you can’t afford to do that for you. But if you had, you’d notice that all of your bills are sent from one company. IKK Asset Management.”

I hear only his heavy breathing on the phone. This is fun. I should have done this years ago. “IKK stands for Ian Kincaid Kerr,” I explain.

“B-b-but why?” he stutters.

My good humor is wiped away. “You know why. I’m going to give you an opportunity to do the decent thing. Divorce your wife, renounce your family. Leave the city. I don’t care where you live but do it quietly because if I hear even one whisper of your name, I’ll end you. Start making arrangements. The longer it takes you to leave town, the more debt I will call in.”

“Surely whatever harm you think I’ve done to you can be ameliorated in some fashion. Ian, old boy, we should meet. In person,” he yelps.

“I can barely stomach talking to you on the phone.”

I hang up. Why I didn’t threaten Howe earlier I don’t even know. Some misguided idea of chivalry; not wanting to do to Cecilia Howe what Richard did to my mother. Foolish reasons in retrospect.

The conversation should have left me elated but instead my stomach is churning. I need to see Tiny, but I don’t know if I should confess after she’d admired my restraint this morning. I run a hand down my face. I’ve rarely been uncertain before, because I’ve lived life without fear.

Now I have her, and I’m fucking terrified I’ll lose her and then I’ll be empty again.

She picks up on the fourth ring sounding harried.

“Ian, hi, can you hold for a minute?”

“Sure.”
No. I want to see you immediately. I need to hold you.

After a moment she returns. “Sorry, God. I don’t think I’m made for dispatching. If you’re calling for an afternoon break, I can’t. I feel overwhelmed, and I don’t want to leave the desk. And I’m afraid if I do wander out of the office, I’ll never return. Also you need to eat lunch at a normal time like a normal person instead of at three in the afternoon.” She lowers her voice to a whisper. “How can you stand to work inside all the time?”

“You get used to it.” I push aside the disappointment. I will see her tonight. It’s soon enough.

“Blergh. I don’t want to get used to it. I miss biking.” Her voice sounds plaintive and harried.

I don’t bring up the topic of not working at all because I don’t want to get into another argument, but the biking issue is one I can address. “I was thinking I should invest in a cycling company. What was the name of that bike you liked in the SoHo store?”

“You can do that? You can just decide, hey, I want to buy a company because my girlfriend likes what they make?”

“Yes, I can do that.” My lips curve into a smile. She’s probably shaking her head right now.

“That’s weird. Very weird. I’ve got to go. Don’t buy any companies that I like.”

“Why not?”

“Because! You can’t go spending money like that just because I think they make cool stuff.”

“That’s exactly how people should invest, Tiny. You buy things that people around you like because that means that those companies are developing not only brand loyalty but producing a product that meets market desires. It’s an important part of market research.”

“Really? Well, I guess that’s why you’re making millions a day and I’m a bike courier.”

“You’re not a courier anymore.”

Silence.

“Thanks for the reminder. Look, I’ve got to go.”

With that, she disconnects.

Fuck. I screwed that up.

“By the glower on your face, I’m guessing you’re having lunch with me today,” Louis says with forced cheer. I can see he wants to put aside the morning’s uncomfortableness.

“Your powers of observation are legendary.” I sigh but willingly go along. There’s no need to fight with Louis. I’ve come to a decision about him.

“It’s part of why you pay me so much. Come on, old man, I’ll buy you lunch and you can explain why you’re wearing that loud monstrosity of a suit.” Louis stands at the office door and pushes it open.

Heaving to my feet, I finger the lapel. “Tiny picked it out.”

He rolls his eyes. “She is overtaking your life.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” My phone dings and I see it’s a text from Tiny. It’s a small series of pictures. Tiny is dyslexic, so when she texts it’s usually emojis. I refuse to feel weird about that, given it’s the best way for us to communicate. The image of a bicycle, water, and sun next to a sandwich appear to be telling me that she wants to go the beach this weekend and bike around and then eat. I’ll look forward to it. Clicking on the emoji icon for my phone, I search for one that says yes. I settle for the thumbs up.

“You’re worse than a preteen,” Louis says impatiently.

“Louis, if I wanted your opinion I’d ask for it.” Sticking my phone into my breast pocket, I exit the office. Louis is on my heels. Pausing at Rose’s desk, I say, “We’re off to lunch, but we’ll be back for the SunCorp presentation.”

We cab it to Morimoto’s for lunch since I’ve sent Steve to sit outside Jake Tanner’s office and make sure no one harms Tiny. I wonder if she’s figured out that he’s been reassigned to bodyguard duties. I’m guessing no because she hasn’t said anything about him to me and she’s not the type to accept being followed without some discussion.

When she’s not so raw from her mother’s death and she’s more settled in what she wants to do with her future, we can talk about the safety measures I’d like her to take. For now, I want to keep the lifestyle changes from scaring her off, but if she’s going to be with me she’s going to have to accept that power and a lot of money attracts a lot of desperate people.

Steve’s a bit disturbed because he doesn’t like the subterfuge, but he’s keeping quiet for now because discretion is part of what I pay him for.

After ordering, my mind wanders to Tiny again. Steve should deliver her some lunch. Feeding that woman is my new obsession. Along with fucking her, of course. I text Jake.

Are you feeding my woman?

If I say yes, will you view it as an act of aggression and threaten to kill me?

Not today. I’m more concerned that she’s eating. She wouldn’t leave her desk.

I’m pretty sure she hates this job even though she’s doing fine.

Is it her dyslexia?

No it’s that she has a desk. I have men like that. Hate desks. Can’t work behind them.

Keep your men away from her.

Wait, is it your name on the door here? I thought it was mine. It’s cute you think you can order me around.

The only thing I’d like to order is lunch for Tiny. If it’s too much of a burden for you, then I’ll have Steve do it.

It pains me that you’d use a prime machine like Steve to run errands. She’s already had lunch with her friend, but I can get your six-figure bodyguard to buy her a sandwich from ‘wichcraft so stop texting me and go buy some company and harass those employees rather than mine.

“In my fantasies you’re currently texting Kaga, asking his advice on SunCorp,” Louis interrupts.

I text
Thanks
to Jake and then slip my phone into my pocket.

“Your fantasy life sucks then.” I take a sip of Perrier and pick up my chopsticks.

“Don’t you feel like you’ve been drifting these past couple of months?”

Deliberately, I place my utensils back on the table and fold my hands together. Piercing Louis with a look, I ask, “Are you bored, Louis? Because if you’re bored and don’t like the pace of our acquisitions, I am happy to write out a letter of recommendation that you can use to shop for your next job.”

My threat has its intended effect. He clears his throat after a minute. “So it’s like that,” he says with disappointment.

“It’s like that,” I say softly.

“Then no, I’m happy with whatever pace you set.” He gives me a tight smile.

“Great. You and Anna should have dinner with us some night. Let me know when you’re free.”

“Thanks.”

The rest of lunch is spent in silence, but I do text Kaga on the cab ride back, not to pacify Louis but because the chase has always excited me.

The meeting with SunCorp goes long, and it’s not until six that we manage to shunt everyone out of the office. Kaga had left a message with Rose halfway through that he’d heard good things about SunCorp and that the management team was enlightened. I did like them and thought that the investment might make sense, which was why our meeting ran over.

In the washroom attached to my office, I quickly wipe off the residue of the day. I don’t have the time to take a shower even though the attached bathroom contains one. Having a bathroom wasn’t a luxury but a necessity. There were weeks that I would sleep in the office, trying to establish myself, trying to absorb reams of data so I could best decide which investment was the best one.

I’ve been overclocking my engine for years, and Louis has been with me for the past five. It wasn’t unusual for us to work on deals for seventy-two hours at a time, only allowing a few power naps to make sure we weren’t so tired that we’d miss something important. And then there were the week-long regulatory meetings when we actually were in the process of acquiring, not just investing. I shouldn’t have been so hard on him. Ever since I met Tiny, my entire schedule has been off. Acquisitions aren’t as exciting as they once were.

I hunger for something different now, more physical, more personal. The more time I spend away from her, the more I realize how none of this is very important. Not whether SunCorp can accelerate the harnessing of solar energy and increase stored wattage power and definitely not whether that military tech firm can create an invisible cloak. None of it compares to her.

I’d probably enjoy myself more if I was sitting in the corner of Jake’s front office watching her than enduring any of these meetings. Although I’m not sure how long I’d last before I’d have her bent over the desk.

The mere thought of her ass-up, her thighs wet with arousal and her tits pressed against the wood desk, makes my pants uncomfortably tight. I decide not to relieve myself. I’ll be home soon.

FIVE

T
INY
LOOKS
EXHAUSTED
WHEN
I
arrive home. We eat a subdued meal, and she doesn’t begin talking until we’re in the living room enjoying a little after dinner wine.

“I feel like a fool complaining about how tired I am when my ass was stuck in a chair the whole day,” she says. I set my glass on the table and gesture for her to turn around so I can rub her tense shoulder muscles.

“Exerting a lot of energy is exhausting. Doesn’t matter if it is physical, mental, or emotional.”

“I used to bike sixty miles a day, and I never felt like this.” Groaning, she dips her head forward in a wordless gesture to continue.

Giving her a gentle push forward, I help her into a prone position on the long sectional cushions in the living room. “Let me help you.”

She lies there while I unfasten her pants and remove her shirt.

“I don’t think being Jake’s dispatcher is the right thing for me. I’m making so many errors taking messages and my notes are filled with pictures because it takes me more time to write out a word, but it’s like forcing everyone to play Pictionary with me. I feel stupid. I hate that feeling.”

I avoid the topic of her previous job as a bike courier. “Give it some time. You’ve only been there a few weeks.”

She grunts her disgust into the cushion but allows me to unhook her bra, a lemon-yellow confection of lace and silk. My hands smooth over the curve of her shoulders and down over the blades into the hollow of her spine. She has a few dark freckles on her back and a mole halfway down on the right side.

I follow the line of her ribs from the back around to her side and try to rub away her tension with light pressure. Gradually she begins to relax, her limbs loosening and her breathing evening out. I remove her panties so that I can rub her ass better.

“Sorry for complaining,” she mumbles.

“I hear no complaints.” I lean over and press a kiss against a bare shoulder. “Just my woman sharing her day with me.”

Besides
, I think,
how can I fix what’s wrong if she doesn’t tell me her troubles?

“Do you plan on doing anything else now that I’m all naked and relaxed?”

My lips curve against her skin. “I have many plans for you.”

I allow my fingers to brush the roundness of her breasts and sweep over the apples of her ass cheeks in feather-light strokes until she’s squirming beneath me, trying to turn over. But my weight pins her down.

“I’d like you to execute those plans now,” she says, and by this time, her breathing isn’t as even or as deep.

I slide my fingers between her legs. “Let’s see if you’re ready.” Liquid heat greets me, and we both moan as I slide two fingers inside her. Her ass rises to allow me greater access, and the tight rosette of her asshole peeks at me from between her round cheeks.

I drag my thumb down the crevice to her pucker and circle it. “Someday, bunny, I’m going to take you here.”

“I don’t know,” she begins, lowering her hips as if to hide from me, but I lift her back up as I stroke her tight cunt.

“You’ll like it.” My thumb dips inside the little hole and I feel her walls close around me, sucking me instinctively.

Slowly I begin to fuck her with my fingers, lightly in the ass and more forcefully in her pussy. “Touch yourself, bunny,” I order.

Her hand dips between her legs to work her clit and it takes almost no time before her orgasm is upon her.

“Oh, fuckkkk,” she moans as we stroke together toward her finish. Her cunt walls are like a vise on my fingers, making me use more force to plunge in and out of her. She barely notices that my thumb is knuckle-deep in her ass. My cock is hard and aching behind the wool and cotton barrier of my clothes.

“Come on, bunny. Let it go.” I curl my thumb downward and she explodes like a rocket.

“God, oh
God
!” she shouts. Her ass pushes hard against my hand and then I’m drenched with her come.