Winner Takes All (A Full Length Erotic Romance Novel) (12 page)

“That’s a mean look you got there.” Linc appeared out
of the crowd with a big smile on his face.
He had cleaned up well and now wore slacks, a
buttoned-down shirt, and a blazer. He had cut his hair between now and the last
time that Sasha had seen him. As he hugged her, she was enveloped in a pleasant
yet subtle aftershave. The clothes fit him well, as did the crisp citrus scent.
With his fresh haircut, clothes, and warm smile, he looked comfortable indeed
among the trappings of the country club set.
“This mean look is for you, Linc. I can’t believe you
came to this party looking prettier than me,” she teased, brushing a hand
across the lapels of his blazer. “Very nice.”
He laughed. “Keep saying things like that and I’ll
have to go wrestle a bull just to prove my manliness.”
“The bull wouldn’t stand a chance.” Sasha grinned up
at him, enjoying their easy camaraderie.
“Ha! You push me, you pull me.” He smiled back her.
“You don’t look too bad yourself, by the way. I bet a lot of guys expected you
to show up here in riding boots and a flannel shirt.”
She waved dismissively. “Even I know that’s not
appropriate attire. The boots would chafe my knees.”
They shared another laugh then Linc grabbed two
glasses of champagne from a passing waiter’s tray. He passed one to her.
“I don’t think we officially toasted to your win at
the Derby, Sasha.” He raised his glass. “You did a fine job out there and made
us all very proud.”
Sasha flushed with pleasure at the unexpected toast
and raised her glass. “Thank you, Linc. This means a lot to me.” She sipped the
sparkling wine, fighting a sneeze at the effervescent bubbles.
“I would have made a much more public scene over
multiple pitchers of beer but you’ve been scarce lately.”
Sadness touched the corners of her mouth. “I know.
One day, I hope things get better. I love my Taylor Stables family.”
“And we love you, too. Sasha.” He lowered the
champagne flute from his lips. “I’m hoping you’ll see your way through this
whatever it is, or at least ask for help from someone who will know what to do
for you.”
Tears burned her eyes. She blinked against them,
looked away from Linc’s earnest face. “Thank you.” She swallowed. “You’re one
of the best people I’ve ever met, Linc. You’ve made working here one of the
best experiences of my life.”
“Why does that make me think you’ve met too many not
so good people?”
She shrugged. “Life can be a run of the gauntlet at
times.”
He winced, pulled her to him in a one-handed hug.
“Chin up, girl.”
“Is this a private love-fest or can anyone join in?”
Gabe, another of the jockeys from the stables sidled up to them, a nearly full
tumbler of whiskey in his hand.
“There’s always enough love for you, Gabe.” Sasha
squeezed the shorter man’s shoulders and grinned, pushing aside the sadness and
pain that Linc’s words had brought up. “Is that drink for me? I could use
something a little stronger.”
Get your own,” he said with a smile and held his
drink above his head which put it directly in her reach. “The line for the bar
is getting crazy.”
“Sounds like a typical line for the ladies’ room,”
she said. “Speaking of which, I have to go make room for all this free booze.”
Sasha put down her champagne on a nearby table.
“What a real lady!” Gabe said with a guffaw.
“What would you know about a real lady?” she threw
over her shoulder as she walked away toward the bathrooms.
The men laughed as she continued out the door and
into the hallway toward the opulent restrooms she remembered seeing signs for
on her way in. As she moved down the hallway and through the thinning crowd,
she thought she heard someone call her name. Sasha turned, but there was no
one. She made a left into the narrow hallway for the bathrooms.
“You look like a wet dream in that dress.”
She stopped at the sound of Damien’s voice. Sasha
turned and watched him walk toward her in the hallway. His eyes were hot and
predatory.
“But that’s nothing compared to what this makes me
want to do to you.” He touched the collar around her neck, black leather and
with a silver buckle that matched the ones on her shoes.
Sasha shivered at his touch, his fingers stroking her
neck then slipping under the warm leather as if under panties, an intimate
caress that made wetness instantly coat her underwear.
“Where are you going?” he asked, his voice gravelly
and hot.
“Wherever you want.”
That was the only answer to the real question burning
in his electric blue eyes. “Good.” His eyes flickered down to her mouth and he
tilted his head down as if to kiss her. Then suddenly, he stopped himself.
“Follow me.”
He took her somewhere. Sasha didn’t know where,
couldn’t retrace her steps if someone paid her to. All she knew was that one
moment, they were in the hallway leading to the bathrooms and an office marked
“Private,” and the next, Damien was closing a door behind them, twisting the
lock home.
“Come to me.” His voice was low in his chest, a
powerful rumble that drew her feet toward him before she even thought to obey
his command.
He hooked his finger in the o-ring at the front of
the collar. “Do you know what this means?”
“Yes.” At his intent look, the look that saw through
to very heart, soul, and blood of her, she licked her lips and looked away.
“Do you?” His fingers curled in the ring even more,
tugged it.
“No,” she said softly in confession. “I just wanted
to please you.”
“Oh, God!” He released a hot breath, pulled her
closer with the ring, the soft leather digging into her neck. “You always
please me,” he said. “That’s one thing you never have to worry about.” He
groaned like a man in pain, fingers curling under the collar, digging into her
skin. “You please me like no one else in the world.” He groaned again. “Turn
around.”
She didn’t turn fast enough because he spun her
around, shoved her belly and cheek into the wall. Then his hands were dragging
up her dress. Cool air brushed her bare thighs, her ass as he revealed her to
his gaze. He hissed, hands on her ass on her sex that she’d left uncovered for
him. Damien shoved her thighs apart. Tilted her ass up, shoved her chest even
more into the wall. Then she heard nothing. Felt nothing. Just his eyes on her,
the a/c blowing cool against her dripping sex. Her heart pounded in her chest.
Her nipples tightened against the dress. Sasha curled her fingers into her
palms.
“Fucking beautiful,” he grated. “Fucking...”
He shoved his cock into her. She gasped at the
suddenness of it, his thick manhood inside her clutching cleft. But she was
ready for him, wet and wanting. Sasha pushed out her ass even more, tightening
her pussy around him, swallowing him. She stretched her hands high up on the
wall, using it for leverage as she shoved back onto his cock, eager for him.
Her womb throbbed. Her pussy trickled. Sasha gasped with her desire as he moved
inside her. His cock was heavy and thick, knocking at the walls of her dripping
wet pussy while the breath came harshly between his teeth.
“Oh....”
Damien’s fingers settled on her clit. He massaged it,
stroked it as he slammed into her. Pleasure snapped hot and fast inside her,
swallowing her in wave after wave of heat. She bit her lips to stop herself
from crying out his name, from crying out in pleasure.
He grabbed her hair, twisted it up and off her neck
so he could look at the collar as he fucked her. She dipped her head, gasping
as he pounded inside her, his grip fast in her hair. The pain fed her pleasure.
Sent it shivering under her skin, brought prickles of sweat under the dress, at
the top of her lip, down the center of her back.
The sound of their lust lifted her even closer to her
release, the liquid fuck of his cock in her pussy, his almost animalistic
grunts, her whimpers of pleasure. She bit her lips harder but couldn’t stop the
continuous streams of “oh oh oh oh” from falling from her mouth. Her skin was
on fire and she was so full of him. She was enfolded in pleasure, and then
ripped apart. The release barreled closer and closer. Sasha clawed at the wall.
A scream rose in her throat but Damien’s hand slammed over her mouth. Her hair
tumbled down her damp neck as he released his grip. Her body imploded with a
muffled scream.
And then Damien was jerking against her, his passion
jetting inside her pussy, his teeth sinking hard into her shoulder. They
trembled together as Sasha braced herself against the walls. Her legs trembled,
her pussy twitched around him. Their breaths came quickly in the small room.
“Fuck...” Damien breathed against her skin. Then he
pulled back, withdrew his still thick cock from her. “That wasn’t quite what I
meant to happen,” he said breathlessly.
The sound of rustling cloth came from behind Sasha,
and then Damien’s hand was between her legs. A cloth. He was cleaning her. She
blushed, the heat moving in a scorching tide over her face, and tried to step
away. But he held her still until he was finished. He pulled down her dress,
kissed the back of her neck and stepped back.
When she turned he had his handkerchief wadded up in
his hand. Aside from the missing cloth in the pocket of his blazer, he looked
as before. Beautiful and perfect. Pants zipped up. Every hair in place. Sasha
drew a trembling breath, pressed her palms to her hot cheeks as her riotous
body tried its best to settle down. She wished she could get herself together
so easily.
Before she could say anything, he kissed her mouth. A
tender press of lips against hers that invited her closer. Sasha twined her
arms around his neck and opened her mouth to him, melting beneath the tender
assault on her senses that with another man might seem completely backward for
what they had just done. But with Damien, it was perfection. A tenderness to
reinforce the passion they shared together. A fierce fire, then the hazy smoke
of their desire.
Her heart thudded madly with a sudden realization.
She loved him. She was in love with Damien Taylor. There was no turning back
from that now even though she doubted that he felt the same about her. But it
didn’t matter. All that mattered was the feeling tripping through her. And it
mattered that she knew love for the first time. Knew it and welcomed it. For
now that was enough for her. Slowly, slowly, she drew back from him, relishing
the contact between them.
Sasha cleared her throat, her palms flat against his
chest. “You need to get back to your party. Everyone will wonder where you
are.”
Damien caressed her cheek, trailed a hand down to
touch the leather collar at her throat. “They’ll be fine.” He stared down into
her face for a long moment. “Will you spend the night with me later on this
week? On Friday?”
Sasha raised an eyebrow, smiling. “You’re asking so
nicely. Should I be suspicious?”
He grinned. “You can be whatever you want, darling.
As long as you bring this luscious ass of yours to my house on Friday.” Damien
palmed her bottom through the dress, growling playfully into her throat.
She giggled, squirming with pleasure against him.
“That sounds more like the Damien I know.” She curled a hand around his neck,
marveling again at his strength, the fact that he wanted to be with her. “I
will be happy to spend the night with you.”
“Good.” He dropped a quick kiss on her mouth and pulled
away. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
“You always do.” She shoved her hands through her
hair to tidy the unruly locks, straightened her dress, and then reapplied her
lipstick. Smiling, she did a quick twirl. “Do I look presentable?”
“Regrettably so,” he said. “I much prefer the freshly
fucked look.”
“Oh, do you?” She shook her hair back over her
shoulders. Then, intently meeting her lover’s eyes, unbuckled the collar from
around her neck. Sasha pressed the warm leather into his hand and closed his fingers
around it. He stared at her as if mesmerized.
“I’ll make sure to remember that.” She grinned at him
over her shoulder as she walked to the door.
Sasha unlocked the door and looked down the hallway,
surprised to realize that they were in the small storage room in the same
hallway as the bathrooms. After one last glance at Damien, she stepped into the
hallway and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. Just to make sure she didn’t
look “freshly fucked” to everyone else.
When she stepped back into the ballroom where the
party was still going strong, she instantly turned red as if every eye was
turned on her. Between her legs, she still felt traces of Damien’s desire, the
faint soreness from his rough possession. Sasha grabbed a glass of champagne
from a passing waiter and downed half of it in one swallow.
“Sasha! There you are. We’ve been looking for you.”
At the sound of Michelle’s voice, Sasha turned with a
smile on her face, sure that she looked like the cat who’d just swallowed the
canary. Or like a woman who’d been thoroughly fucked just a few moments before.
She felt naughty. She felt decadent. She felt better than she had in a long
time.

The party went on until just after
midnight. By then, Sasha was exhausted. She left Damien in the middle of a deep
discussion with Linc and another trainer and went to get her car keys from the
valet then make her way home. On the drive back to her place, she replayed the
events of the party in her mind—the ease with her co-workers had embraced her
after her mysterious absence, the way Damien had touched her and loved her in
that back room. It had been a very good night indeed.
In the parking lot of her apartment, she got out of
the car, grabbed her purse, and locked the door. From nearby, she could hear
thumping music and the sounds of laughter, dominoes slapping against a hard
surface. Her neighbors having a party.
“You look like a high class whore in that outfit.”
She spun around in the surprise, almost falling back
against the car. Her brother stood in the shadows of an overhanging magnolia
tree. She braced her hand behind her against the car, trying to calm her
runaway heart beat. James showing up was never a good sign. As she watched, he
made his way slowly out of the darkness until he stood before her, grinning. He
wore red alligator boots, designer jeans, and a red Lacoste shirt under a black
leather jacket. Her brother looked like he’d been on a shopping spree with her
money since the last time she saw him.
“What do you want?” she demanded.
“What is it with you? Why can’t I ever get a
civilized hello? Good to see you, brother. It’s been too long.” He frowned in
mock hurt.
“You’ll be waiting a long time to hear that bullshit
from me,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Bitch.”
“What. Do. You. Want?” Even as Sasha fought back her
anger, apprehension settled in her stomach, an unfortunately familiar feeling.
“Well, I think by now you know how this is going to
go,” James said.
Sasha clenched her fists. “I don’t have any more
money to give you.” She jerked her chin at her apartment over the rise. “You
see where you’ve forced me to live. I can barely afford to put gas in my car to
take my ass to work and make the money you’re extorting from me every month.”
“You’re doing well enough to afford that fancy dress
and those shoes.” He stared at her high heels as if he wanted to rip them off
her feet and run with them down to the pawn shop. “I know a whore who used to
wear nothing but those red bottom shoes. One pair cost at least eight hundred
dollars.”
Sasha swallowed, refusing to tell him that they were
a gift. But he must have seen something in her face.
“Oh, your boyfriend bought those for you. Fancy.” His
eyes glittered in the moonlit night. “I’ve seen you with him around town. I was
there the night he took you to that restaurant by the water. I know you saw me.
You go out with him a lot, don’t you? What I don’t get is why you go to his
house to fuck but never spend the night. Why is that?”
Her mouth dropped open. He had been following her
even more than she thought. She shied away from spending the night at Damien’s
because she thought that would attract unwanted attention from her brother. Now
she knew she’d taken that precaution for nothing. James had seen everything she
hadn’t wanted him to see. He knew where she worked. Where she lived. She
wouldn’t have been surprised if he followed her to the grocery store and knew
what brand of tampons she bought. With one arm, Sasha braced herself against
her car, speechless. Frightened.
But that didn’t stop James. “If your boyfriend is
taking you to all these fancy dinners and buying you all this shit—” He
gestured roughly to her dress and shoes. “—then you can definitely afford to
give me another grand a month.”
That jerked her out of her stupor. She gasped. “A
thousand dollars? No way! I can’t. I just don’t have it.”
“Either you get it or I tell your boyfriend all about
our little relationship. I’ll get the money from him instead if you don’t do
right by your brother.”
Terror clutched at Sasha’s throat. “Leave him out of
this!”
“That’s up to you, sister. You know what needs to
happen for me to stay away from that little bitch boyfriend of yours. Shit...”
James made a contemptuous noise. “He’s pretty enough to be my
girl
friend.”
Sasha pounded her fist into the car door. “Stay the
fuck away from him!” She felt herself shouting, the volume rising in her throat
with hysteria a touch away.
Even though it was dark and late, quite a few people
sat on their balconies enjoying the early summer breeze. Sasha could feel eyes
on her and James, hear the faint rustle of beginning conversation.
“You don’t tell me what to do. Ever!” James moved
closer to her, menacing despite his relatively short height.
But she’d had enough of him for the night. Running
into him after having the best day in a long time was souring everything. The
very air felt polluted. She shoved her hands against his chest but he only
stumbled back, grinning. “Back off me!” she shouted. “You’ll get your fucking
money.”
Sasha didn’t know how she was going to raise even
more money to give to him. But she had no choice. She had to find it. She just
had to!
“I thought you’d say that.” James’s eyes glittered in
rodent-like satisfaction.
He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and slowly
backed away. He watched her with each step. Then he abruptly turned and made
his way toward a white car that Sasha hadn’t noticed before. It was a two-door
Lexus. Doubtless bought with her money. She made a helpless noise in her
throat, falling limply back against her car, heedless of her white dress and
the car’s dust.
Her world was falling down completely around her. The
career she had built from nothing would simply disappear with one word from her
brother. The man she had fallen in love with despite her better judgment would
abandon her, he would look at her with contempt. All because of an accident of
birth.
Sasha felt like everything was spinning out of her
control. Her head spun. She closed her eyes tightly against the sudden feeling
of vertigo but she couldn’t stop it. Her stomach lurched then she was bent over
vomiting up the champagne and canapés from the party into the gutter near her
tires. Vomit splashed against her shoes. Her stomach heaved. Her throat burned
as she threw up again and again until there was nothing left in her stomach.
Angry tears dripped down her face. Sasha bent nearly double as her body voided
every good thing it had ingested in the last few hours.
“Fuck!” She slammed her fist against the car door.
Again and again.
But her hand only hurt after a while. She
straightened and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Wiped her face. As
she tried to pull herself together, she realized that there were eyes looking
at her. People from the balconies stared down at her, most making no effort to
hide their curiosity. Humiliation flushed her skin.
With the stares ravaging her skin, all she wanted to
do was sink into the gutter and die.