Katie and Holden stared each other down for a few moments.

  “I think you know what I want from you. I’ve been pretty clear. I’ll be with you for free.”

  She eyed him and thought it over. “You drive a hard bargain, but fine. If you don’t want to sign a contract, then you don’t have to.” Katie stuffed the contract into her handbag. “But if you’re going to live under my roof, you have to abide by my rules. That means I’m paying your vet bills. Who’s your vet? I’ll set it up right now.”

  Holden smiled mischievously. “Not telling.”

  Katie sighed and shook her head but could not hide the enormous smile that bubbled up inside. You have a boyfriend now. Is that how easy it is for most people?

  “We’ll come back to that later. In the meantime, my stagers are getting the place ready for you as we speak. If anything is not to your liking, just let me know. Okay?”

  Holden agreed.

  “Great! Let’s celebrate. I’m ordering dessert, and you should eat that steak. It’s the best in the entire city.”

  Holden looked at the steak and back up at Katie. “I do have a request about how you spend your money on me.”

  “Anything. Finally! I’m so excited! Tell me.”

  Holden grinned. “I don’t belong in this restaurant. There are too many forks. Don’t ever bring me here again. I prefer street tacos.”

  Katie was aware of street tacos but had never tried them. “Perfect. Noted.”

  Holden continued, “But above all, I thought we were gonna go celebrate by going to your place, or my new place, or somewhere, and getting naked.”

  Katie choked on an olive and had to take a sip of water to recover.

  After Holden made sure she had recovered from her coughing fit, he said, “I mean, I’m ready this time. I went and bought condoms and everything.”

  Katie cocked her head at him and observed the way he was looking at her. The man couldn’t hide his feelings if he tried; if she’d asked, he’d probably reach under the table and ring her bell right here in this crowded restaurant. Warmth bloomed between her legs at the thought of it.

  When the server stopped to check on their table, Katie requested a box for the food and for her car to be brought around.

  On their way outside, Holden grabbed the boxes away from her and slipped his other arm around her. Just like a real boyfriend. It had never happened this quickly before, with someone she liked this much.

  “Next time you need condoms—or anything—you use a debit card I’m having issued to you. Understood?”

  “I can’t let you pay for literally everything.”

  He insisted on holding her driver side door open.

  She teased, “Already disobedient.”

  “What are you gonna do about it?” The tip of Holden’s tongue peeked out for half a second, and Katie suddenly felt lightheaded. She remembered the way he’d worshiped her breasts like he’d needed them to live. Her nipples remembered, too; she felt them harden under the lace of her bra. She doubted her ability to think straight enough to drive.

  She held the keys out to him. “Feel like driving? My penthouse is close.

  Seconds later, Holden was whooping like a kid in a candy store, revving her Porsche 911 Carrera engine. “I can’t believe it!”

  Katie giggled. “Can’t believe you’re driving a Porsche?”

  Holden shook his head and shouted. “No, I can’t believe you got this in blue when red exists.”

  She reached over and squeezed his hand. “The red one is the convertible. I needed to tell them apart easily. If you’re still around next summer, you can drive that one as much as you want.”

  Pivoting toward her in the driver’s seat, Holding looked three sizes too big for this zippy little car. He locked eyes with her. “Oh, I’ll be around, Katie Moss. I’ll be all around you. Over you. Under you. Inside you. For the foreseeable future.”

  Dammit, why did she never have a drink of water around when he talked like that?

  “You’d better fucking drive, son.”

  “You got it, Cupcake.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Holden

  If driving the car felt like a dream, parking it in the private basement lot at Ecco Tower felt like a fantasy that none of his friends would ever believe. The place looked like a museum dedicated to the history of automobiles.

  Her voice echoed as he locked the car, and she led the way to an elevator marked “private.”

  “You can take any of these for a drive whenever you want. All you have to do is ask.”

  Katie went on to share more information concerning all of the things laid out in the contract.

  “Even though you didn’t sign it, you can still access all of my toys.”

  “How do you know I’m not going to rob you blind without a contract?” he asked when they approached the elevator. She stopped, turned, and said, “If you do, you do. But I don’t think you will. Anyway, Mike, my security guy, is a stone-cold mother fucker. Ex-Navy Seal. Sniper. Cybersecurity expert. Nobody messes with me. He’s probably watching right now.”

  Holding looked around for cameras, thoroughly spooked, but could find none. Ultimately, that didn’t matter. Holden just wanted to spend as much time as possible with Katie, doing whatever it was that she liked, and he had no intention of doing anything to piss off a dude like Mike. If she wanted to play house on weekends and for him to be available for a dicking on the regular, then Holden was down for it.

  She may have wanted to spoil him, but he was going to be the one to absolutely spoil her for anyone else, ever again.

  On the elevator, Katie explained to Holden how to reach her, how to access his new bank account, how to contact security, a driver, keys to any of the cars. It was all too much to absorb.

  But he did have a passing thought about his friend Levi. The dude loved classic muscle cars, and he’d probably go apeshit behind the wheel of the ’69 Camaro he’d just peeped downstairs.

  Right now, though, Holden was mostly interested in marking this occasion.

  “This elevator really private?” he asked, watching the numbers light up one by one as the metal box slowly rose higher and higher.

  “Yep. I’m the only one with access. Apart from the doorman or Mike, and emergency personnel.”

  Holden looked down and watched as Katie stared into her compact mirror, dabbing her nose with a powder puff. Being alone with her in this tiny space filled his lungs with her scent, conjuring up all the filthy memories from Monday. His desperation to repeat that scene was palpable.

  Setting down the takeout bag on the elevator floor, Holden took a step closer to Katie and watched her.

  “What? Here?”

  She knew him so well already. She saw the heat and the need that oozed out of him.

  “Yep.”

  He didn’t wait for her to finish touching up her makeup. He wanted her now; he wanted to show his gratitude right that second.

  Today was evidently Casual Friday at the office because Katie wore some tight stretch jeans under a long V-neck sweater and boots. Slightly more conservative than Wednesday night at Crow Bar but a little more office-appropriate. That cleavage was still out there and even sexier than he remembered.

  He laid one long, wet kiss against her lips, pressing his body flat against hers. He refused to pull back until she relaxed; she let out a whimper.

  “Cameras?”

  “Uh…yes. Yes, there’s a camera, but I can have it turned off in just a sec—”

  “Where,” he growled.

  Katie pointed to a small hole in the elevator wall, near the ceiling. “I’ll take care of it,” he said. “Gimme the contract?”

  Her cheeks flushed when he became demanding, and he liked it. She took the now semi-crinkled contract out of her bag and handed it to him. He flipped to the signature page, tore off the Post-It note, turned, and affixed the yellow sticky square over the camera hole.

  When he turned back to Katie, her eyes were wide, her breasts rose and fell rapidly.

  “I've wanted to taste my cupcake all day. Now gimme.”

  Trembling, she dropped her handbag and started to slide down the wall.

  “Nope. Stay right there,” he ordered.

  Kneeling down in front of her, he unfastened her jeans and tugged them all the way down to her boots.

  “Holden, what…”

  “Tell me to stop. Say no, and I’ll stop right away. But this elevator ride is making me hungry, and I’m not gonna make it.”

  Katie whimpered yes when Holden let his hands slide over her legs, down the backs of her knees, over her calves, and back up to massage her backside.

  The gratifying sighs from her made his mouth water.

  He slid his hands up to her lower back, her long sweater hiking up along with it, revealing her cotton undies.

  “There she is.”

  Katie replied breathily, “Goddammit, and I wore granny panties today.”

  “I don’t give a shit what kind they are, as long as they ain’t in my way.”

  He tugged them down and once again lifted the hem of her oversized sweater and let it fall over the back of his head. Her sweet, luscious curves jerked when he laid kisses across the span of her groin. He inhaled the herbal scent of her body lotion and the intoxicating musk of her womanhood.

  “Spread for me if you want me to lick it.”

  She moaned, “Holy shit, fuck me,” and spread before his face.

  Holden gripped her soft backside with both hands and said, “Better hold on to something.” Her fingers drifted downward, moved the hem of the sweater out of the way, and buried themselves into his hair. He didn’t know what he’d expected her to hold on to, but that was good.

  His tender kisses over her damp split soon gave way to tasting. Savoring. Worshipping. When his tongue found her tight little clit, he gripped Katie’s curves tighter and flattened out his tongue against it.

  Her body crashed into his face in response, sending a gush of her warm honey down his throat. Her moans and cries, the tightness of her fingers in his hair, made the granite-hard length between his legs pulse in its growing need. He had to control himself to keep from laughing as he thanked his earlier self for wearing loose track pants that day.

  Holden switched between firm licks and gentle sucks until Katie came apart. She let go of his hair, arching her back away from the wall. A stream of shocked curses fell from her lips, followed by delighted, breathless laughter.

  “Holden, you are something else,” she said.

  He knew that was true, but he wasn’t finished.

  “Hang on, Cupcake.”

  “Wh—” she started to say but did not complete the question.

  He wanted more. He wanted to destroy that entire pussy right there in the elevator. With a sudden rush of brute force, Holden had her thighs on his shoulders, with her jeans and damn granny panties still wrapped around her boots, serving as a suitable enough bondage device to keep her from trying to escape.

  “You’re a maniac,” she hissed, arching her body tight against his face as he buried his face in her essence.

  “Say stop, and I will,” he said between deep, claiming, noisy kisses. His body shuddered.

  “Fuck, you know I won’t say stop.”

  “Good,” he growled, almost surprising himself at the wild, snarling tone.

  Her body’s response to him was like a drug, and he acted like a completely different creature. Holden felt wild and unpredictable with the taste of her, the scent of her, overwhelming his being and fogging up his mind.

  All he could think about was taking more and blowing her mind in the process.

  He delved his tongue deep inside her cunt, moaning against her sensitive places. He explored, probed, kissed, licked, and devoured. The more he took from her, the harder she ground against his face.

  “Such a pretty pussy,” he rumbled against her flesh. His words drew out an unintelligible squeak from her throat and a fresh gush of her sweet essence from her channel, which he drank down.

  My girl, he thought. My pussy. My girl’s pussy is going to remember me tomorrow.

  The force and the length of his tongue reached her most potent spot, inside the walls of muscle.

  The contact was as if he’d set off a bomb. Katie howled. She thrashed against him, surrounding him with her full-body spasms. He’d done this to her, pleased her more than he thought he could.

  More than any man would ever again. He knew this to be the truth.

  “Katie.”

  She wasn’t laughing in delight anymore. But she was falling, slipping along the wall.

  Holden effortlessly moved Katie down off his shoulders, zipping her back up nice and neat before she had caught her breath, making sure she was steady on her feet. He stood over her again, sharing a tender, sensuous kiss. He should have started with more kissing. Sometimes kissing could be the best part. He was a hungry, dirty dog whenever he came within three feet of her, and he’d lost control.

  Katie looked to his left.

  He followed her gaze and realized the elevator door had opened into the biggest, most ornate rotunda Holden had ever seen outside of the state Capitol.

  “Welcome to my home,” she said.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Katie

  Eager and enthusiastic about returning the favor to this absolute warrior who had ruined her in the elevator, Katie gave the abbreviated tour of the Ecco Tower penthouse.

  “This is where you live?”

  She laughed. “Yeah, just one floor above the main corporate office. Which makes me something of a hermit.”

  Holden looked confused more than impressed, and she could hardly blame him.

  “Why would anybody want to hermit here?” Katie followed his gaze and saw the space through Holden’s eyes. “Yeah. Not very homey, is it?” She explained that she had inherited the company, and the penthouse, from her grandparents. Her grandmother had a very colonial, old-fashioned kind of taste. The walls were covered in imposing classical art, Ming vases graced all corners, busts of dubiously honorable historical figures stared mildly threateningly at the Queen Anne furniture.

  “So, why don’t you make it your own?” Holden asked.

  Katie’s boots clip-clopped through the sitting room, and he followed her into the kitchen, where she offered Holden a glass of mineral water. She downed half of her drink and said, “I’ve thought about it, but then I know I’d feel guilty living in a huge marble and gilded space all by myself. I think I’d like to turn it into an office space for something. A charitable foundation, but I don’t know what yet. If I redecorate it, it’ll begin to feel like home too much.”

  Holden looked around at the heavy fringed curtains.

  “This kitchen looks like it was built for a restaurant staff, not a family.”

  Katie looked at the stainless-steel workspaces and had to agree. “Grandma never cooked. Never. So the space was purely utilitarian for the staff.”

  “Jesus. Well, if you’ll pardon me, I have to say the rest of the place feels like an old lady decorated the Oval Office and then decided to haunt it forever.”

  Katie nearly spit out her drink for the second time that day.

  “Holden,” she spluttered.

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry for making me laugh. My grandparents weren’t exactly the type to bounce me on my knee or take me to the zoo.”

  “I don’t know why I keep bringing the mood down,” he said with an apologetic look.

  Katie walked around the steel kitchen island, closed her arms around Holden’s waist, and looked up at him. “If we’re together, then you’re not bringing the mood down by asking me personal questions. It shows me you care about me. Nobody but my sister talks to me about my childhood, so it’s kind of nice to know someone else is interested. But right now...”

  Holden gritted his teeth when she pressed her pelvis into the hard length that still stood at attention. “How about a dance and a little messing around before I show you your new condo? I guarantee you nobody has ever fucked around in that clawfoot tub my grandpa bought off the Reagan estate.”

  Holden ran his hands down over the curve of her ass, and she was surprised at how she immediately felt turned on all over again, despite experiencing multiple incredible orgasms in the elevator just minutes ago.

  “The Reagans, huh? That should absolutely not turn me on, and yet…”

  Katie giggled and rose up on her tiptoes to lick Holden’s neck. He possessed the most lovely cords along his throat. They begged to be kissed, traced by her fingers, and nibbled by her teeth.

  The low, sexy growl escaping his throat might’ve had her hopping up onto the kitchen island if it weren’t for her phone ringing at the most inopportune moment.

  “I recognize that ringtone. Damn. I gotta take this. My assistant. She never phones after five on a Friday.”

  Picking up, Katie scolded, “Anissa, what did we say about cutting out of work early on Fridays.”

  Anissa answered, “To always do it. Sorry. But there are two agents here that need to speak to you. They say it’s urgent.”

  Agents? “Well, hand them the book of listings and tell them one of our people will call them ASAP.”

  Anissa clarified, sounding like she was being held hostage in a movie. “They really want to speak to you personally. I told them to set up a meeting, but they said that Ari Pitts sent them, and the matter was time sensitive. I’m really sorry.”

  Katie hung up the phone and was about to apologize profusely to Holden. She had to go; she didn’t like the idea of someone harassing her assistant when none of the other brokers were in the office.

  Holden was unbelievably gracious about her leaving. “I have to go bottle feed a kitten anyway,” he said.

  She knew he had cats, but bottle feeding?

  Closing her eyes to kiss him goodbye, she felt her ovaries quiver at the thought of this muscled boxer feeding a kitten with a baby bottle.

  It’s a little late to finally let your ovaries do the thinking now, Katie.

  She told that negative voice in her head to stuff it. Which was easy to do while being kissed by lips like Holden’s.