Imani canted her hips backward, and I bit my bottom lip. Go slow, go slow, go slow. But I was too far gone to listen to my meddling brain. She was so wet, I slid in all the way with no resistance. Like she was made for me.

  She gasped and dropped her head to the headrest as I drove into her again and again. Her inner walls stroked me, massaging steadily. My blood boiled, and I gritted my teeth against the impending orgasm, the feeling of freedom within reach. But it didn’t come. Focusing all my attention on her and the sensation around my dick, I gripped her hips tighter, my fingers pressing into her honey-colored flesh.

  The sweat dripped off my brow as I filled her, so high on the feeling of being inside her that I never wanted to be anywhere else.

  But I was no closer to letting go. "Play with yourself. I want to feel you coming around my cock."

  She obliged, and I pumped faster as she chanted my name. But even with each slide in to her warm, slick depths, I wasn’t any closer to release. With a snarl, I released one hand and joined it to hers, sliding over her clit. I tried to rub faster, but she slowed me down. I tried to control it, but she intertwined our fingers, making me take my time.

  When I yielded to her, the tingle started in my lower spine. Fucking finally. If I could just come, I could be rid of the fear that chased the adrenaline. I didn’t want to keep thinking about what would have happened if she'd been on the barge tonight. The moment I lost focus, the orgasm that was so close evaporated into thin air.

  But hers slammed into her. "Xander! God. Yes. Right. There. Yes, yes, yes."

  I fisted a hand into her thick hair as I fucked her. "You like that." Need drove me in as far as she would take me. Her only answer was a low moan. "I know you want more. I'm not stopping until you come again and again around my cock."

  Leaning forward, I nipped the back of her neck and kissed that spot just behind her ear. But it was no substitute for kissing her. For feeling her lips against mine. Her tongue tangling with my own.

  Suddenly, she grabbed the back of the couch and stopped moving, locking her hips in place. Imani turned her head and brushed her hair off her shoulder. "Xander."

  I didn’t meet her gaze, and instead, kept looking straight ahead. I didn’t want to see the concern in her eyes. I didn't want her to see the desperation in me. I wanted to avoid the intimacy. Wanted to hide the truth from her—that I needed her. I didn’t want to, but I knew I craved her. I slid my fingers over her clit and reveled when she shuddered again. "Come for me."

  She shook her head. "Stop."

  The word was like a slap of ice-cold water, and I immediately stilled. "W-what?"

  She moved her body forward away from me, and my hands tried desperately to hold her in place. "Xander, let me go." The sting of rejection had me stumbling back. But she reached out and took my hand. "Look at me."

  I stubbornly refused, and I looked anywhere but at her. "It's okay. I’m going—"

  "Xander." Her voice was firmer now, and I didn’t want to see the worry on her face. But I couldn't deny her and slid my gaze to hers.

  "What?"

  She licked her bottom lip and I stared, mesmerized. "Look at me, please."

  When I raised my gaze, I saw the heat I was accustomed to seeing. She wasn’t rejecting me. Then why had she stopped?

  She must have seen the question in my gaze because she tugged me closer and shifted her position until she lay back on the couch. I settled between her thighs, and my gaze slid down her body. I swallowed thickly, homing in on her wet lips where I wanted to bury myself again. “I don’t understand.”

  Her smile was soft when she spoke. “A second ago, you weren’t with me. Now you are.”

  All it took was her tongue sliding over mine, and the promise of bliss was back. I started to spiral out of control again, but in a good way. The emotional connection I'd been avoiding, that’s what was missing.

  Imani anchored me.

  She took my hand and slid it to her breast, and I relished the softness of her skin. “Imani,” I breathed. She arched into my caress, seeking more of my touch.

  The emotion welled so deep in my chest that I feared I might choke on it. God, she fit into my big palms perfectly when my thumb traced over a nipple. Her hips rose, bringing her slick sweetness sliding over my cock. I took full advantage, sliding home, seating myself fully inside her. When I stroked deep, she threw her head back, gasping my name.

  With a heavy-lidded gaze, I watched her, the unabashed way she responded. And I knew in my bones that I was falling for her. The well of emotion spilled over the lightning starting up my spine. “Fuuuck me.”

  Before the white-hot flash of heat took me, she started to come around my cock again, her tiny convulsions gripping me. When she fisted her delicate hands in my hair and pulled me to her neck, my orgasm slammed through me. Unable to keep anything from her, I poured everything I had inside her.

  I blinked away the stinging in my eyes and nuzzled her neck. I wasn’t letting her go.

  I had a few weeks until the gala. I could convince her to take me seriously, convince her to stay.

  Whatever it took. I needed her too damned much to lose her.

  Xander

  After grabbing a shower and getting dressed, I watched her sleep. It was definitely high on the creep-factor scale, but I wanted to be near her. Early morning sunlight streamed into the bedroom through the shades, lighting her softly.

  I wanted to photograph her. With the sheet thrown over her body and her hair rumpled and curling in every conceivable direction, she looked content. And I liked that I was the one who'd made her that way. I also didn't feel as out of control as I thought I would. Being with her hadn't spun me out. Just the opposite. It had anchored me. Once I stopped fighting her, that was.

  She stirred, and her lashes fluttered across her cheek as she cracked her lids open. She smiled when she saw me. "Morning," she mumbled.

  Unable to resist, I leaned down and kissed her softly. She was so soft, like her lips were made for kissing. Especially for kissing me. "Morning, love. Are you hungry?"

  Her stomach growled in response, and she ducked her head under the pillow. "I'm always hungry.” She stretched her arms over her head, and the sheet covering her breasts slipped. Suddenly my mind was on a different kind of hunger altogether. But I beat back the urge to climb back into bed with her.

  "Come on. I figured we could head to breakfast. Maybe call Lex and see if he and Abbie want to meet us."

  She peeled her eyes open further and frowned. "You’re dressed. Why are you dressed? How did I miss you getting out of bed?"

  I laughed. "Well, you were out pretty hard if I do say so myself."

  She threw a pillow at me and I ducked. "Smug bastard."

  I nipped her shoulder. "Too right. And as soon as we're back from breakfast, I plan on putting you in a comatose state again. But first I need to feed my...” My voice trailed off as I looked for the right word.

  She slowly sat up. “Not sure what to call me, huh?”

  “Guess not. We’ve been playing house and you’re posing as my fiancée, but that’s different now.”

  She nodded slowly as she studied me. “I guess it is.”

  I wanted to say the word. Mine. But that was too much and would certainly scare her off. So instead, with a nervous laugh, I said, “Don’t look at me. I haven’t a clue how to do this. But I know staying away from you isn’t really an option I’d like to explore any longer.” God, way to pussy out.

  She chewed her lip. “It’s not like I have some kind of manual either. I don’t really— I mean I haven’t really had a lot of relationships. And I don’t really do the whole trusting-people thing, so this is hard.”

  Panic flared in my chest. I was fucking this up.

  She didn't want this. I scrambled for a way to make sure she stayed in my life. Fuck. We’d start with the bed. We were good there. I could bring her around with great sex, right? “Why don't we just take it easy and see where the meandering road leads? Maybe we’ll make a good team.” Fuck. Why did I sound like a complete wanker?

  She looked down at her hands before slanting me a glance. “Xander, you’re paying me to be here. It doesn’t feel… right.”

  Bollocks. I knew the money would come back to haunt me. “I already wired the rest of the money into your account this morning when I woke up.” My heart hammered as I searched for the right words. Not too clingy but interested. Yeah, more like desperate, mate. “I want you to stay because you want to.”

  She frowned up at me. “Why did you do that? I could be the kind of person to walk out.”

  No. Please no. Swagger, mate. Believe it. I shook my head. “Because I’d like the real girlfriend instead of the fake one, if you don’t mind. I mean, I’d like you to stay until I hear about the position on the board of the Trust, but even when you move back to your place, I’d like to see you. A lot. Exclusively.” Way to piss all over her, you knob.

  My stomach knotted as I watched her. What if she said no? Well, I’d give her so many orgasms she’d be too weak to say no. That sounded like a solid plan.

  She bit her lip and blinked up at me with misty eyes. “I’d like that. Just one thing, though.”

  That knot loosened, flooding my body with enough emotion to make me shake. “Name it.”

  “Maybe it’s time we start talking through some stuff? Last night was…”

  Leave it to her to bring up the hard thing. I winced. “Believe me, I know how fucked up that was.” I swallowed. “You're not a whore. I shouldn’t have treated you like you were.” The hot wash of shame splashed on my face before she put a hand on my arm, and I had to resist flinching.

  "You didn’t hurt me. And I didn't feel like a whore. Besides, some of my friends are whores."

  How did she do that? Make me want to laugh even when things hung on the precipice of going horribly wrong. Through gritted teeth I muttered, “Fine. Not a whore then. But somehow, I guarantee if I check your inner thighs, I’ll find some bruises. I wasn’t gentle when we started." Or the two times I’d woken her up with my mouth on her clit and my fingers digging into her flesh. I’d almost forgotten a condom that second time too.

  She sighed and gathered the sheet more tightly around her. "I liked it. If you must know, I've got a sex hangover. I've got sore muscles I didn’t know I had. And you're, uh, big. So yeah, I am a little achy, but I quite like the feeling. I can just imagine the state my hair is in right now."

  My gaze scanned over her, cataloging everything about her from her slightly flushed cheeks to her heavy-lidded gaze and the beard burn on her shoulder. And her hair was in a tangled bird’s nest situation. I’d have to get some of those satin pillowcases she had in her bed for this room too.

  "You're sure I didn’t hurt you?"

  She squeezed my bicep. "I'm sure, Xander."

  "Okay." Nervously, I licked my lips. "So, you're saying the chances are good I could not hurt you again?"

  She laughed and flopped the pillow over her eyes. "Hell yes, but you’re going to have to feed me first. Because this woman cannot live on incredible sex alone."

  "One massive English fry-up coming right up. But first, a kiss." I slid my lips over hers, and need slammed into me quick. But unlike the compulsions I couldn't control, the compulsion to destroy myself, this felt good. It felt light, like sunshine. I broke the kiss before I wound up crawling back in bed with her. "Let's get you fed."

  “And then more kissing?”

  The relief was almost crippling. She was staying. I had more time to convince her to love me. I could do this. “You drive a hard bargain.”

  3

  Imani

  All I heard when I answered the phone that morning was high-pitched squealing. The kind only my sister could make at a decibel that probably drove most dogs insane.

  "Ebs, I'm gonna have to ask you to stop screaming. Use your words. I can't hear you."

  "I got in. I got. In. I got in. I. GOT. IN." That was all I caught before the high-pitched yelling continued. Ebony was generally excitable by nature, so I had long since learned to just put the phone down until the squealing stopped. When it finally went quiet on the other end of the line, I picked the phone back up again.

  "Awesome, you got in. Now, do you want to tell me what you got in to?"

  There was more squealing, but somewhere in the mile-a-minute teenage chatter, I caught the word that meant the world to me. Briarwood.

  I started squealing with my sister. Ebony had done her part. From her interviews to her test scores, she'd gotten in.

  I danced around the living room laughing. "Oh my God, Ebs, you’re going to love London. From the West End to the clubs in Brixton to the East End. There’s so much culture and shopping and food. God, the food. And access to travel. You and I are going to be on a train at least once a month, just going somewhere different. This is great."

  There was a momentary twinge of guilt when I thought of my father. He'd have no one to look after him. But I shook it off. I would still look after him the best I could, but Ebony was my priority. I’d promised my sister to come back for her, and now I could fulfill that promise.

  "Oh my God. I am so proud of you."

  "Thank you, Imani. I know I didn’t exactly believe you when you said it was going to happen. I guess so much bad shit happened that I lost a little faith."

  "I told you you'd get in. This is awesome."

  Some of my sister's earlier enthusiasm waned. "Except how am I going to pay for it? You had to come to the rescue and pay the mortgage. So Dad clearly isn't going to pay for it."

  "What was that you just said about a little faith? I promised you if you got in I'd find a way for you to go, and I will." Briarwood offered scholarships, but not for boarding. Families had to deal with the money of either boarding accommodations or alternatives all on their own. So I'd need a bigger place for us to live. But with the scholarship, I'd be able to manage tuition… maybe. Things would be a little tight, but there was no way I was telling Ebony she couldn't go. Besides, with the money Xander had paid me, I'd have enough for the first term, buying me a little time to get the money for the next term. I could do this.

  "All you have to do is pack."

  "Are you serious?"

  "Yeah, I’m serious. You're going to love London."

  Xander

  I took a swig of beer before settling down with my laptop. Though the moment I sat back, the lights flickered and told me someone was coming up the elevator. When I opened the door, I was surprised to find Jean LeClerc on the other side.

  "Jean. How are you? I'm surprised to see you here." More like fucked, because the one time I needed her, Imani was at rehearsal.

  "I'm sorry to just drop in, but I was in the neighborhood on the way to meet Charlotte, and I thought you wouldn’t mind."

  "Of course not, come on in."

  Jean nodded, and I thanked God; Imani had a tendency to spread out when she was working on part of the script. She’d left some things in the kitchen and living room. It would be hard to mistake that she was at least a frequent visitor.

  "Would you like something to drink? I can open a bottle of wine.”

  The old man held up a hand. "No, no. Charlotte is waiting for me, honestly." He glanced around. “I like what you've done with the place. I haven’t seen it since you had that artist retrospective five years ago."

  My agent had suggested I go intimate instead of using a gallery, and he'd chosen my place for the event. The idea had made me a bit cagey, people riffling through my things and favorite pieces, but then I'd realized I kept nothing personal of myself in this place, so it wouldn't matter. It had been a huge success, and I'd sold every single piece that night. All save one. The one I kept in my bedroom.

  "Oh yes, I remember you bought this modern piece I did with Amber Hruk. The Danish model."

  "It was stunning." Jean shifted on his feet. "Listen, I just wanted to give you the news myself. The board has decided to accept you."

  About bloody time. I was starting to think I was torturing myself for nothing. Over my racing heart, I could just hear another domino fall. "That's brilliant. Thank you."

  LeClerc nodded. "You deserve it. I will tell you though, I am concerned about the fervor of discontent between you and Alistair McMahon. Alistair threatened to quit if we accepted you."

  My lips flattened. The end would be the same, but it would certainly rob me of my satisfaction in seeing the fucker twist in the wind. "It's a shame. But I assure you, I harbor no ill will against Alistair, and I can be a professional." Right up until I bury the twat.

  "I'm glad to hear that." He glanced around. "Where is that charming fiancée of yours?" His gaze landed on a scarf.

  "She's actually at rehearsal. She'll be back—"

  As if on cue, Imani walked in with her usual chirping. "Xander, please tell me you ordered food, because I am absolutely starving and if I have to wait for the delivery—" She rounded the corner and halted mid-breath. "Jean." She blinked as she tried to recover her composure. "How lovely it is to see you."

  He gave her a beaming smile. "I was just asking about you."

  I only half heard their exchange. My gaze never left her body as she came over, wrapped her arm around my waist, then kissed me on the lips softly.

  I knew it. I was done. I needed her. But for more than the combustion that kept the sheets on fire. And she could slip out of my fingers now.

  "Sweetheart, Jean just came to give me the good news. I've been accepted onto the board."

  For a second, I convinced myself that a shadow crossed her beautiful features, but it was instantly replaced by a sunny smile. "That’s fantastic news."

  Jean nodded. "I also wanted to invite the two of you to our spring gala. It's a donor event and you'd be a guest, so no work for you. But it might be fun, and the board will all be in attendance. It's on Saturday evening. And then we'll formally sign you in on Tuesday after the bank holiday."