I was starting to recognize some of Matt’s friends. Chester was there, nuzzling into a girl’s neck, but not the other guy, who had been talking to Matt, or so I assumed, because he had an arm up behind the girl next to him. She was toying with his shirt, but he turned to watch us come in, too. There was light curiosity from him. Anger from Matt. And fear mixed with caution in Chester’s face, when he sensed something was happening and lifted his head from the girl’s neck.

  The four girls didn’t look over. They didn’t even seem to know that other people were there. They kept doing what they’d been doing: flirting, teasing, and rubbing, judging by the girl whose hand didn’t move from Matt’s lap.

  Once we were within earshot, Matt drawled, his eyes sparking, “Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to have a chat with me.” His eyes were mean. “You’re usually on top of me, Kash. You’re slipping. It’s been a good two days since you beat the shit out of me.”

  His bruises were still there, but fading.

  I winced, seeing them.

  Chester and the other guy were enjoying this. Both seemed eager, and they leaned forward, resting their arms on the table.

  Matt didn’t move. Not an inch.

  His eyes switched to mine. The ugly glint was there, but as I met his gaze and raised my chin, it faded. A glimmer of regret flashed briefly, but then it was gone. And with it, some of the fight lessened too. His shoulders went up and down, smoothly, and he broke free, leaning forward to match his friends’ positions.

  “And you … I am actually sorry.” He grimaced. “Again. And again. And again.” All the fight was gone. His shoulders slumped down. He mouthed a swear word, then motioned to the girls. “Leave. Go.”

  They didn’t move quick enough, so he growled, “Get lost! Now.”

  Chester scowled. “What the fuck?” But he slid out, letting the girls out. His, too. The other one looked up at the third guy, and he nodded to her, dipping his head in the direction of the bar. She stood up and he smacked her on the ass, then cupped it. “I’ll come find you. Don’t go far.”

  Her eyes danced, and a seductive tilt formed on her mouth. “You know it.”

  As soon as the girls were gone, Kash lifted an eyebrow. He was glaring at Matt.

  Matt sighed, rolled his eyes. “Nuts. Dick. You guys, too.”

  “What?”

  “Dude.”

  Matt waved them off. “This is a family thing.”

  Both stood, glaring.

  Dick’s glare was less, and he hotfooted it after his girl. Chester stood, moving into Kash’s space, but one turn of Kash’s head and the guy scrambled out of the way.

  The corner of Matt’s mouth tugged. “The guys are all chickenshits. Scared of you.” He nodded to Kash, who stepped back, motioned for me to slide in on Dick’s side, and got in behind me. He could scope out the club, but his body was angled toward us. A passerby would think he was focused only on talking to us, not on watching them. The maneuver was so innate and smooth that I wasn’t sure he was even aware of it.

  Then all got quiet.

  Matt was glancing between the two of us, a slight frown marring his forehead. “Should I be the protective bro—”

  “Shut up.” But there was no heat in Kash’s words, and Matt’s grin only deepened. “What were you thinking? Boning Amanda Bonham? She’s married.”

  Matt shrugged. “Doesn’t act married in bed.”

  “Her sleeping with you doesn’t change the fact who her husband is. He can make life difficult for your father.”

  Matt guffawed. “Right. Dad can roll over him in two seconds. You know it. You can roll over him in less.” He skimmed me, nodding in my direction. “Bailey could probably take him down with an afternoon behind the keyboard. He’s a weasel shit. He’s nothing to me.”

  Kash only flattened his mouth.

  Matt jerked forward, new fight coming to him. “He’s in over his head. He owes the banks too much, and his new company is tanking. Besides, his wife has been cheating on him for years, and not just with me. When he finds out, he’ll find the rest. I’ll be the least of his worries. I know his two business partners got pokes in there, too, long before me. There’s rumors of a Christmas party, if you get my drift.”

  Kash wasn’t amused. His eyes were hard. “That only means he’s desperate. He can latch onto the latest, a privileged prick of a tech golden boy. Guy that desperate won’t sit back and think rationally about who else surrounded his wife. You get my drift?”

  They were at a standoff.

  Matt growled, falling back against the booth. “Fine. Whatever. I won’t pick up when she calls.”

  Kash ignored that, pulling out a phone and sliding it over the table. “Now.”

  “What?” He was looking from the phone to Kash. His eyes widening. “No way.”

  “Now, Matt.”

  “Kash—”

  “Goddamn it. Now. I’m not fucking around with this. There’s too much else at stake. A scandal like this can have blowback.” He motioned to me, his eyes not moving from Matt. “You know who else that can hurt. End it. Now.”

  Matt was snarling, until Kash referenced me. Then the snarl softened into mere regret, and he closed his eyes. Raking a hand over his face, he shook his head. “What a fucking mess. Fine.” He took the phone, typing in her number and a text. Seconds later, he threw it at Kash. “There. Done.” His glare was back. “You happy?”

  Kash took the phone, pulled up the history, then pulled up a different number. He handed it back. “Now actually text the phone she uses and not a dummy number.”

  Matt froze.

  Even I was surprised.

  “You—” Matt grabbed the phone, saw the new number, and blood drained from his face. “How’d you get this—”

  “Do you actually forget who your father is?” Kash jerked forward. He was close enough to be heard, but he dropped his voice low. There was a promise of violence under his words, being held back by a veiled line of restraint. He was done. That was obvious. Only Matt seemed still defiant, until Kash ground out, “I only had to give him a name, that was it. He pulled up everything. Texts. DMs. Private messages. Emails from three fake accounts. We have it. So fucking end it.”

  “You went to my dad?” Matt’s top lip turned white, it was stretched so tight.

  “No. I gave him a name. That was it. And before you jump down my back for being a snitch, I had to give him the name, because Bonham is a threat to your father, your sister, and you now. It was for security reasons. Not to give him the name would be reckless and stupid. Unlike your dick, I’m not a moron.”

  “Jesus Christ, Kash. Sometimes I really hate you.”

  “Feeling’s more than mutual right now, but you’ll be loving me the next second you need my ass to help you. You know it. I know it. Everyone goddamn knows it.”

  I’d been watching the back-and-forth, but at Kash’s mention of security reasons, I waited for a beat. It was now.

  I jumped in, holding a hand up. “Camille Story.”

  Both looked to me. Both quieted.

  I waited.

  They didn’t say anything until Kash said, “Explain.”

  I flushed, remembering another time he’d said the same phrase to me. But, pushing forward, I told them what I had done. Including the hacking. Including finding all the files on Matt.

  “I deleted everything so she wouldn’t notice it was gone until she went looking for it.”

  They were both silent a moment when I was done.

  I fidgeted.

  That was okay, what I’d done? I mean, maybe not in the grand scheme of the cosmic universe of morals and stuff, but she would’ve hurt us. Hurt Kash. Hurt Matt. In a way, I was just doing what they were doing for me, and what I’d done in the past. I was protecting people I cared about. In that way, I’d done nothing wrong. Karma was on my side.

  I still eyed Kash, who hadn’t turned away from me.

  What was wrong?

  Then he said slowly, “She had your name?”

  I nodded, just as slowly as him. “Yeah.”

  “And how much information did she have on Matt?”

  “A lot.” Scanning through it in my head, I added, “She knew about the Bonham woman.”

  Matt jerked at that, rearing backward as if slapped. He hissed out, “What the fuck?”

  Kash narrowed his eyes, still on me. “Tell me everything she had on us.”

  He waited as I went over it all, and he listened. It took a little while, long enough that a server came over to offer drinks. Matt waved her off as Kash ignored her, listening to me. When I was done, both wore decidedly different expressions than when I’d started.

  Unease.

  A little bit of panic with Matt, and a darker hint of anger from Kash, one that was riddled with intent to do something not good. I picked up on that unease, but it was about Camille Story. I had enjoyed reading her gossip blog, until finding out more about her run-ins with Matt and then finding how extensive her research on him had been.

  “She had a picture of you,” I told Kash.

  “Me?”

  I nodded. “I don’t know why it wasn’t deleted…” I was reexamining it, and that was wrong. I did know. “She diluted it. She ran it through a program and turned it into a sketch, not even a picture anymore, but it’s of you. His program wouldn’t have flagged it.”

  Crap. That was smart, and that had taken planning.

  I added, “She knows about the program that wipes out your image.”

  Which meant there could be more, kept offline. That wasn’t good.

  “Shit.” That was me.

  “Shit.” That was Matt.

  And Kash, he didn’t say anything. His jaw just firmed, and I knew he wouldn’t be with me tonight. He’d be going somewhere else.

  FORTY-THREE

  I knew it was only a matter of time before Kash slipped away.

  I didn’t know if he’d have me go with him, take me to the estate, home, or where. Or if he’d have the security team take me instead. I just knew two things: he was going to where Camille Story lived, and I was making the most of my time with him.

  We didn’t do couple stuff.

  This whole thing with us, it came out of nowhere. We hadn’t been normal, but we were a we. I knew that much. Kash was possessive of me, but in a good way. The way a girl loves, the way that fills her up, making her feel special and loved and protected.

  That was me, and that’s what Kash was doing when we were offered a private box suite and took it. Pressed high above the club, higher than even where Matt was again sitting with his friends. I could look straight down. Glass was under our feet, the opposite side a mirror to those below. We were out on a deck portion, and a button could open it up, let us hear the music better, feel it.

  We were feeling each other just fine.

  Kash was behind me, his arms around me, his body pressed against me, and his mouth exploring my neck. He nibbled up, licking me, and a jolt of lust tripled in me. I felt zapped by electricity. My blood simmered almost beyond a light boil by now. A hand swipe down my front. Touching between my legs, exploring, pressing, then retreating and moving back up and tunneling under my top. His other hand slid up the side of my leg, going inside my dress. He’d specifically asked me to wear this, and I now knew why.

  Access.

  My back was exposed, and as his hand moved below, so did his mouth.

  He draped kisses down my spine, and I surged upward, gasping and holding. My back was arched. My breasts pointed upward. He had made sure, bringing me to dizzying heights already before moving to a slower and more controlled pace.

  As he pushed against me, I felt how much he wanted me.

  He wouldn’t indulge. I knew Kash by now. He would drive me crazy, make me fevered and blind, and then his hand would slide up the inside of my dress, then into me, and he would send me over the edge all over again.

  Tantalizing. Torturing.

  I was a mess as his mouth sucked, paused, explored more, and then proceeded to drive me into a pitch.

  “Kash, Jesus!”

  He didn’t answer, but his hand splayed out in front of me, anchoring me to his mouth as he was sucking the small of my back. His tongue was doing magical things.

  I tipped my head back, a full-body groan left me.

  I felt his chuckle against my skin, more than heard him, and he knelt all the way down.

  Oh, God.

  I knew what he was doing.

  “Kash,” I was starting.

  “Shh.” Low and soothing, he turned me around, pausing to look up. I caught the twinkle in those eyes and could only hang on as he was lifting my dress up. His head ducked in, and I felt his tongue a second later.

  I was prepared.

  I thought I was prepared.

  That’s what I was telling myself.

  I wasn’t prepared.

  I so wasn’t prepared.

  I gasped, my legs shaking, and he kept kissing me. His tongue moved in, sweeping, circling, and making me pulsate with pleasure.

  I was going to drop on him. How embarrassing, but I was. My knees were shaking. I wasn’t going to be able to endure this. And then he sucked on my clit as he dipped two fingers into me, and he had me soaring all over again.

  I buckled, but Kash was ready for me.

  He stood, his hand still inside me, and caught me. A hand clamped to my back, he held me in place, plastered against him. He waited until I was done quaking.

  My entire body was jerking.

  A soft kiss to my neck. A second one feathered to my jaw, then a lingering kiss on my lips.

  He was claiming me.

  I was his.

  I was a complete muddled mess.

  I shook my head. “You—not fair.”

  A rakish grin. “Trust me.” Another kiss to the corner of my mouth. “You will be paying me back later tonight.”

  God yes.

  That meant he was coming back to me, after whatever he had planned. Kash wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it.

  Please mean it, I suddenly thought. Please, please mean it.

  I was worried about him. And oh boy, if I was starting tonight, about a blogger’s place, how would I handle the rest? His grandfather was Calhoun Bastian, for fuck’s sake.

  He ran a hand down my face, tucking a strand of hair back and frowning just slightly. “What’s wrong? You just tensed.” He mock frowned at me. “You’re not supposed to be tense. That was the whole purpose of coming up here.”

  A different thought hit me.

  “You don’t think they have cameras in here?”

  He grinned, his teeth flashing. “If they do, I have a feeling they’re going to have a hack tonight.”

  Damn straight they would. Still. I eyed over his shoulder to the corners. I bet they did.

  He dipped down again, his breath hot on my skin. “I asked them to turn them off.”

  Oh. Relief.

  Then … “How do you know they actually did?”

  “Look up.”

  I did.

  “Is there a red light in the corner?”

  Red. Red. Red. I was looking everywhere. I shook my head.

  “They turned it off.”

  That was good—very, very good. Then I could indulge some more. I lifted a hand, trailing it up his shoulder. Moving in, I grazed my nose against his throat.

  I felt his rumble. “What are you doing?”

  “Maybe I want to make you lose control too?” I looked up, enough to flash him my whites and wink before I moved my hand to his front.

  “Bailey.” A gentle warning.

  I didn’t care. Biting my lip, I was exploring, and I was loving it.

  I dipped my fingers inside his shirt, between his buttons, and he sucked in his stomach. “Goddamn.” He grunted, grabbing for the railing behind me. “What are you doing?”

  “Returning the favor.” I glanced up, our eyes met for a second, and I lowered myself below him.

  “Bailey.”

  He was hanging on, breathing harshly.

  Good. That was so good.

  I ran my hand over his pants, and he groaned, his body surging toward me. He was hard, straining against his zipper, and I was loving this. It was addicting, making him feel good, making him shudder from a mere touch, and pulling down the zipper, I reached in to bring him out.

  “Fuck,” he whispered.

  I looked up. His head had fallen back. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I saw his throat moving up and down.

  Then I moved, my lips opening, and I encircled him.

  “God,” he hissed.

  I moved my lips over him, my teeth gently touching him, and he jerked in my mouth. Delicious. Dark. That’s how I felt, pleasuring him right back in this private box, in this club that had secrets in every corner. Here we were. My man and me. I was making him feel good, just as he had done for me, and I was loving every bit of it. Moving my mouth, angling for a deeper suction, I was bringing him how he had with me. I was leading him, taking him with me, and I could feel his stomach starting to tremble from the strength it took for him not to come.

  I wanted him to come.

  “Fuck, Bailey.”

  He finished, but I still held him. Lowering his head, looking at me, there was a gentleness regarding me, and it made my heart squeeze.

  He shook his head, catching me and lifting me. He didn’t help me stand. He picked me up, and I latched onto him. Like a damn koala. That was me. Legs wrapped around him. Arms holding on, and my head to his chest.

  He walked me back to a couch and sat, me on top of him.

  * * *

  It was a bit later, after he had splayed me out on the couch and was bending over me, his mouth moving in another slow and torturous exploration, when the light flared on in the room.

  I yelled, but Kash flattened his body over me, covering me, and growled, “It better be life-or-death.”

  A voice sounded from the door, strained. “It’s Mr. Francis.” And then said, “Something’s wrong.”

  That was enough.

  The tension lifted, and he clipped his head in a nod. “A second. Please.”

  “Of course, Mr. Colello.”

  The light was switched off. The door closed.

  And silence.