The Crimson Rope Read online

Chills skidded down my spine with the thought of another night with Slater.

  “All right.”

  Deprived from palming his rigid manhood, I placed my hand to my thigh. As soon as my back rested against the warm hood, Slater leaned forward. Lifted my dress. Kissed the inside of my knee. The stubble from his chin pricked me. Slater raised my right leg to his shoulder. I shuddered when the heavy head of his dick hit my clit. Over and over he used his cock to torture and tease my hooded nub.

  “Slater,” I moaned, reaching down to touch him. I swirled my thumb over the pre-come leaking from his body.

  “Put your hands behind your head.”

  I did. I was stretched out, one leg bent over his shoulder, feeling him slide his cock between my feminine folds. Slater adjusted my other leg, spreading me a bit further apart. I heard him spit. Moisture was spread on my pucker. I jerked. He fingered my asshole, stretching it, then paused. Again, he tugged his fingers free. Next came a crinkling sound: The wrapper being torn from the condom. A second more passed. My heart began to beat frantically in my throat. Anticipation wobbled over my nerves. Finally, the press against my anus came.

  “Slater?”

  “I need this, Bianca.”

  When he pushed past the resistance of my inner muscles, he pressed further, balls deep. I cried out. Honestly I didn’t think I could take all of him.

  “Fuck. So fucking tight,” he muttered.

  In a husky voice I didn’t recognize as mine I said, “Don’t stop. Fuck me, hard.”

  “Is that what you need?”

  “Yes! Please. Yes.”

  Slater wasted no time. The burn was exquisite. Fire raged. I wanted more. He fucked my ass with his big cock, one hand applying pressure just above my pelvic bone. He pumped. Pulled out. Plunged in. Bumped himself inside of me in deep pulses. A flash of sensation rocketed to my empty pussy in waves of wanting as he continued to pick up the pace.

  “I need you in my pussy too.”

  “Oh, I know you do.”

  He worked my ass, denying my request, and just when I thought I couldn’t take it any longer, Slater fingered my cunt in alternating rhythm as his cock plunged into my dark channel. It was too much. Not enough. I couldn’t decide.

  As I fucked him back he growled, “That’s it. Take it all.”

  We were unrelenting and he continued longer than I knew any man could last. With only the sounds of the wind whipping around our overheated bodies, and the moans we made in pleasure, Slater dominated every inch of me. Then he shifted me and hit spots I didn’t even know existed. He ground himself against my ass. My inner walls rippled around his fingers as he shoved them to the hilt. We were lost to the need ripping through us. I’d never wanted a man like I wanted Slater. Never before had I given myself as freely as I did to Slater. I reveled in being totally consumed in the moment and how tantalizing giving over my control to him could be.

  “Reach down and rub your hard little clit for me,” he said in a gravelly voice.

  He never stopped fucking me. It was feral. Animalistic hunger. Controlled, yet unleashed. And when I touched my own flesh—the added sensation overtook me. I moved. He countered. I rubbed my clitoris. He rammed it home. I squeezed my ass around his cock. He rocked his fingers inside my pussy….

  “Ahhh,” I moaned.

  I closed around him.

  “Yes,” he encouraged. “Milk my cock and come, my sweet.”

  I was coming. My pussy tightened. Ass clutching. Coming again with a scrumptious release that sent spasms rocketing through every nerve ending in my body.

  “Bianca,” Slater groaned. He thrust, scooting my body up the hood. I knew he had come when he shuddered, growling, “Fucking, mine.”

  Chapter Four

  I’d snuck out of bed and stood at the window, peeking out. Dawn broke through the clouds, sending the morning sky into shades of silver that intermingled with streaks of pink. Strong arms came around me. A stiff, hard cock greeted the seam of my ass with a nudge.

  “Good morning,” Slater whispered into my ear.

  “Morning,” I said.

  “Why are you up so early?”

  “I couldn’t sleep. Besides, it’s good for the soul to watch the dawning of a new day.”

  Slater chuckled. His breath zipped across my hair, tickling my ear. “You can’t sleep because you’re thinking about Jayce. Right?”

  “I haven’t returned any of his calls, and it has been a week. We usually don’t go a day without talking.”

  “It’s been a great week,” he said, nibbling my neck, just below my ear.

  “It has,” I agreed. “But I’ve also blown off my cousin’s phone calls, too. I’m one of her bridesmaids and I have to be at a fitting tomorrow morning by nine.”

  “Sienna?”

  “Yep.”

  “So she’s going to marry that big biker guy she brought with her last year to your New Year’s Eve party?”

  “Yes. Xavier’s his name.”

  “What does her uptight, legal eagle father think of that?”

  “Jackson had two options. He could either accept his daughter’s choice, or come to grips with daddy’s girl walking out of his life forever.”

  “Let me guess. Since she’s having a fancy wedding, daddy must have decided he’d rather have her in his life than not?”

  “You guessed right.”

  “I promise to have you to your fitting tomorrow, completely pleasured and on time.”

  Slater nipped my earlobe. Desire welled up inside of me. I turned around in Slater’s arms. His lips molded to mine. Our tongues danced together in an arousing tango. Moisture gathered between my legs. When we came up for air, Slater’s blue-green eyes flashed.

  “The fitting is at Adam’s Bridal. And he and Jayce have probably worked things out by now, not to mention Jayce knows I’m in Sienna’s wedding. If Jayce shows up there, what am I going to say to him?”

  “You’re not cheating on him. You know that, don’t you?”

  “I know that, Slater. But he’s my best friend, and—”

  “You’ve missed talking to him.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes. And I’m not sure what to say about us when I do talk to him.” For the first time in a week, the cell phone he told me he’d turned off buzzed. It interrupted any further discussion on the already avoided topic of, us. My stomach sank in disappointment. “Are you expecting a call?” I asked.

  Slater shook his head. “Nope.”

  I wondered why he had turned his phone back on. The phone buzzed again. He released me from his embrace. Unlike me, he wasn’t going to ignore his calls. All I could think about was one of Slater’s women calling. I hated the thought of being confronted with one of them. Even if Slater claimed me during sex, he hadn’t actually made any promises, and I wasn’t dense. Our liaison would probably end badly.

  I braced myself for the worst. “You better get your phone.”

  Slater grabbed his jeans from the chair. As he tugged them on, the muscles of his stomach rippled. He didn’t bother with buttoning his fly. Undone, and his morning hard-on barely concealed, he plucked his phone off the side table. He glanced at it. His eyebrows pulled together. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he said.

  When Slater left, I combed my fingers through my mussed hair, and put on a T-shirt and shorts from my overnight bag. I was suspicious. Quietly, I made my way down the hall and stopped dead in my tracks when I heard him.

  “No, Ava. I’m not alone,” he said.

  At what point during our week together I had actually given Slater access to my hart, I’m not sure, although I was sure that in that moment my heart broke. Then anger jostled for position and took dominion as the prime emotion surging through me. I wasn’t going to be that stupid woman who pretended to be the only woman. It wasn’t going to happen. I might love being submissive with Slater, but I wasn’t able to share.

  I turned on my heel, stormed into Slater’s bedroom, grabbed my overnight bag, my purse, and sli
pped my Reeboks on. I stared at my feet. Don’t worry about the laces. Just go. I left my sneakers untied and I walked out.

  ****

  I pretty much berated myself on the drive home. Slater was who he was, and I shouldn’t expect anything other from him, but tears were streaking down my cheeks by the time I arrived at my apartment. Jayce was there, sitting on the stoop outside my front door. When he saw me walking up the sidewalk, he looked relieved. That relief quickly changed as his brow creased into an angry V shape, indicating he was mad.

  “Not now,” I muttered under my breath.

  “Where the hell have you been?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, Duckie.”

  I plucked my house key out of my purse and opened the door. Jayce followed in behind me. I threw my things on the bench by the door, took the few steps I needed to reach my couch, flung myself down, and cried.

  “Please tell me, Bianca.”

  “Go home, Jayce,” I said with a sniffle.

  “Bunny. You’ve been gone for a week, and I’ve been out of my mind with worry. I was about ready to contact the police and declare you as a missing person. Now you’re home, thank God, but you’re sobbing. I can’t go.”

  “Duckie. I can’t talk about it.”

  “Bianca,” he pleaded.

  “Go home. Please.”

  Jayce stared at me, concern wracking the angled features of his face. He paced for a moment, but finally gave in. “I’m only going to go if you promise you will call me later tonight.”

  “I will.” I kicked off my shoes, and shoved my face into the cushion on my couch, hoping the world would go away.

  Epilogue

  The world hadn’t gone away.

  The realization of a persistent doorbell dinging roused me from my sleep. My eyelids fluttered open. I glanced around. It was dark. I’d slept all day.

  Ding…Ding…Ding….

  “Go away!” I yelled.

  “Bianca!” Jayce’s muffled voice yelled back. “Let me in. You didn’t call me like you said you would.”

  I grumbled to myself, scrubbed my face with my hands, got up, and lumbered to my door. When I opened it, first Jayce then Slater walked in. I glared at them both. I set my chin, ignored Jayce, and chose to speak to Slater. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was wondering the same thing,” Jayce added.

  “You can’t just walk out like that and expect me to take it, Bianca,” Slater said. I knew he was pissed off judging by the straight line of his mouth, and the crinkle between his eyebrows as he glowered at me.

  On the other hand, Jayce had his eyebrows riding up behind his shaggy brown bangs. “You and my brother?”

  I nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your calls and for scaring you.”

  “You scared the shit out of me,” Jayce said.

  Slater turned around and nonchalantly took a seat. He looked at me, then at Jayce, head turning on a swivel as if he were watching a tennis match.

  “I’m sorry for that, and for telling you to go this morning. Are you horribly mad at me?”

  “Yes, but I’ll get over it.” Jayce turned his attention to his brother. “What do you have to say about this? Are you the reason she was crying her eyes out this morning?”

  “I have no earthly idea why she was crying, or why she left my house this morning. She snuck out without even saying goodbye.”

  I couldn’t hold my tongue.

  “I heard you, Slater.” I placed my hands on my hips.

  Slater looked confused. “You heard what?”

  “I heard you tell Ava you weren’t alone.”

  “Slater, are you using my best friend?” Jayce interjected. His face was stone serious.

  I looked at Slater, interested in the answer to that particular question myself.

  “Nope,” he said, coolly.

  “This is Bianca, Slater. She deserves—”

  “What, Jayce? She deserves what? She deserves better than me? Is that what you’re going to say?”

  “No. I’m trying to say she deserves honesty.”

  “Jayce. I’m not a child. I can take up for myself. You don’t need to do it for me.”

  “Bianca, he made you cry.”

  “I like your brother and I wanted to spend time with him. I know I should have checked in, and let you know where I was, but I was sort of afraid to tell you.”

  “Why would you be afraid to tell me anything?”

  “I thought you might talk me out of it. You know. Because you’d be afraid I’d get hurt.”

  Slater stared at me like I’d grown a second nose and snakes sprouted from my head. “You think I’d hurt you?”

  “Not physically, but stupid me, I might get wrapped up in you, and just as soon as I did you’d boot me to the curb.”

  “Fuck,” he muttered.

  “I really like you, but hasn’t there always been someone better than the one you’re with? I can’t be some woman on the list of Slater Nolan’s booty calls.”

  Slater’s jaw flexed. “You’re not a booty call.”

  “I’m not?”

  “No, and I want you to tell Jayce the truth.”

  “What do you mean? I am telling him the truth.”

  “You like me?”

  “Yes, Slater. I like you.”

  “Bullshit. You feel more than like.”

  Jayce stood there watching me fidget while Slater grilled me.

  “What do you feel about me, Slater?” I asked, turning the tables.

  “I’ll tell you I damn sure feel more than like,” he huffed.

  “What about Ava?”

  “If you had continued to eavesdrop on my call, and not run away, you would have heard me tell Ava our sessions together were done.”

  “So you call the time you spend with your women, ‘sessions’?”

  “That’s what they are,” he said.

  “So, I’m a session?”

  He balled his fist. “No.”

  “Are you two serious?” Jayce asked as if he were irritated at the whole exchange.

  Slater and I both stared at Jayce, “What?” we asked in unison.

  “You two have known each other for years, and for years you have skirted around the issue of your attraction to each other. Now, you finally act on it, and have been sexing it up together for what I assume has been the entire week, and you haven’t discussed your feelings for each other?”

  “Well—” I started.

  “No,” Jayce snapped, his hand slicing through the air. “You have never been MIA for a week. Especially over a man. And for the record, I wouldn’t talk you out of being with my brother. I love you and I love him. I only want both of you to be happy, and if you find that happiness with each other, then I’m ecstatic.”

  “You don’t look ecstatic,” I mumbled.

  Jayce snorted then turned his angry gaze to Slater. “Slater, you’ve always been the love ‘em and leave them type. So even if Bianca jumped to conclusions, it’s your fault. You should have told her how you felt about her.” I glared at Jayce then at Slater. “Don’t feed each other, or me, your BS. I’ve seen the stolen glances between you two over the years!”

  “When have you seen me watch your brother?” I asked.

  “Seriously, Bunny? Do you really want to go there?”

  Slater’s eyes rounded as if he had an epiphany. “You’ve watched me?”

  I tipped my chin in acknowledgment. No reason to deny it now. He grinned.

  “And more than once I have been the middle man,” said Jayce.

  “When have you ever been the middle man?” Slater asked his brother.

  “Come on. How many times have you casually inquired about Bianca, wanting to know if she was seeing anyone?”

  My attention shot to Slater. “You have?”

  Slater shrugged.

  “And you, Bunny. How many times have you asked me what Slater’s been up to when you haven’t seen him in a while?”

  “I don’t know
,” I said.

  “I’m not leaving this spot until I hear the truth from both of you.” Jayce crossed his arms over his chest. Feet planted firmly. It was so quiet all I heard was the ticking of the wall clock. Ten seconds probably passed before Jayce clapped his hands. “Come on, people. Declarations need to be made here.”

  “Have I ever told you how fucking pushy you are?” Slater asked Jayce.

  “You have,” Jayce answered.

  “For your information, I was going to get around to telling Bianca how much I need her in my life.”

  “When? Next fourth of July?”

  “No, smartass. Over lunch today. I had it all planned out and everything. But she left, and I thought she was having second thoughts about me. About us. I brewed on it all day and decided I wasn’t going to let her go. So here I am.”

  “Really, Slater? You were going to talk about the possibility of an us?” I asked. Slater glanced at me sideways. “An exclusive us?”

  “Yes. I was.”

  “Why did you turn your phone on, if you weren’t expecting Ava to call?”

  “I wasn’t expecting Ava to call, but I had placed a rush order at the jeweler’s the morning after our first night together, and I was hoping they would call to say it was ready.”

  “I’m waiting,” said Jayce.

  “All right. Jesus,” Slater mumbled. He rose up from the armchair, walked over to me, and knelt, taking one knee. I shook from head to toe. He took a hold of my hand. I looked down at him. “Bianca. I’m positive I’ve been in lust with you for at least ten years.”

  “Lust? Come on!” Jayce exclaimed. “That’s the best you’ve got?”

  “Jayce. Shut the hell up,” Slater said, then gave me his crooked smile. “Bianca. You make me smile. And laugh. And you have been the only woman I want to actually be around longer than a couple of hours. And it’s not just for sex, even though we are hot together in the sack.”

  Yeah, I thought. In the sack. On the kitchen floor. The hood of his car. The top of his washing machine during the spin cycle… And oh, the things he did with rope, ice cubes, and hot wax.

  Jayce cleared his throat, probably wanting his brother to do a better job at declaring his intentions, but to me, what Slater said was perfect.