Page 44 of Kept

I’d met his family a few times in passing, but they were distant people. I did remember his older brother Oliver in his Jaguar at seventeen, already having determined he was going to take over the family business with Rhett in tow.

“Somewhat. I was more focused on you, to be honest.”

He laughed, a bitter sound. “That’s probably for the better, then.”

I drew back, planting my hands on his solid chest. “Talk to me, Rhett. What’s going on?”

Rhett stopped kissing me, but he didn’t let go. I sank into him and looked up, waiting for him to tell me what was on his mind that would make him so irritable. It seemed like everyone in my presence was getting annoyed today.

“Just another week of fending off Oliver,” he said. The creases at the corners of his eyes grew deeper. “I’ve spent my entire life working forthis- teaching is what I want to do. You’d think I confessed to murdering an entire litter of kittens the way they treat it.”

“Why does he need you specifically?” I laid my cheek on his chest, feeling the heartbeat under it like it was my own. “You obviously have no interest.”

“You’ve met Oliver. He’s a persistent prick.” He snorted. “I always thought there was a measure of safety in being the second son- no one gives a fuck what you do if the first one is there to take over. But my parents are on his side now, telling me I need to either join the corporate board or find a woman to start popping out the next generation of Harlows.”

At this, my own heart started beating faster. No. I wasn’t ready for my time with Rhett to end, even if there was no real future for us. “It’s not their place to tell you what to do.”

He was silent for several minutes. “Jane… it’s different at the top. All the girls I knew from my parents’ dinner parties were married off by the time they were eighteen, and they’d known their future spouses since they were thirteen. Nobody will say ‘arranged marriage’ because they like to pretend they’re not living in the eighteenth century, but there’s no gilding the lily. These things are expected of me.”

An acidic taste rose in the back of my throat. “And if you don’t…”

“They’re holding the trust fund over my head. Fuck it. I’d rather live off my salary now than have my arm twisted into knocking up some society girl.”

I ran my fingers over his muscular forearm, shivering at the flexing hardness just beneath his skin. I felt strangely guilty, like I should be telling him to save his own ass and keep his trust fund, go find a pretty blonde with a fat bank account and just enough emotional baggage for Xanax and chardonnay to take care of, but I was selfish and I wanted him all for myself, even if it was just for now.

“I guess a society girl might not be into your particular brand of twisted,” I said lightly.

He laid his cheek on my forehead and I felt him smile. “No. There’s only one who seems to really enjoy it.”

Was I really so transparent? “You’re the best of the Harlows, Rhett. Don’t let them get to you. I always thought you were the kindest.” I balled my fist against his shirt, then reached up to touch his face. “The smartest. Definitely the most perverted.”

He laughed, the sound fading into the sky. “That most of all.” His blue eyes seemed to glow like the heart of a glacier when I looked up at him. “But you seem to be flourishing under it, so there’s one point in favor of perversion.”

My breath caught in my throat when he stroked the line of my jaw. “I know the blackmail hurt you, Jane. But have I treated you badly for a moment beyond that?”

I shook my head, completely mute. If anything, Ihadflourished under it. It was fucked up that it’d taken a crime to rip me out of my shell.

“Remember that,” he said, squeezing me a little tighter. “Sometimes you need to hurt to grow, but we’re past that now.”

Then he was kissing me, and I didn’t have a word of protest until he backed me to the edge of the roof and turned me around. I braced my hands on the wall, looking down at a dizzying four-story drop.

“Rhett…” My voice was thin with anxiety. The bricks under my palms were crumbly with age, and the spots of the lawn below lit with floodlights seemed like a mile away.

“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you,” he said, unzipping my jeans and working them down over my hips.

I gasped when his cock slid inside me, forcing my hips forward towards the wall. Rhett’s hand slipped between me and it, his fingers teasing my clit until the heat forming in my stomach had burst into full bloom.

He pushed in hard, grunting when I tightened around him. I felt more grounded with him inside me, keeping me from focusing solely on the drop only inches away from me.

“Think you could be a society girl, Pet?” he asked, his breath ragged as he pumped into me. “You’d belong just to us.”

I huffed out a breathless laugh, my heart jumping when the brick under my left hand crumbled a little more. “I already do.”

He pressed harder on my clit and I moaned, unable to hold the sound back. It echoed over the side of the building.

Rhett fucked me like he was trying to drive away his demons, slamming into me and kneading my clit mercilessly. My knees were trembling when the orgasm finally swept through me, the explosion of pressure in my abdomen drawn out as he kept thrusting.

He leaned over me, gripping the wall with white-knuckled fingers as he pushed in hard a final time, breath coming out in a gasp when he came, his pelvis bucking forward.

---