Page 50 of Midnight Secrets

“Nice diversion,” he muttered, his hands on my hips tugging me against him.

“Poor Francis gets blamed for everything.” I didn’t know about their vetting, but Sofia had the hots for Mario and he was her pretend boyfriend at university and Catarina had been having oral sex with Joe for a while. She even revealed to Sofia and I last Christmas that she’d tried anal sex with him but didn’t like it very much. He might not put a finger on Catarina, but his dick had definitely been in close proximity.

“What am I going to do, Ash?”

He swirled a piece of my hair that had escaped around his finger. “Seth is sending me the details of a goldsmith. We’ll go and sort it this afternoon.”

“How are you paying for all this?” I demanded, poking him in the chest. “This is my business and I should be investing collateral. You said to Seth that you gave him the keys to a car and now something is being sent to him this afternoon.”

Ash kissed me instead of replying, his mouth controlling mine and swallowing all my protests as if they didn’t exist. His tongue swept inside to eliminate all my arguments until I was nothing more than a molten mass of hormones in his arms.

“Are you going to do this every time you want to win an argument?” I said, pursing my lips together and tasting him.

“If I need to.” His smug smile should annoy me, but the way his thumbs created circles on my hips distracted me. “This is my world you’re in now, Angel. The men here don’t deal in cash because they have plenty of it. We trade in possessions and secrets. Seth wanted a spare car I had in my garage, so now the fucker is driving around London in it like a pimp out for the day. Next month, I’ll probably win it back in a poker game. It’s how we operate. Did you have a spare McLaren in your garage?”

He eyeballed me until I looked away. “No. Papa doesn’t like us to drive.” It was the sad story of my life in a gilded cage. We were covered in bubble wrap and constantly watched to protect us. That protection began to close around you after a while, like a noose tightening around your neck.

My cousin lived a life of risk without his bedroom being alarmed at ten thirty in the evening and a constant security detail. Ash had dealt with that man without even breaking a sweat or using a gun. We’d received basic self-defence but I was slowly starting to realise that we needed more life skills than what we possessed.

“Ash, I can’t keep taking so much from you and giving you nothing in return.”

He glared at me but I refused to look away. My independence meant the world to me.

“Please, Ash.” I presses a kiss to his lips, sucking his bottom lip into my mouth as I pulled away.

“I’ve never had someone negotiate with me like this before,” he quipped. “Do I get a blowjob every time I organise a business meeting?”

“Ash!” I pushed against his chest, but he grabbed my wrists and pulled me hard into him.

“What is it you want from me?” he demanded, that hard glint appearing in his eyes.

That was a loaded question because I wanted a lot and didn’t know where to start.

“I want to be your equal, not someone you’re indulging in a hobby. I need to find a place for myself in this life where people don’t look down at me. That’s twice now men have thought they can take advantage of me because I’m a woman.” I sighed and slumped back in defeat. “I’m sick being weak, living in a world of strong people.”

“Okay.” Ash lifted his phone to his ear, his eyes boring into me. “Jay, put together a business contract between me and Lucrezia. She doesn’t want to accept what I’ve done as a gift. Yeah, give her the usual contract we use and her solicitor can take a look at it. Thanks.”

He hung up and gave me that look that made my tummy flip.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“You do realise that by signing a contract you’re tying yourself to me when you don’t have to?” His eyebrow arched in question.

I didn’t want to admit that I needed to link myself to him in whatever way I could, because then he couldn’t run away and hide the way he had in the past. If he was my business partner he had to speak to me.

“I don’t accept charity, Ash. We’re a partnership, that means we work together.”

A salacious grin appeared on his lips. “I take it the blowjob is off the table then?”

His grin echoed on my face as I shrugged. “I guess bonuses are an encouragement in the workplace.”

“I think I might like being your business partner,” Ash teased me, his head moving forward until his mouth hovered close to mine. “There are definite benefits available that I don’t get with Zee and Jay.”

“Do they not wear unicorn panties?” I asked.

His lips skimmed mine in a barely there kiss. He groaned when his phone pinged and I collapsed on top of him. Ash was my new favourite flavour in life and I was ravenous with hunger. It was all I could do to stop myself from constantly tasting him.

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