Page 4 of Owning Nicci

Giving myself one final squeeze, I bite back a groan and leave the room, locking the door behind me before the panel slides closed. I need a shower and a drink, and then I’ll be ready for the night ahead.

I won’t take her tonight. Not yet. I want her to wonder about me a little longer. I want to occupy her thoughts, to be a mystery that she mulls over.

I saw the confusion in her face last night when I visited the Gilded Lily for the first time. It’s a filthy, disgusting place. If the urge to torment her didn’t outweigh my distaste for it, I’d go ahead and take her, so that I wouldn’t have to go back again. But my victory will be all the sweeter by building anticipation.

Not for me. Mine is already at a fever pitch, after all of the years that have passed since I was last here. For her.

I shower quickly, so I’m not tempted to give in to the arousal that’s still pulsing through me. My cock is still half-hard, swollen with unsatisfied need, and every time I brush against it, small, aching jolts of pleasure shoot through me.

But the wait for satisfaction, I’ve found, can be as good as the pleasure of release itself.

I don’t bother to dress right away after I get out of the shower. I wrap a towel around my waist, running my hands through my wet hair, and head downstairs. I rarely walk around like this half-naked and relaxed, but it feels like reclaiming this space for my own. Here, while I’m entirely alone, I can let down my guard the smallest bit.

Soon, she’ll be here. And while I have no intention of letting her out of her room except at my whim, I know I’ll feel the compulsion to remain composed at all times. Having another person here will make it impossible for me to feel what I do right now—like I can breathe for a moment, now that I’m in my own home again.

It’s why in any place I’ve lived over the past years—Chicago, Boston, Miami—I’ve never taken a woman home. Never had one in my own bed. I’ve always taken them to hotels, kept those brief nights of pleasure entirely separate from my own sacred space. I had half a mind to keep this woman in some luxurious hotel room under guard, too. But if I did, it would be too easy for her to slip my leash.

No. I need her here, for all that it will be the first time I’ve ever kept any woman so close. I need to make sure that she doesn’t escape me.

She’s the first thing that he had that I’ll take. Andgod, it will feel so fucking good.

At the thought, my hand tightens around the cut-crystal glass that I’m pouring cognac into, and my cock immediately pushes against the towel wrapped tightly around my waist.Fuck.I feel my control slipping, and I press the heel of my other hand down against it as I continue making my drink, fighting off the arousal. I’ll see her tonight, in just a few hours, and I’m struggling to control my need.

I add vermouth and bitters to the drink, lifting it to my lips and taking a sip as I walk to the huge windowed wall that overlooks the city below—floor-to-ceiling glass, providing one of the best views in Manhattan. Standing here, the burn of the cognac sliding down my throat, I feel like a fucking king. Like a ruler come home to make his claim.

Isn’t that exactly what I’m doing?

She’s the first part, but my carefully laid plans go far beyond her. For years, I’ve broken myself of carelessness, taught myself discipline. I want her because I wantallof it. Everything that was once his, everything that he wanted. He failed, and now I’m going to take it.

They should have listened to me from the beginning.

Lust curls through me, thick and hot, and I take another sip of my drink as I stand at the glass, looking out over the city that I plan to make mine.

A piece of it, at least.

The sunset is fading, the lights of the city flickering to life. I still have hours before I plan to head back to the Lily and see Nicci again, but my pulse quickens—an itching, anxious feeling fluttering through my veins at the thought.

Maybe I should take the edge off. Just so I’m in control when I see her.

It’s an excuse. I know that. But that doesn’t stop me from loosening the towel at my hips as I raise my glass to my mouth again, letting my thick cock spring up hard and eager as I wrap my hand around it.

Mine. I think as I start to stroke.Her. This piece of the city. The legacy I left behind. Mine, mine, mine.

My hand jerks along my length with each punctuated thought, my arousal rising hot and fast as I look out over the skyline while I stroke myself to a quick, messy release. A feeling of power rushes through me, a high that burns through my veins like the cognac burns down my throat. I gulp down the last of it just as the heat unfurls up my spine and I feel my cock harden and throb in my fist.

“Fuck!” I snarl the curse aloud as I come, angling my cock towards the towel at my feet. I think of fucking her up against this same glass, of letting the whole fucking city watch as I take her. The thought only intensifies my orgasm. I groan, gritting my teeth as I milk the last drops of cum from my still-aching cock.

It only barely eases my lust. Nothing will sate me until I have her here, on her knees, on her belly, at my mercy. But for now, it will give me back the control that I need.

I pick up the towel, set the glass aside, and head upstairs to get ready.

—

When I arriveat the Lily, it’s just as fucking depressing as it was last night. The entire place goes beyond cheap sin—the girls look used and miserable, every surface feels as if it could never be fully cleaned, and even the music is years out of date. Thebartender looks bored when I walk up, her eyes ringed with raccoon-black makeup, and I feel a surge of disgust. No one here is worth my time, except for Nicci. And it’s a good thing I came back when I did. Too much longer in this place, and even she might have been used beyond what I can stomach.

“Whiskey and ginger,” I tell the woman behind the bar. “Top shelf. Best you have.”

She eyes me, her gaze drifting over my Armani suit as if she’s calculating how much she might be able to get out of me. “Best we got here is Jack,” she says, grinning, her black lipstick garish against the bright white of her veneers. “But I’ve got something top-shelf I can give you if you’re interested. I’m on the early shift, so I’m out of here in an hour. Let one of the other girls warm you up and then?—”

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