Strung Out Read online

  Murmurs rippled through the line, and the man behind Talia snorted. “Regular people have to stand in a ten-mile line. But some B-list celebrity gets bumped to the top just because she has an entourage. This is what’s wrong with the world today.”

  Several TSA employees headed over to begin the security screening, and Talia got a glimpse of a tiny woman with long ebony hair and huge sunglasses. She wondered what the celebrity had done to become famous and whether or not it was worth all the hassle. Talia couldn’t imagine being hounded for a picture.

  “Now what?” the man snarled as he twisted in the opposite direction.

  A commotion at the end of the line had caused everyone to lose interest in the celebrity, photographers included.

  “Who’s Talia?” someone called down the line, others relaying the question. “He’s looking for some chick named Talia.”

  She froze, her violin case slipping from numb fingers and landing with a crash on the tiles. Her breath stuck in her chest; her pulse pounded inside her ears. She forced a deep breath, and then she heard him.

  “Talia! Talia Davies!”

  Warmth flooded her body, sending a riot of chills over the surface of her skin. A low pulling sensation began below her belly, focusing at a point between her legs. It was impossible to hear his husky tone and not remember the sound of it lifted in ecstasy as their limbs twined together and their bodies reached fulfillment.

  “Hey, lady, you okay?” The man behind her put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re white as a sheet.”

  A sea of strange faces and every one of them looking at him as though he’d lost his mind. And maybe he had. How else could one explain the transition from cool, unaffected businessman to lovesick lunatic searching an airport full of strangers for one woman?

  He strode the length of the security line, eyes searching for a face and form he’d have known anywhere. It was a given that he looked like a crazy person. He’d discarded his suit jacket and tie in the car between the Boston School for the Arts and the airport. A breath of cool air against his bare skin told him his shirttail was hanging out, and he’d practically yanked out his hair while trying to convince Talia’s friend Leslie to tell him where she’d gone.

  “Hey, lady, you okay? You’re white as a sheet.”

  Erik zeroed in on the concerned voice buried half a dozen paces away in the middle of the line. He stopped, angling for a better view. A tall man dressed in a tailored business suit was focused on a woman standing just in front of him.

  The details were hidden behind a dozen other travelers and their belongings, but Erik glimpsed a curtain of dark hair, shapely shoulders, and the graceful arch of her back as she stared determinedly at the floor.

  “Talia!” He lunged forward. “Talia, please give me a chance. Just listen to what I have to say!”

  The entire line seemed to hold its breath. Everyone stared, their eyes darting back and forth between him and the woman who was refusing to look at him.

  Finally she lifted her gaze, though she kept it carefully averted. “There’s nothing left to say, Erik. We want different things.”

  “No, we don’t.” His hands clenched, wanting to draw her closer and cup her face in his palms, to force her to meet his gaze and see the truth in his eyes. “You were right.”

  She canted her head sideways, and her hair fell away, exposing enough of her face for him to see her eyebrows knit together in consternation. “I’m not going to share, Erik.”

  “I don’t want you to.” He hated the desperate note in his voice, but the time had passed for hiding behind appearances and indifference. “I want you, Talia. It’s all I want. I don’t want you to share me. And I sure as hell don’t want to share you.”

  “God, would you just get out of line and talk to the guy?” The businessman rolled his eyes. “This is like a scene from a really bad chick flick.”

  “Shh!” A nearby woman waved her hand. “I want to hear what she says.”

  From the corner of his eye, Erik noticed two or three photographers with cameras slung over their shoulders, notepads in hand, and a predatory gleam in their eyes. This entire incident was going to be splashed across the society page in no time.

  “Marry me, Talia.”

  “What about Courteney?”

  A collective hiss came from the women scattered throughout the crowd.

  Erik shook his head emphatically. “I told her it would never work. I couldn’t do it anymore. I love you. I want you to be my wife. The rest of it doesn’t matter.”

  The hiss morphed into sighs and a round of encouragement. The first camera shutter clicked on the moment.

  “I can’t marry you. I’m moving to New York.”

  “Then I’ll buy a ticket and follow you there.”

  She turned fully around to face him, her head tilted to one side and a skeptical look on her face. “Then what?”

  “I’ll follow you around and keep asking until you say yes.”

  A smile played at the corner of her mouth. “Is that how you’ve gotten your way all these years?”

  He placed a hand over his chest and gave her his most charming smile. “You got me. I built Aasen Investments on a firm foundation of whining and banging my head against a wall.”

  The rest of the cameras started flashing, and Erik realized he’d just identified himself and waved a red flag in front of the proverbial bulls.

  “So what happens if I say yes?”

  “We go home and celebrate?” He watched her face ease into a playful grin. Her blue eyes were bright. An answering wave of excitement sent a rush of blood to his groin, and his head filled with images of exactly what would happen if she said yes.

  She stooped down, picked up her violin case, and looked up at the businessman blocking her path. “Could you excuse me?”

  She squeezed her way back through the line. People had stopped paying attention to whether or not they were getting closer to the security checkpoint, and a gap had opened up ahead, causing the TSA employees to crane their necks to see what was going on.

  She bent over to slide beneath the barrier. The nylon tape caught on her jacket, tugging on the fabric and exposing a strip of pale skin at the small of her back. He reached out and lifted the black nylon away from her body. She moved again, and his fingertips brushed her bare back.

  The contact was fleeting, but the jolt of awareness leaped through him. Talia straightened, turning and looking him full in the face. Her breath was coming quickly, her chest rising and falling in rhythm with his. Her pupils dilated, and her throat contracted as she swallowed. She didn’t have to confess the arousal that had begun creeping over her body. He saw it, recognized it, and felt the answering response inside his own.

  The violin case and her bag hit the floor. “Ask me again.”

  So many thoughts and emotions crowded his brain. He hadn’t thought he possessed that many. But this wasn’t the time for giving in to the urge to rush. This was forever.

  He placed his hands on her sides, his palms finding the bare skin where her shirt and jacket met the waistband of her low-rise jeans. She was warm, but his fingertips raised gooseflesh when they skimmed her curves in order to pull her closer.

  She reached up and cupped his face in both hands. Her soft fingers tickled against the stubble on his chin as she slid her hands up his jaw before pushing her way into the hair at his nape. The feel of her nails scoring the sensitive skin on his neck sent a chill racing directly from her fingers to the tip of his cock. He ground his teeth together to bite back a groan. This was neither the time nor the place to strip her naked and sink his cock in her pussy just to remind her who she belonged to.

  There would be time enough for that later. Plenty of time, if things went the way he’d planned.

  With that thought, Erik disentangled himself from her embrace, took a step back and knelt down on one knee. He thought of how many times he’d dreaded being pushed to this point. He hadn’t been nervous about it then, just resigned. He hadn’t
even figured on taking a knee. But now, kneeling in an airport before an audience of complete strangers, his whole world was on the line. And the answer mattered more than he’d ever thought possible.

  “You took me by surprise, Talia. I never expected to meet someone like you.” Erik chuckled and gave her a devilish grin. “And before I do something else stupid to screw it up, I’m going to do one thing right and beg you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”

  Chapter Twelve

  “What would you have done if I said no?”

  Erik rested his head against the rounded edge of the bathtub. It was nothing to rehash some of the wilder ideas that had flitted through his brain earlier when he’d been almost certain he’d lost her for good.

  Now that he lounged in a cocoon of warm water with Talia nestled in his arms, his earlier desperation seemed almost comical. “I’d have dragged you out of the airport by your hair, brought you back here, and fucked some sense into your stubborn head.”

  She laughed, using her fingers to flick scented water over her shoulder in the direction of his face. “I wonder if that could be considered an act of terrorism? We most definitely would’ve made the evening news.”

  Given the journalists scribbling frantically on their little pads of paper and the photographers snapping off as many candid shots as they could manage, Erik figured they would make the news anyway.

  His hands drifted down through the water until they came to rest on her knees. The length of the tub kept her legs conveniently splayed to either side, leaving her pussy vulnerable to the liquid kiss of the water.

  When his palms slipped down across the insides of her thighs, she stilled against him. He could see the rise and fall of her chest in the water. Her breasts bobbed above and below the surface with each breath. He moved his hands lower, and she arched her spine against his belly.

  “What are you waiting for?” Her voice broke when his hands slid into the juncture of her legs.

  He stretched his fingertips, catching the fullness of her outer labia and spreading her cunt open to the warm water. Her head lolled backward against his shoulder, allowing him fuller access. One hand remained on her pussy, keeping her labia open, while the other slid up her belly toward her breasts.

  His lips brushed against her ear. “There’s something incredibly sexy about water.”

  She squirmed against him, and Erik shifted lower, anchoring his feet against the opposite end of the tub. The adjusted position gave him fuller access to her body and exposed the tips of her breasts to the cooler air. The darker skin of her areolae puckered tightly, and each nipple hardened.

  Her pussy flexed against his hand as her muscles convulsed in anticipation. He flattened his hand against her mound, using two fingers to slip into the smooth grooves on either side of her sensitive clit. Talia’s hips bucked, and the water around them shifted, teasing her taut nipples into beaded points.

  She rocked back against him, pushing her soft bottom against his cock. The water created a natural lubricant, and his erection eased into the cleft of her ass. His balls began to ache for release.

  Delving into her pussy with both hands, Erik teased her clit while pressing against her tight opening. A soft cry escaped her lips. The sound scored razor-sharp holes in his control. Shifting his shoulders, he arched his neck and took her mouth in a deep kiss. Their tongues melded together until he was mesmerized by her sweet taste.

  She wrenched her mouth away from his, eyes opening and snaring his gaze. “I can’t wait any more, Erik. I need you inside me.”

  He considered the bed in the adjoining bedroom, but it would take too long. With a splash that sent a cascade of bathwater over the sides of the tub, he pulled them both upright. The waning daylight painted her skin in warm shades of cream and honey. Water sluiced from her breasts and hips into tiny rivulets that caressed her curves.

  Erik pressed her forward until her hands braced her body against the tiles. Reaching down, he lifted her leg, gently placing the ball of her foot on the edge of the tub. The position opened her body, baring her cunt and readying her for his entry.

  His cock bobbed and pulsed before him, liquid seeping from the tip. Veins stood out against the taut skin, and the pulsating blood pounded in rhythm with his thundering heart. Every fiber of his being was focused on this moment and this woman.

  “I’m going to fuck your pussy, Talia.” Looking into the long vanity mirror, he ran the palm of one hand down the slick line of her spine. “And I want you to watch.”

  When she met his gaze in the mirror, the all-consuming desire for satisfaction tore into him like a demon from hell. Using one hand to steady his cock, he probed her entrance.

  She gasped when he breached her slick opening. The angle created new friction, and he forced himself to go at an agonizingly slow pace. Her muscles gave way, gripping every inch of his cock and undulating against him until his crown pressed against her G-spot and he was fully seated in her heat.

  He pulled back and thrust deep, ripping a moan from her throat and causing her hands to clench against the tiles. His balls slapped against her, their heavy weight giving away his impending climax. He thrust again, moving deeply within her.

  Soft, higher-pitched noises told him he had just the right angle to bring her over the edge of orgasm. Wrapping his hands around her hips, he bent his knees and forced her to ride his cock.

  Tension burned in his muscles, and sweat beaded on his brow. Every movement was one step closer, too close. Until he couldn’t tell where his cock ended and her pussy began. She grew tighter still, milking him until he couldn’t hold off any longer.

  One hand shot out, finding the wall and keeping them both upright as his cock pulsed a stream of hot cum into her tight channel. Sliding his hand over her hip, he found her clit with two fingertips.

  He could feel her rising orgasm. Two strokes against the swollen head of her clit and a wave of bone-shattering convulsions sent Talia into a powerful climax. Her head dipped forward, and she panted out tiny cries of pleasure with each breath.

  Her hands gripped the edge of the tiled wall. “I don’t think I can stand.”

  “I’ve got you, sweetheart.” Erik cradled her limp body against his own damp skin and helped her out of the tub and back into the master bedroom.

  * * *

  “So who cleans up that mess in the bathroom?” Talia curled up against Erik’s naked body.

  “I have a cleaning lady come in three times a week. I’m sure she’ll deal with it. Why do you ask?”

  The flippant tone of his voice told her he’d definitely never thought about that kind of thing before. No doubt he’d think she was crazy if she tried to explain that she’d practically had a heart attack wondering about it earlier. It would be hard to get used to that kind of mind-set. She was used to doing for herself. Pampering was heading to the hair salon around the corner from her apartment and splurging on a hair trim or a manicure.

  “I’m going to make you happy, Talia.” He looked down his chest at her and smiled, but the confident expression on his face made her uneasy. She didn’t want to be the latest addition to his daily agenda.

  The last of the daylight changed to long shadows that stretched across the duvet. The tips of her fingers smoothed the downy hair below his navel. “What made you change your mind?”

  He chuckled. “You won’t like that answer.”

  She rolled over until she lay sprawled on top of his body. Her lower half rested between his legs, and his cock pressed firmly against her belly. Using her nails, she scored a path up his chest to his nipples. Taking one between her fingertips, she gave it a playful tug.

  A smile softened his mouth and warmed his green eyes. With tousled dark hair and a shadow beard on his face, Erik looked nothing like a corporate powerhouse. He was simply a man.

  “Tell me,” she begged. “What could possibly send you running after me like a crazy man?”

  “Courteney showed up this morning in my office.”

  Ta
lia considered everything the ice princess had done up to this point. “Did she expect a proposal?”

  “Can’t slip anything past you.” He tapped her nose.

  “Slip something by me? I don’t generally demand marriage proposals to begin with. Did the two of you ever actually date?”

  “We attended several business dinners together.”

  She rolled her eyes. “How romantic.”

  “Courteney had photos.”

  Talia stilled, horrified at the idea that a potentially vengeful woman like Courteney Colton had naked pictures of her and Erik. “Did you get them back?”

  He cupped her chin in his hand. “They weren’t explicit.”

  “Then why break it off?”

  He rolled her to her back and looked down into her face with more tenderness than Talia would’ve ever expected him to be capable of. “Because it was wrong. It was wrong for her, and it was sure as hell wrong for me.”

  There were so many ways to interpret his words. And it wasn’t as though the interpretation meant nothing. But at that moment, she was too full of love and happiness to wonder at the dark implications. He’d come after her. He’d decided to keep her. And he’d decided to do it at the cost of a billion-dollar merger.

  And for now that was all that mattered.

  * * *

  Talia hummed a few bars of her favorite Chopin waltz, turned her key, and pushed open the conservatory door. It was early yet, and the sun had only begun painting the floor in patterns of light and shadow to match the tall, decorative windows opposite the door.

  She set her keys on the side table and tried to control the smile that seemed determined to remain on her face. In this moment, she was perfectly happy. Everything seemed right in the world.

  Erik had still been deeply asleep when she crept out of the bedroom with her clothes in hand. Given that the two of them had spent more than half the night with their sweat-slicked bodies locked together, she hadn’t wanted to disturb his rest. But unless she wanted to lose her place at the school, Talia needed to explain to the headmistress that she’d decided not to take the opportunity in New York.