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by Maya Banks
“I need you too, Drake. I’m not going anywhere. For as long as you want me, I’m yours.”
Satisfaction gleamed savagely in his eyes. “Kiss me,” he commanded.
She slanted her lips over his and licked at them, coaxing them to part, and then delved inward, tasting him, absorbing his essence. One hand left her hip and tangled roughly in her hair, anchoring her against his mouth so there was no escape.
“You are perfect,” he said in a gruff, choked voice. “I don’t deserve you. Not after all I’ve done, but God help me, I can’t let you go. But I’ll make it up to you, Angel. If it’s the last thing I do. I’ll make it up to you.”
“You already have,” she whispered. “You came for me.”
Suddenly he wrapped his arms around her and rolled swiftly, planting her underneath him, his weight pressing her into the mattress. He plunged deeply, spreading her legs even wider. Then he looped them over his shoulders, baring her so she had no defense. She didn’t want any defense.
“I won’t last much longer,” he said through gritted teeth. “How close are you, baby? I want you with me.”
She reached up to caress the firm line of his jaw. “I’m with you, Drake. Don’t stop.”
He closed his eyes and took a breath, pausing for one brief moment buried deeply within her body. Then he began to pump hard and furious, the slap of flesh on flesh loud in the room.
Every muscle in her body tightened in preparation for her release. It built higher and higher until she was a bow at full draw, so tight she felt like she was about to explode. She closed her eyes but his sharp demand for her to open them and look at him had her obeying and she locked onto his intense gaze, watching the intensity of his eyes as he drew closer to his own orgasm.
“Now,” he panted. “Come with me. Let go. Now!”
He pounded furiously into her, driving her body up the bed until her head bumped the headboard. Her entire body shook and quaked. A scream hovered on her lips and then it was simply too much. She couldn’t hold back any longer and she let out a sharp cry as the world exploded around her and her body went limp, euphoria foaming through her veins, her muscles going lax.
Pleasure, so much pleasure. Sweet, indescribable pleasure carried her on wave after wave. She was flying, floating on the clouds, completely weightless. Tears slipped down her cheeks, not of sadness but of immense joy and contentment.
“Don’t cry,” Drake whispered as he sipped at the trails of moisture and kissed them away. “Never cry, my love.”
“I can’t help it,” she said in a quivery voice. “It’s so beautiful. The most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced. I’m so happy right now, Drake. When I thought I would never be happy again.”
He looked tortured by her sincere statement, and he lowered his body to hers. He gathered her in his arms, holding her tightly as he continued to kiss away her tears.
“Things will be different from now on, Angel,” he said with utmost sincerity. “I swear it on my life. You are my single most important priority. You come first. Your happiness and safety come before all else. I and my men will ensure it. In time you’ll trust me again. Just give me a chance.”
“Oh, Drake, I do trust you,” she said, cupping his cheek with her hand. “Please believe that, if you don’t believe anything else. I’ve already forgiven you. Let’s not dwell on the past, and focus on the future.”
He looked overcome, dropping his forehead to hers, his breaths coming hard. He closed his eyes and pressed sweet kisses to her lips.
“I don’t deserve you,” he said bleakly, repeating his earlier statement. “But I’ll be damned if I let you go.”
“I won’t let you let me go,” she said. “I need you, Drake. I can’t live without you. I don’t want to live without you.”
He crushed her to him, his body shaking with emotion. His eyes were closed and he simply held her. “Thank God,” he whispered. “Thank God.”
They lay there a moment longer and then Drake reluctantly lifted his weight from her and rolled them to their sides so they faced one another.
“I’m spending the day with you,” he announced, to her surprise.
Though he was admittedly late for work, she’d fully expected him to go in at some point and she couldn’t contain her look of surprise.
“I’m taking you to lunch and then I thought we’d go for a carriage ride in Central Park. After, I thought we could go by the market to pick up some groceries. I’d like for you to cook for me tonight and spend the evening in.”
Her cheeks warmed with pleasure. “Any special request?”
He kissed her. “Surprise me.”
Her mind immediately began to race, thinking of some of her specialties that she hadn’t prepared for him yet.
“Tomorrow I have to go back in to work, but I’ll arrange for a security detail to take you anywhere you’d like to go.”
Her heart immediately sank. She was in no way prepared to face Drake’s men yet. Humiliation crawled over her body at the mere idea.
“Maybe another time,” she murmured. “I don’t have anything in mind for tomorrow. I’d rather stay in the apartment and relax.”
He kissed her one last time before moving to the edge of the bed to get up.
“Whatever you want, baby. You only have to ask and it’s yours.”
Butterflies scuttled around her stomach and into her chest at the tenderness and affection in his voice. And he wasn’t blowing smoke up her ass. Drake simply wasn’t that kind of man. He was blunt to a fault and didn’t spare any feelings when speaking his mind. And every single declaration he’d given her since tracking her down had been utterly sincere.
Drake didn’t need to offer platitudes or stroke anyone’s ego in order to persuade them to do his bidding. He was a take-it-or-leave-it kind of guy. She admired his honesty even if at times it was painful. But at least she never had to wonder where she stood with him. There was no guessing and no doubting whether he really wanted her to be a part of his life.
She still had a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that out of all the beautiful, sophisticated and far more worldly women in the city, he’d homed in on her. And he’d done so immediately with no subtlety, no playing games, flirting and dancing around the issue. He took what he wanted and refused to accept no for an answer.
Perhaps she wouldn’t be named feminist of the year, but she reveled in his dominance, his authority, the fact that he called all the shots and expected her to stand back and allow him to take care of her in every conceivable manner.
If she had a choice between being a cherished, pampered princess or being a ball buster and refusing to allow Drake to control her existence, she didn’t even have to agonize over her decision. Drake made her feel like she was the only woman in the world to him, the most beautiful woman he’d ever been involved with; she had no doubt he’d been involved with countless women, and yet they were nowhere in sight and Evangeline belonged heart and soul to him. That had to say something, right?
Even as confidence, something entirely new to her, bolstered her in a way she’d never experienced, she chastised herself for being too confident. Too arrogant. She could very well be a temporary challenge for Drake. An amusement. Other women could have been the same, explaining why they were no longer in the picture: because Drake grew bored and in need of a new challenge, so he tossed them and moved on to his next conquest.
She bit into her lip and nibbled in consternation. Stop, Evangeline! For God’s sake, you’re being a hapless coward. If Drake truly was invested in their relationship, if she kept on with her insecurities and lack of self-confidence, she would be the one to drive him away. Not the other way around.
He chose you. He could have any woman and yet he saw you on a surveillance cam and he chose you. That has to mean something.
Though Evangeline hadn’t spent a whole lot of time in Drake’s club, she wasn’t blind. She’d seen firsthand all the beautiful people. Men and women but especially women. In
all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, some small and curvy, others tall with killer legs and a million-dollar smile, not to mention their beautiful hair, skin, clothing and makeup.
And yet for some reason still baffling to her, Drake had locked onto her and claimed her within seconds of them meeting face-to-face for the first time. She shook her head. These things simply didn’t happen to a girl like her from a podunk town in Mississippi. She was clumsy, awkward, shy and extremely conservative, which was why she’d only recently lost her virginity to a man who was all wrong for her. And naïve. God, she had to be the most gullible, naïve woman on the planet. So what on earth did Drake see in her?
“Evangeline, what’s wrong?” Drake asked sharply.
She flushed guiltily at being caught out lost in her thoughts. No way in hell she was going to tell Drake what she’d been thinking, even if she did have the propensity to blurt out the truth no matter how embarrassing it might be. For the first time she was going to lie to him, and she’d promised never to lie to him. But it would only anger him and ruin what had been a perfect morning. She justified her lie by telling herself it wasn’t a damaging lie. She wasn’t betraying him or withholding the truth about something that truly mattered. But even acknowledging that didn’t make her feel any better. She hated lying. Hated it.
“I was just trying to think of what to cook for dinner tonight,” she said lightly.
He studied her for a moment and more heat scorched her cheeks because he didn’t swallow her lame excuse in the least. But to her surprise, he didn’t call her on it, nor did he push her for answers.
“Let’s go take a shower together and then we’ll go get lunch. After, I’ll take you on that carriage ride.”
She sighed in contentment. “That sounds like a perfect day.”
8
“Are you ever planning to allow Evangeline out of the apartment?” Maddox asked dryly.
Drake glanced up sharply, and a perusal of his men netted the same question in their eyes that Maddox had voiced. The question came out of nowhere and had nothing to do with the business matters they were discussing. For that matter, his personal affairs weren’t open for discussion. Apparently he needed to make that clear.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Drake demanded. “I fail to see how my relationship with Evangeline is any of your business.”
His tone was icy and his features glacial as he stared his men down. There was disapproval in their eyes and it pissed him the fuck off. He was tempted to beat the fuck out of each and every one of them. He’d be damned if they were going to pass judgment on his relationship with Evangeline. Fuck that.
“Oh, I don’t know. Let’s see. She hasn’t so much as set foot out of your apartment since you brought her back there. Hell, no one has so much as seen her. You were going to make her your queen and go public with her, but she’s more scarce now than she ever was before.”
Drake’s eyes narrowed at the implied criticism in Maddox’s voice. As though Drake were purposely keeping her under wraps.
“She is free to come and go as she likes,” Drake said in an icy voice. “She’s aware of the necessity of higher security, and she accepts that. I’ve offered to have some of you accompany her wherever she’d like to go, but so far she’s refused, preferring to stay in.”
“Hell, she’s probably embarrassed,” Justice said in disgust. “She has no way of knowing what or how much we know, though she likely suspects we were privy to every single detail of what went down that night. It’s understandable why she wouldn’t be eager to face judgment from others.”
“Who the hell says she would be judged?” Silas demanded in a pissed-off tone.
Justice shot him a look of impatience. “Evangeline has pride. In spades. I’m not saying any of us would judge her. She did nothing wrong.” He shot a pointed look in Drake’s direction that had Drake baring his teeth. “But she doesn’t know what we think or know or what side of the picture we line up on. It’s likely she’s avoiding all of us. I don’t blame her. I can’t say I wouldn’t do the exact same thing in her shoes. By her way of thinking, she’s been shamed enough.”
“Fuck that,” Maddox growled. “The hell I’ll let her believe that shit.”
Silas held up his hand to silence Maddox. “I’ll sort Evangeline out.”
Drake slashed a look in his man’s direction. “Oh, you will?”
Silas met his stare without backing down. “Yeah, I will. I’ll let her know that whatever fucked-up shit she has going on in her head is just that. Shit. We had an agreement before for a once-a-week takeout date. So I’ll get takeout and bring it over to your place tomorrow and I’ll set her straight then. No way in hell is she going to hide away in shame for something she was innocent in.”
Drake held on to his temper by a thread. Only because he knew Silas would cut his own throat rather than ever betray someone he considered a brother—his only family—was he able to control his anger at the condemnation in Silas’s voice. Hell, it wasn’t as if Drake didn’t harbor enough self-blame without it being served up to him at every turn by the men loyal to him.
Even as the initial rage threatened to erupt, it abated just as quickly. He was grateful for Silas’s fierce defense of and regard for Evangeline. Drake knew of no other recipients of either from Silas save those currently gathered in Drake’s office. And going public with Evangeline instilled paralyzing fear in Drake—not an emotion he was accustomed to at all. But with his relationship becoming very public, he needed unconditional loyalty to Evangeline from every single one of his men, because he would be relying on them as well as himself to keep her safe at all times.
And Justice was likely correct in his conclusion. Drake cursed the fact that he hadn’t even considered that Evangeline would be mortified to face his men, but now that Justice had suggested it, it certainly seemed highly probable. That night had been degrading and mortifying for Evangeline. Of course she wouldn’t want to be around people who knew every single detail.
He was also dead on about Evangeline having fierce pride. It was one of the things Drake admired most about her.
“Silas is right,” Drake conceded. “The air needs to be cleared and Evangeline needs to be put at ease. I won’t have her uncomfortable with the people I trust her life with.”
He paused and leveled a steely look at each of his men in turn.
“However, once Silas has set the matter to rights, under no circumstances is that night ever to be brought up in Evangeline’s presence. Unless she brings the subject up, it is to be forgotten, and even should she broach the topic, you will say nothing that upsets or embarrasses her in any way. I damn near destroyed her in my attempt to keep her off the Luconis’ radar, and I will not have anything said or done that brings her further pain.”
Maddox made a sound of disgust. “What kind of bastards do you take us for? Evangeline is a sweet woman. Far too innocent and sympathetic for her own good. Hurting her would be like kicking a goddamn puppy. Only a complete piece-of-shit dickhead would seek to humiliate or shit on her.”
“I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page,” Drake said calmly. “I’m not letting her go, which means she’s going to be a regular part of our daily lives. The sooner Silas smooths things over with her and makes her feel at ease with all of you again, the sooner the memory of that night will fade.”
“I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” Silas reaffirmed.
Drake nodded his consent. “See that you do. Maddox, perhaps you should take Evangeline out the following day. Have her make a grocery list and shop for the items she needs. She enjoys cooking and she likes to feel that she’s contributing in some way and that she has value. I won’t take that from her. Bring Justice with you. She needs to grow accustomed to being around you all again without any residual awkwardness.”
“She can cook for me any time she wants,” Justice said, his tone hopeful. “Maybe if I’m a really good boy, I can finagle a dinner invitation from her.”
; Drake rolled his eyes as the others chimed in with their appreciation of her culinary skills and their desire to be included for dinner. He wasn’t a stupid man. His men appreciated more than just her cooking skills. If Drake wasn’t careful and he fucked up with Evangeline again, more than one of his men would move in without hesitation and treat her like royalty, spoiling her shamelessly. Then he’d have to beat all their asses.
Drake sat back in his chair and singled Silas out. “I need as many eyes on the street as possible. With the leaks about my relationship with Evangeline steadily going out, I want everyone’s ear to the ground and I want to know of any possible threat to her before it has a chance to be carried out.”
“I’m already on it,” Silas said, unruffled by Drake’s intensity. “I have eyes and ears everywhere. If someone is planning a move, I’ll know about it. As long as Evangeline isn’t left alone and especially not wandering around the city by herself, she’ll be safe.”
Drake scowled. “She won’t be wandering around the city without several men on her. She goes nowhere without protection, and guards will be posted at the apartment when she’s there alone during the day.”
“You realize the most expedient way to give credence to the rumors of your serious attachment to Evangeline would be to show up to a society function with her on your arm,” Hartley mused. “You’ve never brought a woman to any of the events you’ve attended. The few times you choose to attend a function, you’re always a lone wolf and very unapproachable. I imagine that alone would cause quite a stir. Add in the planted seeds of a serious relationship with Evangeline and you’ll have the entire city buzzing.”
Drake stiffened, his jaw clenched tight to the point of pain. He didn’t like the idea of using Evangeline or of trotting her out like a show pony just to get his point across. Fuck. But Hartley also made a solid point. If he wanted it spread far and wide that Evangeline was his pampered, cherished queen and that anyone fucking with her would die a very painful death, then he had to offer concrete evidence and not just talk. Actions had to back up the words.