He wanted more of it. Not all the time, he was learning. And he had a feeling as he spent time with her, then it would ease until the periods between the need would be longer. But he couldn’t imagine never seeing her pleasured again. Never seeing another man fuck her, yet knowing she belonged to him, her eyes on his, trusting him, taking the pleasure he was giving her.
But if having it meant not having Kia? Hell, he’d do without it. It was only a part of what he needed from her. Relationships meant compromise, he knew. He would compromise. If he had to.
“What did you order for dinner?” Kia was moving through the apartment, a brush in one hand, dressed in a soft cotton lounging set.
Those lounging sets were created to drive men insane, he decided. The loose, soft gray pants and matching top.
“Greasy cheeseburgers,” he told her. “They’ll be here soon.”
“I should have guessed.” She sat down on the couch and began to brush her hair slowly, working around the cut in her head as she tugged at the shoulder-length strands and winced painfully.
“Come here.” He sat down beside her and took the brush.
“I can do it, Chase,” she told him quietly, watching him with a wary light in her eyes.
“I can do it without hurting you.”
He turned her, started at the bottom of the long, silky strands and began to work through the tangles the day had given her.
Not that there were many of them.
“I wasn’t able to style it this morning,” she sighed, as he felt her relax marginally.
Anger surged hot and deep inside him at the knowledge of how painful that cut must still be.
The doctor hadn’t had to shave the area the attacker had sliced open. The wound was less than an inch long and had taken only a few stitches.
“I’ll wash it for you when you bathe,” he told her, his cock howling in agony now.
“You don’t have to do that.” Her protest was mild, her voice soft, relaxed.
“I want to do it.”
And he did. He wanted to care for her. He needed to care for her. That hunger struck inside him with dizzying force. Even the women he had lived with before, the need to care for them hadn’t gone this deep. Not so deep that the slightest knowledge of their pain cut into him.
As he stroked the bristles of the brush through her hair, his heart clenched and something melted inside him. He’d never given much thought to the idea of a wife, a family. But as he sat with Kia, that thought began to form within his mind.
Kia, soft and round with their child. Maybe a little girl who looked like her mother, with long, soft hair that needed to be untangled gently. Or maybe a son. And Kia would be there, holding all of them.
He worked the brush higher into her hair as her head moved, shifting and allowing her hair to flow around her as he brushed it.
He was harder than a rock, but his heart was melting in his chest. Who would have guessed something this simple would bring the knowledge it did.
The fact that Chase knew, clear to the depths of his spirit, that he had fallen in love with Kia.
23
Kia thought that having Chase at the office with her would be confining. That his male presence, arrogance, and determination would begin to stifle her. It had in the past when she had Drew following her everywhere she went.
Instead, she had found out that he could be comforting. He knew how to be quiet, yet the heated looks, the reflection in his expression, had kept her primed for him. Unfortunately, there had been no time for anything more than that brief, hard kiss he had given her.
She had expected, once they returned to his home, that he would cash in on that kiss. But dinner arrived, and then so did Cameron.
And the party wasn’t going to wait on her. A party she wished now that she could just skip. She wanted to roll around in Chase’s big bed with him, wanted to feel him, touch him.
She had teased them both today, especially after the confrontation with Drew. Not that she thought Chase would actually kill Drew, but she knew that should it come to a fight, then Chase would likely break bones Drew didn’t know could be broken.
As it turned out, her ex-husband wouldn’t be back to her office. Her father had barred him from the main offices, and Drew had sent word his resignation would be forthcoming.
Rutherford’s would lose a talented security and Systems analyst when that happened. Drew didn’t just sell the products his talents protected, but he had devised the most exacting measures in making certain Rutherford’s offices and warehouses were secure.
She shook her head as she carefully arranged her hair into a soft style that flowed around her face and shoulders rather than pinning it up. Her head was still too tender to pin it up.
She wore the violet and silver-threaded bra and matching thong. She had her stockings on, and her violet and silver dress hung on the door behind her as she checked her makeup carefully.
She smoothed a finger over the smoky shadow on her eyelid, adjusted the shadowing and turned back to check the look.
She didn’t wear much makeup, but tonight she needed the added confidence. She had fought to push back the knowledge that someone out there wanted to hurt her. It wasn’t easy, unless Chase was holding her.
She fiddled with a few strands of hair at the top of her head, arranging them over the stitches and making certain the wound didn’t show.
Vanity. She almost chuckled at the thought before her gaze slid to a shadow of movement in the bedroom. Chase stepped to the doorway. His eyes held her. That look in them.
When he was hungry, his eyes became just a little darker, but still a pale green so light as to be icy. And he was hungry now. The color glittered in his dark expression.
Kia licked at her lips nervously before reaching for her robe.
“You don’t need that.” He slipped into the bathroom, staying her hand before she could reach the silky garment.
“Cameron’s gone?” She breathed in roughly as his hands gripped her hips and pulled her back against him.
“The men of the club don’t touch other women when they’re in relationships,” he told her.
Kia almost rolled her eyes. “That wasn’t what I was referring to.”
His gaze met hers in the bathroom mirror. “I want to bring Khalid back, or another if you prefer someone else.”
Her heart rate spiked. “The sharing doesn’t stop?” she whispered.
“Not unless you want it to.” His lips smoothed over her shoulder.
She stared back at him, and she saw that hunger raging in his eyes, reaching out to her. Flashes of memory, in the back of Khalid’s limo, in her bed, raged through her. Both of them touching her, taking her.
“What—what if Khalid finds his own woman?” she whispered.
His expression became darker, hungrier. “If I had my choice, it would never be the same man, Kia. Each third brings his own strengths to any encounter. A different type of pleasure.”
Her heart was racing, and she couldn’t help it, her nipples were spiking.
She watched as his lips parted, his teeth raking her shoulder.
“That’s the strength of the club. A trusted member, someone who will never speak of the encounter, that you never have to be embarrassed to meet in public. Men who know a woman’s body, how to pleasure her in different ways. Some are incredibly gentle. Some are rougher, some know the very boundaries of pleasure and pain. I want to give that to you.”
“Or to yourself?” Her lashes fluttered closed as his fingertips slid beneath the band of her panties. “It doesn’t work that way for a woman, Chase.”
“To both of us,” he whispered at her ear. “Your pleasure is mine, Kia. All of it. And I want to know all of your pleasure.”
Her head fell back against his shoulder as his lips moved to her neck, gentle kisses, rougher kisses. She felt herself sinking into that pleasure despite the confusion rolling through her mind.