If there was ever one thing, she ever hated about me, it was my stubbornness.
My head-first, tunnel-vision personality.
How I never apologized for screwing anyone over that got in my way.
Even when I am wrong, it’s never my fault.
“Mm mm.” Beside me Beau stirred but didn’t wake. It was early. Just past seven, and I’d been awake for twenty minutes.
I was exhausted, but my mind was restless, and I couldn’t sleep.
I fucked her yesterday as I’d set out to do from the moment, I’d seen her picture on the Craving Sugar site. Took her body as a beast would mounting his mate.
Against the wall.
On the floor of my living room when I couldn’t wait to reach my room.
In the shower when she asked to wash off the night’s activities.
And then again, just around three a.m. when I followed her into the kitchen for a drink of water. For her, I’d become insatiable. Spent the night perpetually hard each time the slip of a girl so much as blinked my way.
Looking down, I pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Not that it made much of a difference as she had that whole “just fucked and knocked out after” look going on.
Once more she moved closer, her leg rising higher on my hip. I twitched. “Jesus Christ,” I grunted low, my hips rising just a tiny bit off the bed. This scene right here reminded me of mornings from my past.
Another house. Another bed. Another companion.
Shoved in my face why I needed to take a step back and regroup. Plan for the future.
Slowly, I slid from beneath her warm body and drew the covers up high. She never so much as complained, showed me something new about her: my nymph was a heavy sleeper.
Careful not to disturb her, I walked out and down the hall into my main living space where our clothes still lay strewn about. Her torn lace shirt by the elevator doors. The buttons from my shirt scattered while the fabric had managed to land on the couch’s armrest.
My pants—which had been kicked off at some point—were near a side table by the entry, and I picked those up and put them on. Padded barefoot toward the kitchen and turned the coffee pot on before making a quick detour into my home office.
There, on my desk sat a basic folder with a revised final contract. Something I spent a good deal of money on to gather the information needed to get her to agree. Not that she’d have much choice, but the less this turned into a fight, the better.
Schooling was her priority; she needed the financial backing to finish and get her degree in education. Beau had been denied loans, and her parents, from what I gathered, couldn’t help.
My investigator had done a thorough background check and she came back clean, with good grades and an average middle-class upbringing. Intelligent and well-liked by her professors and peers.
Then, there was the matter of her job. If I paid for everything, there would be no need for her to work at that college bar. If she was to be eye candy for anyone, it would be me, and me alone.
Fuck and no. Not up for negotiation.
Beau would quit and come live with me on a permanent basis for the next six months. Another stipulation added—differed from the norm. Our contract would be short lived, and if I needed her in the future, she would be amenable to the request for the next two years at least.
No other sugar daddies would be accepted.
No boyfriends.
Not even a one-night stand.
Getting possessive much? No. Never. More like guarding an investment.
Her reason for doing this was school, and I’d pay for that without an argument. Books, housing, and tuition until she was done and graduated. Everything would be set up to look as if it were a donation/scholarship from my company to aide a deserving individual.
Grabbing the items needed, I walked back to the kitchen and served myself a cup of coffee and waited, sipping from my mug while the sun rose higher in the sky and the sound of feet padding in my direction carried through the apartment.
At nine a.m. sharp, Beau Carter stood in my kitchen looking like innocent sin. Barefoot, fresh faced, and wearing an undershirt I’d taken off in my bathroom before heading out with Jax last night.
“Good morning,” she mumbled, toe digging into the floor. “Can I have some coffee before I go?”
“Have a seat.”
At my formal tone, she frowned. “Better yet, I should just go. I have a friend that lives nearby...I’ll just meet her for brunch instead. Thanks.” Another baby. This I already knew. She’s the one that helped her get on that Craving site.
“Sit, Beau.” Still, she stood at the entrance of my kitchen; I made the first move. Standing up from my stool at the breakfast bar, I walked over to her and linked her fingers with mine. Pulled her toward the seating area.
She followed. It was reluctant, but she did, and I bit the inside of my cheek to hide a grin.
“Hey!” she yelped as I lifted her up by the hips. Fingers digging in, I placed her on the stool I’d been sitting on.
“Stay.” At my tut she rolled her eyes, a cute pout on those bee-stung lips. The urge to kiss—bite—them was near maddening, but I held my composure. I turned around and toward my coffee machine in order to keep my hands busy. “How do you like your coffee?”
She—Beau—was temptation incarnate.
A poisonous siren, and if I wasn’t careful, I would be bitten.
“Depends.”
“On?” I grabbed a mug from the cupboard and placed it on the granite top.
“Do you have whole, soy, or coconut milk?”
Turning to face her, I raised a brow. “Are you serious?”
“You asked!”
“Answer the question like a normal person.”
Her eyes turned to slits. “Half milk—any of the three mentioned are fine—half coffee, and three sugars. There.”
“You’re so bratty in the morning.” The chuckle escaped before I could hold it in. I’d been laughing a lot around her, it seemed. “Grab the coconut milk and prepare your own drink.”
“Fine.” The stool scraped against my floors, and it took everything within me not to correct that behavior. After she sees the contract.
So, while she worked on her coffee, I watched her. How at ease she moved around my kitchen while searching for what she needed. Even made us a bagel each with cream cheese before taking a seat once more.
We ate in silence, yet I heard her silent questions each time her eyes flickered toward the folder.
What’s that?
Are we doing this again?
Why are you so stubborn?
Silly girl.
Once done, I sat back in my seat. “That’s the amended contract. It’s final; has all my stipulations and the terms of agreement in place. You’ll see that a generous allowance has been decided for all your personal needs. Schooling is an expense on its own and has been—”
She pushed her plate and mug aside. “How would you know what I need? For what school?”
“First, you named schooling as the major expense that needed funding on your profile. Did you not?”
“Yes, but—”
“The rest is what investigators are for.” If Beau was surprised by the revelation that I had her looked into, she didn’t say a word. Instead, the sole indicator of her disapproval was the deepening of her pout and a slight frown. “Now that that’s cleared up, let’s get back to your schooling fees. It’s been taken care of in a way that benefits us both. Privacy kept. You’ll need to be moved in no later—”
“I’m sorry, Hendrix,” Beau interrupted, holding a hand up, “but last night wasn’t anything other than sex. It wasn’t an agreement on my behalf to anything.”
“But that’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart. Open and look toward the bottom.”
“What did you do.” I’d give her credit for keeping her temper controlled. She was positively seething. Glorious in her ire.
“Just made your verbal agreement a written one.” Her mouth opened and closed several times, face turning red. “Or don’t you remember?”
“How?”
“I was balls deep inside you, loving the way your walls fluttered around me, when I asked that you agree.” She thought I couldn’t tell that she’d pressed her thighs together, but I was in tune with her every move. “You were right there...beautifully on the edge, when I bit down on your chest and you came all over my cock and sheets. That was my answer, Beau. You’re juices on my dick the proof that you wanted this.”
“But I didn’t sign these papers.” Wasn’t missed that she didn’t deny my claims.
“And I did.” No sense in beating around the bush. “The I.D. inside your wristlet was a great help. Though I might suggest you change your signature to something a bit more difficult, because two circles with a line straight across the middle was just too easy to falsify.”
“I can’t...Jesus Christ,” she sighed while rubbing her temples. “I’m not doing this with you. No offense, but we won’t work.”
A part of me felt bad for manipulating the situation, but it was too miniscule to fight against the memory of her wrapped around my length. My cock, which twitched behind the zipper of my pants, agreed with the memory.
Fuck it. We want her for now.
“Your tuition payment was sent in this morning for next semester. The entire balance.”
“Are you demented? Why would you do that for someone you don’t know?” She slammed a tiny hand on the granite countertop, the sound reverberating throughout the quiet house.
I shrugged with nonchalance. “Because I can, and did. End of.”
“That tells me nothing!” Her seat flew back as she stood, hand on her hip and breathing fire. “Why would you do that when I said no to your original contract? When I’ve been avoiding you for a reason.”
“Like meeting other potential daddies?” I sneered, my own anger mounting. Silly little girl thought it’d be so simple. I was nothing if not a selfish asshole, and she was the piece of ass I wanted to own.
“Not doing this with you.” Turning to leave, she threw me a glare from over her shoulder. “Put a stop to that check. We have nothing else to discuss.”
“No.”
Beau paused at the entryway. “What do you mean no?”
“It’s signed and done. Unless...” I trailed off.
“What else?”
“Unless you want to pay me the early termination fee. It’s only ten grand.”
I’d never seen someone go from flushed to ghostly pale in the span of seconds. She swayed on her feet, and I rushed to help steady her. There was no fight left.
Didn’t even attempt to push me away when I scooped her up in my arms and carried her back into the bedroom. Not when I pulled the comforter back and lay down with my body spooning hers.
For a while we lay in the silence, her breathing and my own the sole noise inside the space.
To be honest, I thought she’d fallen asleep when she spoke. Whispered one word. Okay.
“Good,” I breathed out against the crown of her head. “Really good.”
“Don’t make me regret this.” You will.
Trailing a hand down to her thigh, I pulled it over my own. Spread her, so I could explore the bare flesh below. Something I’d been dying to do since bringing her back here to rest.
She was mad at me, I knew this, and yet her body responded to my touch. No matter how still she tried to remain, the proof was wetting the tip of my fingers. Spread across her upper thighs.
“Forgive me?”
“No,” she moaned as the palm of my hand rubbed her clit in tight circles. Her hips pushed against me, silently demanded that I give her more.
“What will it take then?” My lips skimmed the shell of her ear, and I exhaled. “A summer vacation on an exotic beach? France?”
“No.”
“Say something other than no.” I dipped two fingers inside her entrance. Circled the opening before burying them deep. Immediately I sought out that rough patch of tissue and her legs closed, trapping me inside.
“Don’t need a vacation, just quit being a jerk.” Beau tightened around my fingers, her pussy so wet it was leaking down my wrist, filling my room with the symphony of her arousal. “Oh, God. Please stop for a minute...can’t think.”
“Then don’t, nymph. Don’t think and just feel.” Nipping the flesh just under her ear, I soothed the sting with a lick. “Come for me.”
“Fuck,” she cried out while my fingers pumped in and out harder. Took her while I pressed down over her clit with my palm. Her walls fluttered. She was right there. “Let me stay at my apartment.”
“No.” Doubling my efforts, I rubbed her G-spot with each entry. “Not up for negotiations.”
“Give me two months to figure out what to tell my family at least!”
“One, but you stay with me during.” I pulled my fingers out and spread her wide. Beau tried to protest, but it died on her tongue the moment my soaked fingers smacked her clit. Three times in rapid succession and then slammed back inside.
“Hendrix.” My name on her lips was a prayer. A thank you that made me feel one hundred feet tall.
“Good girl,” I praised, while slowly bringing her back down from her orgasm. Sheets ruined, I moved us toward the center of the bed and away from the spot she’d gushed all over. Once situated, I kissed her forehead and pulled her closer. Let her enjoy this rare moment of affection she’d receive from me. “Your apartment is for show as of today. You’ll be here with me, unless at school or with the family. One month to figure out what to tell them, Beau. Not a moment more.”