Tycoon Takedown (5 page)

She saw Charles and held up her purse triumphantly. “He mugged the wrong woman.”

Charles shook his head in disbelief as his fear was replaced with anger. “Are you insane? You could have been killed.” He took Melanie by the arm and searched her face for any sign that sh
e’d
been hurt. “Nothing in your purse is worth your life.”

The man on the ground struggled to stand, but Melanie shoved him back down. “By this guy? Shoot, he’s never seen a day of hard work in his life. I’ve wrestled newborn calves with more muscle than he has.”

With no words that could express how he felt in that moment, Charles gave in and pulled Melanie to him. He claimed her mouth, holding her tightly to him as he unleashed his emotions through a feverish kiss. She opened her mouth wider to him, welcoming him inside even though h
e’d
given her no opportunity to deny him.

Emotions h
e’d
long repressed surfaced even as the pleasure of finally tasting her shook him. Their tongues met and he groaned aloud. Their connection was as hot as h
e’d
imagined it would be and, as her hands gripped his shoulders for support, he didn’t care where they were or who witnessed their kiss. He hadn’t lost her. He hadn’t failed to keep someone safe a second time.

Only the sound of applause brought him back to reality. He tore his mouth from hers and looked around. People were snapping pictures with their phones and cheering.

A police officer pushed his way through the crowd. By the time he reached them, h
e’d
heard the story of what had happened several times as excited onlookers gushed about what they had seen.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” the officer asked.

Melanie stared at the cop wordlessly and swayed. She looked from him to Charles and back but still said nothing.

“Can you get this crazy bitch away from me?” the assailant, who was struggling to stand with his hands tied behind him, asked.

The officer hauled the man to his feet and turned him to inspect the knot around his hands. “I spent some time in the rodeo down in Abilene. Looks like I missed one hell of a takedown here.”

Melanie nodded. “Don’t mess with a Texan wh
o’s
having a bad day.”

The officer tipped his police hat to her as if it were a Stetson. “I’ve been in New York for a long time, but not long enough to forget that.” He held the man by one arm and said, “You’ll need to come down to the station and file a report.”

Melanie studied the young man’s face and said, “No. Everyone deserves a chance to turn their life around. Maybe this is his wake-up call. Can you drive him to someone who might be able to help him see that?”

“He needs to be off the streets,” Charles snarled.

“He’s only a boy,” Melanie defended hotly.

“A boy who will go right back to mugging people the moment we release him.” He turned to the officer and said, “If he’s not eighteen, then I would think you have every right to deliver him home to whoever his guardians are.”

The police officer agreed.

Melanie looked earnestly at her assailant again and implored, “People make mistakes every day. Don’t repeat this one. You’re better than this.”

The young man spit in her direction in disgust.

Charles pulled her away from him, planting himself between them. “You little shit. You don’t deserve her sympathy. You deserve—”

Melanie stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Don’t, Charles. We don’t know what he’s been through.”

The police officer removed the belt and returned it to Melanie. He looked around the crowd as if he wanted to say more, but held his words back. In the world where everything was being recorded, it was a wise decision. “Come on,” he said to the young man and put him in the backseat of the police car. “Where is home?”

The boy said something scathing that Charles didn’t hear and, honestly, didn’t care to. “Let’s go,” Charles said after the police left. He put his hand on Melanie’s lower back to guide her, but she didn’t budge.

She touched her slightly swollen lips with one hand and shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Charles leaned down and growled into her ear. “I am this close,” he measured an inch in the air with his other hand, “to throwing you over my shoulder and carrying you to my ca
r . . .
or you can walk there with me and not make today more of a YouTube spectacle. Your choice.”

She looked around and blushed when she realized that people were still filming their exchange with their phones. She nodded and started walking with him. “Okay, but I want to go back to my hotel.”

He didn’t say anything.

He didn’t have to.

They both knew that wasn’t going to happen.

Chapter Five

S
itting a good six inches from her in the back of his limo and staring straight ahead, Charles didn’t look like a man who had just given her the most passionate kiss of her lifetime. She
definitely
did not imagine that. She may have been confused about many other things, but that kiss made his feelings pretty clear.

So why did she feel like sh
e’d
been called to the principal’s office for throwing a stone through a window?

Is he upset that the kiss was photographed? That’s not my fault. I didn’t ask to be mugged. And I damn well didn’t ask him to come rushing to my rescue or kiss me.

He must have given the driver instructions at the door of the limo before h
e’d
joined her, because everyone seemed to know where they were going except her. All she knew for sure was her hotel was the other way. As the awkward silence between them stretched painfully through several traffic lights, Melanie became impatient. She folded her arms across her chest and stormed, “If you’re angry with me about something, just say it. But I won’t sit here while you give me the silent treatment. If you have nothing to say, pull the car over and let me out. I’ve had a bad enough day without this.”

He swung around to face her, and his expression robbed her of further speech. There was a confusing mix of anger and passion in his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was ragged. “You could have been killed today.”

The depth of his response to that possibility rocked her. She relived the scenario from his perspective and instantly regretted how sh
e’d
handled it.
Oh my God, I told the man I was being robbed and then hung up on him.
Here I am thinking he was overcome with lust for me, when really I just worried him into a grateful-but-I-would-like-to-shake-you-for-putting-me-through-this kiss.

Of all the ways sh
e’d
dreamed she could make him feel, scared for her life was not one of them. She closed her eyes for a moment, gathered her strength, opened them, and said, “I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry. I was angry and I reacted. I shouldn’t have hung up on you.”

His jaw tightened. “You shouldn’t have chased that man.”

“Not man. Boy. I bet he’s not even eighteen, Charles.”

Charles made a disgusted sound in his chest. “He had a knife. You should have pressed charges.”

Melanie met his angry gaze but could not agree, not even if she thought that doing so would improve his mood. “Don’t you want to know what brought him to the dark place he’s in?”

“I don’t care. I don’t need his backstory to know that he’s a criminal who needs to be taken off the streets.” When Melanie didn’t waver, he continued, “You have a lot to learn about surviving in a city. Watch the news tonight. The streets are full of crime. Do you want me to pretend I care about each offender? I won’t. And your concern is better saved for their victims.”

An image of the young man spitting at her on the sidewalk was still vivid in Melanie’s mind. She thought about the people who had watched her chase the boy and how they had taken pictures instead of coming to her aid, not exhibiting much compassion for victim or assailant. “First, I don’t want to learn whatever lesson you think I need. Maybe it would be overwhelming to try to care about everyone in need in the city, but I didn’t meet everyone. I met one angry kid. And you may not care if he has anyone to go home to, but I do. If you can’t understand that, then you’re not the man I thought you were.”

An angry red flush spread up his cheeks. “You have no idea what kind of man I am.”

Shaking her head, Melanie said, “Ask your driver to stop. I want to get out.”

“No,” Charles said firmly.

Still sitting with her arms crossed in front of her, Melanie said, “I wasn’t asking.”

A new light entered his eyes. Charles turned fully toward her and ran a thumb down her jaw, taking her chin in his hand to turn her face toward him. “I want you, Melanie.”

Melanie swallowed hard. Desire burst through her at his declaration, but that didn’t make it a wise choice. “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

A small smile of challenge curled his lips. “No?”

She met his eyes bravely. “No. I didn’t come to New York for this.”

He slid a possessive hand behind her neck and buried it in her hair, pulling her closer to him. “From the first moment I saw you, this is all I’ve been able to think about.” He bent and again claimed her mouth with his.

She wanted to resist him. She told herself that sh
e’d
learned her lesson with men. He wanted her now, but what would she mean to him tomorrow? Probably nothing.
I’m a convenient fuck. Here today, forgotten tomorrow.

No different than Todd.

Unfortunately, even as her mind argued for sanity, her body hummed and surrendered to him. This wasn’t just any man—this was the one sh
e’d
spent months imagining doing exactly this with and who being with was far exceeding her fantasies. She was writhing against him, eager. His mouth left hers and went to her neck. He kissed it hungrily. Expertly one of his hands undid the front of her blouse and he pushed the material aside. Melanie didn’t have time to regret her practical cotton bra. He unclipped it from behind and closed his mouth on one of her exposed breasts.

Her hands gripped his shoulders as he lifted her and sat her in his lap. She closed her eyes and lost herself in the hot pleasure that shot through her each time his tongue lapped her nipple. She shuddered when his teeth playfully nipped her.

Nothing in her prior sexual experiences had prepared her for how Charles made her feel. This wasn’t the sweet tentative sex of high school. It wasn’t the quick, unsatisfying sex sh
e’d
experienced with Todd. She didn’t ask herself if this was right or wrong. There wasn’t room for thought between the waves of desire that rocked through her.

His hungry kisses brought her to tingling life until there were only two parts of her, the scorched trail of where his mouth had been and the quivering aching areas that craved his attention. He took her other breast into his mouth, and Melanie cried out his name and buried her hands in the back of his hair. He made large circles with his hot tongue, warming and building anticipation for when h
e’d
reach her eager nipple. When he finally closed his teeth around it, chasing the tip of his tongue back and forth over it with quick, forceful strokes, Melanie fisted her hands and cried out again.

She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think past holding him there desperately, willing to do anything to prolong the sensations washing over her. Charles knew how to please a woman, and his every caress pushed Melanie toward a flame that threatened to consume her.

He impatiently unsnapped the front of her jeans and slid a hand down her lower back, beneath the elastic of her panties to cup her ass. His touch was more about ownership than exploration. He rubbed his hand over both of her cheeks and between, building a warm friction that had Melanie rubbing herself against the pulsing mound of his still-contained erection.

His other hand slid down her stomach, beneath the front of her panties, and sought her wet slit. Melanie shifted her position to allow him better access. Without hesitation, he slid his middle finger between her wet folds and circled her clit. Melanie threw back her head with a moan, moving herself against his hand, begging him wordlessly to continue. He ran his finger over her clit once, then again, experimenting with his rhythm until she was gasping for breath. Then he lifted his head and demanded, “Open your eyes, Melanie. Look at me.”

She did because she was incapable of not obeying him in that moment. He took her nub between his thumb and finger and began an expert gentle rub that had her biting her bottom lip. Behind her, his hand continued to knead her, gripping her more forcefully as his own breathing became more and more ragged.

She brought her mouth down on his and gripped both sides of his head as she welcomed his tongue with hers again. His thrusts were deep and relentless and she offered him more.

He slid a finger deeper inside her and she gasped into his mouth. His other hand held her slightly off him so he could thrust his finger in and out of her powerfully.

She reached for the front of his shirt, but he broke off the kiss long enough to growl into her ear. “No.”

She didn’t question his command. His touch was all that mattered. He took her mouth again and thrust a second finger inside her. His expert rhythm made all thought impossible.

When he broke off the kiss, she was spiraling toward an orgasm, and still his mouth relentlessly claimed her body. Each time she thought she could take no more, he discovered a new equally sensitive spot. She threw back her head and exposed her neck more fully to him, loving how he began alternating hot kisses with light nips. His warm breath teased her ear before he kissed his way to it. He growled, “You’re so tight. So wet.”

It felt wrong and so right at the same time.

Melanie clenched her muscles around his thrusting fingers with a rhythm that increased her own pleasure. She moaned, then cried out his name again when his mouth returned to her breasts. Sucking. Nipping. Tugging on her nipples in a way that shot waves of heat through her.

Once again her hands sought the front of his shirt, but his fingers stilled and he raised his head and said, “Let yourself enjoy it, Melanie.”

She did and was rewarded by his thumb once again circling her clit slowly, forcefully. He brought his other hand around and licked his thumb before rubbing it back and forth across her puckered nipple. Her position left her arched and bare from the waist up before him. Melanie gasped and shifted against his other hand, welcoming his fingers deeper inside her. She held his eyes because he silently commanded her to.

Heat spread up her chest and through her stomach. She gave herself to the orgasm and to him in the same cry of submission. He increased the pace of his thrusting fingers as he pinched her nipple, sending a sting of pain that only increased the intensity of her pleasure. She cried out again, helplessly jerking against his hand as her orgasm consumed her.

He withdrew his hand from the front of her jeans and brought his fingers up to his mouth and licked her juices off, then said, “You taste better than I imagined. I am going to spread you open and feast on every part of you tonight.” He took her hand and placed it on the bulge in his pants. “And then, and only then, I want that sweet mouth on my cock. I want that glorious hair on my thighs as I come.”

Melanie shivered and brought her arms around to cover the front of her. He took her hands in his and brought them to her sides, exposing her again. “You’re too beautiful to hide, Melanie.” He looked out the window and groaned. “Although, you should cover up while we walk into my building.” He released her and handed her shirt to her, but tucked her bra into his jacket pocket.

Melanie shrugged into her blouse and straightened her jeans, then went to move off his lap, but he held her there with a hand on either hip. Desire for her burned in those dark blue eyes, giving her courage to lay a hand on his chest. His heart was beating wildly. She moved a tentative hand down his stomach, but he took it in one of his and held it captive against the outside of his thigh. “Not here,” he said and instead slid her off his lap and brought her beneath his arm, against his side.

A part of her wanted to protest, but being in his arms, especially in the aftermath of a climax, was heaven. Tucked against him as she was, she felt safe and treasured. Even if their connection was temporary, it was what her life lacked—and no amount of common sense could have pulled her away from him in that moment.

A short time later, in what felt like a dream sequence, he escorted her from the limo in the parking garage to the elevator. She would have been hard-pressed to describe either later. He used a key in the elevator to unlock the penthouse floor. The air sizzled as they rode toward it without speaking. He led her through a large foyer, a hallway she didn’t spare a glance at, and into his bedroom.

They stood at the foot of his pristine gray king-size bed looking at each other without speaking, the only sound in the room their ragged breathing. Very softly, he said, “Strip for me.”

She hesitated. He had given nothing of himself. Without her clothing, she would be exposed and vulnerable before him again. She wasn’t ready for that.

He held her eyes. Instead of reaching for her as she expected, he waited, eyes burning with desire for her. “Take off your shirt.”

There was something in his soft command she couldn’t resist. She wasn’t one who followed direction without question, but when he looked at her, she wanted to go wherever he would take her. Unlike how sh
e’d
felt for years, here she felt free. Not looking away from him, she unbuttoned her shirt and dropped it to the floor.

“Now the rest.” She did as he ordered and as each article of clothing hit the floor, her confidence grew. Not needing further coaxing, she slid off her boots, pants, and underwear and stood naked and proud before him. He didn’t touch her, but she felt his hot gaze on her breasts, and her nipples puckered in anticipation of his mouth returning to them.

He wants me as much I as I want him.
The thought was empowering. He might have thought he was in control, but she arched one shoulder and reveled in how his nostrils flared and a flush darkened his cheeks.

He stepped toward her and ran the back of one hand across her collarbone, down the curve of one of her breasts, and along her flat stomach until he cupped her sex.

“So beautiful,” he said softly. He took her face in his other hand and forced her to meet his gaze.

In that moment, beneath his gaze, Melanie felt beautiful.

“Where do you want my mouth first?” he whispered in her ear. “Show me.” He took one of her hands in his and guided it to her wet slit, thrusting one of her own fingers inside herself, then bringing her finger to his lips to kiss it. “Would you like me to start there?” He took her finger deep inside his mouth and suckled it. “That’s where I want to start, but I’ll let you decide.”