On His Terms (9 page)

“Sorcha.”
He said her name smoothly and
evenly, and it reminded her of melted chocolate as it rolled off of his tongue
and caressed her. He held a champagne flute with bubbly yellow liquid in it.
She also made out a strawberry at the bottom of the glass.
 
Taking that first step into his home took
more strength than she thought possible. The door closed behind her. Sealing
her in and having her at the mercy of this very dangerous, yet alluring man.

****

He
watched her step off that elevator, her expression one that was mixed with fear
of the unknown, but excitement for the prospect and possibilities.
Rian
would be lying if he said he wasn’t happy to see her
afraid, because she would have been a blind fool if she hadn’t been.

“Here,
let me take that,” he said to her once she was within arm’s reach. He reached
for her bag without waiting for a response, and gave her the glass of
champagne. “I figured you’d need something to help you relax.”

“And
alcohol was your first choice,” she stated while staring right at him.

“No,
not my first, but I thought you’d appreciate the drink instead of what I’d like
to do to help us both relax instead.” He let those words hang in the air
between them, and showed that he hadn’t been trying to amuse her with his answer.
What he wanted to do was throw her on the bed and fuck her until they both
couldn’t move, but he wasn’t some kind of beast that couldn’t control his basic
urges.
At least not the majority of the time.

She
didn’t respond, but instead took a long drink from her glass. She was nervous,
and rightfully so, but she’d warm up to all of this soon enough. How far would
Sorcha let him go? Even though she had signed the contract, she would most
likely still be hesitant. How far would
he
let himself go with her?

“I’ve
had a meal prepared for us, so come with me and I’ll show you where to keep
your things, and then we can eat.” Again, he didn’t wait for her to respond,
because she really didn’t have a choice. She’d signed the contract, willingly
agreed to be his for this week, and he wasn’t going to sugarcoat anything that
happened from this point on. He could be a gentle, understanding man, but deep
down that really wasn’t who he was. He felt her near, knew she was following
behind him, and led them into the master suite.
Rian
took a step to the side, and allowed her entrance into the room she would be
sleeping in for the next seven days.

“This
is your room.” She didn’t phrase it like question, but glanced at him when she
finished.

He
didn’t speak, but nodded. Of course it was his room. She didn’t think she’d be
staying in another room for this week, did she? He planned on having her every
night, in every way imaginable, including tonight.

She
was slow in moving, but then again she seemed stunned by her surroundings. This
amused
Rian
, and not in the douche-bag way she would
have probably thought. He leaned back against the wall, set her bag on the
ground beside him, and just watched her.

First
she moved over to the whirlpool hot tub that was built into the floor. He could
see her reflection in the mirror as she looked at the candles spread out around
the lip of the bathtub. Then she moved over to the balcony. A glance over her
shoulder, as if she were asking permission to open the doors, had him lifting
the corner of his mouth in a smile and nodding. He didn’t want her thinking she
needed to ask permission to do anything, but he did find it kind of endearing.
Sorcha wasn’t a prisoner in his home.

She
stepped out onto the balcony. And he contemplated leaving her alone and letting
her enjoy the sights. He knew everything about her, even before he decided to
make up the contract and bring it to her attention. Having her work so close
with him, knowing all of his personal details, made him do an extensive
background check on her. It might not have been legal, not with the men he had
used, but he had gotten the information he needed. How would she feel if she
knew he knew about her credit history, her family life, that she had no one
else anymore, and that she had slept with three men? Would she slap him, spit
in his face, or quit once the week was over with?

He
moved toward her, stepped out onto the balcony, and leaned his forearms on the
railing. They were twenty stories up, not exactly a skyscraper, but this
building was exclusive and only held twenty apartments.
Rian
looked over at her, saw that she had her eyes closed, and wondered what she was
thinking about. He had never cared about what a woman thought, not when his
ultimate goal was to have her in his bed. But this situation was different.
Sorcha’s case was different. Her hair was down, and the dark strands moved
along her shoulders as the wind picked up. The thought of reaching out and
touching the strands that were brushing along her cheek rode him hard, and he
was stunned at the intensity with which he actually wanted to do just that. He
lifted his hand, brushed the strands away from her cheek, and watched as she
straightened and looked at him, as if surprised. He pulled his hand away,
knowing he could do what he wanted to her, but also knowing she needed some
time to get adjusted to everything.

She
turned her head back toward the sight in front of them and closed her eyes. For
several seconds neither spoke, but he continued to stare at her.

“If
you close your eyes it feels like you are on top of the world.” She slowly
opened her eyes, and this almost relaxed expression crossed her face.

It
had him picturing her looking drowsy like that right after he had been deep
inside of her, making her come for him.

“Although you’re probably used to
the sight.”
She was staring at Central Park. “The window in my apartment has a brick wall
for a view.” She smiled, but it looked rather depressing. “I would love to have
this view, to just wake up and walk out here whenever I wanted to.” She glanced
down, and he noticed she tightened her hold on the banister. “On second
thought, maybe not this high up.” She sounded like she was talking to herself,
and then she took several steps back and ran her hands up and down her thighs.

“Come
on, let’s go eat.”
Rian
was itchy just standing here
staring at her. He wanted to go slow, because scaring her on the first night
she was his certainly wasn’t what he wanted, but then again he also didn’t want
to wait. He had been known to have patience that rivaled all others’, but right
now he didn’t have any.
Rian
wanted to take her up
against the wall, not caring that they were so high up, and that if someone
looked out their window from one of the other buildings they would know what he
was doing to Sorcha. He didn’t want patience with her, didn’t want to have to
wait for anything. She was his for the next week, and he could do whatever the
fuck he wanted. She’d want
it,
there was no doubt
about that. He could see it in her eyes when she looked at him.

She
glanced over at him, and the long black fall of her hair had this seductive
quality to it. With the lights of New York and Central Park as a backdrop, she
was stunning, and for the first time in his life he wanted to know what it was
like to be slow and easy with a woman, to let her see that if he tried hard
enough he wasn’t the bastard that she thought he was. Well, not all the time at
least. He moved back toward her, grabbed the back of her hair, tilted her head
back, and claimed her mouth. For long seconds all he did was kiss her, long,
drugging moments of rubbing his tongue along hers. Sorcha held onto him, but
she was still stiff and unsure. He could taste it on her, smell it in the air
around her, and feel it in the way she held herself.

Rian
pulled back, looked down at her
face, and used his other hand to cup her cheek. He then tilted her head back
further with his fingers on her chin, looked at her lips, and groaned. “I want
you right now, Sorcha.” She parted her lips but said nothing, just breathed out
heavily like she felt the same way. “But I’ll practice a little bit of
restraint right now, at least until after we eat.” He grinned, but he wasn’t
trying to be teasing. He meant it, because after she was fed all bets were off
on him trying to be a gentleman.
  

Chapter
Eight

Sorcha’s hands were shaking as
she followed
Rian
out of his bedroom and into the
dining room. His apartment was like nothing she had ever seen before. Ornate
accents adorned his home, expensive, tastefully decorated, and making her
feel
like she lived in a
hovel
.
Hell, his room had a Jacuzzi built into the floor, and the view was incredible.
She rubbed her hands on her jeans for the hundredth time it felt, and stared at
the set-up. Stainless steel, glass, dark marble, all of it was covering every
inch of his apartment. This was certainly a home for one of wealth, and she’d
be experiencing it for the next week.

The table seated six, and when he
led her to the spot at the other end from where he was sitting she felt
suddenly isolated. There was a glass of wine already poured and sitting at her
place setting, and although she had finished her champagne in his room, and in
fact left the glass on the balcony, she needed more liquid courage. Whatever
was going to happen tonight certainly would put her nerves and mind to the
test. Picking up the glass and then glancing up at him showed her that
Rian
watched her intently. She downed half of the wine in
one swallow and set it down before she finished it all and made a fool out of
herself. Her lips still tingled from his possessive kiss, and her body felt as
though it were on fire. The room was silent, still even, and the food in front
of her was covered with a metal dome lid.

“Eat, Sorcha.”

The way he spoke and said her
name had this tingle racing down her spine.
Rian
always had an effect on her, and his voice had made her wet more times than she
could count, but right now was different. This situation was strange and
confusing in a thousand ways, and she was right in the middle of this whirlwind
that would have her body moving in different directions. All of this seemed so
impersonal, but she knew by the end of this night there wouldn’t be anything
left secret between them. She’d be bared in more ways than she probably thought
even possible.

He lifted his dome lid off, and
she looked down at hers once more, and then removed it. Baked chicken with this
herb crust on it, seasoned cut potatoes, and green beans were on the white
porcelain plate. There was a side salad with this little silver boat of
dressing beside it. Everything down to the silverware and how it was placed
seemed elegant, and made her feel so out of place.

“It’s just food, Sorcha. You’re
staring at it like you’re trying to figure out if I poisoned it or not.” There
was no humor in his voice, and when she glanced up at him it was to see him
positioned in this relaxed manner. He brought his fork to his mouth and took
the potato off the end.

God, watching him eat should not
have had her nipples tingle, but she was aroused, so much so that she crossed
her legs trying to numb some of the sensations moving through her. It had the
opposite effect. If they were going to have sex tonight, she didn’t want this
evening to seem so uncomfortable and forced, and she knew that if she couldn’t
calm down it would be a very difficult week. She didn’t want to feel like this
was just a transaction, which she supposed it was, but that was beside the
point. So, she ate in silence, finished off her meal and glass of wine, and
then stood and moved over toward him. He had finished a few minutes before she
had and had been watching her, but there was now this curious look on his face
as she approached. She set her empty glass on the table, and before she took a
seat she reached for the wine bottle. But
Rian
had the
same thing in mind, because he reached for it at the same time. Their
fingers brushed together, and tingles
of electricity raced
up her arm. He lifted the bottle and poured her glass full again.

He looked at her intently and
then handed her now full glass of wine to her. Just looking at him, knowing he
was watching every single little move she made, had every erogenous zone on her
body standing at full attention. Sorcha brought the glass to her lips and took
a small sip. She wasn’t a lush, and on occasion did go out with Cora, but right
now she needed every drop of wine. This was her third glass, and already she
felt the warm buzz moving through her veins. She took another sip, one that was
bigger this time, and let the sweetly flavored liquid wash over her taste buds.

“Your friend was okay with you
doing all of this?” he said and grabbed his glass to take a sip.

“My friend?”
She assumed who he was speaking
about, but how did he know anything about Cora?

“Cora, the one that got you the
initial interview with my office, and the one you spend most of your time
with.” He was leaning back against his chair, one arm resting on the top of the
table, and she watched as he ran the pad of his finger over the base of the
glass.