Pleasure Bay (34 page)

Jax had the utmost respect for his boss and he felt for what he was enduring right now. He wasn’t so sure he’d be so calm in the face of such devastating news about the woman he loved. Then to have her run from him in such an emotional state… Well, Jax felt sure he would have done more than punch a hole through the wall.

His mind flashed to an image of Sydney. It had only been a few days, but he missed her as if it had been months. Dimitri and Mariah had been together for years. Yes, they weren’t officially a couple, but everyone knew they had a special bond. They were meant to be together. It was obvious. You didn’t think of one without the other, they finished each other’s sentences, and when they thought the other wasn’t looking, they occasionally let the need show in their eyes. Jax could only imagine the extent of Dimitri’s emotional pain.

Vance started going over the details on the money trail, but they were sketchy. “There was a hit from an ATM in Kingston on Sunday afternoon and a bank withdrawal of twenty G’s on Monday morning in Miami. Our office there has been working on it, but if she’s paying in cash, it’s going to be difficult.”

“Find her. I don’t care what it takes or how much it costs, spare no resources or expense.” Unable to sit still, Dimitri paced to the window again.

As Jax and Vance discussed strategy with the rest of the security team, a phone rang. It was Dimitri’s.

“Mariah!” He breathed with relief as he answered. “Thank God! Where are you?”

Silence encompassed the room as every man listened.

“Baby, stop crying now. I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

He turned quickly and approached the table. Snapping his fingers, he gestured to the team for a pen. Simultaneously, six were extended in his direction.

“No,
piccola,
I’m not angry, just thankful you are safe. Tell me where you are.”

A short pause.

“Fort Lauderdale?” D’s eyes flew to Vance, who was already on his phone alerting their pilot.

“What kind of question is that? Of course, I want you to come home. I’m sending the plane. Give me your address.”

He scribbled on the outside of the folder and shoved it at Vance.

“Are you safe with this friend?” D asked as he moved back toward the windows, as if that gave him any privacy. The men in the room were glued to every word of D’s side of the conversation. “Promise you’ll stay put until I get there?”

Vance scribbled something on the folder and took it to D. He nodded in agreement.

“Mariah, Vance and Jaxon have a security branch in Miami. They’re sending a man to you. He’ll be there within the hour.” He listened for a moment. “I don’t care if you don’t want it. This is me protecting Mariah, and you are going to give me that, understand?”

Another pause.

“We’ll discuss that when you get home.”

The next words had them all grinning.

“After cuffing me naked to a bed, leaving me there to board a plane without permission, and then ignoring my calls for days, what do you think you deserve as punishment?”

By the reflection in the window, Jax saw the boss also wore a wide grin.

“What? No, I didn’t remember. Gracie can handle it for me.”

“No, Mariah… you are more important.”

“I know she’s inexperienced, but you trained her. She can handle him—”

“
Piccola
—” His pet name for her came out with a heavy sigh.

Low chuckles bounded about the room, but when D turn toward his men, they stopped. Jax looked around the table and saw each man wore the same shit-eating grin. Jax knew, as did they all, that Mariah was arranging D’s agenda as usual. In her mind, she had already come home.

Finally, D gave up and capitulated. “Fine, I’ll meet with his royal highness, but I’m sending Vance to you, and I want your word you’ll cooperate and do whatever he says. He’ll protect you until I can hold you in my arms later tonight.”

“Yes,” D said with a smile, agreeing with whatever she was saying. “Mariah, I’m going to give the phone to Vance now. He’ll give you his instructions. I love you,
piccola mia.
”

Dimitri returned to the head of the table, relief shining in his eyes, his body relaxed for the first time in days. “Mariah has reminded me that I have an appointment this evening that cannot be missed—something about a pain in the ass prince with a spanking fantasy—receiving, not giving.”

Laughter broke out from the men; naturally, now that she’d arranged to come home, a VIP guest took precedence over most anything else. D looked to Vance, his trusted friend and right-hand man. As he handed him the phone, his voice was husky with emotion. “My friend, bring her home safely to me.”

* * *

A steady stream of customers had kept her busy all morning. As noon approached, she prepared for the lunch time rush when office workers looking to pass their sixty minutes with a little shopping would flood her small boutique. That’s how it was on weekdays in Manhattan, and today she welcomed the distraction. Sydney staffed four personal assistants to dance attendance on any VIP that might wander in without an appointment. The entitled wealthy tended to do that. Three of her girls were busy with clients, which meant good things for her register.

Her trip to Pleasure Bay—and all the new clothes she’d purchased for her stay—had taken quite a chunk out of her savings. She laughed ruefully. If she’d known, she could have spared the expense. Other than bikinis and lingerie, she’d worn very little.

“There’s a customer asking for you, Sydney.”

She glanced up to see Jackie, one of her longest tenured employees, standing in her doorway.

Her sigh broadcasted her fatigue. “Tell her I’m unavailable, will you, Jackie? I’ve got to take care of these details for my upcoming buying trip to Paris.”

“Are you okay, honey? You’ve been tired and out of sorts since you got back. You didn’t pick up any tropical disease while in Jamaica last weekend, did you?”

“No, I think it’s just a post-vacation let down, you know?”

Jackie couldn’t know how let down she really was. She’d been having trouble concentrating since leaving Jaxon. All she could do was think of him. When she closed her eyes, she saw his handsome face. As such, she hadn’t rested well since coming home. She didn’t sleep without dreaming of him, and they weren’t nice, sweet dreams of them walking on the beach. No, these were hot sex dreams, usually featuring a spanking bench and a paddle. She’d replayed the scene from the dungeon that night, except rather than it ending with coming alone, it ended with a much bigger bang—Jax taking her from behind, hard and fast.

“If you need a pick-me-up, you need to come wait on this customer. It’s not a she.
He’s
as hot as New York asphalt in July. Phew!”

Sydney gave a half smile and a shake of her head. “I’m not up to it, really.”

“Come on, Syd. You’ve got to see him—tall, tan, dark hair and eyes, and damn if he doesn’t fill out this awesome silver-gray suit.”

“Silver-gray, did you say?” Jaxon had been wearing a silver-gray suit the night they met. The rest of the description fit him as well. Could it be?

Calling herself ten times a fool, she got up to look. As she hurried to the front of the shop, she looked to where Jackie pointed. Her hope fell and her heart lurched painfully. It wasn’t Jaxon, but a nice-looking middle-aged man in a gray suit. Definitely not her fantasy man. Now that she was up, she plastered on a smile and approached him. The consummate professional, she turned on her patented charm as she helped him select his purchase, a Coco Chanel black cocktail dress for his wife on her birthday. Once she’d carefully packed the dress in her signature pale yellow tissue paper and tucked it in the gift box, she tied it with a matching yellow ribbon and finished it off with a gold and black Europa sticker. Handing it to him with a smile, she watched him walk away, his $4800 birthday gift tucked under his arm.

Usually a purchase of that amount would have given her mood a huge kick, but since coming home, the spark was gone. A purchase, big or small was simply that. She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts of Jaxon from her mind.
Quit mooning over a man you can’t have, romantic fool.

“I’d think a sale of that amount would make you happy. Instead, you look like someone just ran over your dog.”

She whirled at the sound of the familiar voice. Jaxon, looking as sexy as hell in a pair of stone colored khakis and a burgundy button up shirt, stood behind her, his arms crossed over his chest, sleeves rolled-up exposing his muscular forearms.

“Aren’t you going to say hi, baby?” His grin told her he enjoyed catching her off guard.

“What are you doing in New York?”

“We have a branch of ASC Security here. Did you forget?”

“No, you never said—”

“Mariah mentioned it when she introduced us.”

She searched her memory. When they’d first met, she’d been so flustered she’d barely heard a word Mariah had said. She could have easily missed this important fact. “I guess I was a bit distracted.”

“You look so surprised. I told you I’d look you up when I got to the city. Did you think I was blowing you off?”

Tears misted her eyes, threatening to overflow as she nodded. “I thought you were just letting me down easy.” She looked down, blinking rapidly.

“Sydney, come here.” He opened his arms, and without hesitation, she ran into the security of his embrace. “You are really hard on my ego, baby. What made you think I’d give you the brush off after what we shared?”

“Why didn’t you say you’d be in New York this soon? You could have called me to tell me you were here.”

“What we shared was fiery and full of passion, but it was fast. When living out a fantasy, sometimes it doesn’t always turn out quite as we hope. I wanted to give you a few days to process everything.”

“You made my fantasy so real, Jaxon. It was near perfect.”

“I’m happy about that, Syd, but I was concerned that you’d find the luster had faded once you got away from the island and back to your normal life.”

“Has it for you? Lost its luster, that is?”
Please say no, please say no, please… say… no!
she entreated silently.

“Baby, I flew in,” he glanced at his watch, “exactly one hour and thirty-eight minutes ago. I didn’t even stop by my apartment because I wanted to see you so bad. Does that sound like the luster has faded?”

“Apartment! You
live
in New York?”

He laughed, pulling her close. “You really didn’t hear a word Mariah said the first night, did you? Vance and I are business partners. We own a national security firm and have twenty locations throughout the country. New York is my home-base.”

“I’m an idiot,” she groaned against his chest. “I thought you worked on the island.”

“And entertained the subbie guests, on weekends.”

Realizing their private discussion was taking place in the middle of her shop, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the back and into her office, closing and locking the door.

“Jax, I’m sorry. I should have been paying attention.”

His hands on her hips, he switched positions, pushing her back against the door. He pressed his hips against her, holding her still while his hand sank into the hair at her nape. Tugging firmly, he angled her head to the side, baring her neck for his lips. Growling against her skin, a shiver raced down her spine as he spoke. “Yes, you should have. Ordinarily, I would spank your sweet ass for that, but we can get to that later. Right now, I want to hold you, touch and taste you.”

“I want that too.”

“Damn, I missed you.” Jax lifted his head from her throat and, fierce in his possession, claimed her mouth. After he’d robbed her of breath, he peppered small kisses along her jaw and throat asking,” When can you get away from here, baby? I’ve thought of nothing but you and your tight, hot pussy since your plane left on Sunday.”

“Jax!”

“Sorry, Syd,” he murmured as he pressed his rigid length against her soft belly. “Feel how hard you make me, baby. Having you only made me want you more.”

Writhing against him, wanting him desperately, she gave him the bad news. “I don’t close until five.”

He groaned with disappointment. “Okay, I have business I can see to this afternoon, but I don’t know how I’ll focus.” He kissed her hungrily, his hands gliding over her body as if they’d been apart for a year, not five days.

When she felt his hands pull her dress up over her hips, she moaned his name. It was far from a protest. She murmured an impassioned “yes” as both of his hands dipped into her panties. He grabbed her full ass, lifting her against him while his thigh rubbed against her pussy, keeping her legs spread wide. As she ground against him, he rumbled impatiently, “I’ve got to have you—now.”

“Yes, please hurry.”

Urgently, he bent and stripped her lace panties down her legs. As he practically ripped his pants open, he cursed violently and dropped his forehead against the door. “Dammit!”

“What’s wrong?”

“No condom. I told you I rushed right over before stopping at my apartment.”

When he started to pull away she cried, “No! I’m on the pill, Jax, and I’m safe. I had to be tested for Pleasure Bay.”

“Thank Christ! I’m safe too. I couldn’t have played with you unless my testing was up to date.”

“Please fuck me then, Jax. I need you.”

“How can I resist such sweet words?”

“Sorry, but my brain seems to have migrated a little south at the moment.”

“Mm-hmm,” he murmured. “I know the feeling. Hold on, baby, this is going to be fast and hard.” Pulling one of her legs around his hip, he sank into her with one upward thrust, their mingled groans of pleasure muffled by kisses. When Jax began to drive into her, taking her furiously against the door, Sydney began to cry.

Jax froze. “Syd, was I too rough?”

“No, I’ve just missed you so much. And I didn’t think we’d ever share this again.”

Standing still, with his cock deep inside her was making her ache. She tried to move against him, but in her position that was impossible. Remembering that he had the control, she buried her face against his neck and waited until he was ready.