All Mine Read online

  “You’re sure?”

  “I promise and—”

  “You never break a promise,” I say, stopping him there. “That’s a very marrying quality, by the way.”

  His lips, those brutally sexy lips, curve. “Good to know. Trust me now, Carrie.”

  Trust him.

  There is a question in his eyes, a roughness to his voice. He proposed, but on the heels of so many opportunities for me to question him. This appeal to “trust him now” isn’t about sex in a limo. It’s about so much more. “I do trust you,” I say, and my voice isn’t a whisper, just a tremble of emotion spoken quite clearly.

  He studies me for several long beats and then tugs my jeans down, taking the tiny strip of silk I’m wearing with them, with my shoes following. I barely have time to process just how vulnerable I am before Reid pulls his shirt over his head. “So you know you’re never naked alone, not again. Not ever.”

  Emotion wells in my chest and he is already on top of me, kissing me, his cheek pressing to mine as he whispers, “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” I whisper back, only to have him slide down my body again and suddenly, or really not suddenly at all, his lips are back on my belly, fingers dragging along the seam of my slick wet sex.

  I moan and tangle my fingers into his hair, trembling when his tongue flicks my clit, moaning as he suckles it. It’s then that I have a momentary out-of-body experience. I’m all but naked, in a limo, in Japan, with my future husband, who is really good with his tongue (another marrying quality), between my legs. His hand slides under my backside, and when I would swear I couldn’t just get lost in the moment, not here, in this place, I do. There is just this man, and the way he has owned my body from the moment we met, and now my heart with it.

  He licks and suckles, his fingers stroking, delving inside me. I am lost in the budding tension low in my belly that promises sweet bliss. I arch into him. I moan. His hand cups my breast and teases my nipple. The pleasurable assault consumes me. He consumes me, and I try to resist where it will take me. I want this to last. I want the sweet bit of “almost” to stay right here and now, but it doesn’t happen. There is no warning. I tumble into release with a jerk of my body and I’m outside of reality, inside the bubble of pleasure exploding through my body.

  I pant out several breaths in the aftermath. “Oh God. Oh God, that was—”

  Reid is on top of me, kissing me, the taste of me on his lips, the taste of him on my lips. I am instantly craving what I have been denied. Him inside me. I need him. “Reid. Reid, I need—”

  “Say it,” he says. “Tell me.”

  “I need you.”

  “Not good enough, baby. Say it.”

  “I need you.”

  “Say it, Carrie.”

  “Fuck me already, will you?”

  “More,” he demands.

  “I need you inside me. Here in this limo and because I trust you that we won’t get caught.”

  His lips curve, mischief dancing in the depths of his blue eyes. “You trust me, do you?”

  “Yes, Reid Maxwell. I trust you, but I will hurt you if you don’t give me what I want.”

  “Now that you have that ring on your finger, now that I’m your future husband, do I get to finally use those cuffs on you?”

  “Yes, Reid, you can. As long as you remember I will give back as good as I get.”

  His lips curve again. “That’s what I was looking for.”

  He sits up and pulls me with him, and in a blink, I’m straddling him, his hand cupping the back of my head. “Now we fuck.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Carrie

  Now we fuck.

  Those words are in the air as I straddle Reid in the back of the limo, our lips colliding in a deep, passionate kiss. Reid runs one of his hands up my back, molding me closer, while the other hand cups my breast. I cover his hand with mine. “Reid,” I whisper, his name a plea that I seal with my mouth on his mouth again and then we’re both trying to get his pants down. Yes, please, get them off.

  The car swerves and jerks. I gasp, my hands gripping Reid’s shoulders. “Oh please don’t let us be in an accident while fucking.”

  “I’d die a happy man,” he assures me, pressing his lips to my shoulder and then taking my hand to kiss the ring he’s put on it. “We’re okay, baby.”

  We’re okay. We’re okay. Those words radiate through me. We were so close to never being okay. We were so close to broken up yet again, and forever this time. So close to having our families divide us or rather our fathers destroy us. Emotion wells in my chest. We could have lost each other and now that we have found each other again, I plan to hold on tightly, I plan to hold on and not let go. My eyes tear up and the car begins to move again. “Reid—”

  “You need me to lick it all better, again?” he asks as the car turns a sharp corner.

  “I’m nervous again,” but Reid’s cock is free, hard, and pressed to my belly, a realization that distracts me from those nerves. “You’re very hard.”

  “Thank you for noticing.”

  I laugh. “He says thank you over his erection. Mr. Manners himself.”

  “Come here,” he orders, lifting me, and between the two of us, the hard, so very hard length of him, is pressing inside me, stretching me, filling me.

  “Ah, baby,” he murmurs, pulling me flush with his hips, burying himself deep and shifting inside me, and then I’m there, with him, taking all of him, and we don’t move. We sit there, we stare at each other and I feel the darkening of his mood, and yet, his fingers tenderly stroke my cheek. “I thought I might not ever feel you like this again.”

  “Me, too,” I whisper and our lips brush in a gentle caress that has my nipples tingling and my sex clenching around him.

  We linger there a moment, breathing together, the car forgotten until a horn honks. When I would jerk back, Reid tangles his fingers in my hair and kisses me and this is not just a kiss. It’s a deep, drugging, claim me kind of kiss and he doesn’t let it stand on its own. His free hand is at my hip and he pulls me down on him as he thrusts, sending a spiral of sensations from my sex through my entire body. The car jolts but I don’t even care. I gasp with him driving into me and he pulls back and repeats. There is just him, us, my need for this man, his need for me. I’m dragging fingers through his hair, kissing his neck, his mouth, his shoulder.

  He’s touching me everywhere, molding me close, our bodies swaying together in that perfect way we have always come together. I’m back to not wanting this to end. I’m back to needing this to last forever, and it can’t. It won’t. Reid tightens his hold around me and with the next few sways, we are both breathing in that way we do when we’re about to tumble and we do. I suddenly clench around him, spasms overtaking me, and Reid groans a sexy, low groan that has him quaking beneath me. The world fades into nothing but pleasure until we collapse into each other.

  Seconds tick by until Reid says, “A limo in Japan.” He rolls me to my back. “No better way to seal an engagement.”

  I laugh. “Let’s keep this part of the engagement story to ourselves, though, yes? It’s enough that everyone knows I cuffed you to a hotel chair as it is.”

  He kisses me. “And soon I’ll finally cuff you.” He lifts my ring and kisses it again before sitting up.

  Cuffing me. He really wants to cuff me. “I suppose I owe you the cuffs,” I tease, reminding him of our first meeting and me leaving him cuffed in a hotel room.

  “Yes,” he assures me. “You do.”

  We both laugh and a few minutes later, we’re dressed and drinking champagne. “To our engagement and the purchase of the event center.” Reid says, tipping our glasses together. “We’re doing big things together, baby.”

  “Yes, we are,” I say, smiling.

  “We’ll get the new team in place at the coliseum,” he says. “And then we’ll jet to Paris and celebrate us in style.”

  Paris. With Reid. A few months ago I’d have never dreamed that
to be possible. “I’m excited to meet the transition team for the event center tomorrow.” I frown. “Or is that today? I hate the time change. It throws me off.”

  “Tomorrow Japan time,” he says, “and right now it’s seven in the evening. We need to go to the room, order room service, and sleep.”

  “I’m not sure I can sleep,” I say, thinking about our plans, not the attempt to manage the time change. “Christmas is in only three weeks. When are we supposed to leave for Paris?”

  “I planned on ten days here,” he says. “But if we can leave in seven, I’m all in if you are.”

  “That’s a short window to manage a major transition and the biggest takeover of our careers.”

  “This isn’t a hostile takeover. The coliseum staff is staying in place and doing so happily. We can always come back after the holiday.”

  Come back here after Paris? “How can we get a cat and a dog? We might not ever be home. Grayson wants us to open more locations for him. This is just the beginning of much more.”

  “We’ll get a nanny,” he says, and winks.

  “A nanny,” I laugh. “That’s funny. Or not. Can we?”

  “Of course we can. We’ll work it out.” He refills my glass and we chat about what he has set-up for our Paris trip, and I’m pleased that he wants my approval and asks if I want to change anything he’s set up.

  We arrive at the Ritz Carlton Tokyo and soon we are in our giant, gorgeous suite. Reid is taking care of the bellman when my cellphone rings in my purse where I’ve set it on the desk in the living area. Concerned it could be Grayson checking on the status of his big investment, I hurry to retrieve my phone from my bag to find my father’s number on the caller ID. My gut knots and I quickly decline the call. He must know about the engagement. Anthony works fast. Why can’t I have a family that will just be happy for me? Reid’s family will be elated. At least his siblings will be, and for that, I’m happy. He needs the family he’s denied needing. I like feeling as if I’ve helped him find them again.

  I grab the menu from the desk and walk to the sitting area with high-end brown leather boxy-style furnishings and sit on the couch, saving the stunning city view now at my back to share with Reid. To share with my future husband. I’m not alone and neither is he, not now, and not ever again.

  I scan the menu and I’m about done making my choices when Reid joins me. “See anything you want?” he asks kissing me. “Aside from a bed with me in it and lots of sleep and sex?”

  “French fries,” I say. “And about every dessert on the menu. They look scrumptious. A soufflé that has Grand Marnier and ice cream? Yes, please.”

  “That’s it?”

  “I’m not a sushi girl, which seems to be the main offerings.”

  “French fries,” he says, accepting the menu from me. “And dessert. Why don’t we go out?”

  “I like French fries and dessert. We need to rest.” My phone rings again where I’ve left it on the desk.

  “I’ll grab it,” Reid says, but when he tries to stand, I catch his arm.

  “No,” I say a bit too sharply.

  He casts me an equally sharp look. “What just happened?”

  “It’s my father.”

  Understanding touches his expression. “He knows,” he says as my phone stops ringing.

  “Obviously, or he wouldn’t be calling,” I say.

  “You have to talk to him sooner or later.”

  “I know,” I say. “But right now, I just want to be with my future husband.”

  Reid’s phone starts ringing and he fishes it from his pocket, glances at the number and doesn’t even hesitate. “It’s your father and yes, I’m taking it.” He stands up and answers the call.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Reid

  “Did you call to congratulate us?” I ask, answering Mr. West’s call and crossing to the connecting dining room off the living area where I stand at the window, the Tokyo night lights dotting the otherwise dark night.

  “You will not marry my daughter.”

  “I am, in fact, marrying your daughter,” I say, tension radiating down my spine. Why can this man not just be happy for his daughter?

  “You told her about our deal,” he accuses, trying to set me up. “You broke our agreement.”

  “I didn’t tell Carrie anything and I did so with the risk of losing her, the woman I love. My understanding is your new woman told her.”

  “We both know you told her. I’m going to sue you. I’m going to take everything you own.”

  “Do you really want to travel this path, because if you do—”

  “You’ll ruin your future wife’s father? That’s going to go over well, now isn’t it? I might lose, but you’ll lose her.”

  “You’ll lose her,” I say. “And isn’t that what all your secrets were about? Not losing her? Or was it simply about your pride?”

  “You’re a real prick, Reid Maxwell.”

  “I am,” I say. “Remember that because if you come at me, you’re coming at Carrie, and you will not like the results.” I disconnect, anger churning in my gut.

  “What was that?” Carrie demands, stepping between me and the glass. “Did he just threaten you?”

  My hands come down on Carrie’s arms. “Relax, baby. I’ll handle this.”

  “He’s my father. You’re the man I love. I don’t know what to do next. Did he threaten to come after your company? Your assets?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh my God.” She tries to move away.

  I grab her arms. “Carrie, easy, baby.”

  “No,” she says. “No ‘easy, baby.’ Don’t do that to me. And he’s not doing this to us. This has to end.” She pulls away from me and I know her well enough not to push her right now, let alone try to control her, which I’d prefer. There’s a monster in the room and it’s bigger than she thinks.

  She grabs her phone and dials her father. “He’s not answering,” she says after a brief pause. “Reid, he’s not answering.” She disconnects and dials him again. “Still not answering,” she repeats a minute later. She grimaces and leaves a message. “You come at Reid, you come at me and I will fight by his side. I’ve told you this. Don’t become my enemy. Don’t make that who we are.” She hangs up and dials another number. It clearly goes to voicemail and she leaves yet another message. “Anthony, let me be clear with you, if you participate in any action against Reid, I will make sure any benefit you might get beyond what you already have with the convention center doesn’t happen. I will cause you pain in ways you didn’t think I was capable of.” She hangs up and by the time she does, I’m standing in front of her.

  “He’s reacting emotionally,” I say, my hands settling on her shoulders. “He’ll get over this.”

  “The man I visited in Montana wasn’t the man I know and love. He was cold and secretive. I don’t know what he will do. It worries me, Reid. You need—you need to do what you need to do to protect you and your family.”

  “I know that.” I scrub my jaw. “I need to call Gabe.”

  “And your father, right?”

  “If my father gets involved, Carrie, he will hurt your father in a way I would not.”

  She inhales and looks skyward before leveling a stare on me. “You have to call him. You can’t risk losing everything. I will not let that happen because of me and you have employees to think about, too. Make the calls.”

  I stare at her, and there is no hesitation in her gaze. She means her words, but she doesn’t know just how brutal my father can be. I turn away from her and walk back to the window, and I know now is the time that I have to be as brutally honest with Carrie, in the way my father is just plain brutal to everyone, especially her father.

  “Reid?”

  I turn to face her, and fuck, she’s beautiful, her brown hair a tousled, sexy mess. Her skin flawless. Her body—God, her body, I love that body. I love her.

  “Reid,” she prods. “What’s going on?”

  What’s going on? I
have to tell her things I hoped she’d never need to hear. Things I would like to pretend she doesn’t need to know to marry me, but I’d be wrong. She does. She has a right to know. “I need to call Gabe. Give me a few.” I cross to stand in front of her, and stroke her cheek. “French fries and ice cream, or do you want to go out?”

  “I want to know what you’re thinking right now,” she says, catching my hand. “Talk to me. I know you. There’s something you aren’t saying.”

  “But I will, Carrie. I will.” I kiss her hand. “Give me a just a few minutes, okay? Order me French fries and ice cream too, but add whiskey. I need it. I’m going to step outside a few minutes but I’m not keeping secrets. There are things I need to say to Gabe that I’ll tell you about, but I need to explain them one on one, you and me, not with you overhearing me talk to my brother in pieces. Fair enough?”

  “Yes. Fair enough.”

  I lean in and kiss her. “I’ll be right back.” I cross the room and exit to the hallway. I don’t even think about calling Gabe inside the hotel. I wait through an elevator ride and a long walk through the lobby until I step outside. Then, and only then, do I call him. “Brother love,” Gabe says. “How’s all that money treating you?”

  “I proposed to Carrie.”

  “Oh, fuck. Why do you sound like you just got kicked in the teeth? Did she say no?”

  “She said yes, and that’s the problem.”

  “O—kay,” Gabe replies. “Officially confused. You proposed and you wanted her to turn you down?”

  “Her father found out. He threatened to come after us.”

  “What?” Gabe says. “How? On what grounds?”

  I go through as much of the detail with Gabe, including parts of the agreement with Carrie’s father he didn’t previously know. “You leveraged your portion of the company? What the fuck?”

  “He has something big on dad.”

  “He and dad always have something on each other.”

  “Really bad, Gabe, and there’s a connection to me on paper.”

  He’s silent a beat. “Okay. I won’t ask now, not on the phone. You didn’t break the agreement, right? Carrie found out about his dirt on her own.”