Eli pressed a furious kiss to my forehead, like a stamp denying my right to doubt him. “You deserve everything that every man in this house has to give.”
I was still sniffling like a baby when he eased me onto his desk. Despite my tears, my body was already throbbing from its proximity to his hard, faintly lavender scented one.
“Do you want me to go down on you?” I asked, because of the four of them Eli seemed to like blow jobs the best.
“No,” Eli said, lifting my pink babydoll dress and pulling down my panties. “I’m going to take you. Not for your pleasure, but so you know you belong to me, and that all your problems are mine to solve.”
I expected him to be rough, but he took me gently, one hand cupped to my cheek. He said it wasn’t for my pleasure but when his cock stroked over that deep secret place inside me, I came so hard I thought I was going to pass out.
“Good girl,” Eli murmured, pulling out. “Now tell me to finish on you. Tell me you want my cum.”
I did, so I told him. Eli covered my mound, coating my landing strip which Doc had just shaved into a heart. Then he kissed me on my cheek and told me to leave‘before you distract me into bankruptcy.’
I thought he was joking, but apparently the boys do need to be working around the clock to keep things afloat.
“WhatdoesVelvet House need?” I ask Bobby.
“Huh?” Bobby’s eyes have wandered back to his phone.
“You said you guys don’t need money, what do you need?”
“Manpower,” Bobby says at once. “Trusted people to take valuable positions and not fuck them up.”
“What about Archie and Bill?”
“That’s a good suggestion, baby, and I’m all for it, but it’s a sore point with Doc.”
“He can’tstillthink that Archie and Bill want to join Velvet House just to sleep with me?”
Bobby grins. “No, he doesn’t think that. But he doesn’t trust them. He doesn’t trust anyone. It was a nightmare trying to hire Sal—Doc thought he had suspicious eyebrows.”
I laugh. “Was he right?”
“Hardly. But Eli and I aren’t budging on the twins. Once the contract’s signed, we’ll hire them. Doc will just have to get used to it.”
The mention of the contract sets my nerves jangling. There are less than four hours until we leave for New York…
“Maybe you can convince Doc that hiring the Baskervilles is a good idea,” Bobby muses. “He might listen to you. At the very least, he wouldn’t kick you in the stomach.”
“Sure,” I say, not really listening. “Is it okay if we talk about this later? I don’t know if I can think properly before tonight.”
Bobby’s face shifts, becomes almost angry. “You don’t need to come. I can put my foot down with Eli and the others.”
When it was first suggested I accompany the four of them to sign the contract with Mr. Parker, Adriano refused, Bobby was nervous, and Doc and Eli insisted. They argued back and forth all through dinner. Bobby saying I’d be safer at Velvet House, Doc countering it would make us look weak. Then at the end of the meal, Eli turned to me.
“You make the choice,bella.”
I’d rather have run from the room. I was terrified at the thought of seeing Mr. Parker, but in my heart, I knew I had to go. I owed it to Zia Teresa to look into the eyes of the man who killed her and smile. “I’ll come,” I told the table. “I’ll be there with you.”
Eli inclined his head. “Then you need to understand that means going public.”
“About what?”
“Us.”
“Do I need to lie about sleeping with all of you?”
“No,” Doc said. “Unless you wanna say Bobby’s good at sex.”
