Buttons & Lace Read online

  “You can’t sleep in here,” he repeated. “This is my room—not yours.”

  “I slept in here last night.”

  “That was a special circumstance.”

  What was his deal? “You slap me around and fuck me, but you won’t sleep with me?” I couldn’t keep the anger from escaping my throat. “I had a nightmare, and I don’t want to be alone, but you’re turning me away anyway?” It hurt that I was opening myself up to him and showing my vulnerability, but he didn’t give a damn.

  “I’ll go to your room and lie with you until you fall asleep.”

  That just made it worse. “So you’ll only do it completely out of pity?”

  His eyes darkened in irritation. “I don’t know what you expect from me. I’m your master, and you’re my slave. I’m not your boyfriend. I’m not even your lover. I don’t owe you a damn thing.”

  That was a slap in the face. “Fuck you, Crow.”

  He stood there in silence, still as a statue.

  “I should have killed you when I had the chance.” I stormed off and slammed his door behind me. I was so pissed I couldn’t see straight. My heart had come to care for him, even rely on him, and for him to cruelly reject me made me feel stupid. It made me feel more than just stupid. It made me feel like a goddamn fool.

  Too blind in my rage to see where I was going, I practically ran down the hallway until I reached the stairs. I tripped on a step and rolled painfully to the bottom. My body hit the tile, and I lay there, feeling pain all over my body, particularly my ankle.

  I didn’t get up because I had no motivation. I had no reason. I’d just hit rock bottom, and I knew it. I looked across the room and saw the entryway in the distance. My whole life I’d always gotten back on my feet the second I collapsed. Defeat was something I never accepted. But now, I welcomed it.

  Quick footsteps sounded behind me and stopped when they reached me. Strong hands scooped me from underneath and lifted me into the air.

  I didn’t need to look to know who it was.

  Crow carried me into my bedroom and placed me on the bed. He quickly looked me over, examining me to make sure I wasn’t hurt. He felt my ankle with his fingertips to make sure it wasn’t sprained.

  How could he throw me out so coldly but then attend to me like he cared? “I’m fine. Go away.” I kicked his hand away and crawled up the bed until my head reached the pillow. My sweat had evaporated from the sheets, and it didn’t feel as damp.

  His body sank into the mattress beside me, and he placed his arm around my waist. His chest was pressed into my back, and his breaths fell on the back of my neck. “I’ll be here until you fall asleep.”

  “I’m fine. You can leave.”

  He stayed put, keeping his arm tightly around me.

  The second we fell silent, my eyes drooped. Exhaustion crept over me, and I felt my body slip away. Slowly, I drifted until conscious thoughts ceased. I fell into a dreamless sleep.

  Thanks to him.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Crow

  I sat in my study with my bottle of scotch beside me. I was going over this month’s margins for the winery and was pleased to see that the new distribution center was a success. The generated revenue was worth the expense.

  Lars’s voice came over the intercom. “Your Grace, Cane just approached the gate.”

  My blood went cold when I realized what he said. “Thank you.”

  “Shall I let him in?”

  “Stall for two minutes.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  I abandoned my office and went downstairs to her room. She was probably reading on her couch. She hadn’t spoken to me since last night. She didn’t hide her loathing of me. In fact, she despised me at the moment. But that would change next time I got between her legs.

  I didn’t knock like I normally did. I burst through the doors.

  She was sitting on the couch, exactly where I expected her to be. “Uh, have you heard of knocking?”

  “Come with me. Now.” I snapped my fingers and pointed to the door.

  Her eyes widened in offense. She opened her mouth to give me back talk.

  “Cane is here.” That was all I needed to say.

  She set the book down and came to my side, panic in her eyes.

  “I know he’ll come in here looking for you. Follow me.” I headed back up the stairs to the third floor with her close behind me. I went to the hallway on the right, away from the one where my bedroom was located. I pulled a key out of my pocket and unlocked the large green door.

  She stood beside me, eyeing the door with uncertainty. “What room is this?”

  “It’s one he won’t go into.” I stepped inside and shut the door behind us.

  She gasped when she saw the leather straps hanging from the ceiling, the king-size bed in the corner, and the shelves of sex toys and whips. “Oh my god...”

  I hadn’t invited her to my playroom because I knew she wasn’t ready for it. But I didn’t have a choice now. “Just stay in here until I come back for you. Make yourself comfortable.”

  “I’m supposed to make myself comfortable in here?” she asked incredulously.

  “Unless you want to go down there with me?” I threatened.

  She shot me a glare before she walked to the bed. She sat down and pulled her knees to her chest.

  “I’ll be back in about an hour.”

  “Okay.”

  I left the room and locked the door behind me. The steel door would keep Cane out. I didn’t want his hands on my slave. I didn’t want him touching my possession.

  I walked to the other side of the mansion until I met Cane in the entryway. He wore one of his finest suits, looking like an upstanding citizen. His jaw was cleanly shaved, and his hair was styled.

  “Hey, bro. Long time, no see.”

  “Hello, Cane.” I hid my annoyance as best as possible. When he knew he got under my skin, he just irritated me even more. “Miguel told me they received the first shipment. Loved the product.”

  “They should.” He stood with his hands in his pockets. “It’s the finest machinery the world has ever seen. Nothing Bones can compare with.”

  “Bones can’t compare with anything.” Talking about business was the one thing Cane and I could do civilly. We had the same best interest in mind, and we worked well together. Once it became personal, we butted heads. Ever since Vanessa passed away, things between us had been worse. She was the glue that kept us together. She was the disciplinarian that kept us in line, probably because she resembled our mother so well.

  When I thought about her too much, the pain welled inside me. I felt the grief seep out of my skin. The agony was too much to bear, so I pushed it to the darkest recesses of my mind.

  “So...where’s your little plaything?”

  “Tied up somewhere.”

  He grinned just like an excited boy. “So, you finally grew a backbone and knocked her around a bit?”

  The most I’d ever done was spank her—and that got me rock hard. Her skin grew red from the bite of the leather, and I thought I was going to come in my boxers just from thinking about it. “You could say so.”

  “How is she?” he asked. “Is she a crier? A screamer?”

  The question was way too personal. What Button and I had was intimate. She was mine, and I didn’t want to share her with anyone. I didn’t even want to share stories of her. “Did you come here for a reason?”

  He rolled his eyes. “You’re lame.”

  I waited for him to answer my question, not caring about the half-assed insult.

  “I want a go. That was the deal.”

  I wasn’t letting him go anywhere near my slave. She was mine. “She’s off-limits. End of discussion.”

  “What the fuck?” he snapped. “I deserve my revenge too. I want to hurt Bones just like he hurt me. I need to fuck her in the ass to accomplish that.”

  “We’ll get our revenge. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Well, we�
��re running out of time. We need to hand over her body soon.”

  What did he say? “What do you mean?”

  “Bones sent a message.”

  His long silence told me his first plan was for immediate retaliation. He wanted to hit us and hit us hard. But he couldn’t track us down. We were dispersed across the country and in France. It was easier to search for a needle in a haystack. “What does he want?”

  “He said he’d pay twenty million for her.”

  I kept a stoic expression, but my heart pounded. It pissed me off that he was willing to pay so much for her return. She was mine. He couldn’t buy her back. She wasn’t for sale.

  “Can you believe it?” Cane asked. “Twenty fucking million dollars. That’s insane. Does she have a magic pussy or something?”

  “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” I threatened him with my look. No one spoke of her like that—except me.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Damn. Now you’re obsessed with her too. What is it with this woman? I admit she’s hot, but she’s not a supermodel.”

  “We aren’t accepting the offer.” End of story.

  “Are you kidding?” he asked. “Hell yeah, we’re accepting the money. Do you have any idea how much that is? I know we’re both wealthy, but damn, that’s more than most countries have in their treasury.”

  “No.” She was worth more than any man could ever pay.

  “This is what I’m thinking...” He rubbed his palms together. “We accept the money and transfer it into our account. Then we return the woman but insert a vial of poison into her arm. Just when she’s in his grasp and gone, we’ll hit the trigger and kill her right then and there.” He grinned from ear-to-ear, proud of the plan. “Talk about a sweet revenge.”

  I wasn’t handing her over. And I certainly wasn’t going to kill her. I’d made a deal with her, and I was a man of my word. When she paid off her debt to me, I’d let her go. But I couldn’t tell Cane that, not without setting him off. “I’ll think about it.”

  “What’s there to think about?”

  “If we reject his deal and keep her, that’ll just piss him off even more. That’s a sweeter revenge, if you ask me.”

  “I don’t agree with that.”

  “If we refuse to hand her over for any price, that’ll tick him off even more. There’s nothing a man hates more than being powerless. Bones will have no way of getting her back, knowing we’re raping her and mutilating her on a daily basis. I think that’s a pretty sweet revenge.”

  “I guess,” he said. “But I still think we can do better.”

  “Let’s take some time to think about it.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull this off. If I let her go, Cane would see it as an act of war. He loved Vanessa as much as I did. If I took away his revenge, he would never forgive me. Our business would be split right down the middle, and our familial bond would be as well. He wouldn’t be able to handle that kind of rejection, not from his only living family member.

  “In the meantime, I’m gonna put her on her knees and have her suck me off. That’s harmless.”

  Her lips would only be wrapped around my dick—both pairs of lips. “I told you she’s mine.”

  “We’ve shared before. How is this any different?”

  “It’s different because it is.” I didn’t have a firm answer to give. I didn’t have any justification for my behavior. All I knew was he wasn’t going anywhere near her. No man was. “Now drop it.”

  “Why the hell do you get to keep her? You’ve been hogging her for a month. I thought by now you’d be bored of her.”

  “Well, I’m not.” Not anywhere near bored. “So drop it. You know where to find entertainment.”

  “Paying someone to do something is one thing. But raping someone’s slave...that’s not something a man can just walk away from.”

  His infatuation with my property was disconcerting. We’d never fought over women before. There were plenty to go around for good-looking men like us. This obsession was a direct challenge against me. And I didn’t like it. “You’re going to have to. Now, leave. I have things to do.”

  “You mean you have some fucking to do.” When he turned, he nudged his shoulder painfully against mine. There was a threatening look to go with it. “I’ll get her one way or another, Crow. You know me.” He headed to the door, and my footman immediately opened it for him.

  He walked out and approached his sports car waiting at the curb. He threw on his sunglasses and got inside the car, starting the powerful engine with the push of a single button. He turned to me and gave me the coldest stare I’d ever seen, even with his eyes hidden.

  My footman shut the door just before he drove off, breaking our eye contact. I knew a threat when I was issued one, and I didn’t like it one bit. No one threatened me unless they were suicidal.

  No one.

  ***

  I unlocked the door and entered the playroom.

  She was lying on the bed with her knees bent. She stared at the ceiling, inspecting the leather straps hanging from hooks. “That was quick.”

  “We didn’t have much to say.” My bad mood had festered during the walk to the playroom. My jaw was clenched, and a distant migraine thudded behind my eyes. I approached the bed and stood with my hands in my pockets.

  “He ticked you off.” She wasn’t happy with me after the way I treated her last night. She came to my room in the expectation of finding comfort.

  I shut that down pretty quickly. “He wants to fuck you.” I looked at the whips and chains sitting on the sterile tabletop. I’d used my tools on a handful of girls, but it was never that much fun. They always asked me to stop once we’d begun. Others were paid to play the role. That wasn’t exciting either.

  She sat up, her attention piqued. “Are you going to let him?”

  “No one will ever fuck you but me.”

  She sighed in relief. She didn’t bother hiding the reaction. She loved my cock inside her, and she didn’t want anyone else. When we screwed, she fell into the darkness with me like it was meant for her. She acclimated to the intensity immediately, having a backbone of steel and a fearless heart. She was just as much of a beast as I was—even if she didn’t realize it. “That’s good to know. Then why are you so...grouchy?”

  “Because he won’t drop it.”

  “He’ll lose interest eventually. I’m nothing special.” She crossed her legs in front of her and held on to her ankles.

  It was the first time I chuckled that day. She surprised me with the strange things she said.

  “Something funny?” she asked coldly.

  “You.”

  “And what’s so funny about me?” She turned defensive, uneasy that I had knowledge she lacked.

  “You’re very special. You’re the most special woman I’ve ever met—and I’ve met a lot.” I never knew a woman who could fight so fiercely. I never knew a woman who wouldn’t break under pressure. I never knew a woman so strong. It turned me on just thinking about it.

  She pressed her lips tightly together as she considered what she might say next. A question was coming. Her brain was hard at work. “Come here.” She patted the comforter she sat on.

  I didn’t like being told what to do, but I wouldn’t deny an invitation. My obsession was sitting in my playroom, and she didn’t have a clue how much danger she was in. I wanted to hook her wrists to the leather straps and suspend her over the floor.

  I kicked off my shoes before I sat beside her, just inches away from her mouth. The second I was close to her, my blood screamed for release. I wanted to slap her hard across the face and then kiss her even harder.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  My hand moved to her thigh, feeling the muscle underneath her beautiful skin. “Depends.”

  “On what?”

  “If you’re going to ask me several questions I don’t want to answer, I want something in return.”

  “You always want something in return.”

  “Yeah.” I wasn’t asham
ed of that fact. I was a businessman. I didn’t do anything for charity. “Don’t we all?”

  “What do you want?”

  “What I always want.” I squeezed her thigh gently.

  “Do I get a button?”

  “Yes. But you have to give me a button if you want answers.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I have to pay to get something out of you?”

  “Exactly.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re unbelievable.”

  “That’s our world, Button. That’s our currency. You want something from me, you have to pay for it. When I want something from you, I have to pay too. It’s the fairest relationship in the world, actually.”

  She watched my hand as it massaged her.

  “So, what’s it going to be?”

  She held her silence as she deliberated. A strand of hair fell from behind her ear, and she tucked it away. “I want to ask my questions.”

  “And I want to fuck you. Looks like we have an agreement.”

  “So, I can ask whatever I want?”

  “Can I fuck you however I want?” I challenged.

  Fear entered her eyes when she understood my meaning. “No.”

  “Then be selective.”

  She fell silent as she tried to figure out what she wanted to say. Finally, she spoke. “Why do you like to hurt me?”

  It was a fair question. “I don’t know. Why do you enjoy it when I hurt you?”

  “I’m the one asking questions here. So, answer.”

  “It’s about dominance. It’s about strength. Only those who are truly strong can find the good in the bad. When you enjoy the pleasure in the midst of pain, you’re fortified by it. You’re empowered by it. It turns me on to see a woman cry but still enjoy it. If she can handle it, then she’s a warrior.” I turned my gaze on her, my lips desperate for hers. “That’s why I’m so obsessed with you. You aren’t like the others. You breathe fire. You’re strong. Nothing can break you, not even me.”

  Instead of being offended by the response, she seemed a little touched. It wasn’t the answer she was expecting. “Do you hurt every woman you’re with?”

  “No. I have regular sex. I just don’t enjoy it as much.”

  “Have you ever raped someone before?”

  Now she was on question number three. “I’ll keep answering your questions, but it’s going to cost you.”