She was going to kill me.

I was going to die with my cock being deep-throated by the sexiest virgin I’d ever seen, and all before I got the chance to show her just how good sex could be.

That thought was enough to prod me into action. I reached down and buried my hand in that thick, silky hair of hers, and with a reluctant groan, pulled her back. My cock slipped out of her mouth with an obscene, wet sound.

“Did I do something wrong?” Her voice was low, husky.

A part of me wondered what she would sound like if I took control and fucked her mouth, how long her voice would be rough from me using her the way a part of me wanted to.

“Not at all,” I said, caressing her cheek. “But I don’t want to come in your mouth.” I traced her bottom lip with my thumb. “Not yet, anyway.”

I took her hand, helped her to her feet, and then led her over to the bed. I opened my mouth, intending to tell her how I wanted her…and then I realized that I didn’t know what to say.

Dammit! I was a Dom. Control and knowing what to do were part of who I was, but I didn’t know how to be in control without being a Dom.

“Are you okay?” Paige asked, concern replacing the heat and lust I’d seen in her eyes just a few seconds ago.

I nodded, giving her a partial smile. “I’m just not sure how I want you.”

“Don’t overthink it.”

She sat down on the edge of the mattress and pushed herself back until she was in the middle of the bed. She laid back on the pillows and parted her legs. As I watched, she slid her hand down her stomach. The heat in her eyes was back, as was the sexual tension in the room. Her fingers slipped over her pink, glistening skin, and then between her folds.

“Or should I just take care of things myself?”

I growled, and for a moment, I wanted to tell her that I was going to take her over my knee, because no one touched what was mine.

And she was mine.

But if I wanted her to be mine, and keep her mine, I couldn’t risk scaring her away.

“You don’t need to do that,” I said as I crawled up on the bed. “Because I intend to take care of you.” I hooked her legs over my shoulders and settled there. “Now, my Paige, move your hand.”

She tasted just as good as she had that night in the limo and came just as fast, but I wasn’t satisfied with giving her only one orgasm. I needed to make her come, needed to take her so high that she’d never want anyone else. I tightened my grip on her thighs and took her clit between my lips, sucking hard enough to roll her first climax into a second. She writhed as she moaned and gasped, her hands in my hair, and I worked on getting her to number three.

I would have been content to lay there for hours, but she began to pull at my hair, begging, “Please, Reb.”

I moved up over her, high enough to keep my weight off of her, but low enough that her nipples were hard pebbles against my chest. She wrapped her legs around my waist, arched up against me. My cock was throbbing, aching, and the heat coming from her was almost too much to bear.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” I asked, brushing back her hair from her flushed face. “We can stop right now.”

She reached up and grabbed the back of my neck, nails biting into my skin. “Don’t you dare. I want you inside me.”

I knew I should get up and retrieve a condom from my bedside table, but I hesitated. This was her first time, and even though it was selfish, I wanted something that made this more than just another fuck. I didn’t know what we were to each other, or where we were going to go from here, but I did know that what I felt for her was nothing like what I’d felt in my past.

“Are you on the pill?”

Her eyes flew to mine, startled. A second later, they widened. “I am.”

“May I…?”

I didn’t finish the question before she answered, “Yes, please.”

I kept my gaze on hers as I reached between us and positioned myself. “You tell me if I hurt you.”

“Just go slow,” she said with a nervous smile. “You’re bigger than anything else I’ve had…” The flush on her cheeks deepened.

“I thought you said–”

“Virgin,” she interrupted. “Yes. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t taken care of things myself.”

Fuck. “Sometime soon, I’m going to want to see that.” I slid the tip of my cock inside her, barely an inch but she still caught her breath.

“You want to watch me…ahh…” Another inch and she was already squeezing me like a vice.

“Hell, yes,” I groaned. “I want to watch you fuck yourself with your fingers, with toys, but right now, Paige, I just want to fuck you.”

Her legs tightened around me, and she raised her hips, taking me deeper in one smooth motion. “Then stop talking and do it.”

I bent my head, kissing her hard and fast. “Yes, ma’am.”

I drove the last couple inches into her and we both cursed. She was hot and tight and perfect. I rocked against her, keeping some pressure and friction against her clit as I waited for her body to relax.

When she started to move underneath me, I reached down to cup her ass, then slid my hand to her thigh and pulled her leg higher. Skin against skin, we moved, neither one of us speaking. Usually, silence during sex freaked me out, but now, I found myself too preoccupied with studying all the nuances of her expressions, something new appearing with every stroke.

Pressure coiled low in my stomach, and I could feel my balls starting to tighten. I was almost there, but I needed her to get there first. I rose up on my knees, wrapping my arms around her waist to pull her up with me. Her mouth crashed into mine, and she ground down on me, our rhythm becoming jerky and uneven. It was nothing like the polished and smooth motions I’d had with others in the past, but this was somehow more real.

Her.

Me.

This.

I bit down on her bottom lip, and she cried out, her body seizing around mine. I cursed, clutching her close as I thrust up into her, my own orgasm taking my breath away. Her muscles contracted as I emptied myself inside her, and as pleasure coursed through me, my mind cleared of everything except her.

As we started to come down, I lowered us to the bed, keeping her in my arms even as my cock slid out of her. Normally, I’d be rushing to get away, or freaking out since I was home and couldn’t exactly go anywhere, but I was content where I was at the moment.

“I should go,” she said after a couple minutes, breaking the silence blanketing us. “I mean, I can’t–”

“Relax. It’s okay. I’ve got you,” I said as I kissed the top of her head. She relaxed back against me, and I tightened my arms around her.

I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, but for the first time in a long time, my world had stopped spiraling, and I felt grounded.

* * *

I’d been awake for the last twenty minutes, staring at the ceiling, but it wasn’t because anything was wrong. All of the restless energy I’d had before was gone, and so was the depression. I didn’t want a drink. I was quite fine with lying here, hands folded under my head, thinking about my night with Paige. She’d left this morning, but we’d spent the night together, which was a first for me.

This morning hadn’t been nearly as awkward as I’d thought, though there’d been plenty of half-sentences and pregnant pauses.

Pregnant.

Shit.

She said she was on the pill, and I believed her, but nothing besides abstinence was one hundred percent. Sine and Alix were proof of that. I hadn’t been as shocked by his acceptance of the situation as Jace had been, but at the time, I’d thought how glad I was that I wasn’t in his position.

Except now, I was thinking about what would happen if I was in that position…and it actually didn’t sound that bad. Not that I wanted Paige to get pregnant. Certainly not right now. But the idea of having a baby, of her having my baby–

My phone rang, the ringtone telling me that it wasn’t the person I wanted to talk to, but I still had to answer it.

“Hey, Chester.”

“Be at my office in forty minutes.”

“What–”

He’d already hung up. I rolled my eyes and tossed the phone onto the table. At least he gave me time to take a shower.

When I walked into his office forty-five minutes later, Chester was all smiles which, considering the state of his teeth, wasn’t really a good thing. It also made me wary, because when he smiled like that, it usually meant he was up to something.

“What was so urgent?” I asked.

He motioned for me to follow him, and I sighed. There was no talking to him when he got some idea in his head. He wasn’t the best manager in the world, and I’d always been able to afford better, but Chester was the one who’d found me messing around on a guitar in a college coffee house and offered to negotiate my first contract. He’d never cheated me that I knew of, and he’d always fought to get me the things that were important to me. We weren’t friends, and most of the time I didn’t really even like him, but he’d done right by me professionally.

Especially when it came to hiring Paige.

I owed him a lot more than my musical career now.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, not liking the vibe I sensed in the air.

“Everything’s great,” he said as he moved to his desk, but his eyes were twitchy, a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead making me wonder if he was on the verge of a heart attack.

“Then why—”

A giggle came from behind me, and I turned slowly to find a blonde on the couch. Not just any blonde. Her.

Mitzi was only twenty-three, but she’d aged nearly a decade since I’d last seen her. She’d streaked her hair with hot pink, replacing the purple she’d had before that, but her attempt to look like a teenager made her look more desperate than anything else. She’d lost so much weight over the past couple months, and she’d always been thin to begin with. Her skin was leathery, wrinkled and sagging.

And the moment I saw the table in front of her, I knew why. Bottles of alcohol, some empty, some not. Rolled joints. Cigarettes half-smoked. White powder. Needles and rubber tubing.

She smiled up at me. “Hey, baby.”

I was frozen in shock.

I’d known about some of it. The pot and the alcohol. I knew she’d smoked too, but I hadn’t let her do it around me. I hadn’t known about the harder stuff though. If I had, I would’ve tried to get her help.

I shook my head, breaking the grip of surprise that had held me. “What are you doing here, Mitzi?” Seeing her didn’t hurt anymore. Hell, it hadn’t actually hurt in a while. Even when it happened, it’d been more humiliating than painful, especially after she’d blamed me.

“Chester and I were just talking about old times.” She leaned forward and rubbed her finger across the powder residue, then rubbed it on her gums. “All the fun we had.”

My feelings for Mitzi were gone, even the negative ones, but I liked to think I was still a good person. A decent guy who couldn’t sit by and watch someone destroy herself.

I crouched down to put myself on her level but didn’t touch her. I couldn’t bring myself to do that. “I’d like to help you, if you’ll let me.”

She let out a shrill laugh, rocking back so hard that one shoulder of her shirt slipped off, dropping low enough for me to see the top of her nipple. “I don’t need your help.”

“Come on, Reb, I’ve got some fine whiskey calling our names. We need to sit down and talk.”

I straightened, glaring at Chester. “What the hell? You’re the one who forced a public relations rep on me because I was drinking too much, and now you’re offering me a drink? And what the fuck’s with all that shit?” I waved my hand at the table.

He gave me a sour grin. “That’s me taking care of your business.”

“My business?” I could feel Mitzi’s eyes on me, but I said what I needed to say. “She and I ended things months ago. She’s not my business anymore. But she still doesn’t need to be using any of that shit… especially with you! What the fuck, Chester?”

He shrugged, seemingly unaffected by my anger and my accusations. “She’s a grown-up.” He poured two drinks and held out one to me while he started drinking the other.

I glared at him. I knew I should leave, but I also knew I couldn’t leave things like this. This was my fucking manager, and I needed to understand why he was doing this.

“I’ll just have some water.” I moved to the small fridge he kept over on the counter and got myself a bottle of water and twisted off the lid.

“Suit yourself,” he said with another shrug. “I didn’t have a problem with you drinking.”

I stared at him, the bottle frozen just inches from my mouth. “What?”

He rolled his eyes. What had happened the Chester I knew? I looked around the room, searching for hidden cameras. Was I being punked?

He waved a hand at me. “You said I hired that girl because I had a problem with you drinking, but that’s not why. You did some stupid shit, and we needed things to cool down. She seemed like a good way to get that done quick.”

I shook my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mitzi pick up one of the joints and light it. The sickly-sweet smell joined the rest of the scents in the office, and I was tempted to take back the whiskey just to get my mind on something else.

“Now that she’s done her job,” Chester continued, “you can knock off the charity shit.”

I could only stare at him. “Excuse me?”

Mitzi let out a cackle, and another puff of smoke came with it. “You look like a pucking fussy.” She frowned. “Nope. That’s not it.”

“The label’s gonna think you went soft.” Chester poured himself another drink. “If you were some pussy pop star, that might fly, but you’ve got an image to protect. Two weekends are enough.”

I remembered what Paige said about why she hadn’t just given me the first community service project she could find. Basically, that it was the difference between paying a penance and actually changing how people saw me. She saw me as a good man, and I wanted others to see me that way too.

“Reb.” Mitzi grabbed my arm. “You really gotta try this shit. It’s amazing.”

Her pupils were so wide that I could barely see any color at all.

I jerked my arm away. “You need to stop that shit.”

She stuck out her bottom lip. “Why’re you always so mean?”

It was the sort of thing a spoiled child would say, but all it made me think of was how she’d said me being ‘mean’ had been the reason she’d cheated. And that hadn’t been the least of the accusations she’d thrown my way.

Surely I was being punked, or could two people I thought I knew have changed so drastically? Or had I just been to stupid or self-absorbed to see it?

I set my bottle of water down on the table. “I need to take a piss. Get your head on straight, Chester, and then we can talk about how things are going to be from here on out.”