Grand Reopening

Even with the brand-new cash counting machine by her side, Lex couldn’t keep up with Noelle.

She slid another huge stack of banded bills across the table and waited until Noelle paused in her counting to grin at her. “What do you think?”

“I think Dallas will have to add a whole new floor just to hold his ego.” Noelle added the cash to the stack next to her. “I haven’t even started on the credits Jared and Lili brought in. I peeked upstairs earlier tonight, and everyone who was anyone in Eden showed up.”

Lex was disgustingly glad that Jared and Lili were happy to play hosts to Eden’s elite—especially now that the walls had come down, and it was easier than ever to move between the city and the surrounding sectors. “Better them than me,” she muttered. “I’m perfectly at home down here, thanks.”

“Me, too.” Noelle started on another stack of cash. “I wondered for a little bit, you know, how it would feel to see my old friends. If I’d want to talk to them. But that seems like a different life. And we weren’t friends, not really. None of them knew me. I didn’t even know me.”

Lex grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. “It was a different life.”

“If you can even call it a life.” Noelle squeezed Lex’s hand. “I’m right where I’m meant to be.”

“Where?” rumbled a familiar voice from behind them. “With your fingers all over my money?”

After all this time, he could still send a shiver up Lex’s spine with just his voice. “Someone’s got to count it all, Declan.”

His fingers slid over her shoulder, and his breath tickled her cheek as he leaned down to kiss her. “So there’s a lot of it?”

“I’m not even going to tell you how much,” Noelle told him with a fake-stern face. “You’ll get a big head.”

“Ahh, kitten. Lex can tell you there’s no chance of stopping that.”

Lex leaned into his touch. “Yes, there’s a lot of cash.” Not that rebuilding the Broken Circle had ever been about money. This place was more than a bar or club. It was the living embodiment of every dream Dallas had ever had.

Every dream she shared.

“Well, Jas is gonna have to help her finish counting it.” Dallas straightened and tugged her chair back. “The king needs a few moments with his queen.”

Noelle took one look at him over Lex’s shoulder and grinned. Then she leaned in and kissed Lex’s cheek. “I’ll probably be asleep by the time he’s done with his few moments. Good night, Lex.”

She rose. “Jas—”

“I won’t let her work too hard,” he promised. His eyes gleamed with amusement as he took her chair, and as she and Dallas walked away, Jasper leaned over and whispered in Noelle’s ear.

Her delighted laughter followed them through the STAFF ONLY door.

Once they were in the dim hallway alone, Dallas wrapped his arm around her waist, his fingers teasing under her shirt to trace over her stomach. “I have a surprise for you.”

“Really? What kind?”

“What, darling, you want me to spoil it?”

She turned in his arms. “Just a hint.”

Two more steps, and he had her backed up against his office door, pinned to the solid wood as he grasped each side of the frame. “Your hint is that I’m feeling a little nostalgic tonight.”

He could have meant anything—that was one of the best parts of their relationship, the rich history they shared. It hadn’t always been smooth or peaceful, but it was always real. Something that belonged to just the two of them.

She reached back for the door knob, one questioning eyebrow raised. At his nod, she turned the knob and opened the door. “Show me.”

He took a step forward, nudging her into his office. He waved his hand over the panel next to the door once to bring up soft lighting, just enough to make the furniture visible but keep the corners in shadows.

A second step pushed her far enough into the room for him to close the door behind them. Without looking, he slowly engaged the lock. Then he put both hands on her shoulders and turned her.

The safe was so old that, once upon a time, it had taken her less than two minutes to crack it. And that was before it was nearly crushed in the bombing of the original Broken Circle.

“You rescued it,” she whispered.

“Fuck yeah, I did. That’s the start of everything, right there.” He leaned down, his voice a suggestive whisper. “Think you can still crack it?”

The thing was a veritable wreck now. Most of the bigger dents had been hammered out, but nothing could straighten the frame or restore its integrity. What Dallas had sitting in his office was, simply, four hundred pounds of nostalgia.

She knelt in front of it and trailed her hand along the side, looking for the right spot. When she found it, she gave it one good whack with the flat of her hand, and the lock popped. “This is adorable, honey,” she laughed as the door swung open. “But you really shouldn’t keep anything valuable—”

There was only one thing in the safe—a tiny jewelers’ box, its blue velvet flocking worn away in spots. Her hands shaking, she picked it up and lifted the lid. Inside was a gold ring. Old, delicate. Polished up, but even the most loving care couldn’t fix the tiny dents or the deepest scratches.

She rose and turned to Dallas. “What is this?”

“Remember when I gave you that jewelry to pawn?” He tilted his head toward the box. “I kept that. Didn’t figure it would fetch much. Not even sure it’s real gold, honestly. My grandpa didn’t have much to his name when gave that to my grandma.”

“A family heirloom?” She stepped into the circle of his arms and leaned against his chest. “Are you giving it to me?”

Instead of answering, Dallas took the ring from her and lifted her hand. It slid onto her middle finger like it had been designed for her, and the metal warmed swiftly against her skin. “My mother wore this on a cord around her neck. The Flares made her hard, but this is the one bit of sentimentality she never gave up. She told me once it was a reminder that life could be sweet, too.” He rubbed his thumb over the ring and her fingers. “I think she’d want you to have it. And I don’t need a reminder anymore. I have you.”

Dallas had given her dozens of presents over the years, clothes and jewelry and weapons and art, each piece more expensive and rare than the last. Hundreds of thousands in cash and credits, and she’d kept each one, hoarded them away in her bedroom closet the way a dragon guards its gold.

None of them had ever meant as much as this one.

“I love it,” she whispered. “More than my Renoir. More than my Glock.”

“More than your Glock?” His warm laughter washed over her as he pulled her closer, until her body was pressed to his. “That’s saying something.”

“I love it more than anything.” She set the box aside and slipped her hands under his shirt. “Except you.”

‘Yeah?” He curled his hands around her waist and backed her toward the safe. “You know what I’ve been thinking about all night?”

“Nope. But I fervently hope it involves fucking.”

With a flex of muscle, he hoisted her onto the edge of the safe. “Fucking’s too tame a word for what I have planned. Stay here.”

He crossed the room to a simple wooden cabinet, and she smiled as the jangle of chains filled the room like music. “You wouldn’t.”

“Wanna bet?”

Dallas returned with his hands full of leather and delicate steel chains. The gathered metal tickled over her legs as he stepped close, blocking out most of the light.

He worked in intent silence, stripping off her bracelets first and setting each one aside. His thumb rubbed the insides of her wrists before he wrapped the leather cuffs around them, working each buckle with the reverence of ritual.

Her skin heated, and her muscles tensed with anticipation. Some nights, Dallas wanted to play. Others were about pushing boundaries or falling into familiar patterns, the kind you could only find in the comfort of shared experience.

Tonight, he had something to tell her. Not with words, perhaps, but with every careful, considered action.

She sucked in a breath as he slowly lifted the chain linking her cuffs, dragging her arms up with it. Her back arched to compensate, and her shoulders bumped back against the wall. When she looked up, she saw a hook high above her on the wall, placed deliberately. Strategically.

When Dallas dropped the chain over the hook, it left her stretched out, off balance, with only enough give in the chains to move her hands a few inches in either direction.

Dallas stroked his fingers down her arms and smiled slowly when he reached her leather dress. “This is nice,” he murmured, touching one of the two zippers in the front that ran the entire length of the dress. “Convenient, too.”

She arched into his touch with a shiver. “I thought you might appreciate it.”

He grasped the zipper on the left and tugged, easing it down until the fabric gaped open, revealing the curve of her breast and the tight peak of one nipple. The soft stir of air against it made her ache for a stronger touch, but he just switched to the right side and did the same thing, leaving her breasts exposed.

Then he reached for the bottom zippers on both sides, his fingers stroking her thighs as he started to edge them up. When his knuckles brushed her crossed legs, he pushed them open, the movement rough enough to drag her ass forward and tighten the slack in the chain.

“I used to imagine this, you know,” he murmured in a low voice as she squirmed there, almost completely exposed. “Usually after we had one of those moments where we almost fucked but ended up fighting instead.”

“There were a lot of those.” She tried to brace the heels of her boots on the safe, but they only skidded down the banged-up surface. “Tell me more.”

He swatted the outside of one thigh in gentle warning as he stepped closer. His shirt abraded her nipples just enough to turn the vague ache into sharp hunger, but his fingers were exquisitely gentle on her chin. “You stole something from me.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“A credit stick.” He ran a hand down her leg to grip her boot.

Dark, familiar longing welled inside her. Years ago—in another life, as Noelle would say—she’d walked out of his warehouse with that precious credit stick tucked into her boot. Impossible to imagine now, how she’d almost overlooked the most precious thing in the room.

Almost. Thank fuck she’d realized her mistake in time. But if Dallas wanted to relive that night, erase the years of thwarted desire that had kept them apart, she was in. One hundred percent.

She looked up at him, batting her eyes in a knowing parody of innocence. “How important is it to you, this credit stick?”

“You think you’re in any position to bargain?” His fingers tightened on her chin with a delicious edge of roughness. “You’re going to tell me where it is.”

“Can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because...” She rubbed her leg up his, then poked him in the calf with her stiletto heel. “I gave it to this guy—super hot, ridiculously fuckable. Smolder for days. Just thinking about him makes me wet.”

His expression stayed dark and dangerous, but warm humor filled his eyes, as if he, too, was remembering the day she’d strolled back into his life to return his stolen property. “That’s too bad for you,” he murmured, running his hand up the inside of her thigh. The backs of his fingers brushed her pussy, sliding over slick, aroused flesh. “Too bad for him, too. He let you go. I’m not making that mistake.”

“No?” The chains rattled as she stretched slowly. Languidly. “Not even if I beg?”

“Especially not then.” He turned his wrist and slowly stroked one finger into her. “I don’t think you want to go anywhere. I think you want this. Need this.” A second finger joined the first, wide and broad, working into her with a delicious stretch. Dallas braced his other hand against the wall and leaned over her, his words tickling her lips. “I think you want to be my toy, and I think you want me to play rough.”

The words aroused her just as much as his thrusting fingers. In the early years of their relationship, she would have fought such a claim, no matter how true it was in her secret, innermost thoughts.

But she trusted him now—completely, utterly—and she couldn’t stifle her eager moan. “Yes.”

“That’s right.” His teeth closed on her lower lip, a sharp, bright shock of pain before his tongue swept across the tender flesh. The heel of his hand bumped her clit as his fingers thrust deep, but he carefully kept the contact light, just enough to torment. “I’ll keep you here for weeks. Make you come once for every credit you stole from me.”

“I don’t know...” She gasped as heat rolled up her spine. “It was a lot of money.”

“Fine.” He nipped at her again—at her lower lip. Her chin. The line of her jaw. He bit her earlobe hard as his thumb slicked over her clit and retreated, leaving her arching her hips to chase the fleeting touch. “I’ll keep you here for months, then.”

“What—” Her voice broke on another moan. “What will you do when you’re finished with me?”

His dark laughter made her shiver. “Oh, darling. I’ll never be finished with you. I love how you moan. How you give in.” His thumb returned with a rough, knowing pressure that delivered a shuddering shock of pleasure. “How your pussy is wet for me before I even touch you, and how tight you clench around my fingers when I make it hurt a little.”

His teeth closed on her throat with savage, possessive force. She tugged against the chains just enough to tangle her fingers in his hair, and she pulled hard, using the leverage to ride his hand.

“Hungry for it, aren’t you?” He straightened, tearing free of her grasp. He gripped her chin with his free hand and pressed his thumb commandingly against her lips. “Open.”

She snapped her teeth at him.

He growled and pulled his fingers out of her, leaving her empty and aching, trembling close to the edge but with no relief in sight. His grip tightened on her jaw as he lifted his slick fingers. Without looking away, he dragged his tongue up one, licking her arousal from his skin.

Oh, fuck. “You’re dangerous,” she whispered, “but so am I. You might want to keep that in mind.” With that warning, she obediently opened her mouth.

Dallas smiled and traced his wet fingertips over her lips, leaving the taste of her behind. “I never, ever forget it.”

She licked her lips. “And you love me this way.” It wasn’t a question. It didn’t need to be.

He answered her with a kiss. Deep, hungry. Endless. He thrust his fingers inside her again, fucking her fast and hard as he devoured her mouth. It hurt, and it was so good that pleasure buzzed in her ears. He knew exactly how to touch her, knowledge gleaned from endless hours of dedicated study. Of endless craving.

She came with a shudder and a hoarse cry, wrenched from her throat and lost to his kiss. But Dallas wouldn’t be satisfied with easy. His fingers rode her pleasure, dragging it along, committing to it the way he did everything—relentlessly, absolutely, ruthlessly.

What should have been languid aftershocks twisted into fresh waves of tension that kept her toes curled. “Have a little fucking mercy, Declan.”

“No mercy for thieves,” he growled. But his mouth gentled on hers, the soft, coaxing kisses a dizzying contrast to the demanding thrust of his fingers. “I’ve got you, Alexa. Stop fighting it.”

She sobbed in a breath. He was after something tonight, that point where fighting wasn’t even a thing that existed anymore, and all she could do was come, over and over, and she wouldn’t be able to stop until he let her.

His fingers drove deep. Curled. Stroked over her G-spot with a pressure that took on a life of its own, thundering through her. He touched her, his free hand and mouth skating over her skin, and Lex writhed in his arms. The noise from the thrashing chains heightened it all, because she knew this sound like she knew her own name. It was a vow, a promise.

If she surrendered, he’d give her everything.

Pleasure peaked again, and this time it didn’t stop. It gripped her tighter with each passing throb, until her whole body was on fire and her throat ached from screaming. Only then did his touch subside, his fingers easing from her body as he stroked her hair and her cheek, murmuring soothing words against her ear.

She rested her forehead on his shoulder and tried to catch her breath. “You stole from me too, you know.”

“Did I?”

“Mm-hmm. Something vital.” Lex tipped her head back to meet his gaze. “My heart.”

A smile curved his lips as his eyes softened in that way they only did for her. “That wasn’t stealing. That was survival. You’d already snatched mine right out of my chest.”

“Well, then. I guess fair is fair.”

“Mmm.” He traced a finger over her lips before edging it into her mouth. “Still feeling bitey, or are you a good girl now?”

Instead of teeth, she gave him her tongue, gliding it over his finger before sucking him deeper into her mouth. She was rewarded with a hissed breath as he stroked his finger in and out and then added a second. “Making you come on this safe until you can’t take it anymore is only the top item on a very long list of things I’ve imagined. You want to hear more?”

As if he needed to ask. But she answered with a low groan, the kind that vibrated around his fingers.

He used his other hand to work the zippers on her disheveled dress, guiding them slowly so the soft rasp formed a counterpoint to his low words. “Sometimes I think about bending you over it and spanking you until you’re so twisted up you’ll come with the first touch.”

The zippers finally gave way completely, and her dress fell away, leaving her naked on the safe. Dallas stroked back up to her breast, his thumbs tracing slow circles around her nipples. “I wouldn’t always be that patient, though. Sometimes I’d just bend you over it and be balls deep before you could catch your breath.”

Yet he kept looking at her mouth. “I think I know what you want this time.”

“Yeah, you do.” He slid his hands along her arms and up, all the way to where the chain was hooked to the wall. With a deft twist, he freed her, then grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her into the air.

When the world stopped spinning, he was perched on the edge of the safe with her between his widespread legs. As soon as she had her balance, he guided her hands to his belt. “Let me feel that mouth around my cock.”

She curled her fingers around the buckle. “I have a few fantasies of my own that start like this.”

“Oh yeah? Tell me one.”

He’d made most of them happen over the years, whether he’d meant to or not. “This is a big one. You think you have the upper hand when you put me on my knees.” The belt fell open, and she sank to the floor. “But the minute I get my tongue on you, we both know the truth.”

His eyes narrowed as he plunged both hands into her hair, tangling the strands around his fingers until it pulled just the way she liked. “Yeah, we do.”

The ink on his wrists almost matched her own, and it called to her. She turned her head to lick it lightly as she opened his pants. With shaking fingers, she gripped his cock. “Say it.”

“I’ll be anything you want me to be, darling.” The fists in her hair tightened. “As long as I’m yours.”

He groaned at the first touch of her tongue, and she closed her mouth around him. Her need had been sated for the moment, but his still raged, evident in the hardness of his pulsing erection. In the tensing of his muscles.

In the sounds. Rough and abrupt at first, like each one was being torn from him against his will. His fingertips pressed against the back of her head, almost pushing her head down, almost forcing her to take him deeper.

But not yet.

She pulled back, ignoring the soft noise of protest that faded as she met his eyes. Spellbound, she held his gaze as she began to lick him, gliding her tongue over his rigid length and around the head of his cock until it was wet and slick.

“Alexa.” He rumbled the warning.

She hummed and blew gently on his glistening flesh.

His hips flexed, pushing the head of his cock against her lips. When she didn’t take the hint, his growled and dragged her head back. “Is this what you want to do with the upper hand?” he rasped. “Destroy my self-control?”

“How uncharitable.” She licked her lips as hunger stirred inside her again, heavy and demanding. “The longer I make you wait, the hotter it’ll be.”

He stared at her lips, breathing hard, and she knew it was coming.

It still happened so fast.

He surged to his feet, dragging her up with him. His boot collided with the wheeled chair behind his desk, sending it spinning across the room to tip over with a crash.

Before the sound faded, she was on his desk.

There wasn’t time to catch her breath. The chain between her cuffs slithered over her skin as Dallas grabbed her hips and dragged her to the edge of the desk, spilling her back onto all of the reports Noelle had prepared for him about the opening night plans.

Oblivious to all of it, he gripped his cock, giving her one dizzy moment of anticipation as he teased the head against her slick outer lips and over her clit.

Then he drove into her. Hard.

Hard enough to spark fire along every nerve ending. Hard enough to shove her across the desk. She scrambled for purchase, but it was Dallas who hauled her back to him, lifting one leg over his shoulder and wrapping his hand around her thigh. Another vicious thrust stole what was left of her breath, leaving her with nothing but naked need and the sheer possession of his touch.

“Fuck, you feel good.” His movements slowed. He withdrew from her inch by inch, as if he hated not being as deep inside her as he could go. But just when she was mourning the loss of him, his hips snapped forward, the slap of skin on skin an erotic accompaniment to his hoarse groan. “Look at me.”

He was fucking her rough, but the look in his eyes was soft, warm. Safe. He cupped her cheek with his free hand, his fingers cradling her head, holding her steady for his next hard, merciless thrust. His thumb brushed her lips. “I hate every day we wasted not fucking each other brainless.”

“Not wasted. Getting here.” She kept her gaze fixed on his as she arched her hips to meet his. “Becoming us.”

“Us.” He growled it with another thrust. And another. And then he lifted her hips higher with a grip that would bruise in all the best ways and fucked her harder.

She reached for him, scratching her nails over his arms and chest as the first orgasm seized her. It wrenched another cry from her throat, one that had him grinding against her as she shuddered. Pleasure surged and receded like waves, until it stopped receding altogether and all she knew was the melting heat of release.

Her leg slipped from his shoulder. Dallas hauled her upright, crushing her to his chest as his mouth descended on hers. He swallowed her cries and ground into her, riding her clenching pleasure until he stiffened and groaned in relief.

The chains and cuffs bit into their skin, but Dallas just held her there, clutched to his chest as they both panted for breath.

“Damn,” he muttered finally, brushing a kiss to her temple. “I had this all planned out, woman. It was gonna take hours.”

She’d been fucking up all his carefully laid plans since that first night. “That’s just how I roll, O’Kane. You sure you want to spend the rest of your life like this?”

“I can’t imagine wanting to spend it any other way.”