Power Desired (D.C. Power Games Book 1) Page 15

  She frowned, and he pinched her nipples hard again. “Please,” she begged, closing her eyes as pain coursed through her nipples and straight to her clit.

  “Please what? What do you want Darci?” His voice was hard and in any other situation his tone may have sounded angry, but here, now, it made her clit throb harder.

  “I want you inside me. Please.” It was amazing, he hadn’t even touched her pussy yet, but she was throbbing with the need to orgasm.

  “I like hearing you beg.” He grinned and climbed off her.

  “Hey! Where are you going?” she asked, her voice frantic with need. He said nothing but slowly peeled his jeans and boxers off. His erection sprang free, and the site of him made her want him even more.

  “Please,” she whimpered.

  Taking her by surprise, he grasped her hips, and tugged her pants down her legs. Then he flipped her onto her stomach and ordered her onto her knees.

  “Rest your arms on the back of the couch.”

  As soon as she obeyed, he was filling her. The position made him seem even bigger. His cock slammed into her, forcing her to open to him, and within just a few minutes they both fell over the edge. As their orgasms subsided, he pulled out of her and gently laid her on the couch. “Jesus woman you’re gonna kill me.”

  At first, she said nothing, trying to catch her breath. When she had recovered, she said, “It’s been way too long since I’ve fucked like that.”

  In response, he grinned, kissed her noisily and said, “Good.” That had her laughing as he dropped to the floor beside the couch and picked up her hand.

  “Thanks for not fighting right now, Darci.”

  “Oh, we’re still going to fight.”

  “I kind of suspected,” he said dryly.

  “But for now, we can either drink a lot of coffee or go back to sleep,” she said.

  “I’m voting for sleep. It’s going to be a long day.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The next morning Darci was awake before Bradley so she started a pot of coffee. After they’d gone to bed, she had resigned herself to accepting the extra security, but she didn’t have to like it. She had a lot to do today. It was going to be interesting to see what kind of bodyguards she was going to have.

  When the coffee was ready, she grabbed two mugs and poured them both a cup. As she was dumping sugar into hers, his arms slipped around her. “That smells amazing.” He pressed his nose into her hair. “And so do you.”

  Relaxing into his hug, she sighed and said, “Good morning.”

  When she handed him the second mug of coffee, he drank appreciatively.

  “The security detail will be here in half an hour to brief us.” Unable to stop herself, she rolled her eyes at the idea of security and he shot her a glare.

  “Don’t glare at me. I agree to accept the security, but I do not agree to like it.”

  “I can live with that.” He sat on one of the barstools and patted the one next to him. “Let’s just have a cup of coffee together before they get here and you get all pissed at me again.” She giggled but joined him at the counter.

  “I promise to try not to be too pissed about it.” He squeezed her shoulder.

  “It’s gonna be OK, baby. I promise.”

  They enjoyed their coffee until there was a knock on the door. Darci rolled her eyes one more time, placed their empty coffee cups in the sink and put on a professional face while Bradley answered the door. Four men followed him into the kitchen. Four? Jesus, I thought Michael said two. As if he could read her thoughts, Bradley told her they would rotate out every twelve hours. She studied the men who filled the small living room. She recognized one as former secret service Agent Savko, an old co-worker of Peter’s. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

  “Miss Sanders, we need to go over your schedule for the week and come up with transportation plans. We’ll need to know every place you plan to visit, and who you will be meeting so we can vet them,” one of the men she didn’t recognize said.

  “Fine, I’ll copy you on my calendar but I’m just going to tell you right now, my schedule changes a lot, and some clients aren’t the kind you can vet.” She already hated this, but she did her best to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

  This time Savko spoke up. “We’re going to ask you to stick to your schedule, but if you have to make changes, just tell us as soon as possible.” They explained that one of them would be at her side at all times during the day while the other would be nearby watching for suspicious people. They would also be driving her and Bradley to work each morning.

  “I think I can live with all of this, but you need to understand that I deal with sensitive clients and information. I can’t have you guys hovering over me, or people won’t talk to me.”

  “We will be as unobtrusive as possible, ma’am.”

  “Call me Darci please.”

  “We prefer to keep things professional, ma’am,” the guard responded.

  “Fine, call me Miss Sanders. But don’t call me ma’am it makes my skin crawl. I’m not even thirty.”

  “Yes, ma’am... uh Miss Sanders,” the tall man mumbled. Bradley smirked at her, but she ignored it.

  While she shared her calendar with the men, Bradley slipped out to get ready for work. They reviewed her tentative schedule for the day before she excused herself to get ready to leave. This was going to suck.

  When she came back into the kitchen with her briefcase and a jacket, the men were gone. Bradley was perched on a barstool waiting for her.

  “Come here,” he commanded gently as she entered.

  “We’re going to be late,” she said, fidgeting with the handle of her briefcase. He stood and took the leather case and coat from her. Setting them aside, he pulled her into a hug. His hands drifted to her hips, and he settled back onto the barstool pulling her between his thighs. He gripped her hands and waited for her to look at him.

  “I wanted a minute before we left to make sure we’re OK. I know you hate the idea of security following you.” She laid her forehead against his and closed her eyes.

  “I’m not even sure what we are, Bradley. But I’m enjoying spending time with you,” she said after a minute of quiet. “I just can’t help but feel like I need to pull away from you, not move in with you, which is basically what you’re asking.”

  “It’s only temporary, and I’ve offered to keep my distance. I don’t want to, but I will. Now, if this is about you being worried about my career, I’ve told you not to worry about that.”

  With a sigh, she kissed him. “Let’s just go to work. The goons aren’t staying in the house, are they?”

  When she got to her office, Darci called Peter, Carrie’s husband. He ran a security firm in California, and he would have advice on how to make dealing with a security detail bearable.

  “Kitten?” A man with a deep voice answered after the third ring.

  “Hi Peter, I’m glad you picked up, I know it’s early with the time difference.”

  “I’ve always got time for you, Kitten. It’s good to see your cute face popping up on my phone. It doesn’t happen enough.” She giggled. He was always so sweet to her.

  “Well, you can see my cute face in person in a couple weeks,” she fired back.

  After they finished saying hello, she launched into the story of how she wound up with a security detail.

  “Woah, Kitten. I heard about the murders, but I didn’t realize you were connected to them. Why didn’t you call sooner?” His voice held the hint of a reprimand, and she winced. Peter had been her mentor and first dominant. She still hated disappointing him.

  “I’m sorry. Things just got crazy, but these guys following me around will overwhelm me. Since you do the same work, I thought you could help calm me down.”

  “I know it sucks, but keep in mind that they have your best interests at heart. Give me the name of the firm they work for. I’ve worked with most of the D.C. groups. I’ll put in a call and tell them you’re one of min
e. They’ll take good care of you.” Darci’s heart constricted. She missed them so much. Peter and Carrie were family and had been almost since the day she had met them. When she told him that Bradley had hired his old firm, he reassured her that they were the best. Before they said goodbye, he insisted she promise to listen to them.

  “I have way too many bossy men in my life,” she grumbled after promising to be good. His deep laugh rumbled through the phone line.

  “It’s good for you, Kitten. I’ll see you soon.” They said goodbye and Darci put the phone down, feeling somewhat better about the situation.

  At noon on Wednesday, Michael came to her office with sandwiches and questions. He asked her for a list of people who might be angry at her over her work with the ACSL. Could she have a stalker? Were there any readers who liked leaving mean or weird comments on her blog? Nothing she had to say seemed to offer any leads for him to follow.

  Midway through a turkey club sandwich Michael grabbed her hand. “Darci have you considered the possibility that it might be...” She cut him off.

  “No. It couldn’t be. After he escaped conviction, he left the area and as far as I’ve heard, he hasn’t been back.”

  He sighed. “Sorry, I know you don’t like talking about that. Just to be safe, I’m going to track him down.”

  “Don’t please. I don’t like digging for ghosts.”

  He sighed, clearly frustrated. Next, he pulled out what she recognized as the guest log for her apartment.

  “We can’t figure out how the intruder got into your place. Take a look at this. Do you recognize any of these names?”

  She scanned the list. At first nothing stood out, so she read it one more time. Suddenly one name jumped out at her and she froze.

  “Michael. Did you not see this name? It’s Theresa Holden.”

  “You mean Kaden’s ex fiancé?”

  “The very same. I mean that was her name at least. It seems like a coincidence that she would sign into the building the very day my place got ransacked. She always blamed me for Kaden leaving school.”

  Michael frowned. “I’m tracking them both down Darci. Don’t try to argue.”

  She sighed. There was no point in trying to get him to leave it alone. It could wind up being a solid lead.

  “Have you told Bradley yet?” he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

  “No. I’m not ready for that, so if you could keep this little bit of information between us, I would appreciate that.”

  Because he was her friend, he agreed. “We’ll get you through this, sweetheart.”

  By Friday afternoon, Darci was ready to be rid of the security team. They insisted on canceling or changing meeting locations, and they were smothering her. Even taking a walk among the tourists while she ate lunch wasn’t allowed. When she sent Peter a text expressing her frustration he just reminded her that a little smothering was better than being kidnapped or killed. She scowled at his picture. He was supposed to be on her side. But she also knew he was right.

  Bradley’s place was easier. They had fallen into a routine of dinner, sex, and working in companionable silence on whatever they had brought home from the office. It was the twelve to sixteen hours a day outside the house that was driving Darci insane. She wanted to go back to her own apartment, but after the tire slashing incident, Bradley had refused to take her. Now, it was just after lunch, and Bradley called her office to check on her and tell her he would be working a little late.

  The guards were doing their best not to disrupt her life completely, but she felt like a caged animal. There had to be a way to convince him to cut the detail down to one man standing outside her office. The thought of how that conversation would go had her rolling her eyes. Maybe she could cook him dinner and ask extra nice. With Bradley working late that meant she had some time to plan.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Bradley sat in his office on Friday eating a sandwich. Adara had brought it to him after he finished up his last interview to fill a deputy campaign manager position. He was pretty sure he knew who he wanted to offer the job to, but he was going to wait for Adara to type up her impressions since she also sat in on his interviews. He valued her opinion and so did the senator.

  His afternoon and evening were loaded with meetings to gear up for the campaign, but he couldn’t keep his mind off the redhead he was falling for. He was enjoying their nightly routine, especially the part where he buried himself in her, and the sexy noises she made while he did. It was difficult to concentrate on budgets and legislation with those little moans in his head.

  The desire to pursue a more meaningful relationship with her, including power exchange, was growing. Bradley just wasn’t sure if she was ready. Despite her hesitance to explore it again, power exchange was important to her, but he knew she still worried about his career.

  Hiding her lifestyle wasn’t something she wanted to do, and while he would never admit it to her, she was probably right that dating her would raise some serious questions during the campaign. Questions were going to come anyway, it was only a matter of time before the press caught wind of his involvement with Peggy Jacobs.

  The gossip columns had made speculations about their relationship status on a couple of occasions when they appeared at charity events together, but Bradley had always been careful to refer to Peggy as an associate or colleague. If he kissed her in public, it was only on the cheek, and they rarely spent the night together. Once the press found out he had been at Exposure with her the night she died, the senator would have no choice but to ask for his resignation. He needed to come up with a game plan.

  He thought of his father’s job offer, and he winced. That would be a last resort. His phone buzzed, jolting him from his thoughts. Picking it up, he grimaced. His mother’s face filled the screen. He was not being a great son. He answered as cheerfully as he could manage.

  “Hello, beautiful.”

  “Oh stop, you’ll make an old lady blush.” He grinned at her response.

  “Hi, mom. What’s up?”

  “Nothing important, I just haven’t heard from you in weeks, so I decided if you won't call me, I’ll just call you and interrupt your busy day to tell you we’re in town for a few days.”

  “I’ve always got time for you, Mother. Sorry I’ve been distant, work is crazy, but we should make time for dinner. Are you free tonight?” They had only just begun dating, how would Darci feel about meeting his parents? He had told her he was working late but maybe he would surprise her with dinner.

  “Tonight would be wonderful. I think your father has dinner meetings the rest of the weekend anyway.”

  “Would you mind if I bring someone with me?”

  “Who?” she asked, curiosity evident in her voice.

  “Just a friend. She’s staying with me while her apartment is being worked on.” It was close enough to the truth, he decided.

  “She?” his mother asked conspiratorially. “You’ve never introduced us to a girl before.” He winced. He shouldn’t have said anything. “It’s your fault you know,” his mother continued.

  “What’s my fault?”

  “That your father is running for president.”

  He laughed. “How in the world is that my fault?”

  “If you or one of your brothers would give us a couple of grandkids, he wouldn’t be so bored.”

  He groaned. “I should have known where you were going. We both know dad doesn't get bored.”

  His mother chuckled. “Sorry, I had to try.”

  “Anyway, she’s a good friend, and I would love for you to meet her.”

  When he ended the call, Bradley poked his head into the reception area to ask Adara to make reservations for four at one of the more touristy restaurants in the city. Hopefully that would make up for springing his parents on Darci without asking.

  To his surprise, he found Detective Michael Silas perched on the corner of her desk. They were staring at each other, sharing a laugh. He cleared his throat to announce h
is presence. Adara’s head spun in his direction, and for just a moment she seemed flustered, but she quickly recovered.

  “Hey boss, I was just about to come see you. Detective Silas just dropped buy. Wants a few minutes of your time. You’ve got a half hour before your next meeting.”

  Michael stood and offered his hand.

  “Sorry to drop in unannounced. I just need to ask you a few questions.”

  “No problem, detective. Come in, pull up a chair. Want some coffee?” Though he was acquainted with Michael from the club, he thought it was important to use the man's title for discretion.

  “Coffee would be awesome.” Michael turned back to Adara before following him into his office. “Nice to meet you, Miss Kent.” Bradley could have sworn Adara blushed. Finally, he had something to tease her about. She was so quiet about her personal life that Bradley rarely had the opportunity.

  Once Bradley and the detective were in his office, he went to the pot on the small table in the corner and poured them both cups of hot coffee. Michael took a drink and grinned. “So much better than the sludge at the station.”

  “When I first got here, I drank the stuff in the staff break room. It was terrible. I really think having my own coffee pot is the best part of having my own office.” They shared a laugh, but the detective seemed nervous. “What’s on your mind?”

  “These are kind of awkward questions, but I have to ask.”

  “I understand. You’re just doing your job.” He shifted again but reached into his pocket for a notepad.

  “Did you know Marlie Dixon?”

  “I knew her in the same capacity you did. We spoke to each other at the club, but I wouldn’t say I knew her on a personal level.”

  “Did you attend her foundation’s charity event a few days before she died?” He flipped through his notebook for the exact date.

  “Yes, I did. So did Peggy. So did Darci. That was the second time I met Miss Sanders.”

  “Bradley, look, I don’t think you had anything to do with any of this, but so far you and I are the only ones these three women have in common.” Bradley closed his eyes, understanding the line of questioning. The detective continued. “I’m doing my best to keep my connection to Exposure out of it, but the truth is I won’t be able to do that for much longer and someone else is likely to take over the case. I’m here to warn you that when that happens, whoever it is will want to question you formally. That won’t stay out of the news.”