PANIC

Chapter Twenty-One - ROOK

I smile the whole way down to Ronin’s. Even though I absolutely did fail that math test last night and that fucker Gage did tell me my boyfriend and two of my besties all got away with murder, it doesn’t touch me today because I know in my heart that these guys would never do that. Sure, they did some illegal things, but they did those things for me. Not to hurt people. They stole Jon’s money because he tried to steal mine. They set him up with kiddie porn because he took advantage of me as a young adult.

And even though I am ultimately responsible for my own decisions and actions, there really was a point in my relationship with Jon when things stopped being my fault. I need to stop feeling responsible for what happened and Jon needs to accept the fact of what he did, what he made me do, and what I became.

Because there really was a point where I was stripped of all my choices.

And I think that it’s OK to put all the blame on Jon for those parts.

So fuck it. I love Ronin. Ford and Spencer are my friends. And that’s how it’s gonna stay unless I get information that requires a one-eighty.

I ease the Shrike Bikes truck off the freeway and take Park down to the stadium, then turn onto Blake and pull into our garage. Ronin is kicking back on one of his motorcycles, talking on the phone as he waits for me. He’s wearing old jeans, a black t-shirt, and his favorite black biker jacket. He waves as I pull in a few spaces down and then walks over to me as he ends the call. My eyes linger on his body as he approaches and I let out a sigh. God. This man is like my smile button. He appears and I smile.

I’m smiling right now.

I giggle a little at that and throw my arms around him, taking in his scent. He smells like Sexy Man. I’m not sure what that exactly is, but if sexy man smell has a dictionary entry, the picture next to it is Ronin Flynn. “Oh, my God—I missed you so much!”

He hugs me back and hums against the tender skin on my neck. “I think we should stay in the entire weekend.”

I pull back with a serious expression on my face. “And do what?”

He grabs my backpack and purse from the seat, then closes the truck door and takes my hand. “Ah, my schoolgirl needs to learn some patience, I think.” We take the elevator up and then he lets go of my hand and points to the dressing room. “There’s a hanger with your name on it. Meet you upstairs.”

I stand there as the heat creeps up my face, just watching his ass in the moonlight as he goes up the steps. “Chop, chop, Gidget. You’ll be spanked if you’re late.”

My chuckle comes out automatically as I make my way into the dressing room. There’s just one hanger on the rack and yup, sure enough, it’s got my name on it.

I peek inside and smile. Boys and their Catholic schoolgirl fantasies. He went to Catholic school, surely he must’ve gotten his fill?

I unzip the garment bag all the way and start pulling stuff out. There’s a crisp white button-up blouse, a little red tie, a red-and-black tartan skirt, and some very naughty black lingerie that probably came from the GIDGET contract. The whole ensemble is completed with a pair of six-inch stilettos.

I’m already feelin’ the heat down below.

I take it all over to the armless couches in the middle of the room and take off my clothes, tucking them back inside the garment bag. I line up each piece of lingerie and look it over real good. I’m not all that up on what does what, so this takes me a few minutes to figure out. I slide the black lace demi bra on and then the matching panties, garter, and stockings. I hook it all up, slip on the shoes, and check myself out in the mirror.

Not bad.

The schoolgirl stuff goes on next and by the time I’m all dressed, I’m a little sweaty and out of breath from all the anticipation.

Ronin and I do some roleplaying. Mostly that stupid cop stuff because I said I was checking to see if he was drunk when I got caught sniffing him back when we first met. It kinda stuck, and it’s fun, but we both end up laughing too much to continue the fantasy. Maybe I’ll try a little harder tonight.

I bite my lip as I exit the dressing room and climb the stairs to our apartment. I feel like I’ve been gone forever instead of just a week and my stomach gets a little flutter as I make my way down the hallway. I strain to listen for noise, but even Antoine and Elise’s apartment is quiet. When I get to the door I take a deep breath and straighten my blouse a little, pulling it down a bit to reveal some of my goods.

I decide to start the roleplay with a knock. I hold my breath as the click of fancy shoes sounds behind the door and then it opens. Ronin is wearing a gray suit coat, some gray slacks, a long black tie, and no shirt.

“My, my, Mr. Flynn. You certainly look handsome tonight. I feel underdressed.”

He waves me in. “If anything, Miss Corvus, you’re overdressed.”

I smile up at him and walk into the living room. We have no formal dining area, just a nook that connects the kitchen and the terrace sliders. But we do have a nice dark mahogany table and right now it’s filled with flickering white candles. No other lights are on in the entire apartment, so the glow is soft and golden.

“Well,” I say, turning to face Ronin, “there’s no room on the table for food, so we must not be eating dinner.”

He slides his hands around my waist and pulls my lower body tight against his, allowing my upper body to sway backwards slightly and pull the white shirt apart just the slightest bit. He peeks down and then finds my eyes. “Are you hungry for food?”

“No,” I whisper as I lean forward and lay my head on his shoulder. “I’m hungry for you.”

“How about dessert, then?”

“Mmmmm, maybe,” I purr into his neck. “What do you have in mind?”

He leans down and kisses me softly on the lips. It’s just a feather of a touch, just the slightest bare flutter of his lips against mine, just enough to create a spark of heat and then leave the cool emptiness as he pulls back. “I made a promise to you a while back and I figured it was time to make good.”

“What promise?” I ask with a stupid grin, frantically racking my brain for what he might have in mind. Ronin is not an easy guy to predict, that’s for sure. Whenever I think I know what he’s doing, especially when it comes to the erotic photoshoots or sex, I’m almost always wrong.

I love this about him because it means he thinks about me. A lot.

Even over the summer when he was hesitant to get more adventurous with our lovemaking he always kept me on my toes with small things. A command to come before we climaxed together. A kiss in a totally unexpected place, like that dent behind my knee. Or hoisting me up against the wall of the shower, my legs wrapped tight around his middle—and then not fucking me, but instead talking me into an orgasm with the most amazing combination of words ever strung together in the French language.

Of course I didn’t understand a single thing he said, he could’ve been reciting our grocery list for all I knew, but it totally got me off.

“Want me to show you?”

A shiver runs up my back as his fingertips slip around across my jawline and caress the nape of my neck.

“Please, yes.”

He grins. “I love it when you say please.” His fingers leave my neck, trace down my shoulder, then my ribs, and finally grab my hand. He laces us together and pulls me with him down the hallway towards the bedroom.

“Dessert is in the bedroom?” I giggle a little.

He looks back at me with half-hooded lids and simply nods.

Our bedroom is also lit up with candles, only in here they are all on tall candelabras. Some are placed on the dressers and tables so they reach halfway up the wall, the shadow of flames caressing the ceiling. Others are on the floor and light the dark hardwood below my feet.

On the nightstand is a bowl of cherries and a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket. Two flutes are already filled with golden bubbles.

“Yes, Mr. Flynn, this is definitely dessert.” I look up at him and his blue eyes are sparkling in the candlelight. “Would you like to hear how I did on my math test?”

“No, I’m not at all interested in your grades tonight, Miss Corvus.”

I cock an eyebrow at him. “You’re not?” I look down at my schoolgirl outfit and then back up at him. He’s not smiling. “Then what’s with the outfit? I thought you had something to teach me?”

“I do,” he says softly, pulling me towards him. “I’m going to teach you what it means to be loved by me.”

And then his mouth takes over. Both hands cup my face, pulling me into him, then one slides behind my neck while the other slides over my throat, pauses to palm it and then falls to my breast and palms that as well. My hands slip to the front of his pants and his cock comes to life as soon as I glide my fingertips over it. He groans and then his hand removes mine. “Not yet,” he breathes into my mouth.

I push him, making him take a few steps back, and he ends up against the wall, but he takes a step forward before I can do anything about it. “Maybe I’d like to call the shots tonight. Did you ever think of that?”

His eyebrows shoot up. “You can try.”

I almost laugh, in fact, I huff out some air before I can stop it. When I look up at him he’s grinning like the devil. I push him again and this time he lets himself settle against the wall, ready to see what I’ll do. I slip my hands inside his suit coat and drag my fingers across the hills and valleys of his perfect abs, then up across his chest, stopping to rub his nipple. When I look up he’s got his eyes closed and his head tilted back against the wall. He likes this. I slip the suit coat down over one shoulder with one hand and drag my other hand up and around his neck, pulling on him so he will lean down enough for me to kiss him.

He refuses, simply keeps his head pressed up against the wall. “You want to be in control, right?” He opens one eye and smiles. “Control me, then.”

Oh fuck. The wetness slips out between my legs and suddenly everything is throbbing. “I can, you know.”

This time he doesn’t even open his eyes. “Tell me how.”

I bite my bottom lip a little and think this through in the few seconds I have before I ruin the mood. “Well,” I say, a little breathless. “I could do all the predictable things.” I kneel down, my hands sliding down his chest and settling on his hips as I sit back on my butt. I watch his face the entire time. He doesn’t open his eyes or make any detectable shift in position. “Like bury your cock in my mouth.”

This makes him let out a breath and grin, but his eyes remain closed.

“But I’m not gonna do that.”

He chuckles. “Tease.”

I stand back up but my hands stay between his legs. I grab him and squeeze until he moans. I leave one hand there and then take his hand and place it over the buttons on my blouse. “Undress me, but keep your eyes closed.”

His other hand comes up and he works the topmost button free, but instead of unbuttoning the next one, he tugs the shirt out from my skirt and starts on the bottom ones. He releases each one until there is just a single button holding the two sides of my shirt together, the one right between my breasts.

“Do that one too,” I command in a whisper.

Ronin ignores me and instead slides his hands around my hips and settles on the zipper running up my ass. His fingers linger there for a second, his eyes still closed, his breathing a little more labored now. His hands flip up my skirt and slip around the cheeks of my ass. He squeezes, slips his finger between my legs, finds the wetness, and smirks.

His eyes still closed, he says, “I think you’re doing my job for me, Gidget. Stop turning yourself on.” He plunges a finger inside and I gasp and my head falls back a little. Except for his hands, he remains motionless against the wall. “Are you still in control?”

“Absolutely,” I say.

He laughs. “Is that right?” Before I know what’s happening my skirt is unzipped and falling to the floor. I’m just coming to terms with that fact when the button of my blouse goes shooting across the room and my shirt joins my skirt. This time when I look up at his face his eyes are open.

I’m standing in my sexy lingerie while he’s still got all his clothes on.

He laughs. “Good try, Gidget.”

“I’m not done!”

He spins around and suddenly we’ve changed positions. I’m face first against the wall, my hands spread out above my head and his thigh between my legs, asking me to open for him. He presses his full erection against my ass, one hand caressing my thigh while the other plunges back into the crease between my legs. “Oh, I think you’re about to come undone, Miss Corvus. I’m about to make sure of it.” His breath is hot against my neck as the words come out and then his tongue is teasing my earlobe. The hand on my thigh presses against my skin, travels upward with the same firm pressure, and then rests on my breast. He squeezes hard now and I moan and pull away.

“Hold still now, Rook,” he commands in a harsh voice as his fingers continue to probe me between my legs. His thumb finds my sweet spot and caresses tiny circles around it.

I exhale and push back against his chest because I’m having trouble getting enough air back inside my body, that’s how ragged my breathing is. “Please,” I whimper.

He pushes himself into me, forcing me against the wall. “Please what, babe?”

“Give me what I want.”

“What do you want?” he whispers into my ear. “Tell me what you want.”

“Make me come.”

He pulls back, like all the way back, until he’s no longer touching me. I look over my shoulder to see what he’s doing.

“You’re one crazy chick if you think you’re gonna get off that easy.”

“What do you mean?”

“‘Make me come’—pfft. Gidget, I can make you come anytime I want. Tonight you’re not gonna just come, babe. I’m gonna blow your fucking mind.”