Coercion (The Cassano Series Book 3) Read online

  “I have to tie you to my bed and do that to you all over again but with my tongue this time. Then, I’m going to bury my cock inside that warm, slick place it has ached over for a week now,” he whispers.

  My body trembles against him as I turn in his arms. I hug him snugly, and out of nowhere, tears come. I’ve never felt as safe as I do when I’m with Adrian. Why did I think I could turn my back on him?

  Our bond was shakable before but no more. It’s unyielding, and I feel no mercy on anyone who fucks with us.

  “Victoria, what’s wrong?” he asks as he frames my face and brushes my regret away with his thumbs.

  “Everything is right, and I’m digesting how important that is to me. I’ll never let you go again. Never, Adrian.”

  Adrian

  Victoria expresses her regret and love for me through her tender tears and words. I pull her back flush to my chest and kiss the top of her head.

  “In bed, baby. Let me replace your hurt with something meaningful.” I pull back my blue comforter and white sheets as she strips off her damp clothes.

  Her elongated, bare frame lies nestled in the center of my bed, luscious tits rising and falling with her labored breaths. She knows what is coming.

  Once I’ve stripped off my swim trunks, I climb onto the end of the bed and worship at her feet yet again.

  “I am not tying you to anything, but hold the headboard.” The detailed design of the headboard leaves her plenty of open spaces to grip the steel.

  Her tits perk out farther, and I’m propelled forward, having to taste and feel them. My hands skirt up to the sides of them, and I bury my face, kissing her delicate skin between them.

  I think of her delicate heart that is working overtime, pounding beneath me. Victoria has a tough side I respect, but her heart, now exposed and no longer numb, feels every emotion. Old pain and new. Happiness and pleasure.

  My pearl truly does need nurturing and care, and I’m more than happy to give it to her. My open mouth drags over to a nipple, sweeping around it, demanding it to harden below my wet lips.

  Her whimpers elicit a groan from me, and I can no longer wait to taste her slick center. My lips faintly trail down her stomach until I’m settling between her thighs, kissing the inside of them.

  She lets them fall open farther, and I breathe in her intoxicating scent, my dick twitching against the sheets in the process.

  “Mmm … baby, I’m going to make you scream. Please, run the guys right out of my house, so I can fuck you anywhere I want.”

  “Adrian, I can’t. That’s embarrassing.” Her head turns inward toward her arm, a blissful smile relaxing on her lips as she turns pink.

  “Oh, yes. You’re going to do precisely that.”

  Victoria

  Adrian’s tongue darts out, making direct contact with its target. I do a pull-up against his headboard and gasp, but he only yanks me back against his fiery mouth.

  I guess Kegel exercises will be my workout for tonight as my muscles clench with every flick of his tongue. It swirls, and the vibrations from an orchestra of pleasure play throughout my body until moans sing right along with its melody.

  “Adrian.” I’m breathless as the need for a release becomes dire. “Make me come.”

  His growl is muffled as he buries his face against my flesh and gives my body exactly what it has needed for days. I’m repeatedly yelling his name as a thank you until I recall we’re not alone.

  “Damn, that was hot,” he says as he prowls back up my quivering body. He lies atop of me, holding himself up by his flexing biceps. “Let go and touch me. I’ve missed it.”

  In a heartbeat, I’m letting go of my grip on the headboard and gliding my hands down his conditioned back. As much as he missed my touch, I need to touch him to know the earth is still rotating around its axis. He grounds my recklessness with a time-out that I relish in.

  His cock slides into me, and my back arches, my head pushing back, too. His mouth travels down my throat, leaving wet kisses. “I love you, my pearl.”

  “I love you, too, Adrian.” He glides in and out of me with a slow ease, his gaze locked with mine. He’s showing me his love the only way he can at the moment. Adrian says he’s going to do everything in his power to show me I can trust him again. The thing is, I already do.

  Chapter Six

  Zev

  It’s eleven-thirty, and I’m working in my office at Caged, the nightclub I run in Submission. My phone rings, and I see that it’s Shannon’s extension. She supervises the lounges for Simon and me.

  “Shannon, what do you need?”

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but can I send a server up to see you? Tara Northrup. She’s insisting on speaking to you in person. I’m not exactly sure why.” There’s a pause, and if I had to guess, I’d say she’s giving this Tara a dirty look.

  “Sure, send her over.” A server has never asked to meet with me privately, so I can’t say my curiosity isn’t peaked. Tara. Wait, is this the same woman whose phone number I had to retrieve from Shannon to give to Adrian?

  I continue working as I wait. About ten minutes have passed when there is a knock on my door. The bouncer, Ed, from my club opens it and peeks his head in.

  “There’s a Tara here to see you, sir.”

  “Send her back, and leave my door open.”

  A couple of minutes tick by when I hear a faint knock. Glancing up from my laptop, I take in the sight of the blonde whose fist is tapping on my doorframe.

  “Come in.” This chick is hot, and I think I might’ve met her once. How did I forget about her? I’m wondering if since Adrian broke the golden rule and fucked a so-called employee if I can, too.

  “Take a seat.” I motion toward the chair across from my desk. She fidgets, pulling on her short shorts before she sits, and I make a mental note to check her out when she’s in uniform.

  Dammit, I need to stop thinking with my dick for one minute.

  “Thank you for seeing me. I’m Tara Northrup.” All formal and shit, she stretches her hand out to shake mine. I resist a smirk as I reach across the desk and take her hand. It’s soft, but her handshake is firm.

  “What can I do for you?”

  The corner of her lip takes abuse from her pearly whites.

  “Um, this is difficult for me. I hate to be a snitch, but I feel it’s important. One of your members in the Royal lounge is cheating.”

  My head goes back, and I look off toward the wall. I figured she was coming in here to complain about Shannon or maybe her skimpy uniform. Not something this monumental.

  “OK, first, before you give me a name, how would you know this?”

  “I play Texas Hold‘em, sir.” She blushes as her eyes cast downward. “Rather good actually.”

  This is too formal when we’re about to get down to the gritty shit. “Call me Zev.”

  “OK.” Her eyes come back to mine, and I notice how deeply blue they are. She reminds me a little of Blanca, and I frown from the memory of how poorly I treated her the other day.

  Tara is not as put together as Blanca, yet she’s still prettier. You can tell she’s worked a long shift. Her mascara is smudged under her eyes, and her blonde waves of hair are everywhere.

  Those golden waves, as they drape over her shoulders, attempt to hide her more than adequate tits, but it’s not working. As a matter of fact, her nipples are giving me a free peep show through her white tank top.

  Shit, eyes upward, Zev.

  “So, you’re a server in Royal, and you play poker. What else do you do?”

  Her eyes fill out rounder and appear more vibrant as her mouth opens and shuts. Why do I care what else she does? It’s probably because she had the balls to come in here and accuse one of my members of something as serious as cheating at cards.

  An immense amount of dough is on the line in that room, so yeah, I definitely want to know more about this brave woman.

  “I have a business degree, but I haven’t put it to use yet, sir–I mean
, Zev.” Shit, she’s a smart one and probably ambitious. The exact type of female I steer clear of.

  I lean back in my chair and swivel it lightly. My fingers tent in front of me as I contemplate what to do with her.

  “I have a tip to heal your wrist,” she says out of nowhere. It dawns on me that she’s referring to the brace I’m wearing on my arm for carpal tunnel. I smirk. She’s observant.

  “What’s that?”

  “You need to push your laptop back farther. Since it’s close to the edge of your desk, your wrists are hanging down too far when you type.” She smiles broadly but blushes.

  I think something in my pants is going to tent, too, if she doesn’t stop with the lethal smile. Why am I more interested in this woman than knowing who is cheating in my lounge? Back to the situation at hand.

  “Thank you for the tip. Now, who’s cheating in my lounge?”

  Her throat clears. “His name is Noah. I don’t know his last name. He’s blonde, light eyes.”

  I hold a hand up to stop her. This is bad. Real fucking bad. “I know who Noah is. What is he doing that you’re so sure of? So sure that you would want to personally rat him out.”

  “I was surprised the first time I saw him do it. It was such an amateur move, yet it worked. He’s dropping a card he wants to hold for a later hand into his lap and slipping it under his leg. He pretends to have dropped something–a ring.

  “I don’t know if you’ve ever watched him, but he takes off a wide, silver band and plays with it beneath his fingers on the table. About twice a week, he conveniently drops it on the carpet, so he can pull his hand into his lap while he retrieves it.”

  “How have you managed to see it more than once?”

  Tara looks down again. Her lip drags innocently between those white as snow teeth, and I want to bite it before I slide my stiff cock along it.

  “I guess you could say he’s pursuing me. He wants me serving him drinks every night, and it’s because he’s trying to get me to see him outside of the lounge.”

  This is common. A server seeing a member outside of the lounge is a bonus for said member, and they get bonuses frequently.

  Our servers are young and attractive, and many are looking for a Vegas sugar daddy to set them up. Shannon encourages them to be arm candy for the men, and what else they do with our clients falls on deaf ears. I don’t want to know if they’re being paid money to do anything else.

  A feeling of frustration settles in my gut when I think of Noah touching this woman. I don’t like to think of it, and I don’t like that it bothers me.

  She doesn’t realize the danger she’s putting herself in if he found out she told about the cheating. Why couldn’t it have been any other member? I could kick their ass to the curb. Noah is the worst name she could’ve given me.

  I have to walk a fine line with him. I can’t scare him off. If the police department busts us before we nail Sanders, the FBI said they’re letting us take the fall and will find another way to get to the drug lords they’re after.

  Before Adrian skipped town, he told me Reggie tipped him off that another female cop had planted herself in my lounge, but thanks to Adrian leaving, I haven’t been given a photo of her yet.

  Hell, maybe Tara is a cop and this is all a game to bust us. I squint my eyes at her. “How do you know Vicky that used to work in Elite?”

  Her head jerks back and eyes widen. “She’s a friend. We became friends while she worked here.”

  “Are you a fucking cop like her? Is this some kind of game?”

  “What?” Her question is asked with an astonished tone, but I heard some hostility weaved through it. Tara sits up straighter. That fine rack of hers teases me further. “No, I’m not a cop. I’m a server who is definitely earning her pay dealing with this bullshit.”

  Tara stands and starts toward the door, but I’m up out of my chair promptly, grabbing her by the arm. She spins around and glares at me. “I was trying to help you and your business.”

  I hang my head for a few seconds and let out a weighted breath. I believe I’m breaking a record this week on how many people I can piss off. I’m sure she’d call me an asshole, too, if I wasn’t her boss.

  “I’m sorry, and I–I don’t use those words often. I was suspicious since Adrian asked for your number recently.”

  Turning toward me, she stops resisting the hold I have on her arm, but I’m finding I don’t want to let it go. I like her feisty, quick-tempered personality.

  I already know she could be submissive. She showed that each time her gaze casted downward, and I’m certain she’s brave.

  Hell, I’m liking every damn thing about this woman except for the fact she’s probably sleeping with our clients. Even though it benefits my business, I don’t hold much respect for the servers who screw our members.

  Of course, who am I to judge? I’m a damn hypocrite if I do, especially after the way I’ve treated Blanca.

  Tara

  Zev Cassano has a firm grip on my arm as his entrancing hazel eyes stare at me. I drop my gaze. There are no adjectives to describe how attractive he is, so I’ll settle with “beautiful.”

  I recall that I was pissed at him five seconds ago, so I lift my chin up and stare into his alluring eyes.

  “Adrian wanted my help with a gift for Victoria. I did some shopping for him. That was all.”

  A broad grin showcases his dimples, and something wicked flashes across his eyes. He gently takes hold of my chin, and I gasp. “I can’t figure you out. Maybe that’s why I was doubtful. Plus the fact you know Victoria. I, uh, I hope you knew she was a cop.”

  “Yes, she told me.” Zev keeps his hold on my chin and grazes his pointer finger of his other hand down my throat ever so slowly. I suck in a breath and hold it.

  This meeting is not going the way I envisioned. Zev has always seemed solemn and all business when in the lounges, but a different side of him is being revealed tonight.

  His finger continues its trail to the top of my chest. His eyes flit down, and a part of me is relieved he caved on the staring contest. He comes to a stop at the top of my tank top.

  Eyes revert back to mine, and the businesslike expression Zev normally wears returns. “Don’t say a word about this to anyone. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Mmm … maybe I like you calling me sir after all.”

  I swallow. His finger holding its place at my chest only adds to my nervousness.

  “It’s for your own safety, Tara. Noah is no one to fuck with. Stay away from him the best you can.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I watch him swallow now as he gazes into my eyes.

  “Thank you for telling me. You should go.”

  He releases my chin, but his finger lingers, so I step back away from him and scurry out the door. Shutting it behind me, I lean against it and inhale a breath of relief. I think Zev Cassano just made me need a change of panties.

  Simon

  Stripping down to my boxer briefs, I climb into bed next to Sadie. Her eyelashes flutter as she yawns and curls her heated body right into me. Her hand presses to my chest before her eyes fly open and she pulls back.

  “How did you get into my apartment?”

  “I borrowed your key last night when I left to go back to Submission. I was hoping not to wake you when I returned, but that didn’t work out.” She smirks at me and yawns again. “It’s four a.m. I hope you don’t mind that I’m here. I needed to feel your warm body against mine.”

  Her hair is … what do chicks call it? Frizzy, and I believe that’s drool dried up on her cheek, but she’s still my beautiful girl as she gives me an adorable grin.

  “I’m glad you borrowed my key.”

  “Good. Now, I want to try this thing called ‘sleeping next to a chick.’”

  Her eyes sparkle with bewilderment. “You never slept with a woman before me?”

  “No, Sadie. Since I’ve had a night job for as long as I can remember, it’s no
t been difficult to dodge.” I chuckle. “Nail and bail, baby.”

  She swats my chest. “No more bailing. Oh, and no nailing other women, either. Only me.”

  I squeeze her waist. “Only nail you, huh?”

  Her face flushes red. “I can think of a more respectable term.”

  “What? Intercourse?” I cackle, and Sadie tickles my ribs. In seconds, I have her on her back. I press my body into her and feel my dick spring to life. “Maybe I need to respect you right now. You know, make nice.”

  Her fingers move the long hair from my face as she grants me her breathtaking grin once more.

  “I sinceriously hope so.”

  “Fuck, I got it bad for you, Scientist Sadie.”

  “I’ve got it bad for you, too, and I think I should show you how much.” Her hand shoves between us and strokes my morning wood (hey, it is morning. I just haven’t been to bed yet), and it’s not long before she’s out from underneath me, pushing me onto my back. Getting on her knees, she yanks down my boxer briefs.

  “I’ve been doing my research, Mr. Cassano. I have found various techniques for giving oral pleasure. I’d like your consent to experiment.”

  “Give me a pen. Write that shit up, and I’ll sign on the X.”

  Sadie giggles loudly. “You make me happy, so I’ll break the rules and take your word for it.”

  Her tongue darts out, and she twirls it along the tip of my shaft. It glides down the front, and when it reaches my boys, I slide my fingers into her hair.

  She tilts her eyes up and smiles. “Some prefer ‘A,’ a lot of tongue action while they’re being sucked, and others prefer ‘B,’ mostly sucking. Let’s see if you prefer A or B.”

  Her mouth takes my cock about halfway before she’s sliding her lips up it and twirling the tip again. Her tongue drags down the front, and I’m already itching for more. No, I’m dying for more pressure. I dig deeper into her hair and can’t help but push her head down.