Okay, I had to move back here to raise my little sister, but that had been a choice and one I'd never regretted. Besides, it hadn't been like I'd done it completely alone. I might not have had family around to help me, but I'd had the money to have a full staff of housekeepers and chefs and security guards.

Maybe you should...

“Should what?” I muttered to myself as I headed towards the house. “Get involved with Toni?”

I’d tried “normal” relationships with women who weren’t in my kind of lifestyle, and they’d all been disasters. I could get aroused enough for sex, but I never enjoyed it, and the women always knew. After one complete disaster, I never told any of the others why I didn't seem to enjoy myself. They might've suspected, but none asked. The relationships just fizzled away, and I'd realized that I could never do “normal.” Any attempt with Toni would have the same end result. I had no doubt.

Yet, even as I had the thought, I found myself thinking about what it would be like to take her the way I'd taken Contessa.

Bent over, tied. Waiting for me to fill her with my cock. Waiting to give her permission to come.

She’d never wait, though. She’d take and demand.

I’d have to punish her.

Spanking that sweet, lush ass...

Even though I'd already come so many times tonight that my cock almost felt raw, the thought of bringing my hand down on that pale skin made it jerk and pulse.

“Dammit.”

It took all my self-control not to slam the door as I came into the house. I went straight towards my wing of the house, not wanting to see anyone. I was a frustrated wreck as I stripped out of my clothes and threw myself down on the bed.

My cock pulsed, bobbed against my belly, half-hard and promising to be more. I reached down, grasped it, hissing out a breath at the contact. It was almost too sensitive.

This morning, I wrapped my fist around my dick and pictured Toni while I'd gotten myself off. Then Contessa had sucked me off, and I’d fucked her three times. Not the most I'd ever come in a day, but definitely close. Now, I was already burning for relief, all over again.

I felt like a boy who’d just found his first skin mag.

And it was all because of that smart-mouthed, tiny, pain-in-the-ass redhead.

I had to do something about this.

My cock throbbed beneath my fingers.

I really, really had to do something about it or I was going to explode.

Chapter 9

Ash

Monday morning didn’t bring a better mood.

It actually brought a much worse one, and I made damn sure to get my lousy ass out of the house before Isadora came downstairs. I loved my sister and I didn't like avoiding her, but when I felt like this, the less human interaction I had, the better. And if I was going to end up taking out my bad mood on someone, I'd rather it wasn't someone I actually cared about.

Since it was Monday, I had to get up at the ass crack of dawn to miss her. She was always up and moving early on Mondays. She had classes at the beginning and the end of the week, something that still stuck in my gut.

After she'd graduated from the best private school in the city, I'd told her that she could do whatever she wanted and had given her control of her trust fund. To my annoyance, she said she wanted to go to college, to get a degree in fine arts. At first, I'd refused point-blank, but she hadn't let it go. She’d pushed and pushed and pushed until I finally relented. Mostly because if I hadn’t, she’d threatened to move out and I wasn’t about to have that.

I needed to keep her safe, and it was hard enough doing that when she was going into NYU two days a week. I wasn't going to try to do it from a distance. She was too important to me to risk losing her the way we'd lost our parents.

I didn't understand. I’d told her she didn’t need to worry about college or anything like that. She could just take it easy and have fun.

Have fun…is that what I’m to do with my life? Have fun?

I’d known the moment I'd said it that I’d messed up.

So I hadn’t argued when she'd said she needed more.

I guess on some level I could understand. I wouldn’t have wanted to sit around watching TV or reading or go shopping...or sitting on endless committees for charities that wanted our money. The sweet little girl who’d come crying to me night after night with nightmares about our parents' deaths just didn’t exist anymore.

A heavy rain started to fall during the drive into the office building where I spent most of my days. After my parents married, they'd taken all of their families' money and the businesses they'd created, and merged them all into Phenicie-Lang. I kept my mother's real estate conglomerate and my father’s hotel dynasty, building them both into even more. I also added to the family business, dabbling in dozens of different areas. Art, theater, technology, education, the environment...

Phenicie-Lang was a sparkling spiral in the sky. Normally the sight of it filled me with a burst of pride, but not today. In fact, the ugly gray clouds reflecting off the mirrored surface seemed the perfect echo of my toxic mental state. I strode in and everybody seemed to realize in an instant that I wasn’t in the mood for small talk or even the standard greeting.

The express elevator, reserved for my use alone, had never seemed so far away, and when the doors finally closed around me, I leaned against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. I'd never been so glad to be alone.

“Get your head out of your ass.” I ran my hand over my face.

I had a board meeting at ten, and I had a potential takeover I needed to look into. My top hand man was coming in later to brief me with the details and walk me through the specifics so I could decide if I wanted to proceed. Technically, I was supposed to take it to the board, but in the end, if I said I wanted to proceed, they would do what I wanted.

Likewise, if I thought it was a bad fit, they would agree.

Everybody fucking agreed with me.

All the time.

A pair of smoky blue eyes flashed through my mind and I clenched my jaw.

I wasn’t going to think about her.

Mind made up, I strode out of the elevator the second the doors slid open, giving a short nod to my assistant, Melody Strum, as I walked by. She returned the nod and went back to whatever she was working on. She’d been with me almost as long as I’d been in charge, and if anybody understood my moods, it was her.

I could count on not being disturbed unless if was vital. She wouldn’t want to put up with my temper unless she had no choice.

***

My decision to not think about Toni lasted through the board meeting, and even most of the way through the lunch that followed. It was a tradition my father had started and I’d kept it up, partially because it was a good business practice, but also because it reminded me of Dad and the type of man he was. So even though I didn't have anything in common with the rest of the members of the board, I stayed and did the small talk thing.

Regardless of how tense a meeting was, it seemed that we all functioned better – and were less likely to be at odds – if we knew we would have some time to socialize and relax afterwards. I wasn’t much for socializing, but my father had worked hard to keep Phenicie-Lang not just a successful company, but a good one.

Time after time, the company my parents had created together came up on one of the best places to work, and that didn’t happen because I gave out bonuses or sent people home with a coffee cup at Christmas. It was because I made sure to keep one very important priority. I would always make sure Phenicie-Lang was a company my parents would've been proud of.