Page 22 of Dangerous Men (Fortune City Mafia #1)
SYDNEY
I rise to consciousness slowly, and the first thing I’m aware of is movement. The world is gliding around me, a gentle, familiar motion. I can hear the hum of an engine.
I’m in a car.
I stir, trying to sit up.
“Hey there, darling. Are you awake?”
I glance up to find Alec sitting next to me, my body nestled safely under his arm and my head resting on his chest. The last thing I can remember was falling asleep curled against him just like this, in the massive bed in his penthouse.
Nude.
I blink down at myself. Oh, thank God, I’m wearing clothing. Somehow, my dress and shoes are back on me, and I might believe that what happened was just a wonderful dream if it weren’t for the deliciously satisfied ache between my legs.
“I’m awake,” I tell Alec, rubbing my eyes and sitting up a little more. “Where are we going?”
“We’re taking you home.”
The words come from Ash. It’s not just Alec I’m nestled up next to, I realize, turning to look. Ash is on my other side, smiling down at me, his huge hand resting on my thigh.
“I argued against it, for the record,” Ash tells me, grinning. “I wanted to keep you all night.”
Alec releases a long breath.
“She likes to get to work early,” he explains, giving my shoulder a soft squeeze as he says it.
I don’t know how he knows that, but it’s true, and the idea that he knows me better than I thought makes me a little giddy.
“And if I were to let you stay over, this bastard”—he directs that at Ash, who grins without a hint of shame—“was sure to keep you in bed tomorrow morning for as long as possible.”
“He’s right,” Ash agrees cheerfully.
“I thought you’d rather sleep in your own bed, above your shop,” Alec continues. “But...” He looks down at me, and the raw lust in his eyes leaves me a little breathless. “If I’m wrong, tell me now. We can turn the car around and go back.”
As tempting as that sounds… I shake my head. He’s right. I have my routine, and I’d like to keep it.
“Home it is,” Alec says, giving me another gentle squeeze with his hand. “And rest. It’s already late.”
“I’m so sorry for falling asleep,” I say, fighting back a yawn. “After...”
Ash just chuckles.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Alec assures me. There’s a smug, satisfied look on his face as he says it. “I’m glad you fell asleep. It means I did my job right.”
And how . My pussy aches from the attention he gave me, more sore than I’m used to feeling after fooling around. But God, it was so good.
I lean back against him, sighing and relaxing into his body.
But something’s off. I stiffen when I realize it and shift in my seat .
“Something wrong?” Alec asks.
“I, uh…” There’s no delicate way to phrase this. I open and close my mouth a few times before I summon the courage to say it. “I think whoever dressed me forgot my underwear.”
“What, these?” Ash asks. I turn my head toward him just as he takes them out of his suit pocket, running the fabric between his fingers. “No, these are mine now.” He raises them to his mouth, tongue sneaking out between his lips to lick where they’re still wet.
It shouldn’t be such a turn-on, but it is. My legs squeeze together as I watch him slide them back into his pocket.
“That’s to keep me satisfied until we do this again,” he tells me with a wink.
“Again?” I ask, voice a little weak.
The car rolls to a stop. We’re here, in front of the dark building that houses my store and my little apartment.
“Yes, sweetheart. Again,” Alec says, leaning over me to open the car door. “That is, if you’ll have us?”
His dark eyes are so intense as he says it. Hungry.
Oh, I’ll have them, I decide.
I’ll have them in every way I can.
But I just nod, and Ash steps out of the car, offering me his hand to help me exit.
“Until next time,” he says sweetly to me, pressing a kiss to my cheek. The stubble of his cheek smells faintly of whiskey, and a little of me, and the combination makes me feel dizzy.
It’s only much later, as I’m falling asleep, that it occurs to me I never told them where I lived.