Wicked Kingpin Page 5

  Knox toweled off and dressed in a crisp and fresh suit. Outside, he heard voices. The sound of Leah’s laugh, carefree and wild, jerked his cock awake. He found her speaking to Greta, his housekeeper. Greta had worked for his mother, for his family for a long time, and Knox trusted her without question.

  “Knox, Greta was just telling me childhood stories of you,” Leah said.

  She was leaning against the counter, nursing a mug of coffee. Knox noticed she wasn’t wearing the same clothes from the night before. Leah must’ve rummaged around his closet before heading to the kitchen, because she wore one of his old shirts and nothing else.

  Knox admired the swell of her generous breasts against the thin fabric. He imagined putting his mouth to her hardening nipples and leaving his teeth marks on them.

  He pulled his mind from the gutter.

  “What stories?” Knox asked, intrigued. He was a little impressed she managed to win Greta over. Not an easy task to do, given the fifty-something housekeeper could be a terrifying protective hen at times.

  “Like the time you stole an entire apple pie from the kitchen during Christmas Eve.”

  “I remember.”

  It was the last Christmas Knox had with his mother. A few months after that, she was shot full of bullets while walking out of church. Leah couldn’t have known about that. Knox didn’t want to make her sad, so Knox didn’t mention that bit.

  “Your usual, Knox?” Greta asked.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  Greta fixed him a cup of coffee and started making his breakfast.

  “Make a plate for Leah as well,” he told Greta.

  “I’m not that hungry,” Leah protested. Her lower lip trembled. Knox wanted to kiss her, to abandon breakfast completely. He’d simply throw her over his shoulder and carry her back to his bedroom.

  Knox looked her up and down. “Breakfast’s the key to starting every day.”

  Greta set two plates on the kitchen counter. They were heaped with fresh toast, bacon, and eggs.

  “It does smell amazing,” Leah said.

  He grabbed their plates. “Do you want to eat by the pool again?”

  Her face lit up. “Yes, please.”

  “You know I love it when you beg.”

  Color rose to her cheeks. “You’re in a good mood now.”

  “You have that effect on me,” Knox admitted.

  They ate outside, not speaking much, which was fine with Knox. He was content watching his woman. Spending time with her filled him with an indescribable inner peace.

  Knox knew he should be more worried about his looted warehouse. He still didn’t know who was responsible but sitting under the morning sun with Leah, it was easy to forget the problems plaguing his organization.

  “It really is beautiful out here,” she murmured. The wind sent her dark-brown hair flying.

  Knox pushed his plate aside and stood, offering her a hand up. “Let’s take a walk around the pool.”

  Leah looked at his hand, a little distrustful. Knox couldn’t blame her. He could still hear her accusations in his head. He recalled the way she’d punched him again and again. Knox hardly felt the blows. Seeing her hurting pierced him to the core because harming her was the last thing Knox wanted to do.

  Leah grabbed his hand. She surprised him by not letting go. They held hands the entire time, just like a normal couple. A wonderful illusion, because there was nothing normal about Knox or his dangerous lifestyle.

  “I’m sorry for reacting the way I did earlier,” she finally said. Leah took him slightly aback when she turned to look at him. She made the first move. Leah rose on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his mouth. Quick and fleeting, it only stirred his hunger awake.

  “There’s no need to apologize.” Knox clasped the back of her neck and returned the gesture. He didn’t hold back. Knox kissed her deep, thrusting his tongue down her throat. She gripped his shoulders. Her sweet taste enveloped him, disabling his ability to think.

  Knox lowered her to the nearest sunbathing chair, fumbling for the hem of her shirt.

  “Wait,” she whispered. Leah pressed the palm of her hand against his chest.

  Blood surged to his dick. Knox wasn’t sure he could stop. Not now. He’d told himself he could wait for her until she was ready and willing. Knox lied. Last night, he’d managed to act like a gentleman, but he had reached his limits. He couldn’t turn back or slow down. Leah could probably see the hard-on he rocked for her.

  “Greta will see us,” she said, looking up at him. Leah’s pupils were already dilated, her lips still swollen from their earlier kiss. Her nipples had pebbled, and Knox knew she was wet for him.

  “She won’t,” Knox assured her. “No one would bother us out here. It’ll just us. I promise.”

  Leah seemed to ponder on his words a few seconds. “Okay.”

  “Okay?” he repeated, raising one eyebrow.

  “I’m tired of fighting you, of fighting this. There’s something special between us. I want to know where this is going,” she said. “Maybe I couldn’t give my ex-boyfriend my cherry because I was saving it for the right man. You.”

  Need consumed Knox like an inferno, nearly rendering him into an uncontrollable beast. Then he remembered he had to be careful. This was their first time. He couldn’t allow himself to break her, to let his dark desires flood out and overwhelm her. Knox wanted this moment to be one she’d never forget.

  “Raise your arms, kitten,” Knox ordered.

  She obeyed like a good girl. Knox practically tore the shirt, his shirt, off her. He licked his lips, eying her heavy breasts, her generous curves, and the crevice between her legs. He couldn’t forget how her pussy tasted. Better than honey.

  Knox unbuttoned his shirt and took off his pants and boxers before climbing on top of her.

  “Knox?” she asked.

  “What is it, kitten?”

  Leah looked uncomfortable. Guilty was the better word because she couldn’t seem to meet his gaze. She trembled like a leaf. “After you left last night, I touched myself without your permission.”

  Jesus Christ. That hot little confession nearly made Knox blow his load. He gave her a bruising kiss and let his hands roam. He touched her everywhere, greedy for the feel of her smooth, perfect creamy skin against the rough pads of his fingers.

  She rubbed her tits against his chest. The little minx. Leah was starved for his touch as much as he was for her. She might be a virgin, but Knox bet she’d be a wildcat in bed. He pinned her hands above her head.

  “Keep them there,” Knox ordered.

  “Why?” The defiant look in her eyes was capable of slicing Knox to ribbons.

  Fuck. The things this woman did to him. She made Knox even crazier for her, made him want to fight to keep her even more. He would go mad if some poor bastard so much as looked at her wrong because she was his and his alone.

  “I want to enjoy the rest of your sweet body. Be a good girl for me and obey my orders.”

  Knox released her lips. Leah didn’t move her hands. He planted a kiss on her pouting mouth, then the hickey he’d left on her neck. He left more down her chest, her breasts. Knox sucked on her nipples tenderly, left then right, before sinking his teeth in deep to mark them both. She moaned. Her cries sounded like music to his ears.

  He started fingering her pussy, slowly widening her for his access. Knox pushed his face between her legs and blew at her glistening pink folds. Knox knew right then that he wanted to fuck her raw. To plant his seed right inside her. Breed her. Make her his in every sense of the word. Knox could already imagine Leah walking around their apartment, beautiful, barefoot, and pregnant.

  Knox was clean. He’d been so focused on running his empire that he didn’t have much time for women. For Leah, he’d be her first and only. She’d have his utmost devotion. No other woman had ever challenged Knox or excited him the way she did. Once he put a baby in her, a ring on her finger, she’d truly be his without question.

  “Knox.” H
er whisper almost sounded like a plea.

  Knox dragged himself up, straddled her. She would’ve reminded him of a pinned butterfly on the corkboard, but Leah wasn’t struggling to get free. She was embracing him. Them. Leah wanted this as much as Knox did.

  “Tell me how much you want my cock in that virgin pussy of yours, kitten,” Knox commanded.

  “Please, Knox. Fuck me. I’m yours.”

  That felt like icing on the cake. How could he deny his woman when she begged him so sweetly? Knox guided his prick into her cunt.

  “This will hurt but take the pain for me, baby. I’ll make it go away,” he said, taking her mouth.

  Knox penetrated her and fuck, but she was so tight and wet. He felt the thin layer of skin give away. Knox pulled out and his cock was coated with her virgin blood.

  Knox sheathed himself back inside her heat. Her pussy muscles clamped hard over his cock, making him groan. He fucked her, slowly and carefully, wanting to replace the initial ache with sheer pleasure. Leah groaned and started meeting him for every thrust. Knox picked up the pace and took his time kissing her.

  He dug his fingers into her thighs, hard enough to leave marks, but she didn’t seem to mind. Knox went deeper, seemingly able to breach her most intimate places. Each time he entered her, he made sure to brush against her sensitive clit.

  His next push made her arch her back. Each time their bodies connected, it felt like they’d forged an intimate and profound connection. It felt like Knox could almost touch her pure soul with his tainted one.

  She parted her lips, whimpered as Knox zeroed in on her G-spot over and over. Her sweet cries triggered Knox’s own climax. His balls tightened against his body. Every muscle locked in place. He pressed his lips against her ear and asked, “Do you want to come, kitten?”

  Chapter Nine

  “Yes,” Leah uttered. The moment Knox took her on the wildest ride of her life, Leah let herself drown in him. In them. She didn’t know sex could be this mind-blowing. This amazing. She was right to wait, to give up her cherry to Knox.

  “I want you to come all over my cock,” Knox ordered, his voice harsh. He reached between their bodies and gave her clit a pinch.

  Leah crested over. Her vision hazed and her mind flew twenty-thousand feet in the air as she came long and hard. She panted. Sweat coated their bodies. Knox pistoned in and out of her a few more times before filling her with his seed. She didn’t care that they forgot to use a condom.

  Languidness filled her entire body as Knox got off her. He lay next to her on the sunbathing chair. Like every other piece of furniture in his apartment, the chair was huge, able to accommodate both of them. Knox pulled her to him. Leah curled contently against him while he wrapped his arms around her body.

  She couldn’t believe her first time had been here, by the poolside area of his penthouse suite. This moment felt surreal. Almost made up. The ache between her legs assured her it wasn’t. Tucked against Knox’s big body, Leah felt so safe. Happy. Strange she’d use that word given their argument earlier.

  What did they even fight about?

  “I want to stay here with you all day,” Knox murmured.

  Leah twisted in his arms. He loosened his grip so she could stare at his harsh profile. Her Knox looked troubled, deep in thought. Whatever business he had to deal with last night, it was serious.

  “Why don’t you?” she asked.

  With Knox here, she wouldn’t feel caged or uncertain of her place and her future in his life. When Knox asked her to take off his shirt, she knew she was taking a step closer to accepting her new reality.

  Leah was letting him further into her shields, when she should be doing the exact opposite. Fighting him felt like a distant dream, because she was only lying to herself about being his captive.

  Right now, her life felt so uncertain, like she was stuck in a strange kind of limbo. When Knox touched her, he anchored her back to the present.

  “I have some business to tidy up,” he said.

  She didn’t know why that answer made her angry. Leah thought about their fight earlier.

  Knox frowned, his expression becoming guarded. It was like he knew they were about to have an argument again.

  “Don’t, kitten,” he said, touching her lower lip.

  Leah didn’t know why she closed her lips over his finger and sucked. Knox groaned and she imagined herself on her knees and unzipping his pants. Last night, he’d focused on her pleasure. Leah should return the favor someday.

  What would it feel like, to hold his cock captive? To make him growl and groan for her?

  Leah could feel her cheeks heating up. What was wrong with her? Sex with Knox turned her into a whole different person. It made her feel wilder. Act bolder. She stopped sucking his finger and looked right at him. She couldn’t shake the question he’d asked her earlier that morning.

  “Is it so awful being with me?”

  Knox never looked so vulnerable, so out of character. For a moment there, she had power over him. Leah sensed that her leaving or staying would have a profound effect on him. It wasn’t a good feeling. The Knox she’d come to know, even for just two days, was commanding and controlling. Knox knew what he wanted and went for it without reservations.

  What made her so special to him?

  Leah wanted to find the answers.

  “I know what you’ll ask,” he said. Knox got off her and started putting back his clothes. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, she did the same.

  “I need a sense of normalcy.” Leah needed to speak her mind.

  Keeping quiet wasn’t her, or the woman Knox was madly in lust with. She still couldn’t bring herself to call what was between them love. It still seemed incomprehensible to her that she could’ve fallen for Knox so quickly.

  “What exactly are you asking for, kitten?” Knox started buttoning up his shirt, hiding that powerful and muscled body from her gaze.

  “I want to go back to work,” Leah insisted.

  “The diner? That place’s a shit hole.”

  She blinked. Leah shouldn’t be surprised Knox managed to dig information about her life. A man like him probably had numerous connections. She remembered him telling her that he ordered his men to bring her belongings to his apartment. So Knox probably knew where she lived as well. Used to live, Leah reminded herself.

  For a second, it hurt to breathe. Leah swayed, gripped the closest thing to her. Knox’s arm. He didn’t pull away. He only held her elbow, steadying her. The expression on his face remained a mystery. Leah couldn’t tell if he was furious, concerned for her, or a mixture of both.

  “I know it is,” Leah said, finding her tongue. “I’ll probably quit soon but not today. I can’t think when I’m here. You, this apartment, it’s all too overwhelming. I need to find something to do with my hands.”

  “No. I can’t risk you. I have numerous enemies who want my head, Leah. If they learn of you and they probably have—they wouldn’t hesitate to hunt you down and hurt you.”

  The frankness in his voice made her shiver. Knox wasn’t lying. He didn’t need to. She knew what he was, what he did. Knox was a criminal. Leah could never hope to change him. She wouldn’t bother.

  Truth be told, this dark side of him appealed to Leah or maybe she was just attracted to danger. It was thrilling being with someone like him. Before Knox, her life had been boring and mediocre, after all.

  “Knox, if you don’t let me in, if you keep making decisions about my life without my input—you’ll lose me.” She met his gaze unflinchingly. “You can keep me here, sure, but it’s as good as dying a little day by day.”

  Knox held her shoulders, not speaking. He clenched his jaw so hard, Leah was pretty sure she could hear him grinding his teeth. He was pissed but she knew he’d never strike her the way Larry did sometimes when he lost his temper.

  “If I allow you this freedom, you’ll stay put? By the end of the day, you’ll come straight back here?” Knox didn’t exactly phrase those words as
a question, more like a statement. An expectation of obedience.

  Leah never thought she was the kind of woman who’d be into domineering men. Somehow, clashing with Knox, defying him, and eventually, compromising and obeying him, thrilled her to pieces.

  “Yes,” she answered. “I know that place’s a shit hole, but I’ve worked there for almost three years. Thanks to my job, I managed to keep my apartment, to pay the bills.”

  “You’re a hard little worker, aren’t you, kitten?” Knox tipped her chin using his fingers.

  Leah’s heart started on a rapid rhythm. Her nipples tightened. She closed her legs, aware his cum was drying on her thigh. Knox had laid waste to her body, conquered it without resistance. In those few moments, he’d owned her, and she wanted him to do it all over again.

  “You looked after your brother your entire life. He never deserved your kindness or your devotion. It’s time someone else took care of you, someone who appreciates you,” he said.

  “You’re volunteering for the job?” she asked, teasing him. She wanted to lighten the mood. Leah was secretly pleased Knox showed her that he was capable of compromising. She knew it wasn’t easy for him to let go of his control.

  Knox’s gaze grew intense, serious. He cupped her cheek. His big hand was rough to the touch, but it also felt incredibly warm. “Ask me anything in the world and I’d give it to you. Anything but setting you free.”

  Knox pried his hand from her cheek, held them close to her lips, and blew at them. He blinked, startled. “I’ll never ask you that again. I’m here because I want to be. I don’t have a home to return to anymore, not after Larry betrayed me. Being with you is a good place as any until I figure out what I want to do next,” she answered.

  “Good enough for me. I need to head to work,” he said. Knox started to walk away from her, but he paused and turned to her again. “I forgot to mention. Conner will make sure you get to work safely.”

  “A bodyguard?” Leah asked, exasperated.

  “No arguments.” With that, Knox returned inside the apartment.