Profit & Lace: A Dark MMF Romance Read online

  Chapter Nineteen

  Derek

  I'm staring at my spreadsheets, trying to make sense of the numbers, but if I'm honest, I'm having a hard time staying focused. I've always been a numbers guy, so this is throwing me for a fucking loop.

  Images of Eliza and Carter repeatedly flash through my mind, but today I'm supposed to be monitoring Stackford Capital's accounts, and I promised myself that I wasn't going to let anything distract me.

  I need to stay focused. I repeat this like today's mantra.

  But no sooner do I tell myself this, does my mind begin to wander … yet again.

  I throw my head back, running my fingers through my hair.

  Would you fucking believe me if I told you that every rounded number reminds me of Eliza's curves? Because they do.

  The number 3 looks like her perfect ass, and my mind flashes to us fucking, my mouth tracing the rounded edges of each one of her ass cheeks, her skin prickling beneath the velvet touch of my tongue, sweat pooling on her neck … our breathing ragged.

  The number 8 reminds me of her firm, round breasts … her nipples delicately pinched between my teeth. I can remember the moment my mouth clamped down on her nipples, and how she had sucked in air like her life depended on it. The entire room melted away, and it was just us, and our fucking and … Carter.

  At this point, I have to re-evaluate everything I know to be true about myself. The Derek Stackford I've always thought of myself as—a sort of stoic lady's man who's cock got hard with every new multi-million dollar deal he made on Wall Street—has been turned on it's fucking head.

  When we fucked … all three of us together in the same moment, sweaty and feral in lust, our muscles taut and twitching with an energy that's almost indescribable, the smell of sex filling the room, I realized something: with both of them in my life, everything feels complete, in a fucking surreal sort of way. It's something that transcends all of the financial successes I've had in my life. It goes beyond money and power. It's something I found that I didn't even know I was seeking. Would you believe me if I said it felt like … fate?

  And how can I even begin to describe what it felt like for me to leave that room? The magnetism of both and Eliza and Carter were palpable. Buttoning my shirt, replacing my tie, slipping my feet into my shoes … with every action, all I wanted to do was to climb back into her arms, and slip into the thickness of desire that seeped in between all of our bodies.

  I wanted to call off every meeting, and clear my calendar for a week. I wanted to call my secretary and have her book a room on a remote island, where I could live out every fantasy swirling around in my head, without being bothered by work, or the realities of our daily lives. Money isn't the obstacle; it's the logic of it all.

  I have to tell myself to get a grip. It's a slippery slope—one minute you're wrapping your arms around the woman of your dreams, and the next, your life is spiraling out of control faster than a racecar skidding off its track in a pillow of smoke and flame.

  I know how these things work.

  Is my life already spinning out of control? I wonder to myself.

  Fuck.

  I shake my head as if it were an Etch-a-Sketch, and try to wipe these images clean from my mind.

  Stay focused. Stay focused. Stay focused, I chant, as if repeating it will make it any easier.

  I lean back into the leather of my chair and sigh. I drum my fingers against my desk. I gaze out of the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office, across the city skyline.

  No amount of daydreaming will bring Eliza into my office. I can't magically will her here right now, no matter how badly I want to bend her over my desk and fuck her, or taste her mouth on mine.

  I suck in a deep breath. These Excel files aren't going anywhere, I mumble. I better start adding formulas into these cells. It's slow going … my eyes take in each number, each cell … but it takes my mind a while to catch up with it all. I'm having a hard time deciphering the equations and financial projections. Let's face it; my mind just isn't functioning properly.

  Just then, the door to my office opens without warning. There's no knock, no greeting.

  I look up and see two women saunter into my office. They slither in as silent as snakes. It's Mandy and Wanda. I haven't thought about Mandy since the last time I deep throated her for Wanda's camera.

  Mandy walks over, her hips swaying beneath a tight, black pencil skirt and her tits squeezed together in a blouse tighter than a homeless man's budget. She gives me a devilish smile and sits on my lap, flipping her auburn hair to one side and lacing one finger under the knot of my tie.

  She smells good, but that's about the only nice thing I can say about her.

  "What do you want?" I ask.

  Wanda walks over to my desk and leans in close. I watch as a strand of her raven black hair catches the sunlight and falls, finally settling on a stack of my papers on my desk—her blackness a stark contrast to the white sheets.

  "You haven't held your end of the bargain," she says, her crimson lips part and curl into a smile, devoid of any warmth.

  I knew this moment was coming.

  "I'm working on it," I reply.

  Wanda's eyes narrow into slits. "I can ruin your career. Everything you've worked toward can vanish—poof—with a few phone calls. It's that simple."

  "You've made that point clear already," I say.

  "Have I? Because from what I can tell, you still haven't gotten Eliza to invest in Red Lion Aviation," Wanda hisses.

  Mandy is still sitting in my lap, and my legs are growing numb. I shift in my seat and she brings her free hand to my hair, raking her nails against my scalp.

  "That's enough," I say, moving her off my lap. She stands up and straightens her skirt, and I look back at Wanda. "I told you, I have it handled. It's in the works."

  There' a moment of pregnant pause as Wanda eyes me suspiciously.

  Then she breaks the silence.

  "You have 24 hours or else this all goes to press."

  I look at her, the silent realizing swirling in my mind—now I have to ruin Eliza, the woman I'm falling for.

  Chapter Twenty

  Carter

  “Carter, there’s someone here to see you,” Cheryl says through the intercom, and the tone of her voice couldn’t be any clearer: whoever it is, it’s someone I’ll want to see.

  “Who is it?” I ask her, but the answer to my own question takes shape in my mind fast enough: it’s either Eliza or Derek.

  “Derek Stackford,” she says, and I smile to myself. See? I told you; Cheryl and I have such a relationship that I can take such guesses and be right about them. I close my laptop lid and, adjusting the knot on my tie, I clear my throat.

  “Send him in.” With that, I press down on the blinking red button and shut down the connection. A few seconds later and the door to my office swings open, and Derek steps in with that confident gait of his, tailored Armani suit like always, and carrying a small beige folder under his arm.

  “Derek,” I say, getting up to my feet and offering him a casual nod. He walks toward me and takes my hand in his, shaking it.

  “Carter,” he greets me back, running his fingers through his red tie as he sits down on the chair facing my desk. “Sorry to drop in unannounced,” he says casually, looking around my office as if he’s trying to avoid my gaze. No wonder—after what happened in Eliza’s office I’d be surprised if he didn’t feel slightly awkward. Hell, I feel the same. I mean, it’s not like I’m in the habit of sharing a woman I want. Especially with a man like Derek, someone who I thought of as my rival—be it in matters of business or in matters of love.

  Thing is, that moment the three of us shared makes all my past rivalry with Derek seem a little silly. As stupid as it may sound, the three of us made something beautiful. And yeah, I know I’m talking about sex, but even so… I never felt something quite like it. It bordered on the religious. It was a moment of true unbridled passion, the kind of thing that takes more than two
people to create. Somehow, Eliza used the rivalry between Derek and I, and turned it into something different, something almost unbelievable.

  “Don’t worry about that,” I tell him as his eyes finally meet mine. “Do you need something from me?”

  “Yeah, as a matter of fact I do,” he whispers, still in that casual tone of his. An almost too casual tone, as a matter of fact; in a way, it seems like he’s trying to hide something behind a facade of coolness.

  “Shoot.”

  “I want to run something by you,” he continues, placing down the folder he had under his arm on the desk and pushing it toward me.

  “What’s this?” I ask him, picking up the folder and reading the red letters engraved on the front: RED LION AVIATION.

  “This is an opportunity,” he says, his casual tone now turning into a serious one, his words now cold and calculated. “I’ve been holding onto this for some time now, but… After what the three of us went through, I think it’s time to bury the hatchet.”

  “I agree,” I whisper, opening the folder and running my eyes across the first page, a legal briefing detailing the operations of the Red Lion airline. “I just don’t see what Red Lion Aviation has to do with it.”

  “I think that, uh… This could interest you. Red Lion is a growing company, and I think it might be something you might be interested in adding to your portfolio. More so, I think it’d be a great company for Eliza to start investing in.”

  “I see,” I continue noncommittally, turning page after page and allowing my eyes to wander over the spreadsheets detailing just exactly what kind of operation Red Lion runs, and the numbers involved. On the surface, it seems like an interesting company, but there’s something in these numbers that just doesn’t add up … and when I look up from the folder and meet Derek’s gaze, an anxious expression on his face, I realize that something’s very wrong with this picture.

  “This company is garbage,” I finally say, closing the folder abruptly and throwing it down on top of the table. I lean forward, locking my eyes on Derek’s, and lower my voice. “Why did you come to me with this?”

  Derek has made a name for himself with all his brash investments and the amount of risk he’s willing to take, but not even someone with his profile would be stupid enough to invest in a company like Red Lion Aviation. Even with nothing more than a casual glance at the few documents he offered me, I can tell right away that RLA is a house of cards about to crumble. And that’s if I’m being optimistic about it because the numbers I saw on these spreadsheets might be translated as something more insidious … something like embezzlement. And, despite what I feel (or felt) toward Derek, I know that he isn’t the kind of man who would be involved in a scheme like that.

  Derek looks at me in silence, and I can see the gears turning inside his head. Getting up from my seat, I walk across the room and close the door, locking it behind me.

  “What’s going on, Derek? There’s something very wrong about this deal, and I want to know what it is.” I move closer to him and, without even thinking about what I’m doing, I lay both my hands on his shoulders. Reaching for my right hand, he grabs it and then looks at me over his shoulder.

  Once again, he keeps his silence, and I notice beads of sweat start pooling on his forehead. Then he just exhales sharply and leans back, running one hand through his hair.

  “What’s going on, uh…?” he finally starts, going up and looking me in the eye. “What’s going on is that I’m fucked.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Derek

  I sit down on Carter’s couch with a sigh, and run my fingers through my hair. He’s right I would never push a company like Red Lion without a motive. I should have known Carter would be smart enough to pick that up. Fuck, Wanda. I need to come clean not just for myself, but for Eliza and maybe for Carter too. I take a deep breath. I’m always in control and admitting I’m not sure as hell isn’t easy. As if sensing my discomfort Carter sits down on the couch next to me, close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off his body. Somehow it makes this easier.

  “Wanda’s blackmailing me,” I say. It’s like a weight has been lifted off me and the words hang heavy in the air.

  “I knew that bitch had to be mixed up in this shit somehow,” Carter replies. “What does she have on you?”

  “My cock in an intern’s mouth,” I say and it’s almost laughable that blowjob would be the thing that could topple my empire.

  I look at Carter’s face and can tell he’s thinking the same thing.

  “There’s got to be more,” he says.

  “An intern who is willing to say I coerced her into sucking my cock,” I exhale and lean back on the couch relieved to have an ally I know I can trust, against Wanda, and I realize that I do trust Carter.

  He looks at me, his eyes boring into my mine. “We’ll fix this. We’ll nail that bitch’s ass to the wall for good.”

  “I just don’t want Eliza to get caught up in this,” I say.

  “It’s a little late for that,” Carter says, but there is no blame or malice behind his words, just a statement of fact.

  “I know,” I pause, and think to myself I may as well put it all on the line. “Eliza means everything to me. I’m not going to lose her.”

  “We’re not going to lose her,” Carter says resting his hand on my thigh. “I love her too.”

  I know he cares about Eliza as much as I do. If it were any other man I’d fight him for her. Hell, I’ve lost count of the times I’ve fought Carter in the boardroom. I respond to him on a visceral level, and he’s always been able to get under my skin. After everything that’s happened between the three of us, Carter is getting under my skin in an entirely different way. Something’s changed between us and I know Carter can sense it too. The warm weight of Carter’s hand on my thigh and the memory of the way he looked with his cock buried in Eliza’s pussy sends the blood rushing to my cock. One look at the bulge in Carter’s pants and the lust in his eyes confirms my suspicions. He wants this just as much as I do.

  “You’re not going to lose me either,” Carter says leaning in toward me.

  I meet him halfway. Our mouths crash together, Carter's lips parting underneath mine as I grab his shirt and pull him closer to me. The scent of Carter, notes of wood and spice and something else uniquely his, surround me. I savor Carter the same way I would another lover with every one of my senses. I run my tongue along the seam of Carter’s lips and he parts for me enthusiastically. Neither of us is second guessing this. How could we when it feels so right? Hell it feels perfect the same way having our sweet Eliza spread out between us did.

  Carter’s hands tangle in my hair and I plunge my tongue deeper into his mouth. Carter kisses like he does everything else, hard and ruthless. I can definitely get on board with that. I like it a little rough and I know Carter does too.

  I kiss him, hard and deep like we won’t ever need to breath again. I never thought I would want another man, but fuck I need Carter. Desire surges through my veins for him in a way it has for no man. As always Carter battles me for dominance, his tongue dueling with mine for control until finally the need to breathe wins out and we both pull back flushed and panting.

  I yank Carter’s head back and let my teeth and tongue trace the vein pulsing in his neck. He lets out a low moan from deep in his throat and I let my teeth scrape a little bit harder.

  “Fuck,” he hisses.

  “Oh we’ll get to that,” I whisper, my teeth grazing his ear and my cock gets impossibly harder at the thought of Carter’s big cock inside me.

  I want him inside of me. I bring my lips back to Carter’s, kissing him deeply once more. It’s all instinct driven by lust and desire setting my every sense aflame. I slide one hand up Carter’s thigh not stopping until I reach the hard bulge in his pants. I yank down Carter’s zipper.

  “I fucking want you,” I breathe, “and you want me too.” I say trailing my hand over the hard length of Carter’s cock. Slowly, and teasin
gly stroking him through the thin fabric of his boxer briefs just enough friction to be a tease. I force myself to keep the pace of my strokes a slow tease, enjoying the feeling of Carter’s cock growing harder in my hand.

  “Fuck,” he breathes, “I need you.”

  Hearing those words fall from Carter’s kiss-swollen mouth makes my cock twitch in my pants. Carter pushes me back against the couch and straddles me rubbing our cocks together. We both groan—fuck if it doesn’t feel amazing. I reach down to pull down Carter’s boxer briefs, just as he reaches for my belt. The only sound in the office is the sound of our breath and the metallic slide of zippers being pulled down.

  I lift my hips with Carter still straddling them and he yanks my pants and boxer briefs down … my cock finally springs free. Carter wraps his hand around it letting his thumb graze the head of it. I push my hips up, trying to force him to move his hand faster, but Carter pulls back. Of course he’s a fucking tease.

  I slip his boxer briefs down to just beneath his ass. His cock is not only rock hard, it's leaking precum. I slide my fingers through the liquid pooling at the head of his cock and watch as his eyes light up with desire as I spread his precum over my cock. I then bring those fingers to my lips, licking them and getting my first taste of Carter. Carter surges forward and our lips meet again. His hands tangle in my hair as our erect cocks slide against each other. Desire shoots through my veins and I grab his hips with my strong fingers digging into hard, sculpted muscle. I thrust my hips, and the friction is just right, and so fucking good. Carter matches my rhythm and we thrust against each other. His forehead presses against mine, and our pace becomes more frantic. Carter bites down on my lower lip, and I dig my fingers into his flesh so deeply I know there will be a bruise. Both of our cocks are slick and shiny, covered with our precum. Our pace is becoming frenzied and I can hear that telltale stutter in Carter’s breath and feel the heat pooling at the base of my own spine and shooting through my veins.