Free For His Keeping (For His Pleasure, Book 3) by Kelly Favor Page B

you this would happen last night,” Nicole said. “Kane warned you that if you didn’t agree to a partnership, he would destroy your company and you along with it.”
    “I know,” Red agreed. “I just underestimated how fast he’d do the job. It’s basically game over. Now I just wait for my pink slip.” He laughed again, shook his head. “Kind of a funny way for everything to end.”
    “Will this ruin you financially?” Nicole asked.
    He looked up at her. “And what if it does? Will that change anything between us?”
    “Of course it wouldn’t. I don’t give a shit about your money. I love you.”
    He stared at her, as if not trusting what she’d just said. “You’re absolutely certain of that?”
    Nicole stood up and walked toward him, her chin held high. “Who do you think I am?” she said, her eyes focused on him, standing her ground completely. “My father is a mechanic. My mother works at a tiny little office supplies store in upstate New York. I never had much money and I don’t care if I ever do. As long as I can eat and have a roof over my head and someone who I love that loves me back—I couldn’t care less whether or not I own a private jet.”
    “God, that was sexy,” he said, leaning in and kissing her hard on the mouth. She met him with just as much enthusiasm, and soon his hand had reached into her bathrobe and was touching her, pulling her closer to him.
    “I love you,” she said.
    “I love you too,” he told her. “And by the way, even if I lose my company and my job, I still have forty-nine percent of Jameson International. With a buyout, we’re going to be very financially secure for a long time to come.”
    “Whatever,” she shrugged, and then his tongue was in her mouth, and he’d pushed her against the wall, opening her robe entirely. His hands ran up and down her torso, as if he couldn’t get enough of her. His mouth was on her neck and breasts, and then he was licking her pussy, as she stood and her legs flexed and shivered.
    She cried out once, twice—and then she lost herself in his touch, in his kiss, lost in such a way that she knew she’d been found.
    When it was over, Red told her he needed to go down to the AK offices for yet another meeting, and crack some skulls over losing their number one client to Kane Wright.
    “Should I come with you?” she asked him.
    He looked at her. “Honestly, it’s not even worth your time, Nicole. Go out and see the sights. Or better yet, stay in the hotel and relax. They have a full day spa downstairs. Make use of it. I’ll be back for dinner.”
    She shrugged. The truth was, although she’d have gone to AK if he’d needed her to, she was more than happy to stay back at the hotel and just enjoy some peace and quiet.
    After he’d left, Nicole lounged in the room, watching a German-subtitled Raiders of The Lost Ark on TV. A few hours later, she napped, and then ordered more room service. This time, it was a fruit plate and a tuna salad sandwich.
    At about two o’clock in the afternoon, her hotel room phone started ringing. She stared at it, wondering who it could be. Perhaps the concierge? Maybe something urgent, she thought. She decided it was best to answer, and so Nicole picked up the phone and gave a soft “hello.”
    “I thought you might be in,” came the even, deep reply from the familiar voice. It was Kane Wright—his accent was unique, and completely unmistakable. “I hope you don’t think it rude of me to call like this,” he said.
    Nicole’s hand shook. “Red’s not here,” she said. “You should try his cell phone.”
    “I didn’t call for Red.”
    She took a long, shaky inhalation. “I don’t wish to speak to you.”
    “You and I both know that Red is making a terrible mistake,” he said softly.
    “And I have a feeling you’d like to protect him if you could.”
    “How Red chooses to do business is his decision, not mine,” she replied, as evenly as she could, given her nerves.
    “But