A Slave for the Milking Part One: Lovers and Lies Read online

  “You need to be more responsible,” he tells me. “Ester, get Ms. Hart something to eat. I’m willing to bet she skipped breakfast this morning.”

  Mrs. Reaves dashes out of the lobby, and I burn with embarrassment. What is up with this guy?

  “And as for you.” He forces me back down when I try to stand. “You’re going to sit here and eat whatever she brings. No fighting either. I won’t be held responsible for whatever damage you do yourself just because you’re too irresponsible to—”

  “Irresponsible?” My voice sounds shriller than I’d intended. “I am not irresponsible.”

  He rolls his eyes.

  “I mean it.” I jab a finger against his chest…his oh-so-hard chest. From the feel of him, I’m willing to bet he works out. He has to. His body might be hidden beneath that thousand dollar suit of his, but as close as we are, I can still feel his muscles pressed against me. Those lean, lithe muscles, so strong, so…

  I shake my head.

  Damn, where did that come from?

  My core clenches, and I have to fight to get my thoughts back in order. What was I saying again? I can’t remember. All I can focus on is the throbbing beneath my legs and the steady tingling in my breasts.

  My breasts…

  For some reason my thoughts turn to Nikki, and I remember those damn pictures, all those fucking pictures, and I…I…

  “Hey now.” A hand cups my cheek. “Easy. I wasn’t trying to upset you, okay? Just calm down.”

  Calm down? What does he mean by calm down?

  He lifts a thumb to my eye and gently wipes away the tears I hadn’t even known I’d been crying. Oh, God, am I really crying? I try to force myself to stop, but the harder I fight it, the more the tears come. All the desperation, the sadness, the…everything just wells up all at once, and before I know it, I’m choking on a lifetime’s worth of bottled-up emotions.

  “Hey.” His voice is gentler than before. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

  He pulls me into his arms, and I don’t fight him. I can’t. My whole body suddenly feels so overwhelmingly…off. I can’t explain it. I usually have such tight control over my emotions, but now…now everything feels so exposed, almost like my soul’s been laid bare and I…I…I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know if I want to know what to do. Thinking feels so hard right now, too hard. So instead, I just cry silently against his shoulder while my Good Samaritan rubs my back and tells me everything’s fine.

  Oh, God, if only everything really was fine.

  By the time I finally get a hold of myself again, Mrs. Reaves is standing in front of me with a saucer full of bagels and a fresh cup of juice.

  “Here you go, Ms. Hart.” She puts the dish on the table in front of me. “And Mr. Evers, Dr. Stahl is already waiting for you in her office. If you’d like, I can see to Ms. Hart while you—”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” My tall, blonde, and handsome stranger tightens his arms around me. “You can tell Maretta I’ll see her when I’m finished here.”

  Mrs. Reaves’ lips tighten. “But Mr. Evers…”

  “Either Maretta can learn to be patient or she can learn to make it on her own without my company’s funding. Got it?”

  Mrs. Reaves nods quickly before leaving. Beside me, Mr. Evers smirks.

  “I always said being rich had its advantages.” He grabs a bagel off the plate before holding it up to my mouth. “Now, I want you to eat, and I want you to talk.”

  “Talk?”

  He makes me take a bite before he’ll say anymore.

  “Something’s obviously bothering you,” he says. “I want to know what it is.”

  I scrub at the tears still gathering in my lashes. “I’m not…I’m not upset. I’m just…”

  Exhausted. Terrified. Emotionally drained.

  A hundred different adjectives jump to mind, but I can’t speak a one of them. I don’t know this man, and he doesn’t know me. Other than passing curiosity, I have no idea why he should give even a fraction of a damn about why my life feels like it’s crumbling down around me, and I really can’t afford to clue him in.

  His deep blue eyes probe my own, and I look away nervously.

  “I’m really okay.” More tears trickle down my cheek, and I swipe at them between tiny bites of bagel. “I don’t even know why I’m crying. Not really.”

  He raises a single, pale eyebrow. “You know, you really are a terrible liar, Ms. Hart. All I want to do is help.”

  “And all I want you to do is mind your own business, Mr…”

  “Evers.” His lips quirk up once more. “Jacob Evers. And you certainly aren’t the first to say that.”

  I have to fight not to smile.

  He talks to me after that. He makes me drink another cup of juice while he tells me about himself. He’s a young CEO apparently, the sole-owner of some kind of electronics firm. He’s smart and successful and charming, and so attentive it’s almost embarrassing, but no matter how hard I try to concentrate on what he’s telling me, my mind keeps wandering. I keep imagining those hands of his tugging at my skirt. I can picture him pinning me to the couch while he slowly unfastens every button on my shirt one by one by one by…

  I suck in a quick breath.

  God, what is wrong with me? I’m here to find Nikki, not lust over some perfect stranger. I have to stay focused. I have to keep my libido in check, but right now it feels so hard. My nipples are like pebbles beneath my shirt, and my pussy…

  “Jacob, so good to see you again.”

  A gravelly voice interrupts my musings.

  I jerk to attention just in time to see an older woman—forties, perhaps? Maybe fifties?—striding across the lobby towards us. Her dark hair is pulled into a bun. Eyes as green as my own glitter under the fluorescent lighting, and when she leans forward to shake my hand, I catch the name printed across her ID badge.

  Dr. Maretta Stahl. The founder, CEO, and very bitch Carter warned me to watch out for. She’s the one in charge of this company. She’s the one who tricked Nikki into enrolling in one of her damned clinical trials. And she’s the one who won’t let her leave.

  “Whatever you do, be careful,” Carter had said. “Stahl isn’t someone to trifle with. She has friends in high places—very high places—and they protect her just like she protects her company. So don’t tell anyone what you’re doing. Don’t go to the cops. Don’t go to the press. Don’t go to your family. Just come to me. Only come to me.”

  I force myself to smile as the woman reaches out to shake my hand.

  “And I see you’ve brought a guest with you this time, haven’t you Jacob.” She smiles down at me. “Are you well enough to take the tour, my dear, or would you rather wait in the lobby?”

  “Oh, I’m well enough,” I say before Jacob can get a word in. “I’m just fine, really. And I want to come. Ever since I heard about your company, I’ve been so looking forward to stealing a peek inside.”

  I expect Jacob to out me, but he doesn’t. He just cocks his head to the side ever so slightly. He smiles along as Dr. Stahl drones on about bottom lines and investment opportunities and all kinds of dribble I don’t care about.

  And then he takes my hand as we step into the elevator.

  “We’ll start at the top and work our way down,” Stahl says. “And don’t worry if you have questions, my dear,” she tells me. “By the time we’re done, I promise you’ll have more answers than you can stomach. But as for now…” She presses a button, and the doors slowly close in front of us. “Let the fun begin.”

  Two

  “And this is our primary pharmacognosy lab. If you have an interest in marine life, Ms. Hart, we have some new specimens from the Philippines still waiting to be assayed. I could show you—” Her phone rings. “Excuse me a moment, won’t you?”

  She answers her phone and steps out of the room. Beside me, Jacob examines the lab with thinly veiled disinterest.

  “Wasted resources,” he says. “Even if you could patent a natural product—which you can’t—how could you ever hope to find anything useful in all this sludge?”

  He holds up a beaker of what Stahl had claimed was diced and shredded Pacific sponge. I don’t remember the species, and I don’t care. I don’t care about anything on this tour really, except for getting out of it, of course.

  I pull at my collar.

  Is it just me or is the room getting hotter? Already I’ve unbuttoned my shirt far more than I should. My cleavage gapes up at me, but I’m too distracted to care. I need to find Nikki. I keep repeating the words over and over in my mind, but my body just feels so strange. I feel so strange. Ever since I entered this building, ever since Mrs. Reaves gave me that first cup of coffee I’ve…

  Wait a minute. The coffee…

  My thoughts disappear as hands grab me from behind. Jacob pulls me against his body. His arms latch around my waist. I suck in a sharp, surprised gasp as he pulls me into what has to be one of the most obscene embraces I’ve ever been involved in and forces me into a nearby corner.

  “What are you doing?” My words come out all high-pitched and squeaky. “You can’t—”

  “What?” he asks. “Take advantage of a stranger?”

  My cheeks burn along with something else, something naughtier and nicer and...

  Get a grip, Em. You’re here to find your friend not fuck the first man you lay eyes on.

  But the more I think about it, the more I realize I do want to fuck him. Pressed against him as I am, I can easily feel the hard shaft straining against the inside of his pants. All I need to do is reach forward. Just a quick flick of his zipper and he’ll be free, and I’ll…I’ll…

  I’ll need to get my head on straight if I hope to stand a chance of ever finding Nikki.

  Jacob leans in closer. His lips graze my neck, but he doesn’t kiss me. Why doesn’t he kiss me?

  “There are cameras everywhere,” he whispers into my ear. “The room isn’t bugged, but I know for a fact the security chief can read lips, so just play along.”

  Play along? How many times did Carter ask me to do the same thing? Only with Carter, we weren’t pretending to be bad. We just were.

  Jacob moves in closer. He brushes back my hair with one hand, and his hips press into my own. I squirm. I know I should push him away, but…but I don’t want to. One arm holds me tight while the other cups my chin in his hand. He has control of me. I’m as good as his possession, and damn it, I like it. I like it far more than I should.

  Without thinking, my thighs tighten around his hips. My core quivers. I look up into those deep blue eyes of his, so intent and focused, and I can’t help it. Heat blossom deep within me, down in the most shameful of places, and I shiver.

  Why do I always shiver?

  Damn it, Em, you can examine your own fucked up sexual urges later. Right now you have to focus. You have to think about Nikki. Remember?

  My conscience gives me the solid ass-kicking I need, and I’m back in control again.

  Or at least as in control as I can be when I’m being restrained by this blonde-haired demigod.

  “So,” he finally says, his lips brushing across my neck as he drags out his every word. “Are you ready to tell me what’s really going on, or do we have to continue with the charade?”

  His hand settles upon my thigh, and my heart beats even faster.

  “I…I…”

  I don’t know what to say. To be honest, I hadn’t really thought my plan out all that much. When I weaseled my way on to this tour, it was more of a wing-it-and-hope-for-the-best kind of venture, not one with contingency plans and back-stories and all that other good stuff the professionals use.

  So what the hell do I tell him?

  “First you practically fall into my arms,” he whispers. “Then you break into tears, sneak on this tour, and taunt me for hours with these.” His fingers move up to the long line of my cleavage. “If I was a betting man, I’d say you were after something, Ms. Hart.”

  His knuckles brush across my breast, and I suck in a sharp breath. Even with my shirt and bra between us, his touch feels so good, too good. He traces the outline of my pebbled teat with only a single thumb, and without thinking, I moan low and deep.

  Damn, did that sound…did that really come out of me?

  “You certainly are a tempting little thing,” he says. “And quite the little actress. Tell me, do you really like what I’m doing, or is this just part of the act, too?”

  He pinches my nipple hard, so hard I almost melt into his arms.

  God, that feels so, so good. Everything about this man feels so good. Everything about him makes me want to…want to…

  “Stop.” I almost choke on the word. “Stop. I…I can’t. Not here. Not now.”

  It takes all my self-control not to wrap my legs around his waist and demand him to fuck me right here, right now, only…only I can’t. Nikki’s here somewhere. She’s counting on me to find her, and if I want to find her, I have to stay focused. I have to stay strong. Nikki needs me to be strong.

  But it’s so hard to be strong when temptation is standing so nearby. And it’s so hard to focus when my brain keeps buzzing and my body…my body feels so strange. Ever since I came here, I’ve felt so…so…

  “Odd,” Jacob says. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard your type say no.”

  “My type?”

  He lifts an eyebrow. “Don’t be coy, Ms. Hart. We both know you’re here to get information. The question is, what kind of information are you here to get?”

  I swallow hard.

  His hand moves from my breast up to my throat. He tips back my chin, and I can’t help but stare up at his eyes, those beautiful blue eyes.

  “So why don’t you answer my question.” His breath slides down my neck, sending waves of heat all the way down to my quivering core. “Just what is it you plan to get from me?”

  My brow furrows. “From you?”

  He shakes his head.

  “Honestly, Ms. Hart, you don’t think I’m that big of a fool, do you?” He leans forward. His lips press against my jaw, and I swear I can feel them curling into a smile. “A beautiful young woman, distraught and helpless, just happens to enter the lobby right before me? Really? I’ll give your employers credit. They certainly did their homework. They knew just what kind of bait to use. Everything from that dark hair to those green eyes to that wonderful little figure of yours is just about perfect, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enticed.”

  He exhales deeply. More heat flows down my collarbone and across my chest. My heart beats even faster.

  Did he just say I was perfect?

  “But no matter how gorgeous you are, I’m not that easily swindled. If you’re here as some kind of corporate spy—”

  “Spy?” I blurt out. “I’m not a spy.”

  He leans back just enough to look me in the eye. “Ms. Hart, I’ll only warn you once. I don’t tolerate liars.”

  “I’m not a liar,” I say. “And I’m not a spy. I’m just me, and I’m just trying to…trying to…”

  I choke on my words. My thoughts turn back to Nikki, back to those pictures, and I…I…

  I’m not used to this…this helplessness. I’m supposed to know what to do. I always know what to do. Every day I get up at 7 am. I make breakfast. I do dishes. I pack my lunch and call to make sure my mom has taken all her antidepressants. I leave home by 7:45, go to class from 8:00 to noon, then put in eight hours working the checkouts at Save-A-Buck before coming home, crashing, and starting it all over again the next day.

  That’s my life. That’s been my boring, hopeless, never-ending life ever since I left Carter. Or at least that’s what it was before Nikki ran off and got herself abducted or kidnapped or whatever in the hell you’re supposed to call whatever’s happened to her.

  Before I even know it, sobs choke my throat. I try to push Jacob away, but he won’t move and he won’t let me go. He just stares down at me with those unreadable blue eyes and I…I can’t t ake it. I press my face into his jacket and cry like a baby all over again.

  I’m embarrassed, ashamed, and more than a little frightened, but even though he has every right to shove me away, Jacob doesn’t move. He stiffens at first. I’m sure he thinks it’s all an act, but as the minutes wear on, I feel his arms circle around me once more. He pulls me closer, and I don’t fight. I don’t want to fight. I’m so tired of being the responsible one. I’m so tired of figuring out what I’m supposed to do. I just want someone to sweep in and take care of me for a change. I want to be rescued. God, is it so bad to want to be rescued?

  Jacob rocks me back and forth until my sobs slowly fade.

  “Quiet now,” he tells me. “Enough crying. It hurts too much to see this face cry.”

  He strokes my cheek, and slowly, so slowly, I regain control of myself.

  “Now,” he says as soon as my sobs have disappeared. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  And God only knows why, but I do.

  I tell him all about Nikki. I tell him about how she's my best friend, how she used to be my roommate, and how I haven’t heard a word from her ever since she left home to find herself nearly three months ago. I tell him about Carter. I tell him about the phone call and the instructions and the warnings, and I kick my own ass for saying it all, but I don’t stop. I don’t shut up until he knows everything I know and all that’s left is to see what he’ll do.

  God, what will he do?

  I steal a peak at his face, and he’s frowning. Faint wrinkles claw at the corners of his eyes. Staring into space like that, he looks far older than he actually is. If I had to guess, I’d put him at thirty, maybe thirty-five tops, but from the seriousness of his expression, he might as well be ancient. He mulls over my story while his fingers tap against my spine and my gut ties itself in knots.

  “And you’re sure she's here?” he says.

  I nod. “Carter gave me this exact address. He said she signed up for some new clinical trial, and now these bastards won’t let her go. They’re holding her downstairs in some basement laboratory—Sector C, he called it—and I’ve got to get to her. I’ve got to go now before they do something to her, before—”