Warning: The Blackstone series is a dark Erotic Romance for adults 18 and over. The language used in these books are for matured adults. If you are looking for something to read after Fifty Shades of Gray don’t look any farther.

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Prologue

 

Alex read the yearning in Max’s handsome face, which was awash with dangerous contradictions. His smoldering eyes sent electrical waves caressing her body. She felt the heat rise from within and settle deep in her. He needed her mouth. He needed to disappear into Alex. He needed to disappear into her body. Her mouth was the conduit where all his tension flowed, but until she found out the truth about the dead girl, she had to keep him calm, and the best way she knew was to give him the pleasure he craved.

Alex’s lush eyelashes lifted. She gazed on Max’s open shirt, which revealed his hard, rippling abs. Her hand caressed each one. He was her guilty pleasure—her temptation in black.

She reached and held Max’s hard manhood in her hands, and a smile crept across his face. His thumb slid over her lips. Knowing how his body would react, she teased it by circling the head of his shaft around her open mouth. Blowing soft, warm air, she watched Max’s eyes flutter and close. With a slight parting of his lips, a wisp of air shuttled out. “Yes, yes, you know what to do to me,” he whispered. Her hand moved the length of him, up and down.

Alex opened her mouth wide. Guiding it in slowly, she sucked it, harder. His eyes remained shut. He was in a world of his own—blissful sexual peace. He mumbled something low and Alex couldn’t hear his words clearly. She thought he whispered, “I love you, I love you…Rebecca,” or was it Alex? She felt his arousal; his penis was increasing in her mouth. It was getting longer and wider. He pushed his hips into her, and she reached for him and sank her hands into his hard buttocks. She felt it flex and tighten. Leaning her face over him, she felt as if she couldn’t take another inch when to her surprise the muscles in her throat relaxed.

With her hands massaging his buttocks and her mouth clamped firmly around him, Alex sucked harder, driving him into a world of pleasure and heights of ecstasy. She was taking everything from him, and tried as he may, he couldn’t resist her. She had taken control of his sexual life and without her, what would he do? No woman had ever satisfied him as completely as Alex.

The thought of having another woman besides Alex—he refused to entertain the idea.

Alex tasted a hint of warm fluid on her tongue, and she knew that he was over the edge. She was controlling this man who was used to being in charge. She was now the puppet master and it felt great with a man like him—a handsome sexual animal.

Drawing her mouth in with one hard suck, his body contorted, and Max let out a primal sound of erotic ecstasy and his eyes opened like the shutter of a camera. His gaze locked on her. Warm juice flowed into Alex’s mouth. He breathed in and out. His chest moved up and down. She met his gaze, and her eyes closed, and with a slight raise of her head, she swallowed.

It was a challenging gesture. And he knew it. He was aware that she was in control.

Alex’s eyes opened, holding his glance. Her body was excited from the pleasure she had given Max. With eyes wide and his breathing heavy, Max said, “Damn, Alex, you took my orgasm from me when I wasn’t ready. This has never happened to me before.” A mischievous grin escaped from Alex—eyes sparkling with warmth and achievement, enjoying her power.

She thought, there is always the first time for everything, my dangerous, handsome Mr. Black.

Chapter 1

 

“Why did you do that, Alex? You knew I wasn’t ready. What’s wrong with you?” He glanced down at her. “Are you becoming dangerous to me?” Max’s voice heightened with cool restraint, which caused the hair on Alex’s arm to rise. He sounded like a wounded animal. How could something be wrong, you handsome, crazy fuck? I just read that your fiancée has been found strangled, and you didn’t tell me about your twin brother. How could anything be wrong? I’m not the one lying around one of your apartments dead. I’m perfectly happy.

Voicing her thoughts was not an option since she was riding in his limo with darkened windows, and Max still had an erection, and the doors were locked, and his bodyguard/driver, a burly Asian named Shu, who resembled a ninja warrior and dressed in black, never as much as spoke or smiled at her. With an out-of-control sex addict and a ninja warrior, there wasn’t much she could do or say.

Concentrating was also out of the question. Her heart beat so loud that she thought she was being strangled by her own fears. The newspaper’s headline screamed in her head: Fiancée of Maximilian Blackstone: Strangled.

“Nothing is wrong, Max. Why do you ask?” she murmured glancing up into his to die for face from her kneeling position. She forced a wide smile. I’m in the right position for praying. Praying that my judgment wasn’t as flawed as I think, and that I didn’t select a murderer to father my child. I guess I was nothing but a desperate, eligible, eager, foolish young women.

Max leaned in Alex’s direction and extended his hand to caress her hair. She flinched. He saw her movement but nothing registered.

 

She sat beside Max, gazing coldly into his eyes, never losing her focus.

“So you’re leaving me crazy wanting your body,” he said, fixated on Alex’s plump lips. “You know I have this problem with sleep.” Take some Excedrin PM, you sexy, horny fuck.

“Do you have another man? Maybe it’s my brother that you want, Alex?”

“I’m not going to answer that because it’s madness on your part.”

“You know I need you more than you can imagine.” Zipping his pants, he pulled Alex’s black lace thong from his pocket. It had fallen from the white robe that covered her naked body. “I suppose you will need this,” he said, inhaling the crotch of her thong with his eyes closed. Alex reached for it, but he put it behind his back and then suspended it on his finger in front of her.

“I can never get enough of your smell. It’s fresh and reminds me of the ocean. If you don’t satisfy me soon…I don’t know what I will do next.” That statement captured Alex’s attention; she kicked the newspaper farther under the seat and out of sight. She lowered her head, and her eyes wandered. What more do you want, you sex addict? Alex focused.

Snatching the thong from his finger, she gave a small huff and then put it back in the pocket of the robe. It barely concealed anything. Now she wanted to hide her disgust with Max and her shame for falling for a man that she had gone to any lengths to get and keep.

Raising her head and eyes, she said, “You never explain anything, Max. Why did you send me to that place, never telling me that he was your brother?”

“For God’s sake, Alex, must we go through this again? I explained to you that I didn’t know that you were Rebecca,” he stated with a raised eyebrow, which made him more attractive to Alex if that were possible. That dangerous perturbed look on his face only made Alex’s clit vibrate, and she felt the heat settle inside her. She wanted to take him home and suck his dick until he begged her to stop. She wanted to drain him of all his come until he had nothing left for another woman because if she walked away from him, he would have someone waiting to take her place.

Alex needed an explanation, even if it was a lie.

She needed to sleep at night without worrying that she would be his next victim. She didn’t know how to separate herself from the man she lived for, but didn’t want to die for.

“And that’s how you treat women you bring into your world? You pass them off to your brother to be fucked.”

Max’s eyes darkened as he remembered. “I was explicit, No intercourse, and especially not anal intercourse.” His eyes met hers. “You must have done something for him to make him want you in that manner. You’re not exactly his type.”

Alex’s eyes burned into Max. “What type is that? Maybe it’s because I’m a woman, and I was naked. Did that occur to you?” Alex’s brow furrowed, her eyes narrowed, and she glared with anger. “You could have warned Rebecca, but you were hot for me, after all I did to satisfy your sick hunger.” Oh, this is crazy. What I’m saying is absolutely insane. It was my choice to pretend to be Rebecca.

Closing her eyes, Alex placed her hands on both sides of her head and leaned back.

“What you did for me was drive me to my limits with that beautiful body and dirty phone sex. You never let me know the real you. It was your responsibility to reveal your identity and notify me that I have a son, but you didn’t. You disappeared and I could never find you,” Max said, reaching for her hands and pulling them and placing them in her lap.

“You were too busy tying up women and concentrating on your erotic pleasures to look for me. How many did you have to use that tongue and finger on, and those anal beads before you found the right woman to fit your dick?”

Max raised his index finger and pointed. “Only one. You.” His gaze shrouded Alex. “You were so busy with your anger and revenge and enjoying me whipping your ass that…”

Alex shouted, “I’ve had enough. Let me out now! I can walk home.” Who the fuck is he to tell me that I enjoyed him spanking my ass when it is his fault that I am fucked up like this? I never even fathomed doing anything as profound as allowing a man to place anal beads in my ass let alone fucking a man that wants to be led around with a collar. I didn’t get that screwed up until I laid eyes on his freaky ass, Alex thought.

“You’re behaving like a child.”

“I am a child compared to you. What are you, thirty or forty?”

He paused to look into Alex’s eyes, and a sly grin slid across his mouth. “I’m thirty-three, and everyone your age thinks thirty-three is old, but I’m the right age for you and the right man for you, my darling.”

He leaned to kiss Alex, but she moved quickly, changing to a seat across from him to get away from his natural sexual heat. The kind of heat a woman lost herself in with the smell of sex. He had a body to die for, and she knew that she could die if he replaced her. The only woman she knew about was the one lying in a delicate position, a position she hoped would not happen to her because she had to get away from him until she uncovered the truth.

“I’m not about to allow you to run around San Francisco naked with just a robe covering that pretty body. It makes me hot thinking about you.” Alex’s eyes narrowed and she bristled. Max reached and touched his penis. “See what you’ve done to me. I can’t see you or think about you without a hard-on. Do you know what you’ve done? I can’t let you go. I can’t allow another man to have you,” he stated with a dangerous, dark tone. There is that word again—allow. His eyes peered at her from behind his lush black eyelashes.

“Is everything about you fucking and satisfying your needs?”

“You are the only woman that has this effect on my body. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to look for another woman? Is that what you want? Are you sending me out into that world that I just escaped from?” What am I to tell him? Yes, go on out there and find someone and see if I can stand you lusting and making love to another woman while I go crazy. The way I want you, Mr. Black, I could resort to torture. Let’s see. I would take you to a secret place, make you strip, put a collar around your neck, tie you up, and suck you and never let you come, and if you just happen to, I would whip you until your ass was sore.

What is wrong with me? I have lost my mind. You see what you have done to me, Mr. Black? I’m here contemplating torture. Well, there is nothing wrong with thinking; it’s only wrong when we act out our dangerous fantasies.  

Alex lowered her sight to his hard body. She watched his body vibrate and his breath quicken. She had never seen him so sexually aroused. She wanted his warm come to flow into her body so that he would not have any left to fill another woman.

When Max calmed, he spoke softly. “I’ll take you home. I have wasted too much time…”

“Fine. Now I’m a waste of time.” Alex crossed her arms in a huff and sat back in the seat as they rode the remaining mile to the apartment in silence. Max met and held Alex’s gaze. She felt uncomfortable because she couldn’t get out of her mind the headlines in the newspaper. Clearly he would never explain anything to me. He never does, she thought. What’s the use asking again?

“Alex, why are you editing my words to use against me? Do you need another orgasm? I can give you one before you leave,” Max said, tilting his head to the right with a haughty, arrogant smirk.

“You are impossible, Max.” Alex bit her lip to keep from screaming, and she shot him the finger. The limo came to a stop in front of Blackstone’s luxurious apartment building. Alex reached to open the door, pulling feverishly at the handle.

“You’re not leaving here angry.”

“And what are you going to do about it?”

“Placing you over my knee and spanking you is not good enough.” He smiled softly, trying to soothe Alex’s anger. “I could take you back to my hotel and fuck you and give you something that you have never had,” he said with a threatening sneer and a curl of his lips.

“Now you’re resorting to kidnapping and fucking me while choking me.” Max’s eyes grew large and dark. His brow furrowed, and he raised one eyebrow. A smile never left his lips. His jaws tightened. What does Alex know about sexual asphyxiation? Max thought.

“If I fucked you while choking you, you would enjoy every minute of it. I don’t just fuck you, I make love to you.”

What the fuck did I say and what the fuck am I hearing? Alex caught herself because she hadn’t plan on confronting Max this way; it just slipped out.

“You know better, Alex. I would never hold you against your will.” Max addressed one of Alex’s concerns. I know, you beautiful seductive man. I just can’t resist you. This is not normal. Nothing about Mr. Black is normal. How could I think that I could ever have a life with him? This is a serious mental health issue and I need help, but he needs it more, she thought.

Once Max’s words could have showered her with wanton desire and she would be on her knees, but now she wasn’t sure about him. Not even about his brother. He should have told her about Jonas, that handsome freak who’d had her hot and ready to let him tie her up.

“What is wrong with you, Alex?” Max said in a quiet and measured voice. “Is it your time of the month…your period? Am I using the correct terminology?” Alex rolled her eyes upward, and they closed for a second.

“Don’t provide an excuse. For heaven’s sake let me out of here.” Max unlocked the door, and his driver got out and held the door open for Alex.

After stepping out of the limo, Alex leaned in as Max’s long legs extended out.

“Don’t see me into the apartment.” Alex felt her ploy didn’t work. She couldn’t goad him into confessing. He was always in control of what he said, but when it came to sex with her, she knew he was out of control. Maybe she should wait until she had him wanting her and then she would ask him that pertinent question.

“What can I do for you, Alex?”

“I want you to give me time to forget all of this and for you to clean up the mess in your life.”

“And what about my son? Am I to give you more time with Maxim? He’s two, and I’ve missed the most important time in his life.”

“He has been my son longer than he has been yours. I’ll decide when you should see him.”

“Oh, Alex, that’s not fair.” She’d found his soft spot, his weakness, and she was satisfied for the moment. She knew that Max could be ruthless. After all, he was Maximilian Blackstone, and you didn’t get that rich without leaving bodies on the floor.

Max watched Alex step out of the car. His face wore a sullen and distraught look. Maybe Alex wasn’t being fair, maybe she should discuss the murder of the young woman and not jump to conclusions, but clearly she had given Max every opportunity to say something, anything that would mitigate the doubts that coursed through her mind. With her head lowered, she scurried into her apartment to call Joshua.

“Joshua, can you come over? I’m feeling a little crazy now.”

“What’s the matter, Alex? That maniac has you twisted in his trap?”

“Just come up now, and if you have some ice cream bring that, too.”

“This sounds serious.” Joshua hung up and Alex dashed into the shower, threw on a pink exercise pant suit, and opened the elevator door.

“Come in, Joshua.” Joshua stood at the entrance, lounging in a black T-shirt and jeans. The tee had bold letters in gold: Blackstone Hotels: we provide the best food and a good night’s sleep. Yeah, sure you do, Blackstone. What a load of crap. You can’t even get a good night’s sleep unless your dick is lodged in me.

“Is it safe?” he asked, hesitating and peeping around. Still standing in the elevator, looking unusually handsome with his windswept hair, Joshua said, “You look kind of strange. I don’t know if I want to mix my good karma with yours.” She grabbed his wrist and pulled him in and took the French vanilla ice cream into the kitchen. Placing two scoops into each of two crystal bowls, she brought it out to Joshua, handing one bowl to him with a spoon. She sat and peered into the bowl, then, scooping a spoonful into her mouth, her eyes shifted over to Joshua.

He laid the bowl down. “I’m waiting for you to tell me why you look as if you’ve lost your favorite dog,” Joshua said, leaning back in a chair with his legs and arms crossed. Alex sat facing him on the opposite side of the decorative fireplace.

“It’s Max.”

“Well in that case you have lost your favorite dog.” Alex rolled her eyes at Joshua.

“This is serious, Joshua. Are you going to shut up and listen? Max has a twin brother and he never told me.”

“You never told him that you were masquerading as Rebecca the slut.”

“Please, Joshua, let’s not go down that road; it’s a bridge to nowhere. I have more important things to tell you.” There was a long pause.

“Well?”

“For one, I have a son, and I think Max is a killer.”

“What the fuck, Alex? What the fuck. No way.” Joshua jumped up, twisting his head left and right with his eyes closed. He circled the Italian yellow leather chair with his hands tucked into the pockets of his low-rider jeans.

“What? No way he’s a murderer?” Alex questioned with a defeated glance.

“No. No way you had a baby and didn’t tell me, and yes, I knew that rich cunt was strange. I wouldn’t be surprised if a body shows up.” Joshua raked his fingers through his hair.

“One already has. Have you read today’s paper?”

Joshua took a large mouthful of ice cream. “He maybe strange, but he’s not a murderer. I would have known. But he is a bit of a thug.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you hear the way he talks when he’s not trying to impress with that refined speech of his? When he wants something he takes it, and when he wanted to know if I had a relationship with you, he walked up to me and asked if I was fucking you. Just like that. Enough said.” Alex listened tentatively.

Joshua walked to Alex’s wine fridge, took out a bottle of wine, uncorked it, reached for a glass on a rack, and poured himself a large glass of wine. He returned to see Alex in the same position with the bowl empty.

“No one knows anyone that well,” Joshua murmured, sitting with his shoulders forward, close to Alex’s face. “You don’t know anything about him. I had to tell you that he was married three times and divorced and that he had a fiancée all the while he was seeing you, I mean Rebecca. Did he even introduce you to his parents?”

Alex leaned forward with both hands on her legs and said, “Well, the fiancée is dead. And I thought his mother and father were dead.”

Joshua spilled his glass of wine and reached for a napkin then took a large gulp.

“Who’s to say you won’t be next or your friends? I told you he was dangerous.”

“You said ‘trouble,’ not ‘dangerous.’ And there’s nothing to suggest that he would go after friends. Don’t be so dramatic, Joshua.”

Alex’s smartphone rang. She quickly placed it to her ear. “Alex, this is Max. I couldn’t leave you being angry with me. Can I come to see you tonight? I need you. We never talked about our son and our wedding.”

“Max, have you read the papers today?”

“No.”

“I did, and I think that you should.” Alex heard Max ask for the paper and then there was a long silence. “What do you have to say about that?”

“That does not concern me, Alex. I had nothing to do with that young woman’s demise.”

“But she was your fiancée.”

“I broke it off with her when you came into my life. I was so happy to have you back in my life…let me see you and explain everything.”

“OK, Max, give me a few hours.” How could she say no when she hungered for his touch? She wanted to feel his hands move over her skin and travel down the nape of her neck to her buttocks. He liked to place his hand on one cheek at a time as she lay on her stomach, massaging them and making her ready for him. While she lay on her stomach he would insert his long finger into her vagina and then her anus to arouse her and prepare her for his penis. Alex couldn’t help but run these images through her mind, and they were making her hot. Her body could not contain the pent-up sexual desires that he ignited.

The image of his handsome face and dark expressions drove her crazy. What he did with his fingers could drive her to unbelievable ecstasy.

“I’ll be there by seven.”

“Alex, I’m leaving,” Joshua whispered.

“Who is that, Alex?” Max said in a demanding voice.

“You don’t answer my questions, and I’m not going to answer yours.”

His voice weakened. “Why are you being so cruel to me? You know I can’t stand you behaving like that. I’m coming over now, and if you have a man in there I am going to be awfully pissed with you.” And he hung up the phone.

“Joshua, you have to leave now.”

“You can’t allow him to control your life,” Joshua stated, walking in the direction of the elevator.

“I know. I don’t want you to lose your job. And I need to see him; after all, we have a child together.”

“Well since you mentioned my job, I’m going.” Joshua opened the door and turned. “Don’t forget, Alex—I’m close. If you need me, call and I’ll be there in a quick second. Keep your phone near.”

“Yeah…yeah, Joshua. I’ll be OK.” Alex pushed Joshua into the elevator and closed the door.

Alex rushed to comb her hair. She put it in a ponytail and pulled it up on top of her head. Her bangs covered her forehead, which she thought was far too large, but Max said that he liked it. Strands fell on both sides of her face, framing it. She swiped a thin layer of gloss over her lips to make them luscious, just the way Max liked them. Why am I still trying to please him? She thought. The answer came back. I love him. I love that handsome, fuckable man. I love being with him and I love the way he makes love to me.

But is that a good reason to be with a man? she asked herself. For now it is the best reason I can come up with. If I can’t see him I think I would die, she thought.

She heard the elevator, his key in the door, and there he stood, sexy, tall, brimming with sex appeal so much so that he could bottle it and sell it. She could smell his Tom Ford Noir signature scent. He was irresistible. Alex stood in the doorway of the bedroom, leading to the living area. She didn’t want to move. Her breath shortened as she just took him in, all of him. His hair and beard were cut short. That makes him the sexiest man alive, she thought.

He leaned against the wall with one leg crossing the other. His dark pants hugged his small waist, and muscles flexed under his black V-neck silk sweater. She had never seen anyone who could make the color black look so inviting and so sexy.

“Come here, Alex,” Max said darkly, waving his right hand back and forth and gesturing for her to come to him. “If you don’t come to me, I’ll have to walk over there, and then I’m going to take you to bed and spank you, maybe tie you up.” His eyes lowered. “If you don’t want me to take you, then come here.” Max’s voice rang dark and deep.

Standing holding on to the frame of the door, she locked her gaze on Max. His unbelievable sexy jade eyes seduced her once again. His face, covered lightly with a manicured beard, appeared different, as if he was another man. It was as if she had seen him for the first time, and he looked delicious and she couldn’t move because she wanted what he had been giving her—unbelievable orgasms.

Come and take every part of me, you handsome, sexy fuck. I want you so much that I don’t care what you have done before. I just need you now. I need to take your dick in my mouth and let your come flow down my lips and on my nipples. I want to smear your life all over my body, you handsome, dangerous fuck.

Max read that look on her face because he had seen it many times with Rebecca, but she no longer wore the blonde wig to fool him. There was no need because he wanted his Alex, and he had his Rebecca. He got both, and now it was time to find out how it felt to have his virgin and his slut.

He sauntered over to her on his long legs, and when he reached her he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her violently to him. Looking at her, he said, “I’ve wanted to treat Alex rough and with no holds barred, but I was afraid. I thought that you would hate me, and that’s why I continued my relationship with Rebecca. Don’t you see I need this, and you like the way I make love to you in bed?”

Then Max cupped her mouth with his lips and slashed through it, hungry for her tongue. He sucked her tongue as he pulled her top open, and each snap came undone one by one. Then he pulled her pants down and found she had nothing on beneath. His eyes burned as he scanned her protruding nipples. A smile escaped.

Alex’s mouth moved slowly from Max’s lips. She helped him raise his sweater over his head. She could feel his muscles flex hard as they brushed her skin. She reached down and unbuttoned his pants, and they dropped. As Max stepped out of them, his body was bare and his hard dick stood strong, pressing against Alex’s bald mound.

Placing his fingers between her legs, he found the folds of her tense clit. Touching it softly, his fingers circled it, and then he dropped his head down to her breasts and stuck his index finger into her vagina. He pushed it in and pulled it out and said, “You are ready for me. You are so wet and sweet.”

He slammed her against the wall with his mouth sucking her breasts; he rammed his dick into her with a powerful growl. “Yes, Alex, you know what I like.” Alex pushed her mound into him, grinding up and down, left and right. Her vagina muscles caressed and stroked his penis. His voice weak, he said, “You are so good, Alex. That clit is so sweet. I don’t know what I would do if you ever left me.”

She leaned her body into his, and he pinned her against the wall. He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. “Yes…yes, give it to me the way I like.”

“What do you want, Max?”

“You know.” Alex moved away from Max’s impossibly hard dick. He rolled her around, and she slid down and began sucking him. He leaned against the wall, his head back, his mouth open, his legs spread, with Alex on her knees with his hard dick firmly in her mouth.

“Oh, Alex, when did you get so good? I would do something horrible if I thought I couldn’t have you this way.” He pushed and pulled his penis in and out of her mouth as Alex held it with a suction that drove him wild. After all, it was he who taught her how to please him and now it was out of his control. He pulled out because he was wound so tight that he would have spilled his come in her mouth. Max was still shy around Alex even though he had engaged in BDSM with her. He wanted to experience it again, but he didn’t want to rush it.

Going to his knees, he placed Alex on her back on the floor, and then, leaning over her, he kissed her neck and trailed his tongue down between her breasts and past her navel, and he bit her thighs. He glanced up at Alex and laid his head between her legs. He hoisted her legs on his shoulders and softly licked her folds and clit. Her clit throbbed, and he knew she was ready to burst. He would control how she had her orgasm. He always controlled that part of her body, and he would do so now.

It was the sound of her moaning, calling out, “Max…Max,” that turned him on and made him weak for her. He would do anything for Alex to keep her. He licked her clit and took her to the point of orgasm and then stopped. “Max, I love you. I love you.”

That was all Max wanted to hear, then he sucked her until he felt the quiver of her bud. She was ready, and then like clockwork, his tongue touched lightly under her clit, and she screamed with pleasure.

“I want you Max; give me your dick. I want it now.” Max lay across Alex and his penis found her heated vagina. It seared him and pleasured him, and the minute his penis touched the fullness of her wall, he oozed come until he passed out over Alex.

They sprawled on the rug and she lay in his arms. Alex looked over and saw that he was asleep. She stood up, walked, and took a satin blanket from the linen closet and placed over him. Alex shook Max and tried to wake him, but she couldn’t. Tired, she found the bed and fell across it.

When her alarm went off, she woke, hopped out of bed, and rushed into the living room where she had left Max. He was gone. He could have said something, she thought. How are we going to solve our problems if all he does is fuck and disappear? What kind of life will I have with this man?

Alex dressed for work. After all, she hadn’t married Max and she hadn’t quit her job. She wanted to speak with Max, and maybe she could at his main office. If she got there early enough, then she might have a chance.

She headed out of her apartment into the lobby.

“Ms. Johns.” She turned. It was the doorman. “Someone by the name of Mr. Shu delivered your Mercedes. It’s in the garage. Do you want me to have it brought up?”

“No, I’m walking this morning.” Alex needed time to think. Walking helped her when her mind was cloudy and mixed up. She hadn’t solved anything with Max; it occurred to her that there wasn’t enough walking time to wade through her problems because she stood looking up at the words blackstone written in front of the building. “I’m here already?”

Max’s limo wasn’t anywhere, but he had several cars, and he could have driven any one of the expensive cars parked outside with a chauffeur waiting. And then she remembered that the blue Rolls Royce was his. The windows were dark. He liked his cars dark because that’s where he found the time to fuck, she imagined. He could be fucking in it now as I’m standing outside, she thought.

Because she was early, she saw only the guards stationed at their desk. They smiled, and she entered the elevator. Stopping on the twenty-sixth floor, she saw a light on as she stepped out of the elevator. He was in. Her breathing deepened as she headed for her office. Opening the door, she thought it strange that she hadn’t seen Ms. Corday, who managed to be there by seven a.m. each morning. Alex wondered how she did that and still looked so perfect each morning with her makeup in perfect order, not a strand of hair out of place. She reminded Alex of a mannequin. She had the same smile day after day.

Alex, on the other hand, could barely make it in to work by nine. On some days she didn’t show and worked from home.

Walking in, she dropped her purse in the nearest drawer and scurried to the door to Max’s adjoining office. She wanted to have a civilized discussion without sex. Quietly, she opened the door; she wanted to surprise him. She still had her stilettos and handcuffs in her desk. Maybe she would give him a taste of Rebecca if their conversation went well.

“Max!” she shouted. He craned his neck and glanced around at the sound of someone calling. He was naked and on all fours, and Ms. Corday was seated on the leather couch, dressed in a leather corset, her hairless mound visible, with his face planted between her legs. Her high-heeled black thigh high boots rested on his shoulders. His butt was bruised from the leather strap and he had Alex’s studded collar around his neck.