Reverence Read online

  It was a partnership. I didn’t need her money. I wanted to play the game. I was in it for the thrill. I wanted to drive a stake into the heart of the city, make my claim and start my empire. Although I had my partners, I needed the connections she had in Charleston to grow my business. I married her for her name, but it didn’t hurt I was fond of her classic beauty and her wit. She was sharp and stealthy when she worked a room and I needed someone beside me that adhered to the wealthiest appetites, to attract them and bring them in. I was old money, but when I moved here from Savannah ten years ago, I needed a shoe-in, a way to easily marry myself with the elite. Something she could do with her name alone. The world was my oyster at twenty-nine when I married her.

  I got that so fucking wrong.

  After a few years of ignorant bliss, she started withholding sex at her whim. She’d made it perfectly clear that I was to do as she wished. Happy wife, happy life.

  I ignored her. I was busy growing my firm and didn’t bother to try and save the marriage. She had her agenda: to live and die exactly like her mother. And I had mine. She thought I was weak.

  Stupid cunt.

  “Seven years, Devin,” her mother piped. “It’s time for the itch.” She couldn’t have handed me a more loaded statement. I caught Eileen’s gaze that told me not to go there and gave her a small smirk. “I have a feeling I will fare well.”

  Eileen plastered a smile on her face. The truth was, no one at the table was blind. There was a large elephant stomping all over the renaissance style, oak dining table that we all ignored. Her mother numbed herself with her anti-depressants while her father aided me by taking advantage of my abuse and cruelty with my new ten-thousand-dollar bottle of Macallan, an anniversary gift from my wife. Her sister, Sandra, glared around at all of us while we ate. She apparently was in a good mood, because insults weren’t flying between her and Eileen. When the two were amicable, it usually had something to do with me. There was only one woman I despised as much as my wife, and that was her sister. Sandra lived in Savannah in what I was sure was a dark cave where she sacrificed defenseless animals and small children before cleansing herself in their blood. There was no deity worthy of her praise that she could possibly hold in higher regard as much as she did herself. She radiated evil and I, along with my wife, shared open contempt for her. I would normally question her presence in the house, but it was clear to me Eileen had her here as a subtle reminder of her case against me and to keep me on my toes. Sandra was as much to blame as my dear wife for my predicament. “Sandra, how good of you to come.” I raised my glass, prodding her with my wolf grin. “Will you be staying long?”

  “Just long enough for dessert.” She smiled. “And maybe while I’m in town, visit an old friend or two.”

  Touché, cunt.

  And finally there was Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Marion, Eileen’s closest friends and two of the wealthiest people in Charleston, because it was completely fucking necessary for them to share in our wedding anniversary celebration. Everything was an occasion. Honestly, I was surprised this was the extent of our guests. Two years ago, before I’d met Nina, I’d asked my wife for a divorce.

  Two years ago, she declared she wouldn’t grant me one and swore she’d find leverage to keep me.

  Two years ago, my wife had fumbled around blindly in the dark and found that leverage with the help of her sister. Two years ago, I became a slave to her will.

  I had no choice but to trust her out of desperation and she’d turned the tables, demanding my loyalty and public fidelity in exchange for bailing me out. She kept secrets for me, and in exchange I had turned into the puppet she’d always wanted. One short month later, my salvation walked into the Admiral’s Club and I saw a glimmer of hope. After months of meetings, I’d purposefully avoided a few appointments to avoid fucking her. I needed her business. Nina was the key to getting my life back since it had all fallen apart. I rolled the liquid around in my tumbler, thinking of the last bottle I’d savored. My body tensed in recognition. I was christening my sailboat, The Talisman, with Nina. I had met with Nina again several times and over the first year I’d known her, I’d never gotten close enough to where I couldn’t resist her. She had been my biggest challenge. When Eileen agreed to let me take residence in downtown while she remained on Seabrook Island, I had rejoiced in the prospect of my prison break. My first priority was becoming free of her and because I was so damned close to my goal, I rewarded myself with Nina.

  She was my one and only affair. Nina had done what I had advised. She’d formed her company, Scott Solutions, and had given me millions to play with. I was fine gambling with her money, but never my own. That was my rule. It was also my job. And when it came to Nina and investing, I could do no wrong, hence the name of my boat. It was named after her, though I’d never told her. She was my talisman, my charm, my fresh air. I’d never made a single dollar on poor investments, or done a shady deal. Even the flipping of that fucking land and its consistent sale was legitimate, if only a little gray. No, it wasn’t poor business choices that got me here, it was my fucking heart, my conscience, my misplaced loyalty. Things I didn’t need to survive. Things that now mattered more than playing the game I set out to win. I had a new agenda: Get my life back, and if the gods saw fit, get Nina back as well.

  For now, all I had was a cold bed and cold hearted bitch who threatened to keep it that way. I spent the rest of my meal growing hard underneath my napkin at thoughts of Nina on my new sail boat.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, turning to me with a wink. “Just how much am I paying you?”

  I smiled broadly. “Full disclosure, Ms. Scott. Check your email.”

  “I think it’s safe for us to be on a first name basis,” she said, grabbing my hand as I guided her onto the deck. It wasn’t an obnoxious boat, but it was impressive. I had enough to buy any of the fucking boats on the harbor, but sailing was my passion and I wasn’t doing this for show. This was what I loved and it seemed even more complete with the woman who had just graced the deck. “You look beautiful,” I said carefully.

  “Thank you,” she said, scanning the harbor. It was the start of summer, but the breeze was heavenly and lifted her long hair off of her shoulders. “Alright, captain, I learned a few things. I’m ready to help.”

  I chuckled as I took her in. She was overdressed in a yellow sundress and sandals, but it was subtle, and something deep inside my chest tugged in the moment she waited on me, her eyes expectant. She had put on a small amount of weight, and seemed to be polished well and was glowing. I pictured my mouth on her then, my tongue plunging deep inside her pussy and wondered what her moans would sound like.

  “I’ve got the whole of it,” I said, tying off then starting the motor.

  “Hey, that’s cheating!” she said, watching me steer out into the harbor.

  “Well, beautiful, we could spend the day trying to row ourselves out, but we’d be exhausted.”

  “Oh.” Her cheeks reddened. “Shit,” she said, further embarrassed.

  “Hey, beginner,” I said, hoping it helped, “make yourself useful and get me a beer.”

  “It’s like when I’m around you, what comes up, comes out an avalanche of stupid. I can’t imagine what you think of me.”

  I studied her long and hard before telling her what had more than once graced the tip of my tongue without spilling out. “I happen to like it that you are so candid with me,” I said as she smiled. “I also think you are fucking beautiful and prefer this view over any I’ve ever seen. As far as what I think about you, I think you know I do a lot of it.”

  She swallowed as she handed me a beer and looked around the flawless harbor. “I could get used to this.”

  “What?”

  “You calling me beautiful,” she whispered as she looked back at me. I’d seen it a few times since we met, but here she was making it perfectly clear. The feeling was mutual.

  “I’m curious, Nina,” I said, busying myself around the deck, completing
the steps my father taught me, focusing the boom and getting ready to set the main sail. “How did you do it?”

  She stiffened as she studied me, using my advice against me. She would make me earn it. “How did I do what?”

  “How did a twenty-seven-year-old college drop-out, become a multi-millionaire in a year?”

  She smirked. “I did what you did. I saw an opportunity to gamble and I took it. Except, I didn’t have to seek it out. It came to me.”

  I stayed silent as I released the jib and set a cleat, urging her to continue.

  “I was a fat kid. I think it’s ironic now how my past torment is now the reason for my fortune. I was the epitome of an ugly duckling. I learned early on you had to have something going for you, either looks or money, and I had neither. So I made it a point to do something about it. I started young, thirteen or fourteen, I think. I wiped everything out of my diet except for rabbit food, began working out vigorously and in a year’s time … You get it. Anyway, I realized it was my only saving grace. I made it a hobby, I worked my ass off, literally, and it paid off. I was no longer the last girl to get invited to the dance. I was the first. Boys didn’t seem to worry about my bank account…then. So when I had to choose a major in college, I chose nutrition. I started to design a program for a class project and the rest is history.”

  “And you found an investor,” I said, watching her skirt tease me as it whipped in the wind with a near glimpse of what lay underneath.

  “She found me. Actually, it’s funny because that woman hadn’t ventured out as an investor in years. I sent it to the market to test it and she was the first in the pool to pick it up. She was convinced it was the next Atkins.”

  “She was right,” I said, grabbing my beer to join her and take the wheel. She was sipping a glass of the second bottle of champagne she brought. The first’s remains sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic after I gave it a love tap to christen the boat. “And are you happy with the results?” I asked, taking my place at the wheel.

  “Yes, no, I mean…” She looked at the heavens, shaking her head. “I’m happy that it helped so many people. I am still kind of reeling from it all. It was definitely a case of too much too soon.” She turned to me. “I’m not complaining and I’m thankful to you for steering me in the right direction.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said, opening a fresh beer.

  “It’s been a ride,” she said distantly. “And it’s only just begun.”

  It was then I saw her sadness. The kind of sadness I see in most of my clients when they realize money doesn’t solve everything.

  Money doesn’t solve people and those were the hardest burdens to bear.

  “Nina, you realize that with or without the money, you would still feel the way you feel.”

  “I should have known he was an asshole,” she said quickly. “How could I not see that? And everyone around me, it was like I was a pariah, even to my close friends. The friends I had long before my husband, they made me feel … guilty for the wealth. As if it was my fault they were still struggling. Suddenly we had nothing in common. I didn’t have kids and they were all starting families. I ran out of excuses to call and they didn’t bother to call me. I mean, what the hell is wrong with people?”

  Great, I was going to have to give her a pep talk. I sighed as I took in the tourist filled waterfront park from the harbor. We were in the midst of perfection and I needed to remind her of that.

  “Come here,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to me. I’d never laid a hand on her until that moment and the jolt hit us both. My dick sang its praises.

  I pulled her in front of me so she could hold the wheel. She giggled as I draped myself around her and I felt her body tighten as she recognized all my blood was pulsing in my pants in the bulge beneath her. I wasn’t about to apologize for it, or hide my reaction to her. “This is you now,” I whispered in her ear as I cradled her. Immediately, I noted the goose bumps on her flesh, the change in her breathing. “Look at you, Nina, at the wheel. You didn’t need your fucking husband to get you here. You didn’t need me, either. You don’t need their approval to enjoy your success. And I think you know that. You did this yourself. Take control of it and don’t ever let another person steer you again. You earned this. Through hard work, and good fortune, you no longer have to compete with anyone. Own it.”

  “I didn’t know it was a competition,” she said in a small voice.

  “Sure you did,” I murmured, brushing my lips against her temple. “It’s what got you into the race in the first place.”

  She gripped my hands around the wheel and pushed her ass against me and I damn near moaned. I don’t moan.

  “Tell me what you want,” I said, my lips a whisper from the silky skin on her neck. The sun was getting lower and outlined her perfectly as she inhaled deeply and looked back at me.

  “I want you to kiss me.”

  I turned her body fully to me, gripped my hands on the wheel behind her and leaned in and brushed my lips against her. I pulled back and saw her disappointment.

  I raised a brow. “Not what you wanted?”

  “No,” she answered, her eyes burning with heat.

  “Tell me what you want,” I urged as she hesitated.

  “I’m not the type of woman—”

  “Oh, don’t disappoint me, Nina.” Pressing my brows together, I studied her perfect mouth. A mouth I’d spanked off to more times than I cared to admit. I wanted her mouth and I wanted it screaming my name. Encased in golden sunshine, she gave me the permission I wasn’t sure I would ask for if she waited much longer.

  “I want you to kiss me and mean it.” She paused for only a second. “Fuck it. I’ll kiss you.” She pressed her lips to mine firmly then slid her tongue along my bottom lip. One taste of her tongue and I was gone. I glanced behind her to assess the amount of time I had and then dove deep, sucking her tongue and nibbling her lips. She tasted of mint and champagne and I couldn’t get enough. She was easily one of the most beautiful women I had ever met. I took a risk in inviting her, but it didn’t fucking matter the minute I had that mouth. Kissing her was my undoing. Just a kiss in the middle of the harbor had ruined me. Her pussy would cripple me.

  I pulled away. “I am not a gentle lover,” I warned.

  “Oh?” she said smiling, “Even better.” She threw her arms around my neck, pulling me back to her. I sucked her lips dry.

  “I’m not sure I can be the man you need,” I reiterated, focusing on anything but my raging cock.

  Was I, Devin McIntyre, trying to talk a woman out of fucking me?

  Pathetic. I was a closer. That’s what I did. “Devin, it’s what I want. I am not asking for what I need. I’ve already gambled with that and lost. I just want this.” Her murmur echoed as she kissed my neck. “I just want today.”

  Far be it from me do deny her. And I didn’t. What I did do is turn her back around and lift that fucking yellow scrap of a dress until I had her beautiful laced ass in view. Still cradled, her back against me, she arched her body, putting herself on display.

  She had every right to showcase her body. It was a work of art. I slid my thumb into the back of her panties, gently stroking her ass as my fingers finally tasted her flesh. Closing my eyes, I breathed in deep as she moaned at my touch, making my dick jump. I gripped her hip with my other hand, pulling her back. As soon as her neck was exposed, I clamped my mouth over it, moving my bruising hand over her hip, as the other still underneath her underwear cupped her sex.

  She was soaked. I was hard. It was simple.

  Except it wasn’t.

  We weren’t alone. The harbor was busy, and not only that, I knew Eileen was somehow watching. I wouldn’t subject Nina to her. Not if I could help it. I had to make this quick. “Nina, I’m going to make you come,” I said, pulling her skirt over my hand to hide my workings as I slid a finger inside her. She bucked a little in reply, completely lost. “But I can’t fuck you here.”

  “Hmmm,” sh
e said as a second finger joined the first. She was tight, hot, wet, and willing. I groaned. I do groan, in agony.

  “You like being fucked by my fingers?”

  “Yesssss,” she said breathily. “I want more.”

  “Do you?” My lips trailed the length of her neck as I pulled the moisture from her pussy and her body jerked in my arms when I mapped her clit. “I want my mouth here.” My confession came out hungry, causing her to arch further, her breath heavy. She was gone, moaning and meeting my fingers with her eager sweet pussy. I needed to taste her. I paused my workings as she protested with a hiss and took a finger into my mouth, dipping it right back into her. I savored the tangy taste as I used the same finger to push her over the edge. She came hard and fast and gripped the back of my head as she said my name low and pleading.

  “Everywhere my fingers touch will belong to me.” It was a promise. I trailed my fingers over every inch of available flesh, her sweet pussy, her thighs, her ass, her stomach, breasts and neck, ending with her lips. She sucked my finger, turning to look back at me, her eyes full of longing.

  My cock jerked again. “I want my mouth here,” she said, grabbing the bulk of my cock and squeezing roughly. I couldn’t agree with her more. I wanted it there, too, but it would have to wait.

  She stayed in my arms until I had no choice but to pull away and ready the boat for shore. She stayed quiet on the way back and I watched the wind pulling her long hair away from her face. God, she was heavenly. Even with a raging hard on, I found myself more content than I had been in years.