Текст книги "Release Me"

Автор книги: Ann Marie Walker

Соавторы: Amy K. Rogers
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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

Chapter Eight

Hudson stopped in front of the bank of elevators and shoved his hands into his hip pockets, his dark blue Armani suit coat parting to the sides. He stood there, his stare focused on the vintage cast-iron dial, circa 1930, as it crept smoothly upward. The steel cables and pulls rattled and lifted the elevator higher and higher up the post-Depression era skyscraper, which was the paragon of a man who had taken pride in outward appearances versus nurturing a stable infrastructure. Hudson Chase was the opposite of such theoretical bullshit. But that was the irony; he was putting on one hell of a poker face while inside he was tap dancing on quicksand.

The dial continued to glide over the arch, and with each passing floor Hudson contemplated his latest merger. It was the icing on the fucking cake of his portfolio and he should’ve been full of high-octane joy. But he didn’t simply want another billion-dollar merger. No, what he wanted, what he needed, was the woman who avoided his stare at all costs. And when she did flick her steely gaze at him, her pain was directly communicated into his own chest until it was his heart being cleaved apart.

Bottom lining it, his victory was her personal loss, and the truth of that twisted in his gut.

At his side the high-priced suits squared off like a couple of pit bulls in a deceptively calm discussion. Hudson knew he should engage in their Monday ritual, but at the moment he could think of nothing but Allie and the way she’d looked standing in the corridor of the Art Institute on Friday night. She’d lost weight, goddamn it, too much weight, and although her sharp tongue had been a verbal blow torch spitting fire, her tear-rimmed eyes had revealed the pain that lay beneath.

The elevator chimed, plugging him back into the present, and when the doors slid open his eyes locked on Allie’s slim figure. The knot between his shoulder blades tightened further and the verbal boxing match beside him receded into white noise. She held his gaze and for a split second looked as if she was ready to go bare knuckle with him. There wasn’t a chance in hell that she would have him, much less forgive him, and yet his body behaved with the stupidity of a teenager and insisted on responding to hers. But the only glint of passion that flared in her eyes was an anger that cut so deep he feltit down to the marrow of his bones.

Fuck. Was the damage irrevocable?

Hudson held up two fingers to halt his already in-motion hounds. “Take the next one,” he said, his voice low, deep, and with a hard edge. With a nod his colleagues immediately took a step back, nodoubt planning to use the extra time to go toe-to-toe over what his next venture should be in their pursuit of world domination.

When he stepped onto the elevator, Allie shifted to the opposite corner. Without question his presence angered her. Fuck that, she was straight up pissed that he was breathing the same air. But even in her anger she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

The doors shut and the elevator lurched into motion. Hudson turned to face Allie, her stillness reminding him of the consequences of his ambition.

“If you’re going to try and persuade me to side with you at the board meeting tomorrow then you’re wasting your breath.” Defiance blazed in her eyes. “It’s a terrible idea.”

Hell if it was. His proposal to liquidate the newspaper division and transition to a solely digital format was a flash of brilliance, not to mention that it made sense for balancing the books. But at the moment spreadsheets were the last thing on his mind.

“I don’t give a damn about that right now. We need to talk.” With a quick movement he punched a card into the control panel and the elevator jerked to a halt.

Allie’s eyes darted to the panel and her spine straightened. “We talked at the gallery.”

“That wasn’t a conversation.” More like verbal sparring.

“I said all I needed to say.” She appeared to be completely composed, but Hudson could see the rise and fall of her chest, the white-knuckle grip on her bag.

“You may have unloaded, but hell if I have. And no matter what it takes you’re going tohear me out. Even if it means keeping this godforsaken elevator stopped all fucking day.” He tried to remind himself that anger would get him nowhere. Calm, levelheaded domination was the key to pressing the advantage, except he was way past that. With her he felt like he was gripping sand and every grain was slipping through his fingers.

“Stop trying to control me, Hudson.” Allie turned and lifted her chin. The anger was gone and in its place was a mask of complete indifference. Goddamn, it shredded him. He’d take anger over apathy any day.

He took a deep breath. She was going to ride this facade like the Macy’s Day Parade, marching through their little exchange as if they were nothing more than business partners forced into a resentful coexistence. He had to get her to drop her guard, to let him in. And if pissing her off was what it took to incite a reaction, then so be it.

“It’s never been that way between us and you know it, Alessandra.” Hudson flashed a slight smirk as he prepared to drop the H-bomb. “Well, except for the bedroom. And if memory serves, you enjoyed it.”

He braced himself, expecting a slap to light his face on fire, but instead her eyes dilated and fixated on his mouth. Her lips parted and her breath quickened. He had her. No matter how unaffected she pretended to be, she couldn’t help but respond to him. And the longer they stood mere inches apart, the more desire took over and became a downright menace.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Hudson reassessed on the fly. He stepped closer and his voice dropped to a low, seductive murmur. “Is that what it will take for you to hear me out?” He swept a hand across her collarbone and up the side of her neck. “You, tied to my bed as I move down your body.” His mouth hovered just inches from hers and his fingers cupped the soft skin at her nape. “Your every sense heightened by my touch.”

Allie’s eyes closed, her chest rising and falling with each breath she labored to control. Up close he could see the flush coloring her delicate skin and the lashes fanning out against her cheeks.

“Do you feel me? Feel my breath on your skin, my tongue flicking across your nipples, biting and tugging until you tremble beneath me?”

She licked her lips and his cock punched against his fly, every instinct telling him to fuck her until they were both too exhausted to fight.

“Is that what you want, my hands gripping your hips, anchoring you so you don’t move while I slide the head of my cock inside you, slowly, with just the slightest of movements.” With that, he pressed her against the wall of the elevator and her hands fell to his shoulders.

“I hate you,” she whispered. Her words were venom but they lacked conviction. Her hands flattened against his chest and her biceps tensed as if she were going to push him away, but instead her fingers curled around the fine fabric of his suit jacket, holding him in place.

Hudson took a deep breath through his nose. His heart pounded, pumping adrenaline through his body. “You wish you did,” he rasped in her ear, then tugged the lobe between his teeth.

Allie’s head thudded back against the elevator wall. “Bastard,” she breathed.

“I know, baby, I know.” His mouth slanted over hers, ravenously licking across her lips and sucking her tongue into his mouth. Sweet hell, he wanted her. Every inch of this woman was his, and he’d crawl through hell with his dick on fire before he’d let any other man put their greedy hands all over what was his and his alone.

A deep growl escaped his mouth as he found the damp lace between her thighs. “I want this,” he murmured. Moving the fabric aside, he slid his fingers over her slick skin. “And so do you. You’re wet for me.” He pushed two fingers inside her and she gasped. Like a bullet shooting out of a steel barrel, he crushed his mouth to hers, his tongue thrusting into her mouth as his fingers worked her sex.

Moaning, Allie arched into him, giving herself over to what he knew was going to be raw fucking. She grinded herself against his hand, rocking her hips at the same time her fingers reached for his fly. The belt came undone and the zipper was just as accommodating. And then his cock, his rock-hard, aching cock, sprung from his hips and fell heavy into her palm. The moan he let out could’ve probably been heard through the metal doors ofthe elevator but he was too far gone to muzzle his response. He wanted to leave his mark on her, and by the time he was through he was going to be all over her, inside and out.

With a sharp tug he turned her lace panties into nothing more than shredded artwork, then grabbed her by the hips and tilted them to the angle he wanted. Her thighs obeyed before an acquiescence could move past her lips. His palm shifted between her spread legs, grasping one and curling it around his hip. In a white-hot possession he pushed into her on a solid stroke. When he started to move, she grabbed his shoulders, bracing herself against his relentless drives. It was complete domination, his body pumping in and out, his hips rolling in a sensuous motion that became faster and faster until he felt like his balls were going to explode. And to top it off, at any moment Chicago’s 911 could yank the doors open with their jaws of life and catch him fucking her as if his life depended on it.

Her hands slipped under the lapels of his jacket and her nails raked across his skin. He felt the bite of pain through the fabric of his shirt, but it quickly faded into a sweet utopia that carried him deeper into an ulterior universe. A universe where the past was permanently pitched into oblivion. A cosmic motherfucking do-over.

He wished.

Hudson’s fingers dug into the supple flesh of her ass as he slid her up and down, working her along the length of his thick erection. “God, Allie, I’ve missed being inside you.”

“No talking,” she groaned.

“You love it when I talk dirty.”

Allie shoved her hands into his dark waves and dragged his mouth to hers. “Shut up and kiss me.” With a raw need, his tongue thrust inside her mouth, mirroring the driving strokes of his cock. All the while her hips met him thrust for thrust and her breathless moans whispered across his neck. “Don’t stop,” she murmured again and again. Her words took him to the next level and he pounded her bare ass against the oak-paneled interior until the elevator walls vibrated.

Mine.

The word volleyed around his skull.

Fucking mine.

He wanted to say it out loud, but it would’ve been a buzzkill on a moment he was hell-bent on making last forever. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the feel of his cock going in and out of her. The sensation of her impending orgasm pulsing around him nearly wiped out his vision.

Her hand gripped the collar of his shirt and with an involuntary yank the top button was sent airborne as her body seized against his. He glanced down to where they were joined, watching the head of his cock slip out before driving deep again, and he was done for.

“Fucking hell.” He cranked his eyes shut and buried his face into her neck as his orgasm broke free. There was no way of holding back, and the feel of her own climax gripping his cock like a vise was a direct sucker punch to the gut. Bastard that he was, he wanted to ricochet her into one orgasm after another, until she was crying out his name as if it were a benediction.

But like everything else between them, the moment was only temporary. And as he pulled out and the cool air hit his cock in a rush, he felt like he was leaving his goddamn fucking heart with her. She was the only woman that gave it another function other than beating behind his rib cage.

He lowered her leg to the floor and she stepped away. His belt clanked as he tucked himself and his shirttails back into his pants, while across the elevator Allie yanked her skirt down and swept her massacred panties off the floor. Hudson lifted his gaze from his fly to her eyes. He didn’t know what to say.

The elevator filled with a heavy silence.

She just stared at him. She didn’t look away; she didn’t even flinch. But those eyes, those fucking eyes of hers were obliterating him with a slow, resenting burn. And yet the way he still wanted her just about stalled out his lungs.

“Allie . . . I—”

“Don’t.” She yanked the key out of the panel and let it drop to the floor. The doors slid open on the thirtieth floor, and without another word she was gone.

Chapter Nine

Allie stepped off the elevator and her legs nearly gave out beneath her. Her mind was racing as fast as her pulse, but she couldn’t even let herself think about what had just happened until she was safely behind closed doors.

Hudson didn’t follow. And when the elevator doors whispered shut behind her, she didn’t look back. The haunted look in his eyes when she’d left him that morning at his penthouse was already ingrained in her memory. The last thing she needed was to see that sadness and confusion again, especially since now it would be a mirror reflection of her own.

So instead she moved as quickly as unsteady legs on four-inch heels would allow, praying she could make it to her office unseen.

The thirtieth floor was usually a hotbed of activity. All day long assistants, mail clerks, clients, even reporters, would zigzag through the hallways. But as Allie rounded the corner, she was relieved to discover there wasn’t a soul in sight.

Unfortunately, that relief was short-lived.

When she pushed through the glass doors that lead to the executive offices, her steps faltered. Colin was seated at his desk just outside her office door. Judging by the deep crease between his brows, he was concentrating hard on whatever was displayed on his computer monitor. Even so, Allie knew he’d look up and greet her as she approached, just as he had every other time over the past three days. Only this time she knew she had the look of someone who’d just been thoroughly well-fucked. Colin had a keen eye, and in the short time he’d worked for her had proven quite adept at reading her expressions. But in this case no special intuition would be needed. One look at her disheveled hair, smeared lipstick, and rumpled clothes and he’d know exactly what she’d been up to.

“Hey there, boss lady,” he said as she blew past his desk.

She kept her head down, running a hand through her hair in an attempt to not only restore some order, but in the hopes of hiding her flushed face as well. “Hold my calls, please, Colin.”

“Sure thing,” she heard him reply as she closed her office door.

Dazed, she stumbled to her private bathroom, where she sank to the ground and dropped her head in her hands. With a heavy exhale the tears began to fall. Tears of grief, sadness, regret. But most of all, anger. What the hell had she been thinking? She’d been doing so well keeping Hudson Chase at arm’s length. And while yes, it was partly to punish him for the lies and deceit, it was also to protect her heart. But instead of telling him to go to hell when he’d pinned her against the elevator wall, she’d let him fuck her. And at Ingram headquarters, no less.

Way to be professional, Allie.

A harsh laugh cut through her silent tears. Because despite everything she was feeling, she had to admit it wasn’t her unprofessional behavior that was in the forefront of her mind. It wasn’t even the anger she felt toward herself for giving Hudson the satisfaction of knowing he’d broken through her defenses. No, what consumed her thoughts as she sat on the cold tile floor was how much she’d enjoyed every minute of it. And how if Hudson had followed her, she’d likely have let him do it again. On her couch, over her desk, in her shower . . .

This has to stop.

She scrambled to her feet and stepped in front of the vanity. The sight made her wince. Her hair was even worse then she’d imagined, the once-soft curls now a matted, tangled mess. Her lips were swollen from Hudson’s bruising kisses, the edges smeared with the remnants of pink lipstick. Her cheeks were raw from the scrape of his stubble against her skin, and her eyes were streaked with mascara from where she’d swiped her tears away with the back of her hand.

And on top of everything else, she was without panties.

Just fucking great.

She pulled the shredded lace out of her pocket. What a mess. When she and Hudson were named co-CEOs, she’d devised a plan. No matter what he said, she would keep their dealings professional, steering the topics back to Ingram whenever he digressed. It shouldn’t have been difficult. She should have been able to resist him, no matter how sexy he looked in that damn Armani suit. And yet there she was, less than a week since their appointment, cleaning herself up after a walk of shame back to her office. What the hell had she been thinking?

As if taunting her rhetorical question, the memory of Hudson’s fingers stroking the damp fabric between her thighs filled her mind. She shook her head hard to clear it, then looked her reflection in the eyes and told herself in no uncertain terms that what happened was a mistake. Granted it was a mind-blowing mistake that had her coming so hard she’d ripped the buttons from his shirt, but a mistake nonetheless. A lapse in judgment. And it would never happen again. Ever.

Feeling a new sense of determination, Allie tossed her ruined panties into the trash. She dabbed her face with a wet towel, ran a brush through her hair, and after a quick reapplication of makeup, was almost good as new. But although she might have looked presentable, the ache between her legs as she walked back to her desk was a cruel and constant reminder of what had just happened.

Work. She needed to get Hudson Chase out of her mind and concentrate on work. Luckily, there were piles of it waiting on her desk. Not to mention the prep she needed to do for the battle that was looming at tomorrow’s board meeting.

Hudson had made his feelings on the newspaper division painfully clear. In his opinion it was outdated and a drain on the bottom line. While that might be true, there was also a considerable amount of respected brand recognition with consumers and a legitimacy that came along with that. Allie’s grandfather had started his entire empire with that paper. She wasn’t giving up on it without a fight. With any luck she’d be able to convince the board to retain their flagship division by offsetting any print losses with the lucrative streaming component she was going to suggest for their online content. But before she and Colin could put the finishing touches on that proposal, there were affiliate contract renewals to review.

She’d barely gone over the first one when there was a tap at the door.

“Come in.”

Colin slipped into the room and closed the door behind him. “Sorry to disturb you, but Detective Green is here to see you,” he said. His hushed tone explained why he hadn’t simply used the intercom. “She doesn’t have an appointment, so if you’d rather, I can tell her now’s not a good time.”

As shaky as Allie felt, was there ever going to be a good time to discuss the details of her parents’ murder with the investigating officer? Might as well get it over with.

“No, I’ll speak with her.” One more reason to wish she’d never crawled out of bed this morning.

Colin nodded but didn’t move. He simply stood there, regarding her for a moment. “You okay, boss lady?”

Allie really needed to work on her poker face. “I’m fine. But can you give me just a minute, though?”

“Sure thing. Buzz me when you’re ready.”

She signed and initialed the contract, then stacked it neatly in her outbox. After a few deep breaths, she hit the button on the phone’s intercom and gave him the go-ahead to send her in.

A moment later the door opened.

“Thank you for seeing me, Miss Sinclair,” Detective Green said, striding toward Allie with her hand extended. She was dressed in another dark, boxy suit and wore her brown hair in the same no-nonsense bun she did every time Allie saw her. The gold shield wasn’t clipped to her belt this time, but Allie knew that a gun was holstered beneath her jacket. And after seeing the damage a bullet could do firsthand, the mere proximity to a gun, even one carried by a police detective, made her uneasy. “I would have called first, but I was in the area on another case and thought I’d take a chance you were free.”

“It’s not a problem,” Allie said. She shook the detective’s hand, then motioned to a chair in front of her desk. “Please, have a seat. Can I offer you something to drink?”

“Coffee would be great.” She looked at Colin. “Black, one sugar.”

He nodded. “Anything for you, Miss Sinclair?”

Coffee was the last thing Allie needed given the current state of her nerves. “Maybe a cup of tea?”

“Right away,” he said. But he lingered, regarding her a moment more before crossing to the bar on the far side of the room.

Allie watched as the detective’s shrewd stare took in her surroundings. Even though her office wasn’t a crime scene, it was obvious she was cataloging every detail. From the oversize mahogany desk to the cluster of wingback chairs arranged near the bar, to the gallery of historic headlines framed in chronological order on the far wall, nothing went unnoticed.

“This was your father’s office?” Green asked.

It wasn’t a tough assumption to make. Everything about the room resonated with a sense of masculine power. If her position at Ingram became permanent, Allie would eventually redecorate. Something lighter, more in keeping with her own personality and taste. But for now she had bigger concerns than replacing tapestry with silk. “And my grandfather’s before that.”

Colin returned with two china cups. Allie glanced up to find his handsome face etched with concern. “Thank you, Colin.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “I’ll call you if I need anything else.”

The moment he was gone, Allie turned her attention to the woman seated across from her.

“What can I do for you, Detective?” she asked, cutting right to the chase. Detective Green hadn’t stopped by just to tell her there were no new developments. Or to have a look at Ingram’s executive offices. There was a purpose for her impromptu visit, and as far as Allie was concerned, the sooner they got to it, the better.

Green put her cup back on its saucer and reached for the leather satchel at her feet. “There are a few things I’d like you to look over.”

A lump formed in the pit of Allie’s stomach. Surely this woman hadn’t come to her office in the middle of the day to show her crime scene pictures? Or worse, her parents’ autopsy photos? Regardless of the rocky start to her morning, Allie didn’t think she’d ever be ready to see those images.

She breathed a sigh of relief when Detective Green dug through her bag and pulled out not eight-by-ten photos, but a stack of papers that appeared to contain some sort of list.

“This is the complete inventory of your parents’ Lake Forest home. We’ve given a copy to the insurance company and asked them to cross reference it with the policy riders to see if they can determine what was taken.” Green slid the printout across the desk. “We’d like you to look it over as well.”

Allie pulled the list toward her and with trembling fingers flipped through page after page of items: artwork, furs, crystal, silver, jewelry.

Jewelry. An audible gasp escaped her lips.

“What is it?”

With wide eyes she met Detective Green’s curious stare, but when she spoke, her words were barely a whisper. “Her ring.”

“Excuse me?”

She swallowed hard to find her voice. “When they were bagging my mother’s hands, she wasn’t wearing her engagement ring. Would they have removed it?”

“No, they wouldn’t have tampered with the evidence.”

“My mother always wore that ring. She never took it off.”

“Can you describe it for me?”

“The center stone is an oval Ceylon sapphire,” she said. “About ten carats, I believe. It’s surrounded by a ring of diamond solitaires.”

The detective glanced up from her notes. “Like Princess Diana’s?” Allie nodded and the detective scribbled a few more lines in her notebook. “Is there anything else that jumps out at you?”

Allie scanned the list a second time. “It’s hard to say. Nothing as obvious as that, but I’ll have to think about it.”

“Take your time and let me know if you come up with anything. In the meantime, I’ll follow up with the insurance company and make sure a list of stolen property is given to area pawnshops as well as the local precincts. That ring would be hard to fence, but if someone tries to move any of the other items, we’ll be ready.”

“So you’re still going on the assumption that this was just a burglary?” Allie asked. It wasn’t hard to miss the hope in her voice. As much as she hated the thought that her parents’ death was due to some random act of violence, it was even worse to imagine they’d been targeted specifically.

“Right now we’re not ruling anything out. That’s actually the other reason I’m here. In addition to going over the household inventory, I’d like you to compile a list of any of your parents’ known enemies.”

“I’m not sure I’d classify anyone in their life as ‘known enemies,’ Detective. My mother’s friends at the country club can be catty bitches, but they’re relatively harmless.” She thought about that and added, “For the most part.”

“I know this is difficult, Miss Sinclair. No one wants to imagine such a heinous crime could have been committed by someone they knew. But your parents lived in a very elite, powerful circle. And at this point in the investigation, we have to look at any and all possible leads.”

Green leaned back in her chair and crossed an ankle over her knee as Allie turned her attention back to the list of household items. She’d just begun working her way through the section marked ART & COLLECTIBLES when the Detective clarified her earlier comment.

“Although you’ll be relieved to know we met with your new business partner on Thursday and have cleared him as a suspect.”

Allie’s head snapped up from the papers in her hand. “Hudson—I mean, Mr. Chase—was a suspect?”

“Given the recent revelation that he’d been targeting Ingram for a hostile takeover, and for some time it seems.”

She cringed at the mention of how long Hudson’s plan had been in the works. “Hostile is an expression, Detective Green. These types of acquisitions, while unpleasant, don’t involve murder.”

“I happen to agree with you, Miss Sinclair. And as it turned out, Mr. Chase had an airtight alibi.” She flipped the page on her notebook. “Visiting his brother at a rehab facility in Wisconsin that day. But we have to look at every possibility, and once we’d learned he’d met with your father—”

Allie felt the blood drain from her face. “He did?”

Detective Green nodded. “A few days before the murders.”

Why in the world would he have done that? And a better question, why hadn’t he told her?

“I’ll be in touch in a few days. But if anything comes to mind . . .”

“Yes, of course, I’ll call you immediately.”

Detective Green tucked her notes back into her leather satchel. “Sorry again for the impromptu visit.”

Allie began to stand but the Detective held up her hand. “Don’t get up, I can see myself out. I’ve taken up enough of your day already.”

The office door had barely clicked shut before Allie spun her chair around and booted up her father’s desktop computer. She’d spent the first week working off her laptop, not quite ready to sift through her father’s numerous files. But if what Detective Green had said was true, and she had no reason to believe it wasn’t, then Hudson had met with her father shortly before his murder. In this very office. A fact he had somehow failed to mention. She sighed. Just one more item on what seemed to be an ever-growing list. Then again, she thought as a headache formed behind her eyes, he might have mentioned it if she’d let him say more than two words to her.

Allie pinched the bridge of her nose while she waited for the calendar program to open. When it did, she discovered meticulous, color-coded notes indicating meetings, times, and topics. She scrolled through each of the dates, scouring the screen for any mention of Hudson’s name. It was so small she almost missed it. At the two o’clock entry on October 28, the words H. CHASE were typed in a simple black font.

October 28.

A cold chill ran down her spine as she read the date again. It was the day Julian returned unexpectedly from France. The day Hudson had come to her rescue, saving her not only from Julian’s attack, but from a life she no longer wished to live. He was the one she wanted to spend her life with. She’d made up her mind that morning after they’d returned from their weekend in Lake Geneva. But as anxious as she’d been to tell him the news, she’d wanted to do it in person, not over the phone. So she’d fought the urge to call him all day, only to later realize he hadn’t reached out to her either. At the time she’d meant to ask him what had kept him so busy, but with everything that had happened, the question had lost its significance. Until now.

Allie leaned back in her chair, trying to process what her father’s own calendar had just confirmed. She had no idea why the two men met, or what they had discussed, but one thing was certain—after tomorrow’s board meeting, she was damn well going to find out.