Home > Keep Me (Phoenix #2)(6)

Keep Me (Phoenix #2)(6)
Author: Stacey Kennedy

Kieran’s laugh followed Archer as he approached her. With his smaller mask, everyone in the room knew who he was. It was his job to know who they were and what secrets they held. But the one person he knew the least was also the one he couldn’t get out of his damn head.

Elise was laughing at something billionaire Kyle Smart said before she caught Archer approaching. Her laughter died, eyes widened a little, and her heated gaze raked over him from head-to-toe, creating an unquenchable thirst inside him. Not surprising. This kind of chemistry was a two-way street, and Archer knew without a doubt, as much as Elise wanted to strangle him, she also wanted to fuck him. She might want to continue playing games, but he didn’t like games; he liked action.

“Good evening,” Archer said by way of greeting when he reached Kyle. “Would you mind if I borrow our beautiful guest for a moment?”

Kyle inclined his head. “By all means.” He gave Elise a wide grin full of promise. “I hope to see you later.”

“Likewise,” she smiled, then took Archer’s outreached hand.

Her fingers felt just right in his hand, not too strong to show haughtiness, not too light to speak of weakness. Perfect. He led her to the far table, away from prying ears. “So,” he said when she pulled her hand from his and lifted her wineglass to her lips. “What are your thoughts so far?”

She swallowed her drink, keeping her attention on the crowd. “That there are a lot of rich people in this room.”

He chuckled and took a champagne glass from the server as he walked by, then leaned against the table between them. “What else?”

She scanned the room before looking back at Archer. “I’d say that most people here have one thing in common.”

“What is that?” Archer asked, stuck on how beautiful her eyes looked surrounded by all the smoky eye makeup. Even more enticed by the deep-red lipstick covering her pouty lips.

Lips that curved slightly at the corners. “They’re passionate.”

Archer tipped his glass toward her in agreement before he sipped his champagne, tasting crisp and fruity undertones, and studied the crowd. “Is anyone standing out to you?” he asked, glancing her way again.

“That guy with the black crow’s mask.” She gestured right. “And that woman in the teal lingerie.”

Isaac Shae, the son of an oil tycoon. And Connie Mora, an actress, the very woman Archer wanted investigated, only confirming his instincts were spot on. But that brought up the question—is Isaac involved too? Both were new members, joining a few weeks apart, just over a month ago. Though Archer did all the vetting and Wayne ran a deeper search, nothing about these two had raised suspicions. “Why them?” he asked, keeping his voice neutral so he would not lead her in any direction.

“Because they’re not horny.”

Archer nearly spit out his champagne. He coughed quietly then whirled to her. “Come again?”

Elise gave a sly smile, her long hair falling over her bare shoulder, sweeping over the side of her breast. “I wouldn’t think such a word would rattle you so much, Archer.” When he didn’t reply, surprised by her unusual lightheartedness, she gestured out. “Look around this room. Every single person is ready to rip each other’s clothes off and go at it at full throttle.”

Archer tore his gaze off her mouthwatering cleavage and looked around. She wasn’t wrong. Even he was ready to rip her clothes off and go at it. He’d grown used to Elise’s strong personality and liked it, but this light, playful side matched by the sparkle in her eyes was new and rocked the ground beneath him.

“See how everyone is leaning into each other?” she continued, her voice soft next to him. “Touching each other. Licking lips. Laughing. It’s a very sensually charged space, and everyone but those two is acting as they should.”

Archer studied them, knowing he never would have noticed that. He needed fresh eyes in this space, and apparently, he needed Elise’s eyes.

“So, you’ve got to ask yourself, why?” Elise continued. “Why are they not responding like everyone else?”

He frowned. “Good question.”

She took another long sip of her drink, her gorgeous lips wrapping around the edge of the wineglass. Archer imagined those lips wrapped tightly around him, slowly dragging over his hardened flesh, as she asked, “So, is she the one raising all your inner alarms?”

Rock-hard now, he tore his attention off her mouth and nodded as soft music began to play and the double doors on the far side of the room opened, drawing the crowd forward. “Let’s talk more later tonight. I’ll give you names, and we can go from there.”

“Okay,” she said, studying the crowd slowly beginning to enter the room. She turned back to him with a sly smile. “Is this the part when things get interesting?”

Archer polished off his champagne and placed the empty glass on the table before he closed in on her. He took her chin, encouraged by her sharp intake of breath as he let the hunger she stirred in him show. “This is when you decide if you want to leave or stay for the show.”

Cheeks burning bright, alongside her heated gaze, her mouth fell open, no sound escaping.

Finally, he’d rendered her speechless…and looking like everyone else in this space: horny. He grinned as pure masculine pride rushed through his veins, then he headed for the doorway. And before she could ask him anything, he turned back to her, placing a new challenge between them he hoped she’d answer. He opened his pants, letting his cock spill free.

 

 

Everything sane and sensible in Elise’s mind told her not to walk through those double doors. She hadn’t come to watch a sex show. One that Archer was apparently taking part in. She certainly had zero interest in this erotic lifestyle. Sure, she liked her sex spicy—the more passionate, the better—but she didn’t like prying eyes getting off on watching her. And yet, one look at his naked form, pure muscle, all hard and big man, had her feet moving her in that direction, curiosity driving her steps forward. But as she moved closer, catching his grin and challenging hot stare daring her to follow, he turned toward the door, revealing muscles upon muscles, stretching and flexing, as he walked through it, all leading down to the finest sculpted ass she’d ever seen in her life. A glance up revealed a large scar on his shoulder, an obvious gunshot wound from his military career. When he vanished through the doorway, she kept walking until she stepped into the small round room with high stone walls where the crowd stood. Back in the 1920s, she suspected the space was used to store whiskey barrels, the oaky scent still lingering in the dry air.

In the middle of the room, a light-haired man with a gold mask, who she knew for certain was Archer’s close friend Kieran, was kissing Lottie, the brunette she’d met earlier. Next to them stood Archer, waiting, but he wasn’t looking at them. His smoldering gaze beneath his black masquerade mask was right on…her. Her breath hitched under the weight of that stare. Everything lit up inside her at the way he overwhelmed her, awakened her in a way she’d never experienced before, bringing uncontrollable heat into her core. She’d never seen this side of him. He’d never shown her this. The need. The want. The hunger. And she felt the crowd around her drift away as he pulled her in to something new, something foreign, something…special.

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