I was about to ask Elijah why he had that goofy grin on his face, when he opened the door to the room and instead of seeing Poppy like I suspected, Ri had her long legs draped over the arm of the velvet chair, clear stilettos kicked up like she owned the place.
She was wearing a brown dress that was glued to her skin, giving off the impression that she wasn’t wearing anything at all. One strap of her dress slipped off her shoulder like a fuckin’ invitation for me to rid her body of the flimsy material.
“Hey, baby,” she purred, tilting her head to the side in a way that showed off her freshly done hairstyle. “Long day?”
I stared at her, my chest still tight, but not from stress and frustration now, but anticipation and excitement.
“You told Elijah to make it seem like Poppy wanted to see me?”
She grinned mischievously. “Only because I wanted you all annoyed and bothered when you stepped into the room. Gina and I got to the club an hour or so ago and you looked like you needed a distraction tonight. I left her at the bar talking with Kesia.”
Shit.I hadn’t even known Santari was in the club tonight, which pissed me off. Ialwaysneeded to know when she was here. Losing Phil meant I had to switch around my other top guys, so Homero—my front door bouncer—was now taking over some of Phil’s jobs and Homero’s replacement wasn’t as good as he was at notifying me about certain shit.
I shut the door behind me harder than I intended, making a mental note to ensure that my staff remembered that anytime Ri entered one of my clubs, that was priority information.
“You think pissing me off is funny?”
She giggled. “No, I think it’s sexy.” She stood slowly, my eyes falling to her thick thighs. “Seeing you all wound up, sporting that control that you wear like armor was too tempting for me not want to peel off of you. Like I bomb I wanted to see detonate.”
I crossed the room before she could blink, grabbed her by the waist, and pushed her back against the wall roughly. Her breath hitched, arousal evident in her eyes.
“You lit the fuse,” I muttered, breathing in her delicious perfume. “Am I the explosion you wanted?”
“Yes,” she huffed breathlessly.
“Do you think I won’t make yo’ ass pay for trickin’ me?” I asked, my voice low and my mouth inches from hers.
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” she teased, licking her deep, maroon-colored lips that I quickly captured with mine.
Fuck.She tasted like tequila and bad decisions. A combination that was slowly becoming my favorite because of Ri. I kissed her like I meant to punish her for the game she played, because I did. Yet, she responded like she’d been starving for my taste.
Her hands slid into my locs and tugged, while her nails grazed my scalp just enough to make my control slip. I pinned her wrists above her head and pressed her harder into the wall, lifting my head to see her face.
Her breath hitched again, but her eyes didn’t flinch. Just like when she was tied up in my bedroom, she didn’t back down.
“Are you worried that you should have gone home instead of pulling this stunt?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“I could tell Storm or Titan to come get you.”
She smirked. “Who do you think told me you could use a break tonight?”
I chuckled, shaking my head. Earlier, the fellas had texted me to check in and I’d simply told them I was good. I should have known my best friends would read between the lines.
“Oh yeah?” I licked her neck. “Did you tell Storm and Titan that you wanted to experience my kind of pleasurable pain tonight?”
“Yes, because I earned it,” she whispered, her lips swollen from our kiss, and her pupils wide and hungry. “Besides, you needed a reminder tonight.”
“Reminder of what?”
“That you belong to me just as much as I belong to you, Storm, and Titan. That all of that out there,” she motioned to the closed door, “doesn’t own you. But I do.”
My grip on her wrists tightened as I captured her lips again, unable to get enough of her. “Ri, you’re sexy as hell when you think you’re in charge.”
“Then you’ll love this.” She widened her legs revealing a feminine looking holster. “I have something there for you.”
I wrapped one hand around her throat to keep her caged to the wall, while the other reached between her legs and pulled out the shiny object that caught my attention.