Page 19 of Her Dark Melody
Atlas chuckled, but his eyes were serious. “Ebony, you are anything but ordinary. And what does all this mean except we got lucky to be born wealthy? Yes, both Mateo and I have made our own fortunes, but we had doors opened for us to help us achieve that. Believe me, I am the last person you should consider a god, whatever that means. I have plenty ofdemons.”
Ebony wiggled her eyebrows at him. “Sexy.”
Atlas laughed, but his eyes were serious. “We don’t know each other yet, Ebony, but I won’t hide anything from you. I want to know everything about you, and there’s nothing about me, or my life, or my past I want to hide from you. Ask meanything.”
Ebony chuckled, pushing aside the fact that she was very definitely hiding something from him. “Um, okay. When did your parentspass?”
“Our dad when we were kids, Mom a few yearsago.”
She nodded. “And your step-dadremarried?”
“On a whim, we think, but Stan practically brought us up, so we support him no matterwhat.”
“And he has a son who looks likedeath.”
Atlas half-smiled, but there was a serious edge to the curl of his lips. “It’s not that I don’t like Cormac, rather that we have nothing in common with him. The man has no sense of humor, and he’s a shark. He’s engaged to the heiress of a very, very wealthy New York family, because,” and he continued in a deadpanned voice, “inheriting Stanley’s billions won’t beenough.”
Ebony snickered. “Must be hard forhim.”
“Right? Corman will always take the easy way to quick money – as long as it’s legal. I give him that, he’s a straight shooter. He doesn’t hide his ambition.” Atlas pulled her abruptly into a warm hug. “Ebs, he’s coming for Christmas, and I wanted to warn you about him. He has very little tact, and he’ll grill you endlessly. I’ll protect you, but he has a habit of being tenacious when he wants to knowsomething.”
She read easily between the lines. “You’re saying he’ll immediately assume I’m a gold-digger?”
“I’m afraidso.”
Ebony shrugged. “Atlas, I wouldn’t care if you were poor and lived under a bridge. Your money is of no interest tome.”
Atlas stopped and tilted her chin up so he could kiss her. “I know that, Ebony.” He pressed his lips to hers, his tongue massaged hers gently. “God, you’rebeautiful.”
Ebony’s mouth curved up in a smile. “I’m glad you thinkso.”
Atlas chuckled, then grabbing her hand, moved away from the house. “Come withme.”
He led her further into the grounds to an area shaded from the house, and Ebony gasped as she realized they were in a maze. “Wow. It’s like HarryPotter.”
Atlas laughed. “Fino thinks so too. But what I have in mind right now is way more R-rated than even JK Rowling’s adultbooks.”
“Adult what? She wrote books post-Harry? I think I’m brokenhearted,” Ebony joked breathlessly as he took her in his arms and kissed her, as his hands slid down the length of herbody.
“Good idea to wear a skirt,baby.”
“In this cold?” she teased. “Iknewyou hadskills.”
His hands slid her panties down her legs and over her boots as she unzipped his fly. Atlas produced a condom from his back pocket, and Ebony laughed. “So, this was aplan?”
“Oh, god, yes…Ebony in the snow…man, I’ve dreamed aboutthis.”
She freed his cock from his underwear, and he cussed little at the cold, making her giggle furiously. Nevertheless, he was inside her in a flash, supporting her, as they fucked against the maze’s thick hedge. It wasn’t an entirely successful pairing; Atlas wobbled as their pace quickened and they tumbled to the snow, both laughing furiously. “Damn,” Atlas said, shaking his head, “In my head, that was soerotic.”
Ebony had tears of laughter in her eyes as he helped her to her feet. “Worth a shot,” she said as she helped him tidy up. “I’ll make it up to youtonight.”
“Yeah, you will,” he leered at her comically, and shegiggled.
“You are so silly for a billionaire businessman. Aren’t you all supposed to be arrogant andaloof?”
Atlas shrugged. “That sounds like way too much effort. Mateo can do that to a certain extent, but he’s a better actor than Iam.”
“You’re the softy of the two ofyou?”
