Her Twisted Pleasures: The Twisted Mosaic, #1

By Amelia James

His hand came off my neck, and he wrapped his arms around me, crushing me against him. I grabbed his hair and forced his mouth to mine, feeding the darkness possessing us…. Submission, yes! Not giving up control but having it taken from me. This… this was why I needed Alex. Will was too nice; he would never abuse me like this. But Alex…mmm…Alex had no such qualms. "What have you done to me?"

 

Talia indulges her sexual pleasures, turning her life into a twisted mess. Sleeping with Alex is dangerous and reckless. She craves that excitement. Loving Will is comforting and safe. She needs that stability. Why can't she get everything she wants from one man?

 

Will has everything under control. Watching his girlfriend flirt with his best friend fuels his lust for her. He loves Talia; he trusts Alex. It's all good as long as he makes the rules.

 

Alex doesn't give a damn about rules. He knows how to play with fire without getting burned. It's just sex with Talia. No emotions means no attachments. That's one rule he won't break.

 

Sometimes dirty little secrets are more dirty than secret….

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pickled Shamrock Press
• Release date: Aug 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223905233

Book preview

Dirty Words

I flipped the kitchen light on and grabbed the nearest chair as a wave of blinding brightness nearly sent me to the floor. The drunken dizziness cleared after a couple seconds, and I searched the fridge for a bottle of water. My whiskey-drinking days had begun and ended last night... er... this morning, I realized, by the time on the microwave clock. Ugh. 3 AM.

I leaned back against the counter and downed the bottle of water, hoping it would counteract the looming hangover.

You look cute, Talia.

I nearly dropped the water bottle. Of all the people who might have seen me in that kitchen—in nothing but a spaghetti strap tank top and string bikini underwear—why did it have to be him?

Alex Sheridan, hotshot attorney and youngest junior partner at the firm—he wasn’t even thirty yet—was the chair of the criminal defense department. He wasn’t my boss, technically. I worked as a paralegal for another lawyer in his department, but I still unofficially worked with the newest partner, my old boss Holland Spencer.

I’d told Holland over and over again that I didn’t want to be on his ‘team’ anymore, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I liked the money he paid me, so I kept doing it.

I’d been glad when Alex moved me to his department. He turned me on—and scared me a little. He had connections, inside and outside the firm, with people who made the senior partners look like boy scouts.

Alex and Will both hailed from the South. They went to high school and college together, but Alex had come to Chicago for law school, and stayed. Will had transferred up here a little over a year ago, after his promotion to detective, and I met him at Alex’s Super Bowl party last winter.

We hung out with Alex a lot, but I never minded seeing him after work. He was pretty nice to look at. Okay—very nice.

I had a little crush on him, but so did every other woman in the department. Alex was a good lawyer because he got what he wanted. He specialized in manipulation, plotting and scheming. The senior partners had their all-seeing eyes on him. That would’ve scared most people, but Alex didn’t seem to be afraid of anyone or anything. His opponents, and even some of our clients, feared him.

Even I didn’t trust him entirely.

The firm had punished him once for violating its ethics rules. What a joke. Most of the partners, especially my ex-boss, didn’t bother with a little thing like obeying the law, and somehow Holland had sucked me into that gray area too. Since Alex hadn’t made full partner, he was still subject to their regulations. Not that he cared.

Oh, hell yes, I was attracted to him—a notoriously single bad boy hiding a dark side behind his charming smile.

I glared at him across the kitchen table. What are you doing up? I should’ve run for cover, instead of letting him check me out.

He’d had a lot to drink too. Maybe the firm’s ethics rules didn’t apply at three o’clock in the morning. Maybe our professional boundaries were as fuzzy as my brain.

I’d been with the same guy for almost a year, and it sure felt good to have someone new look at my body. I still loved Will... I just wanted some strange, too. That first-time rush was long gone for me and Will, but this attention from Alex excited me—something new and forbidden. His intense stare felt like insistent fingers on my skin. I couldn’t hide from him. My nipples tingled, and I didn’t have to touch myself to see if my girl parts dripped; I could feel it.

I was about to ask you the same thing. His fiery gaze burned right through my shirt.

I needed water.

Alex had invited us over to watch football with a few other friends. Will and I had drunk too much, so Alex let us spend the night. We’d slept in his bedroom, leaving him to sleep somewhere else.

I could have sworn the boys exchanged devious glances when we said goodnight. Probably just my imagination.

I couldn’t sleep. His head dropped back on the leather chair.

He was wearing nothing but his jeans; I had no idea his shoulders were so broad. I’d only ever seen him in a suit and tie, almost always with the top button of his shirt undone and his tie tugged loose. He seemed to chafe at ties.

His short brown hair stuck out in all directions, and his eyes—black in the dark living room, but I knew they were a startling blue—focused on me, following my every move as I walked toward him.

I couldn’t shut off my brain. He drawled when he spoke, his voice worn out and lazy.

Happens to me all the time. I sat down on the coffee table in front of him, catching a sly smile on his face as I pulled my knees together. You get an idea in your head and it goes on and on.

His gaze moved over my body.

Don’t let him look at you that way! I was sitting nearly naked with another man while the man I loved slept just down the hall. Why was I tempting someone else?

Alex’s eyes sparkled in the dark, and he licked his lips. Maybe he was tempting me.

I sat too close to him, hoping he would touch me. What the hell are you thinking? Will touched me as much as I wanted. He couldn’t keep his hands off me, but I knew his hands too well. I wanted unfamiliar hands on my complacent skin.

Is it okay if I sit on your table?

His smile turned dangerous. You can put your sweet ass wherever you want.

The first thing I learned in my law classes was that the most important concept in the legal profession was defining terms. Sexual harassment was defined as unwanted or unwelcome advances. Alex’s flirting was often playful and sometimes bold, but never unwanted or unwelcome. I gave it right back to him more often than not, but he maintained a professional demeanor at the office—unless we were alone.

I shouldn’t have flirted with him so much. If I’d been single, it wouldn’t have been a problem... but I wasn’t single and didn’t want to be. I’d always been a flirt. I tried to rein it in, but Alex wouldn’t give it up. Will didn’t seem to care, though, and he often laughed at Alex and me when we really got going. Maybe it turned Will on a little. Alex didn’t have a girlfriend to worry about.

A while ago, there’d been rumors that he’d slept with a female client of his, but she disappeared. The police questioned Alex and the firm investigated him, but they’d never laid charges. She was never found, and Alex was never arrested.

As far as I knew, he lived alone. He’d furnished his condo nicely, but without much thought or feeling. A rich leather couch and matching chairs decorated the living room—tasteful, functional, necessary. The kitchen felt sparse and Spartan. Compared to his cluttered and busy office, his home looked as though he hardly spent any time there.

I think I’ll take my sweet ass back to bed. I tried to stand up, but he leaned forward and grabbed my hand.

Don’t. Stay here and let me finish undressing you.

With your eyes? That’s not what he said. The room suddenly got hot and small and my heart fluttered under my breast. I shouldn’t—

Why not?

Seriously? I glanced down the hall and then back at him. I had nowhere to go, nowhere to run. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?

His laugh sent chills down my spine. You would too.

Are you sure about that? Damn it, what am I doing? I couldn’t play his game. He would win because he had no regard for boundaries, no respect for rules, and no fear.

Stay here and prove me wrong.

No. I couldn’t trust him. Ever. I had to get away from him. Now.

Before I could move, he fell back in the chair and dragged me with him, my legs sprawled over his lap. His hands slid down my back, and I tried to stand up but somehow our bodies fit closer together. His fingers felt like fire on my skin. I felt his cock get hard between my legs, and rubbed against it without thinking.

He groaned and stroked my bare thighs with one hand, while the other teased the cotton panel stretched tight over my hot flesh.

Slut, he whispered on my neck. You were wet before I touched you.

I leaned back and slapped his face so hard my hand stung.

His black eyes sparkled. So you wanna play rough?

Hell yes. I’d had no idea until I slapped him. A wild thrill shot through me, and my heart raced as he grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled my face down, his lips stopping just short of mine. Then he waited.

There had to be some reason I shouldn’t kiss him, but damned if I could remember it. My fingers curled into his bare chest and he hissed. I liked making him squirm for a change.

Kiss me, he growled.

I shouldn’t—

I. Don’t. Give. A. Damn.

Well hell. My lips touched his—barely. I pulled back and looked at him—unfamiliar, dangerous, and so exciting I devoured his mouth without thinking. Don’t think, just touch. I ran my fingers across his strong shoulders and down his arms. His skin felt hot under my hands, his body hard. He sucked in his abs so I could get into his pants, if I wanted to. I slid one hand over his stomach and under his jeans, touching his hard cock, smiling when he groaned.

He pushed my straps off my shoulders and fondled my bare breasts, circling my nipples with his thumbs, sending shock waves exploding through me.

I leaned back and his mouth found my nipple, sucking hard, his breath hot on my breast. Don’t stop, I gasped. He groaned and clamped my nipple between his teeth, and I squirmed on his lap. Was this pleasure or pain? No matter, because I liked it.

His hand slid between my legs, rubbing my fleshy button through my panties. I groaned and shifted, hoping to force his hand under the cloth. It worked. His fingers touched my wet skin, slipping in and out, fucking me with his hand harder and faster and hotter, until I started panting his name. His hands moved under me again, and his cold open zipper scratched my bare