Malcolm gently caressed Victoria’s sides as she lay in his arms. It was infinitely calming. This was a mistake, Malcolm. You’re a fucking idiot, he mentally berated himself. There was a good reason he tried to avoid having sex with strange women. It only ever led to heartbreak and tragedy. Especially with a woman like Victoria. Yet, he couldn’t stop himself from holding her close to him and reveling in her nude flesh against his.
“I didn’t take you for the spooning type, Malcolm,” she said sleepily as she pressed her ass against his groin.
He could feel himself begin to stiffen and a smile tugged at his lips. “There are a great many things you don’t know about me.”
She sighed contentedly. “Don’t worry. I’ll find all of them,” she said in a lazy voice.
He chuckled lightly. “If your reputation holds a fraction of truth, I’m sure that you will uncover things about me that even I didn’t know.” Though he knew there were some secrets he wanted her to know for the sake of his goals, there were others he preferred to keep buried.
“Let’s start with why you don’t have sex with women the normal way,” she said curiously as she cuddled closer to his warmth.
He was silent for a moment. “It’s just safer,” he finally explained. “I don’t even know if you’re on birth control. What if I came inside you and made you pregnant? Would you be busting my door down nine months later for money?”
She abruptly yanked herself away from him and bounded off the corner of the bed. She stood up with arms crossed and stared down at him angrily. “Whoa, buddy. What the hell kind of girl do you take me for?” she asked indignantly.
Her anger bothered him; he had only meant his words as a joke. Why do I even care if she’s angry or not? “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “I’ve only fucked you. It’s not like we’ve had a decent conversation.”
She furrowed her brows. “And whose fault is that? I’ve been trying to get an interview with you for months and you’ve blown me off every time.”
A frown overtook his features as he nodded slightly. “You’re right. I have been blowing you off. I generally despise reporters. Most of them are parasitic scum trying to suck whatever they can from people with real jobs,” he said venomously. “They have zero regard for who they hurt.”
“Wow!” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I think you’re confusing reporters with the paparazzi. Real investigative journalism is about finding out the truth and sharing it with those who deserve to know,” she said hotly. “It’s an honorable profession.”
He raised a brow and sat up on his elbows to look her in the eye. “You’ll have to forgive my skepticism, Victoria,” he said dryly. “Real investigative journalism is dead. Reporters are trading in their honor for quick cash.”
She released a sigh and crossed her arms. “You aren’t entirely mistaken.” Her eyes grew sad as she turned to sit down on the bed. “No, Malcolm. I would not shake you down for money in nine months.” She glared at him before continuing. “I am on the pill. If you had fucked me normally, and by some one percent chance, you did get me pregnant, I would take care of my own baby. I highly doubt you’d make a good father anyway.”
Pain flashed through his eyes, and he turned away to hide his emotion.
Victoria could see that her words had wounded him, and that he had become lost in his own mind. The air between them felt somehow colder. She swallowed, feeling a bit guilty, and reached out to touch his face. He turned to glare at her with a fiery look in his eyes and a deeply knitted brow.
She hesitated before lifting her chin to gently plant a kiss on his lips.
“What’s wrong, champ?” she asked tenderly.
The question caught him off guard and a lump formed in his throat.
“Nothing,” he said quickly.
She shook her head and brushed her fingers along his jaw. “You can’t lie to me, big guy. It’s my job to see right through that.”
He nodded in defeat, a bit upset at himself for being so transparent. Malcolm’s lips parted to emit a heavy breath. “I’m not ready to discuss this tonight.”
She nodded and crawled closer to him so that she could plant a kiss on his forehead. Then she relaxed against him gently with no further questions.
Malcolm swallowed. The familiarity he felt with her frightened him. He never let anyone in like this, yet she was finding a way to get him to open up.
“You know,” she said softly, “I came in here initially to do a story on the club. I never expected to find you here.”
He turned to gaze at her thoughtfully. “I figured as much,” he said as his lips turned into a smile. “Now that you’ve seen the infamous Malcolm Cage running a sex club, what will you do?”
She shrugged as she ran her fingers over his chest. “Kill the story,” she said with a sigh. “It was crackpot journalism anyway.”
The feeling of her fingers on his chest spread warmth throughout his body. Her words meant a great deal to him. “I appreciate that,” he said seriously. “It would be very bad for business.”
“That’s not surprising,” she said in mirth. “I noticed a lot of things with questionable legality going on and I know the club isn’t registered.”
He raised a brow and nodded. “Indeed. What does irritate me is how you found out about the club in the first place.”
She laughed. “You’d have known not to underestimate me if you had let me have an interview. There is no secret I can’t find eventually, champ.”
He couldn’t help but smirk at the confidence she exuded. “So why write this story at all? It seems a little low-brow to expose a secret club.”
Her shoulders rose in a shrug. “Because of the nature of the patrons here and what some of them claim their politics are,” she said as she pointed to the door. “I saw at least one senator in there with a cock in his mouth,” she said in disgust. “Just last week he was condemning gays!”
Malcolm tilted his head as she spoke and nodded in agreement. “It is rather hypocritical,” he said thoughtfully. “You know what? Write the story.”
She blinked at him in surprise. “What?”
His lips formed a smile. “Rat that bastard out. If he wants to suck cock, that’s his business,” he said with irritation in his voice. His fist clenched as he continued. “If he’s going to use the anonymity of my club to suck cock while bashing a whole group of people, that’s my business. I won’t tolerate it.”
She leaned over to wrap her arms around him and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, Malcolm. I’ll make sure to leave you out of it.”
Once again, his face displayed surprise. He slowly wrapped his arms around her waist in return. “You’re welcome, Victoria.” He felt so comfortable with her in his arms that he struggled to let her go. “I expect it to be an amazing story.”
She winked at him. “All my stories are amazing.”
He lay down on the bed, pulling her back down with him. “I do have one favor to ask though.”
“What’s that?” she asked skeptically.
“I have a… different story I need you to work on,” he said cryptically.
She could feel his muscles tighten under her hands, and she instinctively knew that this was serious. She pulled away to regard him with suspicion.
“What kind of story, Malcolm?”
He waited a moment before responding. “It’s a human interest piece.” “And?” she prodded.
Malcolm pulled his lips into a grim line. “It’s similar to the story that made your career.”
She looked at him with wide eyes, recoiling from his body in fear. “No,” she said immediately. “I swore I would never do a story like that again. It wasn’t worth the cost.”
She couldn’t calm her heart. It just kept beating faster and faster. It was hurting her chest so much that she was afraid she might be having a panic attack. She had moved off the bed and begun to pace around the room erratically. She lifted her hands to press her palms against her temples.
“What do you mean it wasn’t worth the cost?” he asked in confusion.
She shook her head and her hands began to tremble. “No. Just no,” she said quickly. She continued to back away from him.
“Victoria, I need your help,” he said gravely.
The words echoed in her mind. They were not the first time she had ever heard them. “Malcolm,” she said firmly. “I can’t do that kind of story ever again. Not for any amount of money or prestige. There are certain lines I won’t cross.”
“Victoria,” he said gently. He stood up from the bed and approached her.
She lifted her hands to put a barrier between them. “Don’t touch me.”
He stopped a few feet away, staring at her quizzically. “There must be something I can do. What would it take for you to help me?”
Victoria shook her head firmly. “Nothing in the world could make me write that story. Not even a job at the Chicago Tribune.”
He grimaced. “Funny. I could certainly promise you that,” he said lightheartedly. “I have some connections.”
She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Of course you do. You might be a billionaire, but you’re still just a man.” she said in exasperation. “Men always think that their cock or their wallets can solve all the problems of the world.” Her lips pulled into a grim line. “Whose kid was taken that you need to find anyway?” she asked, even though she knew better. Stop being nosy, Victoria. Curiosity killed the reporter.
Malcolm looked at her with granite in his eyes. “Mine,” he said in a low voice.
She flinched in surprise. The darkness in his tone unsettled her, and she stared at him for a moment before the anger in his steely eyes was too much to bear. Victoria lowered her gaze remorsefully. She had worked closely with parents who had lost their children, and experienced firsthand how it tore them apart. Sometimes, they never recovered. Her stomach sank. She had not realized that this strong, capable man that she was growing so fond of had such a heavy burden in his past. She wished that she could take it all away, but she knew that it was impossible.
If she stepped into this minefield, it would only end up hurting both of them. She was only just getting her life together, managing to establish herself in her career, and even saving up a bit of money. She couldn’t toss everything away-including her health-over a wild goose chase that would only end in tears and heartache. “Malcolm… I’m so sorry, but I really can’t help you.”
“You can’t?” he repeated with mild amusement in his voice. He turned his back to her, moving over to his desk to pour himself a glass of scotch from a crystal canister. “Let me put it to you this way, Victoria,” he spoke with a hard edge in his voice. “You’re a smart girl and you know it’s in your best interests to help me. I could be your greatest ally,” he said with a smile, “or your worst enemy. It would be a shame for a young reporter with such talent to suddenly find herself out of work.”
Victoria swallowed sharply. She felt fear envelop her body. It was almost as if the reaper himself was standing behind her with a scythe curled around her neck. “You’re threatening me?” she asked as her fists clenched. She couldn’t believe that after the wonderful sex they’d just had, and how sweet he had been a moment ago, he would be doing this now. She should have known that there would be a price to pay. There was no way that such a handsome and powerful man would want to be with her without an ulterior motive.
“Not at all,” he said in a terrifyingly sweet voice. “I’m merely stating the obvious. You have talents that would be put to waste if suddenly you got a call from your boss to pack up your things.”
She glared at him with such fury that she hoped he would burst spontaneously in a shower of blazing gore. “You’re an asshole, Malcolm. It’s no wonder you need me for this kind of story,” she snapped. “Did the mother think you were a monster as well?”
He closed the distance between the two of them in an instant. She recoiled slightly in preparation for what she was sure was going to be a slap across her face. Instead she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Yes,” he said in a hurt tone. “I know that I am a monster, Victoria. But even monsters love their children.” He released her shoulder and looked at her solemnly. “My daughter was brutally taken from me years ago. I need you to help me find her.” He looked like he was about to say something more, but then he shook his head and moved away. He sat down in the chair by his desk and placed a hand in his hair with frustration. “I’ve tried everything Victoria, but it’s all been dead ends.”
She clenched her jaw together tightly. Now she knew why Malcolm needed her. She wanted to say something sharp and cutting to release her guilt as a sword of rage. His words had stunned her into silence, however.