A Deal with the Bossy Devil by Kyra Parsi

32

I woke up in heaven.Sore and satiated, with a naked Adrien pressed to my back, trailing soft kisses along my shoulder and neck.

A hum rolled out of my throat when his teeth got involved, my back curling against him. He was hard and ready, and the moment I felt it, my body melted into a puddle of needy lust. Again.

I was broken. We'd had sex two more times last night, and I was still hungry for more. After he'd cleaned me up, I'd sat on his lap, kissed and thanked him for being sweet and taking care of me. One compliment led to another, and the next thing I knew, my wrists were tied behind my back as he sunk me down on his cock, murmuring filthy, brutishly possessive things in my ear as I rode him. He'd said the types of things that appealed strictly to my lizard brain, and that I'd only allow in bed. The types of things I'd replay in my head over and over again every time I reached for the purple vibrator in my bedside drawer at home.

I'd told him so afterward, which was what had led to the third round.

“Show me, baby. Show me how you'll touch yourself, thinking about me,” he'd demanded.

Four minutes later, he'd had my slick-covered fingers pinned to the mattress, one of my knees hooked over his shoulder, and was growling angrily about “losing his mind” over me as he pounded into my “perfect little pussy,” punishing it for being so “tempting and pretty.” The declaration had been followed by more brutish and possessive dirty talk.

Three times in one night should have been more than enough. I shouldn't have wanted more so soon.

“Good morning,” he hummed, arms tightening around me. “How did you sleep?”

“It's only been four hours,” I complained, stuffing my face into the fluffy white pillow.

He was already lifting the hem of my slip. “You want me to stop?”

“Mmm,” I responded, grinding my ass against his steel length.

He hissed, fingers digging into my hips. “Use your words, Ria.”

“Don't stop,” I sighed, already feeling the ache and dampness building between my thighs. “But go slow, please. I'm sore.”

He got me off with his fingers first, making me arch and gasp and shudder against him before he slowly entered me from behind, whispering a smooth string of desperate praises in my ear while he fucked me.

I latched on to them, memorizing every last word.

We managed to crawl out of bed a half hour later and get into the shower. He washed every inch of my body, shampooed my hair, ran conditioner through it with gentle fingers, and kept spoiling my skin with soft, affectionate kisses, despite my halfhearted protests.

And that wasn't even the best part. The best part was how much we laughed, how much genuine fun we seemed to have when we weren't fighting.

It didn’t hurt that my anger had thawed, and that I didn't see him as the inherently selfish, unredeemable asshole I used to.

After calling Jamie and filling her in on all the non-sexy stuff (because it was going to be so much more fun to see her freak out in person over a bottle of wine), I spent the morning with Adrien’s family while he took his work calls.

We went through a whole stack of photo albums, laughing at stories of a rowdy young Adrien wreaking havoc on the world around him. It was fucking adorable and provided me with endless teasing ammunition, so I decided to stay for just one more day and use it.

Except the one extra day turned into two. Then three. And by the fourth morning, I couldn’t remember the last time we’d bickered or fought. Bantered, yes. We did that constantly. But there was no venom or bitter animosity behind our jabs anymore. It was just… I don’t know. When we weren’t fighting, we just… fit.

There was never a dull or awkward moment. Not when his parents took us out to dinner, not when we spent an entire day hiking, kayaking, and enjoying the seven hours of blissful sunshine bestowed upon the island before the clouds took over again, and not when we cooped ourselves up in the guesthouse the next day, “resting.”

And then there was that. The sex. We were insatiable; and the more we did it, the more our bodies seemed to want.

Yesterday afternoon, as he’d been wrapping up another conference call, I’d changed into a cream-colored babydoll and crawled under his desk, nuzzling and kissing his hardening bulge over his slacks until he caved, hung up before the speaker had gotten through his last presentation slide, and grabbed a hold of me before I could make my escape.

I was on my knees again less than a minute later, my hands bound behind my back as Adrien unzipped himself and ordered me to “suck him off properly. Like a good girl.”

Like his good girl.

His pretty girl.

It was new. And instead of panicking or rebelling against his claim on me, I reveled in it, aching for him every time he said it. And he kept saying it until he was gripping my hair and shooting down my throat. Then he’d lifted me onto the desk, one hand fisting my ponytail as he fucked me with the other, demanding I repeat his words.

“Say it,” he kept insisting as I moaned, my wrists pulling against the leather belt wrapped around them. What was it about being restrained that made everything so much hotter? “Tell me you’re mine, Ria.”

I’d resisted until the ache in my core became unbearable, until Adrien’s eyes were half-feral again, swimming over my blushing face like it was the most awe-inspiring thing they’d ever witnessed. And just as I hit the brink of shattering, my lips moved out of their own violation. “I’m yours.”

His mouth had swallowed every whimper and moan that accompanied my orgasm, and then I was freed, my hands unbound so they could hug Adrien back as his kisses slowed, softened, became… tender. He’d carried me to bed and that had been it. We hadn’t climbed back out again until well past dinner time.

And even though I still didn’t think it was a great idea, I was starting to… at least consider it. Turning this little affair into something without an impending expiration date. Conducting a new experiment of sorts.

Adrien had brought it up again last night, asking if I was open to the idea. “It’s okay if you need to think about it,” he’d said when I hadn’t answered him right away.

So I was. Thinking about it. And other than the mess with his family and the engagement we’d lied about, there was one other sore spot I couldn’t get over: Alba.

“Tell me something,” I said, plucking a small strawberry out of the fresh bowl of fruit that had been hand-delivered to us by Julie this morning while I was still sleeping. She'd brought pancakes as well, and fresh whipped cream. I adored her. Truly. I could only hope that my future mother-in-law would be half as kind and nurturing as her.

Adrien and I were in the kitchen of the guesthouse, right under the temporary patch that had been installed on the roof to accommodate us. I was sitting on the granite kitchen counter with Adrien standing between my knees, his palms resting on my bare thighs.

I de-stemmed the strawberry, dipped it into the whipped cream, and brought it up to his mouth. He flashed me a devilish dimple before accepting the gift, making sure to lick and suck all the juice and cream from my fingers.

Aaaaand I was turned on again.

Focus, I chided myself.

“How is it possible that you didn't know Alba had a child when she worked for you for fouryears? That doesn't make any sense to me.”

His eyebrows twitched upward, before tightening slightly. He shoved a hand through his damp hair. “To be honest, that’s all on me. I had a really shitty experience with my assistant before her, and I was still... recovering from that when she was hired. I thought it would be better if our relationship was kept strictly professional, so I made it clear to her that the less we knew about each other’s personal lives, the better. But looking back now… I obviously took it a little too far.”

He grimaced when he said the last part, his regret clear. “I’ve said this before, but I am sorry, Ria. She never told me the workload was too much. She never complained about anything or gave any indication that she wasn’t happy. She just... she never said no, so I never questioned it. A better boss might have, but I—I'll talk to her when I’m back. I promise.”

“What happened with your last assistant?” I asked. My hand had moved to his hip, my thumb stroking his sweater. It happened instinctively, the moment his voice dipped into the apologetic range.

He cleared his throat, briefly averting his gaze. “Long story short, I found out he was leaking my information online. Flight schedules, home address, phone number, vacation spots, meeting locations, you name it.” His tongue darted out to wet his lips, his gaze hardening. “You know that website for people who hate me? The information eventually made its way there, and all over a bunch of fan sites. But the original place it was posted was a lightly moderated forum for... I mean, there are fans, and then there are people who get obsessive, and delusional.”

A sense of unease tugged at my gut. “What do you mean?” I asked carefully. Please tell me this isn't leading where I think it is.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Well, to start, he had a lock of my hair wrapped around a green lollipop that he kept in the top drawer of his desk at work. It was wet when we found it.”

I gaped. “What?”

“Tip of the iceberg.”

My stomach churned. “What the fuck.”

“He'd taken hundreds of photos of me without my consent or knowledge, kept prints of them in the dashboard of his company-issued car. We found stolen pocket squares, drawings of me, handwritten letters that were incredibly uncomfortable to read, and he'd…. he’d very clearly made a habit of going through my trash. In my apartment. That I’d never given him the keys to. Think used condoms, floss, tissues.”

I was speechless. Creeped the fuck out, and utterly speechless.

“I'd never suspected anything,” Adrien went on. “He seemed like a normal guy, and he was good at his job. I trusted him. But then my phone started to blow up, and the same people were showing up everywhere I went. Airports, restaurants, my apartment building, my running route. A leaked phone number is one thing, but I didn't understand how they were getting their hands on my schedule. Turned out, Keaton had been sharing my information with a small group of people on that forum for well over a year. But it had remained contained to their private chat until one of them decided to leak it. It happened after they'd had an argument.”

My mouth was still hanging open. “That's... insane. I'm so sorry.”

“I was still dealing with the aftermath of it when I hired Alba, both logistically and emotionally. And since we were trying to keep the story out of the media, the information was distributed on a need-to-know basis only. So, your sister doesn't know what happened. Just that I had her sign a bunch of NDAs and made sure she knew how much I valued my privacy. She had limited access to my schedule and personal information, and she wasn't allowed to ask questions about my personal life. In return, I wouldn't ask about hers.”

Bit by bit, his behavior started to make sense. No wonder he wouldn't give me his phone number. I picked up another strawberry and bit into it, thinking. “I can’t imagine working with someone for four years and never breaking that seal. But, I mean, I get it. That's a really traumatizing experience.”

“It broke once,” he said, eyes darting down to my lips as I popped the rest of the strawberry into my mouth. “Alba was the one that caught Mandy cheating.”

My chewing slowed, my fingers going still around the grape I'd reached for. She'd cheated on him?

His eyes met mine, searching. “Alba really never did tell you, did she?”

I shook my head. My sister was excellent at keeping secrets, so that part wasn't surprising. “She said you owed her a favor, was that it?” I asked. She'd informed him of the affair, and kept quiet about it afterward, so he'd owed her one?

A nod.

“And the guy that Mandy's marrying... it's not the same person she cheated on you with, is it?”

He rolled his lips. “My cousin. It started shortly after the whole Keaton thing happened—that's actually how they met. She was on our PR team; he was the lawyer taking care of my sealed restraining order. It was happening right under my nose for a little over three years, and once again, I'd had no idea. I proposed, thinking—” He cut off, color sprinting to the tips of his ears, his temples.

What the fuck?

My head had jutted forward, my mouth hanging open again. “She cheated on you with your cousin and they're both coming to your parents’ anniversary party? They were invited to your parents’ anniversary party?”

“It was a long time ago,” he responded gruffly, his jaw tight. “And they've apologized.”

“So?” There was some shit people didn't deserve to be forgiven for. This was pretty high on that list. “Please tell me you have some elaborate revenge scheme planned. If you've brought me here because you think it'll piss her off, I'm officially in. Let's do it. Give me the ring, and I'll—”

“They announced it on Halloween.”

My heart hurled itself against my ribs, a shot of adrenaline spiking through my bloodstream.

“Their engagement,” he clarified before I could ask. “Alice texted me fifteen minutes before I greeted the investors in our hotel lobby.”

“ThisHalloween?” My voice cracked. “Right before I...” Right before I'd assaulted him, cost him a shit ton of investment dollars, and ran away? “Shit. Adrien, I’m so sorry, I—”

“Why did you do it?”

I almost didn't want to say it, because it didn't excuse my actions the way I'd originally allowed myself to justify. Suddenly, picking glitter out of dirt didn't seem to be enough of a punishment for how I'd acted.

“I told you, this guy in a blue suit grabbed me, and I thought it was—”

He shook his head, leaning closer. “No. Why did you smash his car window?”

I reeled. “What?”

His eyes were searching mine like he was trying to peer into my soul. “The vandalism charge on your record is for damage to a sports car. What happened?”

The sudden change in topic was so jarring, I had to take a moment to mentally re-align myself. “Where did that come from?”

“It's been bugging me since I saw it. Like an itch in my brain I can't scratch,” he said. “You were set on an incredibly clear life trajectory, then derailed at the very last second. I don’t get it.”

“Why are you so weirdly stuck on this?” I asked, frowning at him. “For the last time, I did a stupid thing, I got caught, I paid the consequences. End of story.”

“No, Sanchez. You spent your entire academic career working toward utter perfection, then picked up a brick, and shattered it all to bits just three weeks before graduation. I'm willing to bet my right arm that you hadn't so much as stolen a stick of gum before then, so what happened?”

“You didn’t know me back then. How are you so… sure…”

…

Oh my god.

“What's his name?” I asked. My heart was starting to palpitate, pumping every drop of blood in my body up to my head. “The guy that Mandy cheated on you with. You said he's a lawyer? What's his name?”

When Alice had said “MJ” was coming to the party, I'd assumed the “J” stood for Mandy’s middle name. Like an idiot.

Adrien flinched, taking a step back.

“Josh is your cousin?” I shoved myself off the countertop. “Josh is the person she's engaged to? Joshua MotherfuckingGoldman?”

“I was going to tell you.”

“When?” I yelled. Sparks tingled under my skin, cooking my flesh.

“Right now.” He raked a hand through his dark hair, the tips of his ears bruising. “I was getting there, I swear.”

“Adrien, what the fuck?”

“I can explain.”

“Let me guess. You wanted to get back at Josh for sleeping with your fiancée, so you orchestrated this whole thing to fuck with him. By fucking me.” It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

Holy shit. I’d been so stupid.

I knew things weren’t adding up. He’d claimed he knew who I was because Alba kept framed pictures of me on her desk, but that couldn’t have been true. Because for every picture of me on her desk, there would have been three of Olive, and he didn’t know who she was.

But I’d had just enough alcohol in my system that night not to question it.

“Okay, Ria, you have every right to be angry with me, but I really need you to hear me out on one thing: I did not sleep with you to get back at Josh, okay? None of that—us—was fake. I swear.”

I swatted his hand away when he reached for me, a hot mixture of anger, hurt, and betrayal thrashing in my chest.

I didn’t need to know what his tell was to know he was lying. Of course that was why he’d slept with me, called me pretty, told me the things he had.

What? Did I really think that Adrien Cloutier wanted to take me out on dates? Did I really think he’d meant it when he said he wanted to tell people I was his for real? That he’d fantasized about us cuddling?

Was I really that naïve?

The thrashing in my chest began to boil up to my throat, cheeks, eyes. I blinked it back, refusing to shed a single tear in front of him—over him.

“What exactly was your plan when you brought me here? What were you thinking?” My heart squeezed out a string of fluttery pulses that pulled at my gut. I felt sick. “Were you really going to tell me? Or was it supposed to be a horrible little surprise when he showed up to the party?”

His expression said it all. “You have to understand how angry I was,” he tried, holding a palm up. It was clear how much effort he was putting into keeping his tone even and calm. “After the breakup, I threw myself into work. It all happened around the time my dad retired, and… no one thought I could do it. The media, the board. I was too young, too arrogant, too inexperienced. And I decided to prove them wrong. I put everything I had into the East Asian expansion, Ria. It was—is—my baby. I’d been planting seeds and working on the plan before I even became CEO. That investment wasn’t just about the money and resources the Japanese firm was going to provide. It was about building confidence with my board of directors. Proving that I could do this job, and I could do it well.”

I’d crossed my arms while I listened, trying to reel my emotions back in check. I remembered how the media had reacted when Anthony decided to retire early to spend more time with his family. Everything Adrien was saying lined up with what I recalled being reported, as well as what little Alba had mentioned about the internal pushback when Adrien had been promoted.

It lined up, but it didn’t excuse any of it.

“Ria, I spent six months pouring my soul into securing that deal. I lived and breathed it for half a year. They were already a little flighty because of my age, and the lack of confidence surrounding my promotion, but I managed to get them on board anyway. And the Halloween incident—right after Alice texted me… it all… threw me off. I fumbled through dinner that evening, the signing got pushed until the morning because they suddenly needed more time to think, and by then the video had gone viral, and the public reaction was… I think maybe that’s what did it. I don’t know, I’m not sure anymore. But I was just so frustrated that…” He trailed off, shoving a rough hand through his hair for the fifth time that minute. “It’s been a really shitty few years, and this one just pushed me over the edge. I’d done nothing to instigate that attack. And it seemed really fucking unfair that—not only did everybody and their mother seem to think I deserved it—but just as it felt like things were finally starting to go my way, it… I’m sorry, I’m not trying to make excuses, but I really need you to understand where I was operating from.”

My throat felt too tight to speak, so I kept my mouth shut and let him get it all out.

“I knew who you were because of how much Josh talked about you when you dated. He showed us pictures, told us about your plans to go to the same law school, and gloated about your accomplishments like they were linked directly to his own résumé. You couldn’t pay the guy to shut up about your relationship. Even Alice managed to put two and two together, and she was eleven—maybe twelve—back then. I’d seen you around the building at work, so I knew… Honestly, I didn’t need the security cameras to tell me it was you on Halloween. I recognized you right away.”

My muscles tightened when Adrien looped back to Josh. My molars pressed harder together, my nails digging into my palms.

“I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Adrien went on. “In my head, this plan was killing three birds with one stone. I’d finally get my mom to stop trying to set me up with all her friends’ daughters, Josh would absolutely loathe seeing you and I together, and I couldn’t think of a better way to get under your skin than to make you pretend to be in love with me. And I assumed that being blindsided when you ran into Josh at the party wouldn’t be fun for you, either. From how he acted after the breakup, I think it’s safe to assume you didn’t part ways on friendly terms.” The tail end of his statement curled like it wanted to be a question, but when I made no indication of entertaining it, he let out a heavy breath and said, “That’s it. That’s all my cards on the table. Now you know pretty much everything.”

A long stretch of silence followed while I processed, half fuming. If Alba had been the one to catch Mandy and Josh, had she recognized him? Would she have warned me if I’d let her know I was coming here with Adrien?

“Why are you telling me all this now?” I finally asked him. He could have convinced me to stay for the party instead. It was less than thirty-five hours away. He could have continued to play the part until then, and I’d have been just as blindsided as he’d hoped.

“To be honest it took less than two days of us being here for me to yank my head out of my ass. It was like reality slapped me across the face when I saw my family.” Tension squirmed under his skin like he was frustrated with himself. “And then you… I don’t know, it was a clarity thing. I started to realize just how deep you’d managed to get under my skin, and curiosity set in. I wanted to call a truce, but you wouldn’t bite. And one argument led to another… I was going to tell you before the party, whether you stayed long enough to attend it or not. I made that decision on the second day. It occurred to me that I didn’t have the full story of what happened between you two, and knowing him… Like I said, it was a clarity thing. I realized what an asshole move it would be to blindside you with it.”

I chewed the inside of my cheek, observing him as my arms tightened against my chest. “Adrien, your poor mother thinks you’re engaged. She’s fucking beside herself with happiness because of it. How did you imagine this would all end?”

He winced. “I know.”

“You made me think—” I had to cut myself off when my voice broke. After a shaky inhale, I tried again. “We’ve been sleeping together.”

His gaze snapped to mine, sharp and intense. “That has nothing to do with him.”

“Adrien—”

“It has nothing to do with him, Ria. I swear it. If you don’t believe anything else I’ve told you, I need you to believe that.”

I didn’t. Not for a second.

Suddenly all the dirty talk felt less sexy, more ugly and degrading. None of it had come from a place of desire for him. I felt… used. Hurt. Humiliated. Betrayed.

And the worst part? I kind of understood where he was coming from, which made it significantly more difficult to be angry with him. So I had to stand there and process the hurt and humiliation without being able to hide behind the anger.

“Ria, I—”

I stepped back, turning my cheek away when he tried to touch it. I genuinely couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid.

“Don’t you have another meeting this morning you need to get to?” I took another three steps back, putting more distance between our bodies.

He hesitated. “We’re not done talking. I need you to believe—I wasn’t expecting this with you. I didn’t plan for us to fit like—” He kept cutting himself off, trying to get his thoughts in order. He stopped to shove two hands through his hair and release a breath. “It’s not just physical. Sanchez, I—”

“Adrien, enough.” Did I say I was finding it difficult to be angry with him? The fucking audacity of this man.

“I’ll prove it. You just have to give me the chance.”

“No,” I said firmly, “I’m done with this. Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to go to your meeting, and by the time you’re done, I’ll be gone. You and I—whatever fucked up thing this was—are done. We’re even. I don’t owe you shit anymore, and vice versa.”

Two hands through his hair again. They ruffled. “Shit, okay. Here’s the thing. There’s a pretty big storm out East right now. Flights have been getting redirected and delayed all morning.”

“I don’t care. I’ll sleep at a hotel for a night or two.” Big deal. “I just need to get changed and grab my suitcase from the main house. I’ll sneak out the side again.”

Adrien had changed into jeans and a burgundy pullover, but I was still in my silk slip from last night.

His eyes pinched as he winced again. “That’s the other thing. A few of the guests coming in from Toronto rescheduled their flights to get ahead of the storm.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. May every god in recorded history have mercy on his soul if he was saying what I thought he was saying. “What?”

Adrien looked like he was in physical pain. “Alice texted me before you woke up. He’s here.”

My heart hurled itself into my ribs, trying to get a go at him. “Are you fucking with me right now?”

He shook his head. “There’s only one route back to the house and it’s in full view of the main patio where they’re all having brunch. We were invited. I said we weren’t in the mood, so my mom brought us fruit instead. And… she took our laundry with her. Your clothes are with the household staff.”

I was pretty sure I was having an out-of-body experience. My pulse was thrashing against my eardrums, the ringing in my right ear growing louder and louder.

“My stuff is in there. The main house,” I whispered. If she’d taken our laundry that meant all my stuff was now at the main house, except for my phone, purse, and… maybe that’s all I needed. Who the hell cared about my suitcase and a few clothes—

My passport.

My passport was in my suitcase. My drunk brain had packed it even though my flight had been domestic. I couldn’t just leave my passport here, could I?

“I know,” Adrien said, even though I’d been talking to myself. “I can bring it all to you, but you’ll still have to follow the same path to leave the property and go to the airport.”

My eyes refocused. “You brought me here! You said I could leave all my stuff in the other room and just bring a handful of clothes!” I accused with a pointed finger. And I’d listened.

He rolled his lips, nodded grimly.

I was beyond livid.

“Adrien, I’m going to fucking kill you.” I barely managed to pry my jaw open enough to hiss the threat. My skin was bruising purple. I could feel it.

He released a resigned breath. “At this point, I don’t think I’ll stop you.”