Time with Mr. Silver: A forced proximity steamy romance (The Men Series – Interconnected Standalone Romances Book 7)
Time with Mr. Silver: Chapter 23

“IT’S AMAZING!” ROSE LEANS closer, inspecting the back of Jasmin’s neck. “Why didn’t you tell me you could do them?” She turns to me with a grin as Jasmin lets her hair fall back down around her shoulders, covering the script tattoo at the base of her neck.

It’s a J and an A, fused around each other. J after our mom, Jessica; A after our dad, Adam. Jasmin asked me to do it for her the week after I was released from jail.

“What other talents do you have?” Rose comes over and slides onto my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. We’re sharing an after-work drink in my apartment.

“Pretty sure you’ve been experiencing all Dax’s talents for a few weeks now.” Logan laughs before I fire a cushion at him, hitting him in the head.

Jasmin rolls her eyes with a smirk. “Do men ever mature?”

“Nope,” Logan quips, looking pleased with himself, as Rose and Jasmin laugh.

“Speak for yourself.” I chuckle as I absentmindedly stroke Rose’s legs, my palm slipping over her silky skin fluidly. She looks at me, her eyes glittering, and I narrow mine back with a smirk.

Do you want my cock again already, Sunbeam? I mouth to her.

Her eyes widen and her lips part in surprise before she pushes me in the chest and glances guiltily at Jasmin and Logan who are busy chatting with their drinks on the other sofa.

I chuckle, grasping the back of her neck and pulling her to me for a kiss. “Relax. They know I can’t keep my hands off you. I can ask them to leave now if you like. Get you straddling me in this tiny little thing you call a skirt.”

“We can hear you!” Logan calls seconds before the pillow I hit him with earlier flies back over and crashes into the sofa next to my head.

“Fuck off, Logan,” I grunt.

Rose giggles against my lips and straightens up, turning back around.

“That’s nice, isn’t it? Telling your friend who picked your jailbird ass up on release day with a cheeseburger meal in hand to fuck off,” Logan quips.

“You already ate half the fries,” I scoff.

“You were late, and I’d skipped breakfast. Besides, I figured you’d be watching your waistline after all the Michelin dining you’d been getting for free.”

“Jerk,” I mutter with a chuckle as Logan winks at me.

I pat Rose’s thigh and she slides off my lap and onto the sofa next to me so that I can get myself another drink. Jasmin, Logan, and I used to do this a lot. Just chill in my apartment at the end of the week. But ever since I came out and had other things to attend to, we stopped. Tonight was Rose’s idea. I’m meant to be somewhere else. But they can cope without me for an hour.

I pour a shot of Aunt Iris’s blend, tipping the bottle to Jasmin, who shakes her head. Logan and Rose’s glasses are still half full.

“Seth and Trevor called earlier,” Logan pipes up as he stretches his arms back behind his head. “They said conditions look good this weekend if anyone wants to go up with them in the balloon.”

Rose looks at me, and the way her eyes light up makes my heart swell.

“I have to do some work tomorrow. But you go if I’m not back in time.”

“Are you sure?”

I smile and nod. Of course, I’d rather be there with her, watching the way her face relaxes as she breathes in the air and gazes at the clouds. But knowing she’s happy and enjoying herself will have to be enough. There’s a giant shipment coming in soon, and I have to get everything prepared.

“Yeah, they’re cool guys. They said it’s last-minute again. But they thought it might work.”

“Again?” Rose looks at Logan with a frown, and his mouth drops open as he runs his hand around the back of his neck. “I thought the flight on the open day was booked months ago?”

I catch eyes with Logan who shrugs apologetically as I sip my drink and lean back against the sideboard, crossing my feet at the ankle.

Rose darts her eyes between the two of us as Jasmin stands and smiles.

“Come on, Dax. Like it’s a secret.” She walks to the opposite sofa and drops into the seat next to Rose. “Dax booked that balloon for you.” Jasmin grabs her phone and angles the screen toward Rose. “I got some great shots of you going up in it.”

Rose is looking at me instead of the screen. “You told me it was a promotional thing.”

“It was.” I hold her gaze, as her bright blue eyes search mine. I smile softly. “But we could have advertised some other way. The balloon was for you.”

“He means, we’re all grateful that you came along and put a smile on his ugly face,” Logan says.

I flick my eyes to him. He’s relaxed back into the sofa cushions again, his feet up on the coffee table as he smirks at me.

Fucker. He’s told me multiple times that he likes Rose and is glad she’s here. He said it feels like I’m properly back with them now. Not just a shell of my former self, working constantly, and never taking time to have a laugh.

Or have after-work drinks.

“Thank you.” Rose bites her bottom lip and then beams at me, before she drops her eyes to Jasmin’s phone, and they start scrolling pictures together.

Logan and I drink in easy silence as the girls look through the photographs, chatting happily about each one.

“You want another?” I ask Jasmin when her glass is empty.

“It’s okay, I’ll get it.” She walks over to the sideboard to refill her glass. “It’ll have to be my last, though. I’m going out later and need to drive.”

“Hot date?” Logan pipes up.

My shoulders tense, and I immediately snap my eyes toward her. But she avoids my gaze.

“No. Just seeing a friend.”

She blinks a couple of times, refusing to look at me. It’s one thing we used to argue about before I went away. Boyfriends. Or men, in general. I know how guys’ minds work. And after the things I heard in jail, I would happily cart my sister off to a nunnery, if it meant she would stay safe.

A fact Jasmin is well aware of and likes to argue with me about whenever I voice my opinion too loudly. The only small positive is that as far as I’m aware, there has been no one since before I went inside.

And I’m happy to keep it that way.

“I can feel your disapproval from here,” Jasmin snorts into her glass. “Don’t worry, big brother. I’m not getting sent dick pics by any older, sleazy businessmen.”

I knock back the rest of my drink, sourness coating my mouth.

Julian Young.

Just the thought of his name is enough to have me gripping my glass with white-knuckle force.

“Relax.” Jasmin’s voice softens and she offers me a small smile. “I’m fine. You need to stop worrying. Leave the past where it belongs.”

I huff, slamming my glass down. I know she understands that he gets to me. She’s listened to me talk about ways I’d like to kill him often enough. More when I was first locked up. But even now, she’s my sister, and she knows me well enough to see when I’m not entirely over something.

Not that I could ever get over what that prick did to me.

Stole a part of my life I will never get back.

Time that’s gone forever.

“It’s in the past, Dax,” she repeats as she wraps her arms around me, hugging me. “I’ve got you back. That’s all that matters.”

“Yeah.” I force a smile and place an arm around her.

“Hey, Jasmin. Some Alistair just texted you. You want me to read it?”

“No!” Jasmin jumps out of my arms and rushes over to Rose, her arm outstretched for the phone. “No, it’s okay, thanks.”

“Oh. Now he’s calling. Ooh, is this him? He’s cute.” Rose turns the phone toward Jasmin, but before I can see the image on the caller ID, she snatches it out of Rose’s hand and ends the call.

“He’s just a work contact interested in an open event booking,” Jasmin says as she retrieves her purse from the floor near Logan and shoves her phone inside it.

“Alistair who? Did he fill out an enquiry form?” Logan asks.

I don’t miss the ‘leave it’ glare that Jasmin gives Logan. It’s the same one she gave me last week as I questioned the over-friendly delivery driver who was delivering her a parcel. Chancing fucker was relieved to have left in one piece once I’d finished with him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.” Jasmin breezes over to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek, then blows one to Rose and Logan. “Love you all. But I’ve got to go. See you later.”

I stare after her as the front door to my apartment closes. The hairs on the back of my arms stand up. I know when she’s lying to me. Call it big brother intuition.

I have something new added to my to-do list whilst I’m at work later.

Find out who the fuck this Alistair is.

“So, you got a girl, then?”

I turn my back on Marcus, my jaw tightening as I check over the crates awaiting pick up.

He huffs when I don’t answer him. “How long we been doing this shit together now? And I still know nothing about you.”

“I don’t mix business and my personal life.” I count off the crates. Twenty in total. Things are progressing. Another ten will arrive in two days’ time, and then there’s the boat shipment coming up.

The big one.

It’s the reason I’m here, in a dingy, damp basement in the shady as fuck end of town, with a guy who smells like BO masked in cheap aftershave.

“I have.” He sniffs, moving a crate and placing it on top of another against the stone wall. “Julie.” He leans against the crate, a smile spreading over his lips. “She’s the one. Cooks a killer steak. Peppercorn sauce… lovely.”

Despite myself, my lips curl at the love-drunk expression on Marcus’s face.

“I’m getting out of this shit, you know. Once I’ve got enough to get her a nice ring. I’m going to ask her to marry me, and we’re going to move. She’s got family up north she misses.”

The beginning of the smile drops from my lips. “You’re quitting?”

“Yeah.” Marcus shrugs. “One day. Won’t you? You know, pack all this up. I know it’s different for you—”

“How?” I bark, causing his shoulders to jerk in surprise.

“Well… you’re…” He glances at me. “You’re good at this. You’re a fucking natural. I’ve seen guys piss themselves when you walk in a room. But me?” He clicks his tongue. “You might think it, but I’m not an idiot. I know I’d be lucky to keep my head in this game if I stay too long.”

I look at the floor grimly. Marcus is right. I did think he was an idiot. An idiot who only cared about money and the ego he gained playing wannabe gangsters. I thought he was like most of the new, young guys who don’t know the shit they’re messing with. Coming in all bravado, until they get taken down a peg or two and learn their place.

But maybe I had him wrong. Because he sure as hell is making sense right now.

“I’m no natural. I do what needs doing.”

“Sure, whatever, man. If it suits you. But I know this isn’t for me. Not forever, is all I’m saying. And this stuff I heard about Mr. Young—”

“Forget him,” I snap.

Marcus studies me as I take a slow deep breath in, preventing the anger surging inside my chest from showing.

“You don’t need to think about him. Just do your job. Don’t listen to anyone else. Don’t repeat anything to anyone. Just keep your head down, okay?”

This is the most we’ve ever spoken outside of the minimum interaction required when we are doing a job together. It’s definitely the most I’ve ever said in his presence, outside of giving him orders.

“Get Julie that ring, and then get out, if that’s what you want.”

“Yeah.” He’s still studying me as my phone buzzes in my pocket.

I pull it out and check the message.

Jasmin’s not gone to the hairdresser’s today like I heard her tell Rose this morning. We went for a run together, like we often do, and she acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. My own fucking sister lied to my face. And then lied to Rose’s.

Because the location ping I just got on the fleet car she’s using today is nowhere near her fucking hairdresser’s in town.

And I’d bet a thousand times the amount of crack in this basement that wherever it is she’s really gone to today, there’s a person there called fucking Alistair.

I’m swirling the clear liquid around in my glass, sitting in my chair, staring out the giant, ornate windows in my office.

Watching the driveway outside.

Waiting.

Jasmin will be back soon. She’s been out at a meeting with a couple who want to host their wedding on the estate. We’ve told them it’s not an option and that the estate isn’t even licensed to hold ceremonies. But the guy is loaded and doesn’t seem used to being told no. Jasmin can hold her own though. She won’t give him anything more than she’s willing to. I guess we’re alike in that way. Always keeping some cards close to our chest.

But I’m getting closer to seeing her hand.

And I don’t like what I’ve managed to replace out over the past couple of days.

She’s definitely seeing someone. And I don’t buy for a second that this guy, Alistair, is merely a business contact. I get that I’m the over-protective big brother. But what I don’t get, is why she’s so hell-bent on keeping him a secret.

What’s she fucking scared of? She knows one strike and I could get my ass slung back in jail. And she knows my weakness is protecting her. Her… and Rose.

If she’s keeping this guy a secret, then there’s a reason. She thinks I could lose my head over her being with him. And that only feeds the demon inside me. Because she’s right to be worried. All the gong baths and breathing in the world couldn’t quell the rage that would explode out of me if Jasmin or Rose were in danger.

“Hey.” Vanilla wrapped in petals surrounds me as Rose leans around the back of the chair and slips an arm around my neck. She kisses me on the cheek. “You’re so far away, you didn’t even hear me come in.”

I sigh, sinking into the chair as she comes around the front, her blue eyes replaceing mine.

“Hey, Sunbeam.” I smile, my eyes dropping over her legs in her short dress appreciatively. “You come to talk figures with me?”

She has a manilla folder in one hand.

“I did.” She walks over to my desk and places the folder on top, then comes back to stand in front of me. “But it can wait. You want to tell me why you look so serious?”

“It’s nothing. Just wondering how Jasmin’s getting on at the meeting. The guy… he’s persistent.”

“Uh-huh.” Rose drops to her knees on the cream carpet in front of me, parting my legs so she can slide between them. “And it wouldn’t have anything to do with the other man? The one who called her at your apartment Friday night? Alistair, wasn’t it?”

I meet her eyes, and one corner of her mouth lifts.

“I know you worry about her. She’s lucky to have a big brother who looks out for her.”

Rose gathers her long blonde hair into a high ponytail and wraps a band around it.

“But I don’t like how stressed you’ve been all weekend.” She licks her lips and reaches for my belt buckle.

“What are you doing?” I hold her eyes as she unzips my pants and pulls the fabric down, taking my cock out. I suck in a breath as she wraps her hand around it and squeezes gently.

“I’m just helping you relax. You always help me. Now it’s my turn.”

“Rose—”

The low groan from deep in my chest as she wraps her soft lips around me and takes me into her warm, silky little mouth, sends a vibration running through my entire body.

I lean back in the chair as she sucks my now rock-hard cock into her mouth, her eyes glittering up at me.

“It’s not fair. I get your cum inside me all the time. But hardly ever in my mouth. And I love the taste of you.” She smiles at me as she runs her lips down my length and kisses my balls.

She’s right. She’s always eager to suck my cock, and fuck, it turns me on. But it usually turns me on so much that I end up pulling her up and fucking her instead. I just can’t get enough of her. Of the need to be inside her, and to fill her. Make her understand she’s mine.

“I promise not to spread you wide on my desk and fuck your perfect pussy. Is that what you want to hear?”

She blushes at my words and brings her lips back up to the head of my dick. “I still want you to do that too. But after.”

“Fuck,” I groan as she flicks one end of my piercing with the tip or her tongue, before swirling over it.

She knows what it does to me when she plays with it like this. Especially when she doesn’t break eye contact.

“Fuck, Rose,” I groan again, wrapping her ponytail around one fist. Her cheeks hollow as she takes me all the way down to the base.

My balls tighten up, throbbing.

“Jesus!” I hiss as she tugs on them at the same time as pulling back and teasing my piercing again. “I’m going to come all the way down your pretty throat if you keep doing that.”

She pulls back and giggles. Then she sucks down onto me harder, moaning gently and sending vibrations dancing around my cock in a wave.

I tighten my grip on her hair, and she lets me guide her up and down, slowly at first, then building up pace, until I’m lifting off the seat to meet her, my balls hitting her chin as she takes me happily.

A sound at the door grabs my attention, and I stop, looking at Rose and holding one finger to my lips. She blinks at me, her mouth too full of my cock to do anything else.

“Who is it?” I bark.

“Who the fuck you think, dickhead?”

Logan.

I need to re-think my open-door policy.

I exhale, my shoulders softening as I smile at Rose. I stroke her cheek, and she gazes up at me, then slowly starts sucking me off again, holding my eyes.

“I came to talk about those contracts. We need to—”

“Not now.” I shift a little in the seat as Rose sucks on the head of my cock again, and a small moan escapes her lips.

I grip her hair and guide her back down onto me again, stroking her neck with my thumb until I feel myself filling her.

You look beautiful, I mouth to her.

Her eyes sparkle as she rises and sucks back down again.

“Later,” I growl as the familiar heat builds in my balls.

“Sure, later. Whatever, Boss,” Logan says as his footsteps retreat over to the doorway. “Oh, and enjoy your working lunch, Rose,” he calls with a chuckle as the door closes.

Rose increases her pace, her eyes never leaving mine. She sucks me up and down, over and over, as I grip her hair in one hand and stroke her throat with the other.

The sight of her on her knees between my thighs, my cock disappearing into her mouth is too much.

“I’m going to come.”

She moans around me, keeping her pace steady as I growl out her name. A long stream of hot cum races out of me until my balls are as light as my head.

I take a deep breath, my chest loosening with a contented sigh as she swallows, then uses her lips and tongue to clean me up as she strokes her hands up and down my thighs.

“I’m definitely more relaxed.” I lean my head back against the chair’s high back as she rises from her knees and climbs onto my lap, straddling me.

“Good.” She smiles against my lips as I grasp the back of her neck and kiss her, sliding my tongue into her mouth where I can taste myself.

“You’re perfect,” I whisper as I kiss her.

“And you’re…” She moans as I slip a hand beneath her skirt and replace her wet lace panties.

I rub a thumb over her roughly. Her clit is so swollen, straining against the thin fabric.

“I’m what?” I breathe against her parted lips.

“You’re…”

I yank the lace to the side and sink two fingers inside her.

“About to fuck you in my chair? And then again over my desk? Fill you with my cum, so it runs out of you all afternoon while you work at your desk?”

“Dax,” she moans as I swirl my fingers around inside her.

“Then if you’re a good girl, I’ll eat the rest out of you before I take you home and fuck you all night long. How’s that sound?”

“It sounds perfect.” She shudders against me, and I slide my lips around to her neck, kissing her smooth skin with a smile.

Perfect.

I slide my fingers out of her and press them past her pink lips so she can taste herself on them. The sight of her eyes widening as I lift her and place her back down onto my cock makes me growl in appreciation.

Fuck being relaxed. This is much better.

I lift her, helping her ride me. A rush of her arousal coats me so I can slide even deeper.

This is so much better.

With her, anything feels possible.

With her, I feel invincible.