Unmasked Heart

by Veronica Eden

  “Oh!” I moan, collapsing against him.

  “Good girl,” Colton murmurs.

  He kisses the tip of my nose as he massages my sensitive folds slower, almost absentminded.

  As he flutters soft kisses across my face, I reach for his mask. I need to see his whole face. My fingers slip into the elastic holding the mask in place and he stiffens.

  Colton clamps down on my wrists, holding them hostage on either side of his head. His fingers are like iron, squeezing hard enough to hurt.

  “Don’t,” he grits out between clenched teeth. “Leave it on.”

  Eight

  Annabeth

  Don’t. Leave it on.

  My chest heaves and I stare back at him. After a beat, his domineering temper shifts and melts back into the playful charmer that’s had me hypnotized under his spell all night.

  “It’ll be like a game.” Colton loosens his grip and soothes my wrists, brushing the skin with his thumbs in silent apology. He presses a chaste peck to the inside of one. “Doesn’t that sound hot?”

  I can see his point. With the mask on, it’s a lurid fantasy. He could be anyone behind it that my mind chooses.

  Unbidden, Cohen flashes to the forefront of my mind. I suck in a breath.

  “I guess.”

  The corner of Colton’s mouth lifts and he kisses me slow and deep and filthy. I forget about his mask and melt against him. Colton releases my wrists and I wrap my arms around his neck as we kiss.

  After a minute, he buries his hand in my hair at the nape of my neck. He directs me to sit on the settee behind me and I drop in a cloud of the gauzy material of my skirt.

  Colton stands above me with his hands tucked into his pockets, simply studying me like I’m a work of art.

  I must be a sight to behold, my hair a mess from his hands and flushed from orgasm.

  I’m a masterpiece he wrecked.

  My nipples tingle as he takes his time getting his fill, drinking me in head to toe with a hungry gaze. I lean back against the settee and meet his eyes with a saucy look of my own. Licking my lips, I allow my legs to spread a fraction. My pulse pounds in my ears as our seductive dance continues. He rumbles deep in his chest and an answering heat spills through my body. I need more of him.

  Colton braces his hands on the back of the settee, caging me in. This is a cage I happily submit to. A grin spreads across his face.

  “What do you need, sweetheart?”

  Once again, I’m reminded of Cohen. I swallow and focus on the man before me.

  Colton lifts one hand to trace his fingertips over my delicate lace mask. He skates his touch down my cheek and wraps his fingers around my neck in a loose grip, just firm enough to let me know he’s controlling me.

  “I…uh.” Thoughts flee my mind and I’m left with my mouth gaping like a fish. “Kiss me?”

  Colton smirks and gives my neck a small squeeze. “I’ll give you everything you want.”

  He doesn’t kiss me as he comes closer. There’s a rustle in my hair and I blink as he pulls off the lace mask.

  “You get to see my face, but I don’t get to see yours?”

  Colton strokes my hair. “Part of the game, princess.”

  Before I can argue, he drops to his knees and gathers the hem of my gown. With a wicked grin, he lifts my skirt to reveal my legs and my silvery lingerie.

  “Mm, that’s a pretty sight.”

  I squirm in place and I’m met with a raspy chuckle.

  He circles his fingers around my ankles and skims his touch up to my knees. His palms are hot as he nudges them apart.

  “Oh, sweetheart,” Colton murmurs. “You are divine and you’re all mine.”

  I inhale sharply. There’s an insistent throb between my legs and I have the urge to snap them closed. He must sense it, because he squeezes my knees and presses them wider.

  “Don’t just stare,” I whisper in a rush.

  My cheeks are on fire and I cover my face with my hands.

  “Ah, ah,” Colton chides.

  He pries my hands away and pins them to the green velvet cushion beneath me. He raises an eyebrow and drops his attention back to the parts of me he has exposed.

  “You have to watch.”

  My cheeks burn hotter and I squirm again.

  “But—”

  “Shh.” He soothes me by trailing soft kisses over the inside of my thighs. He speaks into my skin in a deep voice. “I’m going to make you feel so good. I want you to watch me while I make you come on my tongue.”

  He follows his dirty demand by peeking up at me from between my legs and licks his lips. I can’t stop the squeak that escapes me and his shoulders shake with his laugh.

  Colton worships my thighs with kisses and nips that drive me insane. He spends long minutes making his way toward my center, only to hum and bypass the place where I want him most. He even raises on his knees to massage my breasts, pinching my nipples through the finely beaded material.

  He tugs at the scooping neckline and before he can destroy the delicate fabric, I undo the hidden zipper and allow him to peel my dress down to my waist. My nipples harden to stiff nubs and he renews his attention to them.

  They’re so sensitive by the time he leaves off to hike my hips closer to the edge of the seat.

  I dig my fingers in his thick hair, making a fruitless attempt to direct him to the apex of my thighs, but he will not be controlled.

  “I know exactly what you need, baby,” Colton murmurs with his lips pressed against my underwear.

  My limbs quake from his teasing and I’m practically in tears at the brief pulse of pleasure from the light pressure of his lips through the thin layer separating him from touching my vagina. My body chases after more of it on instinct, my hips lifting.

  “Please.”

  “Please what, sweetheart?” He’s smug at the reactions he pulls from me, mouth still hovering out of reach above me.

  I think he enjoys playing with me. He seems to get a thrill of satisfaction out of teasing me into oblivion, holding power over me.

  I can feel his warm breath against my oversensitive skin in the chilled room.

  “Please,” I repeat, halfway to delirious. “I need more.”

  Colton hums. “Don’t worry, I’m going to give it to you.”

  I almost whimper with relief when he hooks his fingers into my underwear, dragging the panties off. At this point, I’m no longer trying to clamp my legs closed. They’re spread wantonly and I’m straining my hips toward Colton’s mouth, eager for it.

  He waits a beat while I try to subtly shift myself closer. He teases his touch over the tops of my thighs, mapping a path to my mound and skimming over my labia.

  “Please, Colton,” I whisper, gripping the back of the settee above my head.

  A shadow crosses over his face and his shoulders tense.

  I’m only half-aware of the odd reaction before he descends his mouth on me at last, licking and sucking my folds and circling my clit with his tongue. My back bows and a moan spills from my lips after the torturous body worship I endured.

  Colton grunts and molds his mouth to me, sucking my clit and flattening his tongue against it. I squeeze the back of the settee and circle my hips, seeking more. He pins my body with a firm grip, his thumbs pressing into my skin as he eats me out.

  He pulls off for a second and I almost scream.

  “Watch.”

  Colton’s tongue traces my labia, then he presses it inside me, his gaze searing into me from between my legs. I’m helpless, lost in his mesmerizing stare as he brings me closer to the edge.

  I thought his tongue was wicked when it was dominating my mouth, but I was wrong. This is true wickedness and I welcome it. Rolling my hips, I grind against his face. Saliva and my own wetness glistens on his cheeks as he shifts up to my clit. His eyes flash up to me once more and I feel his touch teasing my entrance.

  I nod before he can ask. Colton pauses to stick two fingers in his mouth and returns to swip
e his tongue against me. His fingers sink into my hole and I arch up.

  “Ah!”

  “Yeah, that’s it,” Colton mutters.

  As his fingers curl and pump in and out of me everything becomes too much at once. The slow build of heat scorches me from the inside and my cries grow louder and more desperate. Colton growls and circles my clit with his tongue in intricate patterns while he fucks me with his fingers.

  Sparks dance across my skin, starting at my core and spreading as my orgasm washes over me with an intensity that has me gasping.

  “I’m coming! Oh god, I’m coming, I’m coming,” I whimper.

  He doesn’t relent, making the overwhelming sensations start up again before the aftershocks of this orgasm have dissipated. My hand flies to his hair, though I struggle with the conflicting need to push him away or pull him harder against me. Colton’s tongue flicks my clit at the same time he thrusts his fingers and another orgasm crests over my body.

  “Please, please,” I babble.

  My fingers clench in his hair as I ride it out.

  A deeper desire settles over me.

  “Please,” I beg. “I need more. I need you.”

  Colton looks like sin as he lifts off me, cheeks red and wet, lips swollen as he pants. Tingles prickle across my skin as the cool air hits me when Colton sits back on his haunches. A wildness dances in his eyes and I understand that he enjoyed doing that to me.

  I pull at him, my nails scrabbling against his shoulders. “I need to feel you inside me.”

  Colton wipes his mouth and hauls himself up to kiss me. I taste myself on his tongue as I return the kiss with desperation. My legs hook around the back of his knees.

  “Easy,” Colton says on a laugh as he breaks the kiss. He palms his erection through his pants and watches me with hooded eyes. “Want this?”

  I nod.

  He kisses me again and together we fumble for the buckle of his belt. He strips out of his jacket and flings it behind him. My fingers scrabble through the buttons of his shirt and I slide my palms up his firm stomach as he pulls his cock out of his pants.

  I shift up on the settee as his hands go to my hips. I’m wet enough that he slides in easily when he enters me, sinking inside with one thrust.

  Colton squeezes my hips and groans into my neck.

  “You feel amazing. You were made for my cock to fill you up.”

  “Yes,” I gasp as he pulls out and slams back in with a snap of his hips.

  The antique settee creaks in protest, but it I don’t care if we break it.

  I tip my head back into the velvet and he bites my neck. I’m going to have a necklace of hickeys in the morning.

  His fingers find my nipples again and he follows his pinches with his lips and teeth.

  I almost want him to make good on his threat to tear the rest of the delicate dress off my body so there wouldn’t be any barrier between us.

  My fingers thread into his hair as he goes back and forth between my breasts. I clench around his cock as he fucks me. He hums in response around one of my nipples.

  “You going to come all over my cock, princess?”

  A hard thrust follows his taunt and I do come again, clamping my thighs around his hips.

  I’m tumbling beneath the current of our bodies, the heady pleasure dragging me under.

  With a grunt, Colton locks his arms around me and lifts me from the couch. I make an aborted sound and cling to him. Colton crashes back down on the settee so I’m straddling him with my gown rucked up around my hips, the slit tearing audibly.

  Without missing a beat, he pumps his hips and drives up into me.

  It hits me deeper, at a new angle that makes me breath hitch. I circle my hips to meet his thrusts.

  “Scream for me.”

  Colton grabs a handful of my hair at the back of my head and keeps me under his control as he fucks me with a rawness that calls to me.

  The sounds I make are wild with ecstasy.

  But then there’s something about the new position that makes me freeze. I don’t know if the light has changed or that he’s been on my mind all night, or that the expression in Colton’s eyes is too close to the tormentor I hate, but I see him there.

  Cohen.

  The mask fantasy shifts and all I can see is Cohen.

  His words from the town car filter back through my head. My heart clenches and I close my eyes.

  “You’re mine.” The voice beneath me is so similar to Cohen it nearly makes me startle.

  I picture him behind that mask so easily in my head.

  My breath catches and I circle my grip around his thick throat, pretending I have the strength to squeeze Cohen’s neck. A rough groan escapes him, his hot breath puffing over my lips and he fucks me with sharper thrusts that have me choking on my cries of pleasure. It’s too much.

  “You’re mine,” he repeats. His hold on my hair tightens, and he grips my hip hard enough to bruise. “Say it. Say you’re mine.”

  A knot lodges in my throat as I remember Cohen’s promise in the car. You’ll be mine.

  “Cohen,” I whisper.

  A harsh sound falls from his lips and he holds me more intensely in a possessive grip that makes me fear he heard me say another man’s name. He fucks me harder, like he’s imprinting himself on me so no one else can ever erase it.

  I’m his and I’ll never belong to anyone again.

  Right now. Tonight. Forever.

  With Cohen locked in my head as the mystery behind the mask.

  My heartbeat trips over itself. Sensations slam into me as he draws me down for a kiss that’s more teeth than anything else. He punishes my mouth, nipping my lips until they are swollen and sensitive.

  I let him, my body clenching around his cock again, drawing another jagged sound from him. I don’t want to admit it, but I like his vicious kiss and how roughly he fucks me.

  Another shock of pleasure has me bucking as I ride him and I can feel his lips quirk into a smile against mine.

  His breathing changes. I think he might be close to coming. My whole body feels raw, like a live wire.

  Are we going to stop to put a condom on?

  I tense and then relax. If he comes, it’ll be okay. I’ve been on the pill for years.

  He must sense the thoughts running through my head because he barks a laugh and puts his lips against my ear.

  “Next time I’m coming inside you,” he whispers like a wicked promise.

  His thrusts slow down. He buries his cock deep inside me one more time and groans under his breath as he holds me there. It’s like he’s savoring the feeling of being inside of me.

  With a nudge from him, I lift up and he pulls out. My lips part at the thought of sucking his cock right now.

  His teeth flash when he grins and wraps his fingers around his length. With his other hand, he thumbs my swollen lip, watching me while he jerks himself with sure strokes.

  “W-wait,” I protest. A laugh bubbles out of me. “Where’s your come going to go? You’ll stain the velvet.”

  “I don’t give a shit,” he snorts, breaking off at the end of his retort to tip his head back. “You going to offer up that pretty little mouth for me?”

  I shift, ready to sink to my knees between his legs, but he halts me and draws me closer to his body.

  “Stay there. Just like that.”

  His mouth falls open and he watches me with hooded eyes, his attention flicking down to my bare breasts wandering over my body before returning to meet my eyes. I’m hypnotized by him once more, unable to resist his pull. I cover his hand with my own and lick my lips at the heat of his cock in my palm when he drops away and lets me take over.

  “Make me come, sweetheart.”

  I try to match his strokes from before and he mutters directions to adjust my grip. I lean against his side, rubbing his cock as he circles my waist with his arm and tells me how to make him feel good. He draws me in to lick my neck and his body tenses. He buries his face in the cro
ok of my neck and bites down as his cock twitches and slippery come spills over my fingers.

  “Fuck…keep going,” he commands.

  I keep stroking him and stare as he paints my fingers and the antique cushion beneath him in spurts of come.

  “Yes,” he hisses.

  A thrill zips up my spine.

  I did that to him.

  It makes a rush of power spread through me.

  His lips find mine once again. This kiss is lazy, more gentle.

  This time when I reach for his mask, he lets me.

  Nine

  Annabeth

  My heart stops.

  The simple black mask dangles from my fingers and I stare back at him.

  Cohen.

  Cohen Decker was Colton all along.

  An iciness trickles through me and I startle into action, scrambling away from him on the narrow antique chair and cover my chest with my arms. My breaths come in harsh pants, burning my lungs as I balance precariously on the cusp of hyperventilating.

  With a jerky motion, I drop the mask like it’s burning hot.

  Cohen watches me silently. He looks like some deviant god, sprawled on the couch and freshly fucked. He runs long fingers through his hair to tame it back into place.

  His hair is a mess because I was the one using his dark locks like my personal reins as he went down on me.

  The room reeks of sex and sweat. Of us.

  My fantasy is completely shattered.

  I press the back of my trembling hand to my lips, my eyes wide and locked on him.

  The events of the night run through my head, little moments where I compared Cohen and Colton leaping out in stark relief. The truth bleeds from those instances where I thought they were the same.

  “You were wearing a red suit when you arrived.” It’s the only thing I can think to accuse him of with my thoughts jumbling in my mind. “I saw you.”

  Cohen shrugs. “I had a second tux delivered earlier. I paid one of the catering staff to store it for me.”