Cruel Temptation

by Callahan, Kelli

  And now I wasn’t too sure if I wanted Ingrid in the house.

  “I never helped him,” she said as if she could read my thoughts.

  “I—”

  “—No, I understand. I am guilty, but not of murder. There were times I walked in on him and—” she lost all color in her face now and swallowed, “I’m used to living on the side of crime. What you do doesn’t bother me, but if my past bothers you, I’ll leave.”

  “Why were you really at the wedding?” Grayson asked.

  “An old lady gets lonely. I might be a bad bitch, but I still have feelings,” she grumbled, pushing her shoulders back. “I was taking flowers to Henry’s grave and saw the wedding. I know, who takes flowers to their serial killer husband’s tombstone? There were the happy times. He never harmed me. I don’t know why, but I think he loved me the best he knew how. I still want to celebrate the man I thought he was, not the man he died as.”

  “Aw, Ingrid,” Heaven embraced her in his arms, and she looked less than thrilled with the contact. She didn’t wrap her arms around him and gave the rest of us guys a glare that screamed ‘get him off me’.

  It was amusing, and there weren’t many things I found amusing these days. Maybe Ingrid could stay.

  Maybe.

  “The little tyrant.” Another ten minutes have gone by, and I was done waiting. I chugged the rest of my beer and slammed it on the counter with so much force that it broke under my hand. Heaven jumped away from Ingrid, and she let out a relieved breath. I made the first step to stroll down the hallway, but Ingrid placed her hand on my arm from across the counter. “What?” I snipped with more attitude than necessary. She hadn’t done anything wrong.

  I was a fucking mess.

  “Woo, remember? Woo,” she repeated as if saying it again would make me understand what she meant.

  I didn’t woo. I didn’t need to ‘woo’. I was Jaxon Steel. Women came to me whenever they wanted me. I was the woo.

  Ingrid unwrapped her cold fingers from my wrist, and I marched forward and hung a right around the wall. The hallway was long, plain, the lights were turned down low, and my heavy steps echoed down the corridor. With every step, I became more impatient. No one would dare disobey me like Quinn had, and every time I turned around, she was doing something else to set me off.

  Maybe when we were teenagers, we were different people, and I hadn’t fully understood how fiery her heart was. While she pushed me to the edge of insanity, each day she challenged me, the more I wanted to conquer her. I’d make Quinn fall to her knees and worship me one day. A queen should serve her king.

  A king would do more than serve; he’d give her his kingdom. A king would give her him. In my life, there wasn’t a greater power for someone to have because once a powerful man had a weakness; the enemy could extort it.

  And without a queen, the kingdom would fall.

  My kingdom.

  And in a way it already had. The last ten years had been nothing but me trying to figure out how to get back on my feet. I never thought I’d build an empire like I have, and it was precious, just like Quinn. If I had to choose between her and crime?

  There wouldn’t be hesitation in my decision.

  I knocked on her door and stuffed my hand in my pocket as I waited for her to open the door. “Quinn? Are you ready?”

  Something knocked on the door and crashed against the floor. Again.

  “Stop destroying my room,” I barked, and another item hit the other side, shattering. “I’m warning you, Quinn.”

  Another.

  I pulled the keys out from my pocket and unlocked the door just as another expensive item plummeted into the door and fell in ruins. I ducked inside the door and ducked when she threw the lamp that sat next to the bed. I locked the door behind me.

  The only way she was leaving this room right now was if she killed me. “Put the vase down.” The glass on the floor crunched as I stepped on it to move further into the room.

  “Ah!” she shouted, launching the glass vase through the air, diso-fucking-beying me.

  I lunged left, and the vase hit the mirror on the right, splintering the glass. I pointed a finger at her. “Throw another item, Quinn, and I swear I’ll bend you over my knee and spank your ass.”

  “You aren’t getting anywhere near me,” she said, hoisting a quartz bowl in her arms. That cost thousands of dollars. She grunted because it was too heavy for her, but she wasn’t giving up. She made a pathetic attempt to twirl around and launch it at me, but it fell short a few feet away, cracking right in half. “Damn it, that would have done some real damage too.” She blew a piece of her blonde hair out of her face, laying her hands on her hips. She had sweat on her forehead, and her chest had a quick staccato from exerting herself.

  I was done with her games.

  In four long strides, I was in front of her and tossed her over my shoulder. She had yet to put on pants. Good. She wouldn’t be needing them for what I was about to do. “Put me down, you Neanderthal!” Her tiny fists hit my back and they barely tickled me. I would laugh if the situation wasn’t so serious.

  “I swear, put me down,” she screeched.

  “What the lady wants, she gets,” I said, sitting down on the edge of the bed, and I swing her over my shoulder and lay her across my lap.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she hissed, wiggling under me, and my cock took notice, perking right up against Quinn’s body.

  I ignored her, lifted her shirt above her ass, and pulled her panties down, showing her shapely round ass. Goddamn, it had gotten plumper over the years. “How many spankings do you think you deserve?”

  “If you touch me—”

  “For every item you broke, plus how many times you got on my nerves. So, we will go with ten,” I said, holding my arm across her back, so she stayed where I wanted her to. My hand caressed her smooth skin, and I wanted nothing more than to throw her on the bed and fuck her.

  “Jaxon if you—”

  Smack.

  “Jaxon!” she screamed and tried her best to get away from me, but my hold on her was too strong. “Don’t you dare—”

  Smack.

  Her pale white cheek started to turn red from my hand, and I growled, rubbing my hand over the hot flesh.

  “I’m going to throw every single thin—”

  Smack.

  She cried out, and the fight was starting to leave her, and when I let my hand fly against her cheek again, she whimpered.

  I salivated when I saw my handprint appear, what a delight. She looked so beautiful with my mark on her.

  Smack.

  “Jaxon,” she moaned my name in pain and pleasure. She loved my hand slapping her ass, and she hated that she needed it.

  She hated that she needed me.

  Smack.

  “No, no more. No more!” she begged, wiggling against me, and her stomach massaged my cock. Precome leaked from my slit onto my leg, dying to get inside her juicy cunt. I glanced between her legs and saw how wet she was. Her inner thighs were soaked, glistening with desire.

  I doubled-up on my next two hits, not giving her time to recuperate, and wanting her to feel the sting. Her gorgeous flesh was a cherry red now, and Quinn sniffled. I couldn’t tell if she was crying, but I knew the wetness between her thighs weren’t tears. I refused to listen to her mind; I listened to her body instead.

  My hand burned when I let my palm fly another two times. “You’re doing so good, Quinn.”

  “Fuck you!” she cursed, and she turned her head to look at me, fire, and ice in those golden eyes that she had.

  Smack.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, and her body finally relaxed. “No more. Don’t,” she begged, her voice soft and sweet.

  I wasn’t sweet.

  Smack.

  “Oh, god!” she moaned into the mattress, and my brows shot to my hairline when I realized she was having an orgasm. Her entire body spasmed, and her thighs quivered. I spread her legs apart to see her
cream dripping from her slit.

  Right when I went to scoop her nectar up with my fingers, she rolled away and pulled her panties up. She had tears dripping down her face, and she raised her hand to hit me, but I caught her wrist before her palm could make contact.

  “Unless you want the other cheek red, I suggest you lower your hand.”

  “I hate you. I never want you to touch me again,” she said.

  I stood, keeping my eyes on her the entire time I straightened to my full height until I looked down at her. “We know that both of those things are lies, Quinn. Your orgasm speaks all the truth I need.”

  She ripped her hand from my hold and stepped away, her chin quivering. “Get out.”

  “There is nothing wrong with enjoying pleasure.”

  She cut her eyes to mine, and a tear fell. “I have no problem with pleasure. I have a problem getting it from you.”

  I smirked. “Keep telling yourself that, baby. The only problem here. Is you?” As I turned around, my cocky smile faded because her quiet sobs made my ears ring. Maybe it was best if I gave her space.

  It was the last thing I wanted. She’s had ten years of space. Why the hell was she fighting me so much? Maybe I was wrong, maybe it wasn’t about making her see the truth, perhaps she knew it, and she truly wanted nothing to do with me.

  There weren’t many times where I was wrong, and I was man enough to admit the times where I was. Even as the thought entered my mind of her wanting nothing to do with me, I knew in my gut that she did. Her response to me, the pull between us, it was undeniable.

  She fought a losing battle.

  I was going to win the war.

  I walked away without a second glance back because I knew if I did, I’d fall at her feet. I had to keep my strength when it came to Quinn. The glass cracked under my shoes again as I left the room, turning the lock in time before the door shut.

  “Did you woo her?” Ingrid asked, leaning against the wall. She didn’t look up from her nails as she still filed them.

  Nosey old woman.

  “Something like that,” I said and moved around Ingrid to get to my door. My cock was killing me, and I needed release. Entering the guest room, I locked this door as well, then unzipped my pants to grip my cock and ease the ache. I was on the edge after her orgasm and how she responded to me.

  But the two-way mirror caught my eye, and I saw her lying face down on the bed, shoulder shaking as she cried. My reflection stared back at me, showing the man that climbed his way out of hell for this woman, only to cause her pain.

  What kind of man did that make me?

  I turned away from the glass and tucked myself back in my jeans.

  There was nothing pleasurable about seeing her cry. I knew it wasn’t because of the spankings, but the bigger picture. Us. The truth.

  Her love for me was her truth. As painful as it might be, she needed to realize it because, in the end, a lie didn’t help either one of us.

  Ten years with me would turn into the rest of her life; I believed that. That was my truth.

  Chapter Eleven

  Quinn

  The next day, I woke before the sunrise, and stared out the window to watch the sky turn from black to dark blue, and now orange. Seagulls flew low by the bottom of the cliffs, and the waves were angry, hammering the shore with massive tenacity against the rocks. The ocean rocked, back and forth, and with each contact a wave made, I felt a rising similarity with the water in that moment.

  I was so angry.

  Believe it or not, I wasn’t angry at Jaxon; I was angry at myself. Jaxon always knew what I needed, how to bend me without breaking, and it reminded me of how he pushed the limit, but never crossed it. I couldn’t believe I was admitting that. Brian was somewhere in this house, a place I have yet to explore, and I orgasmed while he was being tortured. I assumed he was being tortured. I was a horrible wife.

  Wait. Was I even married? I had no idea. We had a wedding. A shit show of a wedding, but it was a ceremony, nonetheless.

  Or a funeral.

  Also, a part of me didn’t care. I didn’t want to be married to him, not after what Jaxon had said about Brian using me for my money. I didn’t believe in prenups. What was mine would be my husband’s. I guess I was traditional in a way. And after being near Jaxon for all of three days, I knew what it felt like to have my body yearn again.

  I never felt the sizzling heat for Brian that I felt for Jaxon. Ever. I thought I was broken; that something was wrong with me. I blamed it on my depression because after Tracy’s death and Jaxon getting arrested; I fell into a low mental place.

  Now that I was with him again, I saw I wasn’t as depressed as I thought I was. I was just miserable with Brian, not with his friendship, but as a lover.

  Exhaling, I rubbed my temples when a headache started to pound at the front of my skull. This entire situation was too stressful. I wanted… I didn’t know what I wanted. I was more confused than I had been last week.

  Last week.

  God, that was a lifetime ago. How could things change so fast? How can life just beat the hell out of you one week and the next you’re on cloud nine? I was not on cloud nine. I was in the negative. Life was giving me hit after hit, and I was tempted to roll over and show my belly.

  I never stood a chance against Jaxon. He knew me better than I knew myself. It had been that way from the moment we met. I would think that having ten years go by would change a person, but no, the feelings between us were the same.

  I was starting to doubt that he killed his sister. He said he was waiting for me to accept his offer, but what if I waited to see if he gave Brian the torture he deserved for killing his pregnant girlfriend?

  If Brian did.

  I was fighting the past, present, and future all at once. And the common denominator in all of them was Jaxon.

  The truth.

  That was all I needed. All of this could be put to rest if I knew the truth.

  A knock at the door came again like it always did in the mornings. I never knew who to expect. There was Ingrid, Heaven, some grouchy guy named Owen brought me dinner, and a few others that I didn’t bother learning their names.

  I was getting stir crazy.

  “Come in,” I said for the first time since being here. I was exhausted. I had a feeling I’d agree to anything today. I hated feeling so defeated.

  “Good Morning.” The timber of Jaxon’s voice had the spot on my ass cheek burning again from yesterday’s punishment.

  Was its punishment since I got to orgasm?

  I crossed my arms over my chest and turned around to greet him. “Morning,” I said simply. I wasn’t about to lie and say something was good about it when I had no idea.

  Jaxon looked flawless, as usual, today. His hair was slicked back again, a style that must be his favorite, and he wore a long-sleeve eggplant-colored button-up shirt that made his skin seem tanner than it really was. The deep purple color was beautiful against his dark features. His dress pants were black, and he had a black belt with a gold clasp in the front. If I knew what a mafia boss looked like, I’d say Jaxon fit the description. His muscles stretched the shirt until the buttons across his chest slightly pulled. I bet if he breathed wrong, they would pop one-by-one.

  And I bet his body was a true sight after not seeing it for ten years.

  “I want to apologize to you,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He rocked on his feet and took a step forward, then stopped again. “I shouldn’t have done what I did yesterday. You have every right to be upset with me.”

  Well, I was not expecting an apology. I’ve never heard him apologize a day in his life. “It’s fine,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper, keeping my voice solemn.

  “It isn’t. If you’re up for it, I’d like to give you a tour of the house and take you shopping. I don’t want you to feel like a prisoner in this house.”

  “Why? I thought that’s what I was.”

  “This house is your home,” he said
, an earnest expression taking over his features. He honestly believed that. How many times had he told him that this was my home?

  I struggled to understand that statement. I couldn’t have a home here under these circumstances. I decided, for now, I’d let the comment slide. “I’d like a tour and some coffee, please. I’m getting tired of wearing pajamas. I feel so lazy,” I huffed, trying to lighten the tension between us.

  Why the hell did I care? Try and remember the bad things. He killed his sister, he kidnapped you, ruined your wedding.

  More like saving me from a horrible wedding, but the other two reasons were still up for debate. “I’d like to see Brian today. I want to know if he really wanted to use me.”

  Jaxon’s eyes rounded, white as moons, and he gave a slight jerk of his head. “I don’t want you talking to him,” he said. “If he sees you, he will lie.”

  What was the difference between truth and lies? The line was starting to get smaller and smaller until it blurred. Which side was the correct side? According to Jaxon, I had been living on the wrong side. Brian made me believe something else for so long, how did I get past it if everything from the last ten years was a lie?

  The last thing I wanted to believe was that I was brainwashed.

  “You look…” he started to say, then stopped.

  “A mess,” I added for him. “It’s fine. I’m not trying to impress anyone.” Another lie. No matter the emotions, positive and negative I had toward Jaxon, I wanted to impress him. I must really be losing my mind.

  “You’re a beautiful mess,” he said with a serious sincerity I had never seen from him before. He cleared his throat, brought his fist to his mouth, and coughed. “Well, let’s go.” He stretched out his arm toward the door, and I began to walk toward him.

  I knew that making the decision to walk out that door meant a part of me believed Jaxon. He knew that too. I crossed the threshold to the door and looked left and right. I had no idea where to go. The hallway reminded me of a hospital, an expensive hospital, but that was the vibe I got. It was empty, nothing on the walls, just lights and a floor that disappeared into darkness on the other side.