Lust & Lies Box Set-Sexual Awakenings, Excess, Predator & Prey

by Kate Stewart

  “Uh, yeah, sorry about that,” Amber muttered as she kept her eyes closed, the pain of withdrawal hitting her hard.

  I had tried last night to get the smell out as I cleaned up my sister’s vomit out of my sixty-thousand dollar classic car, but the scent still lingered.

  When we finally arrived in Charleston, I saw Rocco sitting idle, waiting. Daniello parked the car with ease next to my collection in the garage.

  Amber wandered into the condo as Daniello turned to me.

  “I will return.”

  I chuckled at his attempt at a more stable relationship. We were so screwed.

  “Will you call, too?”

  “No,” he barked as he took my lips and then walked out the door. I shook my head and raced after him, my rib screaming at me for it.

  “Hey, you.” I caught up to him and placed a slow kiss on his lips. “I like you now.”

  His slow smile made my entire body flutter with need. “Ah, Taylor, you have always liked me.”

  “No, no I haven’t,” I said, truthfully. He laughed loudly as he took my lips again before whispering in my ear. “Enjoy your family union.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to correct him, but he gave me a knowing smirk.

  Rocco’s stare out of the damaged SUV was deadly. I gave him a wink and a wave as Daniello climbed into the driver’s seat.

  I wondered if he was going home to Barga. I wondered how our relationship would change with my sister living with me, even if it was temporary. I smiled as I remembered his description of me.

  “Phoenix,” I whispered as I watched my fire drive away.

  Auburn Sunset 43.

  I stared at the box before I barked my order. “You fucking done yet?”

  “In a minute!”

  “Rub it in good.” The itch raced through me as my blood boiled with thoughts of her still running through my head. All of that fucking beauty and I had smashed it with the back of my hand. I’d squeezed the life out of it, almost to the point of no return. I plucked a cigarette from my pack and lit it with a slow inhale.

  She fucking broke me.

  And after all this time, I’d wanted to return the favor more than I’d ever wanted anything. Killing her with my bare hands would’ve been the most righteous way. She deserved to die at the hands of the man who had made her. I’d shaped her into the woman she was, and she was fucking some foreigner who had no rights to her.

  She was supposed to be mine as she had promised.

  “Now, right fucking now,” I ordered as I crushed my cigarette into Lucy’s expensive carpet and pulled out my cock. I’d been hard all day thinking of crushing the bones in her perfect face and watching her lying lips go blue. I’d sacrificed more for her, done more for her than I’d ever thought I would do for anyone.

  She didn’t appreciate shit. She’d never loved me. Her eyes lied, her lips did the same.

  Lucy came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but the same shade of hair that’d I’d ordered her to keep up. My skin itched, and I needed release as I jerked her by the arm and slammed her head down on her kitchen table.

  “Please, don’t hurt me.”

  “Please shut the fuck up and take your medicine.” I spat into my hand and rubbed it over my cock before positioning my head. “Fuck you,” I hissed, slamming into her and hearing her scream. I gripped the red locks, pulling hard and feeling a few give in my hand. I fucked her hard as I cursed her for every fucking thing she’d ever done.

  “Liar, whore, thief.” I shook with rage as I pounded into her over and over, hearing her cries. Each prayer from her lips fueled me as I shoved into her, all of my frustration centered on my cock.

  It was only when I saw the blood that I slowed and released her. She crumpled to the floor, broken as I unloaded in the hair shielding her face. “FUCK YOU!”

  Minutes passed as I sat in my jeans at the table and smoked a foil as she gathered herself from the floor.

  “NO MORE!” she screamed. “I can’t do this anymore! Laz, please, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to—”

  “You cost me my son, you fucking cunt!” I stood and slapped her back to the floor where I watched her fall apart. “You and that fucking running mouth of yours. Couldn’t leave it alone, could you? Had to spray the habits of everyone in town with that fucking mouth!”

  I pulled my cell from my pocket and saw the text.

  Amber: Here.

  Me: Good girl. I know you can do this. Get our son back.

  I would’ve killed Taylor today for bringing her new boyfriend to meet me, but I figured with the sacrifices I’d made she owed me this before I took her life. I couldn’t do sentimental, not anymore. I needed her connections and money to get back the only thing that mattered to me.

  Joseph.

  And when Taylor served her purpose, I would show her just how much mercy I had displayed today.

  She really should have stayed gone.

  Soft lips caressed my skin as I gripped his silky hair in welcome. Ecstasy coursed through my veins as the tip of his hungry cock brushed up and down my body while his mouth covered every inch of my naked flesh. His warm hands covered what his lips left behind.

  “Daniello,” I moaned, now fully awake as my lover slipped his skilled fingers inside me, stretching me for his ready cock.

  “Phoenix,” he murmured as his lips drifted over my nipple in a whisper before claiming it hungrily, sucking it stiff before taking a sound bite.

  “Ah,” I protested at the pain his teeth caused while his fingers twisted inside me, beckoning my orgasm.

  He paused when he reached my lips as I leaned in to offer my mouth.

  “Did you think of me?”

  “No,” I lied.

  “No?” I could feel the twist of his lips against mine. “You are such a chicken head woman.”

  I stilled his touch, unable to keep the laughter from bursting out of me.

  “I’m sorry, but I believe the expression you are looking for is pig-headed.”

  “English is my fourth language,” he scolded, taking my lobe in his mouth and licking it before sliding up the shell of my ear. “And watch your fucking mouth, or I will have you suck my cock with no reward.”

  I moaned again, unable to mask my need for him.

  “Yes,” I whispered as he positioned himself at my entrance and he lifted my leg. “I thought of you.”

  His intrusive thrust ended our conversation, and I clung to him while he reclaimed my body, fucking me so hard I had to muffle my screams by biting his shoulder. I took his heavy dick, greedy with all the thoughts of him that had consumed me in the week he’d been absent.

  “I want to see you,” I requested as my hands roamed his chest, locking my legs around his middle. I heard a pained grunt as he continued to fuck me without acknowledging me. I got lost in his unforgiving strokes and whimpered when he pulled out of me as I was just about to break.

  Before I had a chance to react, I was being taken to the edge of the bed, my legs spread wide to accommodate his size as he pressed his hand flat against my stomach and pushed down before filling me so full I ripped my sheets in an attempt to grip them.

  “Oh . . . God, fuck yes,” I begged as he tore into me like a man possessed.

  There were no words from him as he pushed me down further so I couldn’t move; I could only feel. Opening wider for him, he swiveled his hips as the fire spread throughout my lower half. Pain and pleasure burst through my every pore.

  I could only see a small amount of his face through shadows created by the window and searched desperately for his eyes. I wanted to see the beautiful man taking me in the way I craved. In truth, I had very few days where I hadn’t thought of him. He was literally, at that point, the man of my dreams.

  His absence had somehow enhanced my ability to work overtime and effectively. It was, in fact, the perfect set up. As soon as my sexual cravings reached their peak, he would appear and sate me, but at the same time leave me hungry for more. I was, for the fir
st time in my life, satisfied, and instead of worrying about how long it would last, I embraced it.

  The air between us thick with electricity, I took his punishing cock and moaned in approval when he finished us both together.

  Daniello lifted me without a word and took me to the bathroom. When he searched for and found the light switch, and I was finally able to see him fully, I gasped in shock.

  “What the hell happened to you?”

  “Ah, questions of a concerned girlfriend.” He grinned as he started the shower, holding his hand in front of the running water to test the temperature.

  “Don’t go there,” I said in warning, assessing his damage.

  He furrowed his brows. “Go where? Where would I go?”

  I sighed in an attempt to hide my smile. But one look at his body, and there wasn’t another humor-filled tell to give. He had small cuts all over his muscled back and a deep gash just below his Adam’s apple. He pulled me into the shower with him and began bathing us. I examined the gash and determined he needed stitches, though it wasn’t bleeding.

  “I can stitch this,” I said carefully as I looked up at him. “What happened?”

  “I got into a fight with an alligator,” he joked. “Never go to golf at midnight in Charleston.”

  I was not amused. He poured shampoo into his hands and began to massage his scalp. I studied his chiseled face as he ran his fingers through his midnight hair. He had the build of a gladiator, the face of a statue, and eyes that could melt metal. He was intimidating even when he was at his most vulnerable.

  “Daniello, please,” I begged once more.

  “Why, Taylor?” he replied with one eye open as soap slid down his cheek. “It will change your opinion of me; everything will change. Are you unhappy with this? With our arrangement?”

  “No,” I answered quickly. “Not at all. I’m . . . happy with the way things are.”

  He nodded in my direction as if that was the end of it.

  “Are you that bad of a man?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

  “Is your sister doing well?” he countered. I breathed out heavily in defeat and nodded.

  He pulled me to his chest, and I wrapped myself around him, trying to stifle my frustration with his refusal to give me more. Our bodies were so intimately connected, but Daniello was still a stranger to me. I gave in, knowing our time was limited. We had only a few stolen hours left. “She’s been asleep for the entire week. I’ve barely seen her.”

  “She cannot sleep forever. You will get your reunion.” I smiled at his proper use of the word.

  Though our relationship was odd and unconventional, we both got something from the other. He gave me every imaginable orgasm, and I schooled him on proper English usage. It was a win-win.

  I’d been working late the past week, and I wasn’t sure if it was to avoid Amber or the situation altogether. Aside from constantly thinking of Daniello, I had thought of nothing but Laz’s reason for letting me go.

  “I’m not doing this for you.”

  I had my suspicions, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted Amber to confirm them. Because if they were true, I would never be free of Laz or Dyer, and I would have one hell of a fight on my hands.

  The whole situation was odd, and I cringed at the thought just as Daniello turned the shower off.

  “What are you thinking of?”

  “It’s late. I have a meeting in a few hours,” I answered absently as I watched Daniello towel off. I stopped him before he could make his way out of the door.

  “Before you disappear, Houdini, let me take care of that alligator bite.” Daniello smiled and lifted his hands in surrender. I spent a few minutes on his superficial cuts as he stood before me naked.

  Upon closer inspection, I saw the gash was already closing and smeared disinfectant cream on it before covering it with a bandage.

  “I see you were prepared for alligator fights as well,” Daniello noted of my large first-aid kit.

  “Decorator, she staged . . . um, set up this whole place. I don’t shop.”

  “No?” Daniello looked down at me, amused. “A wealthy woman who does not shop?”

  “It’s totally boring,” I said, finishing off his bandage.

  “Boring,” he mused as he held my hands to his chest. “What amuses you, pig head?”

  “Can we just stop that right now, please? Before you start with English expressions, let’s start with mastering the basics. Who in the hell taught you those?”

  “A tutor,” he said absently as he placed my wrists around his neck and began to move us around my bathroom.

  “What are you doing?” I asked when I realized he was swaying . . . dancing . . . with no music.

  “You are helping me with my English, and I am sweep you off your feet.”

  I put my head to his chest and laughed loudly, knowing my sister was sleeping mere feet away.

  “You want to know what amuses me? You, you amuse me,” I said with a huge grin, looking up at him. “You.” I kept my smile as he danced me awkwardly around the bathroom until I let go and went with it.

  The man was insane and beautiful and dancing with me in my bathroom at four o’clock in the morning, oblivious to his nudity and what looked like a painful gash at his throat.

  Feeling privileged with that information, a strange new emotion burst through my veins, threatening to spill out of my pores. I was fucking . . . giddy.

  “In some moments, you look at me with the wide eyes of a child,” Daniello said as he slowly spun us around the space.

  “I’ve never danced before,” I said with a nervous glance his way.

  “This does not surprise me,” he replied with a knowing smirk.

  “I’m not that bad,” I defended as his smirk deepened.

  “There is nothing wrong with keeping a part of yourself like a child.”

  “I have never really been a child,” I whispered to him. “I don’t know how to be one.”

  He stopped our movement, his eyes serious. “Have you ever been suspended on the surface of water? Your arms behind your head, your feet up, nothing to hold you but the water?”

  “Yes,” I said, thinking of my days in the pond.

  “How did it make you feel?”

  “I don’t know,” I said thoughtfully. “Light?”

  “Free to fall, free to fail . . . simply free. You did not worry about who would catch you or what you had to do to stay on the surface. That is what being a child is like.”

  I’d never had that confidence with my parents. I was always worried about the state of chaos in my house, when we would get our next meal. There was nothing about those days in Dyer when I could remember being cradled so safely. I nodded in understanding as he took my hand and led me back to the bedroom. When the door closed and we resumed relaxing in the bed, I braved one more question.

  “Did the alligator get away?”

  Daniello hesitated only briefly before answering. “They never get away.”

  Later that morning, I stood at my sister’s bedroom door. Daniello was long gone, and I was sure he’d meant me to hear his parting words as he stood at the door while I lingered between sated and sleep.

  “I will return.”

  It was a new addition to our arrangement. He’d made a sort of promise to me that he would let me know when he wouldn’t be returning. I dreaded that day but pushed it to the back of my mind. As I watched my sister sleep, a bottle of prescription pills next to her from a doctor I insisted she see, I wondered if I hadn’t aided in her detachment from the new world she was in.

  I gave her door a sharp knock. “Amber?”

  She stirred slightly and then slowly opened her eyes to catch me fully dressed at her door.

  “Shower and dress. We meet with a lawyer today.” I searched for the appropriate words to try to make my statement more casual and couldn’t come up with anything. I didn’t know how to handle the niceties of normal. I knew how to suck a cock and conduct a business meeting that co
uld earn me millions. I didn’t know how to be personable, my forte being more . . . formidable.

  “Half an hour?” I asked as she sat up in bed in a daze.

  Still in her pill-induced haze, she nodded before I closed her door.

  Amber came into the kitchen half an hour later, freshly showered and in one of the several outfits I’d given her. Though she was still ghastly thin from her addiction, she wore a simple black dress well. I offered her coffee, and she accepted as she sat on a stool on the opposite side of the counter. Our resemblance, despite her weight, was remarkable. I briefly wondered if she thought the same.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t been around much,” I offered, making myself busy by cleaning my cup.

  “I’ve been tired,” she murmured.

  “I’ve been busy,” I spouted at the same time. I gave her a small smile.

  “Let’s go,” I said, ushering her into the garage. Amber rounded my Mercedes and got in without a word.

  “Starting tomorrow, you will work at Scott Solutions. I’m sending you to Human Resources, so they can assess your skills. Your best bet at getting Joseph back is having a job and a stable place to live, right?”

  “Right,” she agreed absently as she looked around the cabin.

  “I can give you enough money to get you started in a place of your own. Depending on your salary, we will find something,” I rambled on nervously.

  “How much is this lawyer going to cost?”

  “Do you really care, Amber?” I said, rolling my eyes as I took the downtown streets toward Scott Solutions.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means you know I have enough money to pay for your lawyer, and I’m not expecting to be paid back.”

  “Well, that’s up to me, now, isn’t it?” she snapped.

  Taking a deep breath, I looked over at her as I slowed at a light. “Do you really intend to stay here when you get your son back?”

  “Yes,” she replied tightly as she looked out the window.

  “Look, I just wanted to know you again, to make sure you were okay. You don’t have to do things my way. I just—”