I trembled, my palms beginning to sweat. What kind of monster was his father? And what had he done to Dante? I was sure the man with his hand wrapped around my throat had suffered because of his father. There was something in his eyes that spoke of immeasurable pain and sorrow.
“No,” I whispered. “I don’t want that.”
“Then stop fighting me on this. Play your role. Two weeks from now, convince him you’re mine. Convince them we’re happy together.”
“What’s happening in two weeks?”
“A charity gala. Before then, I expect you to earn the right to know who we are.”
I swallowed. He loosened his grip, his fingers running down my neck and tracing the line of my collarbone.
“How?”
“Stop asking questions and start doing what I tell you.”
I hated that was his go to response. More bullshit from him. Hadn’t I already provoked him enough today? He’d punished me with his hand once. What other ways would he do it if I continued to push his buttons? What else did Dante have up his sleeve?
“I don’t want to.”
His eyes flashed. I knew I was in trouble. So I did what I could to mitigate his reaction. My hands came up and I tugged his face towards me. His mouth landed on mine, causing sparks to fly between us. Even when he tried to pull away, I gripped his face tighter and pressed my tongue against his lips, demanding he let me in.
He ripped my hands off his face and pushed me back into the wardrobe. His blue eyes were wild with anger and desire.
“You are playing a dangerous game,” he growled.
“Am I? I thought you enjoyed playing games with me.”
“Right now? No. I’m warning you, my patience is wearing thin. If you want me to throw you on that bed and rip your clothes off then be my fucking guest and continue.”
Two separate reactions to what he’d said had me freezing. One part of me wanted to bolt and the other wanted to tug him against me and let whatever it was between us take over. My body tried to arch into him, but I kept my joints locked in place.
Everything about Dante assailed my senses. The power and control. His incredible scent. His mesmerising eyes and the way he looked at me with such passion and possession. All of it lit me up like an inferno. Desire coated my veins. My body primed itself for his.
Yes. Yes, I want you to throw me on the bed and fuck me with wild abandon.
I wasn’t ready for the intensity.
“You have to stop looking at me like that,” I whispered.
“Explain. How am I looking at you?”
Words flew out of my head. He pinned me there, unable to form sentences and completely at his mercy. There were far too many sides to this man. How was I ever meant to keep up? How would I ever know the true Dante who hid behind walls, masks and radiated heat, sin and suffering?
“Like… Like you’re a starving lion and I’m your prey.”
His lips curved up into a cruel smile.
“I am starving,” he replied, his voice a purr. “I want to devour you whole. I’ve waited too long to have you. I want inside you.”
He lifted a hand, pressing a finger to my head.
“Here.”
His finger brushed over my mouth.
“Here.”
He trailed it down my jaw and neck. As if my body couldn’t become more aroused, wetness coated my underwear. His eyes flickered with darkness. Darkness he wanted to drown me in. Pull me under and take possession of every inch of my soul so I would become as twisted as him.
His fingers trailed over my breasts, not bothering to avoid them. I arched into his touch. His smile grew wider. He knew exactly what this was doing to me.
Damn him. Fuck him. I wish I never met you, Dante.
Fingers brushed over my stomach, causing it to twist and turn with longing and need. My core throbbed. I ached to be filled. Mastered. Branded. I wanted Dante to claim every part of me as his own.
Christ, what the fuck is happening to me?
His fingers danced across my pussy, not quite touching me.
“And here.”
Dante was finally clear about what he wanted.
My mind, my words and my body.
Translation: he wanted every part of me.
He’d told me that before, but it only fully registered now.
“You can’t have any of it.”
His smile only grew.
“No? Mark my words, Liora. They’ll fall to me one by one. I think I know what will come first.”
He gripped the hem of my skirt, trailing it up my thighs until he exposed my lingerie clad pussy to him. He kept his eyes on mine as he held the dress up with one hand and trailed his fingers over me with the other. A low growl, which was almost a purr, left his lips.
He leant towards me, his mouth brushing against mine.
“You’re going to let me fuck you and you’re going to want it as much as I do. Perhaps your words will fall next, and lastly, your mind will be mine. You won’t be able to resist. Ultimately, I will win.”
He didn’t let me talk. His mouth commanded mine as his fingers found my clit through my underwear. I bucked, trying not to surrender but utterly failing.
And as I decided to kiss him back, his phone rang. The sound piercing through our lust filled haze. I wanted to thank and curse it at the same time.
He pulled away from me, his eyes dark with irritation at the interruption.
“Stay right there,” he said, his voice rough and gravelly.
As if I could move after what he’d done to me. I’d collapse in a heap on the floor if I tried.
He strode over to the bedside table and snatched up his phone.
“Hello.”
The next instant, his face grew serious. Irritation and resignation slipped in, twisting his features into something unrecognisable. He straightened, his expression darkening by the second. Whoever it was, they had altered the mood dramatically.
“I understand.”
He tucked the phone into his pocket when he was done. He’d barely responded apart from the occasional ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
When his eyes met mine, they were cold. The man who wanted to own me was gone. I didn’t know the stranger who’d replaced him.
“Brent will bring you down for lunch. I have to go.”
And he left me standing against the wardrobe, a trembling mess of sexual arousal.
What the hell was that?
Chapter Eight
Dante
Fuck my father. I hated him more now than I’d ever done before. And I really fucking despised the man.
His reminder that Liora was payment for a debt rang in my ears. The fact he knew I was struggling with my insatiable need for her drove me fucking insane. It made me painfully aware we were being watched. Brent and I may be friends, but he was still under my father’s payroll. I didn’t have to ask him to know he’d told my father Liora wasn’t obedient yet. That she was causing me to lose control.
The problem was Zach had known from the moment I asked for her. When I bargained with him to have her, it was because I wanted her. It had nothing to do with her father’s debt. I didn’t care what Angus Stewart had done. All I cared about was having his daughter. Possessing her. She was mine from the moment I laid eyes on her.
My father’s plans differed from mine. Liora was a transaction between the Bensons and the Stewarts. A blood debt. He wouldn’t kill her, but she would stay with us for the rest of her life. And he’d given her to me. A gift for my so called obedience. A gift which came with conditions. Ones I hated. But having Liora was worth all of it. And she’d never know the sacrifice I’d made.
The cost should be too high. A sane person would never entertain the idea. I wasn’t sane. And I really didn’t care about my mental state. I kept that under control. Yet Liora was insistent on unravelling me piece by piece. Instead of me possessing her, she was trying to own me. And she was fucking
winning.
I needed space and distance to give myself a fucking chance to keep her where she belonged. Unless I had a part of her I could hold on to, this was going to be impossible. And she wasn’t ready yet.
She admitted to wanting me physically, but that wasn’t enough. She had to be mentally ready to accept her body was mine. That was the first part I needed. If I had her body, I could have her voice, her thoughts bared to me. Then I’d have her mind.
Until then, I had to stay focused. I had to keep myself from giving in to her needs. Her wants. I was damn sure she wanted my mind too even if she didn’t know or want to accept it.
I put my hand on my face, trying to reign in the tidal wave of insanity threatening to burst through. That was a mistake. I could smell her arousal on my fingers from when I’d touched her.
Holy fucking Christ.
I resisted the urge to stick them in my mouth so I could taste her. Instead, I walked into the guest bathroom and washed my hands thoroughly. I lamented the loss of her on my skin, but it couldn’t be helped. I’d storm back in my room and pin her down if I allowed myself to indulge further.
I looked at my face in the mirror. His eyes stared back at me. I hated the connection. I couldn’t see myself without seeing him too. The monster. The man who’d fucked me up. Made me the way I am for better or worse.
I walked out of the bathroom and went in search of Brent. I found him in the kitchen, laughing with one of the chefs. When he saw my face, his dropped abruptly. He indicated with his head we should take this into the conservatory. I followed him and shut the door behind me.
“Why the fuck did I just get a lecture from Zach?”
Brent had the fucking cheek to shrug his shoulders.
“I haven’t spoken to him since yesterday.”
I stared at him for a long moment. If he hadn’t told my father, then who had? I turned away and looked out at the garden.
“What did he say?” Brent asked.
“Usual bullshit about me getting my act together along with the reminder Liora is a family debt and I should treat her accordingly.”
“And you’re surprised he’s interfering? You know Zach.”
Sadly I did. All too fucking well. I ran a hand through my hair. My patience had run out. I couldn’t let myself slip up any further. Especially not around Liora. Christ, I’d almost fucked her.
“He expects me to put her in the playroom and beat the defiance out of her.”
“Are you going to?”
I turned to him. I don’t know why he bothered asking me that question when he knew the answer.
“Are you going to tell him if I don’t?”
He grinned, his teeth gleaming.
“I don’t fancy getting in between the two of you.”
I could hardly blame him. He’d patched me up enough times after incidents with my father.
“Have you shown her it yet?”
I raised an eyebrow. Yes, I was really going to show the girl who was terrified of me the room where I’d enjoy inflicting pleasure and pain within days of her arriving here. Good fucking plan. Not. I’d done enough damage already.
“You’re a funny man.”
Brent was a twat of epic proportions and he knew it.
“I’m just saying, you’re better off being honest with her from the outset, D.”
I wanted to throw him out of the house on his ear for such an idiotic suggestion. He really had no fucking clue about women. And he didn’t know Liora.
“I’ll show her when I’m good and fucking ready to.”
He put his hands up in a gesture of ‘okay, okay, chill out’. I’d got my point across. What I did with Liora would be on my terms and my terms alone. Fuck what my father said. He didn’t know her either.
You don’t know her yet.
I knew her a damn sight better than Brent and Zach. I knew simple kisses from her brought me to my knees. The way she said my name made my pulse spike and my cock twitch. Her smile lit my world on fire and that was just the tip of the iceberg. She was so smart and capable.
A niggling doubt crept into my mind. What if Brent was right? Should I show her? Would she hate it knowing that’s what I needed from her?
“Bring her down here,” I said, looking out the windows again.
“Whatever you say… boss.”
I stuck my finger up behind my back to which I was greeted with a hearty chuckle before I heard his retreating footsteps. She was probably wondering why the fuck I left so abruptly. Not that it was any of her business, but the way I left her all worked up like that. It hadn’t been my intention.
Perhaps it would work in my favour if I made her desire me to the point of madness. Where she couldn’t hold back any longer. Then she’d snap and let me fuck her the way I wanted to. The thought of being buried in her sweet pussy made me hard all over again.
Get a fucking grip.
I’d told her I was going to sort myself out in the bathroom, but I found I couldn’t when I got in there. Not when she told me through the door that she would’ve done it for me. How was it possible to want someone as much as I wanted her? My hands on her soft skin. My mouth on hers. Bringing her to climax over and over again. I wanted to know what noises she’d make. I wanted to hear her calling out my name in the heat of the moment.
If Zach knew I wanted to bring her as much pleasure as I did pain, he would’ve never let me have her. It was only because of me that he’d even called in the debt in the first place, so quite frankly, he could get fucked. Liora was mine now. I wouldn’t let him take her. My father would never ruin the girl who belonged to me.
“Here you go, D,” Brent’s voice called from the doorway.
I turned to find Liora standing in front of him, looking markedly put out. Brent gave me a nod before retreating and shutting the conservatory door behind him. I beckoned her over with a curl of my finger. She took several steps into the room, stopping just outside of my reach. Her hands fisted in her skirt.
“Are you sore?” I asked.
Her eyes flashed with irritation.
“I don’t know why you’re bothering to ask. It’s not like you care about how much you hurt me.”
I took one long stride and closed the distance between us, gripping her face and turning it up towards me.
“You think I don’t care about you?”
“I’m your pet, aren’t I? A slave to your needs. So, why would you care?”
Her words sucker punched me right in the gut.
A slave? She’s not a fucking slave.
My other hand curled around her back and pulled her against me. I caressed her face with my thumb. She swallowed. I could feel her pulse thundering in her neck under my fingertips.
“Pets are more obedient than you, especially dogs. Loyal to their masters.”
“Too bad for you I have no intention of being loyal or obedient.”
My grip on her face tightened. We were going around in circles. I had to break this fucking ridiculous cycle.
“Come with me. We never did finish your tour.”
I let her go only to grip her hand and tug her towards the door with me. There were two rooms she needed to see, both on the same floor as my bedroom. Maybe, just maybe she’d stop fucking provoking me every moment we were together if she knew.
Liora didn’t protest to being dragged up two flights of stairs. I stopped outside the room which would be hers if she wanted it. If she behaved. I’d tried so hard to make it perfect for her. I took a breath and opened the door.
She walked in after me and stopped in her tracks, pulling me to a halt. Her eyes bugged out. It was decorated in soft greens. Her father had assured me those were her favourite colours.
The wallpaper behind her bed had a forest pattern across it. Pale green trees on a grey background. The fourposter bed was white, each post made from birch tree branches. The duvet and pillowcases were grey with a pale green tree pattern across it
to match the accent wall.
There were several black and white prints on the walls of her favourite animals. The rest of the walls were painted in a slightly darker green to her bed, but it was still light and airy. A vanity table sat with a huge mirror on one side of the room and a chaise lounge was opposite the bed. I’d had a window seat installed in the bay windows, the fabric matching her bedding.
I looked at her whilst she took it in. Her mouth was hanging open, green eyes welling with unshed tears.
“I was going to wait longer before I showed you this room,” I said, my voice soft.
“It’s… beautiful,” she whispered.
“Your father told me what you like. It took me a long time to decide on each thing in this room.”
Her eyes met mine.
“You designed it for me?”
I nodded. Would this be enough to show her I cared? The thing was, I really did care about her. Her wellbeing. Her happiness. Her willingness to give herself over to me. I cared about it all. Zach probably thought he’d beaten all the sentimentality out of me, but my father didn’t know me as well as he thought he did.
“You have to earn it first, just like everything else, but yes, I chose everything personally.”
Her hand tightened in mine as she took a step towards me. She reached out and took my other hand, turning the palm over and running her thumb down it.
“Thank you, Dante.”
My heart stuttered in my chest.
“You’re welcome.”
Her eyes were still trained on our hands, but the next words out of her mouth gave me a strange feeling inside my chest.
“I’m not supposed to ask you for things, but… Can I… Can I kiss you?”
I didn’t fucking know what was up or down any more. Her asking for permission to kiss me was completely at odds with the behaviour I’d come to expect from her.
“Why?”
She shifted on her feet, still not meeting my eyes. Her cheeks stained red.
“We were interrupted before. I didn’t kiss you back and I… I want to.”
I pulled my hands from hers. She wanted to kiss me back. Wanted me. I tried not to think too hard about the way my heart raced in anticipation of her lips on mine. Her features fell, hands dropping to her sides.
Provoked Page 8
