Provoked

by Bailey, Sarah

  I reached up and uncuffed her. Liora sagged against me. I knew her arms must hurt after being kept up in that position for so long. Hell, mine ached from holding her in place. After a moment, she straightened, staring up at me with unconcealed desire simmering in her forest green eyes. Christ, she was just as affected as I was by that little show.

  I indicated with my head she should follow me. Dutifully, she walked back through the room with me, avoiding the gazes of the other men and women. Some of them were staring. There was only one person I really cared about. Zach’s expression was neutral. I saluted him before we went into the other room. I could’ve sworn his eyes darkened a fraction, but who gave a shit? I’d given them enough to talk about.

  Putting my hand to her lower back, I guided her out of the second room into the hallway. I plucked her coat from the rack and slipped it around her shoulders. I really fucking hated this house with a passion. Everything had happened here and the reminders tore at me.

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and fired off a text to my driver.

  We were both silent as we walked down the stairs. In the lobby, one of Zach’s men was waiting. I didn’t try to engage him in conversation. I was done with being here. Hearing footsteps on the stairs behind me, I stiffened.

  “Dante,” Zach’s voice rang in my ears.

  “Yes?” I replied without turning around.

  “Family dinner next week. Attendance is non-negotiable.”

  I almost breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Just let Brent know when it is and we’ll be there.”

  There was a long pause.

  “Make no mistake, son, I’m watching you.”

  I heard his footsteps retreating just as there was a knock at the front door. Zach’s man opened it. My driver stood on the threshold. I hurried Liora down the steps and into the car, wanting to be away from here and Zach’s threats. He was always watching me.

  Liora sat ramrod straight with her hands settled in her lap as the car pulled away. I wondered for a moment what was wrong, but then I had just made her fake sex with me in front of Zach’s friends.

  “Liora, I—”

  Her sudden movement cut me off. She unclipped her seatbelt, throwing the coat off her shoulders before she grabbed hold of my face and planted her mouth on mine. I was too startled to respond. She shoved her tongue in my mouth, kissing me with reckless abandon.

  My hands wound their way into her hair, tugging her closer as I kissed her right back. She tasted like heaven. She shifted up on her knees, moving to straddle me without ever breaking contact with my mouth. Having her body against mine made me lose all my restraint. My hand fell to her hip as I ground her into my cock.

  “Dante, please, I need you,” she whimpered against my mouth.

  Had I ever actually fucked a girl in the back of a car before? No, but her plea was far too much for me to take. I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her back a little.

  “Hold on,” I said reaching over to the intercom button. “Voss, just keep driving until I tell you to return us home.”

  “Yes, Mr Benson,” my driver responded a moment later.

  I released the button and then my hands were on her, unhooking the corset she was wearing at the front until I could get my hands on her breasts. My thumb flicked over her nipple and she arched into me, moaning.

  “Did that turn you on, huh?” I asked, my voice low.

  “Yes,” she hissed.

  “Need me to give you a release?”

  “Please, I can’t take it. I want you.”

  Christ, she wasn’t the only one desperate to come.

  “Unzip me.”

  She didn’t hesitate, reaching between us to unbuckle my belt and tear down the zip of my trousers. I shifted so she could tug them down enough to allow my cock to spring free. I unhooked the rest of the hooks on her corset before dispensing with it. My mouth was on her nipple, biting down. She cried out, her hands grasping my forearms.

  “Dante, please.”

  I reached down and shoved her underwear aside before gripping my cock and guiding her down onto it. Both of us moaned as I sunk into her tight, slick heat. Exactly what I needed. To feel her on me.

  I pulled her against me, rocking deeper into her as my fingers found their way into her hair.

  “Do you hate me for it?” I whispered.

  “No… I…”

  The hesitation in her eyes and her voice made my heart thump against my chest. Her hands rested on my shoulders, gripping lightly.

  “I could never hate you.”

  That wasn’t what she was going to say. We both knew it. There was something else here neither of us were remotely prepared for. As I stared up into her forest green eyes, I knew what it was.

  Love.

  An emotion, sensation, feeling I never thought I’d ever experience outside of the familial bond. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was capable of it after what I’d been through with Zach. And yet here it was. Clear as day.

  “You don’t need to say it.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

  “Say what?”

  “You know what.”

  “Dante…”

  “Don’t lie to me. You don’t have to admit it, but don’t lie to me.”

  She shifted, resting her forehead against mine.

  “Do you feel the same?” she whispered.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m not ready to say it.”

  I nodded, bringing a hand up to cup her cheek, running my thumb across it.

  “Then kiss me instead and let me make you come for real this time.”

  She smiled, bringing her lips to mine. My other hand gripped her hip, encouraging her to rise and fall on me. Christ, she felt so good. The way her pussy pulsed as she rode me was blissful.

  I let go of her face, running my hand down her back. I lifted it away and slapped her behind. She groaned into my mouth so I did it again. It made her pull away.

  “Fuck, please, more. Hurt me.”

  I wasn’t one to deny her when she begged like that. I struck her again and again. Each time she moaned and arched into me, her pussy clamping down on my cock. Hell, I didn’t even need her to start calling me, Master. This was enough. It kept my burning needs at bay. Satisfied the cravings. This high was so much sweeter than anything I’d experienced before. Mostly because Liora really did want it too. She craved it as much as I did. The pleasure from pain.

  I wasn’t ashamed to admit I’d paid women to let me whip them. Now I’d met my match. A girl I didn’t have to pretend with. A girl who got off on letting me take control of her. Telling her what to do and when. Her need called to mine. We sated each other’s cravings.

  She cried out my name, her pussy clenching wildly around my cock, her head thrown back and an expression of utter bliss painted her features. My hand stilled as I watched her come apart. I hadn’t been expecting it. Hadn’t realised she was so close to detonating on me.

  She was so beautiful. Every time I looked at her, I was struck by it. Liora really had the most perfect elfin features. Her little blonde halo of hair never ceased to stir my senses.

  I was pathetically enamoured with her.

  No.

  It was high time I admitted the truth.

  I was in love with her.

  Her laugh. Her smile. Her voice. The sharp intelligence radiating behind those forest green eyes.

  I had to find a way to end this shit with Zach. End it so I could have Liora all to myself without his bullshit threats. That meant going against him. It meant risking everything to fight against the hold he had over me. The thing he had used to manipulate me for years. The very thing I promised him I’d never reveal in exchange for Liora. The thing I’d seen him do that still haunted me to this day. That’s the only thing I had left to stop him.

  Liora opened her eyes and smiled at me. The sight of it made my heart thump wildly in my chest.
/>
  “I want to take care of you,” she whispered as she moved again.

  Having watched her come apart on my cock, I was close to finding oblivion myself. Even with all the fucked up thoughts racing round my head. I pushed them down, concentrating on her riding me, her movements and pace increasing. I gripped both her hips and thrust back against her, pressing deeper inside her slick heat. She leant towards me, capturing my earlobe between her teeth.

  “I want you to come inside me,” she told me. “I want to feel you let go.”

  I grunted, feeling it building as my muscles tensed in anticipation.

  “I need it, Dante.”

  My name on her lips was the catalyst.

  “Say it again.”

  “Dante, come inside me.”

  “Fuck.”

  I couldn’t hold back. I erupted, my cock pulsing inside her. Giving her exactly what she wanted. I let go. The waves of bliss crashed over me. My fingers dug harder into her hips, anchoring her to me. Because really, Liora was the only thing keeping me afloat. Keeping me from sinking further into the hell that was my existence. The hell which kept me from being free.

  When I opened my eyes, her smile greeted me. My eyes went to the collar around her neck. The sight of it made my gut clench. I reached up and unbuckled it, tossing it away like it burnt my skin. I hated the thing.

  She wasn’t my pet. She was my girl. My everything.

  She reached up and cupped my face with both hands.

  “When your masks are gone, you have the most expressive eyes of anyone I’ve ever met,” she told me. “I see everything you feel. I feel it. Right here.” She dropped one of her hands to her chest, pressing it against her heart. “I feel all of you. Sometimes it hurts because you’ve buried yourself so deep inside my soul. I don’t think I can ever be free.”

  My heart was still beating wildly in my chest, but this just made it worse.

  “I don’t want to be free,” she whispered, leaning into me, her lips brushing against mine. “Not now. Not ever. I need you right here. Don’t hide from me. Let me in. Let me be your balm. Let me fill the void.”

  How could she see all of that? The dark parts I locked away. The emptiness threatening to consume my every fucking waking moment.

  I was so close to the edge with her. So close to drowning. Her words. I had her fucking words. Her honesty cut into me. Carving out a huge hole in my chest and she was burying herself in it. And with her words, I had her mind.

  Body. Mind. Soul.

  Mine.

  And the biggest mind fuck yet?

  She had all of that from me too.

  I was irrevocably hers. I’d fallen. I’d damned myself to a lifetime of being at the mercy of this girl. Her power over me. She had no idea what she wielded. How she’d taken the very essence of my being and made it her own.

  Instead of clamming up and disregarding everything she’d just said to me, I put my hand on top of where hers lay on her chest.

  “You already are,” I whispered against her lips. “You’re everything to me.”

  I could feel her trembling, trying to hold back the emotions threatening to burst through. Her heartbeat thundered against my fingertips where they connected with her chest.

  “Take me home and show me exactly how you feel for the rest of the night.”

  So I did. I laid her down on my bed when we got back and took her without mercy. I poured out my soul to her in each thrust. Made her aware of the depth of my affection for her with each kiss. Each touch proving I was hers if she wanted me. She could take it all if she was brave enough.

  And I knew in those moments, I had to tell her the truth.

  I had to trust her with my secrets. Tell her the real reason she was here with me.

  The truth behind why the Stewarts owed the Bensons a blood debt.

  I had to hope she wouldn’t hate me after this. Hate me for what our parents had caused. And hate me for allowing myself to get sucked into their bullshit because I’d wanted her so much.

  I really fucking hoped she still looked at me with that same adoring expression.

  Because I wouldn’t survive it if she turned from me now.

  Liora was my life.

  And she’d destroy it if she left me behind.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Liora

  “Wake up, my heart,” a voice whispered across my skin.

  I was halfway between consciousness and sleep. I recognised the voice. I knew the rich timbre of it deep within my soul. I wasn’t sure it was real because the person it belonged to never called me, his heart.

  I burrowed further into the chest I was pressed up against, savouring the warmth and safety I felt there. My hand splayed out across their bare back. Such soft skin with a contrast of hard muscle underneath.

  “I know I tired you out, but I need you to wake up for me, my heart.”

  Those two words again. Why did they make mine thump in my chest?

  “I’m sleepy,” I murmured.

  I felt lips on my forehead.

  “I know, I’m sorry.”

  I cracked an eye open as he tipped my head back. Dante’s face filled my vision. I blinked.

  Dante just called me, his heart. What the hell is happening?

  “What’s wrong?” I whispered.

  “James is here.”

  I blinked again. Why was his brother here? And what did that have to do with me? He didn’t seem to want to talk to me about what they’d discussed last time James was here. I didn’t get a chance to ask him because he kissed me. I melted, pressing closer to him. His touch seared into me, fire lacing my veins. Even in my hazy, sleep deprived state, he affected me.

  His lazy smile when he pulled away was a glorious sight. Dante without masks. He was enthralling. Captivating. He held my attention like no other.

  “Have I ever told you just how handsome you are?” I asked without thinking.

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “You did call me beautiful once.”

  I ran my hand down his bare chest. For once, he didn’t tense up. If anything, he relaxed further.

  “We might be opposites in looks. I’m the light to your dark, but I think you’re perfect.”

  His smile widened, blue eyes twinkling with amusement.

  “Do you now?”

  “Mmmhmm.”

  What the hell was coming out of my mouth right now? I felt sort of giddy with happiness because of him calling me, his heart, and apparently my brain decided it was okay to just start telling him how attractive I thought he was. It was the truth, but he didn’t need to know that. I wasn’t one for stroking a man’s ego and he really didn’t need his stroked. He knew how much I desired him without me having to say anything. I’d sort of proven that yesterday when I’d thrown myself at him in the car.

  He leant down towards me again, his mouth brushing against my ear.

  “If I didn’t suspect you were too sore right now, I’d have you on your back so I could bury my cock in your tight pussy again.”

  I shivered. He wasn’t wrong. He’d spent all night making me come over and over again until I was so wrung out, I couldn’t move. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to make up for what happened at Zach’s or it was because I told him to show me how he felt with actions rather than words. Either way, it had been deliciously wonderful. I’d never felt so satisfied and content as I did when I fell asleep in his arms, my face pressed against his solid chest.

  “Don’t tease,” I whispered.

  “I wasn’t teasing. Why? Is the ache still there? Do you need me to relieve it for you?”

  His hand skimmed my bare hip and dipped between my legs.

  “Dante!”

  His chuckle reverberated around my skull.

  “Oh god,” I groaned, unable to help myself as he stroked me.

  I was sore, but his fingers were making a very different ache become prominent. The kind that only he could c
ure.

  “I told you, I’m not your god.”

  No. He was my Dante. And he was driving me crazy at that moment.

  “I think you’re going to have me on my back anyway.”

  “You’re right.”

  He shifted, pressing me down on to the bed and towering over me. I stared at him in all his naked glory, completely unabashed. I loved to look at him. To touch him. Every inch of him was stunning.

  “What about James?” I asked, suddenly remembering that’s why he’d woken me up.

  He groaned, sitting up and rubbing his face.

  “Fuck. We’ll have to continue this later.” He dropped his hand, a wicked smile appearing on his face. “By then you’ll have recovered and I can fuck you as hard as I want.”

  I squirmed, feeling my face heat up. Perhaps our appetite for each other was insatiable but I stopped caring about that. My desire for him was like a raging inferno inside me and I wasn’t about to put that fire out.

  I didn’t get a chance to say anything else because he scooped me up in his arms and took me into the shower. His touch was lingering as he washed me as if he was branding himself into every inch of my skin.

  When we were finally dressed, we left the bedroom hand in hand and entered the conservatory a few minutes later. James was nursing a cup of tea at the table where there was breakfast laid out.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be working today?” Dante asked as he pulled out a chair for me.

  James eyes flicked between us.

  “Like you’d know anything about real work.”

  “Well?”

  “Like anyone cares if I skip a day. Not everyone lives a life of idleness like you.”

  Dante raised an eyebrow as he sat down next to me. I poured myself a cup of tea and started on my usual fruit and yogurt the staff had prepared. I still wasn’t sure why Dante wanted me here, but I wasn’t going to interject. Clearly the two of them needed to have it out.

  “Yes, because I just sit around all day doing fuck all.”

  James looked away. I’d never asked Dante what he did, but I figured he’d tell me when he was ready.

  “I didn’t come here to fight with you.”

  “Then why did you?”