“Mom,” she cried helplessly, the tears streaming from her eyes and tracking wet paths down her face.
Cilia leaned over and touched Riley’s head, gently sweeping her dark hair away from her face. It wasn't a hug, but it was more, much more than Cilia usually gave. It was her way of loving. Her sad eyes expressed how much she felt for her daughter in that moment. Though it was difficult for her to express. Her delicate, light touch soothed Riley in a way nothing else could, calming her.
After several minutes, Riley had herself under control enough to ask after the one person she wanted most. The one person that should have been there but wasn’t. “Soloman?”
A cool light touched Cilia’s eyes. She said only one word to explain his absence. “Retribution.”
Riley frowned, baffled.
Cilia smiled pleasantly and stood, smoothing her coral skirt. “Never mind, dear. He’ll be back shortly. He didn't leave your side all night. In fact, when they dared try to mention visiting hours he had you transferred to this private unit where he explained exactly what would happen if they tried to force him to leave. No one was brave enough to ask. He flew in a pharmacology doctor from Atlanta who specializes in both PCP and GHB, both of which that disgusting little man had on his person. I am very impressed with how thorough your Mr. Hart has been with your care. I haven’t had to step in at all.”
Riley’s mouth fell open. She wasn’t sure what to process first. Her mother’s being impressed by anyone other than her own self was HUGE. Then, there were the type of drugs being forced through her system. She was both horrified and disgusted to learn she’d been forced to take a combination of the date rape drug and PCP, otherwise known as angel dust. Then there was Soloman’s heavy-handed care of her. Apparently, he’d refused to leave her side all night, yet he wasn’t here when she woke up. It was confusing. And it hurt.
Cilia watched the flickering emotions cross her daughter’s face. “He’s also flying in a counsellor from Vancouver. Apparently, she’s married to a friend of his and comes highly recommended. For when you're ready to talk about what happened.”
Riley pulled her knees up under the covers, hugging them against her chest, subconsciously recoiling away from the idea of sharing her horrific experience. “I don't need to talk to anyone, especially not a stranger.”
Cilia nodded and shrugged her shoulders, turning away from the bed. She looked out the door into the interior of the hospital. It was just like Cilia to watch the people and the inner workings of the hospital than to gaze out a window toward something more scenic.
“Side effects of large doses of phencyclidine, otherwise known as PCP, can include distortions of time, space, body image, and visual stimuli. Impairment of higher cortical functions, such as attention, concentration, judgement, motor coordination and speech. Other symptoms can include paranoia, confusion, hallucinations, anxiety, agitation, delusions, bizarre and sometimes violent behaviour…”
“Cilia," Riley gasped, “stop! I’m not some fucking drug addict!”
The cool blond turned to look at her daughter, seriousness reflecting in her eyes as she took in the agitated young woman on the bed. She smoothed the blanket over Riley’s legs. “Of course not, dear. But the drugs were in your blood stream and entered your brain. You should talk to this woman about possible long-term effects and how to cope with any side effects. Including, but not limited to, possible flashbacks, prolonged anxiety, social withdrawal and isolation, severe depression, impairment of memory…”
“Holy shit, mother, stop! I’ll see her!” Riley yelled hoarsely. Jesus, she’d become so used to Cilia avoiding her that she forgot how much her mother sounded like a damn textbook.
Cilia beamed at Riley, patted her foot through the blanket and turned to leave. “I’ll send Katie and Wendell in. They're very anxious to see you, but Soloman has been strict about visitors.”
Riley watched her mother leave with a suspicion that she just got played by the master.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Three months later.
Riley stood with her back to him watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. She was waist deep in the water, allowing the gentle waves to lick against her tanned body. Dark chocolate hair was pulled high on her head in a ponytail. Her arms were wrapped protectively around herself. He could see her black chipped nails splayed against the skin of her back on either side. The thin black strap of her bikini halter trailed down between the angel’s wings of her tattoo. She was so fucking beautiful it made him ache deep inside.
He wanted to smile, but he couldn’t. Eventually they would get there. But for now, his chest ached too much at how serious his gorgeous girl had become. He almost always knew to find her outdoors at this time of day when he came home from work. Claustrophobia was probably the biggest side effect to her ordeal. He calmly dealt with it by clearing out the local pharmacy of all their sunscreen so she could spend as much time outdoors as she needed. She also had about a hundred new hats to choose from to protect her face from the sun. Hats she never wore, he noted with annoyance, stripping the clothes from his body and leaving them in the sand.
He also watched quietly and never said a word as she opened every door and window in their house, allowing flies and critters to wander through. That was how they’d adopted McDavid the month before. An ugly as fuck snaggletooth Shepard mix that had wandered in looking for a handout and found the mess Riley had made in the kitchen. Somehow the mangy mutt could calm Riley’s panic attacks when nothing else could. So the damn dog stayed.
Soloman didn't push her to go to counselling. Surprisingly it was Cilia that managed to talk her into seeing his friend’s wife. And the counselling seemed to help gradually heal her trauma. She opened up bit by bit about her experience. Sometimes she cried. Sometimes she raged and threw things. He didn’t care what she did as long as she got it out and kept it out.
He waded out into the ocean, splashing a little so she wouldn’t be surprised. Some days she got stuck in her own head. He hated the terror that would cross her features when something or someone startled her. He noted the gradual loosening of her shoulders and knew that she was aware of his presence. His lips twitched upward.
She turned her head to the side as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned her head back against his chest. He loved the way her soft hair fell between them and rubbed against his hard body. Then he saw the necklace. She was wearing his choker. Fuck, that sign of his possession combined with her tiny bikini nearly made him come right then and there. Was she telling him she was finally ready to resume intimacy?
“You’re late,” she said, her voice softly accusing.
The rage he felt every time he heard her damaged voice was like a fresh wound. Her voice was softer now, hoarse and sexy. But not the Riley he’d originally met. Not the confident, strident woman that told him to fuck off in no uncertain tones. That Riley had been taken. Her voice had been torn to shreds from screams of terror and agony as she slowly baked to death in a trunk.
He never let her know how he felt. He was never anything but infinitely gentle. It cost him. He wanted the man that had hurt his girl back under his hands. He would make him pay. Again and again. For a thousand lifetimes.
“Trouble at Merchant’s,” he told her not wanting to elaborate. He didn't know how she’d feel about his most recent bout of trouble.
She turned in his arms pressing her full breasts against him. Breath hissed through his teeth as he tried like hell to tame his reaction to her. Knowing what she’d been through, understanding what that sick fuck had tried to do to her, he'd kept his distance. But now, with her in his arms, pressing herself curves against him, nothing could stop his cock from rising up between them.
And for the first time in a long time, a smile curved her gorgeous lips. She clutched his biceps, tilted her head back, pressed her stomach against his erection and grinned with her eyes closed. He held her loosely in his arms just watching her glow in the light of the s
etting sun. So incredibly down to earth and lovely. He couldn’t imagine wanting anything else in his life.
She opened her eyes and looked at him mischievously through her lashes. “Is Cilia causing mischief in your club?” she asked innocently. A little too innocently. The little vixen knew something.
His arms tightened around her and he dragged her up his body. He slid an arm up her back and cupped her head, forcing her face up to his. “What exactly do you know about it, Riley Bancroft?”
She bit her lip to stifle the giggle that threatened to erupt and shrugged her shoulders. He reached into the water for her leg and lifted it high to hook around his hip. She gasped as his thick cock rubbed against her bikini bottom. He pulled her other leg up and cupped her ass in one large hand, sliding his fingers into the material.
“I may or may not know something about a large amount of missing funds,” she admitted in a breathless rush, her melted chocolate eyes clouding with lust.
Jesus, she knew about the money. And fucked if he cared. He wanted her so fucking bad in that moment he was about to shrug off six million dollars just so he could slide his cock into her willing heat. Apparently, she had the same thought, because she tangled her fingers in his hair and tugged his head down to hers, spearing his mouth with her tongue.
He groaned and shoved her tongue back into her mouth with his own before orally fucking her with every pent up sexual feeling he’d had over the past three months. He felt like he finally had his girl in his arms instead of a ghost. She felt so good, so alive. He’d been willing to wait for as long as it took for her to be ready. He would have waited forever if that was what she’d wanted. But fuck, three months felt like forever.
He turned in the water with her and started toward the beach with her nibbling at his neck. She breathed sexily in his ear before moaning, “Don’t you want to know why she stole the money?”
“No offence, gorgeous, don’t want to talk about your mother right now. Want to lay you down on the beach and fuck you until we both can’t stand anymore… wait… why would she tell you about any of this?” he finally asked. “That’s not like her, right?”
They emerged from the ocean together. He let her slide through his arms until her feet sank into the soft sand next to his expensive suit, which was now going to have to be thoroughly cleaned. She smiled and nodded. “Now you’re catching on.”
“I’ll bite,” he growled. “Why did she steal the money?”
A beautiful blush splashed across her face and she looked away from him. It was so unlike his Riley to not be completely forthright that he was shocked for a moment.
Finally, with her eyes glued to his chest, she said, “She’s holding the money for ransom. She wants us to get married. It’s going to be a wedding gift. You say, ‘I do’ and she transfers the money back.”
He stared down at her in surprise. “And she told you this?” he asked incredulously.
She nodded and laughed a little. “About an hour ago. She left town just in case you decided to be pissed. Understanding people’s reactions aren’t really her thing, so she likes to be safe, just in case things don't go as planned.”
Soloman wanted to laugh. He was beginning to really enjoy his bizarre soon-to-be mother-in-law. He’d have to keep a better eye on his assets around her though. Instead, he dropped to his knees in the sand, surprising Riley. Her hands fell to his shoulders and her eyes widened in shock. She opened her mouth, but he shook his head sharply.
He took her hands in his. “I don't give a fuck about the money, Riley. I would throw it all away if it meant I got to spend the next ten minutes with you. She can keep it. I should have proposed to you the moment I saw you in the garage. You would’ve thought I was crazy, but it’s what I wanted to do. Instead, I scared you, bullied you and forced you to come to me.”
She smiled at him and raised her eyebrow. “Are you about to apologize for all that?”
“No,” he growled.
She laughed, her belly shaking against him. He loved the feeling. “Of course not,” she said, “because you'd do it all over again, wouldn't you?”
“If it meant you belonged to me in the end, then yes, I’d do it all over again. Marry me, Riley?”
She dropped to her knees in the sand and wrapped her arms around his neck. Pressing her lips to his, she drew back just enough to whisper, “yes.”
He crushed her against his chest and kissed her with everything he felt since the first moment he saw her. He forced her to feel how crazy she made him. She returned the pressure kiss for kiss. He pushed her backwards to sprawl on top of his suit in the sand. She watched through dark chocolate eyes as he yanked her bikini bottoms down her legs. He shoved the halter top over her head causing her breasts to bounce.
“Want to be gentle with you,” he growled. “Can’t right now.”
She looked up at him with hooded eyes, giving him what he wanted. Permission to fuck her the way he needed to. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she struggled to catch her breath. She reached for him, dragging him down against her, running her hands over his tattooed shoulders and holding him tightly against her. His fists landed beside her. She rolled her head to the side and kissed the tattoo on the back of his hand before looking back up at him with passion clouded eyes. He reached down and thrust one long, thick finger into her pussy. She cried out and arched against him. Thank fuck, she was soaked for him.
He lifted her leg into the curve of his elbow and opened her up to him. Leaning down, he kissed her gorgeous plush lips and drove inside, slamming home in one thrust. He pierced into the heart of her, forcing his way through tight silken tissue. He swallowed her cries as she arched to relieve the pressure. Hooking an arm underneath her, he lifted her tight against him and began fucking her with long, sure strokes. Soon the tightness eased and pleasure flooded through her. She rocked her hips against him, seeking the incredible sensations only he was capable of giving her.
She dug her fingers deep into his arms, securing herself against him. Soloman grunted in satisfaction, loving the bite of her nails in his skin. He dropped his head and nuzzled her breasts where they bounced in time with his thrusts. He bit down on the tiny peach bud, drawing a small scream from her throat. She arched up into him as the small bite of pain sizzled through her body and pooled in her clit. He made sure her body arched into his just right so her clit rubbed the right spot.
“Oh god, oh Soloman,” she cried out, her eyes flying wide. “I’m coming!”
He grunted and tightened his hold on her, watching every flicker of emotion as it crossed her face while she orgasmed beneath him. The tiny widening of her eyes, the ‘O’ of her mouth, the flare of her small nostrils and the moan as it escaped from her sexy throat. He wanted to capture the moment forever.
He dropped his head into her neck and bit down just enough to mark her before following her over the edge of bliss with a powerful orgasm of his own. Fuck it felt good to empty himself in this woman again, after all these months of waiting. Slowly he lowered himself onto her, careful not to allow too much of his weight to crush her. She wrapped her arms around his naked back, her fingers gently tracing one of his tattoos. She kept her legs hooked around his hips. He was fine with the arrangement. He’d be ready for round two soon enough.
Lifting his head from her breast he stabbed her with his dark gaze.
“We’ll get married tomorrow,” he told her.
Her finger froze midway through the pattern she was tracing and her mouth opened in surprise. “That’s too soon!” she told him. “We have to wait for Cilia to come back at least.”
His hands tightened around her. “Not a fucking chance. You agreed to be my wife, now I'm locking this shit down. Tomorrow. Your mom had the chance to come to the wedding, she took off with my six million instead.”
Her mouth remained open for several seconds while she thought about it. Finally, she shrugged, her shoulders moving underneath him. Her warm eyes glowed and she licked her lips provocatively. “Fuck me a
gain and I’ll think about it.”
He reached up, took a fistful of her hair and dragged her head back. He kissed a path up her throat to her chin and then claimed her lips. Moving his hips back, he thrust forcefully back into her wet heat, their combined fluids easing his way. She moaned in delight, tightening her arms and legs around him.
“You’ll marry me tomorrow, whether you agree or not,” he grunted against her lips.
She grinned up at him. “Because you love me and you’ll always come for me?”
“Fuck, yes, gorgeous. Always.”
THE END
Sneak Peak: Excerpt from Thieving Hearts
Revulsion hit Katie like a punch in the stomach. It was everything she could do to search for the key to her old apartment in her coach bag, fit it in the lock and open the door. She wasn't sure who she hated more, her ex-husband or herself. She didn't understand how he could feel such disgust for her and her profession, yet summon her here month after month. Oh, she understood the money. Blackmail for money was an easy concept to comprehend. It was the sex she didn't get.
She shifted uneasily in her knee length button up tan coat. Reaching for the belt, she knotted it tighter around her too slender waist. She knew she'd lost too much weight recently. Constant fear and agitation had taken its toll on her figure. She spent every waking moment terrified that the FBI were going to break down her door. All because of the man whose apartment she was about to enter.
Something didn't feel right. Usually she heard the sound of music or the TV blaring. The smell of food would hit her as she cracked open the door and stood nervously waiting for his summons. Colin liked to keep her waiting. Like a dog or a slave. Today she heard nothing.
She pushed the door open further and saw that the interior of his apartment was flooded in darkness. Had he forgotten about their appointment? Impossible. It was the same time every month. Since the day of their divorce a year ago. She would come to him on the 25th of the month at 8 pm, like clockwork. If she didn’t, he would make the call that would end her life.
Driven by Desire Page 20
