by Aubrey Rose
As things stood with Eve, their love affair had been put on hold at least. But they were still officially together. Eve was a great girl; a beautiful, vivacious brunette who worked as a successful fashion stylist. They’d met at a bar in London and the attraction had been mutual. They had a lot of things in common and though Blake wasn’t sure about the labels when it came to love and relationships, he knew she’d have made a perfect wife. He didn’t know yet why he was still holding back.
His father’s next words snapped him out of his musings. “Well, maybe it’s for the best that you both never got past just speaking about marriage. Best forget it all together because I don’t think she’s right for you,” Bretton said shortly, reaching for his glass of wine and taking a brief sip.
His dismissive tone angered Blake. “How would you know? You haven’t even met her.”
Blake was aware of his father now and no one else. In a lot of ways, his father rubbed him up the wrong way for different reasons. But a lot probably had to do with the past and how it had all played out. His lonely, heartbroken mother never really wanted to find love again and was content to raise her only son while trying to rebuild their lives. There’d been her extended family to provide the needed support but nothing beat a husband and a real home; a real family. His father had robbed them of that with his dedication to his business. Blake felt his father was the last person to be giving him any kind of opinion on his relationships or love life.
“Besides, what right do you have to dictate my personal life? If I do decide to marry Eve or any other woman, whether you want it or not will not matter to me in the slightest.” Blake’s tone was cold and he caught the way his father winced at his detached words.
Blake had the urge to lash out as cruelly as possible against this man across from him who felt good about playing ‘father’ only when it suited him. Blake could almost feel the sympathy wafting from the guests for their host Bretton Carter but Blake could care less.
Where had Bretton Carter been all those years when it had actually mattered? To hell with what anyone else might think. No one in that room knew what it was like to be a ten-year-old boy who didn’t matter to his father. To be simply tossed away and forgotten for years.
“You’re right,” Bretton finally said into the silence at their table. His voice was calm over the subdued sounds from the surrounding guests dining at the tables placed around the room. “What right do I have to intrude in any part of your life? After all it’s been decades since we had any kind of contact. But I’m still your father and there are certain wishes I’d like respected.”
“Even though they work against mine?” Blake asked with a disbelieving huff. Was this conversation really happening, right here and now? He realized he finally had enough of this impossible situation. Had enough of everything. He was done with this charade. It was a mistake to come back. Even if it was something his mother wanted. He’d tried and that’s all he could do.
“It’s obvious you still think of me as that ten-year-old who left with his mother all those years ago. Well sorry to break the news to you, Dad, but I didn’t come all the way back so you could control my life. In case you haven’t noticed I’m more than old enough to make my own decisions. And you know what; I’ve decided I’ve had enough for one evening. Goodnight everyone.”
Ignoring Brittany’s dramatic, shocked gasp, Blake rose to his feet and stalked out of the hushed room.
***
Kira sat rooted to her chair, shocked by Blake’s words and finally, his exit. His conversation with his father had carried quite easily to her as it must have to half the room. Even with the music and the light chatter, anyone could see that something had gone terribly wrong.
She still couldn’t believe it; couldn’t believe how disrespectful Blake had been and she felt such shock and anger at her boss being treated so shabbily. It was obvious Blake didn’t give a damn about his father’s – or anyone else’s – feelings. And it was that anger that had her shooting to her feet.
Terrence, who’d been thoroughly enjoying the spectacle, looked up in surprise when Kira rose rapidly. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he muttered sharply, but she ignored him as she followed in the wake of Blake Carter, intent on giving him a piece of her mind.
As she disappeared from the crowded dining hall, Terrence smashed his fist in his palm in a burst of anger and frustration.
Chapter Five
“Blake Carter! Wait up; I want a word with you!”
From behind him, Blake heard Kira call angrily to him but he walked on, crossing the wide foyer and headed for the study wing of the ground floor. He’d just about reached the right turn leading to his destination when he felt her hand grab his shoulder. He let her jerk him forcefully round to face her even as he suppressed his temper.
“I said, I want to speak to you,” Kira gritted out, glaring up at him with those gorgeous brown eyes surrounded by thick, spiky lashes. He was getting used to seeing the gleam of anger blazing back at him.
He quenched a smile. “I heard you, lady. I just can’t stand to listen to another lecture right now.”
“Well, you’d better. Because I’m not backing down until I let you know what an unfeeling, disrespectful brute you are.”
Blake’s lips tightened in anger at that. “Why? Because I let him know he couldn’t push me around?”
“No. Because you displayed to the world how little respect you have for your father. Those are his most important friends and associates in there. And after he took all the trouble to put together such a nice welcome party for you. How could you be such a-”
“Jerk?” Blake put in before she could find the word to finish. “I wonder why it’s just my father’s feelings you seem so worried about. What about mine, hmm? Do you have any idea how it feels when every time I try to act civil he lets me see how much he enjoys controlling other people’s lives - and without a care for what they really want? I don’t think you understand what’s going on here, Kira,” he said dismissively.
His words seemed to calm her a little as she said with far less venom, “Oh yes I do. I don’t think you realize how much he loves you. Yes, he does try to stick his nose in sometimes. That’s how he is. You don’t know how lucky you are to have a father even remotely concerned about your welfare. Why, if I had someone like him for a father, I...” She stopped abruptly, her voice choking as tears stung her eyes.
“Oh please,” Blake said cuttingly. “Do you really think I’ll believe that all he is to you is some “father figure”? You must take me for a fool to think I can’t see that you’re his pretty little plaything on top of everything else.”
Kira’s eyes blazed with fury and she lashed out to slap him but he easily grabbed her wrist. So she raised the other one and he caught that too.
“Don’t even think about it,” Blake warned, jaw clenched. “Or you’ll realize what a jerk I really am.”
Her big, brown eyes suddenly brimmed with tears, surprising him. Her voice was filled with hurt when she finally choked out words. “How dare you! You really don’t think much of him – much less know him, if you think he’s capable of what you’re suggesting.”
Blake was staring fixedly down at her, at the tears streaming down her beautiful face. Her gaze held anger and a look of injustice. Damn; he hadn’t meant to be mean to her or make her cry. But she should have known better than try to get in the middle of this. His family had issues no one could even begin to understand. And that only made him madder.
“Oh, and you know what he’s capable of? Trust me you have no clue what it is to have a father like him,” he scorned though not harshly. “Just because you’ve known him for a few years you think that gives you the right to interfere – to judge me? Whatever’s going on between my father and I need not concern you, Ms. Taylor.” As he said this he pointedly dropped her hands.
It was either that or making a grab for her. She had no idea the thoughts raging through his mind with her this close. She
had him semi-hard each time she was near; and each time he caught a whiff of that maddening perfume of hers that was a mix of sex and woman. Hell, sex was all he could think about since he’d set eyes on her. And it didn’t help matters that she looked even hotter when she was mad, like now. When her eyes were shooting daggers at him as she tried not to rub at her wrists.
“You’re wrong, Blake,” she said firmly. “When you care about someone enough, everything about them becomes your business. Try and remember that!” And she turned angrily to march away.
“Oh I will,” Blake murmured. He wasn’t ready to have her walking away from him just yet. He took her arm in a firm grasp and twisted her back to face him again. She struggled in his grip but he was too strong for her as he stared deeply into her stormy face. “And I’ll also remember how you look with your mascara streaking down your cheeks, like some beautifully tragic heroine.”
His lips slanted in a half-taunting, half-humorous smile and he could see her confusion. Could tell she seemed distracted by his sudden change of mood, and so was totally unprepared for what happened next.
“Hmm. Now that’s got me also wondering what you’ll look like with your lipstick smudged,” Blake murmured thoughtfully, right before he grabbed her shoulders, slammed her against him and seized her lips roughly in a hard, moist kiss.
***
Time warped for a few moments as Kira tried to process what was happening. Blake...kissing her...in his father’s study. With a force and passion that stole her breath. Nothing had prepared her for the blast of heat that was like a force of nature ripping into her the moment their lips met.
She’d been so mad at him; like she’d never been at anyone, ever. Despite her put-together persona anyone who really knew her would see that it was just a front. Kira had never been the outspoken type, especially growing up with an abusive, seldom sober father putting her down about how she looked or acted. Too fat, too dumb, too everything. But now that she was grown, she’d found a way to believe in herself and reach for her goals after she’d been raised to feel she’d never amount to much. She had so many achievements to show for it, blossoming into a strong female who understood her worth and wasn’t afraid to speak up for what she believed was right.
Blake had made her see red with the things he’d said about her and his father. But even worse was the way she felt around Blake and how she loved to hate him; how she’d been so sure she liked nothing about him beyond his looks when they’d finally met. All of that flew out the window once he pulled her to his rock-solid frame and clamped his mouth over hers.
Kira was almost too shocked to react, the unexpected intimacy like a bolt of electricity in her system. Alarm gave way to amazement as Blake’s expert lips molded to hers and struck a hidden chord right inside her being.
She knew this wasn’t supposed to be happening. Apart from the fact her face must look like a horror show with all her makeup running, the last thing she’d ever foreseen was being kissed by Blake.
She ought to do something to stop him, she told herself frantically. So her hands came up to push against his formidable chest in protest. But his kiss grew all the more persistent and gentle, and ravenous, and sweet. Kira’s eyes fluttered closed and she made the biggest mistake yet; she parted her lips for his probing tongue.
She must be crazy, thought Kira. He obviously wanted to demean her in some way for talking to him so brashly. The last thing she should be doing was responding and her knees wobbled, thinking how easily she’d weakened beneath the manly crush of his lips. His burning passion.
Temptation.
Only one word for what Blake was doing to her and Kira shuddered as she willingly took her very first taste of forbidden fruit...
***
Blake groaned in harsh triumph and crushed Kira even harder against him. Her lips felt as soft and juicy as he’d imagined. His heart pounded with suppressed excitement as she helplessly opened to his ravenous onslaught.
She had a flavor like no woman he’d ever kissed before. It drove him over the edge, had him so hard and thick he throbbed where his groin was nestled against her soft, quivering belly.
She must have felt his monstrous erection because she gasped and broke from the kiss. Her eyes were glazed and confused, her sensuous mouth even more swollen and enticing. Her hands pushed against his chest and there was a delicious quiver in her voice as she protested, “Let me go.”
“Not yet,” Blake rasped, “Maybe when you sound like you really mean it.”
He leaned forward to kiss her again but she turned her face away from his descending lips. Blake merely chuckled and pressed the kiss to her neck instead, attaching his mouth to her soft neck. Damn he loved how she smelled and tasted. Loved the sweet heat of her smooth, dusky flesh. Kira shuddered harder than ever and he smiled, because he knew he’d found her weak spot. He traced his lips over the sweetly scented skin and then nibbled wickedly.
He wanted her. Desperately. Wanted her the moment he’d seen her across the room. He’d never imagined he’d get a chance to be this close to her molten sexiness and now he wasn’t about to back down, not until he was good and ready.
***
The world became a blank page and time or place no longer mattered after one touch of his scorching lips on her skin. All her grown life, Kira had wondered about how real passion could be between a man and woman who felt equal lashings of desire for each other. When neither of them could deny the flames of carnal abandon rising within their midst. Blake buried his face in her neck and she felt the wall at her back without even realizing he’d shoved her against it.
“Damn, Kira. The things I want to do to you...”
His tortured words made her inner thighs quiver and grow suspiciously moist. She felt the same powerful need surging from him and into her veins like a virus. She hated her own body for its inability to fight against Blake’s thrilling masculinity.
“I need to be inside you. So much it fucking hurts,” Blake groaned. “Touch me and feel how much you make me want to explode.”
Kira was drenched in the mesmerizing quality of his voice, but even more so by the sensation of his hand dragging hers down his front to rest over the bulge beneath his belt. Kira gasped. She felt him and he was immense. There was such latent physical energy beneath the layers of clothes to the solid steel beneath. The very thought of what waited to be unleashed made Kira whimper with helpless arousal.
“Oh my god, Blake. What are we doing...?”
He looked at her then, as if to be sure he understood correctly the surrender in her tone. Kira didn’t know what the hell she was saying. Or doing. But she could feel all resistance begin to ebb beneath her own long-deprived feminine desires; needs no other man had been able to bring to life the way Blake did so effortlessly.
Whatever he saw in her eyes gave him the answer he sought, and Kira felt him grasp her arm. “Not here,” he muttered, and then turned to the door of the study which he fumbled open.
Kira found herself being drawn into the dim room, the only lighting coming from the open curtains which chased shadows around the desk, chairs and bookcases within the room. Her sensual haze gave way to doubt as the door clicked shut behind her, but before she could turn around Blake had her drawn with her back up against his chest, his arm closing around her waist while his free hand inched up to wrap around her throat. Trapped against his rock-ready body, Kira felt her senses swim, overwhelmed by his virile dominance; the strength beneath the liquid sensuality.
Entrenched within the globes of her buttocks was the unmistakable ridge of his straining erection and he felt even harder, bigger than before. Kira gasped and arched her back, her hands lifting of their own accord to fist the silken locks at his nape.
“Are you wet for me, Kira? I’m sure as hell rock-hard for you,” Blake rasped with his lips in her ear. His hand lay flat on her belly and shifted up to squeeze hard on one breast, and then the other. His rough, hungry groping turned her on more than any tender caress could hav
e done.
His hand at her throat turned her face to the side to meet his lips crushing into hers. He kissed her as fiercely as ever but with far more purpose. Kira knew he wanted to drive her straight out of her mind and she wasn’t able to fight what came charging at her like a herd of racing bulls.
She could feel his other hand on her breasts, his fingers easily detecting one rigid nipple and pinching it hard through her clothes. Kira whimpered in part agony, part ecstasy at the boldness in his every touch. He tweaked one nipple and then the other into stiff, aching peaks while his tongue drove in and out of her mouth in a telling dance that mimicked what he wanted to be doing to her...if she only gave in to the mating call of his body for hers.
Kira was slowly losing it. Her intuition had told her Blake was a man with the potential to lead her into temptation and he began to prove her right with every second that passed.
Her back was against his chest and she couldn’t help but melt into him. She could sense that his heart beat as erratically as hers was doing and it became obvious there was no going back now. Not that she even wanted to. She felt him rock his hardness into her ass and that carnal gesture triggered a flood of heat to spread over her already soaked panties.
Just like before, he read her body language perfectly. Kira had no words to stop him when he spun her round to face him and promptly backed her into the desk until her knees buckled, forcing her to plant her ass on the edge of the desk. Blake promptly had her in a horizontal position as his body covered hers with a dominant passion.
“Oh!” Kira exclaimed. Everything was happening so fast. His lips, kissing every inch of her face and then down along her arched neck. His hands, tugging the neckline of her dress off her shoulder, her bra strap following its descent. The next thing she felt was the cool air settling on her exposed nipple right before Blake’s head swooped down and he enclosed the hard bud in the heat of his mouth.
