Devil's Gamble

by Michele Arris

  Looking at him, she smiled. “I’m feeling better already.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Holy shit!

  Gavin watched her pleasure herself with his hand, her guided strokes over her clit growing bolder, faster. She gave a long downward sweep and pushed the length of his middle finger into her pussy. Wet, warm, and so tight. He lost it. The little restraint he’d had, she’d shattered into a million tiny pieces of need.

  He came up on his knees, got in between her thighs, and made quick work of removing her panties. Staring down at her moist folds, he licked his lips, then met her taunting grin. “Woman, you’re playing with fire here, know that.”

  “Am I?” With a hint of a shrug, she parted her legs and drew her knees up, spread wide in wanton invitation. “What are you going to do about it?”

  That challenging grin of hers had him wrenching off his T-shirt. He bent and delivered a long, slow sweep of his tongue from pussy to clit, back and forth, ending with a swirl over the engorged button. Her long-awaited taste was like the sweetest ambrosia to his senses.

  Her breath hitched when he sealed his mouth on her, sucked her labia, and his tongue drew slow circles over her slick folds before spearing her deep, tasting and lapping greedily.

  Her fingers gripped his hair with rough assertion, holding him steady as she rolled her pussy on his mouth. “I want to feel you inside me,” she said, through a labored breath.

  His head jerked up. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t hurt me. I’m pretty sure it’ll be quite the opposite.”

  He came up over her and balanced his weight on his forearms. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Damn, he wanted her. The beast inside him demanded it.

  She reached into his shorts and took his cock in hand, giving it a light, yet determined stroking. “I want to feel all of you inside me.”

  His eyes squeezed shut, and he breathed in and exhaled slowly for restraint. “Shit, you’re not making this easy.”

  “Then make love to me.”

  Gavin’s gaze flashed to hers. Dark, hot, and incredibly beautiful. Love . . . that one word summed up how he felt, summed up all that she meant to him. Overwhelmed by the emotional surge it brought, he slipped out of his shorts, lowered, and settled his mouth over hers, their tongues reacquainting as he guided his penis inside her welcoming heat.

  His breathing stalled a moment in his chest as a hard shudder rushed through him. This went beyond sex. And he’d had plenty to know the difference. This was the complete uniting of body and soul. The feeling was so intense that all he could do was breathe out her name against her lips as he rode the heady sensation. Then, with careful thrusts, he took his time, moving in long, deep surges, while relishing the way her channel tightened and relaxed in chorus with his rhythm.

  Impatient hands slid down his back to his buttocks, squeezing, then back up, her nails raking over his arms, biting into his flesh, digging deep. Her eager need was killing his restraint.

  Gavin smothered her mouth with kisses as his cock throbbed and demanded more with each slow glide along the searing friction of her slick inner walls. He’d hungered for this, for her, for so long that he was on fire as waves of sensation rose within him, undermining his meager control. Each thrust became harder than the last until he was pumping in and out of her body with his head buried at the side of her neck, licking and nipping her soft, warm skin, while twisting and grinding, going balls deep into her before he cursed through a long, drenching release.

  Damn good.

  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d come that hard. He’d gone without sex since he’d met her . . . well aside from self-gratification, that is. Even that had been while fantasizing about her. That in and of itself was saying something. Fact was, no one else appealed to him.

  Her breath came out shallow, fast, and she moaned. He stiffened and drew back. Her eyes were closed, teeth clenched. “Shit!” Quickly, he lifted off her. “Sie, Sienna?” Looking her over, he raised her tank top to check her wound.

  She chuckled softly as she rubbed a hand at the welts her nails left on his arm. “That was worth every bit of pain.”

  Gavin frowned and bit out a curse. “I shouldn’t have done it. This shouldn’t have happened. What the hell is wrong with me?”

  Delicate fingers brushed back the damp hairs from his temples and at the crease between his brows. “If it’s that good in my current condition, I can only imagine how it will be when I’m fully healed and can take you the way I want.” Her hand circled his cock and easily pumped life back into it.

  The look of her contented grin allowed Gavin to relax a bit. Needing to focus, he removed her skillful hand from his shaft, reached over to the nightstand, and retrieved the pills, along with the glass of water. “Here.”

  “I don’t need it. The theory has been confirmed to be true.” She grinned.

  “Sienna.” A stern look. “Take them.”

  She resisted for a moment, then sighed. “Fine.” As she swallowed down the pills with the water, she watched him, then handed over the glass that he set on the nightstand. “You’re upset.”

  “It was selfish of me. I could’ve hurt you . . . worsened your injury.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “It won’t happen again, believe that.” He left the bed and put on his shorts. “I’ll let you rest.”

  “You can sleep in here.” Her smile was filled with invitation as her hot gaze traveled the length of him.

  “No.” I’ll want to lick every inch of you while you sleep. It came out a lot colder than intended. The passion fire in her eyes seemed to dissipate like a pilot light gradually cooling down.

  Admiring the long, luscious curves of her body stretched out with one leg slightly bent, the wetness from his seed glistening at the V of her thighs, a reminder of how good she felt and how well they fit together, his cock pulsed, wanting inside her again. So weak he was to her and so damn irresponsible. He hadn’t used a condom. “You’re not on the pill. That much, I know.”

  “I get an injection once a year.” Her gaze flickered, then she scowled. “I’m selective in the company I keep, and I’m surely not out to trap you with a kid,” she bit out.

  “That’s not . . . ” He clammed up to avoid choking himself further on that foot in his mouth, went into the bathroom, then returned with a wet washcloth.

  Before he could tend to her, she took the towel, quickly saw to the task herself, and then handed it back to him without ever looking at him. He brought the comforter over her. “I’m going to catch up on some work.”

  A coldness crept into her features. She clicked off the TV, then turned her head away from him on the pillow as she brought the blanket up to her chin, shielding herself from his admiring view. “Turn off the lamp . . . please,” she said quietly, eyes closed.

  Scooping up the glass, he clicked the switch on the lamp and left the room feeling like an ass in more ways than one. He’d turned what was special between them into something ugly. Making love to her had been a gift. He thought about that as he tidied and locked up the place, then headed to his room.

  As he slid into the empty bed, still thinking over how he’d fucked up his first time with the one woman that meant everything to him, his cell on the nightstand buzzed. There were two missed calls from Dylan and one from his father. A shudder rushed through him in expectation of what it most likely meant.

  Time to pay the Pied Piper.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The blow from his fist was sudden, sending her to her knees. Son of a bitch! Dazed, she hung on with stubborn fortitude, refusing to fold under, and swung out, clawing him across the face. A large, brutal hand gripped her throat and squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed. The barrel of his gun appeared between her eyes . . . the resounding clank of its discharge . . .

  Sienna’s eyes sprung open, her breathing hurried. She clutched the sheet in a strangled hold as her nightmare forced her to relive that horrifying m
oment over and over.

  Dim light washed over the bedroom. Her senses on alert, she frantically looked around and found Gavin seated in the chair over by the fireplace. The ceiling’s recessed light angled down upon him, haloing his blond head. Feet propped up on the ottoman and crossed at the ankles, he held an ink pen horizontally between his lips as he flipped through a stack of papers upon his lap. Forehead crinkled, he wore an expression of deep concentration as though studying an unsolvable puzzle. He’d scribble something on the pages and then return the pen between his pursed lips. Watching him, his beautiful presence quieted her racing pulse and pushed away that devastating horror.

  Following their sexcapade last week, he’d kept his distance, careful in his touch, and guarded in his side-long gazes when he thought she wasn’t looking. It had been wrong of her to tempt him the way she had, but it was so worth the outcome.

  Sienna’s eyelids drooped, and she exhaled, relieving the pressure that trapped the air in her chest, then looked over at him again, reassuring herself that he was still there. His blue eyes were locked on her.

  “Hey, sweetness, hope I didn’t wake you,” he voiced softly; the deep, smooth cadence was like a calming kiss across her senses. “Need anything?”

  “No, thanks.”

  “I thought I’d catch up on work while you slept. I’ll let you rest.” He started gathering up his papers.

  “No, stay. I like knowing you’re here.” He stared for a long moment. “Please stay.”

  “Whatever you want.”

  My protector. With a smile, she closed her eyes to the soothing tone of his low-spoken words.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sienna woke to the sound of mumbled voices. A check of the time on the nightstand, it was coming upon noon. Wow! She’d slept the entire night through and practically the morning. Damn pills. With the blackout blinds drawn, it could have been 11:51 p.m. for all she knew.

  Carefully, she sat up, brought her legs over the side of the bed, and turned on the lamp. There was a consistent ache at her side, but not nearly as severe as it had been, and her head no longer felt as though she rode a never-ending rollercoaster. Apparently, sleep was just what she’d needed.

  With deliberately slow movements, she rose, and trekked in short shuffles to the bathroom. So far, no acute dizziness. That was good.

  As she freshened up, she thought about the conversation she’d had with Gavin a couple of weeks or so ago. We don’t have to live the way they do, he’d said. He was right. Besides, who was she to judge? Her family wouldn’t win any awards in the upstanding department either.

  Thinking of how she’d pleasured herself with his long, formidable fingers and his cock’s caressing strokes along the slick walls of her clenching sex, while his tongue devoured her moans of both pleasure and pain, it had sent her spiraling off the edge in exquisite orgasmic bliss. It damn sure was worth the stab-like shards in her side that she’d endured throughout his deliciously hard rutting.

  I want to be with you . . . learn everything there is to know about you. His words had shaken her to her soul and sent what was left of her heart’s protective barrier crumbling down. She was in love with him; there was no sense in denying it. The reality of it made her smile.

  Stepping out of the bathroom and into the closet, she put on her terrycloth robe, then padded barefoot out of the room.

  • • •

  “What are you going to do?” Dax whispered and bit off a large chunk of his chili dog. “You could ignore the voicemail message, and say you lost your phone or some shit,” he muttered around his chomps.

  “That won’t fly. It’s been three days since my pop left the message, and Dylan keeps leaving messages as well. He said Pop is threatening to send someone to my door if I don’t respond. I don’t have much of a choice. Dylan’s message also said it’s a pickup; a pickup of what, he didn’t say.” Gavin filled his glass with water from the fridge’s door dispenser, then rounded the island and took a seat on the barstool. He stuck a wad of seasoned fries in his mouth and chewed, whispering, “All I know is it’s tonight, and I have to work it out somehow.”

  “Are you saying you haven’t told Sienna about the arrangement with your father?” Dax whispered.

  “No, and I don’t intend to. If she knew I was doing these assignments, she’d walk for sure, believe that,” he uttered low.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I know her. And she pretty much made it clear to me when we talked about it all.”

  “I think what you need to do—” Dax paused and looked across the room.

  Gavin’s head turned. Sienna stood at the start of the hallway. Even in her bathrobe, she caused his breath to hitch. She was a stunning beauty. It was impossible not to want her. Throw in her strength, and her bold, yet genuinely kind temperament, she was perfect . . . and a tempting treat that was out of his reach. After they’d had sex, which clearly put more of a strain on their already tenuous situation, he’d done his best to keep his distance.

  He got up and went to her. “Hey, sleepyhead. If you’re going to be up, let me get your wheelchair.”

  “I don’t want it.”

  “You don’t want it, huh?” He looked back at Dax, who was stuffing clumps of fries into his mouth. “See what I’m dealing with here.” It was said with a smile. Turning back to her, he took her hand and guided her over to a barstool. “This is my buddy, Daxton Pattarozzi.”

  Dax wiped his hands on a napkin, then shook her hand. “I go by Dax. Nice to finally meet you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, too, Dax.” She eyed the hotdog and fries. “Tell me that’s from Ben’s Chili Bowl.”

  “The one and only,” Dax said while chewing.

  “My fav.” She took a fry from Gavin’s plate and munched. “Hmm . . . the best ever.”

  “I have some chili in the drawer warmer for you, thought you might want it later for lunch. I was going to make you breakfast.” Gavin went over to the stove to heat up the skillet.

  “Breakfast? It’s past noontime. I’ll have the chili.” She ate more of Gavin’s fries.

  “Bro, she’s a woman after my own heart.” Dax grinned and stuck the remaining end of his hotdog into his mouth. “I see why you’re crazy about her,” he uttered around the mouthful.

  “Dude.” Gavin frowned and gave a sheepish glance at Sienna as he set the bowl and a spoon before her. “Do you need your pills?” Her right brow arched, looking surprised that he’d asked rather than ordered. What would be the point? She would do what she wanted anyway.

  “No, babe, I’m good. My side doesn’t ache as much, and I don’t feel the slightest bit dizzy.”

  Babe. Gavin blinked, rendered speechless for a moment. She’d never called him that before. He downplayed it, suppressing a grin. “That’s great, but don’t overdo it. You need to keep resting to heal.”

  She smiled and took his hand, entwining their fingers. “I will. I heard voices . . . thought I’d take a break from the bed and come say hello.”

  Gavin and Dax exchanged a look, both wondering just how much she’d heard.

  “We were catching up,” Gavin said. “What would you like to drink?”

  “Do you have any juice?”

  “Cranberry.”

  Her eyes brightened. “That’s actually my favorite.”

  “I’d like to take credit, but Bailey told me.”

  “It’s still sweet of you.”

  With a glance at Dax, who wore a smirk as he munched away on his fries, Gavin went to the fridge. “Ice?”

  “Yes, thanks.”

  “I stopped by to see how you were getting along,” Dax said to her.

  “I heard you and Sean Grant flew in from London and came straight to the hospital. Thank you.”

  Dax nodded with a glimpse over at Gavin, then back at her. “If ever one of us is in any kind of trouble, we come together. That now includes you and Bailey.”

  She looked at Gavin. Their stares held in a quiet understan
ding, then she turned back to Dax. “It’s appreciated.”

  They ate and chatted for about an hour. Dax shared stories about Gavin, Lucas, Sean, and himself when they were kids that had her laughing to tears. Several times her breath snatched, and she pressed a hand at her side with a look of discomfort brought on by laughter over something the man said.

  “Dax, come on, cool it. I think she’s got the picture. You’ve made it clear; we were four degenerates,” Gavin finally said so Sienna would stop laughing and wincing at every other word. He turned to her. “Hey, how would you like it if Bailey came by later? You two could hang out, catch up.” He cleared away the dishes, then went back over to her.

  “I’d love that!”

  “I’ll give you ladies the place to yourselves this evening. How’s that sound?”

  She cradled his face in her hands, pulled him in, delivered a light peck on his lips, and then drew back with eyes exceptionally warm. “That’s really sweet. You’re wonderful, you know that?”

  Damn! That around the clock sleep she’d had must have done something to her brain chemistry. She was being shockingly affectionate. “Of course I know that.” He grinned, while again doing his best not to get all lopsided jolly by her behavior. He turned to Dax. “We’ll grab a drink later? Maybe hit up Sean and Lucas to see if they’d want to join us.”

  “I’m in,” Dax said with his attention on his water bottle, his expression bland, thankfully giving nothing away.

  “I’ll go call Bailey.” Sienna rose slowly from her seat. “Dax, it was great meeting you.”

  “The pleasure was all mine. Take care.”

  Gavin walked her back to her room. She picked up her phone from the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed. “Is there anything I can get you?” He helped her out of her robe, then settled her beneath the covers.