by Julia Sykes
“You’re mine, Shay,” he ground out. “Mine.”
“Yes,” she moaned, arching up into him.
“Say it,” he growled.
“I’m yours, Lucas. I’m yours, Sir.” She used the honorific automatically.
They might be equals, but she still desired to defer to him sexually. Pleasure wracked him at the words as he realized that she truly was perfect for him in every way. He could feel her own pleasure mounting as her pussy squeezed his cock. He knew she was waiting for his permission, and the thought filled him with passion deeper than he had ever known, pushing him over the edge.
“Come with me, sub,” he commanded.
She obeyed with alacrity, crying out as she let herself go. The sensation of her core contracting around him heightened his own release, and he threw his head back and howled as he came. It was one of the most intense orgasms of his life. It seemed to go on and on, pumping bliss throughout his entire body.
Even after they both came down, they held one another, glorying in the sweet ecstasy of each other’s touch. Both of them were gasping for breath, but that didn’t stop their lips from meeting once again. Lucas kissed her voraciously, reinforcing his claim over her. She sighed up into him, sweetly submitting, ceding to his power over her.
Jonathan had awoken in the hospital to a throbbing head. It felt as though someone had hit his face with a sledgehammer. The last thing he remembered was the delicious rush as he had prepared to take Shay.
The idea of having her when she was unwilling was a greater pleasure than he had ever experienced with any submissive. There were no safe words for her, no easy out; he had been in total control of her, her life in his hands. He had planned to choke the life out of her, to see the light leave her eyes as he fucked her.
But Lucas had ruined that. And now he was the one who was handcuffed, restrained to the rails of his hospital bed. Fury washed over him, and his fingers curled to fists. In the last few hours, he had been wracked by more intense emotions than he could ever recall. It was a double-edged sword of ire and pleasure.
Now it was the anger that ruled him.
Lucas had taken everything from him. But Jonathan wasn’t going to allow him to get away with it. And Shay wouldn’t escape his wrath, either. He hadn’t spent the last ten years becoming one of the most powerful men in the world for nothing, and over those years, he had discovered that there was nothing his money couldn’t buy.
So far, he had bought the two cops who guarded his room at night, one of the orderlies who checked on him during the night shift, and a pilot who would take him out of the country.
And he had accomplished all of this within thirty-six hours of waking up. Despite the return of the monster within him, he was still skilled in manipulation.
One of the cops poked his head into the room. He nodded at Jonathan conspiratorially and ushered the orderly through the door. The other policeman unlocked Jonathan’s cuffs, and the orderly helped him into a wheelchair.
His pride told him he could have stood on his own, but he needed this to look right.
As the man wheeled him out of the room, the two cops flanked him in an official manner. Jonathan couldn’t deny the tension that filled him as they made their way through the corridors and out to the waiting ambulance.
But they made it without incident, and the orderly helped him into the back before shutting the doors and heading for the driver’s seat. Jonathan heard the sirens blare to life, and they began to move. They would be at Charlotte Douglass International Airport in a few minutes.
He had an old flame in France, and he was sure she would welcome him in with open arms. He always had been able to win his way into the hearts of women, even before he had earned his billions. Once he was safely out of the US, he would watch and wait, biding his time until he could get his revenge.
The End
Torn
Caught between the Billionaires
Book 4: Consequences
Chapter 1
Jonathan flashed Cecelia a broad grin, imbuing it with a predatory edge that he knew would awaken the desire within her.
It wasn’t too difficult a role for him to play. The petite brunette was gorgeous, after all, with striking blue eyes and full, red lips. Her high cheekbones were accentuated by her hollow cheeks. Jonathan found her slenderness immensely appealing after Shay’s curves. He liked thin women; they felt all the more breakable.
He had been staying with the Frenchwoman in her rural chateau for a month now, slowly pulling her under his influence. He knew that soon she would do anything for him. She was clearly already infatuated, and she had readily welcomed him into her home.
They had spent a passionate week together in Cannes a year before, and it was obvious that she still carried a flame for him. She was perfect for his needs: rich, malleable, and desperate for him.
Jonathan was unable to touch his own money without giving away his location, so he had been relying on her hospitality. That rankled a bit, but his influence over her had grown so that her funds were virtually his own. And now he was so close…
She was already on his side. He had told her that Lucas had cooked up lies against him to steal Shay away for himself. He feigned heartbreak at the loss.
Now, he was preparing to make his move against them. Very soon Cecelia would be so thoroughly under his control that she would consent to anything, even helping him kill Lucas.
But he couldn’t tell her about his plans for Shay. He still had to pretend that he harbored feelings for her. And Cecelia’s jealousy of that fact only served to make her even more anxious to win him over, to please him. After he fucked her tonight, he was going to broach the subject. He would feel out just how deep her loyalty ran.
And so he set about the task of seducing her, prowling across her spacious bedroom as he slowly approached her. He watched with satisfaction as lust immediately flared to life in her eyes, accompanied by a look of almost slavish devotion.
When he reached her, he tangled his hands in her long, wavy hair, wrenching her head back so that he could roughly take her mouth. He held her there for a few moments until he felt her melt in his grasp, her knees literally going weak as she began to tremble in need.
His hand moved from her hair to her throat, shoving her back so that she fell onto the bed behind her. He was on her in an instant, gripping her wrists together, pinning them above her head. He wrapped his other hand around her delicate neck once again, applying pressure, restricting her airflow.
It took effort to restrain himself from pressing harder, from cutting off her breathing entirely. Now that he had a taste of what it felt like to squeeze the life from a woman, he wanted more of that heady power.
Instead, he contented himself with envisioning Shay in his grip, her crystalline green eyes silently pleading with him to stop. He grew hard at the thought. Cecelia moaned as he thrust into her, taking her roughly. Yes, she would soon be his.
Shay tried to force back the worry that had been constantly hovering at the edges of her mind for the past month. Jonathan had somehow escaped and disappeared without a trace. He could be anywhere, could be watching them even now. She hadn’t had a full night’s sleep since learning that he had gotten away. She was awakened by nightmares every night, living through his attack again and again.
The worst were when she actually died in the dream. That had never happened to her before. Sure, she had experienced the classic nightmares of falling off a cliff in her lifetime, but she had always awoken before she hit the ground.
This was different. She could feel the life leaving her as she struggled for breath, Jonathan’s strong hand squeezing her throat.
And then… nothing. Nothing except the knowledge that she was dead, that she would never see Lucas again.
When Lucas awoke her from these dreams, her face was wet with tears, and she clung to him, shaking. At his insistence, she had spent every night with him since Jonathan had attacked her. It hadn’t taken much convincing for h
er to comply.
It was nighttime in London, Shay’s least favorite time of day. Nighttime meant darkness and disturbing dreams that she couldn’t escape. Even in Lucas’ flat, which had the best security system money could buy, she didn’t feel entirely safe.
His gentle fingers were under her chin, lifting her face to his. Meeting his gorgeous green eyes brought her back to reality; his presence was the only thing that could allay her fears.
“Come back to me, Shay.” He spoke softly, but it was an order. She couldn’t help complying.
Obedience to his will had become almost second nature in the time that they had spent together. Shay reveled in it.
During the day, she focused hard on her work, diligently overseeing the construction of Augustan Technologies’ new Charlotte headquarters. When they worked together, Lucas was nothing but professional towards her. It was clear that she had earned his respect, his trust, and they were developing a healthy, normal relationship.
Well, normal aside from the fact that when they were alone he was the one in charge. He could turn the tables on her at any time on a whim. And she loved it. The complete release from the responsibilities that weighed so heavily on her was incredibly freeing.
But Lucas could tell how worn down she was getting. Between work and sleepless nights, she was constantly on the edge of exhaustion. He had ordered that she take a week off, leaving the building project in her boss’ capable hands while he whisked her off to his home in London.
“Now sub,” Lucas continued, pulling her back into the moment as he shifted into his Dominant mode. “I feel like I haven’t been doing my job lately. It’s my responsibility to take care of you, and your worrying is making that incredibly difficult.”
He was speaking to her reprovingly, but he paused to plant a gentle, sweet kiss on her forehead, as though he could drive the worry from her mind with the touch of his lips.
He almost succeeded.
“I’m going to fuck you into exhaustion tonight. I guarantee you won’t even have the energy to dream. Understand?”
Something quivered pleasurably in Shay’s belly at his crass words, and she nodded shakily. He stroked a hand through her dark red hair.
“That’s a good girl,” he praised. But his expression was business-like. “Now strip,” he commanded.
She did as he bade her immediately, shrugging out of her blouse and unbuttoning her jeans. Within seconds, she was fully exposed, but Lucas didn’t bother watching her undress. He took her compliance for granted, confident that she would obey.
Instead of monitoring her, he went to his chest of drawers and rummaged around for a moment. When he turned back to her, he was holding a length of rope. She could detect the earthy smell of hemp, and the now-familiar scent made her sex come to life. She loved when he tied her up, leaving her helpless to resist him.
“Arms out,” he ordered.
Shay meekly offered her wrists to him. He put a loop in the rope and then slipped it over her hands before tying it, tightly enough that she couldn’t escape, but not so that it would restrict her blood flow.
When he was satisfied that she was secured, he tugged on the length of rope in his hands, pulling her forward abruptly. She stumbled slightly as he walked her to the foot of the four-poster bed, making her face the headboard. He then threw the end of the rope over the wooden canopy, pulling on the end of it so that her arms were forced upward. When she was up on her tiptoes, he tied it off, keeping her suspended there. The world winked out of existence as he slipped a blindfold over her eyes, tying it securely at the back of her head.
He didn’t touch her for what seemed an eternity, and her skin began to tingle with the need for contact, her nerve endings dancing to life as she felt nothing but the coolness of the air on her bare skin.
She jumped when something rough snaked around her torso, lightly scratching the skin just under her breasts. She recognized the feeling: more rope.
Lucas pulled it taut around her back so that it was tight on her chest. He then wrapped it around her front again, passing it over her breasts this time.
Her pussy swelled in response to the delicious feeling of the rough length of it encircling her. She felt him passing the rope through itself in a complicated pattern, looping it around the back of her neck before drawing it back down between her breasts. The slow and methodical way in which he bound her made her clit throb almost painfully, and her nipples tightened to hard peaks.
Before he tied it off, he gave the rope one last tug, tightening it further. Shay gasped. She could almost feel it redirecting her blood flow, making the skin around her breasts tingle delightfully.
He let go of the rope, leaving her bereft of his touch once more. She whined in need, and was rewarded by a hard thwack across her ass. The blow left a long, thin line of fire across both her cheeks, and she recognized the sting of the cane.
“So impatient,” he murmured in her ear.
He began to tap the hard length of the cane across her ass and down her thighs. The light impact made sparks fill her body. They crackled beneath her skin, stoking her desire. She moaned and thrust her ass towards the cane, craving more.
“Is someone trying to take control?” Lucas asked softly.
Shay immediately shook her head, denying the truth.
“Hmmm. And now you’re lying to me, sub. We can’t have that now, can we?”
Shay’s head bowed as she realized that a punishment was coming. It seemed she hadn’t yet learned how to restrain herself when he teased her.
“I want you to count the strokes out loud,” he commanded.
She nodded compliantly, her throat too dry to speak.
The first blow fell across her ass, and although she was expecting it, she couldn’t hold back her cry of shock. But she didn’t forget to count.
“One,” she said firmly, struggling to keep her tone controlled.
The cane came down again, harder this time. “Two.”
The strokes increased in intensity, and it became more and more difficult to maintain an even tone. Deprived of her sight, there was only the smell of the hemp and the pain, honing her focus on the physical sensations she was experiencing.
Something curious was happening: although the hits stung fiercely, each strike sent little stars shooting behind her closed eyelids. They crackled through her mind, making her feel light-headed.
Soon, she was crying out the numbers in abandon as she lost all control. “Nine!”
Then the tenth blow fell across her thigh. A supernova exploded across her darkened vision, and she gasped as it sent her rocketing into the sky, her body becoming weightless. She was tingling all over as she floated upward, higher and higher. There was no thought, no worries, only pure bliss. And Lucas’ voice at her ear, coming to her as though through a long tunnel.
“What number was that, sub?” He asked, his hard tone demanding an answer.
What? She struggled to gather her thoughts. Was she supposed to be doing something?
Oh, yes. Counting.
Only, she couldn’t remember where she had left off. And to be honest, thinking was far too difficult.
“I… I don’t know,” she finally admitted, giving up.
There was a low chuckle at her ear, and then she was vaguely aware of her wrists being released, of strong hands around her shoulders, guiding her down so that she was bent over the bed.
A delighted moan escaped her when her breasts touched the bed. They had been made hyper-sensitive by the bonds that held them tightly.
Her moan turned to a shocked cry as she was impaled by Lucas’ hard cock. It slid easily into her wet folds. Unknowing and uncaring whether or not he had given her permission, she came immediately, riding on the waves of ecstasy that were crashing over her.
He continued to fuck her hard, as he had promised. With each thrust, her sensitive nipples rubbed against the bed, the overwhelming sensations sending her spiraling further and further down. She surrendered to the heady pleasure.
The waves crested again, and she felt herself come around Lucas’ cock as he reached his own completion. She was barely aware of what was happening outside of her own body. She was floating in an ocean of bliss, and she let herself drown in it, breathing it in. She fell into warm darkness.
That night, she did not dream.
Chapter 2
For the first time in a month, Shay awoke feeling well-rested and refreshed. Lucas’ hard body pressed against her back, and she kept her eyes closed, enjoying the comforting contact.
Casting her mind back to the night before, she realized that she couldn’t recall how she had gotten into bed. Her last memories were hazy, and she remembered only the incredible high that she had been riding as Lucas had fucked her, how pain had somehow turned to sweetest pleasure.
Lucas shifted behind her. “Good morning, sub,” he whispered, realizing that she was awake.
She turned into him, smiling languorously. She rested her head on his arm, draping her own around him and hugging him to her tightly.
“Good morning, Sir,” she replied, blinking the last cobwebs of sleep from her eyes.
He grinned at her, and she automatically returned his easy smile. Things were so different between them now. At times, a shadow of pain and guilt still entered his eyes as he thought of his wife, but that happened less and less the more time they spent together. Even as they were healing the damage Jonathan had caused to their relationship, she was healing the wounds he had carried with him since Sandra had died.
Now his eyes were clear, the lines of his face relaxed with contentment.
“Enjoy ourselves last night, did we?” He asked rhetorically.
Shay blushed and ducked her head, snuggling into his chest to avoid his eyes. She had immensely enjoyed what she had experienced, but she couldn’t help being a bit embarrassed at how thoroughly he had manipulated her body and mind.
