by Raven Dark
“No, no.” He stopped, sitting up. “None for you. You lie there and take what I give you.”
I whined in desperation, but there was nothing for it but to lay down and let him have me.
“Already?” He kissed my ear. “I’m just getting started.”
Once more, he slid in and out of me. He turned on the plug so that it started vibrating. I clenched my fists and tossed my head, mad with lust. Kane just ground into me and took his pleasure.
It felt like forever before the plug shut off. “You belong to me, Anika, and my woman doesn’t lie to me. Do you understand me?”
When I didn’t respond fast enough, he grabbed the slack of the tie at the back of my head and yanked hard. I screamed, not in pain, but from the sheer riot of sensations that begged me to come.
“Do you understand me?”
I nodded, grunting my surrender.
“Good. You lie to me again, and I will whip your ass red.”
Before I could respond, he wound the tie around his fist and thrust into me a handful of times. A climax clawed at me, but he stopped in the instant before it was mine.
Next instant, he was standing beside me, that huge cock in his grip, the flogger in the other hand. He brought the flogger down, letting the fronds kiss my bared back.
With how turned on I was, the light sting felt frantically erotic. I squirmed into the pillow. Kane’s eyes hardened and I stopped. He brought the flogger across my back again. The fresh stings sent an explosion of pleasure through me.
Never had my clit throbbed so hard, my pussy burned so intensely. My nipples bunched and I shifted until they rubbed against the mattress. Every sensation only drove me wilder, yet nothing brought me that sweet release I was ready to die for.
Four more times, he flogged my back, but it felt like ten. Then he was between my legs again. Sliding in and out with long, masterful strokes. His fingers bruised my hips, he yanked on the tie like a leash, and turned the plug on and off. Then he stood and flogged me again, hard, but not too hard, never letting me build any momentum or acclimate to any one thing.
By the time he took the tie out of my mouth an eternity later, I was almost sobbing with desperation. He leaned over me, breath in my ear. “Why are you being punished, girl?”
I sniffled. “Because I lied to you.”
“Why is that bad?”
Damn it, everything in me wanted to argue, wanted to give some smart assed comment about how I didn’t deserve this torture. Perhaps in the normal world, I didn’t. But I knew far too much about Kane Davros’ world not to understand the predicament he was in. I hated that I deserved it, but I did.
“Answer me. Why is lying bad?”
“Because you can’t protect me if you don’t know everything.”
“Good girl.” His cheek rubbed against mine, the light five o’clock shadow rough and turning me on even more. “You put up walls, Anika. I get it. You think you need them to protect yourself, but you don’t. Protecting you is my job now.”
Oh, the possession in his voice. It carried just the right hint of a threat, making my muscles clench anew.
Kane grabbed the ribbons of his tie behind my head and tugged hard enough to crane my head back. His other hand had my throat, and his cock stabbed into me, molten fire.
“In six months, you do whatever the fuck you want,” he snarled in my ear,” but until then, everything you are, every thought, every truth, your every pleasure, hell, your every fucking breath, is mine, you get me?”
All I could do was let out a shaky moan of ascent. He grunted and started pounding me savagely. The edge was there, careening toward me, and for a moment I thought he was going to let me have it. Nope. He stopped an instant before I crested. I screamed.
It must have been an hour that rolled past, and the torture never let up. He alternated between hammering my ass, flogging me to near exploding, letting the plug do its work, and fucking my mouth.
Only when I was half crazed with need, and nothing he did could keep me from trying to fuck everything he touched me with, did he finally stop. Yet another orgasm slid out of my grasp, the rapture ebbing away like water from a wrung-out sponge.
“Come here. Open your mouth.”
I blinked up at him in front of me. When had he ended up there? I let him lift my head and take his tie out of my mouth. He barely had it out before he shoved his still steel-like cock in and grabbed the back of my head.
Without the strength or will to resist him, I opened for him and angled my head for his taking. The taste and scent of my own musk mixed with his making my head swim.
“Good girl. Get me off.” He jacked himself off with my mouth. I didn’t miss the insinuation in his words. He’d spent the night torturing me, refusing to let me take my pleasure, and now he was making me finish him. I had to force myself not to fuck the pillows, and instead let him savage my mouth.
As usual, he ended not by shooting down my throat or coming inside my pussy. No, this was punishment, so I got what I always got when he came after he gave me my due. Head back, tongue out, while he pumped his come onto my tongue, the flavor of him both humiliatingly intense, and erotically male.
How he could make me love that and hate it at the same time, I’d never know.
Wiping off my mouth for me, he came around to the side of the bed and pulled out the butt plug. The bolts of pleasure pain that zinged along my passage heightened my unmet need. So now he’d uncuff me and force me to accept it as he “cared for me,” holding me close like the perfect lover. Right?
Wrong.
Kane left me cuffed exactly as I was, and lay out on the bed beside me. Still dressed like the billion-dollar gentleman, but stroking his half hard cock while I lay beside him, chained, ass still bared, clothes torn half off. He looked so relaxed, so sated. Damn him!
“That was nice.” He sighed, head back against the bars like a man having finished a satisfying meal. At my raised brow, he smirked, running his hand lightly over my ass. “Such a good girl when you aren’t mouthing off.”
“You’re going to leave me like this?” I held up my wrists.
“Sure. What, now you want to be held?”
“You’re a fucking bastard.”
“And?” Then he became serious and turned on his side. With one hand propping up his head, he let the other make circles on my back. I put my head down, enjoying his touch far more than I wanted to admit.
“You know why I did this, right? Punished you?”
“Yes.” I sighed. “I know.”
“Good.” He dropped a kiss on my shoulder. “No getting off, remember.” His tongue licked my bare skin. “You touch yourself without my say so, and we’ll do this again, only I will whip you first. Understand?”
Furious need raced through every pour, but I didn’t dare contest him. “Yes, Master Kane.”
“I like it when you call me that.” He got up and unshackled me, taking off the spreader bar.
Once I was free, I rolled over, rubbing my slightly chafed wrists. Hell, even the red marks left by the shackles would serve as a reminder of his ownership.
Kane stood at the foot end of the bed, doing up his pants, straightening his clothes. Already, his expression had lost all sign of tenderness, his shoulders tense. Crap, there he was. Mister—or should I say, Master—Ice.
Lying there with my panties to my knees and my skirt up, shirt and blazer torn, that Mafia coldness sent shame coursing into me like a shot of hot poison. Suddenly I hated myself for always having brushed off his embrace after he tortured me like this.
“So now what?” I yanked his tie from around my neck and tossed it aside. “You’re going to just leave me like this until dinner?”
His face remained like stone. “Have a shower and get dressed. Dinner’ll be in half an hour.” He touched the dress he’d picked out for me, a silent reminder he expected me to dress how he wished.
I sighed my acceptance and lay back on the bed, not looking at him. Waiting for him to leave.
But he wasn’t about to let me distance myself like that. Only he had that right. Kane stalked to me and grabbed my chin. His mouth crushed mine, owning it.
Then, before I could say anything or process what he’d done, he turned and stalked out of the room, leaving me staring after him.
Fuck, he so completely had me. Mind, body, and fucking soul, cold or hot as fire, I was his. My man could teach a glacier lessons in cold, but like it or not, that’s what I needed now. Only the most ruthless of men would be able to keep me and my father alive.
8
It’s not as though I expected dinner to be a sweet, romantic affair. I didn’t, not with Kane being so remote with me. Still, I hadn’t expected him to be quite as glacial as he was.
I wouldn’t have admitted it to him, but that slinky little dress, as it turns out, seemed made exactly for me. It looked so small I figured it was no more than a size three, but the material was this stretchy kind that somehow accommodated my generous ass and the slope of my hips, my breasts. It even controlled my stomach, making the bump seem less. Off the shoulders with a scooping neck, it was both simple and elegant. Min, again, I guessed, but for all the trouble Kane went through to get me into the dress, he said nothing of it when he saw me. I swallowed my pride, refusing to beg him to notice.
We sat at a table too big for two people, with almost six feet of distance between us. Candles burned at each end, and red roses offered a fragrant centerpiece, yet the atmosphere couldn’t have been more tense. Kane said nothing to me the whole time, except when I pressed, and even then, he gave me one word answers. Finally, during the cherry cheese cake dessert, I’d had enough. I set my fork down.
“Kane.”
He didn’t look at me, jaw working. “Anika.”
I heaved a sigh. “Tell me what happened with Franks.”
He did look at me then, but his eyes were hard. “You need to stop giving me orders. You ask for what you want, and if I deem it necessary, you’ll get it. And I told you, it’s none of your business.”
Tightness formed in my chest, warning me against further argument. I pressed on. I wouldn’t let him push me around, not when it came to my father. “Except it is my business.”
His fork clattered to his plate. “It is not. I will not keep discussing death and murder with you at every turn. Just eat.”
I swallowed. “Franks…he’s dead?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it.” We wouldn’t be finding out who this woman trying to kill my father was from him. “Did you kill him?”
He didn’t miss the accusation in my tone, because his nostrils flared. “And if I did?” His voice was a dark, lethal growl.
“Well, common sense would dictate you get the information on who ordered the hit before you take out the hitman.”
“For your information, girl,” Kane stood up, setting his napkin down slowly. “No, I didn’t kill him. Whoever hired him did. Since the killer was still there, he then tried to kill me, and David.”
I stared. The levity of my assumptions bit at me hard, and I dropped my shoulders. “Kane, I’m sorry. I didn’t–”
“See, when he tried to kill us…” His eyes glinted with a malicious light as he prowled toward me. “…we managed to neutralize him. Then we tried to get him to tell us who this bitch is that hired him. I was about to cut off his finger.”
“Kane, don’t.”
“Then, do you know what happened? He killed himself. Swallowed a pill. He killed himself rather than tell me who hired him.” He stopped in front of me. “Are you happy now? Is this good dinner talk?”
“No. Okay, look, I get it. I have to learn not to shoot my mouth off.”
“Get up.”
The iciness in him cut at me, slashing deep. I rose to my feet, though, because I understood. I’d implied he killed at every turn just because he was connected to the mob. I stood up and bowed my head, submissive.
“Tell me why you shot your mouth off, Anika.”
“I…you were being so distant. You talk of walls, but you’re the one always putting them up between us. I wanted…” Fuck it killed me to admit what I needed, but we’d never make progress if I didn’t learn to stop putting up walls of my own. “I wanted you to talk to me. It seems like the harder I lo…the harder I try to be close to you, the more you push me away.”
He didn’t seem to notice what I’d almost said. Damn it, that was close. “And you wanted to solve the problem by talking about a hit?”
“Yes, because it was something I have to know. Kane, it doesn’t matter how far you push me away, or how much you try to hurt me.” I looked into his eyes, making myself finish the hardest words I’d ever said. “No matter what you do, I’m not going anywhere until the contract ends. You need me. I will be here, what you need, until you won’t let me be here anymore.”
Kane’s brows flew down. He looked at me as if I’d spoken another language he didn’t understand. Slowly, he closed his hands around my arms. “You should not have said that. You aren’t supposed to care about me, Anika. It’s too dangerous.”
“Yeah, well, it’s too late for that. You need someone, and whether you like it or not, that someone is me. When you don’t need me anymore, I’ll be gone, but not before. If you want to punish me for that, fine, go ahead, but it doesn’t change anything.”
He reached for my cheek, then opened his mouth as if to say something, but he didn’t get the chance. Hs phone buzzed inside his blazer pocket and he growled, pulling it out. “What.”
Whomever it was on the other end of the call spoke and then Kane hung up. Urgency hammered off him. “We have to go.”
“What’s happened? Is it my dad?”
He nodded and led me across the house to the doors. “Dr. Peters says your father’s awake.”
Relief washed over me and I hurried with him across the house to the front doors. Barely there, I yanked on my shoes, then grabbed my purse. Kane led me to a red Ferrari in the middle of a row of shining luxury and sports cars.
“Wow.” I looked around. “Where’s David? No limo?”
“No. David gets every Sunday night off. Technically, he gets two days off, but he only ever takes the one.” Kane opened my door and helped me in.
He tore up the roads like a race car driver, throwing down the hammer and whipping around the sharp turns on the mountain, all the way up to Big Bear as if he had a death wish.
“Holy shit, why so fast?” I put my hand to my stomach.
“The doctor said he came out of the coma, but he may not be awake for long. The swelling on his brain is still critical.”
“So we may not have much time.” I let out a shaky breath. “Can we step on it?”
Kane grabbed my hand and gunned the gas.
* * * * *
It was just after one in the morning when we reached Lakewood. We raced up to my dad’s floor and found Dr. Peters.
“Mr. Davros, Miss Montrose?”
Confusion bloomed in me. He obviously wasn’t expecting us. “Doctor, is my dad still awake?”
“Miss Montrose, I’m sorry, there must be some mistake.”
“What?” Kane growled. “Your assistant called me, telling me Montrose is awake.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m terribly sorry, sir. My assistant must have gotten things mixed up. Mr. Montrose is still unconscious, and there’s been no change.”
When the doctor left, we got back into the elevator. I leaned on the back wall of the elevator and ran my hand down my face, quashing down the sadness that tried to crush me. “Fuck.”
Kane took my shoulders, massaging them. “What do you need me to do?” His voice was tender.
I sighed. “You wouldn’t think a place like this could make mistakes like that, but I guess they do. I’ll be fine, Kane. Let’s just go home.”
“You aren’t fine, Anika. Don’t shut me out.” He marched over to the elevator pad, jabbing the stop button.
“Kane, don’t. Not here, this is a medical f
acility, there are people that need to use this–”
“I don’t give a shit.” He crossed his arms, towering over me. Refusing to let me retreat into my hard, protective shell. “Talk to me.”
God, everything in me wanted to just lose myself in his dominance, to disappear into a world where my father wasn’t dying, the Gavinis weren’t after me, and there wasn’t some mystery woman trying to kill my family. Where there was only he and I, and I was his. Except I couldn’t make myself bare my soul to him that way, and I didn’t even know why.
“Kane, I am fine, just take me home.”
“Fuck that.” He shoved me against the wall with a thump, and the next instant, his mouth was on mine.
My purse dropped to the floor with a soft thump. I whimpered against the kiss, half surprise, half irritation. He couldn’t just let me close off. No, instead, he crushed me to the wall with his incredible frame, pressing in on me everywhere. Kissing me, lips bruising, tongue bullying mine until he became the whole of my universe. I clawed at him, but was I trying to get him away from me, or bring him closer? I didn’t know. After the punishment he’d delivered earlier, and then forbidding me release, my need seared me in its intensity.
Grabbing at his blazer, his silk shirt, I raked my hands down his chest. Tears pricked at my eyes, the fear of losing my father choking me, and I sobbed into his mouth.
When he pulled away, he looked down at me for a moment, his brows knitted together in confusion. Then he must have realized I wasn’t crying because of him, because he took my chin, turning my face up, and bent to capture my lips with his.
“Kane…” I tried to pull away, not because I didn’t want him, but because I didn’t want to open myself to him.
“Stop trying to be tough, Anika. You don’t have to be strong all the time.”
“Yes, I do,” I whispered. “I want to be what you need.”
“You already are. You’re perfect, and you damn well know it.”
I stared at him. Hearing that from him, that I was all that he needed, made my throat constrict. Mixed up with fear of losing my dad, it felt like my heart was going to explode.
