by Raven Dark
No. I wouldn’t do that to her. I wouldn’t allow the monster inside me to turn whatever chance I had with her into something she’d hate. Anika was sweet and innocent, soft. She deserved to be treated like a princess, protected and comforted. She deserved a good man. Someone who wasn’t me.
“David.” I opened my window and leaned forward, fully prepared to order David to drive me away from here before I ruined a young woman’s life. I was going to tell him to take me to Harold Paris’s restaurant. But David turned to address me, and before he even spoke, a bus pulled up. It stopped at a corner ahead of the limo and Anika got off.
“Sir?”
I barely heard him. My attention was riveted to the woman now looking about the crowded street and spotting my limo. Anika had left that glorious auburn hair to cascade in shining waves down her back, that soft cotton pink shirt stretching across ample tits, that delectable heart-shaped ass squeezed into jeans that fit like a second skin. Jesus, she was perfection. My dick strained against my slacks, and my fingers twitched with the urge to gather all that hair up in my fist while I took my fill of her ass.
She’d showed. An absurd satisfaction filled me, triumph, as if her mere arrival signaled some kind of hope for us. I shook the feeling off with a growl. This wasn’t going to be a goddamn romance. Even if I wanted one, which I didn’t, I couldn’t put a woman in that sort of danger. As long as my father was still the head of the business—as long as he still lived—I couldn’t risk anyone thinking I was with anyone but Gala.
“Sir?”
David again. “Never mind, open the door for her.”
Anika made her way over to the limo and David gave her a nod. “Miss Anika.”
“Hi, David.” She looked around nervously. Was she apprehensive of getting into my car? A thrill raced through me as I imagined yanking her into the dark confines of the limo. I’d be lying if I said locking her in here with me for a night didn’t unleash some deeply rooted caveman instinct in me to claim the hell out of her. Jesus, what the fuck was I thinking, letting myself have this angel? I needed to get her out of my system before I wiped away whatever goodness was left in me.
“Please get in, Miss. I assure you, you’re perfectly safe.” David opened the back door for her.
I suppressed the urge to tell him not to start off this whole thing on a lie. She’d be safer with someone else, anyone other than the monster in this back seat. That thought made my fists tighten as I imagined her ending up with some nubile college boy closer to her young age, one who’d have no idea what to do with her.
She gave him a smile, visibly relaxing, and guilt pinched at me. She bent and glanced inside. When she saw me, her face turned a gorgeous shade of pink.
“Anika. You’re late.” I’d have to get her real name out of her tonight, but later. After her guard was down.
“Only five minutes.”
“Five minutes is still late.” Did she hear the promise of retribution in my voice? I couldn’t tell in the half darkness.
“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me your name now, so I can greet you properly?”
“Nope.” A smirk pulled at my lips, and it tugged harder when irritation tightened her mouth. “Get in.” I moved across the seat for her and leaned into the corner.
“And if I told you I don’t get into cars with strangers?”
“There are plenty of places around here I could take you to do what I have planned. No vehicle needed. I wanted to be gentlemanly about this and make your first time comfortable. Would you rather I didn’t bother?”
As soon as I said the words, I expected her to slam the door and leave. Maybe give my face a hearty slap, too. Part of me hoped she’d do it. If she left, I could have ended this now. If she would have walked away, her innocence, her obvious goodness, would still be intact.
Her eyes widened, but her pupils also dilated with attraction, and I watched her throat work on a swallow, the way the blush in her cheeks deepened. Instead of slamming the door, she climbed into the car with slow, deliberate purpose, keeping her eyes on me the whole time. Oh, fuck. She knew what she was doing. My dick pushed against my zipper in response.
“How romantic.” She looked sidelong at me, blue eyes like diamonds in the shadows. “So you aren’t going to try to dress this up in sappy romance, then.”
“So young and yet so cynical.” Only half registering that David had gotten into the driver’s seat and started the car moving, I traced the line of her cheek with my finger and hoped her shiver was in delight. Already I was getting the feeling this girl was innocent only in the physical sense. There was experience, a jaded look in her eyes I didn’t know if I found alluring or heartbreaking.
“Am I wrong?”
“No. You’re not. I don’t do romance. I don’t do pretense, either, but I still believe a girl deserves to be treated with class.”
“A gentlemanly bad boy. Interesting.” She grinned. “So, where are you taking me?”
“Across town. There’s a hotel there I like to use.”
“You mean a hotel you like to use for your…escapades.”
The inflection in her voice was unmistakable. It was tight, and, I thought, or maybe hoped, I heard a hint of jealousy under the disapproval. I hadn’t meant it that way, at least not consciously, but that she picked up on the underlying purpose of the hotel made me laugh.
“I was going to say, for business.”
She looked skeptically at me. “Is that what you call sex? Business?”
Damn, her tongue was razor sharp. I met her gaze and kept my voice neutral, not allowing her to control this conversation one bit. “I’m in New York on business, Anika. If you want to consider yourself part of that business, feel free, but I would rather think of you as the entertainment.”
Her brows lifted. “Wow, sir. Smooth.”
Yeah, we were evenly matched. Fuck, I liked her. Too much. I did have to wonder what made her get in this car, much less agree to what was obviously a one-night stand. Maybe it was the reserved way she dressed, or the guarded way she looked around the street before getting in, but something told me she wasn’t the type to do either one.
“Well, at least tell me what I should call you. I’m not going to spend the whole night calling you “You.”
I shrugged, picking up on yet another attempt to gain my name. “If you won’t tell me yours, I see no reason to do the same for you.”
“What…” Her face paled and tension suffused her whole body. So she was hiding something more than just her name. Regret stabbed at me that I wouldn’t be able to learn what it was she was running from.
“Relax, Anika.” I rubbed the side of her arm. “I won’t make you tell me who you really are. Anonymity suits my purposes.”
Some of the tightness visibly left her frame, and I thought I heard her let out a breath. All right, so my answer wasn’t the full truth. Anonymity suited the ‘strangers in the night’ vibe we had going here, and since I wouldn’t see her after this night, the less I knew about her, the better. Too bad my head was spinning with ways to try and find out all I could about her.
What the hell was she running from that giving her real name scared her that much? Protective need coiled in my gut. I shut it down. I couldn’t afford to feel for her.
“So, what do I call you then?”
“You seem to like calling me Sir. Let’s go with that.”
She glanced at me again and that thick hair tossed over her shoulder. “You want me to call you Sir? In bed?” She bit her lip when I nodded. “Well, you did say you would punish me if I didn’t show up. Exactly how kinky will this get?”
“No more talking for now.” I slid my hand over hers on her knee and entwined my fingers with hers. Refusing to spoil the surprise. I would go easy on her for her first time, but I didn’t do vanilla.
Her gaze fell on our linked hands and I let my thumb make slow circles on the back of her hand, soothing. Her eyes visibly took in the ring on my index finger, the red stone emblazoned
with my family crest. Half of me was disappointed when she didn’t recognize it. If she had, she would have known who I was, and the name Davros always got a reaction out of women, rarely a pleasant one. I was willing to bet she would have told David to stop the car and let her out if she knew. Again, she’d missed a chance to escape.
“I would much rather have done this differently, Anika.” I looked out my window, hating the need to protect and spoil her that rose in me.
“Differently how…Sir?” She said the word Sir a little tentatively, as if testing it out with the new meaning it had for her. The corners of my mouth turned up.
“You deserve to be treated well. Wined and dined like royalty. Pampered. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not too late to do that.”
I glanced at her and my thumb stopped stroking. “Yes it is. That’s not who I am.”
“And who are you? Sir.”
With a soft chuckle, I lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles, the lightest brush of my mouth across the skin. I wanted to savor every piece of her, everything I took. She shivered again and a small smile touched those luscious lips. “Nice try.”
“I can’t help myself.”
The limo stopped and David got out. A moment later, he opened the door for us on my side. I got out and held out my hand. Anika slipped her slender fingers into my palm and I pulled her up, unable to resist the excuse to yank her to me. She gasped, but her arms slid around my waist. Her eyes widened when I held on a heartbeat longer than necessary.
With her pressed to my frame, I could feel the surprising muscle tone in her. Her breasts were heavy and ample, and her hips and ass looked generous, but her arms and thighs had a slight tone to them. She was an odd mix of soft and hard, like one of those women who had been muscled and strong, but had let some of it go so that a layer of softness covered the strength. A change in profession perhaps? The mystery of Anika deepened and I pushed away the urge to delve into it. After tonight, it wouldn’t matter.
Anika’s smile turned embarrassed when I didn’t let her go. Obviously, she wasn’t used to the attention. “You’re staring, Sir.”
“So? I like looking at you.” I lifted a hand and pushed her curls from her face, framing it with my palm. God, I wanted to ravage those full, pouted lips right here in the busy parking lot of The Lion’s Head Hotel, where the other patrons, the waiting doorman, and David could all see. We probably looked a little ridiculous, but I didn’t care. I needed her to know who was in control.
She sighed, but it sounded like half a laugh, and her shoulders dropped in surrender.
“Come on.” I took her hand and led her to the doors. She glanced up at the front of the hotel, and her eyes widened. “You…” She lowered her voice to a hiss. “You use the Lion’s Head as a pleasure pad? It’s a thousand dollars a night.”
Her indelicacy filled me with a mix of amusement and annoyance. It hardly bothered me before when women were as direct as me about my intentions, but for some reason, it drove home the jaded, cynical state of her mindset I didn’t like. It spoke to a worldliness, an awareness of men that didn’t fit with her purity. She’d grown up too fast, seen too much, lived more than she should have for someone so young, and that made me want to protect her. To know what had made her like that.
“We can pretend it’s a seedy dive if that makes you more comfortable.” I led her through the huge, marble lobby and she stared at the opulence, taking it all in.
“Heh. No. But I do feel slightly out of place.” She gestured to her simple shirt, jeans, and scuffed shoes.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“People are staring. Oh, God, let’s get out of here.”
It was true. The doorman did a double take when he’d seen her, and the blond receptionist behind the desk actually leaned over, watching her walk at my side with a lip curling up. I shot the woman a glare, and she went back to her work, typing a little too fast.
Thankfully, no one approached me. If they had, they likely would have addressed me by name. Normally, I didn’t give a shit about the hatred and fear that followed me when people realized who I was, but I didn’t want Anika running from me before I staked my claim. I didn’t like that she had that kind of hold on me.
“Don’t pay any attention to them.” I took her elbow, tightening my hold a little when she pulled toward the door. She rolled her eyes, but followed me to the elevator. “The only man you need to impress is me, and you’ve done so. In.”
She went into the elevator and turned, dropping a mock curtsey, then leaning, overly compliant, against the back wall. “Happy, Sir?”
“I will be when you stop mouthing off.” I hit the button for the penthouse and let the doors close, penning her in with me.
“Oh, come on. You have to know how ridiculous you look walking with me. Mr. Armani Suit, with his scruff of white trash.”
“Did you just call yourself white trash, Anika?” Slowly, I closed the small space between us, watching her chest rise and fall faster with each step.
She shrugged, but wouldn’t look at me. “I just…I don’t fit with you, and you and I both know it.”
This wasn’t the first time she’d put herself down, and I liked it less this time than I had this morning. It made me want to redden her ass until she promised never to defile herself with such insults again. I slapped my hands to the wall of the elevator to either side of her head, caging her in with my arms. Her lips parted. I drew so close my lips almost touched hers. The heat of them zinged across mine and my dick twitched with the image of them wrapped around my cock. She pressed against the elevator wall, eyes huge.
“Why the fuck do you care what people think, girl?”
“I dunno. I…I thought you’d be embarrassed.”
“I would never be embarrassed to be with you.”
When she didn’t look convinced, I slid my hand under her chin and pushed it up until the back of her head touched the wall. Not hard, but enough to let her know I meant business.
“I don’t take kindly to people insulting what belongs to me, and that includes you. You are perfect. I don’t care how much money you have. Put yourself down again, and there will be consequences. Do you understand me, Anika?”
“Do I belong to you? Is that what this is?” But a smile played with her mouth, letting me know she was all for it.
“For tonight, yes.” I tightened my grip, just enough to imply force and pressed her hard against the wall. Lifting her chin enough to drive home she was trapped. She stopped, throat working. I could see the thrill in her eyes, feel it in the heat of her frame. Her nipples poked against my chest though her shirt, hard as bullets.
A nervous chuckle left her. “Holy shit.”
“No more insulting yourself. Do you understand me, girl?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Attraction, surprise and nervousness flooded from her in waves. “Yes, Sir.”
“Good girl.” The way her eyes watched my mouth, I could tell she thought, or maybe hoped, I was going to kiss her. Instead, I slowly lowered my hand from under her chin, resisting the screaming urge to plunder her mouth. “You like to be insulted? I’ll take care of that if that’s what gets you off.”
“Does that get some women off, Sir?”
“Yes.” I moved across to the side of the elevator, as far from her as possible and crossed my arms. She visibly squeezed her thighs together and I grinned.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what gets me off. I’ve never done this.”
Ah, the proclamation sent a primal fire into my blood, like a hit of heroin. I knew she was a virgin, but hearing her confess it somehow made me feel like a king. A conqueror.
“I know. Just think, this is the last night you’ll be able to say that.”
With a ding, the elevator opened and I held the door open, reaching out a hand for her. She took it with another one of those small, vulnerable smiles.
At the end of the hall, in front of my suite, I slid the ke
y card in the security lock and opened the door, but stopped. “Last chance to get away, girl.” I let one finger trace the line of those perfect ruby lips. “Run now, or live forever with what happens here.”
She licked her lips, that pink tongue darting out. Then she shook her head. When she spoke, her voice was soft, but surprisingly sure. “I’m not going anywhere. Sir.”
A mix of guilt and need hit me hard. I couldn’t help thinking I was leading this sweet young angel into a world she didn’t belong in. Later that night, I would leave her, with a note and a rose, my usual gift, having sated myself with her sweetness. Then I would have David drive me to an old man’s failing restaurant, where I would do my father’s bidding, I hoped, for the last time. A man would suffer, and she would never know. Anika would leave me, never knowing she’d given herself to a monster.
Lifting her hand, I kissed her knuckles again, a secret gratitude toward her for giving me the gift of her first time welling inside before I buried it deep. Gratitude, love, doubt, these were weaknesses, things a man like me couldn’t afford to feel. That she made me feel them, even for an instant, only underscored how critical it was that I never see her again after tonight.
“Good girl. Come here.”
“What…?”
I swept her up into my arms before she could finish and stalked into the room, delighting in the surprised whoop she gave. Then I kicked the door shut with my foot.
“Be still my heart.” She slid her arms around my neck.
“Shut up and give me your mouth.”
“Yes, Sir.” The girl in my arms, whatever her real name was, threaded her fingers through my hair and accepted my harsh kiss, groaning into my mouth. I plundered her, spearing my tongue inside and ravaging. The sweet taste of her, like cherries and innocence, nearly brought me to my knees.
In coming to this hotel room with me, she had no idea what she’d done, did she? She’d set her life down a path she would eventually come to regret.
Because in the two hundred years we’d been around, one thing has never changed about my family. No one gets involved with a Davros and comes out unscathed.
