by Chloe Harris
The older woman’s eyes narrowed and she hitched herself up, hands on her hips. “Watch your tongue. I won’t have you insult anyone’s professional integrity here, or how I run my business.”
Another movement caught his eyes. Jaidyn had left the young man Connor was going to beat into a pulp any moment now, and was sauntering toward him, one proud eyebrow higher than the other. “Oh, look what the cat dragged in. What are you doing here?”
“I could ask the same of you,” Connor drawled, meeting Jaidyn’s hard stare straight on.
“Miss Donnelly? Auntie Polly?” The young man showed guts to interfere, Connor had to grant him that.
“Winston, that’s none of your business,” Madame Poivre mumbled in a calming voice.
Connor now noticed the man had some nasty bruises along the left side of his face. It didn’t take much to put two and two together. Madame Poivre had told Connor about a young buccaneer, nephew to a certain Auntie Polly, and he’d already suspected then she’d been talking about herself.
Ignoring the women shielding the young man, Connor’s lips twitched into a vicious grin full of teeth. “And you’d be who? Black Eye Winston, the hangman’s next meal?”
At that insult, Winston was about to rush toward Connor, but sadly he was held back by both women.
Madame Poivre murmured, “Perhaps it’s better you leave.”
Jaidyn gave Winston an encouraging nod as she patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t forget what we talked about.”
Winston’s face, distorted in outrage a second before, now softened to an imbecile’s vacant expression. “Never, Miss Donnelly.”
Connor was sure Winston was going to start salivating any moment, so he was resolved to not only break Winston’s nose. Before he was through with him, Connor would castrate him as well.
With a last cunning look at Connor that said “this isn’t over yet,” Winston gave a curt bow. Then he left the room through a hidden door at the rear.
“Captain O’Driscoll, I will not tolerate such brutish behavior here.” Madame Poivre crossed her arms on her ample chest.
Connor’s head turned from the door through which that bugger Winston had left toward the Madame until the full impact of his scowl settled on her.
“Squeamish, Auntie Polly?” Connor sneered.
Madame Poivre’s face turned a deep crimson. She narrowed her eyes at him and puffed in agitation. “Preposterous! I must ask you to leave.”
Connor ignored her. “I do believe we had a certain business arrangement that I blindly trusted you to keep.”
“Of course we did. And no one has touched her ever since.”
“Yes? But what about her touching others?” Connor’s vision dimmed with the bloodred rage coursing through his veins.
“Yes?” Jaidyn spoke up. “What about it?”
That drew Connor’s attention away from Madame Poivre and his glare focused solely on Jaidyn. His patience was taut and, Connor was certain, it would snap soon.
“Well.” His voice was low, the words pressed out from between clenched teeth. “If you’re into it so much now, and as I do believe I’ve paid them all, I will have my share now too.”
Stepping up to him until their noses almost touched, Jaidyn gave another snort. “If you think that I’d disappear into a room with you once more, think again.” Her smoky voice was low and dripping anger. Connor felt himself harden like a randy stud.
“I’d pay handsomely.”
“Oh? Well, that changes everything, of course.” Jaidyn sniffed, shaking her head.
Connor gave her a devious smile. “Spoken like a true harlot.”
One dark green eye narrowed considerably at him, and that was when Connor knew he couldn’t wait much longer, knew what he’d do to her to punish her for her willfulness, knew he had to have her–now. Reaching for one of her wrists, he tugged her behind him, and recalcitrant, she scuttled along.
In no time at all they were upstairs with Connor trying various doors to see which room was available. When he finally found one empty and gaily waiting for customers with candles lit all over the place, he entered with Jaidyn in tow, closing and locking the door behind him.
Jaidyn turned and they both glared at each other again. Her cheeks were flushed in anger, her eyes narrowed, spitting hateful daggers at him. Her mouth was pressed into a fine, pale line.
Connor would have swallowed hard, only his mouth had become as dry as sandpaper at the breathtaking sight. God, she was beautiful. He could see the rage simmering right beneath her skin. When he saw her hands ball into fists by her side, he knew she itched to scratch his eyes out.
Oh, their lovemaking would be fantastic. Hard, sweaty, dirty, just the way he liked it. She’d rake her claws down his back until she drew blood. He’d fuck her even harder for it, stuff her with his cock until she never wanted nor thought of anybody else again.
Someone was banging on the door from outside, wrenching him from his reverie. Connor realized it was Madame Poivre, screaming at the top of her lungs. “I won’t let you do this. Leave at once!”
Without breaking eye contact with him, Jaidyn answered her. “Not to worry, Madame Poivre. He won’t enjoy this. Actually, I believe he’ll never frequent this place again. After this night he won’t be able to use the sad scraps of what is going to remain of his manly parts.”
The banging stopped all of a sudden. Connor thought he heard Madame Poivre’s unexpected snicker turn into a fullblown laugh as she left them.
Tilting his head, Connor felt a smile flick over his face. “Those are your plans, then?”
Jaidyn thrust her chin up in defiance, her scowl spitting poisoned daggers.
“Maybe I should tie you to the bed, then.”
She licked her pouty lips and gave him another of those deliciously arrogant glares, her eyes sparkling like emeralds in the sun. “We both know you’d like that too much, Captain O’Driscoll.”
She spat out the title. So she’d reverted to cool distance as she’d probably been taught all her life? That was fine with him. But Connor didn’t miss the breathy undertone either. No doubt she enjoyed their butting heads as much as he did.
“True.” He stated the obvious without remorse, turning to shed his frock and loosen his necktie. “Why don’t you get rid of your dress and make yourself comfortable on the bed on all fours?”
Jaidyn didn’t move. Of course she didn’t. He could bloody well go to hell; she wouldn’t move one finger for him even if he begged her on his knees. This farce was over. Chin up and shoulders proudly square, she stomped around him toward the door.
Captain O’Driscoll gripped her upper arm tightly, wrenching her around to meet his glare. Her breath rushed out as her back connected with the door.
“Take your hands off me,” she hissed.
“No. Do what I say.”
Just as another slight was about to tumble from her lips, she caught a teasing glimpse of his immaculately defined torso through his halfway open shirt. That instant she remembered what his suntanned skin felt like, the hard muscle underneath … The memory became more vivid as he stepped even closer and his musky rose scent flooded her senses.
Jaidyn reeled in her wayward thoughts. That kind of thinking only led to trouble, and she was through with Captain O’Driscoll’s kind of trouble. “Now, why would I do that?”
His teeth were clenched. The muscles in his jaw jumped with fury.
Good. Apparently it hadn’t occurred to the conceited bastard that she might protest.
He inhaled deeply, probably to calm himself. Unexpectedly, a toothy grin spread over his infuriatingly handsome features. “Because, my darling, you want to do it just as much as I want you to.”
His eyes bored into her. Her selfish body reacted to his hot and demanding stare. It wasn’t going to work. Not this time. “I don’t want you!”
She tried to break free and he only held her tighter. Howling with frustration, she pummeled his shoulders. “Why in Hades did you come ba
ck here?”
“That is my business.” He stepped closer, pinning her wrists to the door and crushing his body to hers. He was hard and ready. Her knees threatened to give out.
“All that matters is that I’m here …” The tip of his nose almost touched hers. “And I will not leave until I get what I want.” His voice was low, dangerously low. And throaty. She tried to shake off the sensation of desire, but her secret muscles clenched in anticipation. “If you don’t remove your dress, I’ll rip it off.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed, but a hidden, despicably traitorous part of her was wondering why he held back.
“Try me.” His eyes burned with need, their rich color darkening to heated sapphires as his pupils dilated even more. Jaidyn felt luscious slivers warm her body in places that only he had seen.
“N–” Jaidyn hadn’t even voiced half of her refusal when he yanked at her dress. The next moment a ripping sound exploded.
His raw strength shook her. The bodice of her dress, shift and all, tore away. A gap down to her belly button exposed her. As if that wasn’t enough, her treacherous garments slowly slipped from her shoulders, leaving her completely exposed to Captain O’Driscoll’s sweeping gaze, which wandered up and down, lingering here or there.
When the remains of what once was her clothing pooled around her ankles, a faint smile flitted across the hard planes of his face. “Now get on the bed. On all fours. Show me your ass.”
She thrust her chin up. “No. We can stay here like this all day but I will never lie down for you again.”
His hands captured her arms again and once more his body pressed into hers. “I will stay as long as it takes. But be warned, my patience is almost at an end.”
Jaidyn struggled against the heat it brought, her body and mind in complete opposition.
“You? Will stay? Ha!” She saw his lashes flutter with the force of her breath. “Now you will stay. Well, now it’s too late! You left and I moved on to other things.” Let him think what he wanted about those “other things.”
“You moved on? Well, Jaidyn … Donnelly, I believe it is, isn’t it? Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Miss Donnelly: you moved on while still on my coin, and I will have what I’ve paid for.”
His gaze locked on her lower lip. A shiver of longing whispered over her, then spiked to full-blown desire as she watched him lower his head. But instead of kissing her lips, he leaned in, trailing hot, ravenous kisses up and down her pulse.
Tears of pain and frustration stained her cheeks while her body quivered in response. “I hate you!”
“No, you don’t.” He breathed against her skin and it immediately tightened with ripples of gooseflesh.
“Yes, I do!” She twisted her body. How dared he think she didn’t know her own thoughts? He knew nothing of her. Jerking with all her might, she freed one hand and smacked it across his cheek with as much force as she could muster.
His only reaction was a triumphant chuckle as he licked a drop of blood from the inside of his lip. “No, you don’t. You want me as much as I want you.”
Suddenly he freed her arms and cupped her backside, his fingertips digging in as he lifted her up. Her back hit the door again, forcing all air from her lungs. Jaidyn wrapped her arms around him to find her balance, tearing his shirt in the process. When he thrust his engorged member, still confined in his breeches, against her moist core, her nails raked hard into his shoulders. Satisfied, she watched the welts rising and a small amount of blood filling those little wounds.
Jaidyn looked up into his eyes–
And time stopped. The world seemed to fall away and they were frozen in a sea of longing. His eyelids lowered to her mouth. She bit her lower lip hard when her gaze settled on his lips also.
Before she could even blink, his mouth took hers. His lips were almost brutal, crushing hers as his tongue forced its way in, demanding surrender.
It wasn’t as much of a kiss as it was a conquering. Jaidyn fought back with equal force, pouring all her hurt, anger, and lust into the kiss. She bit his lower lip and thrust her own tongue into a duel with his.
The strength of his longing rolled off him in crushing waves. He stroked his tongue even deeper. Heart thundering in her ears, her body was ablaze with passion, seeking to be filled. Her legs wrapped around his waist, her hips grinding against the hardness hidden beneath the fly of his breeches.
It was just a kiss, Jaidyn told herself. She at least deserved to finally be kissed.
But it was … too much. Jaidyn capitulated, giving in to his demanding kiss with a moan of surrender, and let him take her as he willed.
His kiss changed, slowed and calmed. He gently took her bottom lip between his in a soft sucking. She responded to the new gentleness, turning her head to the side in an invitation to continue. Connor’s mouth molded to hers lightly, letting his tongue ease inside in a languid exploration. Jaidyn shivered at the hum he couldn’t suppress as she tasted him back. Their tongues danced, eager for each new delicious sensation.
When he broke their kiss, she whimpered.
He let her go. Her feet slid to the floor on legs barely able to stand while his hands fell to his sides. Panting, Jaidyn fought hard to breathe, awash in conflicting emotions.
“Now.” His voice wasn’t more than a hoarse croak. “Do as I say.”
“No!” She crossed her arms in front of her. This had to stop here. She couldn’t afford to give in to him again. “I’m not that weak.”
“Weak?” Connor turned on his heel, astonishment written all over his face. “No, of course you’re not weak. You’re strong.”
He came closer, cupping her chin between thumb and forefinger, lifting her gaze up to meet his. “We both know that we fit each other. In bed. A perfect match. I felt it the first time you shuddered in my embrace and even more distinctly when I buried my cock in your cunt. It was like a zing shooting up and down my spine.” His voice was low and even. Monotonous, but sweet in a way. Jaidyn felt herself drawn into it. “I knew you felt it too. But you didn’t know what to make of it. You still don’t know what it means, do you?”
At home she’d heard the unbelievable story of men in the Orient, so-called snake charmers. As described by the distant friend of her late parents, those snake charmers played the flute so skillfully that they could even hypnotize deadly poisonous snakes. Why Connor’s voice reminded her of that now, Jaidyn couldn’t say, though.
Leaning in, Connor braced himself against the door. “Reason tells you something’s not right about what you crave. Let me help you open your eyes. Stop questioning and just give in to what you really want.”
Her breath seesawed out of her. Jaidyn felt dizzy. His words echoed what she felt inside.
No, it was nonsense. All of it. She wasn’t really like that. It was a part she’d been playing. It was not who she was. None of this was real.
She respected herself too much to let the scoundrel humiliate her. Jaidyn shook herself out of the trance and derision chilled her glare as she looked at Connor still crowding her.
A strange, dark glitter flitted through his eyes. “Get on the bed on all fours and present your backside to me.”
He turned and walked toward a chair, pulling his shirt over his head while toeing his shoes off. “And make it quick.”
Jaidyn almost cringed at the harsh tone. His unyielding eyes bored into her. Was it just her imagination or had he suddenly become taller?
Her reason was screaming in outrage, but another part of her wanted to obey his command, wanted to be his siren once again. She was shocked at how fast she found herself on the bed like he’d ordered.
Just when Jaidyn was about to protest, she looked back over her shoulder at him. Instead of hissing something truly offending, the words died in her throat. She could only stare with her mouth agape.
He was standing there in all his naked glory, his dark eyes roaming her body. His gaze felt like velvet rubbing up and down her spine and Jaidyn fought hard to supp
ress the visible proof of the pleasant shiver that tickled over and through her.
Then his head tilted a little to the side and he fixed his eyes on her core. Jaidyn caught her breath. Every joint in her body started to turn into wobbly custard. Her sex was pulsing for him, starved for his touch. It seemed her body instinctually recognized him, creaming, readying and aching for him with a fresh gush of welcoming moisture.
Her face flamed at her wanton reaction. If she could feel it, could he see it?
It was a long time until he finally broke the silence, and when he did, his lids lowered, his nostrils flared and his voice was mesmerizingly deep. “Spread your legs more. I want to see your glistening cunny.”
There was no use denying she wanted this. Not just the character she told herself she was playing. All of who she was wanted this man.
Damn him.
She tried one last time to hold on to her anger. When she finally found her voice again, she snapped a demeaning, “Well?”
His gaze seemed glued to her wetness. He didn’t react.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s get it over with.”
That got his attention. His dreamy smile traveled up her back and shoulders until his unsettling gaze focused on her. “You don’t know me that well after all.”
Even his whisper was a velvet rumble. In response, the tension in her body escalated. The tingling along her sides turned into blistering sparks showering on her until Jaidyn thought she couldn’t take any more.
But her affronted reason wasn’t silenced yet. “Or maybe you were just too easy to forget.”
One corner of his graceful mouth kicked up. “Let me remind you, then,” he said, his voice laden with seduction, the promise of hot, elemental and fierce sex buzzing underneath. Jaidyn gasped and gooseflesh washed over her.
Finally he moved. He took a step forward and, as he did so, he lifted his hand to his mouth. Jaidyn was mesmerized by the sight of him licking the pad of his thumb, recalling only too well what that swirling expert tongue could do to her body and mind.
