Forbidden Fruit: Volume 1

by Harley, Lisa M.

  My teeth ground together at the fact that he cut off my inquiries once again. I snatched the toiletries out of his hand and swiveled around him to head toward the shower. It was large; there was enough space for half an army to bathe inside. I popped open the glass door and set down the toiletries, then turned to hang up the towel. I didn’t have to ask Adam to leave. He was already heading toward the door, but he didn’t bother to close it behind him when he left.

  I didn’t take off my clothes until I was in the shower with the water beating down on my skin. I didn’t know what his plan was, but I didn’t want to be naked without some semblance of a barrier between us. The shower’s glass would have to be enough for now. I tried to clear my thoughts and fears for five minutes and let the warm water wash over me. I washed my hair, using the rich fragrant shampoo and conditioner he’d provided me. The shower-head simulated a waterfall and I stood directly underneath it, letting the water warm every inch of me.

  I was spreading the body wash over my chest when I heard a knock on the door. I snapped my gaze up just in time to see Adam walking in with a fresh set of clothes in his hand. He wasn’t even pretending to give me privacy. His heated eyes scoured down my body like hot coals. My hands flew to my breasts and we stood staring at each other. The air in that bathroom sparked through the condensation of my shower as if I was about to be electrocuted. His eyes were haunting and mysterious. I wanted him to leave as much as I wanted him to stay, but I didn’t dare speak a word.

  I stood frozen as the water streamed down my skin.

  “This is a fresh set of clothing,” he stated, placing them next to where I’d hung my towel. He was so close to me then. The glass was the only thing separating his hands from my naked skin. Why the hell didn’t I scream at him to leave? Why couldn’t my vocal cords cooperate? I opened my mouth to yell at him, but not a single syllable fell from my lips.

  One moment Adam was keeping his distance, and the next, the glass door opened and he was stepping into the shower with all of his clothes on. The shower head drenched him instantly. Water dripped from his rich brown hair down across his sharp cheekbones. I watched a drop fall across his lips and my nipples hardened into tight buds.

  My breathing was audible. I could see my chest rising and falling out of my peripheral vision, but Adam wasn’t looking there. He was staring into my eyes. Brown meeting blue in a clash of sexual chemistry.

  We both moved at once. I ripped his shirt over his head and he tangled his hands into my hair to bring my mouth to his. I couldn’t keep up with him. His mouth sought mine with a vengeance. Our lips clashed until I was sure we were bruising one another, but it still wasn’t enough for him. He titled my head back. My feet moved on top of his. His entire upper body leaned toward me so that I was arching into his hands. He was holding me up and pressing me back all at once.

  He dragged his tongue along my bottom lip and then trailed his kisses down my face, down my neck. His warm breath heated the water another degree as it dripped in a line from the curve of my neck, across my collarbone, and over the swell of my breast. I cried out when his mouth found my sensitive nipples. He lapped and sucked them between his teeth, causing a deep ache between my legs.

  My fingers found the buckle of his pants, but I couldn’t concentrate with his mouth on my breasts. The texture of his tongue on my soft flesh made my spine curl. One hand teased my nipple while his mouth nipped and lapped at the other one. I couldn’t breathe, my lungs felt weak with lust for this sinfully, sexy man. But then my consciousness woke up.

  “Stop!” I screamed, pushing him away. He didn’t fight me. We both stood in the center of that shower with water streaming down our bodies. It was the first time I’d had a glimpse of his chest without his shirt on. He looked like a boxer: broad, thick muscles and a tall frame that stretched his proportions perfectly. He was inherently frightening and he didn’t utter a word as I tried to collect my thoughts.

  “What are you doing with me? I’m your prisoner. Are you about to rape me or are we going to have sex in this bathroom? You can’t have both.” I paused to take a deep breath. “Would you leave if I asked you to?”

  He licked his lips and bit down before answering, “Yes.”

  That wasn’t the answer I was expecting and now the decision was on me. If I didn’t make him leave, then I was consenting to whatever he did to me. I stood there, hoping the air would shift and my moral compass would right itself, but it didn’t.

  The water dripped down Adam’s solid body. I had tugged his pants open enough earlier that the base of his hard stomach was completely revealed. I needed to see the rest. I had to know what he felt like.

  But I couldn’t give in. I couldn’t condone the situation he was forcing me into.

  “Get out,” I bit harshly.

  My request surprised us both. His lips parted and his eyebrow rose with an inquisitive air. I pressed back against the bathroom wall, waiting for him to comply. But the darkness in his eyes multiplied as my heart rate picked up.

  “Did you hear me?” I cried, scared of losing the battle my body was fighting with me. When he took a step closer to me, I yelped.

  “I lied,” he seethed, crowding me against the wall. His hard chest pressed against my breasts and I mashed my lips together, trying to keep from moaning. I felt like I was being ripped in two, trying to fight the forbidden chemistry between us.

  He pressed his hands to the tiled wall behind me and pressed his mouth to my ear. I shuddered and rolled out my shoulders, trying to break the spell he was putting me under.

  “You’re mine. What don’t you understand about that? I don’t abuse you. I don’t hit you. Do you understand how much worse you could have it? What I’m saving you from?”

  His words ignited my fury. “Saving me? SAVING ME? You’re a fucking coward.” I scraped my fingers down his chest knowing any other form of pain wouldn’t even make him flinch. “You have to chain me up and force yourself upon me. You’re forcing me against the wall because you’re too much of coward to let me fight you.”

  With a cloud crash, his fits hit the tiled wall behind me. I clenched my eyelids, attempting to remain calm. This is what he wanted. He wanted me to be scared. Instead of breaking away from him and leaving the shower, I crashed my entire body weight against him, trying to hurt him like I’d hurt his guard. He didn’t even budge. I moved my fist to break his nose, but his hands engulfed my biceps before I could make contact. He picked me up so that my feet were dangling above the ground.

  “I should let my guards come in here and have their way with you.”

  I spat onto his face. “Let them. I don’t care. I don’t care what you do to me.”

  He clenched his jaw, trying to remain calm. “You speak as if you’re a lion, but you look like a little lamb. You’re my prisoner, and yet you don’t beg me for mercy. You spit in my face as I take care of you.”

  I flailed in his arms, but it was hopeless. His strength outmatched mine, as if an elephant were fighting a mouse. “Let me go.”

  “You don’t understand what I am.”

  “Please,” I begged, staring him straight in the eye. There were so many mysteries tied with this man. He wasn’t from Kosovo, so why was he here working with the rebels? What kind of person could kill people without batting an eyelash? How did he end up in such a vile situation? I stared up into his midnight eyes and tried to break beneath their surface, but it was hopeless. He might have been a terrible man, but he never treated me terribly. He cherished me in a disgustingly twisted way, and for that I was grateful. My entire perception of right and wrong was skewed. I’d traveled to the center of hell and fell for the devil himself.

  So when we both moved a second later, our bodies colliding in frenzy, I knew I was tasting the forbidden fruit and I bit into it willingly.

  Chapter Four

  Adam pushed my body back against the wall just hard enough that it stung my ass. I yanked his wet hair in retaliation until he growled and pinned my arms above
my head. He was out of reach and in control. His mouth took mine, devoured it, and opened it up until his tongue was sliding across the roof of my mouth, making my heels dig into his ass.

  He held my arms with one hand while his other yanked he shoved his pants and underwear to the ground.

  The second his entire body was exposed fully to me, I cried out with a mix of anger, fear, and pleasure. His rock hard abs sloped sharply toward his Adonis-V. His body was a machine built for brutal killing. Each line was there for strength and speed. His arms bulged and grew while he grasped my waist. His fingers almost touched in the center of my stomach, that’s how small I was in comparison.

  He was going to slay me, break me, and tear me inside out whether he was doing it maliciously or not. I was out of my league. His eyes seared down my skin, taking in my breasts and quivering stomach. His mouth bent forward and captured my nipple at the same moment he shifted us away from the wall.

  I tried to yank his mouth off my breast, but it was no use. His tongue swirled around my flesh making it impossible to build any strength against him.

  He shoved me down on the shower bench, tossing the shampoos aside to make room. My heart rate spiked as the bottles went flying across the shower, hitting the glass with loud pops.

  “Lay back and spread your legs,” he demanded huskily, never drawing his gaze away from my sex. I hated letting him be in control. He didn’t own me. His mouth was sin. His body was sin. I could be stronger than my primal urge to have him fuck me against the tiled wall. This was wrong.

  “Don’t touch me,” I fumed. His beautiful lips twisted into a smirk as he bent onto his knees. His presence crowded the shower, making me feel even more helpless as his palms pressed my thighs apart for him. He could see every inch of me. Everything inside of me twisted in anger and lust. Why was my body betraying me? Why couldn’t I overcome his power over me?

  I tried desperately to shove my knees together, to close myself off, but his powerful arms kept me spread for him without much effort at all. Even as I fought to break away from him, my entire body sparked with pleasure.

  It was a twisted game and Adam was setting the rules.

  “I don’t want this. Get off of me!” I shrieked, trying to convince myself as much as him. He responded to my words by pressing a finger deep inside me. So long and deft, it curled into me, hooking my body to him. I bit down on my lip, drawing a drop of blood as my back arched in need.

  “Fuck,” he barked out, watching me respond to him in traitorous fashion. “Look at me,” he demanded so loudly that my eyes sprang open.

  Hot water streamed down my body as his mouth bent to lick the skin just above my clit, teasing my legs apart. My lips fell open as a cry of pleasure rang across the tiled walls. His arms wrapped around my thighs and I propped my feet on his shoulders, needing to stabilize my body. His fingers spread my entrance apart and I watched him lick from the base slowly up until he’d unraveled every nerve ending in my spine.

  My mouth hung open, my entire body shook with pleasure as he went to work, sucking and biting with a seductive rhythm. His sweet lips kissed and marked me as his.

  His tongue worked too swiftly for my mind to concentrate on anything else. My vocal cords had been taken over by cries of pleasure rather than threats.

  His features were masked in dark pleasure as his tongue spun around my clit in a maddening rate. His dark eyes never left mine as he watched me cave to his deft abilities. His erection taunted me, solid and impossible hard, ready to claim me whenever he deemed me ready.

  I couldn’t peel my eyes away from it and he knew it. His smug grin told me so as his lips pulled away from me. His finger worked agonizingly slow inside of me, drawing out moisture and teasing me until I was all but begging him to finish. My orgasm was awakening, crawling toward the surface, but he wasn’t going to coax it out until I was mad with need.

  “Tell me you want me to fuck you, Kate,” he demanded with a dark, wicked tone.

  I tried to answer, to argue, but he worked another finger inside of me, keeping me on the brink of collapse.

  “Fuck you…” I managed between shallow breaths. “Let me go.”

  “God, you’re a fucking liar. Say it!” He thrust his fingers inside of me so hard that my eyes squinted close. I could feel him on my g-spot, but he wasn’t going to let me come this way. No, he wanted to be buried inside of me; just like I needed him to be.

  I swallowed past a wild moan and stared him straight in the eye, midnight meeting cool ocean. He knew I wouldn’t cave.

  “Please,” I murmured, unsure of what I was pleading with him to do. Leave me or fuck me against the wall?

  I expected him to shove himself inside of me, to take me anyway and end both of our misery. I needed to orgasm. My skin was crawling, my nerves were on edge, and I felt like my heart would pump right through my chest.

  Instead, he shoved away from me, slamming the glass door open so hard that I thought it would shatter into a million pieces.

  “Get out and get dressed,” he snapped. “If you touch yourself, I’ll send you back to your cell. Do you understand?” He was standing outside of the shower, completely naked with water dripping down his physique. I heard his words and I nodded, but my concentration was focused on his muscles, his broad shoulders, his incredibly toned stomach. Why hadn’t I just told him to fuck me? Why was he leaving me unsatisfied and needy?

  Because this wasn’t right no matter how good it felt.

  Chapter Five

  Once I heard his bedroom door slam closed behind him, I turned the water off and eased my way out of the shower. The clothes he’d brought me were lying on the sink, right next to a clean towel. I don’t think I’ve ever dried off and dressed so quickly in my life. I had no clue what was in store for me. If he’d send me back to that disgusting cell or let me stay in the suite.

  I didn’t want to be in the suite, but it was the lesser of two evils. The suite was cleaner, I had fresh clothes, and I felt protected by Adam more in the suite than I had back in the cell. Protected by him. What kind of sick person feels protected by their kidnapper?

  I prodded at the clothing on the counter as if it were alive and could strike me at any time. When I was confident that they were just normal clothes, I stepped closer. There was a matching pair of white underwear, modest, but lacy. As well as a short cream sweater dress. I was thankful for the long sleeves, but the hem hit much shorter than I would have normally preferred. My hands worked to tug it down as far as possible, but it was a loss either way since pulling it down meant more of my cleavage was visible.

  I tiptoed out of the bathroom on silent feet, as if I was afraid to awaken the three-headed beast. He was unpredictable and unstable. Too handsome and scary for his own good.

  The bedroom was empty and his bed beckoned me once again, but I shoved past the thought and crept to the door. With my ear pressed against it, I tried to pick up on any sounds.

  A moment later, I could hear Adam’s voice.

  “Don’t let her leave this suite. She’s still a prisoner. No one is to speak with her or touch her while I’m gone.”

  The men he was speaking to agreed to his instructions. I heard them shuffling across the concrete floor.

  “I don’t need both of you watching her. Lee, come with me to question the man you picked up the other day.”

  Their footsteps were growing fainter, but I still caught the tail end of their conversation.

  “He wouldn’t speak two days ago and we haven’t given him any food since. Hopefully he’ll be more compliant today,” the man spoke with a wicked tone.

  “I’ll make sure he is,” Adam clipped matter-of-factly.

  What the fuck. He was going to torture someone? Right then? After everything we’d just done? Was he truly so far gone from morality?

  I sank back against the bed. He’d said I was allowed to leave the bedroom, but I didn’t want to draw the guard’s attention by wandering around the suite. I didn’t trust any of them, s
o I decided to stay in the room as long as I could.

  After checking every window and finding absolutely no means of escape, I leaned back against the bed to think. But then the lack of sleep from the previous two nights caught up to me, and I felt my body falling back against the luxurious bedding before I could stop myself. My eye lids fluttered closed, and in the privacy of Adam’s bedroom, I caught up on the sleep that I dearly needed.

  ~*~*~*~

  Adam pulled my sweater dress up with his rough, demanding hands. His other hand pressed my lower tummy down on the bed so that I couldn’t wiggle out of his grasp. When his tongue found me wet and waiting, I couldn’t contain it anymore. I couldn’t call his bluff, and I moaned his name, gripping his hair and begging for more. I needed him to sink into me, to take me like he’d hinted at doing all along. I wanted to be scarred by him. I wanted to be branded as a lunatic all because his touch made circumstance and morality dissipate.

  “Kate,” he said between my parted thighs. I moaned louder in response.

  “Kate, wake up.”

  What?

  One moment I was teetering on the brink of a dreamy orgasm, and the next I was wide awake. Reality sank in like a hot knife.

  I’d been dreaming about him, moaning his name, and he’d been watching me do it. I tilted my head up to find my legs spread wide and my hand down my underwear. It wasn’t Adam’s tongue; it was my fingers driving me wild.

  With an exasperated breath, I pulled my hand out and straightened up against the headboard. My hands worked to pull my sweater dress down. And finally, when I could contain the fierce blush, I peered up at Adam.

  He had a coffee cup in his hand. A wicked grin on his face. His midnight eyes were dark and mocking me. Arrogant asshole. Even when he brought that cup up to his fuck-me-senseless lips, that smirk never wavered.

  “I should count that as touching yourself and send you back to your cell,” he mocked. It was clear he was quite amused by situation.