Seduced - Book Three - Surrender Series

by Anne, Melody

  He’d placed his mark on her, and her body hadn’t forgotten.

  Her nipples tightened, poking against his chest, as her core heated and she felt her thin panties become wet with her desire. Rafe’s hands slid along her back; he coaxed her mouth open, then devoured its sweetness with the hunger of a starving man.

  Giving in to what she’d wanted for so long, Ari’s hands slowly lifted, her arms wrapping around his solid shoulders as he pulled against her, molding her body to his. Her tongue followed the retreat of his as they twisted and tangled against each other.

  “Mmm.” Ari’s body ached at the low murmur from deep within Rafe’s chest.

  Knowing she was making this powerful man tremble was like throwing gasoline on the fire already consuming her. She ground her hips against him, seeking relief from her sensitive pink pearl against his stiff erection, forgetting about all the reasons that she shouldn’t be doing this.

  He was controlling, took what he wanted when he wanted it, was uncompromising, unforgiving.

  But was he these things?

  She couldn’t think. It had been so long…she could focus only on feeling.

  When his hands gripped the soft flesh of her backside and tugged her against his stiff manhood, which was obviously trying to break free from his clothing, the last thought of willpower dissipated.

  She could remember the sight, feel, smell and taste of him as if they’d just made love yesterday. She hungered to take his arousal between her teeth, taste his pleasure on her tongue. She just…hungered.

  When she was ready for him to lay her back on the seat of the limo and take her right there, he pulled back, his eyes nearly black with lust as he looked at her.

  “Invite me in, Ari…please?” he asked.

  Her brain couldn’t process what he was saying. Invite him in? Where? She could barely even remember her first name, let alone where they were.

  She gazed at him in confusion as she tried to clear the cobwebs from her brain.

  “Let me pleasure you,” he said as his hands drifted up her back, then around her sides, where his thumbs rubbed across the edges of her breasts, not quite touching her sensitive peaks.

  There was a reason she needed to tell him no, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what it was.

  “I see you want to finish this, Ari. Don’t be stubborn. Don’t let your pride leave us both hurting,” he said, his lips drifting along her neck, his hot breath deliciously inviting.

  A horn sounded outside of the car, and it was just enough of a distraction to begin pulling her from her haze.

  No. She couldn’t do this. Without a doubt, she’d regret it in the morning. Yes, her night would be passionate and her body fulfilled, but then her heart would begin breaking again, and she’d have to start the healing process all over.

  Getting over a man like Rafe once had nearly destroyed her. She wouldn’t live through that kind of heartache twice.

  Rafe sighed when he saw the determination begin to shine in her eyes, but to her complete surprise, he released her, then moved around her to open her door so she could exit on the sidewalk.

  Stepping from the vehicle, he reached inside and took her hand, helping her out.

  “I should just kiss you senseless and let your body decide,” he said as they reached the top of her steps.

  She almost wished he would. Almost.

  “Goodnight, Rafe.” She inserted the key in her door.

  As the door swung open, Rafe gripped her arm, turning her. Her eyes wide, Ari waited for his next move.

  “Sweet dreams, Ari,” he said. He leaned down and brushed his lips chastely across hers. Then he pulled back, placed his hand on her lower back and nudged her inside the door.

  The door shut behind her. Ari went on autopilot as she locked it, then leaned against the solid wood and listened to Rafe’s retreating footsteps.

  It took everything inside of her not to yank the door back open and call out to him.

  Her game had backfired on her in a big way. He might be hurting, but she had a feeling that she was the one in much worse shape. She ached all over, and she knew the fire wasn’t going out any time in the near future.

  Walking almost in a trance, Ari moved to her bathroom and drew a scalding hot bath. She’d simply try to burn the ache out. After an hour, she knew nothing was going to help. She certainly wasn’t going to attempt an ice bath. Leave that to the men.

  Damn Rafe! He affected her whether he was dominating her or seducing her. She couldn’t seem to win either way.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Lia

  Lia woke up as sunlight began streaming in through the thin line of the waterfall, lighting up their tent.

  After their lovemaking last night in the rain, Shane had lifted her in his arms, carried her inside, and gently set her down while he got their tent ready for bed. There, they’d made love again, slowly and long into the night.

  It felt like coming home.

  “Don’t try to pull away again.”

  Lia turned her head to look into Shane’s worried eyes. He was drawing her naked body close to his as he kissed her neck.

  “I’m not going to.”

  She could try to fight this all she wanted, but she was right where she wanted to be, so what would be the point?

  She was in love with Shane. She always had been and always would be. Being without him took away a piece of her.

  Fear that he would walk away tore at her, but Lia was tired of living in fear. She was ready to let it all go and just relax in his arms. Who knew what would happen when they got off this island? But for now, they had each other, and that was all that mattered.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she said as she snuggled closer.

  Surprisingly, her desire was tamped down. She was content just to lie there with him, feel the stroke of his hand on her flesh as she basked in the warmth filling her heart.

  “Good. I was afraid you would retreat once you woke up. I need you, Lia, more than I can possibly ever describe.”

  Oh, the rapture that his words aroused in her. They were the words she’d always wanted to hear coming from his lips. She needed him, too. She had for so long that she couldn’t remember a time she hadn’t needed him — wanted him — loved him.

  “Why don’t you ever talk about your childhood, Shane?”

  She felt him stiffen in her arms and worried that she’d crossed a line. He always closed up when anyone mentioned his past. All she knew was that he’d gone through hell. Neither he nor Rafe would say anything about it.

  “It’s not worth speaking of,” he said as she felt him force himself to relax with a deep exhaling breath. He wasn’t able to fully unlock his muscles.

  “I want to know you — know why the exterior that you present to the world is so tough, so untouchable. Please tell me,” she said, her fingers trailing across his back in a comforting way. If he could open up to her, then maybe they would have a real chance.

  “You don’t want to know, Lia,” he warned her.

  She could tell he wanted to speak to her, though. He needed to let it out.

  “I honestly do, Shane. I want to know everything about you — the good and the bad. I promise not to ever judge. I promise to listen.”

  “Do you want to know the ugly, too?”

  “Everything, Shane.”

  Shane hesitated as a deep sigh rose from his chest. When he began to speak, she was completely still.

  “I didn’t have parents like yours, Lia. My father — well, he was…not a good man. Far from it.”

  “What about your mom?”

  “She was weak and pathetic. I hate to say that about my mother, but it’s true. The things she let happen to me were things a mother should never allow. She went through her own trauma, and I’m sorry for that, but she had a child to think about. If I had children, and I can’t imagine I will, I would never let someone hurt them the way that my father hurt me.”

  There was so much pain in
his voice, stiffness in his body. Lia wished she could take his pain away, erase the memories from his brain, and help him to heal. She did all she could, by running her fingers along his bare skin, by letting him know that she was right there with him, that no one would hurt him again.

  “My mom was young and in love, bright-eyed with the world as her oyster. She was such a beautiful teenager, with dark hair and eyes, olive skin and a laugh that could bring a smile to the most wretched and the most irascible person. She met my father her junior year of high school, and she fell instantly and hopelessly in love, if you can call that love. He was twenty-one, and the typical bad boy. Driving up to their local hamburger shop, he’d taken one look at her and decided she would be his. She’d been flattered that such a handsome older guy took an instant interest in her. She’d followed him like a puppy dog, willing to do his bidding.”

  There was so much bitterness in Shane’s voice, but his touch against her skin never changed. He was gentle as he held Lia while he dived back into his past. She almost told him he didn’t need to continue, but she knew she might never get another chance to hear, so she remained silent as he paused, as if he was drawing the courage to go on.

  “Their first time together was…” Shane stopped for a minute. “It wasn’t consensual. She’d been dating him for a few months, and she always put the brakes on when he tried to have sex with her. Finally, one night he’d taken her back to his crappy apartment and had a couple too many beers. She said no, but he didn’t stop. I’ll never forget the day she told me about that moment. I was so furious with her. Why didn’t she turn him in? He’d raped her, and she still kept seeing him. And when she found out two months later that she was carrying his child, her parents were furious and kicked her out. What did she do? She moved in with him.”

  “She told you all of this?” Lia was horrified that a mother would burden her son with such awful knowledge.

  “Yes. They both hated me. She hated me because I was the product of a very unpleasant experience in her life. I was also the reason she was forever locked to this man. She told me on more than one occasion that she should have just aborted me — that she would have if she’d only had the money. Her husband, the man who fathered me, hated me because — oh, probably because he was just an evil bastard. I can’t get inside the brain of someone like that. He liked having such a pretty wife, someone who was so malleable to his will, but he also liked having a lot of women on the side. He would even bring one home on occasion, kicking my mother out of their bedroom so he could use it with this new ‘girlfriend.’ A few times, he made her, his wife, participate with them. She put up with it, never fighting him. She said it wasn’t worth the beatings he would lay upon her if she disobeyed him.”

  “Why in the hell didn’t she just leave, go to a victim center?” Lia was horrified. She’d never imagined that his story could be that bad. “Or why didn’t she call in Child Protective Services?”

  “She was weak. She blamed her woes on me, on him, on everything and everybody except for herself. He was unforgivable, but she was just as bad for staying. The first time he punched me so hard that I got a concussion, she should have realized it was too much. Hell, the first time he’d laid a hand on me, period, she should have left him. If she was OK with getting the shit kicked out of her, that was one thing, but when he was knocking around his toddler son, she should have gotten me out of there. But she didn’t, and it wasn’t until I was older that I realized that what they were both doing was wrong. I was so used to the abuse that I thought everyone got smacked around.”

  “Oh, Shane,” Lia moaned. She pulled him closer into her arms and held him close. Her tears fell against his shoulder as she cried for the frightened boy he had buried inside himself, and the man who still had to endure those memories.

  “At sixteen, I finally had enough. I beat him nearly to death, then left the house and never turned back. I was done. The sad thing was that I didn’t even care when I found out my mother had killed him. One day, I guess she just had enough, too. She stabbed him in his sleep, then waited for the police to come. She didn’t even try to hide what she’d done. They asked her if it was self-defense, and she said no. She could have gotten off. He beat her constantly, especially after I left, but she still pleaded guilty to the authorities. She told the prosecutor that she’d just decided he wasn’t worthy of living another day. She’d grabbed a kitchen knife, stood over him with a crazy smile on her face and plunged the knife deep into his chest. She told them that she’d laughed as his eyes popped open and he struggled to catch his breath.”

  “Oh, my gosh,” Lia gasped, unable to imagine what he was saying.

  “I went to the trial. She didn’t know I was there, but I wanted to see what happened. I sat in the back row. It was odd, the emotions I felt. It was as if I was a different person, just a journalist there to take notes. I felt nothing when she was deemed crazy and the judge had her locked up in a mental institution. I felt nothing for the man who had been killed. No…that’s not true. The only thing I felt at knowing he was dead was regret — regret that I hadn’t been the one to plunge the knife into the coldhearted bastard’s chest.”

  “You don’t mean that, Shane. You couldn’t take a life,” Lia gasped.

  He was silent for several heartbeats. “Not like that. No,” he said. “At that moment, I did feel regret, though. I don’t know. If I had stayed any longer, I might have been the one to take his life.”

  The certainty in his tone frightened Lia. He was so different from the abused teenage boy he’d told her of, but she couldn’t comprehend what he’d been through. It was so tragic.

  “Have you seen her since she’s been locked up?” Lia was afraid to ask, but she needed to know.

  “No. I don’t have any desire to see that woman,” he spit out, his body tensing again.

  “Maybe you should, Shane. Maybe it would help you to heal and you could fully let go of the past. What she did was horrendous, but if you could tell her that, tell her how wrong she was, then you could let go of that burden.”

  “How would that help? She’s mental,” he snapped.

  Lia knew he wasn’t snapping at her. She knew he was in a world of pain right now. Having grown up with loving parents and siblings, she couldn’t pretend to know what he had dealt with, but she loved him enough to get some glimmerings.

  “It doesn’t matter if you get through to her, Shane. It’s about you. She stole enough from you, your childhood, your joy, your love. She took it all, and she doesn’t deserve redemption, but you deserve to be able to let it all go.”

  “Well, I guess it really doesn’t matter now, does it?” he said, shocking her as he turned toward her and smiled.

  “Why is that?” she asked, completely confused.

  “Because we’re lost on a deserted island and may never be found again. It may be our sole responsibility to populate this land and start over,” he teased.

  “Mmm, that sounds like it could be fun,” she said and rubbed against him. The frightening thing was the tug inside her heart at the thought of carrying Shane’s child. It should terrify her. She didn’t want to be a mother, not yet, but as she looked into his eyes, she could picture a little boy with his hair and eyes gazing back at her. She was also confused because of his earlier statement. Did he want kids or not? She didn’t want them now, but she knew she would someday.

  Shane drew her beneath him and easily slipped inside her body. She knew he was healing by losing himself within her. She was OK with that — more than OK, she thought as passion began building and thoughts of children evaporated as pleasure began enveloping them.

  Lia knew Rafe would rescue them. It was only a matter of time. And so, in the meantime, she would enjoy every moment she was locked tightly in Shane’s arms.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Ari

  No worries here, Ari thought smugly as she walked up the steps to the huge library. She’d be safe, sound, and inviolable as Fort Knox. There was no way
that Rafe would put the moves on her while in a public building. Well, he had in public before, but he wouldn’t dare do something in a library, and they certainly couldn’t have sex. I mean, really!

  Since she’d done nothing but toss and turn the night before, she was quite irritated with Rafe. Had he been a terrible kisser, or had her body not completely betrayed her, then she would have been in a much better mood.

  To top all of that off, the snore-worthy pig of a doctor had dared to call her at midnight to see if he could get her address and stop by. He wanted to have dessert. She’d just bet he wanted dessert...

  She’d told him to lose her number, then hung up on him while he’d still been sputtering.

  It seemed that Ari was doomed to end up in the presence of the wrong men.

  This last date wasn’t really her fault, since her friend had set the entire thing up, but still… Some days, it seemed she’d end up as that person with ten cats, four dogs, three piranhas and a parakeet, rocking alone on her front porch. Not that there was anything wrong with that. And anyway, she was far too young to be thinking that way, but it still frightened her.

  She didn’t want to settle with just anyone because she was afraid of being alone. It was OK to focus on herself for a while. Being in a relationship didn’t define you as a person. First, you had to be confident in yourself before you were capable of having a healthy, mutually beneficial relationship.

  Ari had gained confidence over the last couple of years. She was just lonely, making it easier for Rafe to slip past her guard.

  She’d have to put forth more effort in her attempts to keep him out of her pants.

  She found a quiet corner table, and sat down. People were all around her, busy studying or reading for pleasure, but the point was that people were there. She felt secure. Her phone vibrated; picking it up, she saw a message from Rafe.

  Have you arrived yet?

  Yes, I’m sitting in the back. Meet me here.

  I have a table on the third floor. Just come up the stairs and go to the right.