by Bruce, Ann
“You’re not the one with a possible concussion and handcuffed to a bed, are you?”
He grunted. Ella just had to poke at his guilt. He sighed when his cousin was unable to bite back a yawn. “Go back to sleep. We’ll talk later.”
Ella mumbled something through another yawn then hung up. Jake snapped the cell phone closed and turned around to face his captive, his fists propped on his hips, frustration and annoyance coursing through him.
Katarzyna was slumped back on the thin mattress. She looked exhausted and overcome, especially with her hands still cuffed to the headboard. Despite himself, Jake felt a trace of pity for her. She had been manipulated by Ella as much as he.
Ah, hell.
Jake sighed and retrieved the tiny key to the handcuffs from the front pocket of his jeans. The mattress dipped under his weight as he sat down on the bed beside her limp form. Katarzyna’s eyes flew open and she jerked as far back from him as the handcuffs allowed. Jake lifted his hands, palms facing outward. He held up the key between his thumb and forefinger. “I was only going to remove the cuffs.”
Katarzyna’s head fell onto her arm. “I’m sorry, but the look on your face…” Her voice trailed off and her right shoulder hitched up in an uneasy shrug.
Jake slowly rose to his feet, checking a half-smile that threatened. He didn’t think she was in the mood to appreciate the fantasy that was teasing the edge of his consciousness. “However, if you want to stay like that…”
She shook her head. “No, no. Please. So I assume Ella cleared everything up?”
He nodded as he sat back down and reached for the handcuffs once more. “They’re yours, by the way.”
“What?”
“The cuffs. I took them off you.”
She flushed. “Oh.”
“I’m Jake Duquesne, Ella’s cousin. She says to tell you she’s sorry.” He removed the restraints and winced when he saw the angry red bands encircling her wrists. “I’ll get you something for that,” he said and got up to go to the bathroom.
He returned moments later with a washcloth he’d run under water and wrung out. Having undone the ropes securing her feet, she sat cross-legged on the bed—warm auburn hair the color of autumn leaves falling past her shoulders and curtaining her face—flexing her fingers and gingerly massaging each of her wrists in turn. “Here.” He reached out and caught her right hand. “Let me.”
She didn’t protest but sat docilely as he wrapped the damp washcloth around her wrists. Katarzyna closed her eyes and sighed.
“Better?”
Her lashes lifted. “Much. What time is it?”
“Just after three in the morning,” he replied after a glance at the stainless steel watch encircling his wrist. “You’ve been out for almost an hour.” He nodded at her jaw, shifting uneasily. “You have a bruise on your jaw. I, uh, had to hit you.”
Katarzyna cautiously felt her jaw. She winced. “I remember.”
“It’ll fade in a couple days,” he assured her, feeling guilt nip at him annoyingly. In his defense, he’d hit her to stop her from forcing him to hurt her even more. “And you banged your head on the porch as well, but I couldn’t find any lumps or swelling on your head.”
“It’s a small enough punishment, considering.”
Jake grunted and carefully peeled back the washcloth. The marks were not as angry as they had been earlier, but her skin still looked very tender. “Does it hurt?”
Katarzyna examined her wrists. “A little, but I’ll live. Just hand me that, please.”
He handed her the washcloth. “How about your hand? I was pretty rough on it.”
She glanced down at the cuts and bruises. “It’s okay,” she reassured him after a moment. “I’ve taken worse hits.”
He nodded.
“So,” he drawled, “Ella says you’re staying for two weeks, but you don’t have any luggage and I don’t see a car outside.”
Her cheeks reddened. Then she paid an inordinate amount of attention to the injuries that hadn’t concerned her just moments ago. Jake folded his arms across his chest and patiently waited.
Finally she looked up and met his steady gaze. “I, uh, drove here straight from Somerset, but I wasn’t paying attention to the gas gauge and ran out of gas about a mile away and my cell phone battery died. I decided to leave the car and hoof it the rest of the way. I figured I’d get some sleep then see if I could recharge the phone and call for someone to swing by with fuel.”
“Then you got here, noticed that the cabin was occupied and decided to pull out your gun and go in alone.”
“I thought you were a squatter,” she muttered crossly. “How was I supposed to know you’re Ella’s cousin? I didn’t know who was in here.” Something darkened her eyes then she blinked it away. “And you tackled me before I could question you!”
“When people try to sneak up on me with a firearm, I’m not going to wait around quietly for them to finish their job.”
Katarzyna hmphed.
“When you’re ready, we’ll go and get your car.”
“Thanks,” she mumbled. Then she expelled a long breath. “And I’ll get out of your hair tomorrow.”
Jake scowled. She sounded dejected and that pricked at what passed for his conscience these days. Damn it, he wasn’t an ogre. “You can stay.”
“I heard you talking with Ella.”
“This cabin has two bedrooms. You can take the other one.”
“Look,” she began a little heatedly, “I’m not up to dealing with people right now, especially not of the male variety, so I’d rather leave you to your solitude and find my own. I’m sure someone in town has an empty cabin they can rent to me.”
“Look,” he mimicked in a snarky tone, “this cabin’s big enough for two people. If you ignore me and I ignore you, we’ll be fine. You’re not going to find a vacancy in this area, so unless you plan on driving back to Somerset, you’re stuck here with me.”
“Then I’ll drive back to Somerset and make other arrangements.”
He almost rolled his eyes. Instead, Jake brought his face to hers until they were nose to nose. “You. Will. Stay. Here.” He drew back an inch. “Don’t be stubborn.”
She scowled at him and, sarcasm dripping from every word, drawled, “Gee, aren’t you touching me in all my nice places.”
Jake froze, the idea of touching her in all her nice places making his body harden and his blood heat and thicken. He balled his hands into fists to keep from unceremoniously shoving her back on the bed and undoing her clothes. Just enough so he could lick the full breasts gathered in the bra outlined against the thin cotton, taunting him. Then slip his hand inside her jeans and find her really nice place.
Chapter Two
Katarzyna’s breath was locked somewhere inside her chest as she stared at the man who had knocked her out and tied her up. By the warm light cast by the lamp sitting on the nightstand, he looked intimidating. Tanned, olive-toned skin stretched tautly over the bones of his harsh face, his gray eyes stormy and darkened to pewter. The nostrils of his long, Roman nose flared and the heavy shadow of his beard darkened his lean cheeks. The prickling of her skin and the insidious warmth and tightening in her tummy and regions even lower had nothing to do with her earlier hurt and everything to do with Jake Duquesne staring at her as if he wanted to devour her.
And she wanted to let him.
Hell. Let him? She wanted to order him to do to her everything his hot eyes promised. She wanted his mouth on hers, on her breasts, on her navel and even lower. She wanted to feel the scrape of his stubble on her inner thighs.
Katarzyna could feel her breasts swelling as her nipples budded, the sensitized tips making her very aware of the layer of fabric on top of them. Wetness trickled into her panties and it took every once of control she had not to squeeze her thighs together.
Maybe Ella had done her a favor. Katarzyna was twenty-eight, had been engaged three times, had been jilted the same number of times—the last time being just two days ago—a
nd, to her maddening frustration, was still a virgin. A twenty-eight-year-old virgin was practically unheard of in this day and age where mainstream women’s magazines annually publish pictures of all the different positions found in the Kama Sutra.
Jake Duquesne, however, looked like the absolute most perfect man to take care of her unfortunate—and embarrassing—state.
He just needed a little nudge to break that control he was so intensely exerting.
Damn it. How was she supposed to seduce him? Her experience in that area was almost nil. In recent memory, the few times she’d tried to seduce a man she’d failed humiliatingly. Of course, she hadn’t known at the time her target preferred men. If the way he was staring at her was any indication, Jake Duquesne definitely preferred women. Or maybe it was just breasts, because his eyes had dropped to her chest and stayed there. She could take off her shirt. Perhaps the sight of her bare breasts would be the catalyst.
All of a sudden, wings of panic and uncertainty fluttered in her stomach. What if he rejected her? What if he became upset like Marcus and sent her packing? No. No, he wouldn’t. She had to think positively.
Katarzyna nearly laughed. And would have if her stomach wasn’t tied into knots. She took a breath. She was a homicide detective. She went after killers for a living. And here she was, afraid of exposing herself to a man.
Heart pounding so loudly she was sure Jake Duquesne could hear it, her hands went to the bottom of her shirt and grabbed two fistfuls of material. Male hands covered hers and tightened. Her eyes flew to his.
“What are you doing?” he asked hoarsely, his breathing audible and shallow.
Her tongue flicked out and moistened her unexpectedly dry lips. “Taking my shirt off.”
He squeezed, his grip cutting off the blood circulation to her hands. She must’ve made a sound because he immediately loosened his hold.
“Why?”
She bit down on a corner of her lip and inhaled deeply through her nose. She couldn’t be coy. Not now, even though it felt like she was about to jump off the side of a cliff. No lifeline, no parachute. “Because I want you to see me. I want you to touch me,” she said, the words so soft she wasn’t sure he heard them.
Something flared in his eyes, making her sex clench as a twinge of alarm flickered through her. He did hear her. He leaned in a fraction of an inch. “Do you know what you’re asking? Did you hit your head harder than I thought?”
A choked laugh escaped her, but his fingers flexed in warning and she cut off the sound. “I want you.”
“You don’t know me.”
Her lips thinned. “I don’t care,” she insisted, frustration making her bolder. “I want you and I know you want me.”
“Yes, I do,” he growled, not sounding entirely pleased.
“Am I going to have to beg?”
An emotion too fleeting to identify crossed his features. Then he shoved her hands aside, whipped her shirt over her head and tossed it carelessly on the floor. He gave the scraps of white cotton covering her breasts a cursory glance before reaching behind her and unfastening the bra. The garment joined her shirt. Then he covered her soft globes with his rough hands.
Katarzyna forgot to breathe again as he stared at her while his hands cupped and molded and squeezed her naked flesh, his fingers plucking the taut, pink nipples. The feel of his calluses abrading her skin was amazingly sensual, making her moan softly. She closed her eyes, letting her other senses take over—and cried out sharply when the wet heat of his mouth enclosed one nipple. She braced her hands on the mattress behind her as her head fell back.
He suckled her, gently at first, one large hand supporting her back while the other kneaded her other breast. He let her feel the edge of his teeth and she moaned, arching her back to push more of her aching flesh into his mouth. He complied, taking more, increasing the pressure. She moaned his name, making it an entreaty, and he trailed his lips across her chest and lavished attention on her other breast.
Katarzyna gasped as the air chilled her wet flesh where his mouth had been, but the molten fire moving through her soon made her forget everything else except for the voracious mouth that was now moving down to her navel.
He lifted his head just an inch from her rapidly rising and falling abdomen. His eyes gleamed. “Lie back,” he ordered huskily.
As soon as her shoulders touched the bed and her legs were uncrossed, his hands moved to the snaps on her jeans, undoing them all with one single tug. He pulled her thong and her jeans off simultaneously, baring her from head to toe for his eyes.
As he stood by the bed and loomed over her naked body, she flushed, but not with embarrassment. How could she be embarrassed when all of her ached with the need for him to touch her, to fill that emptiness deep inside her?
“Fuck, you’re beautiful.”
The words were almost guttural and made her reach for him with her arms. He splayed a hand across her tummy, his fingers easily spanning her hipbones, and kept her flat on the bed. Then he sifted through the short, damp curls covering her sex and slid two fingers inside her. Another gasp, not entirely of pleasure, escaped her as her inner muscles automatically tightened around his thick fingers. There was discomfort, but it wasn’t painful. Just a fullness that made it hard to breathe.
She had the notion to tell him she was a virgin, but it was a fleeting one.
He closed his eyes and groaned. “Jesus, you’re tight,” he said thickly. He shoved his fingers in deeper, then moved slowly back and forth. She inhaled sharply. “So tight. So wet.” His thumb found her swollen clitoris and rotated, pressed. “Fuck, I can’t wait.”
His hands withdrew from her body. He stripped off his clothes in a blur and was suddenly kneeling between her spread legs, his body a golden statue in the lamplight. Hands on her thighs, he spread them wider, then cupped a buttock in each palm, lifted her hips and thrust powerfully.
Katarzyna bit her lower lip to hold back the scream as her body bowed with the sudden pain, her hands twisting the sheets. Losing her virginity hurt more than she imagined it would. But it was done. He was inside her, a hard, heated length that filled her more than she thought possible.
“What the hell!” he exclaimed harshly. He stared at her, his expression incredulous, his fingers digging into her ass.
The pain was subsiding and the aching need was back, twisting inside her. “Please,” she whispered, arching her hips. “I need…” She moved again, this time flexing her inner muscles, and, with a deep groan, he snapped out of his shock-induced immobility.
He moved wildly between her legs, plunging hard and fast. The friction of his shaft rapidly rubbing her inner walls was borderline painful and made her cry out again and again. She writhed in his hold, not sure if she was trying to escape or get closer. It didn’t matter because his iron grip wouldn’t allow her to get away.
She felt a little helpless as he loomed over her, surrounded her, filled her. The need inside her grew and tightened unbearably. She opened her eyes and there he was, sweat glistening on his skin, his chest working like a bellows, his face frozen in a frightening expression. Panic stirred in her chest once more.
“Don’t fight it,” he forced out between clenched teeth. “Come for me.”
She wanted to come. It felt like she was at the breaking point, but it just wouldn’t happen and it felt maddening. Needy, helpless, frustrated sounds tore from her throat as Jake’s thrusts grew in force and speed. Her hands dug into the mattress and her fingers tore at the sheets. So close. His hands moved to her hips. It felt so close. He tilted her hips, found another angle. The tension shattered and there was brilliance and she was falling endlessly.
Above her, Jake felt her climax, threw his head back, sealed her body tightly to his and came with a harsh cry, his strong body shuddering.
When awareness returned, Jake stared down at the woman beneath him.
“Did I hurt you?” he managed to ask in between gasps for breath.
Breathing laboriously hers
elf like she’d just run a marathon, Katarzyna simply nodded.
Stupid question. Of course he’d hurt her. She was a virgin and he hadn’t been gentle. He’d introduced her to sex with all the finesse of an overeager teenager. All at once, a primitive possessiveness filled him. He was the only man she’d had sex with and he was fiercely pleased.
He wanted to collapse on top of her, let the exhaustion take over and sleep for the next hundred years. But he couldn’t. Instead, he slowly withdrew himself from her body with a wet sound, lowered himself onto his side next to her limp body and fell onto his back. Not questioning the need, he captured her hand, dragged it over his hammering heart and kept it there.
For a long time, their harsh breathing filled the room.
