“You’ve gotten mouthy,” he growled. Yet he couldn’t quite bring himself to be angry about that. Her fire, disrespectful though it was, kept his dick hard and made his hands itch to touch her. To tame her.
Jude lifted her from his cock and set her on the floor, fascinated all over again to realize that she hardly reached his shoulders. How could so much passion fit into so little woman?
If her brother’s army had fought with half her spirit, they might have had more success against Stead Camden.
“Get out.” Maari glared up at him.
Jude chuckled, reaching out to run the back of one knuckle down the side of her face. “I’m not done with you.”
She smacked his hand away, glaring up at him. “Well, I’m done with you!” She snatched the comforter up and wrapped herself in it, leaving a long lilac train to trail behind her as she sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m going to kill you.”
Jude laughed at her petulance. “Are you, now? And when, exactly, should I expect my death at your hands?” When it became obvious that she had no answer, he gave her an amused look. “Well, until you get that part figured out, I’m going to breed you.”
“I will not have your child,” Maari spat at him.
Amusement drained from his features. He grabbed her chin, eyes blazing with a quiet, menacing fury, where they’d always been cold before. “You would end your pregnancy? You would kill my child—your own child—just to hurt me?”
“It won’t come to that. I’m not going to get pregnant.”
He blinked, trying to decide whether or not she was serious as she pried at his fingers, attempting to free her face. “You do know where babies come from don’t you?” He let her go, convinced that amusement was the only reasonable response to such a ridiculous statement. “Because I’ve got an endless supply of batter to shoot into your oven, and that’s the only thing on my to-do list today.”
Truth be told, he’d be willing to clear his schedule for the next month and do nothing but fuck her. Especially now that he wouldn’t actually need to be present to give Geneva a son.
“Doesn’t matter.” Maari sank onto the bed again, pulling the covers up to her chin. “Mix up all the batter you want—this is a deeply flawed analogy, by the way—but all you’re going to get is an empty…um…oven.”
“You’re fertile. I’ve seen your medical records.” Annoyed, he stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower. “Get in.”
Instead, Maari tucked her legs beneath her on the bed, still shrouded by the rumpled sheet. “Don’t you want me to lie on my back for an hour? For all the good that will do.”
“Next time. For now, I’m going to wash my brother’s scent off you.”
“I can wash myself, thank you.” Tempted by the opportunity to rinse both Camdens’ fluids from herself, she stomped past him and tried to slam the bathroom door in his face, but Jude stopped it with one hand. Easily.
“Try that again, and I’ll tear the door from its hinges.” He grabbed her arm and hauled her into the shower, where several heads at different heights buffeted her with a pleasant assault of warm water.
Maari tilted her head back under the rain shower head to saturate her hair, clearly trying to ignore the hulking form of the naked, wet man in her shower. But when she picked up the soap, Jude snatched it from her grip. He squirted a generous dollop into his palm, and when he reached for her, she retreated until the tile wall hit her back and she was trapped. Again.
Jude lathered her up slowly, his hands gliding over slick, wet skin, caressing every sensitive peak and dramatic curve, learning her body as he went. Her nipples pebbled beneath his touch, so he paused to rub his palms lightly over them, his callouses teasing them into even harder points. When she tried to bat his hands away, he captured her wrists again and leaned back to let the flow of water rinse her.
Then he bent and took her nipple into his mouth.
“Please don’t,” she begged, pulling at her arms in a vain effort to free them. “Please—” He sucked lightly, flicking his tongue over the sensitive peak, and her objection melted into an inarticulate needy sound as she arched into him.
Jude’s free hand followed tiny rivers of water down her stomach, and when she stubbornly refused to part her legs for him, he wedged his knee between her thighs, creating just enough gap for his hand to slip over her mound.
She moaned as he circled her clit.
“Tell me what you want.”
“I want you to go away,” she snapped, even as her hips arched toward him, seeking greater friction.
“Liar. You’re wet. And that isn’t from the shower.” Jude slid his hand farther down and dipped two fingers inside her, stroking slowly. Enjoying her heat with what surely felt like a maddening patience.
Maari bit her lip and closed her eyes, mindlessly grinding against his hand as her body betrayed her yet again.
“Look at me,” Jude demanded, but she shook her head. So he let go of her wrists and took her chin again in a firm grip. “Look at me, Maari.”
“Ow!” But she opened her eyes, if only to glare at him. “Why? Why do I have to look at you?”
“So you can’t forget whose fingers are buried inside you.” Then he began to stroke in earnest, long and slow, as his thumb carefully worked her clit. Drawing her closer with every obscene moan. Every undulation of her hips. Every breathy sigh she couldn’t hold back.
He held her gaze, drinking in her desire, forcing her to associate pleasure with his face. With his scent. With his hands.
“You’re close,” he whispered when she began to clench around him, gasping softly, her eyes glazed with lust.
Maari only bit her lip.
“Kiss me, and I’ll let you come.”
“No—” But her refusal was swallowed by another gasp, as he plagued the rough patch inside her, drawing another groan from her.
“Kiss me.” His fingers slowed, his thumb abandoning her swollen clit altogether. He could take a kiss from her, of course. He’d done that often enough already. But he wanted her to give her mouth to him.
“Fuck you,” she whispered.
Jude pressed his fingers into her again, slowly stroking her soft, swollen passage. Keeping her right on the edge. “You kissed Malac.”
“He’s nice to me,” she groaned.
“Aren’t I being nice to you right now?”
“S’not the same.” Her words were slurred, need riding every syllable. “Please, finish it.”
“Kiss me, and I’ll make sure you see stars.”
Instead, she tried to slip her fingers between his hand and her body, to fulfill her own need. But he caught her hand, and she groaned as he pinned it behind her.
“Please,” she begged, as he slid his fingers in again, applying just enough pressure to make her squirm and clench around him. “I need to come. Please.”
“You know what it will cost you.”
“I’ll still hate you, even if I kiss you,” she slurred, completely intoxicated by his scent. Devastated by her own need.
“And yet that’s my price.” He brushed his thumb over her clit, and Maari shuddered. She was right on the edge. Brutally close. And she wasn’t suffering alone; Jude’s cock was a marble rod of misery, untouched and straining for the place his fingers had made their home.
Maari groaned again, and he could see her willpower crumble. He could feel her giving in. Then she leaned forward and pressed her mouth against his, spreading her lips for his tongue the moment she felt it. She moaned into his mouth, and as he stroked his tongue against hers, Jude increased the pressure inside her and rubbed her clit with his thumb.
She gasped, pulling free from his mouth as her eyes fell closed. As her body clamped down around his fingers, riding his hand with frantic twitching motions as pleasure washed over her.
“Oh, fuck,” Jude groaned as her arousal soaked his hand. He pulled his fingers free, and she snarled at him, making a grab for his hand. Trying to pull it back to where she wanted
it. Where she needed it, to finish what it had started.
Instead, Jude sucked his fingers clean, then he grabbed her and lifted her out of the shower to lay her on the floor.
Maari yipped as the cold, non-slip floor touched her back, and some of the lust receded from her eyes.
“Floor heater, on,” Jude ordered as he shoved her thighs apart. Then he sank all the way into her, groaning obscenely as her wet heat enveloped him.
Maari clutched at him, sinking her nails into his lower back. Digging into his backside with her bare heels. Her arrested orgasm barreled over her, and she came again on his second thrust, her wet hair spread out across the floor
He slammed into her over and over, fucking her hard as she came in wave after wave, gasping, her cunt clutching at him, her shower-slick skin sliding against his with every thrust.
Jude roared as he came, shooting deep into her, filling her as if he hadn’t just emptied his sac half an hour earlier.
Then, as she lay panting beneath him, shivering from the cool air on her wet skin, he leaned down and bit her earlobe, just hard enough to get her attention. “See how much fun obeying can be?”
11
Maari
I hate him.
Maari sat up on the bathroom floor and pulled a towel into her lap, letting the softly textured, heated floor warm her backside. “Aren’t showers supposed to make you feel clean?” she snapped as she patted her skin dry beneath the shield of fluffy lilac cotton.
“If you think we should take another one, I’m game,” Jude said, evidently unconcerned with his nudity as he snatched a towel from an upper cabinet.
“No thanks.” She wrapped the cotton around herself, still seated, while he swiped half-heartedly at the water beaded on his skin, then dropped his own towel on the floor.
Jude headed back into the bedroom as if he owned the place—which, she supposed, was true—and Maari could only stare when he began straightening the sheets on the bed. Still naked. As if he were serious about having nowhere else to be today.
“I’m sure someone will bring clean bedding the moment you leave,” she called through the doorway. “That’s how it’s been so far, anyway.”
“I’m not leaving.” He picked up the comforter she’d dropped on the floor and stood between the two posts at the end of the bed to whip it into place over the mattress. “Would you like some breakfast?”
“Why not?” Maari demanded, scowling at him from the bathroom floor. “I mean, why aren’t you leaving?”
“Come have a seat at the table. I’ll order something for you to eat. Do you prefer sweet or savory?” Jude shrugged when she didn’t answer. “The kitchen probably knows your preferences by now.”
“I doubt it. I’ve spent three of my five days here in your fucking dungeon. Without food.”
“Well now, who’s fault was that? And it isn’t a dungeon. It’s a darkcell, untouched by modern renovations since this place was built centuries ago.” He plucked his pants from the floor and dug a small com device from one of the pockets. “Come out here and have a seat. I won’t tell you again.”
“I don’t want a seat. And I don’t want breakfast.” Though that part was an outright lie. Having serviced all three Camden brothers in the past twelve hours, she was rather famished. “I want you to go away.”
Jude finished tapping on his device, then he set it on the dresser on his way back into the bathroom. “Your mouth is only cute when it’s wrapped around my cock. Get up.”
“No! I don’t want to have breakfast with you.”
“Well then, you’re in luck. I’ve already eaten.” Jude grabbed her arms and hauled her to her feet, then he ripped the towel from her grip and threw her over his shoulder, her long, wet hair trailing down his back.
“Let me down!” She pulled her right leg back and kneed him in the ribs, for which she was rewarded with a soft grunt of pain and a swift smack to the right side of her ass.
“Ow! Asshole.”
She pulled her leg back for another blow, and this time he caught her knee in one hand. “Try it again, and you won’t sit for a week,” he growled, scowling at her in the bathroom mirror.
Ass in the air, Maari stared at his reflection, trying to decide whether or not he was serious.
Jude lifted one brow at her. “Did you think Orlann was the only one capable of keeping you in line?”
Her face flamed. “He told you…what he did to me?”
Jude turned her away from the mirror and carried her into the bedroom, where he set her on her feet next to the table. “Sit.”
She glared up at him, trying to decide how far she could push him. And why he had let her push him this far, when saying no to him before had meant three days in a cold, filthy, dark room. The darkcell.
“Why is it that you resist every instruction I give you, but you obey Orlann before he can even finish giving an order? That you would lick Malac’s fucking toes clean, if he asked you to?”
Maari frowned, mystified that he couldn’t understand. “I’m just trying to survive Orlann. That’s all I can do with him. And Malac is kind.”
“Bullshit.” Jude shoved her into a chair at the table. “I’ve seen him hurt you—”
“But he did it with a smile and a kind word of encouragement. He stayed with me afterward. Wait.” Her frown deepened. “Malac didn’t leave this room until you kicked him out.” She looked up, her gaze roving the vaulted ceiling. “Where’s the camera?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, watching her in obvious amusement. “What makes you think there’s only one?”
“This is a complete violation of my privacy.”
“Indeed.”
Maari blinked at him. “You’re insufferable.”
“And yet you’re willing to suffer Malac, because he smiles at you.”
“He’s nice to me, and that’s the only thing I have, here, other than Annah.” Her gaze dropped from the ceiling to burn into him. “Where is she, anyway?”
Jude rose as the door opened, making room for the server who entered to set her tray on the table. “Your maid has been assigned a bunk in the maids’ dormitory, for times when she can’t be here with you.” He watched while the server unloaded her tray, then he nodded to dismiss her. The server left with both the tray and the dome, closing the bedroom door behind her. “Eat,” Jude commanded as he sat across from Maari again and poured himself a cup of coffee. “You’re going to need energy.”
For a moment, she only crossed her arms beneath her breasts, glaring up at him. Rebellion for the sake of rebellion.
“Do you want to go back in the darkcell?”
“Is that the only way you can deal with me? By locking me up? By putting me out of sight?”
But she knew she was wrong about that the moment the words left her mouth. He could only know she’d kissed Malac if he’d seen it happen. Which meant she was never out of his sight, even when he wasn’t with her. He was watching her.
“I could deal with you through a much more hands-on approach, if you’d prefer that,” Jude said, and she couldn’t tell whether that was a threat or a promise.
In the end, Maari decided to pick her battles more carefully, well aware that if she wound up in the darkcell again, she’d curse herself for every bite of food she’d turned down.
The selection in front of her was absurd. Sweet cakes and syrup. Muffins with strudel topping. Bacon and hash browns. Eggs cooked three different ways. Coffee, ice water, and two kinds of juice.
“There’s no way I can eat all this,” Maari said as she pinched a bite from the apple muffin. “You may as well have some.” Maybe, despite her initial impression of him, Jude was more like Malac than like Orlann. Maybe she could charm him into letting down his guard, even if she paid for the effort with another very sore throat.
But he only watched her eat while he sipped his coffee. Naked.
“You can’t quite commit to it, can you?” she asked around a bite of bacon.
“To wha
t?”
“To being nice. Treating me like an actual human being. I can’t decide if that’s because of our captive/captor relationship, or because you don’t treat anyone like a human being.”
Jude’s gaze narrowed on her. “You’ve had three orgasms and two strips of bacon in the past hour. What, exactly, is it you perceive to be missing from this interaction?”
She shrugged. “Conversation.”
“And what would you like to discuss?”
Maari frowned at him from across the table. “I’ve been locked up for five days. I’ve seen no one other than Annah and you three brutes. I’d like to discuss anything with another living being. So, tell me about yourself. What are your likes and dislikes?”
“I like it when you beg me for an orgasm. I dislike it when you refuse to follow orders.”
Though, Maari was pretty sure that last part wasn’t entirely true. His eyes lit up with a certain spark—a distinctive flavor of excitement—when she told him no. When she gave him the opportunity to turn her no into a yes, whether that meant locking her up for three days or fucking her into submission.
“That’s it?” She poked an egg yolk until it bled sunshine all over her plate. “What do you do when you’re not here with me? Don’t you have a kingdom to run? Hobbies? Brothers to keep in line? Tell me about that.”
Jude’s gaze hardened swiftly. Shutting her out. “No. You are not a part of my life outside this room. If you want something else to discuss with me, give me a child. Then we can talk about that.”
Maari pushed her plate back, her appetite gone, though she’d only had half a muffin and a couple of strips of bacon. She poured coffee for herself and stared out the window into the garden as she sipped it.
Jude followed her gaze as a shift in the clouds allowed blinding rays from the rising second sun to paint a rectangle of light across the table. “You have a nice view. I guess Malac was right about this room.”
“It was Malac’s idea to put me here?”
Jude nodded absently. “He likes the fireplace.”
“That was kind of him.”
Jude’s head snapped around, his sudden scowl pinning her. “He picked this room for his own comfort, not for yours.”
Dirty Lovely Broken Page 13
