by Nashoda Rose
I parted her lips with my fingers and suckled her clit while I teased her opening, not entering… not yet.
She lifted her hips. “Kai.”
“Wait. Tonight we take our time. Slow and precise, braveheart. Just like your experiments.” She stiffened beneath me and I’d have none of that. I sucked harder and slid my finger through her wetness before slowly circling the sweet spot.
Her body writhed, eyes closed, lips parted as I relentlessly played, tasted and made her forget everything except what I was doing to her body.
“Kai,” she whispered.
Her back arched, neck exposed, breathing ragged as she panted. I quickened my movements as her legs trembled and closed around my shoulders.
“Come, baby.” My voice vibrated on her sex sending her over the edge.
“Oh, God. Kai. Kai….”
Her body stiffened, hips raised off the bed, thighs shaking violently as she came in my mouth. I pushed two fingers inside her and she screamed with pleasure as she came. She pulsed around my fingers. She pumped onto them and then I slowly brought her back down with a light flick of my tongue.
I raised my head and looked at her face. “Beautiful. Fuckin’ beautiful.”
I’d dreamed about seeing that relaxed, sated expression on her face again. I couldn’t erase what happened to her and I wasn’t going to dwell on what had been done to her body. The men who had touched her were dead now.
Her hand slipped into my hair and I moved up the bed to settle my cock between her legs. She frowned as I took hold of it and slid it up and down through her wetness.
“Condom, Kai.”
I stilled. “You were checked and your results were clear.” That deepened her frown. I raised my brows and half-grinned. “London, do you think I wouldn’t check into you once Deck took you from the auction. That you never contacted your friends when you came home or went back to school? That you refused to visit your dad at the lab or be near men? That you went to therapy and were on medication that made you spend days in bed? I know everything about you.”
“How?”
Because I had Ernie watching her all the time. Because I couldn’t not know. Despite having to stay away from her, I never let her go. She was part of me whether either of us wanted it. But at that moment, I didn’t want to tell her about Ernie. And I wouldn’t lie so I remained quiet.
“Kai? How did you know?”
Her soft voice drew me away from my thoughts and even my cock wasn’t throbbing anymore. I rolled to the side and stared at the ceiling. “I saw the doctor’s report. Blood tests.”
“But how… that’s confidential.” God, she really had no clue what I was capable of. When I turned my head to look at her, I raised my brows. “Oh.” Yeah, she was smart. Nothing would keep me from finding information I wanted or needed when it came to London.
But there was information I did want regarding Vault and was beginning to quietly check. Location of the farm, the anonymous member of Vault and what the fuck was in the drug London’s father developed. Those three answers had power and I wanted them.
“We still need a condom,” she said.
“Haven’t been with anyone since I was last checked.” Twice a year, mandatory physical with Vault, but that wasn’t the only reason. I hadn’t been with a woman since London. There was no one else. Even knowing I may never see her again, there wasn’t a single moment that I considered having sex with anyone else.
I reached over and yanked her up on top of me. “There’s no possibility of pregnancy. Ever.” All Vault operatives were sterilized since Mother took over and the farm came into existence, a way to make certain no child we fathered or mothered became more important than them.
As she straddled me, her mouth inches away, I wanted to kiss her so fuckin’ desperately. I hadn’t tasted her lips before. I had never tasted any woman’s. It was too personal.
But everything about us was personal.
“That isn’t always a hundred percent, Kai.”
True. Especially since the doctor they used to do the procedure had been unwilling and under extreme duress. “Neither are condoms.” She smiled. “No more talking, baby. Now I want to hear you moan.” I reached between us and placed my cock at her entrance then I slowly tilted my hips as I pushed inside her. It was agonizing because my body wanted to thrust when my mind wanted to savor. My mind won.
She was tight as hell and it never felt better. It was like every inch of my body remembered what it felt like being deep inside her and it was screaming yes.
She wiggled a bit and I sank deeper. I grabbed her hips and she latched onto my arms and started moving. “Kai. Why does it feel so good?”
I knew the answer but I wouldn’t say it. Not aloud. Never.
“Harder. Kai.” I helped her move up and down my cock, while watching her head tilt back, eyes closed.
It didn’t take long before I knew I couldn’t hold off any longer and it was almost disappointing. But imagining this moment and it being so fuckin’ long since I had her, control was not on my side. The sweet flush on her cheeks, the way her lips slightly parted as she panted, it undid me.
“Fuck, London. I can’t wait.” I flipped her over on her back, still locked inside her. Then I thrust hard and fast as her ankles locked behind my back. “Yes.” I groaned as she met my rhythm, our bodies slapping against one another.
“Oh, God, Kai.”
And that gravelly voice saying my name had me coming inside her in a violent rush, like a tidal wave crashing down on me and taking every part of me that I had control over and breaking it apart.
I thrust a few more times, her clenching around me, hands on my heated chest, legs now relaxed on either side of me.
Jesus. It was like coming home inside of her.
Her hand rose and sifted through my hair. “You kept your promise.”
I leaned in closer, my cock still sunk inside her and kissed the side of her neck then worked my way up to her ear. “What promise is that?”
“Always.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for not giving up on me.”
I didn’t reply because there was nothing to thank.
“Kai?”
“Yeah?” I pulled out and rolled onto my back.
She sat up, holding the sheet to her chest. I liked that she still had that shyness with her nudity despite what she’d been exposed to. “The drug my father was working on, what is it for?”
“Control.”
“Over?”
“People, London. Control over people.” Except it wasn’t just people. It was dangerous men like Connor. I threw my legs over the side of the bed, bent, grabbed my jeans and tugged them on as I stood.
I heard her shift closer to me. “Why?”
I ignored her question because there was so much to tell her and I didn’t want to get into it now. “You can’t run away from here.” I didn’t think she would, but I had to say it.
She was silent several seconds before she said, “I couldn’t stay there… at home. The way everyone looked at me. My father… everyone knew.”
“No. You knew. It just felt that way.”
“I couldn’t function. I was suffocating. My dad wouldn’t let me go back to my loft and the medication was messing me up. All I wanted to do was die. And the doctor… he wanted me to talk about it and I couldn’t.”
“Because you didn’t want to face it.”
A tear trailed down her cheek. “I….”
She couldn’t say it, so I helped her. “It was easier being Raven than to fight your way back.”
She nodded, her chin dropping. “Yes.”
“No shame in that, London. You did what made you feel safe.”
Being Raven was who she’d become and living as London surrounded by those who loved her was suffocating. Her mind had been trained to submit and suddenly, she had nothing to submit to. She’d been lost, and afraid of facing what happened so she ran.
“No more running, baby.”<
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“Kai?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. For what you’ve done. For everything.” Her fingers tightened around the edge of the sheet clutched to her chest and when her eyes met mine, I saw warmth and lightness in the depths. “I know you don’t think so, but you have good in you.”
I didn’t respond to that. I couldn’t because my throat was tight and I had no words to give her.
“What happens now?”
“I don’t know, London.” And I didn’t. Nothing was certain, but I’d do whatever it took to keep her from being hurt. If that meant her staying here for years, then that was what would happen.
I threw my leg over her, straddling her, the sheet shielding her naked body from me, but that wasn’t lasting long. “I have to leave soon, baby, and I don’t know how long I’ll be.” I lowered my voice. “You need to know that leaving here isn’t an option for you.”
Her brows rose. “Are you saying I’m a prisoner?”
I smirked. “You can take it any way you want.” I drew in closer. “But if you do, there isn’t anywhere I won’t find you again.” I tightened my thighs around her hips. “I found you in an underworld where girls are lost forever.”
“Deck found me,” she said, trying to hide her smile.
“Mmm, yes. But I allowed him to.”
Her breath hitched and her eyes widened. “You were there? Why then… why didn’t you take me with you?”
“Couldn’t do it, baby. Not then.”
“And now is what… more convenient for you?”
My lip twitched. “Yes.”
“Why?” she demanded, her brows scrunched together and her supple body tensed beneath me.
Fuck, she was perfect. I grabbed her wrists and locked them together in one hand above her head and grinned. “Wanted to finish decorating my bedroom. Took me a while.”
She huffed. I chuckled. She struggled against me, but that didn’t last long. Soon, my jeans were back on the floor and she was submitting to me, and it wasn’t because I made her.
London belonged to me because she wanted to. And that was a woman’s ultimate control.
Hard Limit
“BABY, YOU KNOW I love a challenge and if you decide to make a run for it,”—I stalked across the room toward her—“know that I’ve never lost one.” I didn’t. It was a fact. Losing was a word I had no experience with because I didn’t know how to give up.
Her brows lowered and her nose twitched before she tucked her hair behind her ear. I loved that she was a little uncertain of me, on her guard and yet still her blood rushed through her veins in heated anger. It was the London I’d been attempting to get back, the girl who would stand up to a killer, the girl who challenged me.
My cock strained against my jeans and I liked the discomfort.
I waited. Eager to see what she’d do—if she’d run, fight or submit. I wanted all three in that order. I smiled as I stood a few feet away from her, arms crossed, completely relaxed, at least in appearance, and yet my muscles thrummed, ready to react.
“I don’t understand you.”
“I’m not meant to be understood, merely… pleased.”
“I tried that. You didn’t like it,” she retorted and I loved that she threw attitude back at me. What I didn’t like was what it meant—time for me to return to Toronto and deal with shit. Every night for the last week I went to bed swearing I’d leave in the morning, yet every morning when I woke with her naked in my arms, I said, ‘Tomorrow.’
I laughed. “Quite right. But having a woman suck me off because she is trained to doesn’t please me. What pleases me is if she gets wet merely thinking about wrapping her lips around my cock. That, my dear, pleases me.”
“And if she doesn’t want to?”
My eyes roamed the length of her, seeing the slight jerk in her body, the tiny goose bumps on her heated skin. There was no question she wanted me. The question was whether she’d push herself. “Are you telling me you wouldn’t want to if I asked you to, right now?”
She hesitated. No doubt contemplating whether to lie to me or not. “No,” she replied. Good girl. “But why do you want to do this? Tie me up.”
I shrugged. “Push your limits. And because I think you need it.”
“I don’t like it.”
I chuckled. “I know. But you’ll do it.”
“Are you going to force me?”
“Braveheart, I don’t have to force you to do anything. You’ll willingly do it because you trust me.” I paused, grinning. “And because you’re in love with me.” Oh, she didn’t like that, but the truth blazed in the depths of her eyes. “Come here. Or run. Either way is fine with me.”
Her finger tapped on her thigh as she decided. “You’re pretty damn confident making that ridiculous assumption.” She smiled and mimicked me, crossing her arms then cocked her hip.
Ah, baby, you have no idea who you’re dealing with.
“Am I?” I slipped my knife from the holster and dragged it across the palm of my hand.
She pursed her lips together, eyes narrowing, brows low. She was contemplating like she had in the car when I’d made her drive into the woods.
“Fine. I’ll do it.” Then she added, “But it’s not because I’m in love with you.”
I shrugged. It was better if she believed that, but she wouldn’t do this if she didn’t trust me completely. Love? It was an emotion I had no experience with, and I’d said it to see what she’d say.
I stood leaning against the wall, waiting, giving her the time to accept what I was asking. This was more than a challenge. I was rewriting the trauma and my little braveheart was living up to her nickname.
She took a long, deep inhale, her chest expanding and causing her nipples to push against the button-down dress shirt she wore. My button-down dress shirt.
This might be a challenge for her, but it was for me, too, because I wanted to rip my shirt off her, draw her nipples into my mouth until she arched and begged for me to sink inside her.
She walked over to the bed. The mattress creaked as she knelt on it. Crawling to the center, her eyes closed briefly and goose bumps appeared on her naked thighs. This was past her comfort zone, and I was pushing her limits.
She lay back.
When she opened her eyes and looked at me, determination settled within the depths. Then she raised her arms above her head and crossed her wrists.
My girl, so fuckin’ brave.
Restraint.
Helplessness.
Vulnerability.
She’d spent years restrained like a dog, an object, something to be abused. Made to feel powerless and worthless. I had to change that. She was no longer a victim and the fear that was hidden behind that stubbornness was still present, lingering like a leech on her skin sucking out the pleasure.
I wanted the fear gone.
I needed it gone.
But most of all, she needed it gone.
I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my piano wire. Something I’d used numerous times to wrap around a throat and end the frantically beating pulse, lungs screaming for the oxygen I deprived.
My eyes roamed down her throat, the beautiful curve so delicate and exposed. I was easily able to end her life and that was why we were here right now. I needed her to trust me completely and put her in a position that made her defenseless.
As I approached the bed, her breath quickened and she tensed. She didn’t move although it was a fight, a fight against herself. Because that was what this was. It wasn’t me she feared. It was the memories that haunted her.
I leaned over the bed, my hands slowly wrapping the thin, smooth wire around her wrists several times, locking them together. I knotted the ends around the rung of the headboard, not tight, but enough that she’d be unable to move more than a few inches without the wire cutting into her wrists.
Her breath came in short gasps and she paled. I didn’t fuckin’ like it.
I ran my fingers down her arms to
her shoulders then over to her throat, feeling her swallow beneath my touch. “You can do this, London.”
She didn’t answer. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I continued to trace gentle paths along her neck and collarbone. “You’re stronger than what was done to you. Don’t let him have you.” Him was generic because I didn’t know, and never wanted to know, how many hims there’d been.
“I’m scared.”
“I know. But we’re going to change that.” I cupped her chin and waited until her eyes steadied on mine. “No other man is inside you except me. Mind or body.” I brushed my thumb across her lips. Lips I was going to finally taste soon. “I need you to give yourself completely to me, not because you’re forced to, London, but because you trust me to only give you pleasure.”
She pulled a bit on the wire and her eyes widened with panic. “Kai. I don’t like it.”
I flattened my palm on her chest just above her breasts and felt her heart beating erratically. “Keep your eyes on me. I need you to see me. Know it’s me. Only me. Always.”
I stood up straight and slowly undressed. Taking my time, I stepped out of my jeans and folded them. I walked over to the chair and placed them on the seat.
I knew what she was doing before I turned. Struggling against the wire. I could hear the creak of the bed, the rustle of the sheets beneath her. “Oh, God, Kai.”
I’d release her if she really wanted me to, but I was certain she was strong enough to defeat the panic. “If I untie you, they win. Do you want that?” She bit her lower lip and I could see the imprint left from her teeth when she released it. “Do you want to live with them lingering, sucking the life out of you?” I approached the end of the bed and stopped. “I want all of you, London. Every single piece of you and I want you to give it to me.” I knelt on the bed and came toward her until I straddled her body. I leaned over her, my hands sliding up her arms until they rested on top of the bound wrists. “You need to decide whether you want to fight for me, London.”
“Fight for you?” Her voice shook and I curled my hands around hers and squeezed.
“Yes,” I whispered, leaning closer so my breath swept across her cheek. “Can you do that?”
