by CR Robertson
My hands unfisted to trail up his sides and across his back to cling to him. His lips showed me what he wanted, and I reciprocated every movement until nothing else existed except the sensation of our lips moving in this forbidden dance. My stomach tightened and my heart beat rapidly as his left hand traced down my throat to delve under the towel and find my breast.
The towel unravelled and fell to the floor. I knew exactly how it felt.
Nic sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and bit down gently, before pinning me against the wall with his body, his mouth devouring me like a starving man. His first kiss had been tentative and coaxing, now he dominated and demanded. I clung to his shoulders and opened myself up to him. His hand slipped down my body until it found that place between my legs that only I had ever touched. My hips tilted toward him and I moaned into his mouth.
“Shit,” he hissed, trying to draw back; only my hand still held him. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
My eyes closed in pained defeat. Yet another man that was too afraid of Papa to come anywhere near me. Or maybe he didn’t want me because I was a little overweight?
“It’s fine,” I replied in a small voice, trying to save what was left of my pride and grab the discarded towel. “I know I’m not as attractive as my sisters.”
His hands clamped onto my arms, pushing my chest against the bathroom wall when I tried to escape. His body pressed tightly into mine and I felt his erection against my lower back. “I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. I promised your father that I’d look after you. He probably didn’t envisage that request to mean me fucking you against the bathroom wall.”
There was something about this man that made carnal lust accumulate deep in my stomach. I only thought I wanted to have sex with Mario. What I felt in the past was nothing compared to the burning that coursed through my veins right now.
“Is the bed acceptable?”
His low chuckle made me lean back into his strength. “You’re a fucking siren who lures men to their doom. Do you know that?”
He released me as suddenly as he grabbed me. I slumped into the wall because my legs were wobbly. Nic slowly turned me to face him.
“Don’t leave this room without my permission. Maria will bring you food tonight and sort clothes for you tomorrow. Understand?”
I chewed the inside of my mouth.
Nic shook me to make me look at him. “Women on this estate tend to be available for sex with whoever wants them. I’m trying to keep you safe. Do you understand?”
I nodded automatically.
He released me and sucked in a breath. “Lock the door. Maria and I both have a key. Try to get some rest.”
Nic moved away from me, then stopped. He looked like he wanted to say something. Instead, he shook his head and stalked to the door, slamming it behind him.
I stared at the door, expecting it to burst open and him to come pacing through it again. When he didn’t after a few minutes, I crept forward and locked the door before throwing myself onto the bed. My hand covered my lips and a smile slowly spread over my mouth.
No man had ever kissed me before. I never imagined a kiss would make me feel like this. My body tingled like that bubbly champagne that Papa served on special occasions. My stomach was tight and the dampness between my legs had nothing to do with the bath I’d been in.
Papa had set me directly in the path of the man who consumed my fantasies. None of them lived up to the sensations the real version created. I read romance novels and rolled my eyes when the heroine went weak in the knees from a kiss. Who knew the romance novelists were right? The authors must spend their spare time kissing strangers and being debauched in a variety of different scenarios to let the rest of us know what it feels like.
Lucky bitches.
I eventually decided to pull my leggings and T-shirt on and take a peek at the world outside. The fields stretched into the distance and a courtyard was directly under my window. Some men sat around puffing on cigars, others had women sitting on their knees, giggling and talking to them. Maybe it was just my imagination, but the couple in the swimming pool looked like they were having sex at the side of the pool. No one was looking at them or batting an eyelid in their direction. His pelvis was definitely moving rapidly, and her head was thrown back in pure ecstasy, legs wrapped around him.
When stressed, I always ran. It was a coping mechanism to run away from my problems. I hated it, but it was engrained into me. Since I was locked in this room, and not sleepy, I decided to do Pilates stretches instead. Halfway through my routine, there was a knock on the door and a key turned in the lock.
Maria stopped and stared at me in shock. A food tray sat in her hands. “You should be in bed, Chiquita.”
I let her lead me to the bed and fuss until I was seated with the tray beside me. Our housekeeper back home always treated me like a child, and I never objected because I missed Mama tucking me in. My sisters were younger than me, so they didn’t remember her the way I did. It was the tiny things you missed the most, like bedtime stories and the way she brushed my hair until it shined. She always sang when she was baking bread and made me scrub my teeth before bed. The pain of losing something that important never left you. In time, you merely learned to cope with the pain.
After Maria left, I picked through some of the food, before crawling under the duvet and indulging in a new fantasy about Nic. In it, he stood up to Papa and claimed me as his own. I really hope he’d finish what he started, because he ignited a fire in me that burned through my veins and scorched my senses.
***
Chapter Eight
Nicklas
The man slumped forward in the manacles, his legs giving out. Those fuckers had been here for months setting up a base of operations in my backyard. I wasn’t angry; I was pulsating with furious rage.
Our group kept a low profile, but it didn’t mean that people were unaware of us. It was an act of disrespect to shit in someone’s yard and not clean it up. He was lucky I didn’t make him eat the shit he already defiled my floor with.
Sam paced in the background on his phone, bringing our men in to be briefed. I never said anything over the phone when it could be said in person. You couldn’t be too cautious, which resulted in my secrets remaining that way.
“Who put a mark on Lucas Black?” I asked quietly while sharpening a knife. It was already deadly, but the noise tended to put people on edge.
The man stared at the knife before moving his attention to me. “Who’s Lucas Black?”
Lucas had been around long enough for everyone in the Council to know his name. His nephew Xavier sat in his seat since he gave the bullshit excuse of wanting to spend time with his daughters after his beloved wife passed away. All these years later, and he’d never looked at another woman. I always wondered what a love like that would feel like.
I slowly raised my gaze from the knife to lock eyes with the asshole stupid enough to get caught. “Now I know you’re playing games.” I took a step forward. “Lucas Black is a name that everyone in this type of business knows. He’s the bogeyman we tell our kids about and the man who instils fear in our sphincter muscles.”
He struggled with the manacles to move away from me.
“Can I let you in on a secret?” I asked softly. “Lucas Black found me on the streets and raised me. I owe him my life. If you think that I’ll let anyone harm him or his family, then you’re mistaken.”
I used the knife to cut down the midline of his chest. He grunted and bit his lips together.
“Tell me about Silas.”
His eyes widened, and he frantically shook his head. Something about that man always put the fear of God into the Council’s minions. He hadn’t been seen in years, but his presence was still felt. I wanted to cut it out like a cancerous growth that was poisoning what had once been an honest and noble establishment. Silas and those with his ideologies, needed to be extinct with the rest of the dinosaurs.
I cut another line down
his chest from the middle of his right shoulder to his pelvic bone. “Silas murdered my foster parents. They never hurt a soul in their lives, and he killed them in cold blood.” Another line traced from his left shoulder to his pelvis. Blood dripped onto the floor.
Sam stepped into the room. “Flight just came in and more people from the Council were on it.”
The man smirked, then coughed up blood that he spat on the floor. “They’ll kill you all.”
I stabbed the blade deep into his stomach and twisted. “They need to know who we are and where to find us first. Considering none of you worked it out in the months you were here, I’ll take my chances.”
Blood bubbled from his mouth. The wound was fatal and would take a few hours to bleed out. It was his punishment for siding with the wrong people in this war. We may be criminals, but we had a moral code that we adhered to. The fuckers on the Council could no longer claim to hold the same values. When you reverted to the skin trade, you were nothing more than a lowlife with a death wish.
If they’d gotten their hands on Sofia, she’d have been sold off to some asshole who would rape her, take her virginity, and then sell her off for slavery. The way she kissed screamed innocence, and it made the beast inside me roar to protect her.
“Want me to finish him?” Sam asked.
“Nah, let him hang around for a while and consider his life choices.”
Kris chuckled from his position outside. “You’re a fucking psycho.”
“Takes one to know one.”
He replied with a one fingered salute.
“Bring everyone in, no excuses,” I snapped, rubbing the back of my neck. “We need to get a handle on this before they come for us. Essential personnel only at the moment.”
Kris raised an eyebrow. “The guys won’t be happy that you’re curtailing their pussy parties.”
“They’ve got five fingers and a hand. If their desperate, they can shag each other for all I care. Those women would be collateral damage to men like that. I won’t have innocent lives on my conscience if I can help it.”
Sam eyeballed me. “What about the woman who arrived yesterday?”
“She’s a favour for an old friend. He needs me to keep her safe for a few days until the heat has died down and she can go home.”
“A hot piece of ass like that around horny men, is asking for trouble.” The last syllable had just emerged from Sam’s mouth when my hand wrapped around his throat and I slammed him against the wall.
“She is off the menu. Any men get their dicks out around her, and I’ll personally cut it off and present it to them to eat. Do I make myself clear?” I rarely pulled rank in this organisation. We all tended to be equal, but there was something about that woman that was driving me crazy. I should put her on the first flight to Tuscany and let Lucas sort this fucking mess out.
Sam held his hands up in front of him in surrender.
Fuck it all to hell and back. I should never have kissed her. Now all I could think about were those curves, and that mouth wrapped around my dick. I only went to her room to make sure she had everything she needed. When she didn’t answer, I unlocked the door to make sure she was okay. Never in a million years did I expect to find her naked in the bath with her tits floating above the water and nipples tempting me.
The fact that she opened herself to me without question sent all my blood flowing away from the brain I was supposed to think with. If we had enemies here on my island arriving by the day, my head needed to be in the game, not debating how to help get my dick wet.
She wasn’t like the other women who wandered around here on a daily basis. They came here because my men were clean and gave them respect that others didn’t. No one asked any questions, and they weren’t forced to do anything.
Maybe I should scratch this itch with one of them before Sam removed them from here for their own safety. Wandering back to the house, I noticed Sofia watching out her window, her expression far away. The sight of her in my home made a foreign emotion lodge in my chest. It made me want things that I wasn’t allowed to have. I watched her for a while from the shadows until she turned away and moved inside.
Maia was cute, with big breasts and a curvy ass. I crooked my finger at her on the way past. If anyone could cure me of whatever I was feeling for Sofia Black, Maia could. She had a mouth on her that could suck a man dry in sixty seconds and leave him a quivering mess.
No one ever got inside my bedroom, and I doubted anyone knew where I really slept. Multiple foster homes made me learn to sleep with one eye open and a weapon under my pillow.
Maia followed me to my office, a coquettish smile on her face that said she felt superior since I chose her over the other girls. I would have preferred the woman upstairs, but there was no way I was laying a finger or my lips on her again.
She dropped to her knees without any encouragement and unzipped my jeans. Normally I would be rock hard and ready to go. She pumped me a few times, but my dick had zero interest in her. It was only when I visualised huge brown eyes framed by long lashes set in the face of an angel, with long, black hair, that he twitched into life. I imagined that it was Sofia on her knees in front of me, my dick sliding between those pouty lips of hers.
My hand threaded through her hair and I let myself go, thrusting deep into the back of her throat until I felt the gag reflex spasming around my tip. I roared my climax and felt shame when I saw Maia’s eyes watching me when I wanted to be with someone else. None of my men paid for sex, but we ensured the girls and their families were well taken care of.
“You okay, Nic?” she said, resting back on her heels.
“Long day, Sugar.”
“Want me to stay the night?” Maia wanted to be permanent, like some of the girls who’d were shacked up with my guys. They lived here most of the time with the men who claimed them.
I gave her a half smile. “Best get home, trouble’s brewing on the horizon.”
Her eyes widened, and I tucked myself back into my jeans. Being with Maia made the itch under my skin worse since I felt cheap and nasty now. I used her, and that felt wrong, even though I’d done it countless times in the past.
She pushed herself onto her feet. “You sure you don’t want me to stay?” She rocked from side to side and gave me the look that normally had my men dragging her off to their rooms.
“Some other time.”
Never again.
She nodded and slowly left; her shoulders stooped forward in defeat.
I slumped into my chair and unlocked my desk, retrieving the letter that was hidden in the secret compartment. Trust Lucas to have a contingency plan for his daughters. They were his princesses that he kept in a tower far from the prying eyes of the world.
Keep her safe.
The words leapt off the page at me. The safest place for her was in my bed—no one would ever dare to look for her there. Neither would they harm her there. At least if she was under me, I’d know where she was.
“Fuck!” I stared blankly at the ceiling. The erection I had to summon for Maia was throbbing in my jeans with just the thought of Sofia in my bed.
I gave the letter from Lucas one last read before I burned it. No one would ever read it if it no longer existed. My best quality scotch sat on the mantlepiece, so I filled a glass and swirled it until the aroma tempted me. Since fucking Maia hadn’t helped; maybe I should just drink myself into oblivion. I needed to do something, or I was going to crawl into bed with Sofia and take the virginity her father ensured no one would ever consider plucking or they’d face certain death.
She should never have clung to me the way she did or kiss me with such wanton abandon. She created a beast inside me that demanded a sacrifice of flesh and blood to satiate him. Only the flesh and blood of one woman would suffice his hunger. The fact that I had to think about Sofia to get hard for Maia made me feel like I cheated somehow.
I filled my glass again and downed the amber liquid, relishing the burn that followed it down my throat. T
he way I felt tonight, I wanted to set fire to the world and sit and watch it incinerate around me.
***
Chapter Nine
Sofia
My gaze dropped to the plate in front of me and my cheeks flamed at all the eyes watching me. Maria had insisted that I come down for lunch. I was still wearing the leggings and T-shirt from yesterday, but today my hair was braided in two plaits that rested on each of my shoulders.
I hated being the centre of attention—that was my sister Catarina’s job in the family. She revelled in it, deliberately creating situations for people to adore her. Catarina would have been the life and soul of lunch right now. Instead, I poked the contents of my bowl with my spoon.
Maria shooed the men out that had finished their lunch.
“Eat, Chiquita. You are too thin.”
That actually made me smile since I was the plump sister who always felt self-conscious. “You should see my sisters. They’re stunning with perfect figures. I’m the one that no one looks at.”
The kitchen door slammed as Nic stalked in and took his place at the table. “I thought I told you to stay in your room? My men are queued up outside with their dicks dragging behind them.”
Maria slapped the back of his head on the way past, muttering about language at the dinner table. He glared at her but didn’t comment any further. I chewed the side of my lip and watched him.
“What?” he snapped.
My eyes widened. Where had the man from last night gone? The one with soft kisses and hands that made me moan with pleasure. Today, he was all snarls and growls.
“Thank you for lunch, Maria. I’ll go back to my room.” I stood and was about to walk to the door but stopped. “I need my devices. Someone removed them from my bag. I have work for university to do.”
Nic studied me intently for several seconds. “I can’t risk someone tracking you.”
