“Miss Tania!” the nurse’s voice boomed up the hallway. “Miss Tania! Come quick!”
She sucked in a sharp breath. Her eyes widened. “Grandpa!” she wailed as she sped from the room.
Sam paused briefly, inhaling deeply. He knew, without a doubt, what was to come, and he slowly made his way down the elegant hall toward Mikhail’s quarters. But nothing could have readied him for the heart-wrenching sight of his wife curled up in the fetal position in the big bed next to her emaciated grandfather’s lifeless body. Quietly, she wept for the loss of a man she’d barely allowed herself time to know.
And painfully, Sam realized that without Mikhail Petrov, Tania was free to do as she pleased, free to obtain that beloved annulment.
Yeah, he loved her all right. But was it enough to satisfy her, or was he suffocating her with a life she truly didn’t want?
***
The family cemetery was a quaintly gated area tucked in a valley in the center of the far west field. Tania had never been here before, despite the fact that her mother had been laid to rest here over sixteen years ago. As a small child, having already been in the gray depths of shock, she had been shielded from the arrival of her mother’s body, and the subsequent, quiet burial that had followed. In the years that ensued, she’d purposely avoided that area of the ranch, as if dodging the obvious would make it not so.
Now she stood at Mikhail’s grave, the scent of freshly turned earth in the air. The elm and oak and flowering dogwoods were alive and brilliant, and surrounded the graveyard in stark irony. It had been over a week since the burial, but she’d come here day after day, and placed bluebonnets at his headstone. On one side of him lay his beloved wife, Fiona, a grandmother she’d never gotten the chance to know. And on the other side, his daughter, Sabina.
Tania gazed at her mother’s pale pink marble headstone. As the tears of anger and sadness stung her eyes, she made her way to the aged grave for the first time, and collapsed to her knees.
Sobbing fitfully, she asked, “Why, Momma, why?” Gripping the neatly clipped grass, she leaned forward and pressed her cheek to the earth that separated her from the woman she loved, yet hated with all her being. “Why did you do this to me? Why did you force that pitiful life on me?”
The arms that came around her were a bittersweet comfort. While she felt the need to stay, to demand answers from her mother, she accepted that they were buried with the woman who had manipulated her far more than any other person in her life, far more, even, than her grandfather.
She curled against the strong, wide chest as she was carried to his steed and gently set atop the saddle. Without a word, Sam mounted behind her and gathered her close, turning toward home.
Chapter Nine
It was a simple home, barely bigger than her cottage. As they followed the winding narrow lane away from the bustling city weeks later, Tania perused Sam’s white ranch-style house nestled charmingly on a one-acre wooded plot on the outskirts of Dallas. Like two recluses, he shared the delightful park-like setting with only one other home. Similar in age and build, the dwellings were far enough apart to lend both ample privacy, yet close enough for neighborly comfort. The road merged into a quaint cul-de-sac, and Sam pulled into the driveway at the right.
Lofty pine trees flanked the front door, and towered majestically over the abode. The lawn was neatly clipped, while the walk and drive were expertly edged with mulch surrounding holly bushes and a colorful array of mums.
Tania ignored the warm glow that grew in her chest. “This is your home?”
“Yep.” Sam pressed the button on the sun visor above his head and waited for the garage door to open. “Like it?”
“It’s so…”
“Small?” he asked, perfectly aware that she’d expected a best-selling author to reside in a mansion like her grandfather’s.
Tania’s gaze shot from the house to Sam. “No, I didn’t mean—” Releasing a long breath, she replied, “You know what I meant.”
He wheeled the gold Dodge Durango into the garage, then unfolded his weary legs from the vehicle. “Yes, you meant that, as a well-known author, you expected much more flamboyance out of me.”
Tania slipped from the seat and followed him through a side door. “No.” She clamped her mouth shut. “Yes. I’m sorry. But I didn’t mean it— Wow! Nice place.”
They’d entered the family room tucked behind the garage. Vaulted ceilings soared over a cozy settlement of sofas and chairs. A red brick fireplace covered the far wall, while a big-screen TV filled another. A door in the far corner, Sam indicated, was a modest private living quarters for Margie. The kitchen and breakfast nook were on the opposite wall, lending the entire great room an intimate, yet elegant air.
She spied the sliding glass door instantly. Or rather, it was the hot tub set upon a cedar balcony that caught her fancy. “Mmm,” she moaned and closed her eyes. “You have a Jacuzzi.”
He nodded and reached for her hand. Before she could protest, he drug her to the door and slid it open. Immediately, the scent of chlorine and freshly cut grass wafted about her. He crossed the deck and flipped a switch. Bubbles rose on the surface of the water with the soft whir of the motor. It was heaven! she thought. Oh, how deliciously decadent it would feel to slide into the heat of the water and allow it to pamper her to no end.
“Why don’t you slip on in,” Sam suggested, his arms encircling her from behind.
“Oh, no, I couldn’t…” He was nipping at her neck, and her eyes fluttered shut.
“But you can. There’s no one to stop you, no one to see. Just you and I…”
She inhaled contemplatively, exhaled resignedly. “Alone,” she said, already going back into the house to locate her suitcase. “I want to go in alone.”
“Alone?” Sam followed closely behind her and watched as she dug a neon green bikini out of her suitcase. “You’re saying I can’t join you?”
She shot him a pleading look. “Please, Sam. Please? I just need…some time to myself. If you think it’s too selfish of me, fine. You can join me.”
He held up his hands and shook his head. “No, no. Don’t let me keep you from your womanly pampering. I’ll just…get started on my proposal, maybe do some editing.”
“Thank you,” she sighed her relief, and the smile she bestowed upon him brought his heart crashing to his damn aching nuts.
***
It was utterly wicked. Tania lay on her stomach in the bubbly, hot heaven. Her head rested on her folded arms where they were planted on the rim of the tub. Her body floated lazily behind her, and she sighed as the heat eased the tension from her muscles.
She glanced around Sam’s lovely back yard. The neighbor’s fenced yard bordered it, but, due to the hot tub’s placement high upon Sam’s rear deck, she could see over the fence into the other yard. A man worked diligently on his lawn. He reminded her of a biker with his long blond hair, bare tattooed torso and bulging muscles. Every now and then, his eyes would rise to spear her, and she was surprised to be able to tell their color. Golden brown. Warm and seductive.
She felt her crotch tingle.
“I’m sorry,” Sam said from somewhere behind her. “But I can’t stay away. You look way too tempting.”
Her muscles were too relaxed to move. Without turning, she replied, “I’m sorry, too. It was wrong of me to take over your tub and demand time alone.” And that blasted horniness was back, an itch you started and now it needs to be scratched once again, she thought resignedly, her breath already quickening. It had been since before Mik's passing that they had made love.
She heard the rustle of water and the flesh of his palms moved up her calves. Fire coursed through her system, a fire, she suddenly realized, that would never be completely extinguished. He parted her legs and his hands gripped her bikini bottom. There was a sudden jolt, and she felt the rush of warm water against the naked flesh of her pussy as he stripped her of the barrier.
“Sam!” she breathed, tensing. “Your neigh
bor. He’s going to see!”
He stepped further into the V of her legs and shoved his hard cock against her lips. “He’s busy. Just relax and he won't suspect a thing.”
She risked one glance at the man, and indeed, he appeared to be otherwise engaged as he watered his shrubs. Her cunt immediately engorged with a new gush of wetness. The wicked thought of making love right here in the hot tub—with a hunkie man so dangerously near!—sent her heart into a palpating frenzy.
Sam must have taken her hesitation as ascent, for he gripped her thighs and held her against him, just barely evading entry. One hand snaked up and plucked the strings from her top. In seconds, she was stark naked, clutching the edge of the pool, and facing the nameless, hot neighbor in the light of a midday, mild Texas day.
Without warning, Sam plunged into her from behind. “Oh!” she gasped. Her eyes fluttered shut and she fought to gain control of her senses. Sam’s hands reached around and cupped her breasts, and he pinched and pulled on both nipples, sending a rippling sensation to her very core. She could smell the scent of the neighbor’s newly cut grass, and strangely, she held onto the aroma and grasped the edge of the pool. As Sam moved against her, he drove her further upon the tub’s decking. She planted her palms and lifted herself up at the same moment Sam gripped her hair and yanked her head back.
She no longer lay on her stomach. He had her backside clutched against his chest, but the enormous length of his cock remained inside her as he hoarsely whispered in her ear, “Look what you’re doing to him.”
Her eyelids rose slowly, and she stiffened when her vision focused. The man stood in the middle of his yard, feet planted apart, shorts around his ankles. And he stroked his hard cock as he watched Sam overpower her. The man looked up at her with carnal pleasure, and she watched as he fought against the limpidness of his gaze.
Sam’s hand moved around and he found her hard bud. Flickering it, he pounded into her from behind. “Watch him, Tania. Just look at his cock how hard it is for you.”
“I…” she panted. “I—it’s… Oh my God!” she stiffened as a curvy brunette woman exited the neighbor’s back patio door. “Sam, we’ve got to hide!”
He chuckled menacingly in her ear and held her firmly in place. “Hold still, kitten. The show’s about to reach its climax.”
“W-what?” she asked frantically. But he didn’t need to answer her. She watched as the woman shed her clothing piece by piece as she approached the man. He continued to beat himself off, and he kept his eyes trained on Tania as if he were eating her bare tits alive.
“See, Tatiana? See what you’ve caused?” Sam shoved her across the edge of the tub so that her knees became planted on the seat below the water’s surface, and her wet ass was bared to him doggie-style.
“Oh, yes,” she whimpered out her words as the woman knelt and took the man’s cock in her mouth. Sam’s penis was pounding her now, rocking her sexual world, sloshing the water about them where it seemed they floated upon the maddened sea. Then, as if the stranger could take it no longer, he yanked the woman up and threw her facedown across a nearby picnic table. They faced them now, and Tania watched with ecstatic excitement as the man took his lovely woman from behind, just as Sam was doing to her. The woman’s dark eyes rose and latched tightly to hers. As her body jerked and flailed with the man’s assault, she reached up with one hand and caressed one breast, while the other plunged down to rub frantically over her nub.
Tania thought she’d come right then and there. The woman’s breasts were jiggling, bouncing alluringly, as were her own. Her body was lean and perfectly proportioned, just made for…fucking, she mused, the thought further fueling her lust. Without further delay, Tania shoved her hand below the water’s surface and found her own clitoris.
Mutual feminine moans carried across the fence. Masculine groans sang in harmony. Then, Tania watched as the woman stilled, her eyes widened, and her uninhibited orgasmic cry echoed across to her. As if the woman had reached over and stroked Tania herself, Tania felt her own simultaneous release, and her body shattered into a million white-hot shards of light. Sam and the biker-like hunk threw their heads back seconds later and spilled their hot jism into their women simultaneously.
Tania collapsed on the edge of the tub, and when she raised her head to sneak a glance at the couple, they were gone. The sliding glass door was just then shutting her out and sparing her the humiliation she knew she’d feel.
***
As if the hot tub incident had not occurred, Sam toured her through the remaining house thirty minutes later. He showed her Alexa’s cute little girlie room with its pink and white fluffy bed and complete zoo of stuffed animals. A second bedroom had been converted into an office or den, where Sam informed her that he spent the majority of his time. One wall was lined with shelves, full of reference books and mystery novels, his favorite form of leisurely reading. The computer setup was right out of an IBM ad, supplemented with scanner, printer, copier and fax. She noted with interest the sofa in the corner, a blanket and pillow rumpling its surface, as if someone had just risen from a cozy afternoon nap.
Brows arched, she asked, “Is that your bed?”
Sam chuckled and led her further down the hall. “No, it’s where I nap when I’m having writer’s block,” he replied. Turning her to face his bedroom, he amended, “That’s my bed.”
The third bedroom was all man, all Sam, but there was something very pleasingly feminine and flowing about it. The large king-sized bed was still disheveled from his last stay weeks ago. There were plaids and soft greens and navy blues encompassing the room, while the vaulted ceiling sported an enormous fan with crystal fixtures and gold trim. Like a master’s boudoir, it immediately gave her the urge to enter and crawl into the cushy, velvety shelter of the bed.
His arms encircled her from behind. “And it’s yours as well.”
Tania closed her eyes tightly and savored the feel of him, and the image his words conjured up in her mind. But before it could take homage there in her vulnerable head, she wiggled from his arms and began tidying his bed.
“You’re quite the slob,” she mumbled, drawing the silk sheets and comforter up. She busily fluffed the pillows with clapping pats.
Sam leaned against the doorjamb and watched her as she made herself at home in his space, all without realizing it. “The news came quickly. I was in a hurry.”
“News?” She smoothed out the wrinkles and crossed to a worn chair nearby. Plucking up the hunter green, blue and maroon throw pillows, she carefully arranged them on the bed.
“Yes.” He pushed himself from the door and sauntered toward her. “The news of where I could find my runaway bride.”
Hers eyes snapped upward from her task. “Don’t!” She threw a hand up and backed away as he approached. “Sam, please. Not again. Please, don’t come any closer.”
He saw the panic apparent in her haunted eyes, just before she averted her gaze yet again. “Are you still scared of me, Tatiana?” he asked gently, stepping closer to lift a thumb and trace her lower lip. “Scared of the sexual heights and shameful adventures I can get you into?”
Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet his. “Never.”
“Then why do you always push me away and cower like a frightened rabbit, only to come alive like a blooming flower at my touch?”
His words ate at her like acid. She didn’t care to rehash her fear of him getting so close, so very close that he could see the pain, the shame, the horror inside her that her mother had so effortlessly gifted her with. His touch was like an addictive drug, and even now, if he were to drag her back into the hot tub, she’d be spreading her damn legs before he could even lower himself into the heavenly heat of it, no matter who watched. But she was determined to kick the habit, to remain safely in her own haven. Determined to fight the shocking, delicious sexual game he’d drawn her into.
Yes, sex was one thing, but these feelings of tenderness and addiction for this man, were entirely too close to h
er heart. She just couldn’t let him see that vulnerable part of her, and embarrass her with his pity. She’d sever the sex with him, which would also serve to sever the embarrassing weaknesses and horrid past that were just as much a part of her as that spot between her legs that he could so effortlessly bring to life. Oh, he’d see that part of her all right, and then he’d finally leave her to herself and to her ranch.
He’d be repulsed and leave her alone. All alone.
Shrinking from him, she sidestepped and sailed from the room. Yes, she would fulfill her bargain, give him the research she’d promised to assist him with, but she’d never surrender her heart to him. The shame of revealing her true self, the humiliation she was about to endure, would all serve its purpose by shoving him away. Once and for all, he would see the real person that she was, and disgusted, he would be that fearful rabbit and hop right out of her life.
This little trip to the slums of Dallas was all he needed to see that she wasn’t worth all the effort he was expending, to see the filth she’d sprung from. But if she kept allowing him to draw her into his irresistible embrace, she would be begging him to stay with her and disregard their double or nothing bargain—and once again be that vulnerable, weak, greedy little abandoned girl.
And that was something she’d never allow to happen again.
“You can sleep in Alexa’s room.” Sam followed her into his office and watched as she tidied her suitcase where, only an hour ago, she’d fished her bikini out of it and tempted him beyond all male control.
“That’s quite all right,” she replied frostily. “This will be just fine. Believe me, it’s heaven compared to some places I’ve slept.”
Sam shrugged and mumbled, “Suit yourself.”
“Look, Sam,” she blew it out on a breath. She felt the hot anger rise in her like a swelling tropical tide, aware that the annoyance she suddenly felt was more with herself for allowing the sudden disappointment to assail her. He hadn’t fought her on the matter of her sleeping arrangements, and she wasn’t going to budge either. “Let’s just get this whole thing over with, huh? Tomorrow, we’ll go straight to my main turf. I’ll show you, tell you, guide you, and whatever else you need for your damn book, so that you can exploit the homeless and make a buck off it.”
Carnal Games Page 13
