She shrugged but still expressed slight puzzlement, “No reason.”
She gestured for me to follow as we took the stairs and she led me into a bedroom where I lay Marcus down. “How long has he been an addict?” I asked her softly.
“Since he was a teenager.”
“And it’s been left for you to sort him out?”
She scoffed and shook her head faintly. “There is no one else, that’s why.”
I sighed and moved towards her. She didn’t retreat but her body stiffened as I neared, “What about Will?”
Her eyes widened and I watched as all the blood drained from her face. “What? What about Will, why would he be responsible for Marcus?”
I didn’t understand the reason for the tremor in her voice and I gazed at her curiously, “Because he’s your older brother. Surely that gives him entitlement to look after Marcus?”
“No!” She barked too quickly and too sternly.
“Grace?”
“No I said. Marcus is not Will’s concern or responsibility. The only concern Will has is for Will.” She moved away and fetched a bowl of cool water from the bathroom and then started to dab Marcus’s face as I perched on the bed beside her.
“Talk to me, Grace.”
I watched her throat constrict as she bit lightly into her lower lip but she turned to me with a false smile and a mocking happiness displayed on her face. “What do you want to talk about?” Her tone was casual and marginally irritating but I chose to ignore it as I tipped my head and studied her.
God, she was fucking beautiful, not just her though. She was beautiful. Her inner allure was so bright and rich that if it was physical it would be blinding but the sadness that poured from her sliced through me harshly. Her inner turmoil and suffering was so intense it was choking the air around us.
She sniffed and straightened her shoulders, her expression expectant as she waited for my answer to her question but I just leaned towards her, hovering my mouth over hers and triggering a slight intake of air from her to break the severe silence.
“You, Grace Beaumont. I want to talk about you. I want to know you. I want to feel you. But most of all, I want you to accept this. Allow its need to be addressed and opened. You know it’s there, you feel it like I do.”
Her heavy breaths were wisping across my mouth, the heat she was generating was flooding my system and driving my body crazy with need but her eyes, the chaos that they were portraying was bringing me to my knees. I could see each of her thoughts, each one saying she wanted to accept this but then every other was screaming at her that she couldn’t allow it.
“Let it go, Grace. Free it for once in your damn life. Let me give it, please.”
“I can’t” she whispered painfully as her eyes closed against me.
I lifted a hand to her cheek and held her as she leant into it and took the comfort I was offering. “Yes, yes you can.”
She shook her head but reopened her eyes and stared straight into my soul. “You mean too much to do this, Kade. I won’t let us do this.”
I could see the commotion and mayhem that was consuming her composure tearing her in two and driving her mind crazy with disorder. Her exhaustion was tangibly bleeding her dry as her body sagged and her eyes dimmed lifelessly. “Let me help you, Grace. Let me take it away, just for a while at the very least.”
She knew what I was saying. She knew I could do that for her but I didn’t expect the tear that rolled down her cheek to be formed as a result of her relief.
“Please . . .” It was a choked whisper, a desperate plea and I gave her a single nod as I slid my arms under her and lifted her against my body.
She peered down at Marcus anxiously, her worry adding to her unrest and I took her chin and titled her face to mine. “He’ll be fine for a while. Let him sleep.”
She nodded then locked my eyes with an almost heart-breaking gaze. The imploration held there was crippling, “Make me forget, Kade. Set me free before . . .”
“Ssshhh,” I whispered as I pressed my lips to her forehead. My heart was held in a tight fist as I fought to hold back the tears that wanted to flow with her desperation and her fear. “I promise, sweetheart, I promise to eliminate it all.”
She nodded feverishly as she let her eyes flick across my face and when they dropped to my mouth I couldn’t hold back any longer. I bowed my head and pressed my lips to hers. She moaned softly, causing my gut to flare and my blood to surge to my cock. Her soft whimpers as I kissed her were making me crave her like never before. My whole body shuddered with hunger when she slipped her tongue delicately into my mouth and brushed it against my own, causing me to echo one of her groans.
Her lips were soft and pliant as she pressed against me harder, her own desire now controlling her as she took my kiss and made it her own.
“Kade,” she breathed into my mouth. “I need you.”
“I know and you have no idea how much I want you. How much I want to sink deep inside you, bury you under me and drive you out of your mind with pleasure. But first I need to take you to a place that is solely for you.”
“I need that, Kade, I need it so much.”
I smiled at her tenderly as I carried her across the upper hallway and into a bedroom I presumed had been readied for her during her stay.
“I’ll be right back.” I told her as I laid her gently on the bed.
She nodded but as I turned she grabbed my wrist and halted me, “I . . . it can’t be any more than what it is Kade. Do you understand?”
I sighed but nodded, “I know.”
She returned my nod and my sad gaze but then she smiled; a pure exposed smile that exhibited both her radiance and her vulnerability and fuck if I hadn’t fallen before, I did right then.
I blinked hard, desperately trying to seize the words and lock them down before they spewed from me and ruined this time I needed to give to her.
I smiled back, a slightly unsteady grin which made her smile widen further. “I . . . wait . . .”
It was all I could manage before I darted through the door and closed it quickly behind me, blocking off the risk to ruin everything. I leant back against it and exhaled the breath I had been holding onto so it couldn’t betray me and release the damning words with it.
Fuck!
I was in deep shit. She wouldn’t allow this and she would do everything in her power to stop it, including cutting me off completely but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this time it would finish me. Once and for all.
This time, this woman would break me so completely that there would be no return from it.
She could promise me so much but she offered nothing. She only offered me this moment and I hoped to God, it wouldn’t be our last.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Grace
KADE RETURNED QUICKLY but I was already naked and knelt on the floor waiting for him. I heard his breath stutter from behind me as he found me arranged and prepared for his manipulation.
He was silent for a long while but I sensed . . . no, I knew that I was required to be silent and still. I jolted slightly when I felt his hand settle on my head then softly stroke down the back of my hair, his fingers collecting the long strands as his hand ventured to the ends. He pulled it into a bunch then secured it with a tie of some sorts and brought it round to rest on my collarbone.
“Remember you are my puppet, my playground Grace, but you are also the most cherished thing in this room. Between you and me, you are the one that makes this technique and art what it is and what it will be. You are a canvas to my craft, a backdrop to the sculpture I construct and eventually you will be the brilliance in my creation.”
His words, spoken with a soft timbre were already calming and soothing me and I lifted my eyes to him as he came around the front of me. He gazed, his head slightly tilted and his eyes soft and easy but his lips were curved into a delicious smile, one that made me want to reach out and touch with my fingers just so I could feel it as well as see it.
“But . . .”
He frowned at me when I paused and nodded in encouragement, “Go on.”
“Well, do we need a . . . safeword?”
His smile grew into a grin and his eyes lightened, making the blue of them appear sapphire and stunning. “This isn’t Fifty Shades of Grey, Grace. It isn’t a form of BDSM or even a Dom and sub relationship. It’s just me and you. It’s me giving you the release you crave whilst I do something I like doing and it’s you giving me something you could never put a price on.”
I smiled back at him and he dropped to his haunches before me as he brought his forefinger to my mouth and tickled it across my lips, his eyes locked on his action as if mesmerised by the simple movement. “If there is anything you don’t like, then tell me and I’ll stop immediately.”
I nodded in acknowledgment and he lifted his eyes to mine. “The way I bind and knot, it is just a matter of a simple pull and the rope will be freed quickly. You’re still quite sore, so I’m limited to which arrangements I can create but I’ll make sure you are comfortable and relaxed.”
“Okay.”
He smiled but his face grew serious as he trailed his finger over my jaw and then down the centre of my throat. He watched his own expedition with a keen interest and I sucked in a desperate lungful of air when he stroked across the rise of my breast. “Seeing you, like this when I walked in, already offering yourself to me,” He spread his fingers and gently opened his hand across my flesh, my hard nipple pressing against him as I arched my back and took the pleasure he was offering. “You have no idea how pleased you made me.”
I closed my eyes as he cupped my other breast and lightly caressed them both, his fingers expertly massaging me with the right amount of pressure and gentleness as his thumbs flicked across my nipples.
“I want to please you.” I was shocked by the sultry quality to my voice and I felt the blush creep up my neck and flame my cheeks.
“Don’t be ashamed to want to please me, Grace. It thrills me.”
He leant and gave me a chaste kiss before moving back behind me. “Put your hands behind your back and take the opposite elbow in each hand.”
It took me a moment to figure out what he meant but he gently manoeuvred me until he had me in the position he wanted me in.
Then he began.
The rhythm in which he worked, the soft sound of the rope whispering as he crafted in the silence, and the regularity of his breathing enveloped me and drew me into the serenity that I had relished in the last time he had bound me.
This time he worked slower but for a longer period and I could almost feel the pattern he was creating pressing against my flesh. The rope was softer this time and more delicate against my skin but as it wrapped my body it was as though it swallowed all the anguish and anarchy my mind was struggling with.
Each separate pattern he created concentrated on a different area of my soul and soothed it as it pulled the pain out and replaced it with a calmness that was both giving but consuming. Each individual area he worked on became the focus for my mind and all I could concentrate on was the brush and stroke of his ties.
It was completely captivating and all other thoughts were pushed aside as the inner peace his art demanded took over my entire reason for taking one more breath. My mind shut down as my lungs involuntary took control of my life whilst the rest of my body let go and paused for a moment. That’s the only way I could describe the sensation, like my existence in this world slept for a while and revitalized not only my body but my soul and my mind.
I hadn’t realised he had finished until I felt him move across the room and stand before me. I was too relaxed to even open my eyes but I sensed him watching me.
“Grace.”
I titled my chin upwards but my eyes remained closed and heavy.
“I can’t leave you too long I’m afraid. Your body isn’t used to this yet and the draw on your muscles will cause you to stiffen until your body is trained to it.”
“Mmmm.” I couldn’t even form words and I didn’t even flinch when I felt his palm stroke across my cheek.
“I’m going to leave you alone for ten minutes, just to give you that moment to be with yourself but whilst I’m gone I want you to do something for me.”
“Mmmm.”
“I want you to find your soul from deep within you and I want you to make your peace with it.”
I didn’t answer him, I couldn’t but he knew I had heard him.
“And while you are like this, beautiful and serene, I want you to know . . .” I felt his lips press to my forehead and he held them there for a while, both of us just breathing and being.
“I’m in love you, Grace.”
I dragged my eyes open to look at him but his words had the total opposite effect he was expecting. I could see his worry, his anxiousness and his soul.
I opened my mouth, trying to force the words from my mouth in my tranquil state. “Yes.”
He smiled faintly as he pulled away from me and stood up but as he turned to leave me I managed to structure my own gift to him, “And I love you.”
His feet stuttered to a stop and he spun slowly round. I watched as a single tear leaked from the corner of his eye and rolled down his face as his chest seemed to stop in its rhythm. He gazed at me, his eyes expressing all the things he couldn’t actually manage to say but he suddenly drew in a severe breath and swallowed harshly.
“I . . .” he rolled his lips behind his teeth and closed his eyes for a moment.
“I love you Kade.” I repeated, now more focused on him that my brain had received the instruction from my heart that I needed to repeat it and make him aware of my sincerity.
He moved back towards me and dropped to his knees in front of me. He didn’t speak, he just placed his palms either side of my face and pulled me to him, his mouth descending quite forcefully on mine as he projected his declaration into an act. His kiss was passionate but so full of tenderness that I suddenly found I couldn’t breathe and pulled back to gasp for air.
“I’m scared, Kade.”
“Hey, no. Don’t fear this, Grace. Take it for what it is and enjoy it.”
“But . . . there is something you need to know.” I swallowed back the fear that was choking my happiness at Kade’s revelation and wished my hands were free so I could touch him.
“I know Grace but you need to know, I won’t let it happen. You were made to be my lover. You were created for the purpose of giving me a reason to live and I was created for this, to love you and to protect you. I know it, I feel it and I can tell you, no I can guarantee that things will happen to stop the course of this.”
“You don’t understand. It won’t go away Kade. These . . . people, they don’t stop until their commission is paid in full and it isn’t paid in full until the contract is signed and the target is removed.”
“No, I’m not willing to accept that. The person who started this can end it. We need to find whoever it is and make them change their mind.”
I laughed bitterly and his brow creased. “He won’t change his mind Kade. There is nothing that will change his mind.”
“But why?” He was growing angry with me but he didn’t understand it wasn’t me quitting, it was me accepting things.
“Because he hates me but more than that, he hates what he has become because of all this.”
“Grace, you’re not making sense. Who did you piss off this much?”
I cocked my head and looked at him sadly. He would never accept my death and I now regretted telling him how I felt about him. “It isn’t because I pissed someone off; it’s because of what I am.”
“An agent?” he ventured as he tried to comprehend the whole reason for this but I shook my head.
“No Kade, a daughter.”
He blinked at me in confusion, “What the hell are you saying. I don’t understand you or this.”
“The person who took the cont
ract out is Will, Kade. My brother took out the hit on me.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kade
I STARED IN shock. I’m not even sure if I saw her as my vision blurred and my stomach knotted considerably. “What?”
She didn’t speak for a while as she held me in her locked gaze but I was more than aware of her torment. “Can we do this another time?” she asked with sadness but I shook my head and continued to gape at her.
“Not really, no.”
“Kade please,” she wiggled her shoulders to remind me that she was bound but I shrugged.
“You’ll be fine for a while longer. Tell me, tell me why.”
Her face crumpled faintly and she tipped her head in contemplation, “I’m not even sure if I understand it yet. It’s all quite . . . unreal.”
She suddenly looked exhausted and I sat before her, pulling her legs straight on either side of me so she wouldn’t get cramp in her calves. “Please, Grace. It might help if you share it with me.”
She exhaled heavily and frowned. “To be honest I’m even sure where to start.”
“At the beginning?” I prompted and started to massage the muscles along her legs gently just to make sure the blood was circulating around her body properly whilst she was immobile.
“The beginning . . .” she mused quietly. “I don’t even know where the beginning starts. I thought it started when my father died but it seems not.”
I nodded. “What about Baxter, how do you know him?”
She smiled faintly and chuckled, “Grant was my father’s best friend and is my Godfather.”
My eyes widened in surprise as I quickly glanced over her wounds. “This is just business, Kade. Grant didn’t do this, although he set the fight up.”
“He’s your Godfather, yet he makes you fight? For what?”
She smiled again but sighed. “Kade, I’m lucky he is my Godfather, he wouldn’t have let me off with just a beating, and I should by rights be dead.”
“Well yeah, but . . .”
“No buts Kade. I know it doesn’t make sense to you but Grant lost out because I exchanged. He needed to get his reputation back due to that, so the only way was for him to push me to fight. It wasn’t just a silly fight between me and Gina; it was organised combat so Grant could show everyone the reason for his change about killing me.”
The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone Page 195
