Endangered Hearts [Après-Ski 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic)

by Zara Chase

  Rick sent her a heated smile that came close to touching her frozen heart. “Darlin’, I never doubted it for a moment.” His expression sobered. “You had a rough childhood. It can’t have been easy for you.”

  “I’m a survivor. Anyone who comes through that system has to be. It toughens you up real quick. I’d seen the dregs of life before I hit sixteen, but was determined that no matter how desperate things got, I would never resort to selling my body. I knew I had brains, even if the education system was too stupid to see it, and used them to save myself. I’d learned that playing down how smart I was could work to my advantage. People say and do a lot of things if you keep real quiet and they think you’re dumb.”

  Rick chuckled. “You’re not wrong about that.”

  Sabine figured she had told him more than enough to persuade him to let her hang around. But having started to talk, she couldn’t seem to stop. She had never told anyone all of this before. No one had ever asked. Except Rick, and so it seemed important he should know it all. She didn’t want to address the issue of trust, but if she was so determined to tell him, surely that meant she trusted him?

  “I backpacked around the world for a while, saw something of life. But the more I saw, the more I learned human nature is basically the same, no matter what language it speaks. People are all out for number one.”

  “Yeah, that’s the way I see it.” He stretched his arms above his head and sent her an enquiring look. “Don’t stop now. What happened after that?”

  “I guess I hit rock bottom in Thailand when I saw how cheap life was, and how really young kids were selling themselves to survive like they’d never expected to do anything else. I kinda gave up there for a while, didn’t see the point of it anymore.”

  “Amen to that,” Rick muttered softly.

  “Then a guy hit on me when I’d had a few too many beers, and tried to rob me of what few possessions I had. I threw him on his ass, in spite of my inebriated state. I was so fucking pissed off with life in general, so disillusioned, I probably would have killed the jerk if someone hadn’t pulled me off him. That someone was Mike, my boss. He was in Thailand on an assignment, liked the way I handled myself, and offered me a job working for him.” She shrugged. “He probably saved me from self-destructing.”

  “And now he’s done this to you.”

  “Yeah, now he’s done this to me.” She met his gaze and held it. “There, I’ve bared my soul, so perhaps you understand why I have to see this through. It’s for myself as much as for you.”

  “Your childhood. Those men trying to hurt you. Is that why you don’t like being touched?”

  She gasped. “I didn’t say I don’t like being touched.”

  “You didn’t have to. I’ve watched you. I’ve seen how you keep your distance.”

  “It’s become a habit.”

  “That’s a real pity.”

  She widened her eyes. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I want to touch you so damned much it hurts.” He shook his head. “Sorry, forget I said that. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

  “I’m kinda glad you said it.” And she was, because she had seen how the women in the bar looked at him. Rick Dwyer didn’t need to pay a woman false compliments to get laid. Especially a woman who didn’t like being touched. “I…er, I was looking at your hands when we were up the mountain today. I’ve never been captivated by a man’s hands before, but yours—” She shook her head. “Shit, don’t listen to me. Tell me to shut up before I make an utter fool of myself.”

  Rick’s sinfully wicked smile hit her like a runaway truck, bringing her already sensitized body fully to life. “What’s so special about my hands?” He held them up, inches from her face, as though taunting her.

  “The fingers. They’re so long, so elegant, I…” She stood up and paced the length of the room. Ruben looked up from his slumbers, flapped his tail, and closed his eyes again. “Oh, you’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  “What do you want me to say? That I’m happy to have broken through your reserve, if only because of my hands?” The warmth of his gaze was as compelling as his charm. “You’ve had a tough deal, babe, and I’m real glad you felt you could talk to me about it. Now, come sit back down. I have more questions.”

  “What more could you possibly want to know?” She resumed her previous seat. “I’ve already told you all there is.”

  “You haven’t mentioned sex.”

  Her head jerked up. “I beg your pardon.”

  “Indulge me. I’m curious. If you hate being touched, how do you manage for sex?”

  “Perhaps I don’t. Maybe I’m still a virgin.”

  He sent her an enticing grin that heated the air between them. “You’re no virgin.”

  “Well, of all the conceited, arrogant assumptions… How could you possibly be so sure?”

  “Because you are one of the most sensual women it has ever been my pleasure to meet and, trust me, I’ve met my share.”

  She tossed her head. “I’m sure you have.”

  “Well,” he said, sitting back, looking totally relaxed with one foot hitched over his opposite thigh again. “Are you going to tell me, or are you going to go all coy on me?”

  “What makes you think it’s any of your business how I conduct my affairs?”

  “Come on, sweet thing. You know you want to tell me. You have needs, and I’m betting you don’t always satisfy them for yourself. It excites you to talk about it, because it’s something you’ve never done before. Am I right?”

  How the hell did he know that? Her nipples had gotten hard and her pussy was leaking. He might be able to detect the former through the fabric of her top, but he couldn’t possibly know about her cunt. A glamorous smile continued to play about his lips as he watched her struggling with herself. It was enough to decide her. Sabine had never knowingly backed down from a confrontation in her entire life, and she had no intention of starting now. It was a dangerous game to play with such a worldly wise sophisticate but something about the languorous, heavy-lidded gaze focused squarely and unflinchingly on her face caused her to throw caution to the wind.

  “Since you’re so interested, if I decide I need a guy, I choose one who agrees to play by my rules.” She returned his gaze, defying him to laugh as she said the next words. “I tie them down so they can’t touch me.”

  There, she’d said it! That ought to kill off his curiosity. To her astonishment, he threw back his head and roared with laughter.

  “I knew it,” he said when he regained the power of speech. “I knew I was attracted to you for a reason. Welcome to my world, babe.”

  * * * *

  Sabine blinked. Rick figured she was confused because she had failed to shock him. “You like to be tied up?”

  “No, darlin’, I’m not the submissive type. I already told you, I bite. I whip, spank, and punish in all sorts of other ways that would blow your mind. I do the dominating.”

  “Oh, I see. Well then, I guess our relationship will have to remain strictly business.”

  Rick chuckled. “I doubt that. I’m already having trouble keeping my hands off you. We’re just gonna have to find a way to get you used to being touched by me, is all. You’ve already admitted you like the idea of my hands. That’s a good starting point.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Yeah, you did. You’re just not ready to admit it yet.”

  “Your ego could use some work. I hate to see you acting so self-depreciatingly.”

  He chuckled, but his smile quickly faded. “Look at me, Sabine.” He dropped his voice several octaves, using the tone he employed with his subs. It had the desired effect and she immediately raised her gaze to his face. “Are you attracted to me?”

  “Yes,” she replied without hesitation. “You know I am. The moment I saw the passionate way you spoke about your projects, understood you care desperately about the eagles, it got me wondering if you really were so very bad.�
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  He chuckled. “Oh, darlin’, I can be a real bad boy.”

  She rolled her eyes but ignored his suggestive remark. “My doubts about you are why I didn’t immediately tell Mike I’d found you. I didn’t want to think my judgment could be so off.”

  “Well, I gotta tell you I really, really want you.” He waved a hand toward the bulge pressing against his zipper. “Guess there’s no hiding that sort of evidence. Tell me, these guys you tie up so you can ravish their bodies, did you kiss them?”

  “Yuck, no. I don’t do kissing.”

  “That’s gonna have to change. Kissing is one of the most arousing aspects of foreplay. But I’m mighty glad you have no firsthand knowledge because I want to indoctrinate you myself.”

  “I, er…” She moistened her lips and tried again. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation when there are people out there waiting to kill you.”

  “You’re killing me, honey. I can’t think about anything else right now.”

  “Kissing, touching.” She shook her head. “It’s asking too much. I honestly don’t think I can.”

  “Yeah, you can. The prospect excites you, doesn’t it?” She nodded, somewhat reluctantly. “You’ve found a man who’s crazy mad for you, but you can’t have him on your terms, which makes you uncomfortable. So, it’s all down to trust. Do you trust me enough to let me touch you, kiss you, and eventually undress you?”

  “I’m not…I can’t—hell, I want to, Rick, but I’m scared.” Her wide-eyed expression—a combination of fear and excitement—went straight to Rick’s cock. And to his heart. It was a defining moment, and one he would never forget. This damaged little girl had gotten to him on all levels and persuading her to place her trust in him mattered. It mattered a very great deal, and he would do whatever it took, take it as slow as necessary to get her to relax her guard. And he had a pretty good idea how to go about it. “And all that spanking stuff, I’m not into that.”

  “Yeah, you are, sugar. You just don’t realize it yet.”

  Her eyes became slits of suspicion. “How can you possibly know?”

  He sent her a lazy confident smile. “I know.”

  “Oh, you’re impossible!”

  “The first thing we need to do is to make you relax.”

  “I am relaxed.”

  “No, honey, you’re wound as tight as a bow.” He returned his elevated foot to the floor and leaned close to her. She tensed up. “Point proven, I believe.”

  “This is real hard for me.”

  “I know. The question is, are you willing to trust me?”

  “I need to know what you’re planning to do to me first.”

  “No, actually you don’t. Anticipation is part of your problem. A bit like going to the dentist and anticipating the moment when the sadistic bastard takes a drill to a cavity. The thought of it is actually worse than the reality. But, if you have no advance warning of what might happen, you don’t have time to get anxious.”

  “Now you’re going all Zen on me.”

  “Shush, just let your mind wander.”

  “I can’t. I need to know what you’re going to do to me.”

  “I’m gonna rock your world, darlin’. And in order to do that, I’m going to take away one of your senses.”

  “Which one?”

  Smiling, he produced a silk scarf from a nearby drawer and stood up with it in his hands.

  “No, I can’t.”

  “You can’t, or you don’t want to? There’s a difference.”

  He still hadn’t touched her, and stood inches away from her holding the scarf, stalking her thoughts as she mulled the question over. He wouldn’t do anything else unless she agreed. Of course he wouldn’t. He wanted her with an urgency that heighted his perception of her dilemma. He could probably persuade her with gentle, reassuring words because he knew what she wasn’t yet willing to acknowledge. She yearned for this as much as he did. The tremors running through her body gave her away. But he wasn’t the one with the hang-ups, and so he couldn’t permit his rampant desire to overcome her reserve. The silent awareness of shared passion caused the air between them to become taut with electricity. He waited her out, watching the kaleidoscope of emotions flitting across her face.

  “Do it,” she said decisively.

  Rick didn’t have to ask if she was sure. He could tell she was.

  “If you need me to stop, tell me and I will.” He tied the scarf around her eyes without touching her scalp. “Is that comfortable.”

  “No, I hate being out of control, and by not seeing I’m not in control, but I guess that’s why you’re doing this.”

  “There can only be one person in charge of this relationship, babe, and I’m not big on taking orders.”

  “And you think I am?”

  “I think there’s a whole lot of stuff you don’t know about yourself yet. If you don’t like what you discover then we’ll have a problem, but I’m pretty sure you’re gonna feel enlightened and liberated, like a whole load of baggage has been lifted from your mind. Now then, rule number one. No speaking unless I ask you a question. Just relax and let me do what I’m best at.”

  “What if I have a question?”

  “Okay, seeing as how you’re new to all this, you can ask, but only if it won’t wait. Are we clear?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I think so.”

  Rick’s fingers itched to touch her, but it was too soon for that. He needed her to be the desperate one, and fell back on an old ploy to create that situation. He grabbed a feathered tickling stick from his toy drawer, pulled off her shoes, and gently applied the feather to the soles of her feet.

  “Feet are a generally ignored erogenous zone,” he said in a soft, earthy drawl. “Did you know that?”

  “No, and I’m kinda ticklish.”

  “You sound as though you’re surprised at that.”

  “I am.”

  Shit, Rick thought, of course she’s surprised. She’s never played childish games, or had a mom or dad to tickle her until she cried with laughter. His heart went out to his damaged, deprived, yet fiercely independent, feisty sub-in-training and his determination to give her pleasure intensified. To do that he needed her to shed her jeans and top, but didn’t think she would part with them voluntarily. Well, the top was easily dealt with. It buttoned down the front and he swiftly loosened those buttons without letting his fingers touch her skin. She was wearing a pretty blue bra beneath it and her pert little tits, encased in all that lace, looked good enough to feast on. And he would.

  But not quite yet.

  The nipples were rock hard, poking against the fabric, her areolas puckered a compelling deep shade of pink. She gasped, presumably because she felt the two halves of her shirt fall open. Rick ran the feather over her tits, taunting her with the…well, feather-light touch.

  “Touching ain’t so very bad, is it now?” he asked when a series of little moans slipped past her lips.

  “You’re not using your hands.”

  “You don’t want my hands.”

  He moved the feather slowly up the long column of her neck, swishing it around her ears before running it across her moist lips. Another groan escaped.

  “Like that?”

  “Hmm.”

  He removed the feather and replaced it with his lips, fleetingly, so gently that she might have imagined the contact, except for the fact that she moaned when he pulled away.

  “Yeah, you see. Lip contact ain’t so very bad.”

  “No, not when you do it.”

  “And it gets better.”

  He claimed her lips again, kissing her just a little more firmly and for just a little longer.

  “Part your lips for me, darlin’.”

  Rick held his breath, wondering if she would comply. She hesitated for a second, and then her mouth opened and his tongue slid inside. She was seated, he was leaning over her, kissing her but not otherwise touching her. It was awkward but the discomfort barely registered with hi
m. Instead, his body was consumed by a raging lust that damn near destroyed his control. That couldn’t be allowed to happen. This was all about Sabine, about her needs and about proving something to her about her own body. He deepened the kiss, tangling his tongue with hers, investing the gesture with a wealth of passion as he waited for her to respond. It took a heartbeat for her to do so, and Rick was filled with elation at that positive step. The moment she became a full participant in the kiss, he broke it, deliberately leaving her wanting more.

  “You see, I was right about kissing.”

  “It felt good,” she said, her breathing labored. “I’ll give you that.”

  “There’re other places I could kiss you that would feel a hell of a lot better.”

  He knelt in front of her, pushing her denim-clad legs apart with his foot because he was determined not to touch her with his actual hands. Yet. He knelt between her legs and zeroed in on her tits. When he sucked one into his mouth through the fabric of her bra she almost elevated from her chair. He bit lightly at her nipple as a punishment, earning a groan from her by way of reward. She was liking this, no question, and the urge to take the rest of her firm breast in his hand was compelling. He resisted, and continued to feast on the nipple. Her hips started to move against the chair. Shit, she was so damned hot, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up without exploding himself.

  He needed to get her jeans off, without touching her. Asking her to do it for him wasn’t an option. He yanked down the zip, which left only the snap to be dealt with. There was nothing for it. He slid his fingers beneath the waistband, grazing her skin with his knuckles as he pulled the band away from her body and dealt with the snap.

  “Lift your butt.”

  He waited for an objection she didn’t voice. Instead she did as he asked and he was able to slide her jeans down her gorgeous long legs. Shit, her ass was goddamned perfect! Her panties matched her bra, barely covering her pussy, which wasn’t shaved but neatly trimmed. That was okay. Rick preferred women with a little pubic hair. He pulled her panties aside and buried his face in her cunt, which was sopping with her own juices. He circled his tongue around her clit and she responded by pushing her pelvis forward, wanting to get farther into his mouth.