Claiming Kristen

by Jenny Penn

  The sudden sparkles his thick cock ignited as it whipped out left Kristen murmuring an objection, wondering if she could go another round given how very satiated she felt right then. Not that it would be up to her. The decision lay with the strong fingers forcing her to roll over on her back.

  Kristen didn’t offer any resistance, didn’t even bother to try and keep her thighs from falling open in submission to whatever wicked thing Kort intended. Whatever he did, she knew it would feel good, possibly even better than. Even with features hardened into a scowl and his cock flushed such a deep red it looked almost purple in its demand. Actually, it looked kind of painful, and it began to dawn on Kristen that Kort hadn’t found the same release she had.

  “Will you look at my dick?” Kristen couldn’t take her eyes off it or the burgeoning worry that it might take all night to work the starch out of Kort’s cock. “Now the damn thing ain’t never going to go down!”

  Kort snapped that at her before turning on his heel and storming out of her bedroom, in the exact opposite direction Kristen had expected him to head. She stared blankly at the door that had slammed shut behind him, wondering if he would be coming back through and what kind of toys he’d be carrying. As the seconds ticked into minutes, Kristen began to realize he’d left for good.

  For some strange reason that made her smile. Snatching up the edge of the covers to pull them over herself as she stretched back out on the mattress, Kristen shared her gloat with the ceiling. After everything Kort had done to her, she couldn’t muster the most miniscule grain of guilt at his condition.

  Maybe tomorrow she’d feel bad or angry, given he’d once again invaded her bedroom uninvited. Right then, though, Kristen let the joy filling her wash away all concerns and carry her off into a well-earned night of peaceful slumber.

  Chapter 15Kristen watched Richard Payne disappear through the door until the heavy metal snapped closed and a big, barrel-chested deputy stepped in front to block the path. They would be transporting him back to the county jail, along with the rest of the men who hadn’t made bail that morning. The thought of the kindly, old grandfather like Mr. Payne in prison weighed heavily on Kristen’s shoulders.

  It didn’t help that she’d honestly fought to keep him from spending another night in prison, which is what made watching him leave all the harder. Of course, it could have helped if she’d more than five seconds to look over the case before having to argue bail.

  Not that her gut needed all those details to know one thing for certain. Richard Payne was not guilty. The man couldn’t move without something creaking and cracking. She highly doubted he’d managed to wield an assault rifle and then make a speedy getaway lugging a duffel bag full of money.

  Even if he wasn’t directly guilty, that didn’t mean he hadn’t conspired or assisted in the crime. Mr. Payne insisted he had no memory of the past two weeks, which either made him a liar or crazy. Kristen leaned toward insanity. That thought had hit her when she’d first introduced herself and Mr. Payne retorted that he’d been expecting her. Apparently, God had told him He would send an angel to save him from this devil’s game.

  The longer conversation they’d had in the back hall while the rest of the accused had their moment before the judge hadn’t gone any better. According to Mr. Payne, God had led him to Charleston to find his son, Steven, whose soul had been taken from him by the devil. That’s why all this was happening. Satan didn’t want Mr. Payne to save his boy.

  That had perked up Kristen as she considered whether Steven could be involved in his father’s legal troubles. It had also had her wondering if maybe Richard Payne wasn’t a complete fruitcake. Either way, Kristen wouldn’t be railroading the kind old man, though she felt the urge to drive something heavy over Lilly for screwing with him.

  Not that God had warned Richard about that sinner. Mr. Payne didn’t recognize Lilly’s name, which left Kristen wondering if his son would. Figuring all that out technically wasn’t Kristen’s job. Her only goal was to get Richard Payne off on all charges. The quickest route Kristen could see to that outcome would be simply proving the man didn’t have the strength to commit the crime.

  If the prosecutor wanted to try and claim Mr. Payne was an accomplice, then Kristen would get into Mr. Payne’s mental status. It wouldn’t be too hard to convince a jury the man didn’t know what he’d gotten himself into. Either way, Kristen felt confident she’d win.

  That didn’t mean she didn’t have a lot of work left to do. Packing up her notes, Kristen headed toward the lobby, her mind spinning as she considered her next move. She’d almost made it all the way to the main exit before Kristen realized she’d picked up a shadow.

  Turning to look over her shoulder, Kristen’s gaze connected with the dark glowers of Kort’s. He looked as miserable and pissed as he had that morning over the breakfast table. Actually, that was the same expression he’d worn last night when he’d stormed from her bedroom. Kristen could guess what kept Kort’s scowl in place. While she’d woken up feeling as good as she had when she’d passed out, he’d obviously woken up harder than he’d been last night when he’d failed to take his pleasure.

  No, not failed, Kristen corrected herself. Kort had held back on purpose and not because he feared she’d be mad at him in the morning if he didn’t. He’d been making a point, proving that she could trust him to control himself no matter what. The message had been received, but it didn’t earn him any sympathy.

  Just the opposite, knowing he suffered kind of improved her day. Strangely, it also made her want to push, to see just how much control Kort actually had. Turning, she marched right up to Kort, not stopping until the rounded front of her heels almost kissed the lip of his scuffed work boots. Kristen lifted her chin to meet his gaze and match his scowl before laying down her accusation.

  “You’re following me.” She paused, giving him a chance to say some smart-ass thing back, but Kort didn’t twitch an inch. In fact he only seemed to grow stiffer before her eyes, not that Kristen would be dissuaded from making her point.

  “So much for that trust thing we were supposed to be working on.” Nothing greeted her declaration. Kort didn’t even appear to be breathing, which had Kristen sighing. The man was ruining her moment, and she let him know just how exasperated she was with his antics. “So, what? You’re not talking to me now?”

  “I’m in pain.” Kristen couldn’t help but glance down at his snarl and become impressed by the size of the bulge making his jeans look uncomfortably tight. That put the smile back on Kristen’s face as she dragged her gaze away from that temptation. “Gee, and I’m feeling really good this morning.”

  “I bet.”

  “So good, in fact,” Kristen continued on, ignoring the snap he took at her as she forced her arm through his and dragged him off the wall. “I’m feeling generous enough to buy you breakfast.”

  “If you were feeling really thankful, you’d offer to be my breakfast,” Kort muttered in complaint, but let her pull him from the courthouse.

  “You did a nice thing last night, Kort, don’t ruin it now.” Kristen chastised him only as a joke, but the man appeared to take it seriously, perking up with a sudden alert that almost made her snicker.

  “I did?” He considered that for a moment before breaking into his own grin. “I guess I did, which means you owe me.”

  “A breakfast,” Kristen clarified before he got ahead of himself.

  “But I get to order anything I want.”

  “Off the menu.” Kristen felt the need to reiterate her position, not trusting the sparkle lightening his eyes. She might be willing to play nice for the moment, but that didn’t mean she’d forgotten what, or who, she was up against.

  Kort didn’t argue with her, but Kristen didn’t exactly feel he’d agreed either from the arrogant saunter that returned to his step. Instead of having to drag him toward the café around the corner, she had to pull him to a stop to let Kort know it was time to stop strutting down the street. And there wasn’t a
ny hiding that swagger or its effect on the women they passed.

  Kristen gave the evil eye to a set of big boobs pausing to smile at Kort before she turned her glare onto the skinny little hostess who wiggled her ass all the way over to the booth she led them to. All the attention appeared to go unnoticed by Kort. Maybe she should have taken comfort that he wasn’t musking, but Kristen didn’t.

  “What?” Kort straightened up as he lowered his menu. Appearing to pick up on her dark tension, he glanced around the café with a sharp, predatory sweep of his gaze. “Something’s wrong?”

  “Yeah,” Kristen agreed, keeping her gaze locked on her problem. “Why aren’t I spread naked across this table, begging you to fuck me?”

  That widened Kort’s eyes as they snapped back to stare in stunned surprise at her. A second later his hard expression relaxed back into a wide grin. “I don’t know, honey. Why aren’t you?”

  “Because you’re not musking me.” Kristen growled, annoyed by his good mood. “Which can only mean you’re thinking about another woman.”

  “Or that I wasn’t thinking about sex at all,” Kort corrected, pausing long enough to drop his gaze down to her breasts. “But now I am.”

  Kristen cursed as her nose quivered over the suddenly rich scent tinting the air. It didn’t go unnoticed by the brunette, even if the stupid human didn’t understand why she was suddenly starting to stink herself. The very fact that the other woman got even a slightest bit of pleasure from Kort, no matter his intention, snapped the reins on Kristen’s jealousy hard enough to have her kicking him under the table.

  “Ow!” Kort winced, hunching forward slightly as he shot her an offended look.

  “Stop that,” Kristen hissed at him.

  Making a show of rubbing his leg vigorously, Kort glared at her over the table. “Fine. All you had to do was ask.”

  “And don’t think about other women.”

  Straightening up to meet that challenge, Kort’s scowl slowly turned thoughtful as his gaze lifted and took on a lost gleam. Slowly the musk receded, supposedly giving Kristen the fresh air she needed to think straight. Her mind, though, couldn’t stop obsessing over what might be filling his. It didn’t take long for the stress to get to her.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “In Iraq, we found this mass grave, had about thirty bodies in it.” Kort appeared to weigh that statement before shrugging. “Maybe forty, it’s hard to count when they’re in pieces.”

  “Never mind,” Kristen cut in before he could elaborate on that story.

  As long as he wasn’t thinking about screwing the brunette or any other color pussy, she didn’t need the rest. Thankfully he didn’t have a chance to horrify her with any more when the waitress appeared. She even managed to get through ordering her whole meal without growling over the way the young girl’s eyes couldn’t seem to stay off Kort.

  The tanned teenager didn’t even appear to notice Kristen’s tension, but Kort did. His grin only grew wider with every word that Kristen managed to ground out. His eyes stayed fixed on her, steady to the point where the message behind it couldn’t be missed when he didn’t even glance at the waitress as he gave his order and handed off his menu.

  Even after the girl disappeared, they remained silent, staring each other down. Kristen waited for Kort to give her any reason to kick him again. She was pretty damn sure he waited for her to give him a reason to let the laughter dancing in his gaze loose. Somebody had to give, and it wouldn’t be her.

  “You know,” Kort sighed, “it strikes me that you’re awfully jealous.”

  Her big toe collided with the booth wall as she felt the breeze of Kort’s legs shifting out of range a second too late. Pain shot up her leg, making her bend over slightly with a wince this time and giving Kort’s grin a reason to grow.

  “Oh, no, honey.” Kort shook his head at her. “There ain’t going to be any more kicking me today. Jakob did enough bruising last night to make my shins sore. Now let’s get back to this you being jealous thing.”

  “I am not jealous,” Kristen snarled. “I’m annoyed, note the difference.”

  “You know you don’t have any reason to be,” Kort retorted as if she hadn’t disagreed. “There is only one woman in this whole world who I’d like to be buried balls deep in for the rest of my life.”

  “That’s disgusting.”

  “Then why you getting wet?” Kort leaned in to take a sniff of her side of the table. “Sweet, creamy pussy just aching to be fucked. That’s you, right? Or is it some other cunt teasing my dick with—” “Ow.” Kristen grunted, missing Kort a second time.

  “You sure you’re not jealous?”

  “No. I’m pissed because it is rude to flirt,” Kristen snapped. “And it’s even ruder to gloat over it.”

  “I’m not flirting.” There went Kort’s smug look, replaced by pure masculine outrage. “I’m not encouraging anybody to make any move but you, honey.”

  “It doesn’t stop them from trying to encourage you.”

  “That’s not my fault.” Enough indignation colored Kort’s deep tone to make the gravely words pierce Kristen’s own righteous anger, but she’d come too far to simply fold. It wasn’t like she could make a bigger ass out of herself, so she might as well own her position.

  “I. Don’t. Care.”

  Those three crisp words appeared to throw Kort, leaving him stuttering for a second before he settled into a scowl. “You’re a crazy lady, you know that?”

  Maybe, but the one good thing about their waitress was that she had the kind of timing Kristen could appreciate. Both of them forced on polite smiles and nods as the scrawny little thing settled their drinks down onto the table. Kristen relaxed as she took note of the teen’s undeveloped body. Kort would not only have to be scum, he’d have to be sick-in-the-head scum to be interested in that immature figure.

  The brunette, though, was all curves. From her perfectly groomed hair down to her expensively stylish shoes, she had both sex appeal and class. What she lacked, though, was balls. Capturing the woman’s gaze for barely a second, Kristen managed to give her a toothy enough grin to help the brunette keep her eyes from wondering anymore.

  It was a gesture not lost on Kort or unappreciated by the big jerk. Back to grinning, he cocked a brow at Kristen when she finally turned her attention back to him. “You done now?”

  “Yes, and I’m not jealous.”

  “No. Of course not.”

  “I’m not.”

  “And that woman didn’t just piss in her panties a little.” Kort stiffened up the second the words hit the air. “Don’t kick me.”

  “Don’t mess with me.”

  “You know, honey, you’re looking a little tense.”

  “Kort—”

  Kristen sighed and closed her eyes on his smile. If she was crazy, then it was his fault because he was steadily driving her insane with that grin. He conveyed so much with that simple smile. It could go from amused to smug to seductively wicked in seconds. Each one pulled her emotions in totally opposite directions until he had her spinning, unsure of what she felt.

  “I think you need to relax.”

  “And perhaps you should remember the last time you tried to help me relax you ended up in pain.”

  “It was worth it.”

  Kristen’s eyes popped open at that soft whisper, unsure she’d heard him right, but there could be no denying the soft tenderness calming Kort’s gaze as he reached across to brush his thumb over her cheek.

  “Don’t you know, honey, there isn’t any pain I wouldn’t endure or any challenge I won’t meet to have you any way I can.”

  Kristen blinked, trying to smother the warmth spreading out from where his palm cupped her cheek. So light and gentle, his touch, his words melted through her defenses, leaving her desperate to find something to stop herself from going all soft beneath his persuasion.

  “What about Jakob?”

  Kort’s snort broke the moment, and he released h
er to stretch back into his booth. “That boy’s going to have to figure his own way into your pants. I classify that as not my problem.”

  Kristen almost laughed, but caught herself in time. “You’re twins. That’s supposed to be ‘united we stand, divided we fall.’”

  “Sure, if your twin is a girl,” Kort agreed easily. “But if you have a brother, then it depends on whether falling means landing between your sweet thighs. That alters the entire equation.”

  “You’re hopeless.”

  Kristen didn’t bother to take him to task for his coarse summation, figuring it would only be a waste of time. The man was old enough to know better, and the fact that he didn’t meant he didn’t want to. There would be no hope in changing him now, not that Kristen wanted to. Everybody had a right to be who they were, even Kort.

  “No. I am determined,” Kort corrected her, bringing his heat and hardness stretching back across the table. “Just to be clear on this, honey, whenever you feel a little tense, you come to me. I’ll ease every damn worry out of your body, and Jakob never has to know.”

  “And what about you?”

  She shouldn’t have asked that. Kristen should have taken a deep breath, reached for reason, and dismissed his offer without a second of consideration. To do anything else had only resulted in that sexy curl returning to his lips, matched by the deepening timbre of his husky whisper.

  “You show you trust me by giving yourself over completely to my command and I’ll prove you can trust me by keeping the dog on the leash.” His smile gentled as his gaze softened. “It’s like I said, honey, any pain, any challenge. I’d do anything for you.”

  “That’s an omelet with cheddar, ham, bacon, onions, peppers, and mushrooms with a double side order of sausage, along with your pancakes and grits.”

  They broke apart as plate after plate started dropping down onto the table, most of them piling up around Kort. Despite the rudeness that clearly indicated that Miss Jail-Bait was disappointed to find out that Kort was Mr. Not-Interested, Kristen welcomed her sudden appearance. Things had gotten a little too deep for her taste, and as the waitress disappeared to bring more food, Kristen intentionally focused on what Kort had ordered.