Passionate Hearts 1: Romantic Drama and Mystery Collection

by Sandra Ross

  He said to her, "Tonight, I will be offering you dinner at The Castle. I think it's about time you see my house, don't you?"

  She her body froze at the mention of the name. "The Castle? As in that place with the capital C?" she asked.

  His lips twitched in amusement. "Yes. It's my home. It was named this way by the paparazzi. In the end, I came to like it, so I kept it."

  She knew about the history of the name but she didn't realize he owned The Castle. It was supposed to be picturesque but very private, highly secure, and inaccessible. The media had dubbed it "The Castle." They could not get in without special passes. They could only stay outside, taking what pictures they might, hoping someone passed by a window.

  She could only guess why Nickolas lived in such a house. "Why are we going there? Why not the places where you'd brought me before?" she asked him.

  Instead of giving her an answer, he just threw her a mysterious grin. "You'll see," he said.

  So of course, her heart jumped, and then began to race.

  They drove out of the city on a road that led to a big hill. Large swaths of woods covered either side as far as she could see. She thought no buildings existed anywhere in the area. She supposed it was appropriate a place some people called a fortress could be found here.

  Iliana became nervous. Excited. Excited and nervous. Nervous and excited. She started panicking. It would be a huge place, she knew. But it also meant they would be alone, or would have opportunities to be alone. Would he try? Would he finally kiss her tonight? Oh, my God, it's hot inside this car, she thought.

  Iliana distracted herself by looking out the window. Only the moon provided light. She saw nothing beyond the car's headlights. Just before they reached the peak of the hill, they turned onto a small, narrow road that was hardly visible. They continued for about fifteen minutes until suddenly, a huge metal double door loomed before them, bathed in the vehicle's headlights.

  The door was heavy and thick. Tall walls spread from both sides. Adorning the top of these walls were reels of sinister-looking barbed wire. The Castle, went through her head. The heavy gates opened silently, automatically. Chills flowed up her spine. As they drove through the gates, Iliana felt as if they were passing through a barrier to another time.

  Everything-the night, the woods they were leaving behind, the air, and what was waiting for them beyond-was exotic. Then, on one side of the long driveway, a standing canopy appeared. She knew this was only impressed upon her when the car's lights fell on it. But to her tensed nerves, it was suddenly just there. More importantly, a large man wearing a dark suit and holding a walkie-talkie stood outside it, motioning for Nickolas to proceed as they passed.

  "Tell me again... what line of work did you say you are in? A mob leader, maybe? How many of him do you have?" she asked.

  He smiled as he maneuvered the car to an extension of the long driveway. "Some past... encounters with the paparazzi made me realize that I need a very good security team to protect my privacy. I have a few others like him. But I assure you, I'm a simple businessman."

  "Yeah. So was Capone," she said.

  Her instincts thrashed about, shouting something. Because if there was something that Nickolas was not, it was simple. It occurred to her that if he wanted to know her background, he could know whatever he felt like uncovering. There was nothing that she could hide from him. Did he know her secret already? She had no way of knowing, short of asking him straight out.

  The large man's image appeared inside her head. She cringed. Sure, it was just a paparazzi problem.

  Yeah, right... so was Capone...

  They continued in silence for a few minutes more. Whatever she wanted to ask, she knew she never would. As they reached the top, Nickolas stopped the car. Then he turned to her with a smile.

  "The Castle," he said.

  From looking at him, she turned at what his hand indicated. Then she froze. They were at the opening to an enormous, heavily-lit plateau surrounded by tall trees. In front of them, a colorful pandemonium spread as far as the eye could see. Small gardens of all sizes and shapes lay filled with flowers of all kinds and colors. They were separated by a road branching off in a dozen different directions, forming numerous intersections. Beyond, she saw the lighted house.

  The Castle.

  She stared, wide-eyed.

  Enormous in size, it occupied almost the entire back side of the plateau. It resembled a castle straight out of a fairy-tale, replete with towers and turrets. Except for the dark-red towers and window frames, the entire structure gleamed a bright white caused by very modern lights. Behind it lay the forest, while the hill continued onwards in a very dramatic fashion.

  "Dear Lord...!" she exclaimed. She had totally forgotten about her nerves.

  The view was breathtaking. She laughed.

  Chapter Five

  NICKOLAS WATCHED HER put a hand to her chest as she laughed like a child He smiled. Regardless of her delight, he could only imagine what she was thinking about him owning such a place. It was a ridiculous place, but it served its function well. Whatever he thought of it, he knew she would find it beautiful. Or at least, he hoped.

  He hoped she hadn't forgotten about the dog-eared children's books her mother bought in a thrift shop and brought home that night to her daughter who loved fairy tales. Those were part of the evidence presented in court by the prosecutor against him.

  He'd seen the books, their covers smeared in dried blood, presented before the jury in clear plastic bags, one by one until a stack of them lay there on a cart in the courtroom. Every book smeared in blood, so much blood, that the manner of death could not be denied. Nor had Nickolas denied anything when he saw those books, so wracked with grief had he been that he put his head in his hands. Guilty, he said with his body language. The memory of that day caused him to frown.

  That was why he bought this place. That's why he thought of bringing her here. He felt anxious.

  He asked, "Well, what do you think?"

  She gulped.

  He could only wonder if it was the huge mansion or what they would possibly be doing inside it that made her nervous.

  "So... are Snow White and the seven dwarves making an appearance now? Or will Sleeping Beauty pass by first? And what about the beast? Will he join us for dinner?"

  He blinked. Then he laughed.

  He realized he was doing this a lot since he met her and it always felt wonderful. She just looked at him, an oblique, playful smile on her lips. It was like she somehow knew he did not laugh often and she thought that he acted insane.

  He couldn't help but feel attracted to her expression. How seductive her eyes looked to him. He found her incredible.

  She looked scared. Nickolas thought she offset her fear with humor. In his eyes, that made her beautiful.

  A part of his body responded without his permission. He opened the car door, turning his back to her. He couldn't let her see him that way, not right now anyway. He decided that he didn't want to wait anymore. He had to restrain himself until he reached the house... even if that notion seemed entirely impossible to him.

  Chapter Six

  NICKOLAS GRABBED HER by the shoulders and pulled her roughly to his body. She had enough time for a brief, surprised scream before his lips crashed into hers. Then everything else was forgotten.

  He squeezed her body to his, his lips besieging hers passionately and getting more aggressive by the second. His tongue invaded her mouth, found her own tongue and started playing.

  There was only a moment's hesitation before she started to reciprocate. When she did, he could tell just how much she wanted this.

  From the way she laughed, there was nothing holding her back. He smiled inwardly. He heard her moan of protest when he took his mouth from hers for a moment.

  "My brave, wild cat..." he murmured, looking at the beautiful flushed face, before kissing her delicious full lips again.

  In what felt like an eternity cut short, he pushed her gently fro
m him.

  "We can't do this here," he whispered in a hoarse voice. "I don't want our first time in this cramped space. I want to make love to you under the stars."

  She nodded like she was ready to make love just about anywhere he wanted to. She trembled. He knew that neither of them could wait anymore. He closed the car door, started it again, and drove to the Castle.

  He took her to his bedroom. It was manly, luxurious, and modern. Nothing about it resembled any story or fairy tale where the princess laid down on a bed of roses, or some other thing that often aroused disgust in Nickolas. Instead, his bedroom was what a rich bachelor's bedroom should be.

  Lit softly by a small lamp on the bedside, the king-sized bed with the headboard leaning on the farthest wall conquered the room. Right above the headboard, a series of windows provided a panoramic view of the forest. Dark curtains were on the sides, ready to obstruct the view of anyone who might be watching. The most beautiful part of the room was right above the bed. There seemed to be no ceiling, and when Iliana stepped further inside, she understood what he had meant about the stars.

  The ceiling was a glass partition with a view of the stars in the sky. Thousands of stars, sparkling and glowing. She gaped at them, open-mouthed, until he pulled her to him and he started kissing her again. She forgot about the stars in an instant.

  He took her in his arms and sat her on the edge of the bed. He stood still in front of her. His hand lifted her head so that she could see him. He started unbuttoning his shirt slowly, one button at a time, not hurrying a bit. He locked her eyes with his as he took off the shirt and threw it to the floor.

  She couldn't breathe as she looked at him. He was simply gorgeous. He had muscles excellently worked out, yet not a single hair marred the perfection of his smooth chest. Only with his shirt off did Iliana realize just how broad his shoulders were. His body, glistening with sweat, reminded her of a statue she'd seen in a museum once. The arms hadn't remained attached, yet the chest, the abdominal muscles, the look of concentration upon the statue's face all told that the subject had been a man in top physical form with an intellect as strong as his biceps must have been. Nickolas was a work of art and right now, he was hers.

  His cock was rock-hard, and its shape was visible in the front of his trousers the same height as her eyes. She enjoyed the view, wondering how it would be to make love to him. Her lips were dry and her tongue slipped out to moisten them. He groaned as he watched her.

  He pulled her up and his lips searched for hers. He started kissing her madly, like a thirsty man desperately seeking water in the desert. His hands moved down her thighs and started pulling the hem of her dress upwards. As the hem reached her hips, his right hand slipped below it, between her legs, and worked its way upwards to her inner thighs. It crossed softly along the slot of her vagina over her underwear. The spasm his touch produced was intense, causing her to rock a little.

  He gently pushed her down until she was sitting just on the edge of the bed again. Then he kneeled before her, in front of her separated knees. With soft movements, he raised her right foot and took her shoe off, then did the same with the other. Grabbing the hem of her dress once again, he lifted it beyond her head and then threw it on the floor. He did the same with her bra. He still looked so much in control. She saw his nostrils flare up once her breasts were free. She saw the fire in his eyes as he stared at them.

  At last she knew how he felt about her breasts. For the first time, she was glad she had them. To her, breasts had always been a part of her body like any other, no different than the point of her elbow or knobby part of her ankle. Now, seeing the way he looked at her, what few doubts she harbored in the back of her mind disappeared. She felt his hands quiver slightly when he moved to pull her panties off. Her heart rejoiced.

  She didn't think he wanted her this much. He'd never given this much of a clue. He's been holding out on me, the brute, she thought. Her heart, if it could, laughed. She was left with nothing now, totally naked. She never felt that powerful. She had always convinced herself that she amounted to nothing at all. Even when the stubborn part of her brain refused to give up in the face of life's vicissitudes, she could never quite bring herself to imagine that one day, a man would value her so much as to want to do everything with her. This was not merely about Nickolas having his way with her, after which he'd fall directly asleep; no, she decided, something much deeper moved him.

  A tingle ran through her body at the thought. Where she might have stopped other men from doing what Nickolas did, she knew that Nickolas wasn't like other men. Another man might use her in place of sex machine. They'd satisfy the needs of their body and be done with it. Not so with Nickolas. A hunger ate away at him that she saw now, for the first time. How he had contained himself through all the meals, the dancing, and the car drives, she didn't know. That, too, added to the mystery of him. Why he had waited so long to do this if he wanted it so badly?

  His eyes glittered as they watched her.

  "Oh my God... you are magnificent..." he whispered in awe.

  And she did feel magnificent. Iliana was much more beautiful than he had imagined. Thin yet fit, slender and elegant, like a statue of Venus. Her skin shone white, her thighs and legs taught with the tension of restrained energy. Her breasts, firm mounds of flesh on her chest, featured brown circles of skin in the middle, on top of which rose a brown nipple on each. Soft red fluff covered the spot at the apex of her thighs.

  His eyes went lower. His mind filled with images of pink pleasure. His mouth went dry. He took her in his arms and placed her in the middle of the bed. In his mind, he saw himself attacking her, because his need was so great. He was ready to fuck her until she screamed and came with lust... but that wasn't his plan for her. Even when he felt feverish with this ravenous hunger from deep inside of him, he had to control himself. Had he not planned for this day, thought about what might happen in advance, he might have driven himself mad by not letting his body rule his actions. She exceeded all his expectations, high though they had been. He huffed a breath, deciding what he had to do.

  He would make love to her, would please her, and do everything in his power for this first mating to be perfect. Before he changed his mind, he stood from the bed and started peeling everything else from his body. Her eyes followed his every movement with a hunger he hadn't seen in a woman before.

  It almost undid him. An inferno danced in her eyes, ready to blaze up and burn everything and everyone in its path. The fire practically roared its fury through her look. Nickolas clenched a fist. Small, half-moon indentations in the shape of fingernail edges appeared on his palm when he unclenched it. To give in would so be so easy, too easy. How often had he played a game of cat and mouse where he had to drag a woman's sensuality out of her only to find that the woman he once had thought might end up as a spinster in her old age now appeared to be sizzling electricity made flesh? He had to stay in control. He had to let his mind rule the day.

  Her look said she was ready to rush up, attack him with want. But she remained lying down, bare and naked and waiting for him. Quivering, yet motionless. Finally, he set his cock free and her eyes widened a little as they fastened on him. He knew he was larger than average. That's what all the women he'd ever bedded said to him. This seemed to be of advantage, especially since he seemed to know exactly what to do to make a woman happy. Whether or not women actually cared about the size of it or just complimented on it to make him feel good, he could not tell. Nor did he care overmuch. He only knew, right then, in that moment when he could have done any number of things to her with her permission-even her blessing-his penis, with its pulsing blue veins and red hardness, seemed to excite her even more. Nickolas would not have thought this possible.

  He finally lay down beside her, careful not to touch her prematurely, very careful not to lose control. There was a wild insane side within him that he did not want Iliana to discover. Not yet. Sometimes he could feel a familiarity with her that he could not explain.
The way she would sometimes unflinchingly receive his stare with her eyes, the way those eyes would seem to challenge his. Dare him to do what? He did not know.

  That was where the adventure lay. To go somewhere unknown and do something impulsive. To be wild with her. There was someone else inside her wanting to get out. Wanting to meet him. Wanting to greet the wild part of him. Those eyes were staring into his own now, offering her challenge.

  I dare you, she said without words.

  Chapter Seven

  SHE DIDN'T MOVE. She didn't speak. Just heavy breathing now, the fast movement of a pulse on the skin of her neck as she anticipated his next movement.

  It was his lips that first touched her. His lips covered her own and he started kissing her while his hand reached out to caress her hair. His lips seduced her, slowly. Methodically. She returned his kiss hungrily, eagerly, more demanding than his controlled kiss. He almost smiled.

  His wild cat, eagerly showing a little teeth.

  His lips left her mouth for her neck. His kiss was fierce now, devouring her flesh, biting, sucking, licking. With every breath, he became brash and bolder. His hands reached for her breasts. He gently held and squeezed both of the perfect, soft orbs together, his eyes watching the view before him. Her breasts were so beautiful and exquisite.

  He moved his body, now half on top of her. She felt his cock on her left thigh. He pushed her left knee away from him, until her thigh touched her breast, and he moved until his cock touched her vagina. He rubbed himself firmly at her sex with every move of his body. She moved against him, without fear.