‘Well?’ I demanded, getting impatient. ‘Did you think about me? Yes or no?’
Something in Vita’s gaze sparked.
It made me catch my breath.
‘No,’ she said.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Vita
IT WAS A LIE and I shouldn’t have said it, but I wanted to punish him for how badly he was getting under my skin.
Not only had he made me fall apart in that restaurant, but for the last two days I’d been able to think about nothing else. Second-guessing everything that had happened, second-guessing myself.
I didn’t want to fall back into the same trap I’d fallen into with Simon. I didn’t want to be obsessed or full of doubt.
I didn’t want to want him.
Yet I did and it was the strength of it that was getting to me. I hadn’t cared about where I was that night at Ocean. I’d let him do whatever he wanted in that hallway, overwhelmed by his intensity and by how much he’d wanted me.
It would be easy to get addicted to that. And if there was one thing I didn’t want to ever do again it was to fall for someone who didn’t really want me and who’d only hurt me in the end.
Simon had been handsome, like Leon. Charming, like Leon. He hadn’t had Leon’s hard edge, but he’d had a touch of badness in him that had made teenage girls’ hearts beat faster.
Teenage girls like me.
I’d been in my second to last year of school while he’d been a year ahead, in Clara’s year. He’d started paying attention to me for reasons I hadn’t known at the time, but which had become clear later on; he’d wanted her and thought being friends with me would get him access to her. I’d stupidly fallen for his charm, not knowing that he was using me, and the night we finally slept together was the night he’d tried and failed to seduce Clara.
He’d taken his disappointment and bitterness out on me and I never knew it until that video had surfaced. Until it had started making the rounds at school and people had started talking and laughing. Humiliating me.
After that, I’d been wary of men, especially handsome men. Luckily, no one had shown interest in me since and I’d been more than okay with that. Until now.
Until Leon.
‘No?’ he echoed softly, a hard edge running through his voice.
I could barely keep from shivering. ‘No,’ I repeated, trying to keep the word even. ‘I didn’t think about you once. I had some results to write up.’
‘Liar.’ The hard edge was more pronounced now, a smile bordering on savage curving his mouth. ‘You thought about me. You thought about my hands on your body and the way I touched you. You thought about how hard you came for me.’
I had. I’d thought about all those things even though I’d tried not to. They’d made me ache, made me burn, made me want the things I’d told myself I’d never want again: to be desired; to be touched; to feel special; not to feel like an ugly duckling grown up into an ugly duck.
But admitting that felt like giving up some of my power and I didn’t want to do that.
My palm pressed against the hard muscle of his chest, trying to get some distance. ‘I didn’t. Like I said, I was too busy with my test results.’
‘Fuck your test results.’ His free hand was at the small of my back, not giving me an inch of the distance I wanted. ‘No, on second thoughts, fuck me instead.’
My heartbeat thudded even faster, the rough heat in his voice sending chills through me. He was so raw and demanding, leaving me in no doubt about what he wanted.
Me.
Dangerous. You like that too much.
It was and I did, and so I tried to resist.
‘That wasn’t in the deal,’ I said. ‘And anyway, I have some—’
Letting out a low growl, Leon shifted the hand holding me in place to the back of my head, fingers curling into my hair. Then he pulled me forward to claim my mouth.
The kiss was scorching and this time there was no subtle invitation to open for him. He simply pushed his tongue deep into my mouth as if he owned it.
The taste of him was devastating and I shuddered as he explored me, achingly conscious of his body resting under mine. I wanted to touch all that heat and hard-packed muscle to see if it felt as perfect as it looked. Yet I also didn’t want to give in.
Helpless passion had hurt me before and I was still afraid of it.
I shoved against his chest, panting as he broke the kiss and stared at me.
‘What?’ His tawny brows pulled down. ‘I know you want me, Vita. You can’t pretend otherwise, not now.’
I didn’t want to admit it but he was right. I opened my mouth to tell him to let me go but, before I could get the words out, he asked suddenly, ‘What are you afraid of?’
God, how had he seen my fear? I glanced away, embarrassed.
But he took my chin in his fingers and turned me to face him, his golden eyes unavoidable. ‘Is it me?’ he asked bluntly.
‘No,’ I said, my denial instinctive. ‘I’m not afraid of you.’
He gave a bitter-sounding laugh. ‘Then you’re a fool.’
‘Why?’ This time it was my turn to demand, my attention momentarily diverted. ‘Because of your past?’
‘We’re not talking about me.’ His fingers firmed on my chin. ‘You’re afraid of something and I want to know what it is.’
I didn’t want to tell him, didn’t want to make myself any more vulnerable than I was already, but the truth came out anyway. ‘I’m afraid of...this.’ I pushed against his chest for emphasis. ‘This...chemistry between us.’
His frown deepened. ‘Why? There’s nothing wrong with sexual attraction.’
‘There is if it’s been used against you.’
Realisation dawned in his eyes and my face flamed. I tried to pull away but he only held me tighter.
‘Listen to me,’ he said, his voice quiet and fierce. ‘There are many things you should be afraid of when it comes to me, Vita, but one thing you should never be afraid of is that I’ll use your desire to hurt you.’ His fingers were firm against my jaw and very warm, his gaze inescapable. ‘I’m not so insecure that I need to film a woman and make fun of her in order to feel better about myself. You don’t have to believe me, but that’s the truth.’
His words dislodged something heavy in my chest, making it shift. ‘So why, then?’ I asked. ‘What is it about me? No one else has ever wanted me. Why should you?’
Golden sparks flickered in his eyes. ‘You really want to know?’
I couldn’t pretend it wasn’t important to me, not now. Not when I’d already given away so much. ‘Yes.’
He smiled, an edge of savagery to it. ‘I’ll show you.’
Before I could respond, he got up off the couch, pulling me with him, and then we were moving to the bar’s exit. He’d wound his fingers through mine, tugging me along as we threaded through the tables, and people turned to look at us as we left.
The attention normally would have made me want to run and hide, but tonight all I could think about was where he was leading me and what would happen when we got there. And whether I really wanted to see what it was he was going to show me.
Outside the bar was a long corridor that led to a lift.
Leon strode down it then hit the lift button. The doors opened instantly and he pulled me inside. I waited for him to press the ground floor button but, as the doors closed, it was the stop button he pressed instead.
My heart shuddered to a halt then resumed again, harder, faster. Thundering in my head.
The lift was small, the walls mirrored, Leon’s tall, broad reflection filling the tiny space.
He turned to me, his hands on my hips, propelling me against the back wall of the lift.
The air around us had got thicker, his amber gaze burning into mine as the tension drew tighter.
I could feel his heat, see the flames of raw desire in his eyes. He wasn’t hiding, he wasn’t pretending. He was letting me see it—letting me see all of it.
Why did he want me so badly? What was it he saw in me?
My parents had always found me plain and uninteresting. My mother had never understood my lack of interest in clothes and parties; my father had never understood me, full stop. ‘Be more like Clara,’ he’d advised, and so I’d tried. But I hadn’t been any good at that either.
Leon stared down at me, dark and intent, sliding his hands from my hips to my thighs then curling his fingers into the silky fabric of the new green dress a saleswoman had talked me into buying the day before.
‘W-what are you going to show me?’ I asked shakily, unable to bear the silence.
‘You’ll see.’
Then he began to ease the hem of my dress up slowly, taking his time, looking down into my face as the fabric rose higher and higher.
I began to tremble, both with inexplicable fear and a deep, thrilling excitement.
‘Are you afraid?’ he asked softly as the silk brushed over the tops of my thighs, cool air against my skin.
‘Yes.’ The word came out as a whisper.
One corner of his mouth quirked in a wicked smile. ‘It’s only chemicals, vixen. Remember?’
My own words come back to haunt me, but he was right.
‘Besides,’ he went on, easing my dress up to my waist. ‘You can stop me whenever you like. But if you do you’ll never get to see what I want to show you.’
My throat was dust-dry already, going even drier as his attention dropped from my face down to what he’d uncovered. Me, bare apart from my underwear, from the waist down.
He didn’t move. ‘Shall I stop?’
I wished I didn’t have to make the decision. I wished he could make it for me because if I said yes I’d have no one to blame but myself if it went wrong. But I wasn’t sure I could say no.
I ached. I burned. The desire he’d woken in me had been starved for too long and it needed to be fed.
I closed my eyes, shivering.
‘Vita.’ Impatience threaded his voice. ‘Answer me.’
‘Don’t stop,’ I croaked, keeping my eyes shut.
Silence fell.
‘Then hold your knickers aside for me, sweetheart,’ he murmured at last. ‘I want to see that sweet little pussy.’
The blunt eroticism of the words made me blush at the same time as they sent a pulse of raw heat straight through me.
I couldn’t do that, could I?
‘Look at me,’ he ordered.
My eyes flicked open, meeting the burning gold of his, and he leaned forward, resting his forearms on the mirrored surface of the wall on either side of my head, his face inches from mine.
‘Do it.’ He stared at me, his voice lower, rougher and taut with command. ‘Show me what I have to be desperate about.’
The desire in his gaze was so compelling. I couldn’t resist him, not any more.
My hands were shaking as I hooked my fingers in the damp fabric of my underwear and pulled it aside, baring myself to him.
He pushed himself away and looked down.
‘Fuck.’ The word was hoarse, the intentness with which he studied me making my face flame. ‘You’re a natural redhead. I knew you would be.’ He reached out and stroked the curls between my thighs, his fingertips brushing my sensitive flesh. ‘I knew you’d be wet too.’
I shuddered, white heat streaking through me at his touch. He glanced up at me again, sliding a finger through my folds in a long, slow stroke that tore a gasp from my throat and sent an intense, brutal kind of pleasure licking up inside me.
His smile was dark as his hands dropped away from my sex, coming to rest on my hips. Then he turned me around so that I faced the back wall of the lift.
The mirrored back wall.
I stared at the woman reflected back at me, her hair all over her shoulders in glossy waves, her face flushed, her mouth full and red. Her eyes were very dark yet they glowed with heat.
A sensual woman. Maybe even a beautiful woman.
Behind her stood a beautiful man, tawny and gold like a lion. All command, all power. A faint line of colour stained his high cheekbones and a muscle leapt in the side of his hard jaw.
He looked like he wanted to eat the woman standing in front of him alive.
‘I haven’t...d-done this since that video,’ I said before I could stop myself, the last gasp of my fear. ‘So...p-please go slow.’
His jaw seemed to harden, that muscle at the side of it leaping higher. And all he said was, ‘Watch.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Leon
I’D NEVER BEEN so hard in my entire fucking life.
Vita stood in front of me, her wide dark eyes looking at her own reflection in the mirrored wall of the lift then at me standing behind her.
I could see the arousal in her gaze and written all over her face. But there was apprehension there too, and no wonder. If she hadn’t had sex since that video then this moment was going to be difficult.
The feelings of others had never bothered me; I simply didn’t concern myself with them. But right now, right here, with Vita standing in front of me, I was concerned with her feelings.
She’d been cruelly manipulated and humiliated by some kid who should have known better, and I knew what that felt like. I knew how it messed with your head and how it made you see yourself differently.
Yet it had only been when she’d pushed me away a third time in the bar that I’d truly understood.
I’d automatically thought it had been me that she’d been afraid of, but no, it was the sexual chemistry between us and, though she hadn’t said it, I knew it was her own passion too that scared her.
But she didn’t need to be afraid. I wouldn’t use it to hurt her.
All I wanted to do was use it to give her a different vision of herself. One where she was desired—where she was beautiful, sexy and sensual. Everything that video had told her she wasn’t.
I didn’t know why it was important she saw that; I just didn’t like that she’d been hurt. I didn’t like that she’d been made to doubt herself and her desirability either.
I wanted to show her what I’d seen when she’d come apart under my touch at the restaurant.
She trembled as I reached into the back pocket of my trousers for my wallet and extracted the condom inside. I should have said something reassuring, but the scent of her arousal was everywhere and I was on a fucking knife-edge.
I could barely get the condom on, my hands were shaking so badly, let alone speak.
She’d asked me to go slowly but I wasn’t going to have a choice. I’d have to go slowly simply to stay in control.
Christ, how had that even happened? How was it that Augustus King’s most feared lieutenant was standing in a lift, shaking like a teenage boy seeing a bare pussy for the first time? And all because of one prickly little redhead.
I gripped my cock, staring at her in the reflective surface of the mirror. Correction, one beautiful little redhead.
Auburn hair everywhere, bright eyes, flushed with desire for me.
Couldn’t she see what sheer fucking perfection she was?
‘Hands on the rail,’ I ordered, standing back from her. ‘Then bend over. But keep your eyes on the mirror. Don’t look away.’
She hesitated only for a moment before grabbing onto the rail that ran around the inside of the lift and bending over, giving me a fantastic view of her perfect ass.
Her dress was up around her waist, revealing the plain dark blue cotton knickers she wore. I wanted them gone, wanted to see more of what she’d shown me earlier, those beautiful reddish curls between her legs. So I hooked my fingers in the waistband and jerked them down her thighs.
She
gave a gasp, her gaze meeting mine in the mirror.
I smiled then looked down beyond the white curve of her butt to where soft red curls guarded the slick wet flesh of her pussy.
‘Gorgeous,’ I said hoarsely, unable to stop looking. ‘You’re so fucking pretty.’ I couldn’t resist the urge to touch her, running my fingers over the soft skin of one butt cheek then squeezing it gently. I felt her tremble and when I ran my fingers down further to stroke those silky curls and slick folds, she trembled even harder.
I straightened, dragging my gaze from her pussy to meet her dark eyes in the mirror again. But I kept my fingers between her thighs, finding her hard little clit, circling it. ‘Remember to watch. I want you to see how sexy you are.’
She shuddered, her face flushing red as she did as she was told, her knuckles white where she gripped the railing. A soft moan escaped her.
I took my hand away, my fingers covered in her wetness. Making sure she was watching me, I put them in my mouth, licking the salty sweet taste of her from my skin.
Her breath hitched, her expression mesmerised.
‘You taste good, sweetheart,’ I said. ‘So very good. When I get you home I’m going to eat you out, make you scream. But before that happens...’
I moved closer, reaching down with one hand to grip my cock, my other hand on her hip, holding her steady. Then I positioned myself.
‘Eyes on your reflection, little vixen.’ I rubbed the head of my cock against her slick flesh, teasing her, teasing us both. ‘I want you to watch yourself when I push inside you. So you can see what I see.’
She was panting, her breathing loud in the tiny space, and mine wasn’t much better, though I was clearly more experienced at controlling it.
I had to do that now as I flexed my hips, pushing against her, easing the head of my dick into her pussy. The feel of her flesh parting around mine, then wet heat surrounding me, gripping me tightly, tore a growl from my throat.
Christ, she was tight. Slick. Hot. So fucking hot.
A long, low groan escaped her as I eased inside. Her gaze was pinned to her reflection, her mouth slightly open, her cheeks deeply flushed, little curls stuck to her forehead like tiny flames.
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