“Oh right, I’m a fucking princess. I didn’t lose my father when I was ten years old only to have my mother marry a fucking drug king. I didn’t have to use the money my dead father left me to go to school when I really would have rather had a father and I didn’t have to live through burying my brother who was also my best friend. Sure, I never had anything fucking bad happen to me ever.”
“It’s not the same!” he spat.
She had never been forced to live a life that she despised.
“You’re right, it’s not the same. I rose above it...”
She was insinuating that he was weak again...too weak to take charge of his own life. Once again, Damien snapped.
“Shut the fuck up!” He roared. He lunged at her and at the last minute, she tried to move away. She wasn’t quick enough and he caught her by her wrists and pulled her up off the couch. For a second they just looked at each other, both of them breathing heavily. He hadn’t thought this through. He suddenly wanted to kiss her...ravage her. All that anger had turned into passion. He pushed her back up against the wall. He was rough with her as he did and this time there was a flicker of fear in her eyes. When he realized that was what he’d been looking for, he felt like shit all over again. What kind of man wants to elicit fear in a woman?
“Let go of me you fucking asshole!”
He started to let her go but against his better judgment and her attitude just made him hotter. He leaned his body in against her and covered her mouth with his roughly. He expected her to continue to struggle...but to his surprise he realized that she was kissing him back. He was consumed by a fiery passion...some of it was anger and some of it was the emotional hangover of talking about his mother and some of it was just pure, animal lust. He wanted her and he was glad she seemed to want him too because he didn’t think he was going to be able to stop himself.
Chapter 20
When Damien snatched her up off the couch Paige couldn’t breathe for a second. She was going out of her way to make sure he didn’t see any fear in her eyes...but he suddenly looked like he was out of his mind with rage and she had no idea what he was going to do. He pushed her roughly against the wall...and then to her surprise, he kissed her. She was even more surprised to find herself kissing him back...but she decided she’d question herself about that later. There really wasn’t anything to question anyways, this man was the hottest man alive...thug or not. In spite of herself, she was so fucking hot for this guy she felt like she was going to explode.
The kiss itself wasn’t anything like she’d ever experienced before. It wasn’t sweet or soft or romantic...it was angry and it hurt...but it turned her on like crazy. Damien was biting at her mouth and she was giving back as well as she got, sucking his tongue into her mouth and then scraping it with her teeth once she had it there. He was biting her lips and sucking them in between his. She could feel his hot, bare chest pressing into her too and that was just egging her on. When they were arguing, she’d been trying not to look directly at him. A woman would have to be blind or crazy not to want him.
He started tearing at her clothes wildly, ripping off her blouse and then her bra. As soon as they were out of the way, he took a breast in his hand, squeezing and massaging it before she even realized he’d stripped her down. He didn’t bother taking off her skirt. That, he just pushed up around her waist and with a flick of his wrist he tore off the thong she was wearing and tossed it aside. She hadn’t seen him take off his shorts, but as soon as he had her panties were off, his hard cock was sliding inside of her.
“Oh fuck!”
His powerful body was still pressing into her mercilessly, holding her against the wall. He broke the kiss and looked at her face. She could see the raw need in his eyes and it sent a gush of fluid rushing out from between her legs. When he reached down and grabbed her ass, she wrapped her legs around his waist and he held her like that, pumping his massive cock in and out of her. It took her less than a minute to come. She let out a little scream and then her body began to shake like she was having a seizure. She’d never felt anything that intense and she was still in a daze as she realized he was carrying her down the hall to his bedroom. He was walking slowly, still fucking her as they walked. When they made it to the bed he tossed her down onto it roughly. Then he lifted one of her legs up and held it with his hand wrapped around her ankle and slid back into her. He began pumping into her again, hard and fast. He was panting and growling at the same time. He was at a strange angle...almost diagonal to her pussy and the feeling of his big hard cock hitting the wall of her pussy sent waves of shock straight to her brain. Every nerve ending in her body was alive and raw and every part of her body was feeling something...it was all good. He was driving himself into her with a speed and intensity that she’d never experienced and she bucked her hips up to meet him with every thrust. She reached up and grabbed at his shoulders, digging her nails into him and pulling him down into a kiss. It wasn’t so much a kiss as it was an act of once again devouring each other’s mouths like wild animals.
Paige grabbed at his hair and he pulled out of the kiss and looked at her face again with this penetrating stare that went right through her. He’s so fucking hot and the fact that they dangled somewhere between disgust and admiration for each other only intensified the feelings that were ripping through her. She didn’t know what he was looking for as he stared into her eyes but he must have seen it because before long he was panting and growling from his chest again. He let go of her leg and leaned in to kiss and suck and bite his way across her neck. She loved the feeling of his teeth sinking into her flesh and she felt the spasms of another orgasm beginning to build. Before it came to a head, he pulled out of her and dropped down to his knees. He put his arms underneath her thighs and pulled her towards him, burying his face in her pussy. He used his tongue and his teeth and it was more like an assault than anything else...but she fucking loved it. The orgasm she’d almost had crashed into her again like a giant wave and as he sucked her clit into his mouth and bit down on it, she screamed and gave into it.
“Oh fuck! Oh my God!”
She came like she’d never come before. Wave after wave of it rocked through her entire body and she was shaking so hard that she wasn’t sure she’d ever recover. Damien didn’t wait for her to. He stood up and lifting her under the arms, he pushed her over in the bed. Then he lay down on his back and pulled her up on top of him. He took both of her breasts in his hands and used them to pull her down towards his mouth. He used that sexy mouth then to attack her breasts and nipples with the same all –out assault he’d exacted on her pussy. He was sucking and licking and biting...it seemed like all at the same time. Paige had her hands fisted up in his hair and the harder he bit, the harder she pulled him into her chest. She was making wild little noises that didn’t even sound human. She was sure that she wouldn’t be able to form a coherent word to save her own life if she had to.
He kept her breasts somewhere between ecstasy and torture for what seemed like eternity. She was going to be sore, but she didn’t care. The line between pleasure and pain was so fine...she didn’t care if he did this all night long. When he finally let them fall out of his mouth he told her, “Put your lips on my cock.”
Without hesitation, she slid down and drew him into her mouth. She took him all the way in. It was so different than it had been with Caine. She wanted to draw him all the way back into her throat. She wanted to make him come. She let his swollen head rest against the very back of her throat and she swallowed.
“Oh Jesus fuck!”
She let him slide out slowly almost all the way and then she sucked him in hard again. Using her hand, she began to squeeze and massage his balls. He was pulling on her hair so hard it felt like he was going to pull a handful of it out as she took him in and out of her mouth, licking and sucking and letting the edges of her teeth scrape along the shaft.
“Oh shit! Fuck, Paige. Stop! Fuck!”
He used her hair to pull her up off of him
and then he reached down and took her under the arms and pulled her up so she was straddling him again. She reached down and took him in her hand and then she impaled herself on his rock hard cock. He held onto her waist and moved her up and down as he bucked his hips up off the bed, slamming into her over and over again. It took Paige another two or three minutes before her pussy was clamping down on him and her body was going into full spasm. As soon as Damien felt her getting ready to come he let out another loud and raspy “Fuck!” before she felt him go rigid underneath her. He had himself buried as deep inside of her as he could go when she felt him come. He held that position for several seconds before giving her a few final pumps and then collapsing back down on the bed. Paige collapsed against his hard chest and lay there listening to his raspy breaths and the pounding of his heart until she drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 21
Paige woke up when the early morning light began to push its way in through the blinds. Her body was sore and she felt mentally exhausted as well. She was facing Damien and he had an arm draped across her side. She watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest and realized that this was the first time she’d ever seen him completely relaxed. He’d let his guard down with her the night before...briefly. But that seemed to be what had pissed him off the most.
She let her eyes travel over him, lamenting the fact that he was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen...yet he came from one of the ugliest families that she’d ever known. When her eyes made it down to his stomach they fell on the beginnings of a scar that looked like it ran deep. She put her fingers lightly against it and traced it from his abdomen, across his side and all the way to the back of his waist. It was hidden well underneath his colorful tats so she’d never noticed it before. It was thick and jagged.
She felt him stir and looked back up at his face. His pretty blue eyes were open and looking at her. He put his hand over hers and moved it away from the scar.
“I’m not who you think I am, Paige.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m not a bad person. I can be the biggest asshole you ever met...but that comes from years of practice. I was a good kid when my mother was alive...Alex too.” Paige snorted and Damien smiled. “Okay, Alex gets into all of this a little more than I do. I think he has a lot more of our father in him than I do. Our mother was the complete opposite of Jackson Paine. Growing up with her was like something you see on a TV show. I’m not exaggerating...she was an exceptional mother.”
“Do you think she knew what he was...when she married him?”
“She married him...or at least she fell in love with him before he really came into what he is, I think. She said that after he took over for his father he began to change. In spite of what his own father was, he had a lot of respect for him. He likes to tell us about him. He set up one of the largest trucking companies over five decades ago in the city. He came from nothing so that in and of itself was a feat. I’ve often wondered what things might be like if they’d kept it legit. The company is thriving on its own, without the “side” businesses. It employs several hundred employees and turns massive profits. But the important thing to my father is that it allows the family a cover.”
“But the NYPD knows who and what he is, obviously...Greg and Tommy did.”
“Everyone knows. He’s untouchable. The FBI and cops know it’s a cover but my father is too smart to get caught. Plus a ton of them are on the payroll. He’s never served a day in jail no matter how hard they’ve tried to put him there. He’s the most diligent, intelligent man I’ve ever personally met...and everyone else seems to see it too.”
“So Jackson is modeling himself after his own father...and that’s what he expects from you?”
“Pretty much. He is so full of loyalty to this...family that he was willing to become what they expected him to be. Now, he’s just lived it for so long, he couldn’t change if he wanted to. I don’t make the mistake of believing that he does.”
She put her fingers back on the scar and looked at him questioningly. She knew she was teetering on a slippery slope. Damien had a short fuse and she wasn’t sure how much he would tell her before he snapped again. He grimaced and she pulled her hand away.
“Does it hurt?”
The look in his eyes had been pure pain. He smiled sadly and said, “Not physically. It healed a long time ago. My father did that to me.”
Paige gasped. She knew Jackson Paine was capable of a lot of horrible things...but to cut his own son?
“How—why?”
He hesitated and for several seconds she wasn’t sure he was going to answer. Then he started talking again...“I was about twenty years old...it was my first year in the family business. My father kept Alex and I close, teaching us everything he could. We got a late start. People like Caine grew up in the midst of it; it was second nature to them. To Alex and me it was all new. He let us in on everything and in a messed-up dysfunctional way it made us feel like he loved us. Two guys who grew up without a father had finally found one that wanted to share everything with them...it was the perfect set-up, actually. There was this one night. My dad and brother and my uncles Kevin and Brad were there. We were at this warehouse where an “exchange” was taking place...”
“An exchange?”
“Drugs for money...There were five men there and my father gave them the drugs and they gave him the money. Then my Dad and my uncles pulled guns on them and took the drugs back. I didn’t know what was happening. It was chaotic, the men were screaming at my father and my father was barking orders. Later I found out that they’d somehow been ripping my father off. I never got all the details, but they were “cheating” him, at least in his mind. Jackson Paine can’t allow that to happen. He has to set an example. Everything he does is about setting an example. Alex had his gun drawn too and I suspect that Dad had filled him in before everything went down. He never admitted it to me, but there was a lot that Alex was privy to that I wasn’t. Dad and Alex have always been closer...he treats me differently. Anyways, they were holding them at gunpoint when my father handed me a gun and said, “Kill them.” He said it so simply. It was like he was telling me to take out the fucking trash. I’m used to it now. Back then...it was hard to wrap my head around. This whole life had been kind of exciting at first. We got to dress up like fucking Al Pacino and drive fast cars and carry guns. It was a whole different world from anything we were used to. We were just average kids in L.A. In New York City, we walked into a room and we owned it. It was intoxicating for a while...but it got old fast for me. I’d had enough by then. I said no.”
Paige’s chest ached for him, but she kept her feelings in check. She knew that he wasn’t going to want her “pity” as he would call it. She had him opening up to her, she didn’t want to blow it.
“When I said no, he looked at me like I had two heads. He so rarely heard the word that I don’t think he thought he heard me right. He said, “What did you say?” I tried to hand the gun back to him...I was so fucking stupid. I said, “I can’t do this anymore. I’m just going to go back home to California.” He smiled and walked up to me. Before I realized what was going on, I felt the knife.”
Paige felt sick. She hated Jackson more than she ever had before. “He just cut you, in front of everyone? Did Alex try to help you?”
“No, but I think he was in shock.”
She didn’t miss the fact that he chose to defend his brother at every turn. Yes, he cut me in front of everyone. He told me later that he had to. I’d made him lose face in front of men he needed to have the upper hand with. He needed me to understand that this wasn’t a “job” that you could just quit. “You can’t quit “family” he said, “The only way out is death.” He said that he did to me what he would have done to any man that defied him...only I probably got off easier than most. He told me all of that later as his doctor was patching me up. He has his own doctor on call for these sorts of things.”
“Chris?”
“Yeah, Chris. He�
��s another sell out. He’s an actual M.D. He grew up with my father...I guess the temptation of money was stronger than his ethics. Anyways, that day that he cut me, my uncle Kevin jumped him. He knocked dad to the ground in a rage and pummeled him like a prize fighter. Dad was stronger than him back then, and finally got the upper hand. It was intense there for a few minutes. Dad had his gun pressed into the side of Uncle Kevin’s head and we all thought he was going to kill him. Then he suddenly turned the gun on the other guys...the ones he’d told me to kill and he shot them all. “That’s what happens when you fuck with Jackson Paine,” he said.
“Oh my God. What did your brother say?”
Damien shrugged. “Alex was already kind of brain-washed by then. My dad spent a lot more time with him than he did me. He was always giving me some crap job to keep me busy and out of his hair. He has always treated me differently than Alex. It’s almost like I’m a thorn in his ass...sometimes he treats me like I’m not even family but since everyone knows I am he has to save face by accepting me. I wish that he wouldn’t. That way, I could leave.”
“Where would you go if you could?”
“I don’t think about that,” he said. “This is my life whether I want it to be or not. I fucking hate it...but it’s this or death and I’m not ready to die. I can’t let myself imagine another life though. If I did, I might do something stupid...like going after it.”
Paige didn’t know what to say, but at least now she understood her attraction to him a little better. She knew that she could never be this attracted to someone who was like Caine or Alex no matter how good looking they are. She must have been able to sense that underneath that bad boy skin...there was a lot more. Damien did what he did because he had no other options. Paige wondered if what she had on the family would give him options.
“I’ll be right back.”
House of Paine - (A Romantic Suspense - Book 1) Page 12
