HeroRising

by Anna Alexander

  His brow climbed at that. That giant obeyed this tiny woman? “Is he here a lot?”

  “He comes and goes.”

  “Is he close with the Kilsgaards?”

  “I think so.”

  “How?”

  “I think they’re all from the same town in Sweden.”

  Yeah, he was beginning to believe that whole Sweden story was a cover up.

  “Is he a patron?” She shrugged. “Does he work here?” Another shrug. He bit back a curse and closed his eyes. “Let’s stop playing twenty questions, Doc, and just tell me what you know about him.”

  “As I said, I don’t know much. We don’t converse.” A sultry smile curled her lips and a teasing light flashed in her eyes. “However, I do believe his cock is ginormous, based on the wood I saw him sporting last night.”

  At her use of the word cock his own jumped and pulsed painfully behind his fly. Lordy, how he wished he could reach down and relieve the pressure. Then her words sank in. She was at the club the night before and knew the size of his dick? “Are you fucking him?”

  She rolled her eyes. “No. He’s hot but not submissive enough for my tastes. Look, all I know is he’s close to the Kilsgaards, comes and goes as he pleases and you don’t piss him off. That’s all.”

  Not submissive enough? What the hell did that mean?

  As his brain ruminated over that statement, he pulled up her photo on his phone and made a production of hitting the Delete button as he mentally kissed the image goodbye.

  “Thanks for the info, Doc.” He smiled. “For the record, I wouldn’t have sent the photo. No one would have believed me anyway. Not that you aren’t sexy,” he hastily added as her eyes widened, “because you are. Holy hell are you sexy. But you don’t seem to be the kinky type. You’re so…efficient.”

  She snorted and lowered her arms. With slow, slinky steps, she walked toward him, not stopping until the hard tips of her breasts were pressed against his chest and his aching erection was cushioned in the softness of her belly.

  Her eyelids lowered to half-mast and her lips pursed into a hot little pout. “If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I’ll deny it until I’m blue in the face, then take my whip to your bare ass. Do you understand?”

  He swallowed hard. She had to be bluffing. Wasn’t she? “Sure.”

  “Marco.” The use of his first name made his lungs catch as did the swivel of her hips against cock. “Do you understand?”

  He nodded then gasped as she dug her fingertips into his side. “Yes.”

  “Good boy.” She stepped away and walked backward, keeping their gazes locked.

  She reached for the doorknob of a closed door a few feet away. For the second time that night, Marco felt as if he’d taken a baseball bat to the chest as she revealed a man kneeling in the middle of the room. He wore not a stitch of clothing, his hands resting palm up on his thighs.

  “Hello, Army,” the doctor greeted.

  His hard cock bounced in reaction to her voice but he kept his gaze directed at the floor in front of his knees. “Good evening, Mistress.”

  Her smoky gaze nailed Marco as if she had reached out and grabbed him by the shaft. “Good night, Captain.”

  The door shut between them with a soft click.

  His hands shook as he dragged them through his hair then pulled at his tight collar.

  Holy fuck. She was a Dominatrix. Mousey little Dr. Jovanovich wore leather, snapped whips and tortured naked men in a sex club.

  Sweat broke out across his forehead as he stared at the solid door. Curiosity possessed him, drawing him the scant feet forward until his cheek pressed against the cool wood. There was a murmur of voices, one light and seductive, the other deep and anxious. Then came the smack of a solid object hitting flesh followed by a throaty moan. Then another. And another.

  Marco jumped back as if the door had burst into flames. He wiped at his brow and raced down the hall, feeling like the biggest pervert on the planet.

  A name. He now had a name. Exactly what he came for. But catching The Hood wasn’t even on his radar at the moment.

  Amaryllis’ words from earlier spun around him in an intricate spider’s web, growing thick and tight, binding him into place.

  He got what he wanted, but now he had a need.

  How long could he hold out until he begged to have that need satisfied?

  Chapter Nine

  For the umpteenth time that day Ari wondered what in the hell she was thinking as Bale stood behind her and brushed soft kisses down her neck. The swirl of his tongue against her pulse sent an arc of fire over her skin. At the same time she shivered at the scrape of his callus-roughened fingers parting the back of her dress.

  What was she doing becoming intimate with a man who was still practically a stranger? From what she’d seen so far, Bale maybe-kinda-sort of had a job doing Lord only knew what, and he had very little to his name but for his motorcycle and a few items of clothing.

  When Anthony, the scumbag, had courted her, she refused his advances for weeks, never truly believing that the smart, well-to-do, big-city lawyer was interested in the small-town girl who slung whisky and mugs of beer for a living. Little by little Anthony had made her believe she was worthy of his affections, capable of aspiring for better than her upbringing. The man had played on her weaknesses.

  Maybe that had been her problem—she had trusted a man who was both a lawyer and a politician. All she had wanted was to be in a relationship with a man with a respectable job. Had that been too much to ask?

  And Bale was nowhere near respectable. At least not in the traditional sense. Oh, people respected his strength and ability to kick major ass, but he wasn’t the type of man you could bring home to the folks and say, “Here’s my man, and he’s all that and a bag of chips.”

  Of course, her father had disappeared before she was born and her mother’s romantic history consisted of men who were either married, addicts, cheated on her or all of the above. Huh, perhaps respectability was overrated.

  Still, common sense demanded she take things slow. So why was she doing a cannonball into the deep end of madness?

  “You are so beautiful, Ari,” Bale whispered in her ear and nipped at the lobe. “I want to spend days learning all of the ways to make you come apart in my arms.”

  There it was. That right there was why she was allowing him to strip her naked, inside and out.

  The gentleness of his large hands as he cupped her breasts, the light in his eyes as he looked upon her as if she were a treasure he coveted for himself, yet awed that he possessed her. For the first time in her life she understood what it felt like to be cherished. To have her wants and desires attended to by someone who cared, just as she wished to do for Bale.

  She smiled as she recalled the expression on his face when she opened the door earlier. In his arms he juggled a variety of sex toys and lotions, clearly eager to try them out, but at the same time his concern that he was pushing too far made him look like a little boy begging to play with his new toys. And a very naughty little boy at that.

  When she had enthusiastically agreed, his delighted smile had made her heart flip and she knew then she was putty in his hands.

  Like now, with his fingers massaging her breasts, making them ache for a rougher touch. She ground her backside against his denim-encased erection and lifted her arms, wrapping them up and around his neck. Her fingers grabbed the hair at the nape of his neck and tugged. She loved the way his hands trembled as he glided them over her body.

  “Your hands feel so good on me. More. I want more.”

  The hitch in his breath as she pulled his hair and talked dirty ratcheted up her arousal until she was giddy with power. For a man who used so few words, he did enjoy hearing her constant banter.

  He chuckled, his hot breath ghosting over her skin. “You shall have it.”

  The room spun as he turned her in his arms and cupped her backside, pulling her tight against his pelvis. His kiss was hard and h
ungry. Just how she liked it.

  She reached under his shirt, luxuriating in the bunching of his muscles and the heat he generated. With Bale in her bed, she’d never have to worry about another cold night again.

  “What wicked plans do you have for me, big man?” she asked against his lips as she raked her nails across his abdomen.

  His slight frown and hard swallow instantly intrigued her.

  “Tell me, Bale.” She reached up and smoothed away the creases on his brow with her thumb. “The most I can do is say no.”

  “I—” He swallowed again. “I want to restrain you.”

  And… That was all? From the line of tension that straightened his shoulders she expected to hear a far more extreme request. “You want to tie me up? Okay. That’s a little kinky, but not too out there. Why didn’t you just ask me?”

  “To give control to another requires a great deal of trust. I am not sure if I’ve earned yours yet,” he said solemnly.

  Wow. She rocked back on her heels. “Thank you for thinking of my feelings. I’m sorry to say that I’m not used to men asking me my opinion.”

  “Those men were beasts who did not deserve you.”

  The conviction in his statement made her smile and she granted him a quick kiss. “I like the idea of being at your mercy. Why don’t we start small? How about you can bind my hands, but don’t tie me to anything I can’t run away from.”

  “I can do that.” Anticipation darkened his eyes to a sparkly obsidian and a smile flirted on his lips.

  “But I want you naked first.”

  The excitement dimmed. “I don’t know why you insist on my nakedness.”

  “I suspect it’s the same reason you stripped me down the moment you walked through the door. The way your body moves is highly arousing.”

  To prove her point, she stood on tiptoe to pull his shirt up and over his head then licked a path from his collarbone down the center of his chest to the waistband of his jeans with only slight detours to scrape her teeth across his nipples. “Admit it, you like my hands on your bare skin.”

  “You have to ask?” His erection eagerly sprang into her waiting hand as she released the zipper of his jeans.

  With her left hand she stroked him from base to tip in a swirling motion that made his knees shake with each downstroke while she worked to pull his pants the rest of the way off his sturdy legs.

  Once he was bare to her liking, she peppered his hairy thighs with kisses and dug her fingers into the firm muscles of his backside. Mercy be, the man had a butt Michelangelo’s David would envy.

  Between licks along the underside of his strong cock she asked, “Do you still want to tie me up?”

  His head tipped back on a groan as his fingers tunneled into her hair. With a sharp tug, she was on her feet. “Yes.”

  The game was on.

  Perspiration dotted his forehead and slickened his bangs so they framed his eyes as they narrowed with a predatory gleam that warned her he would not stop until he conquered all he believed was his.

  “Give me your hands.” Hunger deepened his voice to a rumble that sent flashes of heat exploding in all her erogenous zones.

  Without another word spoken between them, he used a black satin ribbon to bind her wrists together. He lifted her then set her on the middle of her bed, urging her to place her arms above her head before he stepped back and gazed at her with admiration shining brilliantly in his eyes.

  He set one knee upon the bed by her side then slowly swung his other leg up and over her body, as if he were an experienced cowboy settling into the saddle for a good hard ride. The touch of his possessive gaze and the authoritative lines carved around his firmly set lips made all her senses stand at attention like fans at a rock concert climbing over each other with hands outstretched just for the chance to brush against their hero.

  Holy shit. She wasn’t going to survive the night.

  No matter how hard she tried to hold still, her hips twitched and rolled beneath him and her torso undulated, desperate for any contact.

  Bale drew a deep breath and a smugness lifted the corner of his mouth into a slanted grin. God, could he smell the cream leaking out of her pussy and soaking the sheets beneath her?

  “I’ve barely touched you and you’re ready to come.”

  She tried to laugh, but the sound came out more like a squeak. “I told you, you’re a very sexy man.”

  He laid his hot hand against her sternum and she swore her heart leapt into his palm. For several long seconds he didn’t move, only watched her with that intense stare as she fought the urge to scream.

  Touch me, damn it!

  A strangled cry broke free as tears of frustration welled in her eyes. Only then did he take pity on her and fully cupped both breasts, bending down to scrape the fine stubble of his beard over the straining tips as he laughed with evil intent.

  “You suck,” she gasped as she writhed.

  “As you wish.” He drew a hard nipple deep into his mouth.

  Whoa. She hissed and arched her back for more of the delicious contact.

  “Oh yes. Yes.” Her whimpers turned into keening cries as he bit and kneaded her achy mounds. Around her nipple his smile widened as he watched her turn into a babbling, lusty heap.

  “I love how you give your pleasure to me with such abandon.” He slid his thigh between hers, prying her legs apart to make room for his torso. “Show me how wet you are.”

  A bitch in heat displayed more decorum than she did as she eagerly pulled her knees up and out. Did she care if she appeared as easy as a wanton slut? Hell no. Her pussy was dying of hunger and needed to be fed. Now.

  Bale ran the flat of his tongue from her knee down to her open sex. Against her skin he murmured words she guessed were from his native language in that raspy voice that sent vibrations straight to her clit.

  “Please, Bale. I need to be filled.”

  The tip of his finger teased the opening to her sheath. “No. You’re not ready yet.”

  “Bullshit,” she shouted. “Fuck me. Fuck me now. Please.”

  “Will this suffice?” He sank his forefinger into her pussy down to the knuckle.

  Oh, that was nice. Nice, but not enough.

  “More. More.”

  “How about this?” Two fingers plunged deep, the tips massaged the neck of her womb in little circles.

  That could work. She humped against his hand, her heart ready to burst as she reached out for the orgasm dangling so close she could taste its sweetness.

  Then the bastard pulled away. “Son of a bitch!”

  Again with the evil laughter. She shook her head to clear the damp strands that had fallen across her face with all her thrashing and shot him a glare that should have brought him to his knees.

  “I think you will enjoy this better,” he said as he rolled a condom down his thick shaft.

  The coiled power in his body as he moved into position sent a spike of adrenaline to her brain and her teeth chattering with the intensity. His dark gaze pinned her in place as he slowly inserted his cock into her sheath in a long, steady stroke until he could go no farther.

  His eyelids fluttered and nostrils flared when she clenched her inner muscles around the invasion, pulsing and releasing as if to coax the cum from his balls.

  “Thank you,” he murmured, then pulled back his hips and lunged hard, driving the breath from her lungs. He snarled and hooked her legs over his arms and drove deep, again and again, in a pace that never wavered.

  Tears streamed down her face as the most exquisite fire erupted within, consuming her from the inside out. The world disappeared until only Bale remained, his strength, his heat, tunneling into her soul and staking his claim. And still he never stopped, thrusting balls-deep and drawing her orgasm out until her lungs struggled for air and she wept for relief.

  Sweat dripped from his brow, the sheen on his alabaster skin made him look like an otherworldly conqueror. The cock wedged in her cunt was rock hard, pulsing with the
need to release his cum. He said not a word as he rolled her weak body over and positioned her on her knees. Her body was so ready, he sank every inch of his shaft with one thrust into her still-twitching core. Unintelligible words fell from her lips but the message was clear.

  Take me. My body is yours. Give me your all.

  The touch of his fingers rubbing against her clit ignited another blast of energy that had her bound hands clutching the bed sheets as she sent howling praises to the Lord. Consciousness faded as she struggled for air and her body continued to shake from the two orgasms. Part of her craved more of the addictive sensations while the other half was terrified she’d never survive what he planned for her next.

  The sensation of cool gel oozing between the cheeks of her ass followed by the press of Bale’s finger against the tiny hole roused her attention.

  She tensed at the pressure and she felt Bale freeze a moment later. Once before she had tried anal sex. It hadn’t been the best of experiences, but it hadn’t been the worst either.

  With a glance over her shoulder she saw Bale holding himself in check. The muscles in his arms and legs twitched as if fighting against the command to hold still. His breath bellowed like that of a bull after a long hard run, his chest expanding hard with each inhale.

  “Is this bad?” he gritted out, clearly at the end of his control.

  “No,” she whispered, unable to talk any louder. “Go. Slow.”

  He shuddered and resumed the gentle probing of her ass. Throughout their short history together, Bale had always treated her with the utmost care, ensuring she received everything she needed. There was no reason for her to believe that would change now. What better way to display her trust than by giving him something he clearly craved?

  The generous amount of lubrication eased his way and surprisingly the penetration didn’t hurt, not even when he added a second finger. Before long she was pushing back, enjoying the stretch and fullness.

  “Ari,” he groaned then pulled out from her altogether.

  She arched in response. “Please. Ahh.”

  Yes. Her breath caught as he settled the head of his cock where his fingers had been and pushed. The glide was as slow and steady as when he had taken her pussy. Against the backs of her thighs his legs trembled, his fingers dug into her flanks as he withdrew then pushed again. When his tight ball sac kissed the lips of her pussy he released a deep sigh.