by Julia Sykes
Her features drew tight with horror, but I couldn’t stop myself from finishing my confession. “Abuela died nine months later,” I said bitterly. “Breast cancer. She didn’t even try to fight to survive it. Not after losing Valentina. She left me alone. With Cristian.”
Cupping my scarred cheek in her hand, Samantha leaned up into me and lightly pressed her lips to mine. For a moment, my mouth was tense beneath hers; a hard, anguished slash. Then I released my pain on a long groan, and I opened for her. She’d never initiated a kiss like this. I was always the one to claim her. Her tender treatment made my chest tighten. My fingers threaded in her hair, pulling her closer. My tongue swept into her mouth, and I devoured her like a starving man.
Her hands went to my shirt, tearing at the buttons as though she was desperate to touch my bare, scarred body. She didn’t find the marks disgusting. She caressed them, tracing them. Her gentleness incited a rougher hunger within me, and my cock stiffened for her. I finished stripping out of my clothes and settled my body over hers on the bed, loving the feel of her delicate frame trapped beneath mine, nothing separating us.
“I want you, Andrés,” she gasped when I broke our kiss so we could both draw in much-needed air. “Don’t make me beg. I want to give this to you. I want to give myself to you.”
I pressed my forehead to hers, so we exchanged each ragged breath. “You don’t have to beg, sirenita. You just have to say yes. I need to know that you want me. Let me in.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks, but she wasn’t crying from fear or pain. “Yes,” she whispered. “Please, Andrés.”
Her soft plea made something expand in my chest, and my cock jerked against her hip. “Samantha,” I rasped her name and lined my aching shaft up with her slick entrance. “Do you feel what you do to me? You are so perfect.”
I pressed my cockhead into her wet opening. Stars burst across my vision as her tight sheath gripped me, and she whimpered in discomfort. I couldn’t stop myself or slow my progress. I had to claim her, to mark her with my seed.
I stroked her cheek with one hand and reached between us with the other, playing with her nipples to give her the little bites of pain that always drove her wild. Her whimper turned to a high whine, and her inner muscles relaxed as her arousal grew, easing my progress as I penetrated her in a steady slide.
Once I was fully seated inside her, I paused to allow her to adjust to my size. Her core contracted, struggling between pushing me out and welcoming me in. She touched the mark that had ruined my face again, tracing the furrow with her fingertips. I closed my eyes as bliss rolled over me. A shiver ran through my entire body, and my cock jerked inside her.
I withdrew slowly, using aching care with her untried body. I knew the moment my cockhead dragged across her g-spot. Her tight pussy relaxed, opening for me. Emboldened, she wrapped her legs around my hips and dug her heels into my ass, pulling me back inside her.
A rumbling shout left my lips at her shocking movement. I grasped her wrists, pinning them over her head with one hand while my other played with her breasts more harshly.
I pumped my hips faster and harder, clinging to my control by a thread. I struggled to hold back, not wanting to damage her perfect body.
“More,” she begged, rocking her hips up to meet my thrusts. “Please, Andrés…”
Her pleading triggered me. With a snarl, my control snapped. I started fucking her in harsh, possessive strokes. My hand tightened around her wrists, pinning her beneath me so she couldn’t escape.
She cried out, welcoming more. Her entire body tensed, her legs shaking around me.
“Come for me, sirenita,” I ground out, the order barely intelligible.
She let go, her cunt squeezing my cock as she reached completion. Her scream mingled with my wild roar, and I spilled my seed deep inside her, branding her.
I held myself inside her as I emptied my cum into her. Our shaking and spent bodies remained locked together as my lips crashed down on hers. The kiss seared my soul, marking her as mine, even as I realized she’d claimed me, as well.
Chapter 16
I didn’t lock Samantha to the bed the next morning, deciding to let her sleep late without disturbing her. I no longer feared that she would try to leave me. Besides, the elevator was still barred to her, so I didn’t really have to worry about her escaping. Soon, Lauren would bring her the morning after pill and birth control shot. She’d make sure Samantha was fed and cared for.
Something clenched inside me at the idea of giving her the pill, but my rational mind told me that taking risks was beyond foolish.
I buried the discomfort as my driver pulled my car up to Cristian’s building. I intended to find a way to convince him that Samantha was on the verge of cooperating, and I just needed a little more time. He’d granted me a reprieve yesterday, but I didn’t expect it to hold long enough for me to convince Samantha that she had to comply with his demands. I wouldn’t force her, but I had to make her cooperate, for her own good. I wouldn’t allow any harm to come to her, no matter how stubborn she could be.
Unfortunately, Cristian wasn’t home. Or if he was, he lied and refused to see me. I wouldn’t put it past him to make me stew in my fear for Samantha for a few more days, at least.
Frustrated, I left to return to my penthouse. I didn’t have much choice in the matter, and I wanted to see Samantha. I’d only left her an hour ago, but I needed to hold her to ease my worry. I needed to feel her soft body against mine and know she was safe from my brother.
As soon as I entered my building, the familiar sound of her scream chilled my bones. I didn’t have time to wonder what she was doing on the ground floor. Blind panic flooded my mind, and I raced toward the sound of her terror.
A man was on top of her, pinning her slight body against the marble. She wore only one of my shirts, and he groped beneath it. His dick was exposed, pressing against her ass as he sought to violate her thrashing form.
Rage more visceral than I’d ever known surged through me, searing my veins. An inhuman sound reverberated through the hallway, and my hands closed around his shoulders before I realized I’d moved. I ripped him off her, flinging him against the wall. The back of his head cracked against the plaster, leaving a crimson smear as he slid to the ground.
Drawing his blood didn’t remotely calm me. He’d touched her. He’d looked at her.
He would die in agony.
My fingers curved into claws, and I gouged his eyes out, his blood painting my hands as he screamed. I wrapped my hands around his neck, squeezing until his face darkened to purple, the empty sockets where his eyes had been staring up at me.
It wasn’t nearly enough, but Samantha’s keening cries cut through my blind fury. I grasped the man’s skull and twisted. Bone crunched as his neck snapped. I hadn’t exacted my full retribution, but the threat to her was eliminated.
I turned back to Samantha. She lay curled up on her side, her wide, pale eyes staring in horror as she gasped for breath. At first, I thought she was looking at the dead man’s ruined face, but her gaze was focused on something far away. She wasn’t present in the gory scene I’d created.
My rage evaporated into concern. How badly had he hurt her?
I reached for her with bloody hands, and she flinched away.
I hesitated, wary of spooking her. “Cosita, it’s okay. You’re safe now.”
“Andrés?” Her voice was soft and strangely high, like a child. “I don’t want him to touch my… I don’t want this. I don’t… I don’t…”
She began to hyperventilate. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close to my chest. The vise around my heart eased slightly when she turned her face into me, her fingers curling into my shirt.
She sobbed, finally heaving in a breath. A stream of soothing Spanish dropped from my lips. I was barely aware of what I was saying, but I had to comfort her. All I could do was hold her until her terror passed.
Her eyes squeezed tightly shut, and she shook violently in
my arms as I rushed her to the elevator and took her back into the safety of my penthouse. I carried her into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed, cuddling her close as I ran my hands over her chilled skin.
I stopped talking when she began whispering in a panicked litany, her voice still oddly soft. “Don’t. I don’t want you to touch my secret place. I don’t want this, Uncle Robert. Please…” She shuddered, clinging to me more tightly.
My arms tensed around her, crushing her to my chest as my rage resurfaced, painting the back of my tongue with acid. Understanding sliced into my brain, the pain of my revelation making my gut twist. She wasn’t thinking about the guard who’d assaulted her; she was lost in dark memories, ones she must have buried deep. They’d been triggered by the attack.
She hadn’t been frightened of my touch in our first days together because she was an innocent virgin. Her nervous tics and anxiety weren’t natural parts of her personality. Her uncle had hurt her when she was young. The fear in her high-pitched voice and her horrified words revealed her trauma.
“Where is your uncle now?” I couldn’t keep the growl from my words, even though I knew I should be gentle with her. The way I’d mutilated the guard downstairs was nothing compared to the torture I’d inflict on the twisted man who’d violated her as a child.
“What?” She blinked, her eyes finally focusing on me as she surfaced from her foul memories.
“You said…” My voice garbled on a snarl. “You mentioned Uncle Robert. Where can I find him?”
She shuddered at his name. “Why?”
“I’m going to kill him for you, Samantha,” I swore. Maybe I’d let her watch as I tore him apart. His screams for mercy might bring her some peace.
My body vibrated with barely-restrained violence, and my hand firmed on her head where I’d been stroking her hair.
“He’s dead,” she replied hollowly as her eyes slid out of focus again. “I cried at his funeral. I didn’t know why I was so upset. I fucking cried over him.”
“How old were you? How old were you when he—?” My teeth snapped closed. I swallowed against the metallic tang that filled my mouth.
“Nine,” she said softly. “But I forgot. How could I forget?”
She trembled, and her gaze found mine, wide and imploring. “I’m sorry,” she choked out. “I’m sorry I tried to leave. I thought you didn’t care about me. I thought—”
“You thought I didn’t care?” I demanded, my muscles tensing and rippling around her. “Do you know what it did to me, seeing another man hurting you, touching you? Seeing you broken and crying when you remembered what—?” I cut myself off again, tasting a fresh wash of blood on my tongue as I bit the inside of my cheek.
Something horrible occurred to me. I’d thought she’d enjoyed my claim over her when she’d finally given herself to me last night. Had I only seen what I wanted to see? “Did I hurt you?” I asked, my voice strangely thick. “Last night. Did I hurt you?”
“No.” She touched her fingertips to my cheek, tracing the line of my scar just as she’d done when I’d been buried deep inside her.
“Then why? Why would you leave me?”
“I woke up, and you were gone.” Her cheeks colored with something like shame. “I didn’t have my collar. Then Lauren brought me the pill and the birth control shot, and I thought I must have imagined… I thought you didn’t care.”
Something vicious and hungry threatened to rise up and claim my emotions, but I shoved it down. I didn’t want to scare her with the ferocity of the strange feelings that surged within me. “Do you want to get pregnant?” I asked, my tone carefully steady and even.
“I… No. Not…not right now.”
Not right now.
Samantha wanted a child. An image of her bearing my child, her belly round from my seed, softened the last of my tumultuous emotions. It was an insane vision, one that could never be. That didn’t stop me from coveting it.
“That’s for the best.” I tried to convince myself by speaking aloud. “You need to take the pill.”
“I… Okay,” she agreed.
I cuddled her closer, my heart softening. “You were upset because I was gone? Then I’ll stay. Do you want your collar back on? I thought you resented it.”
“I, um, I got used to it. I like it,” she amended, her confession holding the ring of truth. “It makes me feel safe. Like you’re with me, even when you’re not here. But I’d rather not be chained to the bed.”
I traced the line of her jaw with reverence. I wanted to see my collar back around her throat, too. “You can have your collar, but I’m not going anywhere. I left this morning to see my brother. I was convincing him to give me more time with you.”
“Oh.” She seemed surprised, as though that possibility hadn’t occurred to her. “Thank you.” She looked into my eyes, beseeching. “I still don’t want to work for him. It goes against everything I believe in.”
“I know. I’ve read enough about your superheroes to see that.”
“Then what are we going to do?”
I sighed, uncharacteristic anxiety gripping me. “I don’t know yet. I’ll figure something out.”
“We’ll figure something out,” she declared.
My Samantha might be fragile, but she was clever and brave and fierce. My uncertainty melted away, my worries dissipating into awe. I cupped her cheeks, holding her carefully as I pressed my lips to hers.
Despite the horror she’d just faced, she softened, opening for me and inviting me in. She felt safe in my arms, and my own sense of safety settled over me as I fell into her, allowing her to claim all my senses and quiet my feral instincts.
Chapter 17
I held Samantha through two nightmares, stroking her sweat-slicked skin as she cried. I hated the fact that her uncle was already dead, that I couldn’t mutilate him with my bare hands for what he’d done to her.
But she seemed content enough this morning, curled up in her usual place in my lap as I fed her breakfast. She playfully nipped at my fingers on the final bite of bacon, but the saucy action didn’t incite my need to dominate and punish as it would have in the beginning. Instead, an indulgent smile curved my lips.
Mí sirenita was herself again, and I was far too pleased with the sight of her soft smile to even consider causing her pain.
Despite her improving mood, I had no intention of leaving her side anytime soon. I had to stay to ensure she was comforted and cared for, but holding her soothed me, too. I still didn’t know how I was going to get us out of this mess with my brother. Feeling her soft skin against mine eased my worry, reminding me that she was safe and under my protection.
I trailed my fingers along her bare throat. “Yesterday, you said you wanted your collar. Do you still want it?”
“Yes,” she said immediately, leaning into my touch.
I beamed at her. “Then you’ll have it.”
I lifted her off my lap and went to the chest of drawers where I kept her kinky toys. I held the slim strip of black leather in my hands, rubbing my thumbs across it with reverence. The collar belonged to her, and she belonged to me.
“Kneel for me.” It was an order, but it came out in an almost plaintive tone. I’d never demanded this of her before, and I wanted her to choose to take the supplicant pose. I wanted her to choose me.
She sank to her knees before me. Surprise and pleasure raced through my system when she spread her thighs wide and placed her arms behind her back, holding her elbows in opposite hands. The position thrust out her breasts and exposed her glistening pussy, offering me everything. She bowed her head in submission, baring the back of her neck so I could buckle the collar in place.
I remained silent for a long minute, robbed of words, of breath. Finally, I brushed my fingers over the top of her head, petting her to communicate my pride and pleasure.
My fingers trailed down her hair to explore the line of her jaw. I curled two fingers beneath her chin, so I could look down into her lovely eyes.
They glowed flame-blue as she stared up at me. Her devotion was even more breathtaking than I ever could have imagined.
“You are so beautiful,” I said hoarsely. “So perfect. Mí sirenita.”
She flushed, a small smile playing around her lush lips. “So are you.”
I regarded her with awe. “You’re not scared of me? I don’t frighten you?”
“No,” she promised. “I’m not scared of you, Andrés.”
I drew in a shuddering breath. She didn’t find me repulsive. It wasn’t just my scars that had disgusted her in the beginning; she’d been horrified by my touch, by my claims of ownership. Now, she gave herself to me willingly. I’d fantasized about having her in this position for long weeks, but I couldn’t have imagined the heat that flooded my chest in response to her show of affection.
I brought the strip of leather up to her throat and secured the collar around her neck. She blew out a long, relieved sigh as peace settled over her.
“Mine,” I declared, tracing the line of the collar.
“Yours,” she replied with fervor.
I bent and grasped her waist, lifting her to her feet and guiding her back toward the bed. “Are you ready for me?” My voice was strained with need. I craved to drive into her wet heat and seal our connection, but I was wary of the trauma she’d faced yesterday.
Her eyes were clear of fear or doubt. “Always,” she promised. “I want you.”
I groaned my desire, and I grasped her ankles to tug her ass to the edge of the mattress. Resting her calves on my shoulders, I remained standing as I gripped her hips and drove into her in one ruthless thrust. She cried out as her tight sheath gripped me with exquisite pressure.
I paused, concerned that I’d hurt her by being too rough.
She placed her hands atop mine, curling my fingers deeper into her hips. “Please, Andrés…”
A low sound of longing left my chest, and I withdrew from her before slowly pushing all the way back in. I claimed her in long, careful strokes, playing with her clit until she eased around me. Her body adjusted to accept my size and ruthless thrusts, flowering open for me.
