by Rina Kent
He hisses in pain, but his eyes gleam with undisclosed lust.
“You do like a bit of pleasure with your pain, princess.” He smiles, his sinful lips hovering over mine.
“So do you, Lev.” I drag my nails down his back this time, ripping a groan from him.
“Sure do.” He smirks and my heart skips a beat.
It’s not even funny how gorgeous he is.
His fingers trail down my stomach to my wet folds, leaving scorching tingles in their wake.
He teases my clit until I’m bucking against his hand, begging for more.
The building starts at my core and spreads all over my skin. Just when I’m about to come, he replaces his fingers with his cock, thrusting inside me in one go.
“Oh, God.”
“Not quite.” His lips curve as his face turns feral with lust and something else I can’t place.
I hold onto his neck as he sucks the tender skin of my breast. Is there even a place he’s left unmarked?
He sits up and pulls me into him so I’m straddling his lap. The depth of this position makes me feel him everywhere.
In my body.
In my air.
In my freaking soul.
His lips find mine and he kisses me hard and wild and totally out of control as he picks up his pace. His thrusts are hard and unyielding like he wants to engrave himself deep within my soul.
He hits a pleasurable spot inside of me and something in me shatters.
We’re skin to skin.
Heart to heart.
There isn’t a piece of me that he doesn’t own at this moment.
I come with a hoarse scream.
As I fall from the wave, I realise something is so utterly wrong.
He didn’t use a condom.
I push at his chest as he picks up his pace, but I can’t find the words to tell him to pull out.
Oh. God.
How the hell could I forget about that?
“Pull…” I finally breathe, coming down from my orgasm halo.
His eyes darken as he pounds into me harder and faster with his hands threaded into my hair.
“Levi…” I fight the pleasure building inside me and igniting every nerve ending. “I’m not on the shot or anything.”
I didn’t think I’d need that considering I was a virgin, but I seriously should’ve thought about it.
As if I put an idea in his head, Levi’s lips quirk up in that contemplative smirk that only means trouble. He doesn’t make a move to pull out. If anything, his pace becomes so wild, it’s impossible to keep up.
His back turns rigid, and panic grips me like a vice.
“Please… please…” I beg, tears blurring my vision.
His hand shoots up to wrap around my neck, firm enough to keep me in place. “Is having kids with me so fucking sad?”
I shake my head frantically, but due to his hold, I can’t move much. “It’s not that… I don’t want to be another version of my mum… I d-don’t… Levi… Please…”
His hold falters from around my neck and just when I think he’ll come inside me, he pulls out. “Next time, I’m coming inside you.”
Next time, I’ll be on the shot.
Harsh breaths leave me with gratitude. Levi doesn’t listen to orders or requests, but he pulled out for me.
His brows are still drawn together as he grabs his hard, throbbing cock in a fist as if he’s mad at it.
I scramble to my knees between his legs. My hand covers his hand and I lick my lips. “Let me.”
He tilts his head to the side. “Why?”
“Because I want to.”
After a beat of watching me, he lets go. I take him in my hand, rubbing his length up and down.
He sucks in a breath. “Fuck, Astrid.”
“Tell me what to do.” I’ve never done this before, but I want to do it right for him.
“I need your mouth on it, princess.”
Holy shit. Why are those words such a turn on?
Tentatively, I lick the pre-cum dripping from his crown. That makes him groan, his eyes darkening and fluttering. I repeat it, licking the side before I take him all the way in. It’s a challenge since my mouth is small and he’s so big. I lick him tentatively. Levi jerks up, cursing again, so I do it again and again.
He threads his fingers in my hair, slightly pulling and pushing. “That’s it, princess. Keep doing that.”
I do.
There’s a rush about having him at my mercy like this. I should’ve been doing this since the beginning.
I pick up my pace, sucking him hard and fast. He curses, tightening his hold on my hair as his cock spurts down my throat. I try to swallow it all as he looks down on me with that darkened gaze. He tastes of breakfast and a hint of his natural, sweet scent.
He wipes the corner of my lips and I climb atop of him, crushing my mouth to his. I want him to taste himself on me like he gives me a taste of myself all the time. A groan rips from him as he deepens the kiss.
For what seems like hours, we remain entangled around each other making out slowly, too slowly. It’s like a different type of fuck.
Apparently, Levi has insomnia, but I must’ve worn him out, because he yawns and laughs saying it’s the first time it’s happened in months.
Still keeping an arm around me, he reaches the other towards the table. He snatches a pack of cigarette and takes one then retrieves the lighter.
His eyes are droopy, tired, but there’s still that spark of intensity and lust. It makes me hyper aware. Like super aware of everything. Of the smell of sex in the air. Of his tousled Viking hair. Of his hard skin against my soft one. Of his muscular leg between mine. Of his semi-hard cock against the tender flesh of my thigh.
But most of all, it makes me aware of him. This beautiful, beautiful, guy who’s silently battling against his insomnia and the shadow of his father’s mental illness.
I want to hug him and tell him it’s going to be okay.
But it never is, isn’t it?
It’s never okay to lose a parent this young, and the scar will be there forever. It’s buried too deep, too far that it’s impossible to reach it.
All I can do is stop him from doing stupid shit.
I snatch the cigarette away. “This poison will kill you.”
His fingers snake a path along my shoulder. “It will, huh?”
“Uh-huh. So be a good King and stop smoking.”
He smirks and even that is lazy. “What will I get in return?”
“Jeez. Do you always have to get something in return?”
“Always.”
I scoff. “What do you want?”
He’s silent for a moment, and I can see him running a thousand scenario in his head. “Open your mouth.”
That makes my thighs clench and spasm with need. “W-why?”
“You want me to quit smoking, don’t you, princess?”
I nod.
“Then open that pretty mouth.”
I do. Like a hormones-driven idiot, I just do.
Anticipation coils at the bottom of my stomach like a hungry, starved animal. He turned me into a freaking animal.
Watching me with those droopy eyes, he clutches the cigarette between his thumb and forefinger. It’s crazy how even his fingers look so sexy right now. They’re long and hard like the rest of him.
And then he stuffs the cigarette in his mouth. I find myself craning my head against his arm to get a better view of that firm, kissable mouth. How his teeth tug on the cigarette. How his lips close around it.
Can I be that cigarette, please?
He brings the lighter to his face and sets the cigarette on fire. The smell of nicotine mingles with the scent of sex and sweat in the air.
“You said you’ll quit –”
He stuffs a fingers against my mouth, shutting me up. Then he removes his finger. “Open.”
With furrowed brows, I do.
Levi takes a drag of smoke, but doesn’t release it. Inst
ead, he clutches my jaw, squeezing it between his fingers. His lips hover inches away from mine as he breathes nicotine down my throat.
Holy shit. That’s hot.
And… burning.
I mean, the nicotine burns at the back of my throat. I cough, but he swallows the sound with a hard kiss. I feel like that helpless cigarette in his mouth. Tugged by his teeth and devoured by his lips.
But he tastes like that cigarette.
He tastes like me.
If this is the last smoke he’ll have, then I’ll let him burn me.
We doze off on that kiss, still wrapped around each other.
When it gets cold, Levi pulls a nearby blanket and covers us with it.
A rustle of noises wakes me up from my peaceful sleep.
“Levi…?” I ask.
“Hmm?” He asks sleepily, burying his nose in my hair.
“Is someone there?” I open my eyes to be greeted by a man who looks like the older version of Aiden scowling at us.
My heart falls to the ground when I make out the other man standing beside him.
“Astrid Elizabeth Clifford. Get up from there now.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Astrid
When something goes to hell, everything else does.
* * *
Dad.
Holy shit. It’s my dad.
I curl into Levi’s side, bringing the sheet to my chin.
My face heats so hard and I cease to breathe.
“Levi and trouble,” Aiden’s older version says. “Why am I not surprised at all?”
Levi shields me behind him as he stands in his full naked glory, not caring about the two adults throwing daggers in his face.
He takes his time in pulling his boxer briefs up his legs as I fumble to find the T-shirt and throw it over my head.
My eyes remain bowed, scared to look Dad in the eyes.
I’ll probably never be able to look him in the eyes ever again.
I’ve been a virgin for life and when I finally do have sex, Dad walks in on me.
Worst luck ever.
“What gives, Jonathan?” Levi’s voice is bored, the total opposite of my chaotic insides. “I didn’t know you had voyeurism tendencies.”
“Levi… ” Jonathan warns.
“Even your nephew doesn’t respect you,” Dad speaks under his breath in Jonathan King’s direction.
The Jonathan King. Owner of the King Enterprises and Dad’s archenemy of sorts.
“Get away from my daughter. Now.” I flinch at the authority in Dad’s voice.
“Come here, Levi.” Jonathan is deadly calm with one of his hands in his pockets.
It’s frighteningly similar to Aiden’s lethal, poker face.
Levi tilts his head to the side, “Pass.”
“Come here or everything ends.” Jonathan pauses and some sort of a battle erupts between him and his nephew. “Everything, Levi.”
His jaw clenches, but he doesn’t move. Not an inch. Even though I don’t know what Jonathan’s talking about, something tells me it’s not in Levi’s favour.
“Astrid.” Dad’s sharp voice causes my shoulders to snap upright.
I push my hair back as I stumble to my feet. The T-shirt reaches the middle of my thighs, but I still tug down on it.
Those pale blue eyes clash with mine for a brief second and I offer him an encouraging smile. His fingers brush against my arm before I drop my head and trudge to Dad’s side.
As soon as I’m within touching distance, Dad grips my arm and cages me behind him.
“This is the last time I see a Clifford on my property,” Jonathan glares down at Dad and he glares back.
A more ferocious battle than the one from earlier erupts between them and I swallow at the thick tension in the air.
“Keep your spawn away from my daughter.” Dad drags me away from the house before I can throw one last glance at Levi.
As soon as we’re outside, I stop, trying to pull Dad into a halt. “Are they fighting? Can’t you stop them?”
“We have no place in familial matters.”
“But isn’t those familial matters how you found me?”
“I had a very unpleasant call from Jonathan while I was searching for you. He told me that my daughter could be with his nephew.”
I’m so ashamed, but it’s not what’s pushing me right now. My heartbeat thunders in my ears as I strain to hear what’s going on inside. What if Jonathan beats Levi?
“But Dad, he —”
“It’s Father!” He shouts, drawing me to a halt near his car. “How many times do I tell you to call me Father? I gave you two rules. Two simple rules. Don’t sully the Clifford name and stay away from the King’s surname. You broke both of them in one day. Both. Every time I think I’m getting to you, it spirals out of control all over again. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with you anymore, Astrid.”
Tears fill my eyes and I try to fight them away as I take the onslaught of Dad’s words. It’s like I’m in the presence of a stranger, not someone who’s supposed to be the closest person to me.
“I didn’t ask for this either. I didn’t want to live with you and your stupid family. I didn’t want to be shackled by rules and manners. I didn’t want to sneak out every day so I won’t be forced into a breakfast with your wife who insults me and my mother the entire time. But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is that you always take her side. Mum would’ve never done that, Mum would’ve heard me out. Mum stayed when you abandoned us. I wish it was you who died that day, not her.”
I regret the words as soon as they come out. My lips tremble as Dad’s face turns stone cold.
“I… I—”
He releases me as if I were on fire. “Get in the car.”
“D-Dad… I… I didn’t me—”
“Get in the car, Astrid.”
I flinch at his non-negotiable tone and hurry to the passenger seat. I sniffle and wipe my eyes, fighting the onslaught of emotions coursing through me.
When Dad takes his seat and doesn’t spare me a glance, I know, I just know that I screwed up any chance I had with him.
If Dad hated me before, then now, he simply didn’t care about me anymore.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Levi
Our calm is only a delusion to the storm.
* * *
I watch Astrid being dragged out. The only thing stopping me from snatching her from her father is her own sake.
If I act on what I want, she might end up in more trouble than she already is with her father. Despite her reservations about him, she looks up at him like he’s God.
Or maybe I didn’t interfere because I’m a coward who doesn’t want to see her choose him over me.
I face Jonathan, making sure he sees the tension radiating off my body. This one has his schemes written all over it.
He’s wearing a dark brown Italian suit all complete with Italian leather shoes. Handmade. One of a kind. Just for him.
Jonathan likes to believe the world revolves around him. And why wouldn’t he when everything he wants whirls in his orbit?
His hair is slicked back and he has the usual indifferent expression that Aiden inherited.
“How did you find me?”
“You thought I didn’t know about your little hideout?” He throws a glance around the place with disregard before his metal eyes slide back to me. “I told you. You only exist because I allow it.”
Although a thousand retorts fight to break free, I reign them in. I lived with Jonathan long enough to recognise his provocations.
He feeds off anger. Now, I realise that I’ve been treating it all wrong.
I’ve been playing in the devil’s hands and pretending to be above him.
“See, patterns are my forte, and I knew you’d fuck up at some point. It’s written in your DNA. One mistake, Levi. I gave you the right to one mistake and it had to be a Clifford.” He pronounces the name with disgust as if he doesn’t want t
o say it.
“She has nothing to do with this.”
He raises an eyebrow, and I curse myself for wording it that way. Fuck. I just gave him the reaction he needs.
“I see.” Jonathan approaches with steady steps, his shoes are the only sound in the house. “This isn’t a meaningless fling to rebel against me. That’s… interesting.”
“If you have a problem, then you have it with me,” I snarl in his face. “Stay the hell away from her.”
“I don’t have to approach her. Her father will be more than enough to put her back where she belongs.” His calm expression morphs to sheer hatred. “Far the fuck away from the King name.”
I pause. It’s the first time I see Jonathan showing such great hatred to anyone. He believes emotions such as hatred, revenge and holding grudges are a waste of time and energy.
Lord Clifford must’ve done something unforgivable to elicit unschooled hatred from Jonathan.
“You recognise that this is your fall, right?” Jonathan stares down at me with that usual ‘you’re a rock in my shoe’ look. “Are you ready for seven years in my company? No more football or your little escapades.”
My jaw clenches so hard, I’m surprised it doesn’t snap.
The moment I always dreaded has come.
My football dream is withering away right in front of my fucking eyes.
It’s at moments like these that people start regretting what they did.
I don’t.
If I get to repeat last night and today with Astrid, I’d do it all over again.
“I assume you’re not ready.” Jonathan shakes his head with what looks like exasperation. “You’re persistently defiant like your father.”
“Is this the part where you tell me I’ll become crazy like him?”
“James was not crazy.” Jonathan’s face and voice turn stone cold. “He had mental issues, but he wasn’t deranged. He did everything for you, ungrateful brat.”
My mouth parts. Did Jonathan just defend my father?
“I’ll give you one more chance and you better seize it because I don’t give second chances.”
