Christa’s arm snaked over my abdomen, and she snuggled up against me. I rested my cheek on the top of her head, took a couple of deep breaths, and continued.
“When I was almost thirteen, Dad’s political ambitions failed spectacularly. I didn’t understand what had happened at the time, but years later, I looked into it. Turns out he’d been having an affair with the wife of the then vice-president, Andrew Laughlin. The vice-president took it badly, as I’m sure you can imagine, and Dad’s sponsorship to join the senate evaporated into the ether.
“With his political ambitions torn to pieces, Dad put more time into his businesses, which meant even less time for Nina and me, but nothing seemed to fill the void in his life. Whether that void had been created by Mom dying, or he’d always lived a half-life, I couldn’t know. What I do know is that after Dad lost out on the senate, he changed from a cold, distant father into one who beat his children instead.”
Christa gasped and sat up, her eyes deepening with shock. “What?”
I nodded. “Came out of left field, right? You weren’t expecting me to go there? Well, for Nina and me that’s exactly what it felt like. One minute we had a father we barely saw, who rarely spoke to us, who was, perhaps, mentally cruel by his absence, but never physically violent. The next, we were ducking his fists and fending off blows. He would hit me when I least expected it. While I was making breakfast, or playing computer games, or sitting at the dining table doing my homework. A sudden backhander that would send me, or Nina, flying across the room.”
“Oh, Dayton.” Her eyes shone with tears, and she shook her head sadly. “Every child deserves to feel safe and loved.”
She looked somewhere over my shoulder, and I had the distinct impression she was recalling a sad memory of her own. I didn’t ask her, though. Tonight was about me sharing and hoping that, because I had, she’d feel secure enough to do the same.
“They do.” I encouraged her to rest against me once more. It was easier to talk without having to watch the anguish on her face.
“On the morning of my sixteenth birthday, I went to the mall with a friend from school. I didn’t have many friends because it created too many questions, but there was this one kid who suspected what was going on, although he never asked me outright. It was like an unspoken secret between us. Anyway, I was out most of the day. When I got back to the house, I put my key in the lock, but it didn’t work. I knocked on the door and, eventually, Dad answered. He blocked me from entering, tossed a suitcase onto the front yard, thrust an envelope at me containing a thousand dollars, and told me I was on my own. That it was about time I became a man. That he was done helping me.” I laughed bitterly. “Help? Yeah, right. Anyway, I begged him to reconsider, offered up all the platitudes I could think of, that I was his son and he was supposed to love me and care for me, not beat me and throw me out into the night with nowhere to go. He told me he was doing it for my own good, and by starting off with nothing it would make me hungrier for success.” I paused. “He was right about that. It did.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to control the hurricane of emotion swirling in the pit of my stomach. This always happened when I allowed myself to think about Dad and what he’d done to us. Christa squeezed me tighter, correctly sensing I needed the comfort.
“Leaving Nina, though, was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I can still see her in the window, her cheeks damp with tears, screaming for me not to go. Dad wouldn’t even let me say a proper goodbye. It took me two years to scrape together enough money to support us both. I snuck her out of the house when Dad was at work, and she never went back.”
Christa’s shoulders shook. I tipped up her chin and found her crying.
I kissed her lips, salty from her tears. “Don’t cry, Christa. Not for me. It was a long time ago. I’ve dealt with it.” Yeah, I dealt with it, all right. I made sure that bastard paid for what he did.
She burrowed beneath my shirt, her smooth hand resting over my heart. “What did you do? Where did you go?”
“At first I went to a homeless shelter. They housed me for a while, but I knew I couldn’t stay there. If I did, I risked being sucked into that life, and that would have led me nowhere. About a week after my father kicked me out, I was wandering the streets and I saw an advertisement for a technology trade fair. I’d always been interested in software development, gaming, that kind of thing. I didn’t want to waste money on the entrance fee, so I snuck in when no one was looking.
“I spent the whole day going around the stalls, talking to people, and I knew then that I’d found my tribe. I ended up chatting with the owner of a technology company who was searching for young apprentices with the right attitude and aptitude for developing cutting-edge applications. He must have seen something in me because he told me to go away and design something that would impress him. I plucked up the courage to tell him I didn’t have a laptop. You can imagine my surprise when he offered to loan one to me. For all he knew, I could have stolen his property. I’ve never forgotten his trust and belief in me.
“That night I went back to the shelter with a head full of ideas and set about designing a smartphone gaming app. The technology was very new. I’m talking years before Apple brought out the first iPhone. It took me two weeks working day and night to finish. I remember going to his offices and presenting it to him. Suffice to say, he liked it. I started working for him, but my goal was always to work for myself. In my spare time, I read every trade magazine and financial newspaper I could get my hands on. At the age of twenty, I had enough cash saved to take the leap and start my own business. By the time I was twenty-two, I had one hundred employees, and the company was turning over a solid mid-level seven figures. From there, the growth was exponential. And the rest, as they say, is history.”
“And what happened to your dad?”
I shifted a little in my seat. I wasn’t sure how she’d take the next part of my story, but I wouldn’t hide the truth from her.
“I used to lie awake at night dreaming about beating the living daylights out of him, killing him even, for what he put me and Nina through, although that would have been too quick. In the end, I decided to prolong his suffering by hitting him where it’d hurt the most—through his business interests. You see, after his failed political attempt, he’d put all his efforts into building his company into a telecommunications giant. One day I discovered that my father wanted to invest in a risky pet project, but the banks wouldn’t lend him the money he needed. It wasn’t long after the credit crunch, and loans were hard to come by. So I advanced him the money. He didn’t know it was me, of course. I had my lawyer and accountant create a clandestine structure that concealed my identity from the financing. However, in return I demanded shares in his company. My father was so blinded by his desires to diversify that he agreed. The deal left him with forty-five percent, me with twenty-five percent, and three other board members who owned ten percent each.
“He wrongly assumed that a twenty percent differential between his share and mine was more than enough to maintain his position as owner and head of the company, especially as he was certain the other board members would never sell their shares. Unfortunately for him, I discovered that two of these board members were advocates for child abuse charities. One evening, I invited them over to dinner, and Nina and I told them exactly who my father really was. After that, they couldn’t sign their shares over to me fast enough. And even better, they persuaded the third guy to sell to me, too.”
Christa was eyeing me with interest now, eager to hear the end of the story that sounded more like a script for a Hollywood movie than the sorry tale of my life.
“What happened next?”
I teased at my beard. “I asked one of the board members to call an emergency board meeting. I waited until they were all assembled, and then I walked in. My father had his back to me, ranting about why the meeting had been called—I’d purposely asked for the reason not to be disclosed. I wanted to enjoy the
surprise. The shock on my father’s face as he turned around and saw me was priceless. He hadn’t set eyes on me in twelve years, but I hadn’t changed much. I told him that his services were no longer required, that I now owned his company. I informed him that his desk had been cleared and I had security standing by to escort him from the premises. I remember his fists clenching. I taunted him, daring him to take a swing if he thought he could take me, but that I was bigger and stronger than him, than the young boy he regularly beat and neglected.
“He crumpled, almost falling into a nearby chair as his legs gave out. I didn’t feel an ounce of remorse for his obvious pain. He didn’t deserve my sympathies, for he never offered any to me or to Nina.”
“But he still had a large stake in the company. He could have made things difficult for you.”
I nodded. “He could have, but I was very clear that if he didn’t sell his remaining shares to me, at a very preferential price, of course, I’d call the police and have him arrested for child abuse. I already had the papers drawn up, and I insisted that he sign them there and then.”
“It would have been difficult to prove, though—the abuse, I mean. Especially after all those years.”
“I agree, but by then I’d become so powerful in the city, I’d have been able to ensure that the mud stuck. Whichever way you looked at it, my father’s career lay in ruins, and his reputation would follow if he didn’t do as I demanded.”
“Where is he now?”
I grimaced. “Living out his days in a small apartment in Queens. A sad, lonely old man who reaped what he sowed, and is now living with the consequences of his actions.”
“Do you ever see him?”
I snorted. “No.”
She gently laid a hand on my arm. “Not even to ask why?”
“I don’t care why,” I said bitterly. “There are no excuses for the way he behaved.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “For bringing it up, for making you relive all those terrible memories.”
She winced, and I knew in that moment she was thinking about her own painful past rather than mine. I cradled her jaw and kissed her, sliding my tongue between her lips, toying and tangling with hers until a low, pleasurable moan broke from her throat.
“Let’s go to bed, Dayton,” she murmured, taking my hand. “Let’s help each other forget.”
19
Christa
I couldn’t stop my heart from thudding in an accelerated rhythm against my ribcage. I’d done it now, and I didn’t want to go back, but at the same time I was scared to move forward. I wanted Dayton, so very much, but that didn’t stop a deep-seated fear from taking root that once he saw—if he saw—he’d be disgusted and wouldn’t want me anymore.
Because these thoughts were so prevalent in my mind, I switched off the lights the moment we entered the bedroom. This far into the wilderness meant no light pollution to illuminate the darkness.
“Come here,” he murmured, capturing me around the waist.
He didn’t ask why I’d cast us into the pitch-black, he simply took hold of me and walked backward, moving me farther into the room. His lips found mine, cooler now that we had left the heat from the fire behind. I curled my hands around the back of his neck and pressed against him. It’d been more than three years since I’d slept with a man, and anxiety churned in my gut. It almost felt like my first time. Would it hurt like it had then, or would my body remember and adapt to the unfamiliar intrusion? Or maybe the fact that I’d pushed a human being out of my vagina meant he’d barely touch the sides.
“Relax,” Dayton murmured, obviously sensing how stiff I’d become.
He kissed along my jawline then moved lower, tracing the arc of my neck with his tongue. His warm hands circled my back, holding me close to his body. I tried to loosen my shoulders, ease the tightness in my spine, slow the speed of my pulse, but my body refused to obey.
Dayton drew back. Now my eyes had adjusted to the dark, I could make out his silhouette. He’d taken at least two steps away from me.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“It’s too soon, Christa. You’re not ready.”
“I am,” I insisted, clasping his hands and putting them around my waist. “I really want this, Dayton, but it’s been so long. I’m nervous, that’s all.” An audible sigh reached my ears. Unsure whether that meant capitulation or denial, I cupped his erection through his pants. “I want you. Please, I need you. It’s only nerves. I promise.”
He groaned, then gathered my hair in his fist and tugged hard, giving me no option but to tilt my head back. He captured my lips with such authority, such force, I knew I was lost. This was what I needed. For him to take charge, to take over, to demand. The gentle approach would give me far too much time to think, whereas I wanted only to feel.
I pulled at his shirt, insisting with my actions that he take it off. He stopped kissing me long enough to drag it over his head and toss it on the floor. I took the momentary freedom to remove my own T-shirt. I managed to unbutton my jeans and get them halfway down my legs before Dayton picked me up and lay me on top of the comforter. He got them the rest of the way off, turning them inside out in his haste—and mine.
A gap in the drapes allowed a sliver of moonlight to illuminate half of his face, and in his expression, I saw a desire so raw, it momentarily jolted me from the haze of my own longing. He was so beautiful. The cut of his jaw, the angle of his high cheekbones, the glow of his skin rendered me breathless.
He removed the rest of his clothes, and then he was kissing me again, and once more I lost myself in the feel of his mouth, his hands, his tongue. Waves of pleasure crashed over me, and when he sucked my nipple into the warm, wetness of his mouth, I couldn’t help but cry out. He swallowed my voiced pleasure, and then his fingers crept lower, lower. Too low.
I clasped his wrist and pushed his hand inside my panties, bypassing my abdomen. I couldn’t allow him to go there. No matter how lost I became under his expert touch, I had to keep my wits about me. I was almost ready, but not yet. Not tonight.
Dayton read my instruction as urgency because he pushed a finger inside me, followed by a second, stretching and loosening my muscles. I wriggled beneath him until I made enough space to take off my panties. I quickly glanced down. Apart from the haziest of outlines, I couldn’t see a thing. Perfect.
I reached for him and curled my fingers tightly around his cock. I’d learned that Dayton liked a firm grip, and I didn’t disappoint if the loud groan he made was anything to go by.
“Christa,” he breathed. “You feel so good. That feels so good.”
His thumb brushed my clit, softly at first, then harder, more insistent. With my free hand, I clasped the back of his neck and urged him to kiss me again. When I came, I wanted his mouth on my mouth, his tongue wrapped around my tongue. I rolled my hips, thrusting, pushing against him while rubbing his cock hard.
My orgasm hit so fast, so out of the blue, I saw stars. Wave after wave of bliss rolled through my body. I froze, all the muscles south of my waist tensing, then releasing in a quivering mess. I raised my hips higher, seeking the last of the ebbing pleasure against Dayton’s fingers. He tried to pull his mouth away from mine, but I wouldn’t let him. I could barely breathe, but I didn’t care. I wanted this connection to go on forever, even as it was already slipping away.
I tore my mouth from his. “Please, Dayton,” I said, returning my attention to his dick. “I want you inside me.”
He reached across into the nightstand and removed a condom from what looked like an unopened box. For some strange reason, that pleased me. An opened box would have sent a message I didn’t want to acknowledge. And then I remembered his earlier trip to the pharmacy in town while Max and I had finished our hot chocolates.
I giggled. “So that’s what you were buying earlier.”
He kneeled up, the movement taking his face too far away for me to read his expression, but I could hear the smile in his voice. “At least you know
I hadn’t planned to bring you here just to have my wicked way.” He tore the packet and rolled the condom onto his erection. He placed his palms on the inside of my thighs and parted my legs. With the tip of his cock at the entrance to my vagina, he paused.
“We’ve waited so long, Christa. I want this to be perfect.”
I wrapped my legs around his waist and tilted my hips, urging him inside. “You’re perfect.”
With a groan, he thrust, hard. I gritted my teeth against the burning sensation. I’d been right about it hurting, but the brief moment of pain quickly passed, replaced with an exquisite feeling of completeness that I never wanted to end.
I rotated my hips, Dayton rolling with me as though we’d done this our whole lives. He fit… no, we fit, like he’d been made for me and I for him. I ached. Somewhere deep inside had been forever changed by this one intimate act. This was nothing like I’d experienced with Sutton, nor the two youthful fumbles I’d had as a teenager. This was an equal exchange of pleasure.
“Are you all right?” he muttered.
I didn’t understand why he’d asked at that particular moment, or what he’d read in my body to provoke such a question. Instead of responding in words, I leaned up on my elbows and kissed him, thrusting my tongue into his mouth in perfect harmony with the speed and angle of his cock. He upped his pace, every push inside hitting what felt like the very center of my core. My muscles contracted, drawing a long, low moan from Dayton.
“Fuck, Christa,” he grunted. “I can’t hold on much longer.”
I arched and stretched beneath him. “Then don’t,” I whispered.
His entire body shuddered, and he came, groaning, sweating, trembling. He reached between us and thrummed my clit, sending me into a second mind-shattering orgasm. I hadn’t even known I was that close until he pushed me over the edge. I chanted his name, intermingled with several “Oh God” and more than a few “Jesus” utterings as my body let go in the most spectacular fashion.
Tempting Christa: An Irresistibly Mine Duet - Book 1 Page 15
