“They were never allowed.”
“Just me.”
“Just you. Only you. Always you.”
She shivered as I kissed her again. We kissed and tongues tangled, and our hands punished each other, making whimpers fall from her and growls from me.
Breathing hard, she murmured, “Strange question but...why did you only buy women? You never bought any men to rent out.”
I unsheathed my teeth and bit down, kissing and nipping her throat. “That is a strange fucking question.”
She shrugged, breathy and trembling. “The only men on this island were your guards, trapping us.”
“And you wanted some male prisoners because...why? You thought they might’ve helped get you free from me?” Jealousy rose in my chest, making me cruel. Ripping my fingers from her pussy, I grabbed her chin. “No one was going to save you from me, Jinx. I wanted you before you even arrived. You were never getting off this island, help or no help.”
She let me tip her head sideways, dropping my hand to curl around her throat.
“I wasn’t looking to escape...Well, I was, but that isn’t why I asked.”
“Why did you then?” I shuddered as her hand continued to pump my cock.
“Because I found myself jealous listening to those goddesses discussing you. I hated you, but the thought of anyone else touching you made my hate sizzle with fire. Looking back now, I’m glad there were no women guests. That the only competition I had were goddesses instead of high-powered, wealthy women with freakish fetishes come to rent a toyboy in Euphoria...come to seduce the master of those boy toys.”
I struggled to smile, baring my teeth instead. “There’s never been anyone else for me, Eleanor.”
“I know...”
“You want to know why I only bought women? Why I only had a stable of goddesses instead of unwilling princes?” Knocking her hand off my cock, I grabbed the base and wrapped my arm tighter around her waist, angling us into position. “It’s because the women who would be interested in renting them scared the fucking shit out of me. Men are monsters, without a shadow of a doubt, but women? Fuck, they eat monsters for lunch.” I thrust up, filling my wife in one swift, possessive impale.
We both cried out.
Clawing at each other.
Kissing wetly, messily.
Thrusting in rhythm and letting our bodies fight, then sink into a fierce dance we knew so well.
When Eleanor and I fucked, we weren’t gentle. Just because we loved each other didn’t mean we didn’t cause bruises. Our passion was dangerously explosive, and we lived for that mayhem when chasing a mutual orgasm that left us breathless, bitten, and bruised.
“What does that make me then?” She panted as I fucked her, swift and sharp.
“You?”
“I’m a woman.”
“No, you’re the woman.”
“You’re saying I’m worse than you? That I’m more dangerous than you?”
I grinned, thrusting up and hitting the top of her pussy. She shivered and moaned, her eyes becoming unfocused. “I’m saying you’re dangerous in every way a woman is dangerous. You have the capacity to care and nurture, but you also have a gift of becoming cold-hearted and cutthroat. Men might be physically stronger, but women? Fuck, they can turn off their humanity just as easily. Better even.”
“I’m not like that.”
“Are you sure?” I kissed her.
Our tongues lashed and tangled.
Our thrusting bodies created tiny waves that spread out in ever-widening ripples, distorting the moon’s reflection.
“What would you do if I were in trouble or hurt by someone? If someone threatened my life again?”
Eleanor stiffened even as I thrust into her. “I’d do whatever it took to keep you safe. Whatever it took.” Her tone was icy and fierce, making my balls clench and heart skip.
“See, right there.” I hugged her tight. “You’re vicious... You just hide it. All women are vicious beneath their camouflage. Whatever men I could’ve rented out in Euphoria, let’s face it; they wouldn’t have survived as long as the goddesses. They would’ve broken.”
“Because women are monsters?”
“Humans are monsters.” I ran my thumb over her mouth. “And I’ve found my perfect match in you. Enough talk of the past, hypothetical or real.”
Eleanor smiled in the moonlight, sinking onto me, wrapping her legs tighter around me. “I love you, Sully Sinclair.”
“I know.” I stopped trying to be coherent and let my mind go. I allowed my blood to burn with the steady pressure of an orgasm. I fucked my wife as if she were my enemy, all while I worshipped her as if she could snuff out my sorry excuse of a life.
Because she could.
Capturing her mouth, I increased my speed until her breasts bounced in the sea, her cries turned louder, and the sound of her release echoed over the perfect midnight silence.
And I followed her.
I pumped inside and came in fisting waves of bliss.
I marked her as mine.
For always.
Chapter Three
“YOU GUYS COMING BACK anytime soon?” I asked.
Jess’s voice sounded light-hearted and happier than I’d ever heard, skipping down the phone line in answer to my question. “Perhaps. Why? Do you miss us?”
“Tell Cal I much prefer my islands without him.” Sully smirked from where he sat at his desk in his office. The apothecary cabinet that used to house multiple vials of elixir now held the less potent and deliciously enjoyable cinta—an aphrodisiac blended from orchid and who knew what else in Sully’s laboratories.
Sunshine coated the tiled floor, Pika sat chirping beside Sully while trying to attack his keyboard, and Skittles was dozing on my shoulder, her little squeak-snores adorable in my ear.
It was yet another perfect day in our perfect paradise.
“Sully said he misses you, Jess, but Cal can stay in the Philippines.”
“Bastard would cry if I never came back,” Cal answered before Jess could. “He has no other friends.”
“He has me.” I grinned.
“Yeah, but you’re a girl.”
“Your point?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Married men need a trustworthy male friend to be able to complain about their wives. Ouch.” Cal chuckled. “Jess just hit me.”
“You deserved it.” She stole the phone back, still giggling. “We’re thinking of coming back next week. But we should all come back here. The islands are stunning, and the diving is amazing.”
“I’ve never been diving.” I couldn’t tear my eyes off Sully as he ran his fingers through his unruly dark hair, the ends once again sun-bleached from swimming in salt and living in sunshine.
How was that creature mine? How was his huge diamond on my finger and his marriage vows locked around my heart, binding us for eternity?
It honestly didn’t seem possible. Especially considering I was sprawled, relaxed and happy, on the very same couch where Sully had sat and commanded I sit on his two fingers after force-feeding me libido-brutalising elixir when we first met.
Sully suddenly sat up, clicking the mouse and skimming something on his computer screen. Pika squawked and spied his opportunity to rip off a laptop key and toss it to the ground.
Sully looked up, catching my gaze. “Tell them we won’t be here next week.”
I sat up, interrupting Skittle’s snooze. She yawned and fluffed up her feathers, tickling my neck. “Wait. Why?”
“What is it? What’s going on?” Jess asked.
“Apparently, we won’t be here next week,” I said, still looking at Sully for more information.
He cocked his head, a half-smile on his face. The fact that he was smiling hinted the reason we weren’t going to be here was a good thing. At least nothing urgent or unfortunate was dragging us away from our sanctuary.
“I’ll call you later and fill you in.” I stood from the couch and made my way to Sully’s side.
“Okay, be safe, you two.” Jess blew kisses down the phone. “Speak to you soon.”
“Can I speak to Sinclair super quick?” Cal asked, once again commandeering the phone from his wife. “Just so I don’t have to worry about his ass?”
“Sure.” Passing the phone to Sully, I mouthed, “It’s Cal.”
Sully rolled his eyes, taking the cell. “Yes, we’re leaving. Yes, everything is fine. Yes, we’ll be back in a few days. And no, there’s nothing to panic about.”
Cal muttered something that I couldn’t hear, making Sully chuckle. “All you need to concern yourself with is keeping Jessica happy. Which for you might be hard, seeing as you’re so disagreeable and all.”
Cal’s voice rose, but I still couldn’t catch the male banter. Ever since Sully allowed the lines to blur from long-time employee and sometimes confidant to partners and best friends, he and Cal entered word wars that sometimes lasted for months with quips and slurs.
Jess and I stayed out of it.
After all, male bickering was a sport I had no business in understanding, just like Sully and Cal would never appreciate the silent looks Jess and I indulged in that could hold entire conversations and normally ended in knowing nods or conspiratorial giggles.
“We’re going to England,” Sully said, “to visit a friend.”
Cal’s questions fired back, and Sully answered good-naturedly, “I’m taking my wife and going to a ball, if you must know. A masquerade.”
While Sully nodded and listened to whatever Cal regaled, I skimmed the email on his screen.
To: [email protected]
From [email protected]
Subject: An invitation
Hello, Sullivan,
My wife and I are hosting a masquerade this weekend and would like to extend an invitation. I’m aware it’s short notice, and I’m also aware this is not your scene. However, I’m still waiting to meet the new Mrs Sinclair, and I think it’s high time we catch up in person instead of online, don’t you?
Nila already has a gown in mind that would be perfect for Eleanor, and you are welcome to stay in any of our guest suites at Hawksridge Hall for however long you see fit.
Be a pleasure to host you.
Think about it.
The masquerade starts at 19:00 on Saturday.
Jethro
Sully laughed. “Yeah, yeah. We’ll stay in touch. See ya.” He hung up and squeezed me close. “So? Fancy going to a dance?”
“Where?”
“In an ancient castle where a bunch of scandalous events and history happened.”
I smiled as Pika and Skittles fluttered from my shoulder to the bird feeder outside, chasing away the flock of resident sparrows and a cheeky squirrel. “Is it haunted?”
“Quite possibly.” He nipped the side of my breast, pressing a kiss over the sting of his teeth. “But don’t worry, I’ll be there to protect you.”
I wrapped my arm around his shoulders. “My hero.”
“Been called many things, but never that.” Sully grinned, showing the fine lines of happiness around his eyes and the etching of handsome weathering that only made him more distinguished. “I’ve been meaning to introduce you two. This way, we go, we play, we stay the night, and then we fly home.”
“Okay.” I nodded.
“You sure?” His blue eyes searched mine.
“Sounds fun.”
“Okay then.” Unwinding his arm from around my hips, he ducked to pluck the letter L from the floor where Pika had torn it off and clipped it back onto the keyboard. With swift, strong fingers, he confirmed our attendance.
We agreed to travel to England for a masquerade, hosted in a stuffy ancient castle in a drizzly cold country that was as far from our open-air island existence as possible.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to dance with my tuxedoed husband and enjoy meeting one of his oldest friends, but...I would miss Goddess Isles. I’d miss Pika and Skittles. I’d miss our utopia.
My gaze fell on the apothecary cabinet, and an idea sprang to mind.
And suddenly, I didn’t feel quite so homesick.
Because I had a plan.
An extra little something that I would pack in my suitcase to ensure we had a way to escape if we needed to.
Chapter Four
“WHAT DO I CALL him?” Eleanor asked, her voice pitched with nerves. “Do I bow? What about his wife? Do I curtsy?”
“They aren’t royalty, Jinx.” I watched the English countryside streak past as we drove from the airport to Buckinghamshire. “At least, I don’t think they are.”
I’d never actually checked.
When I received that first email from a resident psychiatrist at an English hospital we donated to, claiming to have a teenage boy with behavioural issues that were amplified depending on who was in the room with him, I’d agreed to personally find a mix of drugs to help.
Originally, I’d wondered if he was schizophrenic, but after professional curiosity led to me phoning the teenager in question and ending up having a conversation that made my scientific brain race with a quest to understand, I realised Jethro’s condition was far more interesting than schizophrenia.
I hadn’t long been in charge of Sinclair and Sinclair Group—barely out of my teens myself—so I took a personal interest in Jethro’s case, purely because beneath his shields and snarls, I heard what I saw in all trapped animals: the cry for help and the broken faith not to believe in hope.
When we’d spoken, he’d originally been stiff and aristocratically cold, yet the more we talked, the more he relaxed to the point he was analysing himself, just as I was, instead of having his hackles up about his ‘disease’.
It was never a disease.
Not in the physical sense, at least. Jethro Hawk had an affliction that I suffered with to a much lesser degree. The same reason I’d begun my hunt and rampage against all animal testers and abusers.
A reason that I was able to shut off and buy women for my own means. And a reason that drove Jethro into a dark, miserable place where he almost killed the very woman he fell in love with.
“It’s very pretty here,” Eleanor murmured beside me. Her fingers pressed against the window as quaint brick walls, tiny country lanes, and patchwork fields skimmed past.
Not a hint of an ocean.
Not a single palm tree or parrot.
My skin itched beneath my suit, already wanting to turn around and return to Indonesia. But...I’d agreed to attend, and I wanted to see the change in Jethro now he had two kids as well as a wife.
Were they as much a cure as she was?
“Are you tired?” I asked gently, letting the driver navigate the fork up ahead that took us deeper into the English countryside.
“Not really. I slept on the plane. You?”
I’d worked most of the trip, but thanks to the first-class suite we’d shared—complete with a queen-sized bed and private bathroom—I was rested enough to attend a ball tonight.
“I’m good. We have a few hours before the other guests arrive. Jethro said he’s arranged a room for us, and his staff know we’re coming.”
“So...he won’t be there to start with?”
“I’m guessing he’ll be mentally preparing for a night of people.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Not a fan of society either?”
I smirked. “Not at all. If he could live on an island like we do, I have no doubt he’d leap at the chance.”
“I think most people would.”
I grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles as the car slipped beneath the gatehouse with a huge crest of hawks fighting over something. An impressive seal for an ancient ruthless family.
“Well, who needs an ocean for a wall when you have a stone one?” I eyed up the entrance, the stone fortress snaking off up a hill and down a valley. The l
ong driveway climbed through meadows and woodlands, weaving left and right, hinting that the estate we’d arrived at went on for miles and miles.
“This is where they live?” Eleanor gasped as a herd of deer bounded through the shrubbery, scampering off in a flash of perfect choreographed leaps. “It’s stunning.”
I nodded. I’d never visited Hawksridge Hall, but I had researched Jethro when our medical conversations turned friendlier. I had no trust when it came to people, and research was always a great way of arming yourself with everything you needed so you weren’t surprised when they betrayed you.
I’d seen the rumours of debts and contracts over one house and another. I’d heard the gossip about diamond collars and beheadings. And I’d seen the photos of their exclusive castle that put any king or queen’s residence to shame.
“Would you rather a beach or brocade?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at my wife. “I can build you a fancier villa than the one we share with sugar gliders and Komodo dragons, you know. Just say the word, and you can live in a palace.”
She rolled her eyes, pinning me with a look that called me stupid even if she didn’t say it out loud. “Do I look like I want brocade?”
“Sitting in this car, surrounded by expensive upholstery, you look positively trapped.” I flinched, seeing the truth of such a sentence. I’d never seen Eleanor in a city environment when we first met. I’d dragged her to my shores and trapped her on my islands and fallen in love with her all while she was dressed in bikinis instead of ball gowns, but the truth was...the wildness inside her—the sun glowing from her skin, the oceans swirling in her grey gaze, and the sand still sparkling in her hair—hinted that she’d always been unfit for cookie-cutter houses and concrete office blocks.
That was probably why she’d had a love of travelling...so she could find the place where she fit in.
Thank fucking God, it was with me.
Undoing her seatbelt and dragging her onto my lap, I brought her mouth to mine just as we crested the hill. I kissed her softly, our lips moving in a well-known dance even as our eyes stayed locked on the massive monolithic hall that took up the entire horizon.
Sully's Fantasy Page 3
