Michael adjusts his tie in the floor-length mirror. “I’m certain. Stay. Rest. I’m sure Darling wouldn’t mind the company.”
I roll my eyes. “Funny how I’ve been granted responsibility of her while you’re free to gallivant and gamble. Do you even know what you’re doing?”
“No,” he grins. He assesses his perfectly styled hair to ensure not a strand is out of place. Then he does something that surprises even me: he rakes a hand through it and messes it up. “But I’m sure I’ll find a nice young lady to teach me.”
He shoots me a wink, and I can’t help but laugh and shake my head. My once tight-assed, judgmental, sanctimonious brother has become my friend. And we’ve never had that type of relationship. Not even before I fell from grace.
Michael grabs his jacket and claps a hand on my shoulder before brushing past. “Don’t wait up, little brother.”
I snort a laugh. “You sure you’re ready to take on my city alone?”
“Your city?” he grins with a cocked brow. “By the end of the night, it may be my city.”
Just as Michael boards the elevators and descends into debauchery, Darling exits her bedroom wearing only a bathrobe. Seems like she has a thing for hotel robes, although I must admit, these are exponentially better in quality. However, knowing she’s probably naked under the Turkish cotton and there’s no longer the buffer of my brother, she might as well have pranced out here in a see-through negligee.
“Hungry?” I ask, gesturing towards the kitchen buffet, topped with everything from curly fries to caviar, courtesy of our personal 24-hour concierge.
Darling’s eyes grow twice in size and she reflexively licks her lips. When she looks back at me, I notice an obvious blush pinking her cheeks.
“What?” I ask, my mouth curling on one side. Her gaze tracks the movement.
“I’m just…wow. I’m blown away. All of this,” she says, gesturing to indicate the room, “is far more than I could have ever dreamed. You and Michael have been so good to me, and I don’t know how I can ever thank you.”
I shake my head. “That’s not necessary. Michael has been itching to come out west. You gave us an excuse.”
She nods, but I can tell she doesn’t believe me. “Well, thanks for letting me tag along. You could have dropped me at a truck stop and I would have been thankful. That’s more than anyone else would have done.”
“Don’t mention it,” I say, meaning it. The last thing I need is some long, awkward show of gratitude when I was more than willing to leave her shaken and half-naked in the snow in a West Virginia parking lot. Not to mention I was prepared to snap her neck if she had admitted that she knew our true identities.
I don’t need Darling’s gratitude because I don’t deserve it. Less than twenty-four hours ago, I wasn’t fully convinced that I would even let her live once we parted ways. But then she touched me. And it didn’t conjure forlorn memories of a stolen stretch of time. It didn’t repulse me or anger me. And it didn’t feel like Eden. It felt like a young woman who had seen too much and had hurt too deeply, yet she still found it in her heart to comfort a volatile stranger. She had glimpsed the ugly truth of this world yet she still managed to look past the monster and see the man.
“Shall we?” she beams, making her way to the buffet. “I’ve never even heard of most of these dishes, let alone eaten them. Care to be my food guide?”
I nod. “But first…I must ask you a question.”
She narrows her green eyes skeptically. “What’s that?”
I cross the room in five long strides to stop before her. Then, I hold out my hand and utter words that are permanently tattooed on my tongue. “Would you care to make a bargain?”
“Oh, my God, I can’t! You can’t make me!”
“Yes, you can. Remember what you promised. Would be such a shame for you to have to face the consequences.”
Darling huffs out a breath. “Okay. Fine. Just do it real fast. On the count of three. One…two…”
I tip the shell and let the oyster slide into her mouth mid-count. “Three.”
Darling gags and grimaces between tortuous chews. “What the…what the hell was that?”
“No guesses?”
“I don’t know. Snot? Snails?” She reaches up to snatch off the blindfold but I catch her hand before she makes contact. “Ah-ah-ah. No peeking. That’s against the rules.”
“That was before you tried to poison me with giant globs of mucus!”
“Oh, it’s not that bad. Think about the flavor. Isn’t it salty and briny like the ocean?”
Darling shrugs. “Yeah, I guess so. Hmmm…is it an oyster?”
“Correct. Here.” I lift a glass to her lips to give her a sip of champagne to cleanse her palate. “You’ll thank me for this next one. Trust me.”
Darling twists her mouth in a faux frown. “Trusting you is what got me in this mess in the first place.”
I laugh. “What do you expect when you make a deal with the Devil?”
I feed Darling a blind bite of every individual dish until she’s tried them all. And once she has narrowed down her favorites, we settle in front of the television and finish our meal watching the most vanilla Christmas movie in existence. It’s corny and so sappy it makes me want to choke on my Kobe beef slider, but Darling seems to love it, and I did agree to watch anything she desired as long as she sampled everything. She stares at the TV with hope shining in her eyes, her hands clasped together in front of her chest. I couldn’t ruin this for her even if I tried. And I wouldn’t dream of stealing the last bit of beauty she has left in this world.
“Wasn’t that great?” she sighs after it ends with the hero and heroine locking lips under the mistletoe. Didn’t see that one coming.
“Oh, it was definitely something.”
“You hated it, didn’t you?” Even when I don’t dispute it, she still smiles. “So does my brother. Watching cheesy Christmas movies is kinda my dirty little secret. People look at me—the makeup, the piercings, the clothes—and they expect me to be this dark, jaded person. And yeah, maybe I am. Maybe I want them to believe the worst about me because that’s what’s expected. But honestly, I love the holidays. It’s the one time of year where it’s acceptable to be happy just because.”
A long moment stretches between us. I don’t know what comes over me but before I can analyze all the reasons why I’m playing with fire, I reach over to cradle her face and run my thumb over the galaxy of freckles on the apple of her cheek.
“You don’t need an excuse to be happy. You just haven’t had someone give you a reason yet.”
Her lips part, her breath is shallow, her eyes are glazed. I know I shouldn’t do this to her. She’s young and impressionable. I’m old and devious. I have no business touching her yet it’s almost impossible not to, especially when she turns her face into my touch and nuzzles my palm.
“Has anyone ever told you that you smell like flowers?” she whispers, her voice as light and airy as a feather. She sucks in another lungful of my scent of deadly nightshade, and before I can stop her, she gently kisses my wrist.
I pull back, startled and impressed by her boldness. She’s seen what I do, she may even know what I am. But she isn’t afraid. And that makes her dangerous.
“It’s midnight,” she notes quietly. “It’s my birthday.”
I nod. Then in an attempt to bring some normalcy to the moment, I climb to my feet and head to the kitchen. When I return, I’m holding a small cake illuminated by eighteen candles.
“You got me…” Tears well in her eyes. “You got me a birthday cake?”
I don’t want this to be a bigger deal than it already is. “I mentioned it to the concierge. It’s from Michael and me.”
“Thank you,” she beams. “I can’t remember the last time anyone got me something for my birthday.”
I set the cake on the coffee table in front of the television. “Make a wish.”
And as she closes her eyes and conjures foolish hope fo
r a year she may not even survive, an unnamed sensation presses against my temples and coasts down to the base of my skull. It’s not exactly painful, but there is a distinct pressure. As if her silent prayer has been heard…by me.
When Darling opens her eyes, the green hue of her irises has heated to emerald. She bites her bottom lip. I lick mine in response. And then she leans over and kisses me.
I allow myself one sweet taste of the tip of her tongue before I gently grasp her shoulders and push her away. “What are you doing?”
“Casper is going to own my body in a matter of hours. And after that, I’ll be forced to give it away to anyone willing to pay for it. But I don’t want to give this away, no matter how much it’s worth. I want my first time to be on my terms. I want to own that, not some john. And I want to give it to you. That’s what I wished for. For my first time to be with you.”
I shake my head. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“Actually…I do. After I leave here, I’ll be known as a slut. And I may never have a healthy relationship because that’s what people will always see. They’ll see a hooker who sold her body. And just once, I want to be looked at like a normal girl. I want someone to see my body and not wonder how many people have been inside of it.” Her trembling fingers are the only indication of nerves as she finds the knot of her robe and begins to unravel it. “I know that I’m young and inexperienced and have no sex appeal compared to the women you’ve been with. But if you want me, I’m yours.”
The robe falls from her shoulders and to her waist, exposing creamy, smooth skin, supple breasts, and subtle curves. Darling is young, but she is a woman through and through. She reaches over and grasps my hand to lay it over her chest, and fuck, her skin is as soft as satin. A pink nipple pebbles against my palm on contact as if her body was made to respond to my touch.
I swallow, unable to deny myself this contact and pull away. What kind of bastard would I be to take her most precious possession and sully it with my malevolent seed? Yet, how could I let some deviant fuck rape her of such an important moment in her young life?
“I can’t love you,” I say, more for myself than her.
“I know,” she nods. “I’m not asking you to. But maybe just for tonight, you could pretend. Pretend that I’m her, whoever she is. And love me like you would love her if she were here.”
I open my mouth to tell her I could never do that. I would never treat her as a placeholder for Eden because she deserves better. But before I can find the words, she closes the distance between us, until my hand is wedged between our bodies and her chest is flush against mine, and she kisses me.
And this time, I don’t just give myself a taste of ripe, forbidden fruit.
I bring my hand up to grasp the side of her neck and jaw while the other bands around her waist so I can pull her onto my lap and kiss her deeply, slowly. The robe falls away completely, leaving only my slacks to stand between me and her pretty, tight pussy. Darling wraps her arms around my neck, and while I can feel her trembling under my fingertips, she hungrily meets each stroke of my tongue against hers.
Our lips still locked, I climb to my feet with very little effort while gripping Darling’s pert ass as I walk us to my bedroom. I’m not one to turn down an on-the-floor fuck, but this isn’t about me. It’s about worshipping Darling’s tight body inside out. So that when she leaves this room and ventures into the dark unknown, she will at least have the memory of the first male to ever claim her lighting her path.
I pull away only to lay Darling flat on the bed. She looks up at me with eager eyes that glow against the moonlight streaming through the window.
“Are you scared?” I whisper.
She shakes her head. “No. I’ve been waiting my entire life.”
“For what?”
“For you.”
My heated gaze roams her body and my mouth waters. Darling has a beautiful body. Miles of smooth, unblemished skin with just a tiny strip of golden hair dusting her mound. She’s a natural blonde. I wonder if she tastes like sunshine and honey.
“I want you to be sure. Because once I start, I won’t stop.”
She nods. “I’m sure. I won’t ask you to stop. I want this.”
My knee hits the foot of the bed, right between her legs. I grasp her slender hips and slide her up higher on the bed until her head hits the pillow. Then I begin to unbutton my shirt, letting her watch as I reveal myself to her, inch by torturous inch.
Darling gasps when I free my hardened cock from my slacks, and she sits up on her elbows. “Can…can I touch it?”
I smile. “You will. Later.”
After I’ve kicked my clothes to the floor, I cradle her head and reclaim her mouth as I lay her back flat. Her legs open for me reflexively and I slide my hand between us to caress her silken folds. She jerks and moans at the first brush of her clit with the pad of my finger, but I don’t stop. I rub her again and again, stirring that little bundle of nerves until her pussy is trembling in hopes that something will fill it. It’s not until I leave her lips to lick her nipples is she able to moan freely. She purrs like a kitten, amazed and afraid at her body’s reaction as I flick and suck her breasts and stroke her clit, bringing her to the edge of climax. And just as she teeters over the brink, I slide a single digit inside her snug hole.
She breaks apart around my finger, milking it as her body convulses through waves of pleasure. She grips the duvet and arches her back off the bed, cursing and crying as her walls grow slicker and hotter. But just before she can come all the way down, I insert another finger in and begin to move them in and out in a devastating tempo. I need her so wet that she’ll soak the sheets. So wet that she can take all of me to the hilt.
Without breaking my rhythm, I dip my head down further until her thighs are on my shoulders and I cover her sex with my mouth. My fingers fuck her pussy while my tongue fucks her clit until she’s panting, crying that she’s going to come again. But before I permit her release, I switch, dipping my tongue inside her so that my fingers can stroke her swell.
I was right. She tastes like sunshine and honey. She tastes like youth and beauty and bliss. She tastes like a second chance.
When I lick back up to her clit, I add a third finger to stretch her tightness. Darling squirms and writhes, but I hold her in place. I don’t want to hurt her, but I also don’t want to split her in two.
At least not tonight.
“Please,” Darling begs, her knees quaking on my shoulders. “I can’t take anymore. Please…just do it.”
“No,” I growl against her sensitive flesh. “Not yet, pet.”
I sit up and spread her legs wide so that she’s completely open to me. One, two, three fingers enter her dripping wet pussy. My other hand alternates between flicking and rubbing her nipples and her little quivering button that’s so swollen, it has its own heartbeat. I watch her as I finger fuck her, watch the shades of varying ecstasy I elicit with only my hands. Even without my gifts, her body is completely under my spell.
She comes once more while screaming and sobbing my name, and wetness spurts out of her like a geyser. Fucking hell, she’s a squirter. This barely eighteen-year-old virgin is a fucking squirter. Shit, Casper doesn’t deserve her. No one does. Not after I’m done with her.
I can’t hold off anymore. If I don’t get inside her right now, I may come on her leg like a goddamn preteen. I glance down as I slip my fingers out of her and notice that they’re tinged with pink.
“You’re ready,” I rasp. Then I bring my fingers to my mouth and lick them one by one, savoring the tang of her slightly torn flesh. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll get to suck the remnants of her broken hymen onto my tongue and take communion with her innocence.
I’m such a sick fuck. And Darling has awakened the monster that had lain dormant inside the man.
Darling looks up at me and nods, eyes hooded and sultry. She bites her bottom lip.
“Are you scared now?”
She nods a
gain, and a tiny sound escapes her throat.
“Good. You should be.”
My hands gripping the sides of her ass and her legs draped over my forearms, I align her sex with mine. My swollen head probes her entrance and I slide my dick through her folds until its drenched and lubricated. Then I press forward, slowly, just barely breaching the barrier of her chastity.
“Oh…oh my God…oh my God,” she cries, as I rip her open to make room for the rest of me.
I still, letting the pain subside just a touch. “Breathe, pet. I know it hurts. You have to get through the pain to get to the pleasure.”
I push in a little more, and resistance gives way to submission as delicate tissue tears to accommodate my size. And when I’ve finally filled her to the point of bursting and her virginity is a crimson stream that trickles onto the bed, I lean over and kiss away her tears. Then I move.
She grimaces through the first few thrusts, but soon, her pained whimpers evolve into moans. Now that I’ve smelled blood, I’m going in for the kill. I need to fuck her so good that the memory of me will be branded on her womb, serving as a curse to every man who will ever be inside her from this day forth. I need to fuck her so good that she can never forget me, even if I tell her to. Even if she never knows who I truly am, her body will undoubtedly know whom it is she serves.
My dark little pixie grows bold and leans forward onto her elbows. We kiss deep and violently, gnashing teeth and sucking tongues. My hands are gripping her hips so tight that I’m certain she’ll have bruises for weeks. Good. Let every perverse man look upon those marks as evidence that I was here. Let them cower in fear when they see she wears the mark of the beast.
Her trembling walls tighten around me and she locks her ankles over my ass to suck my cock in further. Her breath comes out in short pants and her eyes shut tight. She’s so close, and while I’m not far behind, I pull out and replace my cock with my mouth. Her orgasm floods the back of my throat and I feast on every ounce of her rosy release until she’s cleaned raw.
Such Violent Delights: A Holiday Paranormal Romance Anthology Page 26
