Sinful Sacrament

by Morgan James

  One brow arched toward her hairline, and I lightly spanked her ass. “Now.”

  Taking her time, Eva arranged herself over my lap. My cock jutted up eagerly, just waiting to slide inside her, and it jumped when she took it in her hand. She pumped once, twice, then notched the tip just inside her entrance. The feel of her... It was like nirvana. A hundred years could pass and I would still recall in vivid detail exactly how she felt, how she tasted. I would never get enough.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Eva

  Suspended over him, I rolled my hips once, delighting in the little hiss Fox let out. I loved teasing him. His hands slipped around to my bottom, and he squeezed my cheeks hard. “Woman, if you don’t start moving...”

  “You’ll what?” I cocked a brow and grinned at him.

  Fox let out a little growl, pulling me down at the same time he thrust up into me. The sensation of him filling me took my breath away, and I clung to his shoulders as he lifted me up and down. I finally caught the rhythm he’d set and began to move.

  One hand curled into my ass cheek while the other tunneled into my hair as I rode him hard. He tightened his hold on my hair and yanked me down to him, fusing our mouths together in a hot, needy kiss. His tongue swept over mine, stealing my breath and making my heart race. His hand left my hair and trailed down my neck to my breast. He fondled it in his hand, teasing my nipple with a feather light touch. I ripped my mouth away from his with a little groan and picked up my pace.

  Seeming to sense my need for more, Fox dipped his head and took my nipple in his mouth. He sucked and nipped the tender flesh, and I felt the tell-tale tingles start low in my belly. Fox’s hand crept lower on my bottom until his finger rubbed at my cleft from beneath, right where I rode his cock. He reversed directions and dragged his finger upward, through my cheeks until he reached the rosebud entrance of my ass. I sucked in a little breath and momentarily lost my rhythm as he circled it, gently probing the gathering of nerves there.

  It was such a strange sensation, one I’d never felt before, and one I wasn’t entirely sure I was comfortable with. “Fox...”

  He released my nipple and kissed my jaw, then my lips, all the while teasing my back entrance. “Trust me, Eva.” He nipped my chin. “Let go, angel. Just feel.”

  I was helpless to the myriad sensations streaming through my body, and I had no choice but to obey him. I rolled my hips, taking him deeper. His mouth moved to my nipple again as his finger pressed against my rosebud and gently breached the entrance.

  I gasped at the fiery sensation that shot through my muscles. Just as quickly as it’d come, the shock of pain bled away, leaving only pleasure in its wake. I felt full, more aware of every movement as his cock sank into me, deeper and harder with every thrust. The added stimulation sent me spiraling over the edge, and a tiny scream ripped from my throat as I came.

  Fox stayed with me the whole time, thrusting up into me as I rode out the longest orgasm of my life. I collapsed forward, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and hanging on for dear life. Fox looped an arm around my waist and rolled us so I was pinned to the bed. He caged me in his arms and stared down at me. “You feel so damn good.”

  “So do you.” I curved one hand around the back of his neck as he pumped inside me with long, slow strokes.

  He pulled out almost to the tip, then slammed back inside. My body jolted under the force of it, but I loved that tiny bite of pain. It was rough, raw, and perfect. Fox fucked me hard until he emptied himself inside me a couple minutes later, setting off a second release for me. Pulling out, he settled himself on his side next to me.

  Just him and me, all my worries began to fade away. This was how we were meant to be. Fox was true to his word—he would take care of me, do whatever he had to make sure I was safe. It would never be a normal life, but who wanted ordinary when an extraordinary love lay in the balance? We’d been so close once. We could get back to that point. It would take time and trust, but there was no doubt in my mind that it could work.

  Like this, with nothing between us, things felt so perfect. But would it be enough? I’d spent nearly two months with him, but I didn’t really know him. He’d saved my sister—but he’d never explained why. There was no doubt in my mind that he wasn’t a good man, despite the fact that he occasionally did good things. I couldn’t quite reconcile it in my mind.

  Knowledge was power and if I was truly going to be with him, I needed to know everything. Once I knew what we were facing, I could begin to prepare mentally.

  Stretching out one hand, he began to trace circles on my stomach. It was such a strangely tender gesture that my breath caught. I would have to do something about birth control soon if I was going to stay with Fox. We’d never used condoms, and I had a feeling the last thing he would want was a surprise pregnancy. What would he think about a baby? We never talked about the future and I found myself incredibly worried about his answer.

  As the haze of pleasure wore off, I felt like I needed reassurance more than ever that he wasn’t truly the monster he claimed to be. “I’m curious about something.” He rolled his head toward me, one dark brow arched in silent question. “How did you end up doing... you know, what you do?”

  He huffed a mirthless laugh as he rolled to a sitting position. “You have great timing, you know that, angel?”

  There was no mistaking the anger and hurt in his tone as he stood from the bed, stark naked, already swiping at the clothes he’d discarded several minutes earlier. I scrambled to my knees and reached for him, but he easily dodged my grasp. “I didn’t mean anything by it,” I insisted. “It’s just... You show up out of the blue a week ago in my fucking apartment of all places, insist that I come to this island with you where I find out you’ve been stashing my sister away for God knows how long, and—”

  He shoved one foot into his pants, then the other. “I thought you were happy about that.”

  “I was—I am,” I corrected quickly when he threw a dark look my way. “That’s not what I meant. Please—just stop for a second!”

  His hands stilled in the act of pulling up his zipper but he kept his gaze glued to the floor, every muscle in his body completely rigid as if bracing for an attack. “What?”

  “I appreciate everything you’ve done—I do.” I gentled my voice. “I only asked because I want to know more about you.”

  Slowly, his head swiveled my way, his eyes dark and unreadable. “Why?”

  “Because...” I took a deep breath. “Because if we’re going to be... together... I feel like I deserve to know.”

  “There are some things you don’t need to know,” he replied flatly.

  He didn’t move to leave, though, and that gave me confidence to continue. “I know I don’t need to know—but I want to.” I held his gaze for several seconds. “I know that your mission to bring down these men and women is personal. I’ve already seen your scars, but what I don’t know is the story behind them.” I hesitated for a second, watching him intently. “From the beginning, you’ve let me—you let everyone—assume the worst about you. Why is that?”

  “Angel...”

  “I understood at the beginning when I meant nothing to you.” His dark gaze shot upward, spearing into mine, and I released a shaky breath. “I would hope after everything that’s happened that you don’t see me as just a woman to take to bed, then forget about.”

  “You know you’re more than that.” His tone was fierce, and a tiny spark of hope flared to life.

  “Tell me. Please.”

  He sat heavily on the edge of the bed, his body turned partially away as if he couldn’t quite bring himself to look at me, and a sigh filtered through his lips. “I told you I was adopted. I lied.”

  A shiver of foreboding stole down my spine at the sound of his dead, listless tone. I didn’t dare speak, knowing instinctively if I did, he wouldn’t continue.

  “The orphanage back in Romania had a standing deal with a very powerful man. He would come to the orphanage
and select children that were “ideal candidates,” young and impressionable. He would take them back to the states and sell them to some of the most depraved individuals willing to pay. I was one of those children.”

  Tears sprang to my eyes, and I fought to keep them from falling as he continued.

  “My master was... ruthless. Brutal. The scars I carry are the result of the weekly beatings I endured at his hands. I killed him when I was fourteen.”

  My eyes widened and my mouth fell open, but I couldn’t seem to form words. Fox stared at me. “Aren’t you going to ask me how?”

  Oh, Jesus. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. “H-how?”

  “A box cutter.” He paused, seemingly lost in the past. “Before I came to America, my name was Garridan Vulpe. My last name, translated literally, means fox in Romanian. I use the nickname in Chicago for my business dealings, but it started long before I moved to the city. My master... He liked to play a game.”

  He trailed off, and my heart slammed against my ribcage as dread mingled in my stomach. “What do you mean?”

  His tone was flat, lifeless. “In his sick, twisted game... I was the fox.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Fox

  All the shame, all the insecurities came flooding back with impressive force despite the fact that I’d spent decades trying to push the darkness down. The intimacy of a few moments prior had dissipated into thin air, leaving me naked and feeling vulnerable, something I swore I’d never feel again. Dredging up those horrible memories just minutes after we’d had sex was too much.

  A thick, heavy silence hung in the air as she processed my words. “I don’t...”

  Of course she didn’t understand. Who could? I’d lashed out at Eva, but I wasn’t truly upset with her. After all, she was only curious; she had no notion of my upbringing or what would cause me to react so violently. Things were still too precarious between us, and I really didn’t want to push her further away. Worse, I didn’t want to see the look of pity that would sure fill her pretty green eyes once she learned the truth.

  “It doesn’t matter anymore.” Her eyes narrowed, and I sighed. “I’m not used to sharing with anyone. My past is...”

  Horrific. Depraved. Unsuitable for someone as pure and perfect as Eva.

  “But it’s yours.” She reached out and laid a gentle hand on my arm. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? No matter how messy it is, I want to know about it—about you.”

  “I just...” I gave my head a little shake. “It’s not pretty, Eva.”

  “You’ve told me that before.” She shifted a little closer. “But it’s just me.”

  I huffed a mirthless laugh. “That doesn’t exactly make this easier. I don’t want it to change things between us.”

  She lifted a brow. “You think it could get much worse?”

  The thought of revealing every dirty detail of my past made me physically ill. What would she say when she finally saw the real me? I was terrified she would leave me, but I also knew I couldn’t put off telling her any longer. I was only hurting her by holding back, and she deserved to know every ugly truth.

  “He called me his fox.” I closed my eyes and allowed the memories to wash over me. “My master owned a huge ranch out west. Every weekend, he would release me, give me a five-minute head start. Then he would come for me.”

  It was vile, and I watched it unfold in my mind as if it’d happened yesterday instead of more than twenty years ago. The first time, I was too young and naïve to truly understand Simon Hastings’s depravity. He’d screamed at me, ordered me to run and hide, but all I could do was cry. The beating that night had been horrific, most of the scars on my back inflicted from that moment alone. He allowed me a full week to heal. The following weekend when he’d turned me out again, I ran as fast and as far as I could. But it didn’t matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t escape. He’d tracked me down within an hour and dragged me back to the house, to a special place no one knew of.

  “There was a room in the basement where he carried out my punishments. Sometimes it was a whipping.” I reached over my shoulder and absently fingered one of the scars. “Other times he would use a cane. Once I was broken and bleeding, he would take me over and over until he was satisfied.”

  Week after week it was the same thing. Sometimes I managed to stay hidden for hours at a time. But that only increased his anticipation and his sexual appetite. Over the first few years I learned to shut down and not fight back. He loved the thrill of the hunt, and the more I fought back, the more pleasure he derived from it.

  “I stayed with him for almost eight years. Over time, he began to drop his guard and while I’d once been locked up, he began to leave me free. He never expected me to fight back.” I took a deep breath. “I found a discarded box cutter outside one day and hid it away where he would never find it. I spent weeks thinking about it. One night he came for me, and I... I couldn’t take it anymore.”

  I remembered vividly the feel of the blade sinking into his flesh over and over. Driven by pure rage, I had nearly sawed his head off by the time I realized what I’d done. Knowing I had no choice but to leave, I scoured the house for money. Master Hastings had gotten lax, allowing me to be present in his office more and more often, and I’d memorized the code to the safe. Inside were stacks of bills, and I'd grabbed them all.

  I started walking, not caring where I ended up as long as I was far, far away from that hell. I made it to Vegas first—that's where I met Admir. Old enough to be my grandfather, the Albanian crime boss took a liking to me after I nearly killed one of his men in the street. He’d seen the darkness inside me, but he also saw the potential to harness it. He taught me how to read, not only letters and numbers, but people as well. He taught me how to hunt, how to kill without getting caught. Though I never told him my exact reasons for tracking down the people I did, I had a feeling he knew.

  Admir also taught me the importance of financial security. When he pulled me into his office that first day, I hadn’t been able to tell the difference between a five-dollar bill or a hundred-dollar bill. He taught me to invest, and by the time I was eighteen I’d purchased my first business, a self-serve car wash. A second one followed a year and a half later, and I gradually began to grow my business.

  I was twenty-two when Admir passed, and I moved to Chicago to be closer to the border. There was a wide diversity of criminal organizations, and I fit right in. Maybe one day I would tell her all of that, but I’d revealed enough tonight.

  I turned to meet Eva’s gaze, and my heart clenched when I saw the tears sliding silently down her face. “Angel...”

  She swiped them away, shaking her head. “I... I can’t even imagine.”

  “It’s in the past.” I didn’t dare move, afraid I would spook her and she would pull away from me.

  “That’s why—” Her eyes widened suddenly, and I could practically see the pieces of the puzzle connecting in her mind—my curiosity and sexual exploration at Noir. The fact that I hadn’t slept with a woman until I was in my mid-twenties.

  I’d never been attracted to men, especially after what had happened with Master Hastings, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to seek out women’s attention, either. It had taken me years to even consider having sex with a woman, and revealing the reasoning behind that to Eva physically hurt. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I understand if you’re disappointed or upset.”

  “Hell yes, I’m upset.” Fire leaped in her eyes. “I’m furious. I wish he were still here. I could kill him for what he did to you.”

  Her words, full of vehemence and spoken in my defense, sparked something inside me that felt very much like absolution. I pulled her into my lap, entwining her body with mine so I could absorb her goodness, her innocence. This woman was so amazing, I swore I would never let her go.

  “He’s gone, and I don’t want to waste my breath on him anymore.” I buried my face in her hair, breathing in the sweet, calming scent of her. “But there are mo
re men like this out there, and I vowed when I escaped to take down every single one of them.”

  Silence descended for several long minutes as we sat there, just holding one another. “I’m proud of you.” Her words made everything inside me still, and I waited with bated breath as she continued. “You’re not the monster you think you are. You’ve been through something horrible that no one—especially a child—should ever endure, but you’ve persevered.”

  It was like the last barrier between us had been ripped away. She’d seen all of me, accepted me—and I was never going to let her go. “Thank you, Eva.”

  Her head rolled on my shoulder, and I could feel her looking up at me. “For what?”

  “For accepting me as I am.”

  “Nothing could change the way I feel about you.” I was afraid to hope that there was any deeper meaning to her words. I wanted her to feel the same way about me that I did her, but I didn’t want to push her. She fell silent for a moment, like she was lost in thought. Finally, she spoke up. “Remember the night of the engagement party?”

  God, how could I forget? It was the last time I’d seen her right before she’d run from me. I swallowed hard at the memory and nodded. “I remember.”

  Those gorgeous green eyes met mine. “Those things you said to me in the closet—what did they mean?”

  A ghost of a smile lifted my lips. “I was wondering how long it would take you to bring that up.”

  She stayed quiet, and I exhaled deeply as I tried to best put my feelings into words. “I've never met a woman like you, ever. I've never been able to just be myself around another human being. Before you, I was never able to touch another woman. I don't do well with emotions, but you've touched me, both physically and emotionally. What I said to you that night, it means that my heart, Eva—whatever I have to give—is yours.”

  Tears glistened in her pretty eyes. “Really?”