by Shandi Boyes
“Don’t fight me, Kitten. Not tonight.” Rico’s tone is both stern and pleading.
The mattress dips when he moves over to my side of the bed and gathers me back in his arms. I kick and wail against him, devastated and inconsolable. My fight is so vicious, one of my wildly flung legs kicks him in the shin in the process of breaking free.
The deep growl torn from his mouth puts a stop to my wailing. I freeze absurdly in fear and arousal. I’ve never heard such a provocative noise.
“I need my light. I need to hold you.”
His words pain my heart, but it doesn’t ease my anger. Pretending he hasn’t noticed my cold demeanor, he caresses me like he does every night, his hand running down my forearm, his warm breath tickling my neck. The only difference tonight is I don’t melt into his embrace. I repel from it.
After a few minutes of stiffened silence, he releases a deep exhalation of air. It expresses way more than any words ever could. He's hurting as much as I am.
"It's not what you think.” His tone is flat and brimming with uncertainty.
I scowl. “How do you even know what I'm referring to? Unless guilt is on your conscience.”
When he growls again, it rumbles straight through my body before clustering in my stupidly excited core.
“You left my shirt on the floor, Kitten. I’m well aware of your reason for being angry.”
He moves back to his side of the bed before pulling on my shoulders, forcing me to roll over. Even with the room shrouded in darkness, the moonlight shining through the cracks of the curtain is bright enough I can see all the fine details of his face. His eyes are full of torment and shadowed in darkness.
He stares me straight in the eyes before muttering, “It isn’t what you’re thinking.”
Seeing the hurt in his eyes doesn’t lessen mine. “Don’t insult me, Enrique. How else could lipstick get on the collar of your shirt unless it was put there by a pair of female lips?”
My anger accelerates to never-before-reached levels when Rico throws back his head and laughs. “You think I cheated on you?” he mutters between vigorous bouts of laughter. “I thought you were angry because. . .” I can’t hear anything he's saying over his hearty chuckle.
Gritting my teeth, I throw my clenched fist into his chest. “It’s not funny, Rico. Stop laughing.”
He laughs even harder. “I can’t help it. I love seeing my little kitten with her claws out,” he says, still laughing.
The only thing that simmers his body-shuddering laughter is when he spots tears welling in my eyes. He runs his hand down his face as he struggles to regain his usual composure. His efforts are fruitless. Nothing can wipe the glint of happiness sparkling in his glistening eyes.
“Let’s see who is laughing when I return the favor,” I sneer under my breath, my tone callous. “In a house full of men, I’m sure I can find a suitor for the night.”
All the laughter in his face vanishes in an instant, as does my ability to breathe when his body pins me to the mattress. His pulse rages through his body as he stares down at me with his nostrils flaring and his eyes blazing with anger.
“I don’t share, Kitten.” His voice mimics my earlier tone.
“Neither do I!”
I move my fists to pound his chest, only to have them snatched and clamped to my side. Normally, his hold would frighten me, but even dealing with the wrath of jealousy, I know he’d never harm me. My heart. . . that's an entirely different story.
No longer able to hold in my devastation, tears trickle down to my temples, my heart beyond shattered, my body inconsolable. Spotting my devastation, the fire raging in Rico's eyes switches from angry to remorseful. He stares at me, seemingly at a loss on how to handle my weeping.
“Kiss me, Blaire,” he requests a short time later, his tone less angry, his eyes shimmering with hope.
I inhale a ragged breath, beyond shocked. “What? Are you insane? No!”
When he smiles a seductive smirk that sets my heart racing, I twist my head to the side, needing to look at anything but his sinfully handsome face. I'm not strong enough to deny his advances with his thicken cock pressing against my aching core, let alone when he smiles at me like that.
The nape of my neck prickles with goosebumps when the stubble on his chin scratches my jawline as he mutters again, “Kiss me, Blaire.”
When his teeth graze the lobe of my ear, an erotic purr topples from my lips, and my walls crumble. Giving into the fact I’ll never be strong enough to reject his attention, I lick my lips, preparing for our kiss. Like he can sense my submissiveness, he slants his head to the side, so our lips are better aligned. With my arms pinned to the side of my head, and his body gloriously pressed into mine, I kiss him with everything I have, showing him what he has lost by playing me for a fool.
Although his hold is rough, his kiss is nothing but gentle. He kisses me with so much passion, when he pulls away, I can barely remember my own name, let alone what we were fighting about. A tightness spreads across my chest when he stares down at me with lust-filled eyes. The tightness has nothing to do with him pinning me to the bed—he's holding his weight with his elbows—it's the peace in his dark and stormy eyes that causes my heart to stutter.
After releasing one of my wrists from his hold, he runs the back of his hand down my blemished cheek. “Perfect, Kitten. Why would I settle for anything less?”
Even though I can see the truth in his eyes, I can’t leash the pain slicing my heart in two. “Then why is there lipstick on your collar?” My breathlessness is unable to hide the pain laced in my words.
A flash of hesitation sparks through Rico’s dark gaze before he murmurs, “It isn’t lipstick.”
All the anger his heartfelt kiss washed away returns in an instant. “Don’t treat me like an idiot, Rico! I know a lipstick stain when I see it!” I fire back, my loud voice gaining momentum.
An involuntary moan ripples through my lips when he rocks his hips forward before he re-confirms, "It isn't lipstick."
Snarling at him using my sexual attraction to him to his advantage, I kick and buck against him, endeavoring to get free. Stupid tears well in my eyes, hating that he can make me feel special and worthless within seconds of each other.
Not the slightest bit intimidated by my vicious fight, Rico leans harder against me, leaving not even an ounce of air between us. My squirming comes to a shrieking halt when I feel the heat of his solid cock halfway up my belly. Even with my heart cut open and bleeding, if he mauled me right now, I wouldn’t put up a fight. I'm defenseless to his touch.
The damp mess between my legs eases when Rico stares into my eyes and mutters, “It’s not lipstick, Kitten; it’s blood. The red smears on my shirt are bloodstains.”
I freeze, certain I haven’t heard him right. It's only when I see the truth in his remorseful eyes do I realize my hearing didn’t fail me.
“But you smell like women’s perfume.”
His pupils grow so large they fill his entire cornea. “Our industry doesn’t discriminate between genders.”
I glare at him, knowing he's lying.
“Not when it is handing out punishments.”
My stomach churns as my mind tries to contemplate a way he could get blood on the collar of his perfume-scented shirt in a humane way. Unable to find a reasonable explanation, dread overwhelms me.
“Did you. . .” I can’t force the words out of my mouth. Even my brain agrees that the man who comforted me after my nightmare and has awoken in my bed the past five nights couldn’t be so callous. He would never harm a woman.
“No,” Rico replies sullenly.
I suck in a relieved breath.
It's quickly redrawn when he mutters, "But I didn't stop the man who did."
My heart shatters as tears roll down my cheeks.
Rico releases a deep breath before he rolls off me. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you about my industry. I didn’t want you to look at me differently.”
“I
’m not looking at you any different.” My words are weak and pathetic, matching the sluggish beat of my heart.
My slow heart rate gets a boost when I catch sight of his livid gaze. His narrowed eyes call me out on my deceit without a word needing to spill from his lips.
I swallow the lump in my throat before confessing, “I’m not looking at you differently; I just don’t want the darkness to win. This isn’t you, Enrique. My heart knows this isn’t you.”
“You don’t understand, Kitten. I was raised in this lifestyle. I don’t know any better.”
I roll onto my side and glance into his eyes. “Don’t know any better or don’t want to know any better? As those are two completely separate entities. You might have been raised by a monster, but you don’t have to live like one.”
An indecisive storm builds in his eyes. “In this industry, your value is measured by your callousness, not your morality. The more ruthless you are, the more respect you gain.”
“Fear is not respect, Rico. They’re not even close to being the same thing.”
He scrubs his hand over the stubble on his chin. “I know. But I have a reputation to live up to. I'm Vladimir’s son. His firstborn son. That title comes with expectations. Expectations I was filling. I was a terrible man, Kitten. A parodist of my father.” He locks his beautiful eyes with me. “Until I met you. Then I realized what I was craving wasn’t power or respect. It was you. I wanted you.”
Heart hammering, I cup his jaw and peer into his eyes. "You can have me." I scoot closer to him, so our hot pants of breath intermingle. "You just need to fight through the darkness."
A flare of emotion brightens his gaze for the tiniest second before it once again becomes swamped by blackness. My heart slithers into my gut when he pulls away from me, breaking what should have been an unbreakable connection.
“I can’t.”
“Why?” I yell through a sob. “Why can’t you?”
“You don’t understand how things in this industry work, Blaire, so you’re not qualified to pass judgment. This is the only way I can protect you. They know you’re my weakness, and they’re using it against me.”
Fear places a stranglehold on my heart when he mutters, “They’ll kill you the instant I step out of line.”
He scoots up the bed and leans his back on the headboard before running his hand down the side of his face. Just like earlier, his posture is slumped, and he looks genuinely defeated. From his stance alone, I know my concerns about him fading completely into blackness will never reach fruition. A soulless man doesn’t feel regret. They don’t feel anything.
For the first time in over a week, I act on the instincts of both my heart and mind. After pulling Enrique’s hand away from his tired face, I crawl into his lap and stare into his remorseful eyes.
The murky cloud in his gaze clears away when I say, “Let me be your light.” I rock my hips forward, dragging my soaked sex along the length of his stiffened shaft. “I may not understand this industry, but that doesn’t mean I can’t guide you through the darkness.”
Chapter 23
Heavy sentiment fills the air when I grasp the hem of my shirt and pull it over my head. The mood is so thick; it's almost palpable. As my breasts fall gently to my chest, Rico devours me with passionate dark eyes. I arch towards him, my aching breasts thrusting out in offering. A shiver runs the length of my spine when the back of Rico's hand runs over my inflamed cheeks before tracing the curve of my heaving chest.
“Are you sure this is what you want? I’ve been waiting for you to be sure.”
I sigh in relief before a broad grin stretches across my face. “And here I was the whole time thinking you didn’t want me.”
“I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.” He locks his entrancing eyes with mine. “You’re my light in a world full of blackness.”
A faint purr topples from my O-formed mouth when he runs his finger across the pebbled bud of my nipple, sending a zing of pleasure straight to my pussy.
“Are you sure?” he asks again.
When I see the darkness in his eyes fading, I nod. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.
I feel him growing beneath me, getting thicker and wider. My belly flutters with butterflies as the ache between my legs grows stronger.
“Please, Enrique,” I shamelessly beg when his hands remained fisted at the side of his hips. “I need you. Please.”
"That sounds more like someone who is sure than a simple nod of a head,” he replies to my shameful plea.
When he shifts his hips upwards, I quiver above him, wild and free of any doubt. “I’m sure. Very, very sure,” I purr.
My words turn into a gargle when his tongue circles my nipple before he sucks it into his warm, inviting mouth. I draw him in closer, my soaked core tightening with every swirl of his tongue. My hands are all over him, unable to resist feeling the softness of his skin pulled taut over his brawny muscles. The roughness of the stubble on his chin adds to the excitement clustering in my pussy. I rock against him, needing something to quench the insane throb between my legs.
Every thrust of my hips has my mind spiraling, incapable of thinking of anything but the hard ridge in his cotton boxers. My nipple pulls out of his talented mouth with a pop when I draw my chest away from him. I don’t need to speak, the hankering in my eyes relays the whole story.
With a seductive smirk etched on his face, he mutters, “Be my guest, Kitten.”
A groan tears from his throat when I run my hand along the extended length protruding from his boxer shorts. He places his hands on the side of his hips before lifting his glorious backside off the bed so I can slide his boxer shorts down his thighs.
I freeze for a moment, giving my eyes time to absorb the enormity of his glorious package. His cock is jutted and hard as stone, the tip glistening with evidence of his arousal. I grip my hand around the base of his cock before adding another, unsure if one hand will be adequate to handle so much man. Rico chuckles lightly at my unsureness. Normally, any hint of amusement in a bedroom would have me cowering, but his laughter spurs on my pursuit. It isn't malicious or vindictive; it's heartwarming and kind.
Any humor left lingering on his mouth is wiped straight off his face when I run my tongue over the crest of his cock, eagerly gathering up his drop of pre-cum. I stroke his heated flesh with my hand while my mouth and tongue work on his swollen knob. I take him deeper, all the way to the back of my throat when guttural hisses escape his lips.
“Don’t choke yourself, Kitten. Only take as much as you can,” Rico mutters through a groan.
Fighting through my gag reflex, I take him even deeper, goaded by the raspy moans rumbling up his chest and the spark of lust brightening his eyes. His thumbs stroke the heavy grooves in the side of my cheeks from my greedy sucks. It aids in soothing the ache of my muscles as I give it my all. I work the smooth velvet crest of his cock in and out of my swollen lips, loving the weight of his substantial manhood in my mouth.
His hands move to my hair when I run my tongue down the vein nourishing his glorious penis. A ghost of a smile creeps onto my lips, relishing in discovering one of his weak spots. It's a rare treat to find vulnerability in a man as controlled as Rico.
“The desires of my cock aren’t my weakness, Kitten. You are,” Rico mutters, once again reading my inner dialogue.
Still pumping his silky-smooth shaft with my hand, I lift my hanker-filled eyes to his. “Show me.”
He bands his arms around me and pulls me toward him. With one hand on the nape of my neck and the other on the curve of my back, he kisses with so much passion, my libido soars to never before reached levels. His kiss is primal and urgent, and it shreds any chance of walking away from our relationship with my heart intact. I melt, fully surrendering to the man who can wipe away every insecurity I’ve ever had with a simple kiss.
By the time his lips move to my neck, I'm totally lost to the desire burning through me. “Enrique. . .”
“Shh, Kitten.”
He adjusts our position, so my back is resting against the softness of the mattress while he is kneeling. The damp mess between my legs grows when he snaps my panties off my body before pinning my wrist above my head. I squirm beneath him, both ticklish and turned on when he trails his beard across my silky skin, marking every inch of me with his spicy scent.
His natural dominance oozes out of him in bucket loads, but I’m too caught up in the thrill of chasing a climax to care, and in all honesty, his strength and assuredness calms me. He will never intentionally hurt me, so I feel safe with him even while being held aggressively.
When Rico’s scratchy beard reaches my aching-with-need core, he stops and stares unashamedly at my bare mound. “Pretty and pink, and dripping with wetness. My little kitten is ravishing.”
He presses an intimate kiss on my clit. I call out and arch my back. My legs instinctively pull together, unable to stay still when a surge of desire puddles between them. I watch him, beyond enchanted when his dark eyes bore into mine as he slowly inches his finger into my quivering sex.
“So tight.”
I clench around him, begging for more.
“And greedy.”
I throw my head back and snap my eyes closed when I feel the prickle of his beard scraping the most sensitive area of my body. Inaudible words tumble from my parched throat when his tongue rolls over the folds of my pussy before it spears inside me.
My orgasm hits me by surprise, steamrolling me into an incoherent, blubbering mess. I writhe against his tongue and mouth, blindsided by the strength of my mind-hazing climax. His fingers stroke the sensitive spot inside me, drawing out the length of my orgasm, as his tongue flicks the throbbing bud of my clit. His speed is relentless, not willing to give me a moment of reprieve until I come for the second time.