Captivated

by Bethany-Kris

  “Nope.”

  “Oh.”

  “I guess I just never found someone I wanted to have that with …” Joe trailed off before adding quieter, “Until you, that is.”

  Liliana peered down at her twisting hands. A nervous tic he recognized that she did whenever words were failing her, and she was struggling to come up with the right thing to say. He wished she wouldn’t do that at all—but hey, she was talking, and that was something different than she had been doing for far too long.

  He wasn’t about to ruin it.

  Not by pushing her.

  “The one man I thought did love me in a romantic way ended up hurting me,” Liliana said, “and I think that still fucks with my head a lot. And then I get this stuff about you shoveled onto me, too, and it’s not the Joe I knew, or the one I met. It’s not the one who came to my place at night, or the man who watched me dance. It’s not the one who made me feel safe, or perfect.”

  Joe swallowed hard.

  He made her feel perfect.

  She should feel perfect.

  “You are perfect,” Joe murmured.

  Liliana looked up again, but a line of water had dampened her gaze. “Except it is the same man, isn’t it? The things you do, who you are, and then what you are with me—it’s all the same person, just in different shades of your life.”

  Joe nodded.

  What else could he do?

  “I give myself whiplash trying to figure out how I feel,” Liliana said sadly.

  Joe chuckled. “Me, too.”

  “I don’t mean to.”

  “It’s okay,” he assured. “Only one thing really matters to me at the end of the day, Tesoro.”

  “And what’s that, Joe?”

  “Would you let me in—would you let me love you, Liliana? When all this is over, and life is back to normal, can I come back again, say hello, and start this over? Would you let me love you?”

  She didn’t wait a second.

  Not even a breath.

  “I would.”

  That’s all that he cared about.

  The rest was inconsequential.

  “Okay,” Joe said.

  Liliana cocked a brow, and smiled a tiny bit. “Just okay?”

  “Yeah, just okay, love. Go get dressed. I ordered you that red velvet cake you liked from the restaurant. It should be here soon. Don’t need to give anybody a show, huh?”

  Her laughter coated his dark soul, and Joe swore he still heard it long after she had disappeared back into the bathroom. More than anything, he had wanted to get up, and go to her. Get her back on the bed, lose himself between the heaven of her thighs, and show her just how much that okay really meant to him, but he couldn’t do that …

  Not yet.

  She had to come to him this time.

  He had to let it be on her terms.

  Not his.

  It was only later in the evening, when all the lights were off, and Joe was hovering in the space between wakefulness and sleep that Liliana finally reached for him again. It started with an innocent whisper from across the bed that had his eyes flying wide open.

  “Joe?”

  “Hmm, cara?”

  “Do you really think that’s what I am—darling?”

  Joe tipped his head to the side on the pillow, and grinned at her through the darkness. He could just make out the outline of her features which meant she had to be able to see him, too. “You’ve always been darling, Liliana.”

  “Mmm.”

  She went silent again.

  So did Joe.

  And then she reached for him. One hand snaking under the blankets, and coming to rest on his midsection. Her fingers traced the railroad pathway of his abdominal muscles, making each and every one of them jump at the touch.

  She came closer under the sheets.

  He didn’t move an inch.

  “Joe?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You know it’s okay if you kiss me—touch me. Right?”

  Joe only replied, “Only if you want me to, love.”

  And he meant it.

  Damn, did he ever mean it.

  “You know I do; I always want—”

  She didn’t even get the rest of her words out before Joe was reaching for her. He pulled his sweet ballerina on top of him in a flurry of laughter, and mussed blankets. Her body rested flat against his as he thrust his fingers into her hair, and yanked her in for a kiss he had been dying for.

  He missed her taste.

  The softness of her lips.

  The way she kissed him.

  How her tongue warred with his.

  Oh, he missed it.

  Her.

  The thin cotton boxer-briefs he wore did little to hide the way his cock grew the longer she let him love her mouth. His erection was only urged on by each wiggle and shift of her hips until Liliana had straddled him completely, and was shamelessly grinding her pussy against his dick.

  Fuck, he loved that, too.

  “I can feel you already,” he mumbled against her lips. “You’re already hot and wet, aren’t you?”

  He could feel it.

  Her dampness.

  Her heat.

  Liliana nodded, and her whispers melted into a low moan when he snuck a hand between her thighs. She lifted just enough for him to slide two fingers under the gusset of her panties, and through her slick folds. Her answering shudder when his digits dove into her cunt made him chuckle, but it was the way her pussy hugged his fingers tight that damn near drove him insane with need and want.

  He knew what she wanted, too.

  “Is that what you want?” he murmured in her ear. “You want me to pet this pussy, Liliana, and make it purr for me?”

  “God, yes.”

  Her words came out breathless, and spun.

  “What do you want, then, my mouth or my fingers first?”

  She hesitated.

  Her hazel eyes—darkened with lust and locked on his—drifted over his lax, lazy grin when she said, “Both.”

  Joe’s smirk was wicked.

  Sinful.

  “That’s my girl. Get those clothes of yours off, and turn around.”

  She still remembered what he had told her that first time—listening would get her everything she wanted, and more when it came to him. She wasted no time moving off him just long enough to shed her panties, and tight tank-top. She slid back on top of him, but this time, he had the perfect view of her ass.

  Joe slid his hand from the curve of her backside, to the middle of her spine before he pressed down firmly with his hand. His position, with his back and head slightly raised against the headboard, gave him ample room to do what he wanted like this.

  “Head down, and ass high. If you want, you can make that mouth of yours useful, and get my cock ready for you. Got it?”

  “Jesus, Joe.”

  His hand landed down on her right ass cheek with a firm swat, and pinked the skin. She stiffened at the smack, but her back relaxed when the sweet sigh she released.

  “Yes,” she quickly corrected, “I understand.”

  “Good. Take me out, and then give me your hands.”

  “W-what?”

  He’d made her stutter on her words when he stroked that sleek pussy of hers—all pink, and wet for him—as she spoke. It looked good enough to eat, and he knew she was going to taste hot and tart on his tongue once he really got her worked up good.

  He looked forward to it.

  “Take me out,” Joe said, working two fingers in and out of her pussy and enjoying the wet sounds her cunt made for him with every stroke, “and then give me your hands.”

  Joe knew Liliana was struggling.

  To trust, or not to trust.

  To compare, or not to compare.

  And yet, he didn’t think that she even realized her heart had long ago made the choice that her brain had not. Because she didn’t question him at all as she freed his hard cock from his boxer-briefs, and then extended her arms back to him to
lock in tight at her lower back within his large grasp.

  “Ask me for it,” he said softly, “use words, babe.”

  “Please, Joe. Please give me your mouth and your fingers, and then your cock, too. Please.”

  “Good girl.”

  It wasn’t like he was actually going to refuse.

  Liliana’s warm, silken lips encased his dick at the same time Joe lowered his face to the heaven between her thighs. He hadn’t been wrong—that first taste of her was like nothing else. A flavor unique to her, and it only got better the more she shook, and the hotter her body became. The initial stroke of this tongue through the slit of her sex to tease and test her had Liliana moaning hard despite his dick being halfway in her mouth.

  Fuck.

  It took everything in him not to jerk his hips upward, and get her swallowing all of him.

  Due time.

  All in due time, he told himself.

  Her first.

  His tongue worked her slit and into her pussy while his one hand kept her arms locked firmly at her back, and his other hand worked at her clit. Just two fingers—light pressure, and small, tight circles against the throbbing bud.

  It was more than enough.

  He loved the way her body responded.

  All wet, warm, and shaking.

  The faster he ate her pussy and worked his fingers against her clit, the more she made those sweet little sounds around his cock while she sucked him off. It practically vibrated through his whole body, and made him high and drunk all at the same time.

  He didn’t need drugs or a drink for that.

  Just her.

  “Take that cock,” Joe murmured, pulling away from Liliana’s wet sex just long enough to kiss the curve of her ass cheek. He bit the same spot, and felt her jerk from the surprise shock of pain. He did it again just to feel the way her throat constricted against his dick with her gasp. “Do you wanna swallow my cum after I fuck you, ballerina? Get a taste of you on my dick again?”

  She sucked harder.

  Her teeth scraped along sensitive flesh.

  She did that shit on purpose.

  Joe couldn’t take it, and she knew it.

  He forced himself to focus on getting her off with his mouth and fingers at least once before he bent her over, and gave her what she wanted the most.

  And what he wanted the most.

  Joe didn’t relent the second his mouth was back on her pussy. He was the starving man, and she was the fucking feast spread out before him. Her pretty pink pussy spread open for him, and needy. A lot like her, really.

  Needy.

  Wanting.

  Aching, probably.

  Liliana released Joe’s cock with a pop when her body tensed, and then the shaking started. “Going to come—shit, don’t stop, please.”

  He let go of his hold on her arms when she did fall over the edge, making Liliana fall forward to catch herself on the bed. He grabbed tightly to her ass, letting his fingers dig in to the firm flesh as he lapped up every bit of her arousal that flooded his tongue.

  Goddamn.

  Yeah, she tasted so much hotter when she came.

  Like candy, really.

  Joe pulled away from Liliana before she had even stopped gasping his name. He slid higher on the bed, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her into his lap. She was already widening her legs for him, and grabbing the base of his cock with her warm palm. She was the one to fit the head of his dick at her pussy, and she lowered down on him faster than he expected her to.

  He kept her tight to him—her back to his chest. His mouth on her neck, and his arm tight around her chest. His palm came up to cup her throat so he could feel every noise she made before it even escaped her parted lips.

  He bit her neck and shoulder, kissed the same spots, too, as his other hand slid between her thighs, and found her warm, wet cunt swallowing his dick. He flexed his hips every time she lifted or lowered on him—the push and pull. He wanted to get deeper, fuck her harder, but he also wanted to feel, and to taste.

  All of her.

  Every fucking inch of her.

  “Christ, I can feel you,” he growled in her ear. “So fucking wet, babe.”

  His fingers graced the length of his dick when she raised on him again, and he used the wetness from her arousal to drag up to her clit. He toyed, while she fucked. Her answering breathless whines came out high, and sweet.

  “Almost, almost,” he heard her whisper.

  The promise of her coming again goaded him.

  Teased him.

  Promised him.

  “Fucking give it to me,” Joe demanded. “It’s mine, Liliana.”

  “Yours.”

  The stiffness in Joe’s back as he felt the sun streak across his skin had him grinning into the pillow instantly. Usually if he woke up sore, he wouldn’t be very fucking pleased about it. Not today, though.

  Waking up sore meant good things happened the night before, and he was more than willing to stay right where he was for just long enough to relive it in his memories. That round with Liliana had been one for the ages, and it lasted well into the early morning hours. He slept like the dead because of it. He doubted an elephant walking through the room would have woken him up.

  Maybe he had needed that sleep.

  Fuck.

  What time was it?

  Joe checked his watch with one hand, and then reached for Liliana with the other. His hand came up with nothing—air on her side of the bed—at the same time he realized it was closing in on ten in the morning.

  Ten.

  In the morning.

  What the fuck?

  “Liliana?”

  Joe turned his head, but found the same thing his hand had. Nothing and no one was on Liliana’s side of the bed. Only crumpled blankets, and a pillow with the indent where her head had once rested.

  He sat up.

  “Liliana!”

  He wasn’t going to panic.

  No need to fucking panic.

  Not yet.

  “Liliana?”

  Silence answered him back. The fucking hotel room wasn’t that big. It was only the bedroom and sitting room as one damn room, and the bathroom. That was it. It wasn’t like she couldn’t have heard him if she was in the bathroom. And she wasn’t.

  He knew it.

  The bathroom door was open, the light shut off, and he didn’t hear anything.

  Jesus.

  Fuck.

  A part of him kept screaming, It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine.

  After all, no one but her father knew where they were, and Joe hadn’t even given Lucian a proper location. There was no possible way someone had found them here—they weren’t registered at the hotel under their real names, and they’d barely left the room for the whole day and half they had been there.

  It just wasn’t possible.

  Another part of him … a part that somehow just knew … was screaming louder.

  She’s gone.

  She’s gone.

  She’s gone.

  A mantra he couldn’t escape.

  Joe kicked the sheets off, and snatched the phone from the bedside table. He didn’t know why he thought to call down to the front desk, but he figured if Liliana had left for whatever reason, she likely would have used the front entrance.

  Two rings later, and the concierge picked up.

  “Mr.—”

  “Room 202,” Joe barked, “did you see the woman from room 202 leave this morning?”

  “Um … just a second, s—”

  “Just think!”

  The guy stumbled over his words, and then Joe heard something rustle against the phone. Likely the man’s hand covering the speaker. Seconds later, he was back on.

  “A young woman ordered breakfast a couple of hours ago, but no one answered the door when we knocked.”

  Joe deflated.

  His heart shattered.

  Two hours ago?

  If she had ordered breakfast, and it
hadn’t been delivered two hours ago, but she still wasn’t in the room with Joe … that only meant bad things.

  Terrible fucking things.

  “No one saw her leave?” Joe asked. “She’s hard to miss—tall, willowy, dark blonde hair half way down her back, and hazel eyes? No one saw her at all?”

  The man pulled the phone away, and Joe heard him barking questions to whoever else was around. He knew the man’s answer before he even came back to the phone. And yet, when the concierge delivered those words Joe already fucking knew, they still killed him like a knife driven straight into his heart.

  And then the blade was twisted, too.

  “Not through the front, sir. Is something wrong?”

  Was something wrong?

  Oh, no.

  No … just his entire life being gone.

  His soul ripped to shreds.

  Nothing fucking big, or anything.

  “How many exits are in this building?”

  “One for every floor, sir, and one for every room.”

  Joe’s gaze drifted to the small patio that was connected to their room. Yes, it, too, had a small metal ladder that could extend to the ground if needed. Shit.

  “How much would it cost me to get a look at your security footage for this morning?” Joe asked.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I didn’t fucking stutter. How much?”

  SIXTEEN

  THE POUNDING BASS drum beating inside Liliana’s skull was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Painful enough to keep her from speaking, but still allowed a strangled groan to slip past her dry lips.

  Dry … like her mouth.

  And her eyes when she tried to peel them open.

  She tried to focus on just one thing. Either the pain, the way her lips peeled off whatever they had been pressed against, the haziness in her mind, or … all the rest. It felt like everything was mixing together and only getting worse the longer she tried to fight whatever was happening to her.

  And Christ …

  What was happening?

  Her vision was as thick and hazy as her mind. As though she were looking through gray clouds to focus on whatever was behind them. Black leather, she thought. A handle, maybe? Also black, but that was just about all she understood.

  She tried to reach out to touch whatever it was just in front of her face, but found her strength was seriously lacking. Even moving like she had took every bit of effort she possessed, and when she couldn’t reach whatever was there, her body just gave out.