Tavish shook the phone. “The number that sent you the messages. I’m certain you have requested Baptist to track it by now. Do you know it?”
“Aye, I have the number already, but nae, I went through all my contacts and MacKeenan’s, and found no one listed with this number. Why would anyone send me this?”
“I doona know. You doona know. And I bet Sophia doesn’t know either. What are you waiting for?”
Alistair looked at him and parroted, “What am I waiting for? For what?”
Tavish rolled his eyes, thinking the messages must have addled Alistair’s brain. “Call Baptist again. Ask him to track the number to an address. And forget about labeling your wife a whore before you talk to her.”
“I’ve already set Baptist on a possible trail.” Then he scowled at Tavish. “And nae, I don’t think my wife is a whore.”
“So, go home. I’ll bet she is home playing with Gabriela or getting ready to seduce you. There’s no better place for you now, Alistair Connor. By the way, donna be an asshole. My promise still stands.”
“What promise?” asked Alistair befuddled.
Slowly, Tavish drew his fingertip over his slightly crooked nose. “Hurt Sophia and I will break your nose.”
Kensington Palace Street
Atwood House, Gabriela’s room
7:08 p.m.
Quietly, Maria opened the door to Gabriela’s room.
Without interrupting the story she was telling her daughter, Sophia lifted her eyelids. Everyone in the house knew story time was a special moment, reserved for the family to be alone. Surely something very serious had happened, since both Maria and Aisha were outside.
Maria motioned with her head and mouthed, “Mr. MacCraig.”
No. Sophia felt a sharp throb of fear inside her and wrapped up the story with a few words. She planted a kiss on Gabriela’s cheek and said, “Alistair has arrived and needs me downstairs. I have to go, all right?”
“Can Maria tell me another story?” asked the little girl.
“Yes, but just one, okay?” Sophia smiled at Gabriela. “Good night, my angel.”
Gabriela smiled back. “Nite, Mama. Kiss Daddy good-night too.”
As soon as Sophia stepped outside the bedroom, Maria said, “Mr. MacCraig arrived, changed clothes, and went to the pool.”
Sophia’s forehead creased. “And?” Why didn’t he come up to see Gabriela?
Maria eyed Aisha, who answered, “I was waiting to see if he wanted a snack before dinner. He…he looked at me for a moment as if I wasn’t there, thanked me, and went downstairs, saying he was going for a swim and didn’t want to be interrupted. Mrs. MacCraig, he didn’t look well.”
Alistair’s laps were quick, yet regular. Swimming always felt right to him. He had learned to swim before he learned to walk. His father took him to the freezing lochs and he loved splashing his mother, who screamed and feigned dying of cold. As he grew older, the immersed silence along with the timely strong laps and kicks usually unknotted his muscles and emptied his mind of the small details and problems, making him focus on the bigger picture.
But tonight, his muscles had yet to unknot. The fury, the fear, and the angst he had experienced when he saw that photo hadn’t faded. It was like a disease eating at him, demanding he get Sophia far away from any chance of being hurt.
Deep down, at a cellular level, he knew he could not control everything and was just capable of doing so much.
And deeper still, his primeval instincts were jerking at his need to dominate. Irrationally, all he wanted to do was grab her, hold her, and never let go. Make love to her until they were both tired and sated; until their scents mingled together, branding her as she was already imprinted all over him. It was consuming him with such an intensity that even though he knew he should resist it, he wouldn’t. Couldn’t.
She was too beautiful.
She was too sweet.
She was a force field that inexorably pulled him in.
As he executed his turn with perfection, pushing against the pool wall, a word superseded all other thoughts. Mine. She is mine.
Sophia paused at the top of the stairs admiring her husband’s body. When he swam at home, Alistair used smaller trunks that fit snuggly around his lean hips. She always enjoyed the sight while she worked out in the mornings.
His muscles surged and bulged, as water sluiced around his skin. His wet black hair gleamed bluish and the jagged ends caressed his neck. Strong arms and long legs matched his broad back well. He was not overly-muscled, but well-defined and there was an underlying strength and power that could not be overlooked.
She closed the door and climbed down the steps, her bare feet making no sound. She didn’t want to disturb him. Nonetheless, she wanted to be there if he needed her.
As soon as she sat crossed legged on the pool’s edge, perfectly tuned to her, he stopped and surfaced.
He was so tall that, in the middle of the pool, his shoulders and his pectorals were out of the water.
Sophia’s mouth went dry. The look in his gaze made her freeze; his eyes were gleaming in a mix of anger, desire, fear, and wildness.
For Alistair, anger was easier to deal with than the hurt of another loss. But he didn’t know exactly whom his anger was directed to: the message sender for jumbling his thoughts; Sophia for having lunch with Ethan; or himself for even a split second of doubting her.
A few locks fell over Alistair’s forehead and eyes as he shook his head forcefully to straighten his thoughts.
It took him just one look to make her body tingle all over; to make her desire him with all her might. He robbed the air from her lungs. Sophia’s hands itched to open her dress, to dive in to meet him, and make love to him right then and there.
He was looking too hot.
He was looking too sexy.
Alistair walked the distance between them, studying her face and her posture, legs crossed, hands on her knees, and a welcoming smile on her face. He watched as she parted her lips, her breathing speeding.
“Hi,” she whispered huskily when he reached her.
He was too shattered to think straight, much less talk. He picked her up by the waist and pulled her into the pool.
“My dress,” Sophia gasped, surprised.
Fuck the dress. Fuck everything.
She grasped his biceps and looked up at his face, trying to understand what was going on.
He backed her onto the pool wall, while she wrapped her legs around his waist. Their eyes were locked on each other.
He towered over her, as intense and savage as only he could be, making her feel small and delicate in comparison, surrounded by his utter maleness. She felt trapped and she wanted to stay in his cage forever.
Alistair watched her, enraptured. There was so much love sparkling on her face that he closed his eyes and lowered his head to take her mouth with the urgency of a starving man and the softness of an experienced lover, biting her bottom lip and then licking it with the tip of his tongue as he untied her dress and untangled it from her legs.
Her arms wrapped around his neck, fisting his hair in her hands, as she paired his kiss with one of hers.
He tried to slow things down, but she began to writhe against his arousal, lost to the sensations.
She nipped at his bottom lip and he growled, “Harder.”
He gently kneaded her breast with one hand, his grip on her buttocks strong, too strong, but just like before she didn’t seem to mind the incongruence of his touches.
For her, he had this powerful quiet command. As if when he was around, the whole universe, her included, answered to him.
Her back arched, pressing her lower body more firmly against his.
He found a measure of release when his erection pressed against her. But in seconds, it became a deeper need. His hands seized her lacy panties. “Rip?”
“Please,” she rasped.
“I like that word on your mouth.” His blood was set aflame by her eagerness and he rip
ped the delicate strips of her panties, pushing them back.
He buried his face in her neck, kissing her throat and moving up to bite her earlobe. Her intoxicating taste invaded his veins. He groaned and she slanted her head, giving him room to explore.
Ear shell, lobe, neck, shoulder, collar bone. When he tried to sit her on the edge to feast on her, Sophia’s arms and legs tightened around him.
“Now,” she murmured in his ear, as she tugged hard at his hair, moving his head down to the other side of her neck. “Rough and fast.”
“Hold,” he ordered. In a split second, he lowered his trunks and moved his hips up, putting just the head of his penis in. He shuddered with the intensity of the pleasure.
She moaned breathlessly as she bit his shoulder and raked her nails on his back to dig them into his waist. “Don’t hold back.”
He licked the cord of her neck and pushed shallowly. He slid backward, and she squeezed at him, trying to hold him inside.
Sophia pulled his head back by his hair and hissed, “Don’t. Hold. Back.”
It was a good pain that he was getting addicted to. Taking her mouth, he slammed forward, giving her more, harder. His need for her now was too great to be leashed and Sophia liked it just as it was.
“Ah, Sophia! You feel so good,” he grunted as his mouth followed the line of her chin to lick at her neck.
“Ah, yes. Meu amor, eu te amo,” she declared, moaning her need out loud, shuddering with release and still begging for more. “Love me. Take me.”
“Don’t think I’ll ever get enough.” He utterly ravaged her, taking and giving back. When he knew she couldn’t resist anymore, he raised his head to watch her.
He saw Sophia throw her head back with a broken cry of delight, a rapturous look on her face.
He saw his freedom, his love, his everything.
He saw his paradise.
The pleasure utterly consumed him and he thrust once more and her name left his mouth as his sublime satisfaction reached its peak.
Leaving him drained.
Sated.
Awed.
She kissed the hammering pulse at the base of his neck and combed his silky hair, enjoying the feel of it. Alistair was a powerful and insatiable man. Just right for her: dominant, sensual, extremely vocal, and slightly kinky.
“Husband?”
I never tire of hearing that. “Yes, Wife?”
“What happened?”
Fuck! He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as if in pain, asking hoarsely, “How do you do this to me?”
“Do what?” she asked in a whisper, almost afraid of what he was going to say.
“Make me want you, despite everything.” He had forgotten about the messages, about the photo. He had forgotten his fear, doubt, and anger.
Despite everything? Sophia heard only those two words. What is everything?
“I’m a disaster,” he said hollowly.
“Well.” She smiled making things light. “Now that you’ve said it, I can confess. Yep, you’re a disaster. You ruined my dress. And what should I say about my sanity?”
He had to tell her the truth about what happened and explain everything. He’d already withheld information once and she ran away. Will she think less of me for doubting her even for a heartbeat? How could she no’?
What the hell happened? She peered at him and decided for another course of action. “Aren’t you hungry, Alistair Connor? I am. Famished.”
He had made too many mistakes to make another. He wanted her protected and their marriage cemented with trust.
He gave her a smile. “So, let’s go up, shower, and feed you.”
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Also by Cristiane Serruya
I write suspenseful and heartwarming contemporary romances steeped in luxury, loss, lust, and love.
Have you read them all?
SHADES OF TRUST
Two billionaires who never fail to get what they want. They both want the same woman. Only one would get her.
Meet Ethan, Sophia, and Alistair in this suspenseful eight-part series romance!
~ TRUST Series standalone romances ~
SHADED LOVE
Love Painted in Red prequel
Eva May, daughter of a recently widowed, strict man, is in dire straights. Not only she is in love with a man her father doesn’t approve, but she is also pregnant.
LOVE PAINTED IN RED
2016 KindleScout winner
Tavish and Laetitia will discover falling in love is life’s greatest risk! A sizzling suspenseful contemporary romance made of loss, lust, and love, which will keep you guessing until the end!
DAMAGED LOVE
USA Today best seller
One lie tore two lovers apart, breaking both their hearts. And even the truth might not be enough to mend their damaged love.
~ EVER MORE Series standalone romances ~
SO MUCH MORE
He needs a woman to play the perfect wife—sex included, no emotions attached. She needs to pay off a debt before she ends up with broken legs—or worse.
FOREVERMORE
Billionaire widower Aleksander Maximilian’s daughter, Olivia, is dying of brain cancer. To grant his beloved daughter her wish to spend her last Christmas in Lake Tahoe, he gathers a palliative care team. But he didn’t count on having on it, the woman he had kissed on the night before...
EVERMORE
He is rich, powerful—and blind. She is beautiful, intelligent—and engaged to a corrupt politician affiliated with the Russian Mafia. Forbidden romance ignites, but the consequences for breaking off the engagement is death. For both of them.
October 2018!
~ LAST ROYALS Series standalone romances ~
ROYAL LOVE
A king without a bride. A young woman struggling on her own. And a chance encounter that could provide an heir to the throne…
ROYAL AFFAIR
His Royal Highness, Ludwig Von Kroenenberg, the thirteenth Grand-Duke of Lektenstaten, is bored and lonely. And that is a danger on itself!
April, 19 2018
~ THE DIARIES Series ~
FROM THE BARONESS’S DIARY I
The Erotic Escapades of Baron Beardley’s Wife
Young, beautiful, and voluptuous, the Baroness finds that in Beardley Manor innocent flirtations can become erotic sex escapades. And soon Lady Chloe’s diary pages are filled with her adventures—and misadventures!
FROM THE BARONESS’S DIARY II
The Adventures—and Misadventures—of Lady Chloé
Lady Chloé has yet to resolve the mystery of her husband's frequent business trips and why he's desperate to create an heir. And, of course, she wants more than just a tryst with her gardener lover. She wants love!
~ Other books ~
THE MODERN MAN
The modern state of man, his thoughts, feelings, and life are dissected by the author in a direct, sensible, and poetic style.
All the royalties from THE MODERN MAN and its translations are donated to Doctors without Borders.
~ Soon * ~
~ Mistaken Identity, TRUST Series standalone romance, featuring Valentina Espírito Santo;
~ Royal Masquerade, Last Royals #3;
~ Unexpected Trouble, TRUST Series standalone romance, featuring Victoria Espírito Santo;
~ Summer Love, a suspenseful steamy TRUST Series standalone romance, featuring the Brazilian hunk, Felipe Espírito Santo;
~ The Kingdom of Perfection, my first kid’s story written under the pen name Cristiane Allevato;
* Titles and release dates of are subjected to changes.
About
Cristiane Serruya
USA TODAY and AMAZON bestselling author, Cristiane Serruya—or just Cris—lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with her husband, two teenage daughters, and Loki, her Shetland sheepdog.
She’s graduated at Law School, with a Master’s in Business Law, and also has a BA in Fine Arts, all from PUC-RJ. She’s studied in England, Switzerland, Italy, and France, and, of course, Brazil.
In 2011, after twenty-two years of practicing law, Cris decided to give writing a go. And—amazingly!—it was just the piece that was missing from the puzzle of her life. Now that she’s hooked, she can’t free herself—and doesn’t want to be freed.
If not typing away stories, Cris is reading her favorite authors and pampering her family. Meeting interesting people—in person or on line—gives her the inspiration for her characters. Also, there’s a little bit of her in them as well—including the bad ones, of course.
Visit www.CrisSerruya.com, discover her other romances, and win free books!
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