by J. L. Beck
“Fuck, princess, you look so good wrapped around me,” I whisper.
“Are you going to talk me to death or fuck me?” she says, her tone snippy.
I pause and smile down at her. The mouth on her, I should pull out and deny her an orgasm for that lip. Instead, I slap her ass right over the belt marks and enjoy the yip she gives me.
“Watch your mouth, or I won’t let you come. And before you ask, don’t worry. I’ll make sure I do, but you won’t until I give you permission.”
To make sure she received my message, I smack her other ass cheek, enjoying the way she clenches around me as her muscles seize under the pain. “Glad we’re on the same page now.”
I reposition my hands again and start using her body to create a smooth tempo. Each stroke of her sheath around me is sheer bliss. I could stay here forever. But then I look up at her face. Her eyes are squeezed shut, her forehead bunches, her fingers digging into the texture of the mattress. My princess needs to come, and soon. She’s on edge with the need for it. It’s the only thing that would have made her mouth off to me.
“I’ll take care of you,” I tell her, moving faster, slamming her body back into mine as I press forward. She groans, and with each pass, her face smooths out under the pleasure.
The image of my cum running down her thighs amps my arousal higher. Then, inexplicably, the feel of her against me as I fuck her, my hand cradling her swollen belly, my child growing inside her.
I bark out a curse and pull out of her. She whimpers as her feet hit the floor again. But I don’t have any intention of stopping. I lift her and toss her up onto the mattress, shove my pants and shoes off, then climb up behind her on the bed.
Once I’ve got myself behind her. I turn her on her side, lift her thigh bent at the knee, and lay it over mine, so I can slip inside her from behind again.
She doesn’t comment on the change of the position, but that image sent my balls up and shoved me so close to orgasm. The thought of her carrying my baby inside her is too much to resist.
I angle my hips to get inside her, then bring my hand between her thighs to rub her clit while I fuck her hard and fast. Her hair fans across my chest as she rocks between my cock and my fingers, seeking her orgasm.
The second she finds it, the pulse of her body spurs my own. I drop my hand to her hips and use her body, fucking into her, relentless until I finally come with a shout against her hair. Once I can feel my fingers again, I ease my hold on her and hug her to my chest.
“What was that?” she asks.
I kiss her hair and pull her entire body flush to mine. “What do you mean?”
“You were behind me, and then you just changed positions suddenly.”
I tilt her chin so I can look into her eyes. “Are you actually complaining right now?”
She shakes her head. “No, of course not. It was just strange.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I drag the top of her dress down so I can cup her breast in my hand. It’s full, and her nipple is tipped and hard. Will they swell when she gets pregnant?
It amazes me how fast I latch onto this idea of her carrying my child. Of her swollen and round with my baby. But then, on its heels, I know there’s one more step in between before it can become a reality. Before she can grow my child in her womb, she needs to become my wife.
I run my lips down her cheek and take her mouth in a heated kiss. Delving my tongue between her lips to taste all of her. She moans, and I break away from her mouth and continue running my lips down her jawline to her neck. I deliver a little nibble at the column there and enjoy the way she wiggles away from me.
“No, princess. No matter how far you run, I’ll always be able to find you. You’ll never escape me.”
She relaxes into me. “You know you sound like a creeper when you talk like that.”
I spank her ass again, and I laugh as she shifts away, trying to outrun the pain that’s already blooming.
“A creeper, really?”
She rolls in my arms, her dress bunching around our legs. “Hey, you’re the one giving me these openings.”
I shake my head. “When did you get so lippy? Do you need another punishment already?”
She huffs against my lips. “No, I don’t think I could handle another one. I’ll behave.”
I bring our hips together and enjoy the way she closes her eyes as she relaxes into me again. “I doubt you’ll ever behave, but as long as you remember you’re mine, that’s all I need. The rest, you’ll learn.”
14
Celia
I feel different today. It’s not just the ebbing soreness from our escapades in the hallway. But something else. A lightness in my chest that is new.
We haven’t settled anything between us because neither of us has brought up the topics he refuses to talk about. And I know I should push for it, but I fear pushing him too far.
I close my eyes and let out a long exhale. If I have to admit it, I don’t want to lose this. I don’t think he’ll go back to treating me the way he did before, but I also love the way he touches me. And I love the way he looks at me, like I’m the only woman in the entire world.
Today he’s allowed me in the library alone. The balcony doors are open, and I’m standing at the entrance, letting the breeze wash over me. The air is warm and carries the scent of flowers, although I haven’t seen any from my limited view of the property.
My mind automatically goes back to the last time I was here, and Nic took me on the grass. Claiming me, as he continues to do, every time we have sex.
That’s something else I love about his treatment of me. He is fearless; if he wants something, he takes it. And while that hasn’t always worked out in my favor, it does now when he’s determined to give me more pleasure than I’ve ever felt in my entire life.
But it isn’t just pleasure. He also touches me with a reverence that leaves me in awe.
I walk back into his office and glance at the desk, remembering the time he used my body. It was our first sexual encounter, and I hated him then. It seems like forever ago, even though only a few weeks have passed.
Memories of his body behind mine flood my head, his dick tucked between my thighs. The entire affair had been visceral, messy, almost dehumanizing… but it wasn’t. At least not looking back at it.
It seems my body and my brain have gone on a strike together, and all because the big brute tweaked some nerve endings in a pleasurable way. He might be as insane as he is gorgeous, but there’s no way I’m going to fall for him.
The door to the library opens behind me, and I glance toward it. Soo walks in. I guess it’s a casual day for him since he’s wearing a pair of slacks and a white button down. The uniform for him and Nic, it seems.
I give him a nod, which he returns.
When he doesn’t leave, I wait for him to say something, but the silence stretches long and loud.
“Did you need something?”
He faces the bookshelves and makes a show of inspecting the spines. It hasn’t escaped my notice that this house has a vast library, and I’ve seen none of the men who live here actually reading.
“I know you’re not here to look for a book. Did Nic send you in here to babysit me?”
Soo glances over his shoulder at me. “Babysit? Wow. You sure have a way with words. And a way of degrading my position here.”
I turn all the way around so I can actually face him. Especially if we’re going to do one of these verbal sparring matches. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. I actually wanted to ask you something.”
He shoves his hands into his pockets and faces me. Now I have his full attention.
“I want to know if Nic seems different to you.”
“How do you mean?”
I try to play things casually. But I’m well aware I’m a shitty liar, and both he and Nic are experts at detecting them. “I just mean, does he seem different to you? Not just the way he’s acting toward me, but just different?”
Soo st
udies me now, cocking his head in the same way Nic does when he is trying to figure me out. “If I thought Nic was acting differently, and I’m not saying I do, I wouldn’t be discussing it with you.”
“Not even if I can make him happier than he is now?”
He scoffs. “And what makes you think he’s happy? You may be in his bed, and he may treat you differently, but there are too many things he needs to finish before he might describe himself as happy.”
To be fair, happy probably wasn’t the right word to use in the situation. “I just mean maybe there’s something I can do to help make his life easier.”
Even I think that is a terrible excuse for my questioning. And I don’t doubt for a second he can see right through me.
I throw up my hands and shake my head. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to think. He’s acting so differently than from how he acted before, and I’m just worried, I guess, that he’s going to stop.”
He doesn’t acknowledge my statement or apology. Instead, he drags a book from the shelf and gives me a withering look. “Before I leave, is there anything you need?”
It’s one of those questions that he really doesn’t want answered. No doubt Nic sent him in here to check on me, and he’s just being thorough so he can report back that I’m safe and sound.
Since he’s being a dick, I guess I’ll be one right back. “Well, while we’re talking, maybe I can convince you to take me to see Lucas.”
Surprise flickers across his face before he can snatch it back. It feels like a victory until he opens his mouth. “We both know that I’m not taking you anywhere near Lucas.”
“But Nic trusts you. He knows you would keep me safe.”
“Sure, but that doesn’t mean he won’t murder me for taking you there against his wishes. Wishes he’s made quite clear to me, the rest of the staff, and Lucas himself. You are not to go near him.”
We both know if anyone is safe from murder in this room, it’s him. But I don’t point that out. I’m tired of both him and Nic treating me like a glass doll balancing on a precipice. “If you won’t take me to see him, will you at least let me write him a letter and deliver it?”
Again, he shakes his head. “Not going to happen. As I said, Nic would kill me, and then he would tie you to his bed until he’s had his fill of you. And that would be merely the start of your punishment.”
It disturbs me to hear him referencing anything to do with Nic and my sex life. I rack my brain, trying to think of something to say that might convince him. All the while, he’s watching me, waiting to see what I’ll do next. It makes me feel a bit like a bug in a jar.
Even as I switch tactics, I know I will regret it. “Who knew Nic has such a tight leash on you? I thought you were his best friend, not his underling.”
Soo tosses his book on the nearest side table and stalks across the room toward me. It doesn’t occur to me I should be afraid. Of everyone in this house, he’s been the kindest to me from the beginning. But there isn’t a sliver of that kindness in his gaze now.
“Listen, you may play these games of dominance and submission with Nic, but I am a different type of monster. I guarantee if your punishment were in my hands, you wouldn’t enjoy yourself nearly as much.”
Before I can say anything or even expel the outrage building up inside me, he grabs his book again, walks out the door, and slams it behind him.
It doesn’t take long for Nic to come find me in the library. I wait for some kind of censure for how I talked to Soo, but it doesn’t come. Which makes me wonder if Soo even told him what I asked or how I acted.
When he holds his hand out to me, I stare at it a heartbeat too long.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
I quickly shake my head and clasp my hand in his. “Nothing, I just wasn’t sure what you wanted from me.”
He leads me out of the house into a waiting car, and I don’t even ask about our destination. I’m just so excited to get out.
“Soo suggested you might be going a little stir crazy, and that you wanted some new scenery.”
A hot wash of shame hits my cheeks, and I turn my face to stare out the window so he doesn’t see. I was an asshole to Soo, and he still showed me kindness.
The drive only takes a couple of minutes. We stop next to a sports field lined with small trees. I stare out at the greenery, and I realize I’ve been here before. Years ago.
“Where are we?”
“Just a little park near my house.”
He helps me out of the vehicle and tucks my hand in his as I stare around. The memory hits me in a flash—me as a child. I don’t know how old, and the boy who was my best friend, playing here. There used to be a swing set and a sandbox to one side of the field, but it looks like they were removed. It’s been so long since I thought about that boy. I face Nic now and stare up into his eyes. “It’s strange that we’re here. I’ve been here before. Actually, this is where I got my scar.”
He nudges my hair out of my face and traces the line of it down my cheek with his thumb. “How did it happen?”
I point toward the empty field, the memory rising from the recesses of my mind. “We were young, my friend and I. We were playing on one of those dome jungle gym things. Some idiot came over and tried to start a fight with him. They grappled, and I tried to protect him, but he accidentally caught me in the face with his pocketknife. He’d stolen it from his father.”
I can taste the heat in the air that day. It was so hot a permanent shimmer rose over the asphalt of the parking lots. We’d been running wild since lunch, dirt and peanut butter smeared on our cheeks.
A wave of nausea washes over me, threatening to drag me into the memory. That was the last day I saw the boy I thought I would one day marry. His family disappeared soon after.
His thumbs are still gentle as he rubs over the scar and curls up around my eyelid. I close my eyes and fall into the sensation of his touch. It’s soft and assertive. There’s never any question with him. When he wants to touch me, he touches me, and he does it with conviction.
“This friend, who is he?” There’s an odd note in his tone.
Along with the memories, an old, aching grief stirs. That summer was the last time I saw him. Now, I barely even think about him, and it makes me feel all the worse.
“His father and mine were friends. We used to do everything together, but then one day, after his parents died, he disappeared. I guess I assumed they had shipped him off to live with some distant relative, but by the way the servants talked about the incident, I think he was killed with them, and they just didn’t want to tell me.”
His gaze is filled with something I can’t name. Not grief, but something warmer, softer, more forgiving. “What else did you two do together?”
My smile rises without thought as I dredge up old memories from the depths of my mind. “Well, we used to camp in the yard. His younger brother always wanted to come and play with us, but my friend didn’t want him to because he got scared in the dark and would cry half the night until his mom picked him up. We also explored the little tunnel system under his old mansion. They were pretty cool. Built for bootleggers or something like that, a long time ago.”
“You look happy when you speak of him.”
I nod. “I feel bad for not thinking about him more, but yes, it makes me happy to remember the times we shared, but also sad to think about how he’s not in my life anymore. When I got older and started battling with my father over marriage prospects and party planning, he would have understood the kind of life I wanted to lead and married me, so I could go to college and do what I wanted instead of becoming a trophy wife and a dowry for his family.”
“He sounds like he would have been an honorable man. Why did you think he would have married you?”
A laugh pops out of me even as tears well in my eyes. “Because he asked me once when we were younger. Saying once we got married, we’d be the most powerful house in the six families. He’d become the ruler of them all, a
nd I’d be his queen. But he used one of those bread ties. It was orange, and he fashioned it into an engagement ring for me. I still have it in a shoebox under my bed at home. Well, if my mother didn’t throw out all my possessions by now.”
His eyes are bright and warm as he scans my features. I lean into his touch, letting his palm cup around my cheek. It feels so good when he touches me like this. There’s conviction, but also an underlying layer of tenderness he’d never displayed until after he rescued me from Lucas’s house.
I blink my eyes open. And I try to gather up the courage I need to say what I want to know. Because it’s killing me not to have the answers I want.
As if he can read my mind, he smiles. “Whatever you need to say, just say it.”
“Why are things so different between us?” I blurt out.
“Is that why you were interrogating Soo? What all this anxiety and fear on your face is about?”
I nod. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. He’s said many times that he will not let me leave.
He opens his mouth to answer, but then a white and blue soccer ball streaks by us and stops a few feet away.
I hadn’t even noticed the small group of college-age guys playing nearby. One man runs over to retrieve the ball, and while he does, he gives me one of those arrogant once-overs, scanning me from head to toe.
Nic stiffens beside me, his hands stilling on my skin. I remember how he acted in the restaurant when the waiter accidentally touched me. My eyes catch on his, and the flickering of rage in them tells me I need to get him away from this man before he murders him and fucks me in a puddle of his blood just to prove a point.
15
Nic
She tugs on my hands and tries to lead me away, but I lock my gaze on the fucking kid who thinks he can look at my princess.
“Can I help you?” I ask him with deadly calm.
He’s not smart enough to realize he’s in trouble now. Because if she weren’t right here holding my hands, I’d already be on him, punching in his face, ripping out his eyes for looking at what’s mine.