by V. Theia
She’d done some heavy duty wriggling to push herself into a sitting position, both arms secured together and tied to the headboard, she’d stewed for hours on just how hard she was going to bludgeon King tonto gigante into next week.
“Hi, honey. I’m home.” He dared to wink.
Luxe glowered and fisted her palms. Her arms were aching, the muscles tight and numb. She mumbled for him to get the rope off her.
Surprisingly, he dropped a baggie of food onto the table and a tray carrying two coffees, and did exactly that, untying her gently, she noted, he even ran a finger across her wrist before she pulled them back. He didn’t get to touch her.
“You are a bastard.” She hissed once the tape was removed. Her poor lips were not going to have skin left before long.
“You’ve told me a time or two. Prepared to talk now, are you?”
“I already told you! The man doesn’t fricking listen. The man is sordo!” deaf. Slipping off the bed, she had an overflowing bladder to deal with before she could try and reason with this slow man.
“The man has brought you grub and coffee,” his voice laced with amusement gave her pause to really look at him.
So damn handsome. Too handsome. The overlapping feelings made her heady, excited. Aroused, dammit. The longer she looked at him the more it fueled her delusions just waiting to explode catastrophe. He looked at her a little too long and she liked it.
She hated that she liked it. This was all wrong.
Would he overpower her physically if she tried to run out right now? Would he hurt her even though he insisted he wouldn’t? Would his mouth kiss her because he was stronger than her? And why was his mouth even coming into it? Shut up. She inhaled and swept her thoughts of tongues and moans. Her thoughts were so out of line. What was wrong with her?
“I can hear the hamsters working on that treadmill in your mind, babe.” He smirked and caused her to refocus from the slow deep scan Luxe had been doing of his strong body. “Say whatever you’re thinking and come get this coffee before it gets cold.”
She was dying for caffeine so she accepted the branded cup, sipping it for a minute before she spoke. “I want to leave.”
“I know.” His bulky arms crossed over his equally massive chest, he wasn’t drinking his own coffee and she knew why when she finished hers and tossed the empty carton into the trash, he stepped forward and handed her the second. This one was hot chocolate, the sugary steam rose and hit Luxe’s nose, she almost moaned to get it into her mouth.
Damn him.
No really, damn the man.
Who kidnapped but brought treats?
She was so confused, so angry.
Incredibly attracted to him.
Stop. Those were bad thoughts to have.
“I’m willing to negotiate, but you have to be reasonable here. This is getting us nowhere, unless you have long term plans this has to end at some point. I’d rather sooner than later, Grinder.” Conceding was easier than it would have been the day before, she just wanted to leave without a struggle or having him chase her down when she had so much to do in such a short amount of time, because if this went on any longer she could see herself married to her captor and living forevermore in this god-awful motel room with the stained bath and the equally stained bathroom rug. Luxe liked nice things, this wouldn’t do at all. If anything, she’d want a three-story house in the suburbs where she could plant chrysanthemums and homegrown tomatoes and also have a state of the art safe room in the basement for all her stolen goodies.
It was the dream. She sighed. Alas, it was not happening just yet, not until she could add to her savings. And that wasn’t happening at all sitting here twiddling her thumbs waiting for a big dumb jock to let her walk out of the door so she could get back to what she was here for. A big pay-out rested on her doing the job and she wasn’t giving up that money for anything.
Sipping the hot chocolate, impressed he’d added just the right amount of sweetness, she went on. “But it also does not include us going to New Mexico and you threatening my abuela, you got it? You don’t get to do that again. Mimi is a precious sweet soul who would shoot your ears off if she thought you were mistreating her grandbaby as you are right now. I have no time to bury you in our garden, you’re huge, I’d be digging for hours, and it’s too hot.”
Grinder pinched the bridge of his nose and she swore she saw his mouth flicker a grin before he straightened and looked at her. “I’ll take that under consideration. But how else do you propose I get my property back, call me dumb, but dirty rotten thieves are not trustworthy, Luxe. In fact, I have it on good evidence that you are not trustworthy at all.”
“I will look for your stuff when I get back home, you have my word.” Her word was her bond, she never backed off from a promise, this was instilled in her from that gun toting grandmother. “What is it, anyway? Or am I to use the power of my female mind and just know? It must be important for you to go to these extremes. I have to say, this is my first hostage situation, people usually just claim on their insurance….” she taunted him with a smirk.
“It’s a gold chain,” a tick worked his jaw as he leaned against the table. Luxe had the impression she’d touched a raw nerve somehow.
That’s fucking it? She thought. All this for a trinket necklace.
Taking her memory back she couldn’t even remember a gold chain, but she had been tipsy the night she’d met him, it seemed lightweight for her to steal, gold didn’t really fetch much and she was not into lifting items she couldn’t make money from. Her brow puckered.
“Okay. So, I’ll look for this chain when I get home.” She prayed she had it still. “Maybe you just lost it.”
Those gray eyes swerved and hit her mid-section so hard she visibly inhaled. Wow. instant arousal.
No. nope. Not happening. We do not think sexy things about the kidnapper. Rule book, Luxe. Only she was. Only she continued to.
“I don’t lose shit, babe. You stole it from my pocket while you were sucking on my tongue and grinding down on my dick.”
Heat flushed her entire body. Choosing to ignore his accusation. “Why weren’t you wearing it?”
He inhaled hard enough to suck in the bed and rubbed his long fingers across his beard. “Not important.”
Fine, mister mysterious. Discomfort climbed the walls of her neck. It was a cold day in Hell if Luxe felt guilt for stealing something.
And yet there it was, resting on her shoulder blades.
It didn’t alter the fact this guy was dead wrong in his approach, what, were they in a Goodfellas movie?
“I’ll let you go. And I’ll trust your word.” He announced. Voice thick as gravel sending shivers along her bare arms, goose fleshing her skin. She finished the hot chocolate, discarding it into the trash. She was hungry, but this all felt too normal, too sane. So, she left the food untouched on the bedside table, tempting scents wafting her way. She would sell her soul for cheese.
Her eyes narrowed, suspicious of his declaration, it was that simple? After he’d been all Al Pacino for the past two days, suddenly she was a free bird? Luxe didn’t buy it.
“But I want you to kiss me first.”
So much for him waiting for her to ask for a kiss. Liar, liar, big fat liar.
Dread-like cement filled her belly.
It was nearing lunch time, outside the world was going on as normal. abuela would be wondering why Luxe hadn’t called, but it wasn’t so unusual that she would worry, sometimes time got away from Luxe when she was working. As for Jamie, he wouldn’t care, he was pretty low maintenance.
“You don’t find that an odd request, since I’ve spent most of the time bound and gagged?” she pushed as much sarcasm into her voice as she could, a brow arched loftily to convey how ridiculous she found his request, all the while swallowing back the instant pant of lust.
You can’t kiss this man. For many reasons, none of which are reasonable or right.
He had a gorgeous tongue she remembered it w
ell, how it had swept over her lips, teasing her to open for him, how he’d smiled against her mouth so cocky and confident she’d gain him access that she’d forgotten to breathe. It wasn’t often Luxe lost the power to think rationally, she prided herself on that, to always keep her head no matter the situation.
Maybe he’d scared her off last year, or maybe she just wasn’t that interested past a few sloppy perfect kisses.
In any case, there was tiny nerves dancing in her abdomen, flutterings of heat, shards of lust, her eyes straying towards his mouth, mesmerized by the covering of dark hair around perfect lips and even white teeth. Grinder rolled up the sleeves of his Henley shirt, and she saw the tattoo running the full length of his inner forearm in black ink, thick forearms with protruding veins going down to his hands, a dusting of dark hair, and long tapered fingers that would do serious damage to her body.
Ay Dios mio.
If there was a devil, he was in that man, tempting her to cross the floor, to raise her mouth and let him plunder.
“Some call bound and gagged foreplay, baby. You can say this is your fee to leave, if it makes you feel better,” he was smiling like an asshole who had no morals whatsoever, who didn't think twice about taking what he wanted, coaxing it out of a person so long as he got what he wanted and from the way his gray eyes were wandering over Luxe, stopping at her breasts that ached and her nipples pebbled, he had no shame in letting her see he wanted her.
“Is this what it’s all been about, you don’t know how to ask for a date, so you shove me into a car?”
He laughed and crossed those thick ropey arms against his chest, long legs kicked out in front of him crossed at the ankle, he was the essence of relaxed. “I reacted first. I don’t expect you to forgive or forget, ya dig? I want my shit back, that’s not a lie. You want to leave. I want you to leave. So, come and kiss me.”
It was preposterous. It was tempting. One kiss and she could go? Just walk right on out of here and get on with her day? She looked at him, really stared without blinking. He was taking up all the space, all the air, there was nothing spare for her to suck into her lungs and that bothered her.
Bothered her a lot.
“I don’t want to find you hidden behind a plant pot later. Or in bushes.”
Was that a blush highlighting his cheeks? “I don’t do bushes, babe.”
“One kiss for this whole absurd thing to be over with?”
A sharp nod from the stern man.
Luxe inhaled and felt the ground stir underneath her. What, was she standing in sand? A kiss, no problem, that was simple. He’d already kissed her once, she’d only have to present her mouth and let him---
“A kiss you participate in.” He appeared to read her mind, dammit.
Her eyes turned nasty. Didn’t he just cover all bases, did he want to rub his cock at the same time as well?
Ay Dios mio, don’t think of his thick cock.
“It’s a bad idea.”
“What is? Getting a taste of you again? I think I passed bad ideas two days ago, Luxe. You passed bad ideas a year ago stealing from me.”
“I don’t think----I should want to taste you, Grinder.”
Grinder, as she noticed, went unnaturally still sucking in air he was already stealing from her. “But you do?” He was already moving, long strides across the room like he hated the space, already towering over her before she could answer. Her neck craned back to see him up close.
“You tied me to a fucking bed. You took me from a party like I was nothing, you can’t go around asking for kisses after that.” As if that was her only logical reason not to want to kiss him. As reasons went it was a great one, but she felt it crumble under his hot, tempting stare.
“I know,“ his head came down, hanging there in her eye line, waiting for what, her forgiveness? For her to lift and give her mouth freely? He wasn’t touching her and yet she felt touched by him. She liked he wasn’t offering apologies right then, she wouldn’t have believed or accepted it. So few things were forgivable.
“Fine.” A few Spanish curses regarding his lack of virility left her tongue, understandably confused she was even contemplating this blackmail. You want to kiss him. She switched back to English unsure if he even spoke the language, she was so used to using Spanish with abuela her mind automatically translated depending on how mad she was at the time, he hadn’t indicated he’d understood anything she’d spat at him the last two days. “Take the kiss, so I can get the hell out of here and forget you exist.”
A deep frown creased his features before it smoothed out, not giving her a second to brace for it, Grinder slid a hand around the back of her neck, the grip gentle yet firm, pulling her forward, with no choice but to go with the momentum Luxe lifted onto her toes to compensate their height difference, the same time Grinder lowered his head.
A long charged electric quiver lingered deep within.
It would have been better, justifiable, if he’d crushed their lips hard, to take a forced kiss, then she could have said it was against her will, she was doing what she had to do.
But he didn’t, that bastard. His lips, when they touched hers, were the softest caress she’d ever had before. He neither bit or licked, or even opened his mouth, just pressed theirs together. Warm against warm.
He didn’t crush and take.
He wasn’t plundering as she expected. He was …. memorizing her lips with his. Soft, gentle and whisper perfect.
God help her, Grinder tempted and cajoled her and …god… it was her lips that opened first.
******
The second his lips touched hers all hell broke loose. She was a firecracker he never expected. Groaning low in his throat, her taste ignited his own hunger, curling a fist in his gut, he couldn’t think past her little tongue flicking around his.
As serious as the grim reaper he wore on his back, Grinder had never wanted anything more than he did their kiss in that moment time froze, he felt her little pink tongue sneak past his lips and touch his.
It was embarrassing how hard he got real fast.
“Fuck. Any other time you’d make me work for it, wouldn’t you, baby?” Nip. Nip. Lick.
He cradled her face, moving her this way and that, he couldn’t get into her deeper enough to satisfy the gnaw of hunger he had going on in his lower half of his body.
Flies were buzzing in his brain. “You’d make me work for every damn thing and I’d love it.” His heart was slamming into his ribs, there was no more room in his chest, the organ expanded making it hard to breathe but there was no way he was leaving her lips, not until he was satisfied. Would her taste just like this ever be enough? No. He wanted more.
Bringing her fully into his body, one hand on the soft part of her spine, feeling how it curved to his touch, he fisted the other hand in the back of her hair, aggression in his growl, he just wanted to kiss and kiss and kiss.
Had he ever been this needy until a coiled snake slithered through his gut, hot and fucking demanding? Fucking countless and remembering hardly any wasn’t a basis, but he didn’t think a single kiss had gone right to his dick before, not in this fast way.
And he was not able to do anything about it. He’d demanded a kiss to prove she’d wanted him back, even when she hadn’t responded earlier, he’d known. For his own damn ego, he’d needed this.
Christ, she was magnificent.
He hadn’t been prepared. He’d known having had her mouth before, but fuck… not prepared for this.
He sipped at her fuller lower lip, testing it out, tugging it with his mouth, it was only when her taste registered that it short circuited his brain, tiny fucking flickers of electricity making him take the kiss deeper, to pry her lips open even deeper so he could get to the sweet. He had no choice, the need boiled around his torso. Hands shot to her head, holding her steady, threading deeper through her ink colored hair. She was as exactly as he remembered the dirty rotten thief had tasted a year ago; about the best damn flavor he’d ever had on his ton
gue and he wanted more. He wanted fucking more. “Open for me, Luxe.”
She moaned and nuzzled him. “Fucking open,” he issued nipping her lip. The scent of ripe strawberries assaulted his nose. Her head fell back allowing the deeper access, Grinder’s chest inflated feeling like he’d won something big with her concession and when her tongue joined his again … damn … there was a steel bat in his jeans cutting off blood supply to the rest of his body.
The kiss had been a test of sorts, a punishment for making him think of her constantly, for wanting her even when he didn’t want her, but then somewhere between one lick and another, he got lost in her mouth and he didn’t want to be found.
She moaned, lifting her little body up into him, clinging to his shirt, her hands going up into his hair, dragging a little to make him grunt for more. The kiss became frantic, messy, the best damn kiss he’d ever experienced. His cock pulsing, he had to stop before he took her to the floor and did her nastily.
Her flavor flooded his mouth. He was so starved he could have gone at her like a ten course BBQ banquet, he’d rip the meat clean from the bones and lick her dry. It went against everything about his personality to get involved as deeply as the urge was pressing him for.
He got laid when he fancied a bit, he’d been in relationships, none of it had felt this deep, this fucking raging in his gut and all from a single kiss.
When he moaned around her tongue he knew it was time to bring it to an end, to keep to his word, or he’d tackle her down onto the bed and do some very not nice things to make her cry out and beg.
This time, he wouldn’t forget a solitary detail of the shape and softness of her lips or the way she puffed a tiny bit of air when he nipped the fuller top lip or the way he knew her nails would leave indentations in his shoulder.