by Penelope Sky
“You know, I have maids for that.”
“Well, I was bored. Running out of things to do.”
I wanted to tell her she could always come visit me, but that would just slow down my workday. “You want a dog?”
“I can get a dog?” she asked in surprise.
“Why not?”
“Well, they’re messy, and we travel a lot.”
I shrugged. “Someone can take care of him.”
“If I had a dog, I’d like to take care of him.”
“Then maybe having a kid would be easier.” The words flew out of my mouth without me thinking twice about it. I’d never considered having children with her. I’d never considered having her as anything more than just my bedmate.
She stared at me from across the table, her face unreadable. She wore a solid mask that hid her thoughts from view. She didn’t seem repulsed by the idea, but she didn’t seem happy about it either.
“I want to ask you something.” I left my half-eaten plate on the table and kept my gaze focused on her.
“I’m listening.”
“Am I the best you’ve ever had?” I suspected I already knew the answer based on the savage way she needed me all the time. But I wanted to hear her say it anyway, you know, because I was a sick egomaniac like that.
She swirled her wine before she took a drink, stalling as she thought of her answer.
I watched her intently the entire time, not blinking and sitting on the edge of my seat. If I asked her a personal question in the past, she usually dodged it. But now our relationship was a lot more relaxed. Conversations didn’t feel like interrogations anymore.
She finally set down her glass. “You already know the answer.”
“I want to hear it anyway.”
Her eyes didn’t flash with annoyance, not like they usually would. “Yes, you’re the best I’ve ever had. Maybe that wasn’t apparent after all the times you made me come, or all the times I asked you to fuck me in the middle of the night. You make the rest of the men I’ve been with look like boys. They didn’t always make me come, probably because they didn’t know what they were doing. I’ve never been kissed hard like that or ever felt more beautiful in my life. But with you, I’ve never felt more desirable.” She grabbed her glass again and drank it like she hadn’t just made the most erotic speech ever.
There was an invisible crown on my head, and I was staring at my queen. I gripped the armrests of my chair and wished there weren’t dinner spread across the table. The maids would come and clean it at any moment. “You’re the best I’ve ever had too.”
This time when she looked at me, her expression was easy to read. She was surprised by my confession. “Really?”
“Yeah.” She was different from any of the other women I’d been with. She was natural, real. She had a backbone of steel and a scowl that made grown men quiver. She was hard like a rock. “But you already knew that.”
I sat up against the wooden headboard with my hands resting on her hips. My fingertips dug into her soft skin as I guided her up and down my length. She was rocking her hips slowly, taking my long length with restrained fluidness. She sheathed me to the balls then slowly rose up again, moving until only my thick head was inside her.
Her gorgeous tits were in my face, firm with hard nipples. Her petite shoulders led to a slender neck that had already been lavished with kisses. A quiet moan escaped her lips every time she took my entire length. Sometimes I would rock her back and forth, getting her clit stimulated against my muscular frame.
When she fucked me like this, I was in heaven.
When she rocked forward, her tits would move in my face. I would grace them with a kiss before I leaned back and watched her fuck me slowly. Her hands would glide up my chest to my shoulders, and she would use my body as an anchor so she could grind against me harder.
Goddamn.
My hands moved up her thighs, and I gripped her cheeks, squeezing the tight muscle in my palms. I was tempted to finger her asshole, but I suspected that would make me come sooner than I wanted.
Her breathing came out in short spurts, her moans cutting her off from the air that she needed. Her nails dug into me, and her eyes became lidded with intoxication. Our writhing bodies filled the room with the stench of sex.
I wanted to stay like this forever.
She rolled her head back then gripped her tits, squeezing them hard enough to make her wince.
Fuck.
She was slowly slipping away, diving headfirst into an orgasm that would make her toes curl. I’d fucked her enough times to pick up on her shallow breathing, the redness of her chest, and the way she swallowed every few seconds.
My hand moved between her legs, and I pressed my thumb to her throbbing clit. I rubbed it vigorously, making her hips buck automatically. I wanted a woman to enjoy me as much as I enjoyed her, but my primary focus with London was making her feel good. That felt better than having an orgasm. Sex had completely changed her perspective about being stuck with me. Now she needed me, relied on me. If the best way to keep her happy was satisfying her, I was more than happy to oblige.
Instantly, she ground herself against me and lost her breath altogether. Her hand clenched my wrist, and she moaned as the climax hit her. Her cunt tightened around my cock with a gripping force, and she came all over me, her delicious juice drenching my length. “Goddamn, Lovely…” I watched every expression she made, memorizing every detail because she was so stunning. Watching a woman come was always fun, but watching London come was a gorgeous sight. It was hard for me not to blow my load.
She gradually drifted back down to earth, her hips moving slowly over my length. Her breathing eventually returned to normal, and the redness on her chest faded away. She ran her hand through her hair, getting it off her sweaty neck. She had such a curvy figure, perky tits, an hourglass frame, and nice hips. She was so gorgeous it hurt.
Her grip slowly loosened on my wrist. “More.”
My hands returned to her hips, and I clutched her hard. “As many times as you want, Lovely.” It was my pleasure to satisfy this woman. There was nowhere else I’d rather be that night. I didn’t want to call up Sasha or find a woman in a bar. The only woman I wanted to fuck was sitting on my lap at that very moment.
And that didn’t scare me.
My hand moved up the center of her back until I reached the area just below her shoulder blades. I pulled her closer toward me so I could kiss her. My other hand still guided her up and down my length, needing to feel that wet pussy at the exact same time. My tongue circled hers, and the feel of her small mouth made my cock ache to explode. But I kept myself in line, taking my job as her lover very seriously.
I wanted to do this all night.
Losing sleep affected my workday and slowed my productivity. It was difficult for me to pay attention, and I had less energy to work out in the morning. But I wouldn’t change anything because these were the nights I lived for. I was a king in my castle, and this gorgeous woman was my queen.
My scotch queen.
I washed off in the bathroom because I was so sweaty. I didn’t mind the heat during sex, but once we were finished, I needed to feel cool. I pulled on a new pair of boxers and felt the sleep creep behind my eyelids. I had just had a powerful orgasm, pouring my come deep inside my woman, and now I was ready for bed.
I returned to the bed and saw her lying on her side of the bed, facing the window with her back to me. That was how she always slept, never crossing the invisible line in the center of the bed. She didn’t snore, but I could tell when she was sleep. Her breathing was different, deep and gentle.
I got under the sheets and felt my eyes close immediately. With a bed this big, there was plenty of space for both of us. We never crossed paths in the middle of the night. Her legs didn’t graze mine, and my hand never came into contact with hers.
It was nice.
But now I itched for something different. I loved feeling her soft skin against mine during s
ex, but I wanted to feel it more often than that. I wanted to my cock against her ass, her chest against my arm. I wanted to feel her body rise and fall with the breaths she took.
I crossed the invisible line and came to her side of the bed. My arm circled her waist, and I adjusted her against me, getting my cock in the crack of her cheeks and my chest right against her back. I could feel her breath, feel her pulse.
She stirred at the touch and looked at me over her shoulder, her eyes foggy like she was still asleep. Her arm circled mine, and she laid her head down again, going back to sleep without saying anything.
Being beside her was far more comfortable than sleeping alone. Every breath she took felt like a gentle lullaby. Her smell enveloped me and made my subconscious think of a field of flowers. I began to slip away immediately, dreaming of sunny skies with this beautiful woman beside me.
I didn’t think of the people who betrayed me, my dead family, or the other bullshit going on in my life. When I was with her, all of that grief ceased to exist. It was just the two of us. It was the first sense of joy I’d had in a long time.
Maybe ever.
9
London
My plan was working.
I didn’t think he was in love with me yet, but he certainly felt something for me. The second he crossed that threshold and wrapped his arm around me, I knew our relationship had been taken to a whole new level.
I was anxious to test the waters.
I was anxious to get home and resume the life that had been taken away from me. I would be in a different semester in school by now. We would have moved on from the respiratory system and moved on to cardiology by now. I could have had a list of cardiac patients in the hospital that I was working with.
But I was here—trapped.
I could have had many normal conversations with my brother, talking about his bogus insurance job and my time in school. I could have gone out with my friends on Friday night as soon as our shift at the hospital ended. I never celebrated my birthday because no one in this new life even knew when it was.
He took all of that away from me.
A part of me felt bad for manipulating him like this, using sex and affection to make him see me as something more than just a possession, an act of revenge. But my brother’s life was on the line, and my life had already been taken away from me. I was an innocent person living an ordinary life when he took all my hopes and dreams away.
I shouldn’t feel bad at all.
I would judge myself for not doing everything possible to escape. To accept my fate would be pathetic and shameful. I only had one life to live, and I certainly wasn’t going to spend it being Crewe’s prisoner.
I deserved to be free, for god’s sake.
I needed to organize a plan and find a solution to this problem. The only way I could do that would be to communicate with Joseph, but I had no way of doing that.
Unless I asked Crewe if I could call him.
He might say yes if I played my cards right.
It was worth a shot.
I sat in the southern garden and looked across the hillsides to the mountains beyond. Even though we were just minutes from the city, from this view, it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere.
I was so far away from home.
The sun was setting so it was almost dark. Dinner would probably be ready soon, and Crewe would be looking for me, expecting to see me in the bedroom where I waited for him every day like a dog.
He eventually found me sitting on the stone bench in the garden. He’d already showered and changed into jeans and a t-shirt, looking just as sexy as he did when he was in his suit. All my actions were geared toward manipulating him, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it. The sex was amazing. I wasn’t lying when I said he was the best I’d ever had. I’d never met a man more beautiful in my life.
He didn’t say a word as he took the seat beside me, his brown eyes on me.
I leaned toward him and gave him a soft kiss on the mouth, a sensual one that lacked tongue. It was slow but purposeful. When I pulled away, I could tell he didn’t want the kiss to end. I moved to his side on the bench and admired the view.
His arm draped over the back of the chair, his fingertips touching my shoulder. “What are you doing out here, Lovely?”
“I came out here a while ago and lost track of time…”
His hand moved to the back of my head, and he gently touched my hair, his fingers working my scalp. Affectionate touches like that were becoming more frequent. He stopped grabbing me by the neck when he wanted something and treated me like a human being. “Something on your mind?”
There was my opportunity. “Kinda. It’s nothing important, and I don’t want to bore you with it.”
His fingers stopped moving in my hair. Instead, he grabbed the back of my head with his fingertips and gently shifted my face toward him. “You could never bore me, Lovely. Tell me.”
He never told me anything, but I didn’t bring that up. I got him to stop seeing other women, which was already a big gesture, so I couldn’t be too picky. “I guess I miss my brother. It’s his birthday…and I always call him on his birthday.” That was all bogus. It wasn’t his birthday, but Crewe probably didn’t know that. I kept looking over the fields without expressing any expectation. I didn’t want to outright ask if I could call him. It’d be much easier if Crewe showed some compassion and made the offer on his own.
Crewe didn’t say anything at all. His fingers moved through my hair again.
Damn. Was it stupid of me to actually think it would be that easy? “How was work?”
Crewe moved to the back of my neck and massaged the muscle, his thumb and forefinger powerful. Anytime he touched me, he always made me feel good. When his touch was sexual, it always lit me on fire. When it was comforting, it made me feel incredible. “You can call him.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled the number on the screen. Then he handed it over to me.
Oh my god. It actually worked.
I stared at the phone without taking it, my eyebrow raised. “What?”
He continued to hold it. “I’ll give you ten minutes. Here.”
I finally took the phone, feeling my hand shake. “You’re being serious?”
“Yeah. It’s not like there’s anything either of you can do anyway.”
I stared at my brother’s number but didn’t press send. Now that I actually got my way, I didn’t know what to do. “Can I have some privacy?”
Crewe stared me down, his expression unreadable.
“You just said neither one of us can do anything…”
Crewe considered my words before he finally nodded. “Ten minutes. Not a second longer.” He leaned into me and kissed me on the mouth before he left the bench, his shoulders tense and his posture rigid. He carried himself with perfect grace every second of the day. Even if he went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he still held himself like a soldier.
When he walked inside, I was still frozen in shock. That went over way easier than I expected. It almost seemed like a trick, but there was no way it could be unless Crewe had expected me to do this from the beginning.
I remembered my ten minutes were running, so I hit send and press the phone to my ear. It rang as I realized the balcony of our bedroom overlooked this courtyard. Crewe could be watching me, and if I spoke too loudly, he could hear me.
Joey answered. “Crewe.” He spoke with a voice pregnant with hate. I’d never heard that tone in his voice before. Even when we fought as kids, that kind of unbridled rage never made an appearance.
“It’s London. He said I have ten minutes to talk to you.”
“London?” His voice completely changed when he realized it was me. “He let you call me?”
“Yeah. He’s not around. I can speak freely.”
“Don’t be so sure. He’s not stupid.”
I was certain I really had the privacy I asked for. I think Crewe trusted me, on some level. “No
, we’re alone.”
“Why would you let you speak to me alone?”
“Because I’ve been working on what we last talked about.” No need to spell it out if Joseph knew what I was talking about. “I think I’ve made a lot of progress. Things are different. I don’t know how much longer this is going to take me, but we’re definitely on the right track.”
This was awkward for Joseph. No easy way to discuss the fact that his little sister was being fucked every night by the guy who captured her. Joseph had always been protective of me since we lost our parents, and I knew he felt all the guilt of the entire situation. “Well…that’s good. You think he’ll eventually let you go?”
“I don’t know…maybe.” I wasn’t sure how long that would take to happen. Once I asked for my freedom, all my cards would be on the table. He would know everything between us was just a lie. “But I think I could at least ask for him to turn off the transmitter in your head for good. That wouldn’t be unreasonable.”
“London, I don’t care about that. I care about you.”
My eyes immediately watered at the sincerity in his voice. My captivity was killing him every single day. We were ripped apart when we were all we had left of our family. “Well…that’s the best we can do for now.” I did my best to keep the emotion out of my voice.
“We’re gonna have to do something else, possibly a takedown.”
“A takedown?”
“I’m going to have to round up all my men and any extras I can find and ambush him. Kill everyone, including him. That’s the only way we both walk free.”
It sounded logical, but the idea of all the bloodshed made me uneasy. And as lame as it was, I didn’t want Crewe to die. He deserved to be killed for what he’d done to me since I was an innocent person, but I still couldn’t do it. “I’ll keep working with him and see if I can make it happen. I’d rather do that than have you risk your life.”
“I don’t care about that either, London. I’ve got to get you out of there. It kills me…”
“I know,” I whispered. “But it’s really not that bad. He treats me well.”