Bound To Protect (Crescent City Kings)

by Anya Summers

  Dante shook his head. “No. She’s the right choice for this endeavor. In fact, I think she’s the only one who could fit the bill. You put her in the right clothes, with the way she looked after the spa, and she’s a fucking knockout. We’re just not used to seeing her that way. Take a look. I snapped it when she wasn’t aware I was taking a photo.”

  Dante slid his phone across the table. Michael picked it up, looked at the photo, then up at Dante and back down again.

  “Jesus Christ, you weren’t kidding. It’s a relief, is what it is, and I know it sounds shallow, but thank god. The tabloids would rip me a new one if I appeared on the scene with someone they deemed subpar in the looks department. She’ll more than pass. But I have a question for you: if her living situation is that bad, why didn’t you just move her and her brother here?” Michael asked, handing him back the phone.

  “That’s what I thought the moment I pulled up to her place. But since she’s moving him into an assisted living facility with payment from part of the advance—or at least, that’s the plan after we go to fill out all the paperwork tomorrow—she doesn’t want to move him anywhere else. Apparently, his condition makes change of any kind extremely difficult.”

  “Fuck. Why the hell didn’t we know all this?” Michael ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

  Dante shrugged. “After spending some one on one time with her and really talking to her today, I think it’s a matter of pride.”

  She had bridled at the mention of moving her brother.

  “Pride goeth before the fall.”

  He nodded. “I agree, but I think it’s all she has, all she’s had to keep her going in taking care of her brother.”

  “Well, the money she’ll make from this deal will fix it so that she will never have to worry about his care again. Granted, we’ll be out a maid. Though I realize that’s not the point.”

  “Shit, I hadn’t even thought that far ahead, but we’ll get around to hiring a new one eventually. There’s more. She was asking about us, and our relationship.”

  Michael cocked an eyebrow. “And what did you tell her?”

  “The truth. She’s under an NDA, so she can’t talk to anyone. And I trust her not to. While I was explaining it, I discovered a juicy little tidbit about our little Sabrina. She’s untouched.”

  “Come again?” Michael asked him.

  “She’s a virgin.”

  “Get the fuck out. She’s twenty-nine.”

  “I know. I asked her why. Apparently, she went from taking care of her sick mother to her sick brother. There weren’t any opportunities, I think, for her to experience sex. It looks like the nurse leaves in the evening and then it’s just been Sabrina to care for her brother overnight.”

  Michael wiped a hand over his face. “I never would have suspected.”

  “I want her, Michael. For us. She is ripe for the seduction. Think about, we can train her to be exactly the submissive we need.”

  “She’s a cleaning lady, dude.”

  “Your blue blood is showing. And who the fuck cares what she did for a living before we entered the scene? She’s an honest, hardworking individual juggling more than either of us have been, and doing it successfully for years. She’s just not been as fortunate as us to earn the money she’s needed for her brother’s care.”

  “Touché. And you think she would go for the both of us, how?” Michael asked sardonically.

  Dante understood the look of jaded disbelief on his friend’s face, he did. They had been burned more times than he could count. But something had clicked for him when he’d kissed Sabrina today—something that had never happened with any other woman. When he’d held her in his lap and feasted on her mouth, everything inside him had bellowed: mine. “After I finished sticking my tongue down her throat—”

  “You what? You kissed her again?”

  “Yep. She crawled into my lap and let loose with a passion nearly as voracious as mine. It took every ounce of my training not to fuck her in my Escalade, parked outside of Commander’s Palace.”

  “Are you fucking serious? Dude, we’re trying to make it like she’s my fiancée and not fucking the both of us,” Michael said with exasperation.

  Dante held up his hands. “I know. I stopped it. But dude, I’m telling you, she’s hungry, starving even, to be taken and initiated in the art of sex. It took every ounce of my control to stop.”

  “Fuck, to hear that coming from you… I’ve never seen you lose control with a sub before. You’re always right when it comes to the women we select. If you think she’s the one for us, I’m game.”

  Dante grinned at the victory. He already had a plan. He’d been working it through all afternoon as he’d watched her try on clothes. “And here’s how we do it. We seduce her, both of us, separately and together. Lay the charm on thick, give her attention that I can tell you she’s desperate for, and she will be ours. She was upset that I stopped our tonsil hockey session today. I’ve already talked her into having the nurse stay late tomorrow night so we can all have dinner here. She needs to become familiar with your touch then. And I will work on her during the day. We tag team her. You’ll have all weekend in Los Angeles to charm her. Get to know her, talk to her, show interest, and she will eat it up. I promise you.”

  “Just not out in public with the two of you. Here’s fine, but I can’t have anyone thinking—”

  Dante held up his hand. “I know. I realized that as soon as I ended the kiss. But fuck me, dude, she is one hot fucking number. And think about it: she’s doubly a virgin. If we play our cards right…”

  “We could claim both the same night. We would have to be careful, but yeah, for her first experience to be ménage and double penetration, she would likely end up craving it that way in the long term.”

  “And the rush for us, knowing we have ventured where no other man has gone before. She wanted to sleep with me, was disappointed that we had to stop. I dangled the carrot of being with the both of us, and she didn’t seem repulsed by it. In fact, I would bet from the way she squirmed in her seat that the thought of being with both of us aroused her.” Dante wasn’t going to mention that he had walked around semi-hard all afternoon, and had even considered yanking one out in the men’s room to get rid of the damn thing.

  Michael rubbed a hand over his face. “Christ, is she on birth control? Please tell me she’s on birth control.”

  “I didn’t ask; I was fighting a hardon outside Commander’s and was trying to keep my hands off her, or I would have. I think she would be amenable to getting on it if she’s not already, and Luc would be able to get her a script pretty fast. Although I don’t know that I can wait that long to fuck her if she’s not, we might just have to go with protection until it would be effective.”

  “Find out. I want her bareback if we can manage it,” Michael ordered.

  Dante nodded. “Agreed. I will do that in the morning if I can fit it into the conversation. The only downside is that I won’t be able to help out with the subs in Underworld in discovering the culprit. If we’re planning to seduce her, I won’t be scening with anyone and to be honest, now, after the small tastes of her, I don’t want another woman.”

  Michael waved him off. “I think between Killian, Hudson, and Luc taking that angle, we should be fine. You do realize, I am going to have to go with Sabrina into the club. Put in appearances there with her dressed as my sub.”

  “I do. But Sabrina won’t be ready to scene with you there. She’s far too fresh in that arena.” Still, that didn’t mean Dante couldn’t imagine what she would look like in spandex and leather, or bound up on the St. Andrew’s Cross while he flogged her or, one of his personal favorites, strapping her onto a fuck bench and double teaming her.

  “Agreed. Unless she wanted to. I won’t stop her in that regard.”

  “All right, so we’re agreed that Operation Claim Sabrina has commenced?”

  “Yep.”

  Dante rubbed his hands together. It was the first step
toward what he wanted, and he was certain it would prove bountiful in ways he’d not begun to imagine. “Great. Here’s what else I think we should do…”

  He rested his elbows on the table and hashed out the plan he’d been forming in his mind all afternoon, ever since Sabrina had dropped that bombshell about her virginity. He hated what Michael was being put through by his board members, but he thought that perhaps this arrangement with Sabrina might end up being a silver lining, and that they might finally get the one thing that had eluded them: a submissive to claim as their own, to collar and hold dear for years to come.

  Chapter 8

  At the sound of a car pulling into the driveway, Sabrina glanced out the front window between the cheerful yellow drapes that she thought spruced up the living room a bit. They also helped her brother stay calm. Alex was fascinated by bright colors. For some reason, they seemed to soothe him in ways nothing else did.

  Over the years, she had done her best to decorate their living space in as cheerful a manner as possible. It was why the couch cover was a happy blue, and the artwork on the walls, which she’d found at garage sales, were prints in a multitude of greens, blues, reds and yellows, with some colors in between.

  Dante got out of his big black SUV, and her belly fluttered. He was so handsome with his black hair, and strong jaw lined with matching stubble that perfectly framed without a doubt the most kissable mouth on a man. She pressed a hand to her rapidly beating heart at the memory of that kiss yesterday.

  He’d spoken of taking her, of being with her, and showing her what it fully meant to be a woman. She’d touched herself before, loads of times, and had even experienced a clitoral orgasm. She had kissed boys before, of course, but that had been before their mom got sick. They’d been soft, inexperienced kisses with fumbling hands that hadn’t known exactly what to do with her body, or her breasts, as they had squeezed them through the fabric of her shirt.

  None of that had prepared her for kissing Dante, or the fact that she had already decided with that first kiss, that he would be the one she finally slept with. He would be the one to christen her virgin body and help awaken it to the pleasures of the flesh.

  And to her mind, the losing of her virginity was as big a change as moving her brother into the living facility.

  Golly, did Dante make a pretty sight as his arrogant, long-legged swagger ate up the distance to her front door. Nancy was back in the room with Sabrina’s brother. He’d had a bad night, so she had gone ahead and sedated him. Nancy was sitting with him, and would take care of anything he might need.

  It was good that he would start to have round the clock care soon. Many nights, Sabrina had worked with him during his rages and episodes, only to wind up feeling like she had failed him. That she wasn’t skilled enough to help pull him out or calm him, that she had to resort to medicine to do the job, time and time again.

  Sabrina understood what his doctor told her about the battle with the disease—which Nancy confirmed—that the medication helped Alex more than it hurt him. It gave him a better quality of life. Still, all their words felt hollow, and left her feeling like a failure.

  She would no longer fail Alex. Moving him into the facility was the best thing for him. At the knock, she trod the short distance and opened the door with a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

  “Morning, love. Now don’t you look delectable?” Dante bit his bottom lip as he entered, infusing the small entryway with his presence.

  She preened, feeling a blush spread up her neck and into her cheeks. “Thank you. I’m really glad I brought this outfit back with me.” The fluttery pale pink top hugged her breasts but fell in handkerchief points about her waist. And that complimented the ivory capris and cute platform sandals that displayed her toes, manicured in a bright, effervescent pink.

  He cupped her chin and tilted her head up. “Why are there dark smudges under your eyes?”

  Dammit, she thought she had hidden those well with her new makeup. “Alex had a bad night. Nothing that hasn’t happened plenty of times before. Nancy’s in with him now.”

  “Why don’t I stay the night tonight? I’ll sleep on the couch,” Dante offered gently.

  Sabrina shook her head. “That’s not—”

  “If you say that it’s not necessary, I will tan your hide. Do you think my telling you that I’m here, that you’re not alone anymore, is mere lip service?” he asked with steel in his voice.

  “No, I just don’t understand why it’s such an issue. I’ve been doing this for years on my own. Besides, I told you, any disruptions—and that includes new people—can make him more restless, which can lead to outbursts and episodes, and eventually my being forced to sedate him.”

  “Oh, you don’t get it? Really?” His gaze narrowed. Dante pressed her up against the wall and crushed his lips against hers.

  Controlled violence was all she could think as she gripped his shirt tightly. He kissed her with a dangerous, explosive edge, savaging her mouth. She surrendered to the heady assault as his tongue thrust inside for a torrid duel. He made her head swim and her thoughts scatter, leaving nothing but hot, hungry need in their wake. There was no room for anything else. Dante blotted out the sun with the magnitude of his presence.

  How had she lived without this kind of passion for so long? After being stranded in the desert her whole life, it overwhelmed her. He overwhelmed her with the enormity of her desire for him.

  Sabrina clung as he guided her through an onslaught of need that left her trembling in his arms. But then he gentled his touch. Instead of an all-out siege, he seduced with every stroking caress of his tongue against hers, and each playful nibble of her bottom lip. Those large hands fondled her behind, kneaded the globes, and left her gasping into his mouth. He lifted her up, wound her legs about his waist, and pressed the hard length of him against the vee between her thighs.

  She mewled at the press of his flesh. Even through the fabric of his jeans and her pants, the contact scorched her from the inside out, that hard, firm ridge, proof of his desire for her. He made her sex throb and go buttery with need.

  “Sabrina, what time will your—oh!” Nancy exclaimed from behind them.

  Dante tore his mouth from Sabrina’s and shot Nancy an apologetic glance over his shoulder. “Can’t seem to keep my hands off her. Sorry you had to walk in on that.” His deep baritone dripped with honeyed charm.

  “Well, if young lovers don’t get caught up in one another from time to time, they’re not with the right person,” Nancy said, the corners of her mouth twitching and her tiger eyes twinkling with merriment.

  Dante winked at Nancy. “You’ve got that right. I think I’m going to like you.”

  “Likewise,” Nancy stated as Dante untangled Sabrina’s legs from his waist, lowering her feet back to the floor.

  “Thanks for staying later tonight. I really appreciate it,” Sabrina told Nancy with an embarrassed smile. It was all Dante’s fault. He kissed her, and she lost her head.

  “We both do. I’m taking our girl out for a romantic dinner,” Dante added with a teasing glint in his chocolate eyes.

  Nancy put her hands on her generous hips and nodded. “Well, it’s long past time she had a gentleman caller.”

  “Gentleman caller? When did we get to the nineteenth century?” Sabrina asked.

  “Oh hush, she’s right. It is long past time,” Dante agreed with Nancy, who only beamed at him like he was the best thing since the invention of fire. “We should get going. Call Sabrina if you need anything, and we’ll hurry back.”

  Nancy waved them off. “I’ve got it covered. You go on now.”

  Dante escorted Sabrina out to his vehicle. The group that usually liked to hang out at the corner went walking by, blatantly assessing Dante and his vehicle. Since their leader had been sent up the river to the big house, they’d been on guard and less prone to mischief. But that didn’t mean they weren’t considering it.

  Dante didn’t budge or cower, which was wh
y they kept their mouths shut as they passed. If it had been just Sabrina, she couldn’t say they would have peacefully passed by doing nothing but looking. Likely they would have stopped or slowed, and tossed out lewd suggestions.

  Inside the vehicle, she said, “It’s not that I don’t want you to stay, but I worry about your SUV. This type is something that group has been known to steal.”

  “You let me worry about them. I’ve come across their kind plenty,” Dante said, backing out of the space and driving down the lane.

  “I just don’t want you or your things damaged.”

  “I’ll be fine. This thing has an alarm on it that would wake the dead, and satellite tracking. They could take it, but they won’t get far. I worry more about you in that place.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of her house.

  “Can we agree that we are both worried about each other, and leave it at that?”

  A smile tugged the corners of his mouth. “Agreed. I was thinking there are some great shops to hit in Houma.”

  The Houmas Assisted Living Facility was thirty minutes or so out of downtown New Orleans. Dante drove along the highway with such ease and confidence. It was just another thing she found attractive about him—the way he did things with utter surety.

  “More shopping for clothes? You mean we didn’t buy enough yesterday?” she said, still floored by their haul yesterday. Slacks, blouses, jeans, and lingerie, dresses and casual wear, shoes, and handbags. You name it, she had it—and not the cheap stuff, either. It was designer label stuff that Dante had sneakily made sure the store clerks removed the price tags from after Sabrina had argued with him over a three hundred dollar pair of shoes she had liked. He’d had his way, and she’d gotten the shoes as well. But it also left her feeling like this was just some fairytale that she would eventually wake from, and be heartbroken.

  “You’ll need it for playing the part of Michael’s fiancée.”