by Sybil Bartel
“So you decided paying for it was the way to go?”
I drew in a breath. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
He took his shirt off. Huge muscles rippled across his arms and shoulders. His chest was hard, his abs perfect, and a deep V cut across his hips and disappeared under his jeans. The thin trail of hair from his belly button down was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. He looked like a Greek god—then he turned around.
Oh dear God.
With no emotion, he started to speak. “The shrapnel ripped into my back, taking half the flesh then burning the rest.”
Giant slash marks of scars covered his entire back and neck, like the flesh had been torn off then thrown back on in jagged pieces.
Speechless, I stared.
“It felt like a thousand knives cut me open then a giant branding iron seared the wounds. The blast wave was so fucking loud, my brain shook inside my skull. The pain wasn’t intense, it was life changing.” He turned around.
Stunned, I didn’t know what to say.
His chest heaving, his jaw clenched, he inhaled and told me the rest. “Then I laid in a hospital bed for thirteen months getting addicted to pain meds and counseled on how I was one of the lucky ones. When they couldn’t figure out why I was seeing numbers backwards and letters upside down, they declared me medically retired and sent me on my way.”
“Jared, I am so—”
He didn’t let me apologize for what he’d been through. “Quarterback. Your turn.”
I’d never told anyone this story. Being raised by a single dad who was a preacher, I didn’t have girlfriends. Gossipy, judgmental church ladies stood in for my peers, role models and support system. I learned early on, if you wanted to preserve your sanity, you said nothing about anything.
“I have a no-fraternization policy at work, so we’d meet at his house or mine.” I felt foolish telling him this, let alone right after he’d shown me what he’d been through. “I was naïve and stupid, and I thought it meant something. One night after a team charity event, I waited for him at his house, but he never showed. I went home, and by the next morning, the pictures of him and one of the cheerleaders out at a club started surfacing.” I shrugged. “That was it.”
“Lot of women get their heart broken.”
“Meaning?” He was beautiful. Every muscle rippled with power, and the strength to have endured what he’d been through humbled me.
His gaze intense and never wavering, he studied me like he could read my every thought. “Meaning they don’t hire an escort to heal it.”
I internally cringed at his spot-on assessment. “Who said I was trying to heal a broken heart?”
“You wanted control.”
I didn’t tell him that control was the last thing I felt like I had with Alex. “No, I didn’t.”
“You wanted to initiate, dictate time and place, have the illusion of the upper hand because you held the money and you wanted to be put first.” He gaze cut through every single one of my defenses. “That’s control.”
I nervously took a sip of my water.
He moved around the counter. “But that’s not what you need.” Taking the bottle from my hand, he placed it on the counter. “Know why?”
Alarm spread through my veins, and I tried to push out words meant to keep him back, but my voice came out breathy. “I don’t need you to tell me what I want.”
Like a panther stalking its prey, he moved closer. “I said need, not want.” His fingers traced down my neck.
I swallowed and fought the urge to fall into his touch. “I don’t need you.” Musk and man, he smelled like everything I’d ever wanted.
His fingers slowly moved between my breasts and down my chest. “You need to be taken care of.” His hand moved down my stomach. “And I want to take care of you.”
I fought for control. “That’s sexist and old-fashioned and—” His fingers skimmed over the pulsing ache between my legs and I gasped.
“Exactly why it’s going to work. The second I saw you standing on my doorstep, I knew what you needed.” He rubbed my mound through my skirt and underwear.
I wanted to rip my clothes off and spread my legs, but something was missing. “I don’t need anything.”
“You’re waiting for the right man to take control.” He dragged his mouth across my neck, but he didn’t kiss me. “You’re waiting for permission.”
My nipples aching, my core drenched, my breath short, I didn’t want him to give me permission, I wanted him to tell me to spread my legs. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” He nipped my sensitive flesh then leaned to my ear. “Lift your skirt and spread your legs, Sienna.”
My eyes closed and I whimpered. Then I did exactly what he told me to do. I pulled my skirt up my thighs and breathed out through my mouth as the cool air in his condo hit my wet underwear.
“Higher.” His lips touched my cheek. “Look at me.”
I pulled my skirt up to my waist and opened my eyes.
His intense stare swallowed me whole, then his gaze dropped and feasted on my pink panties. “Take those off.”
With my skirt bunched around my waist, feeling illicit and more turned on than I should, I slid my underwear down my thighs and stepped out of them.
“Good girl.” He brushed his lips across my temple. “Put your hands on my arms.”
My fingers tested his rock-hard biceps before my palms settled against the heat of his skin.
He gently stroked through my desire. Then, without warning, he plunged two fingers into me.
“Ahhh.” I grasped at him for support and my head fell back.
His thumb on my clit, he thrust his fingers once, twice. “Do you want to come?”
“Please,” I begged.
“Look at me,” he demanded.
Clutching his huge muscles, I lifted my head up.
His gaze swirled with an emotion I didn’t understand, then he buried me with his words. “I did not sleep with that client last night.”
My legs closed and I jerked back.
As if anticipating my reaction, he caught the back of my neck and drove his fingers deeper. “Sienna,” he warned.
“No.” Anger and hurt flooded me. “Let go.”
His stare, honest and real, didn’t waver. “She wasn’t what I wanted.”
My hands dropped to his wrist and I tried to pull his fingers out of me. “You lied!”
“I did not lie. I omitted.” He squeezed my neck. “Take a breath.”
I panicked. “Take your hand out of me!”
He did the opposite, he stroked his fingers deep inside me. “I said, take a breath, Sienna.”
It felt so good I wanted to cry. “Why are you doing this?”
He didn’t release me and his penetrating gaze didn’t let me hide. “Because I wanted you here knowing who I was. I wanted you giving yourself to me despite what I was.”
His honesty gutted me and tears dripped down my face. I gripped his wrist with all my strength and held on to the only defense I had left. “Do not make me come. Don’t you dare.”
His forehead touched mine and his voice dropped to an achingly beautiful timbre. “She wasn’t what I wanted,” he repeated. “She wasn’t what I needed.” His thumb drew a firm circle. “You give me your body, Sienna Montclair, and I’ll give you my word.” His lips touched mine. “There’ll be no one else between us.”
I sobbed for the one impossibility I’d wanted more than anything else since I’d first laid eyes on him.
Holding my neck, he stroked me reverently and gave me a promise I didn’t know how to trust. “Just you and me.”
“I don’t know how to believe you,” I cried.
“Let it out, baby.” His lips touching mine, he held back the kiss that I both desperately wanted and feared. “Give me those tears.” He rotated his fingers and pushed deep inside me. “Stop thinking, beautiful. Just feel.”
My mouth popped open and a pressure I’d ne
ver felt straddled the line between pleasure and pain. “No! Jared! Oh my God.” My legs started to shake. “Noooo.”
He bit the sensitive skin below my ear. “Tell me to fuck you, Sienna.”
Oh my God, what was happening? “Pleasepleaseplease.”
He increased the pressure. “Say it,” he demanded.
“Fuck me,” I cried.
His mouth crashed over mine and I was coming. But I wasn’t just coming. I was mewing like an animal and frantically riding his hand as I followed every stroke of his tongue with a fevered desperation. My body shook, my blood rushed through my veins and the vibrations in my throat turned to grunts as my orgasm fell, but his pace increased.
“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.” My voice a staccato to his rhythm, my shaking hit a new plateau. A second orgasm didn’t build on the tails of the last, it rushed from behind and eclipsed every orgasm I’d ever had as it burst through its finish line with an explosion of colors and heat.
I was the crowd and his hand was the victor.
Over and over, his name fell from my lips, because that’s all I had.
Him. Nothing else. Just him.
My dick throbbing, my hand soaked, I pulled a condom out of my pocket. She was so fucking tight, I’d needed to make her come twice so she’d be wet as hell before I took her. Her legs shaking, she looked up at me in a daze.
“Turn around.” My need for her hitting a new level of desperation, I barked out the command.
At the sound of my voice, she shivered and gave me her back.
Smooth and round, her ass was so fucking perfect, I wanted to leave my mark on it. Unbuttoning my jeans, I took my cock out and stroked myself as I leaned to her ear. “Do you know what I’m going to do to you?” The anticipation of sinking inside her tight cunt had me shaking.
“Jared,” she whispered.
“Right here, beautiful.” I rubbed my dick against her sweet ass. Fuck, I wanted to take her bareback. “You on the pill?”
She moved her hips against mine. “No.”
“Fucking shame.” I sheathed myself then shoved two fingers in her soaking heat. “Because I want to feel this wet cunt all over my bare cock.” Goddamn, she was tight. “I want to come so deep inside you, you drip for days.”
She moaned and put her hands on the counter.
“That’s right, gorgeous.” I took the clip out of her hair. Thick red curls cascaded down her back, and I gripped a handful. “Brace yourself.”
“What….” She groaned as I stroked her G-spot. “What are you going to do to me?”
I smiled because she remembered the question. My hand in her hair, my mouth on her neck, I licked her ivory skin then bit the bottom of her ear. “I’m going to fuck you so hard, you forget every man who came before me.” I shoved in to the hilt.
Her nails scraped across the counter and she screamed.
My eyes rolled back in my head.
Fuck.
Fuck.
My dick pulsing in the tightest pussy I’d ever felt, my mind went fucking blank. Completely, come right fucking now, blank.
Sucking in a breath, I put my hand on her arching back and pushed her down on the counter. “Breathe,” I commanded.
“No, no, no,” she cried. “You don’t fit.”
“Yes I do, gorgeous.” Jesus Christ, she felt incredible. I rotated my hips when all I wanted to do was pull out then slam back home. “Feel that?” I eased back an inch then slowly went deep. “Your pussy was made for me.” I fit like a fucking glove. Thrusting deep and slow, I worked her.
She sucked air in through her teeth. “Oh my God.”
“You like that?” I reached around and pressed hard on her clit. My teeth against her ear, I bit her once. “Or you like this?” I pinched her clit.
“Ah!” She jerked under my touch then a rush of wet heat soaked my dick.
Fuck yeah. “You like that, Red?” She fucking clamped down on my cock. “You like it rough?” I licked up her neck.
“Please,” she begged.
I pulled out then slammed home, bottoming out in her. “Like this?”
She shook like a leaf. “Yes.”
I thrust three more times, pounding her hard and grinding my hips every time I hit home. On the fourth thrust, I pulled her hair and brought her back up. “You want to feel my hands on you, Red?” I grabbed a handful of her ass and squeezed. “You want my marks on you?” I wanted to fuck her so hard, I lost myself.
“Don’t hurt me.” Her voice shook.
I eased my grip on her hair and stroked in and out of her gently once. “Am I hurting you now?”
“No.”
“Do you trust me?”
“I… I don’t know.”
I pulled out, released her hair and spun her around. Grasping her chin, I forced her to look at me. “Say no.”
Breathing hard, she swallowed. “I’m not saying to stop.”
I put force into my tone. “I said, say no.”
“No,” she whispered.
“Louder,” I demanded.
“No.”
Goddamn it. “Yell it.”
“No!”
I stroked her cheek and lowered my voice. “You whisper it, you speak it, you yell it, I stop. Any way you say it, I stop.” I held her gaze. “Understand?”
“Yes.”
“You saying no?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Turn around.”
Slow, tentative, she turned.
I put force into my tone, but I caressed her back. “Hands on the counter.”
She gripped the edge.
I stilled. “Arms out in front of you. Cross your wrists.”
She instantly complied.
My dick pulsed, and I ran both hands over her smooth ass, kneading her flesh. “You ever been spanked, Red?”
“No,” she whispered hesitantly.
“Do you want to be?” I held my fucking breath.
“I don’t know.”
I stroked the back of her thighs. “You ever ridden that edge between pleasure and pain?”
“I don’t think so.”
My thumbs pushed into the flesh of her ass. “I want to take you there.”
She didn’t answer.
I waited two heartbeats then I grabbed my cock and stroked the seam of her ass. “I want to make you feel good.”
“Okay,” she breathed.
I didn’t think twice. I shoved in to the hilt and my hand drew back. My palm hitting her virgin flesh echoed through the condo as the cheek of her ass quivered. She gasped and I thrust hard. Her skin pinked, then I slapped the other side and pinched her clit.
Like a fucking awaking, her whole body bowed.
“Ahhh.”
“Say my name.” Fuck yes.
“Jared!”
I slapped her ass. “Tell me you want more.”
Her whole body shaking, her voice trembled. “Please, more.”
I fucked her.
I fucked her like my life depended on it. Pounding her quivering pussy, spanking her ass, pulling her hair tighter every time she clenched around my hard cock, I fucking took her. I took her innocence, I took her manners, and I fucked them right out of her.
I didn’t wait for her to come. I pushed her so fucking hard over the edge, she exploded like a goddamn dream. Back arched, red hair everywhere, guttural moans coming from her throat, she came all over my cock.
I couldn’t hold back.
I grabbed both hips and thrust two more times. Then I shoved in to the hilt and lost my fucking mind.
I didn’t just fill the goddamn condom.
My chest compressed, my world bent, and for one single moment, my life was Red. All fucking Red. No anger, no bullshit, no scars. Just her.
She was fucking perfect.
My heart pounding, my dick still buried deep, I shoved the crazy shit in my head down deep and swept all her hair aside to kiss her trembling back. “Hold on, gorgeous.” Her cunt was still pulsing around me, and I didn
’t want to pull out. I wanted to fuck her until my legs gave out, but the condom needed taking care of. The last thing I needed to do was knock up a woman like her.
Unwelcome, unexpected, the thought of her with my kid hit my fucked-up mind, and all of a sudden, I was dead in my tracks. I was seeing her with cheeks flushed, hair everywhere, her stomach round, and a smile that said I was her world.
Jesus fuck.
I abruptly pulled out and she whimpered. “Throwing the condom out. Don’t move.” I yanked the condom off and tossed it in the kitchen trash.
I didn’t do kids. Kids were noise. Noise was my fucking kryptonite. I didn’t even do domestic, but when I turned and saw her, my chest hurt. Her arms stretched out in front of her on the counter, still crossed at the wrist, she lay with her sweet ass pink and bare and her skirt around her waist. Her heels and jacket still on, she was sexy as fuck, but guilt hit my conscience.
Goddamn it, I was a fucking asshole.
“Come on, sweetheart.” I pulled her up.
Her hair fell in front of her face. “I can’t walk,” she mumbled.
“I got you, baby.” I picked her up. “Kick your shoes off and put your arms around my neck.”
Her sexy heels hit the floor and her arms, soft and feminine, wrapped around me. “I’m tired.”
“I know.” I should’ve regretted taking her so hard, but I was an asshole. All I wanted was to do it again. “You had a rough day.” I carried her into my bedroom and set her on her feet.
She peeked up at me. “So did you.”
“I can handle rough.” I unbuttoned her jacket and pushed if off her shoulders. She didn’t have a thing on underneath except a matching bra to the underwear lying on my kitchen floor. I undid the clasp. “Sexy, Red.”
She gave me a shy smile. “I like pretty underwear.”
“I like you naked.” I dragged the bra off and my heart almost stopped. She was so damn gorgeous. Full tits, round hips, she was a wet dream, and I wanted to take her again.
“You’re staring.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, woman.” My cock throbbing, my mouth watering, I shook my head. “Turn around.”
“Why?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Because I want to see my marks on you.” I pulled her arms away from her huge tits. “Don’t ever hide yourself from me. You’re fucking beautiful.” I cupped one of her tits and brushed a thumb over the hard nipple. “Now turn and show me that sexy ass.”