by Vi Carter
As he turns me, I bump into the wall. The room is so much smaller than what we are used to. “I wish we were at the castle,” I say between kisses.
I squeal as Gerald picks me up and places me on the floor, he hasn’t removed his hand from my waist. I’m looking up into dark blue eyes, my core tightens.
“Why’s that?” He asks, he’s panting while his eyes search my face. His hands reach down and take the hem of my dress that he pulls up over my head.
“More space,” I answer while reaching for his buttons.
“I can work in tight spaces.”
I bite my lip at his words while I open his trousers and push them down his hips; he wriggles out of them and kicks them off. His stomach is toned, the muscles defined and I want to touch them.
I give in and run my hand across his stomach before moving up to his head. He holds himself up above me as I touch every bit of flesh and muscle. He’s perfection. My hands trail up to his face. He’s mine. My stomach tightens again as I stare at him. My pulse quickens and heat enters my face.
“Kiss me,” I command. He does, his tongue demanding entry into my mouth, I allow it. He lowers his body until it’s pressed against mine, his erection prodding against my stomach. I spread my legs further, just wanting him inside me.
Gerald’s lips leave mine as he kisses my jawline and continues to plant kisses down my neck. I suck in my stomach as he presses a kiss beside my belly button. His strong hands pull down my underwear before he pushes my legs far apart.
“I want you inside me,” I tell him.
His wicked grin has my heart kicking up. I moan as he dips his head and pushes his tongue into my pussy. My hands find his hair and I hold his head between my legs, wanting him deeper. He does, and I groan. His tongue is replaced with his fingers as he licks my clitoris. I push my body up, not able to stay still. Gerald removes his fingers from inside me and crawls back up my body. His erection feels even larger as it pushes against my stomach once again. He holds his fingers to my lips. I can see the sheen off them. I flick out my tongue and lick while staring at him. His tongue runs along his fingers and I twitch as our tongue’s meet while we suck my juices off his fingers. My lips slam against his, I can’t take much more. His wet face turns me on and I grip his shoulders, trying to pull him closer. His mouth leaves mine once again as he kisses my neck before moving to my breasts. Rolling my nipple between his fingers, he works the other one with his tongue. My dampness has spread to the inner part of my thighs.
“Please, Gerald,” I beg.
His teeth nip my nipple and I inhale quickly. He raises his head while placing his cock at my entrance.
“You want this?” He asks.
I’m nodding like a madwoman. “Yes, please.”
His wicked grin is back as he pushes the tip in and I groan. “I love that sound.” His words are accompanied with another push inside me.
He’s filling me and I take every inch of him inside me. Reaching up, I brush my palm against his hard nipples. He pushes deeper and I squeeze them. The more I squeeze, the harder he fucks me. I’m glad we are on the ground as he pounds his cock into me. He doesn’t hold back and I love the savagery of his movements. The ache of my stretched legs and the burn of the carpet on my back arouses me further. I pull his nipples harder and he rears his head back and groans; I tighten myself around him and his release fills me. I get my own release only seconds later and he continues to move slowly inside me as my body jerks. He’s moving long after we have both come.
“I think you can stop now.” I smile up at him. Heat taints my cheeks.
His movements cease and he removes himself. It’s always awkward after sex. He normally leaves me so when he gets up I’m expecting it. Maybe our thing will be sex. I’d rather have Gerald in any form than not have him at all.
My eyes widen as he picks me up and carries me to my bed. I don’t know what to say as he climbs into my single bed. We both have to turn sideways to fit. He doesn’t spoon me, he keeps me facing him as he drags the quilt over us. My chest burns and I swallow, not wanting to start crying. One strong arm wraps around me.
“What are you thinking?”
I glance up at him, into his handsome face, and I can’t help but touch it. “How nice this is,” I say.
His smile has me smiling.
“This is a first for me,” he confesses.
“I knew you were a virgin.”
He laughs and when he stops he smiles before speaking. “Holding someone.”
I want to sit up, but if I move, I will fall from the bed. “You’ve never held someone after sex?” I really found that hard to believe, but then with Gerald, I didn’t. “Have you ever had a relationship?”
“No. There are a lot of firsts for me.”
My heart swells and I can’t stop the tug of my lips. “Me too.”
He grows quiet and I watch his eyelids flutter closed. Long black eyelashes rest against his cheeks. He’s all angles and muscles. My core twitches and I want to silence it and just enjoy being here in his arms.
“Why are you staring?”
I flinch as his eyes open. “Am I not allowed?”
“You can look at me whenever you want.” His lips find mine and he plants a soft kiss on them. It’s feather light, but it has the power to reach deep down and stir something new inside me. Fear at him leaving me starts to drip like a broken tap.
“Do I still work at the club?” I jump in feet first.
“Not as a dancer.” He tightens his hold on me. “I don’t want anyone else near you.”
I smile at his possessive tone. “What about the back rooms?”
His jaw tightens. “You want to work there?” He sounds horrified.
“No. I’m asking if you’ll close them down.”
His face softens and he touches my lips with his thumb. “No.”
“But they’re wrong, Gerald,” I say. I didn’t want to start off with all the negatives, but it was something that bothered me. I could live with the dancing but the boom boom rooms didn’t sit right with me.
“Was it wrong when I made your fantasy come true?”
My chest burns. A part of me can’t believe he would bring that up. But I try to act like a grownup and consider his question. “No. Because I wanted that.”
He nods. “My clients want their fantasies to come true. Every person in every room has given their consent. No one is ever forced. What Linda did to you was wrong, Cara. If I could change it, I would.”
My eyes burn, but I swallow down the emotion.
“I need you to understand that the club, the back rooms, they are a part of me.”
I nod. “I know.” Maybe they were a part of me too now. They say there is light and darkness in us all and we go through life believing it. But I don’t think everyone truly ever sees their own darkness, I found mine at the hands of Gerald and for that I’m grateful.
I touch his face now. Just like him, my darkness makes my light burn brighter. My lips touch his.
“I was thinking maybe you could give me a private tour of the castle.”
His perfect smile returns. “Look at you, calling in favors already.”
I laugh.
“Tomorrow I will take you on our first date.”
Our first date.
“My first date ever,” I say, but my body is buzzing with excitement. Tomorrow felt like forever away. “Do we have to wait until tomorrow?”
“No. We can go now if you want.”
Just like that, we could make a decision. It’s weird not having to consider anyone else. Not even my father.
“I’ll wait.” I tighten my hold on Gerald as I let my mind wander to my father. He doesn’t ask me why I’ve gone quiet. He just holds me like he understands what’s wrong.
The heat and protection from Gerald’s hold silences my busy mind, and I drift into a soft sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
HIM
The rain was coming down heavily. It made driving dif
ficult. Like when you’re driving in snow and it feels like you're speeding through the galaxy. The rain was just like that. I pulled over, waiting for the worst to pass.
In the rearview mirror, I saw a man huddled against the rain. He has pulled a hoodless jacket over his head. The wind seems strong as he keeps favoring his left side. The river rages along the bank and the low railing wouldn’t stop his fall. I wasn’t someone who interfered, but I didn’t want to witness someone’s death. I didn’t have a jacket and I hesitated at the door. I could just stop watching and let nature take its course. I get out of the car hoping Karma is watching my good deed.
“Do you need a lift,” I called. The rain was painful as it pelted down on top of me. The man continued to stagger. The wind had nothing to do with him favoring his left side. He was drunk.
“Christ.” I slammed the car door and pulled my suit jacket over my head. “I’ll give you a lift,” I said the moment I got close enough.
He peeked at me through his jacket. “You.” He lets his jacket go and the rain pounds down soaking him in seconds. “Where is my daughter?” Through his drunken state I can hear his loss. But he doesn’t deserve her.
“She’s happy,” I told him. “Do you want a lift or not?” I wasn’t going to stand here, I was already soaked as it was.
“I want her back.” His arm grips mine and I shook him off.
“No.”
“I’ll find a way to clear my debt.” He’s reaching for me again, trying to clutch on to me.
“You’re a drunk. You will never be able to clear it.” I pushed him back and let my jacket down. There was no point in trying to keep the rain off.
“Take me instead.”
I laughed. “Go home old man.”
He wasn’t going to take a lift and I was done standing in the rain.
“I remember you as a boy.”
I keep walking.
“He couldn’t beat the darkness out of you.”
I paused and clenched my fists.
“You let my daughter go.” He’s wobbling dangerously close to the railing. One wrong step and he would find himself rolling down the bank and into the raging water.
There’s no traffic around and the rain had created a curtain around us. I walked back to Cara’s father.
“Okay,” I say.
He looked at me through drunken eyes that widened. “Really?”
I reached out my hand to his. “You have my word.”
“Thank you.” He placed his hand in mine.
“My grandfather was an evil man.”
Cara’s dad’s eyes widened and he tried to pull his hand from mine, but I didn’t let go. I took a step towards him forcing him back as I spoke. “He beat the darkness into me old man.” I took another step and squeezed his hand. “She’s mine,” I said before pushing him and releasing his hand. He’s off kilter as I walked back to my car. I can hear his scream as he falls over the railing. I hear the splash as his body hits the water. I get into my car soaking my seat with my wet clothes. I was close to the castle. Turning the car on, the engine purred to life. I flicked on the lights and they cut through the rain that seemed to have eased off. Pulling away from the curb I continue my journey home.
***
“This is the piano room.” I walk around the large room that solely holds the black piano. I could play it, but I never did.
I love watching Cara as I take her into each room. She twirls, her mouth half open, her eyes alive. “It’s amazing; I’ve never been to this part of the castle.” Her eyes settle on me.
“It isn’t open to the public.” It is a room I actually like. “My mother taught me how to play.”
Cara walks over to the piano and runs her fingers along each key. “Can you play me a song?” She glances at me from under her lashes.
“I will one day. Just not right now.”
She looks like an angel today in her white summer dress. She holds still as I walk up to her and take her face in my hands and kiss her softly on the lips. I take my time with the kiss, exploring her lips. I’m trying to be more patient with her and with myself.
“That was nice.” She’s smiling, but still has her eyes closed. I haven’t released her face as she opens her eyes and her smile widens. “I could get used to those type of kisses.”
“Good. I plan on giving you lots more of them.” I kiss her nose before taking her hand and continuing our tour of the house. Each room holds memories, each one worse than the next. Each room Cara steps into, I watch her take it all in, and I love how she sees it. It’s how it should be seen. It’s just tainted for me.
“The coin room?” She raises a brow. “Like, seriously?”
I smile. “Yes. This was my grandfather’s favorite room.” It was forbidden. His jewel. The one thing I never touched. As I walk through it now with Cara at my side, I can see the beauty of the room.
“Every side of a coin has another side,” I say the words I had heard a million times before. “My grandfather used to say people were like coins. Once you flip it in the air, you have no idea how it will fall. It’s the journey the coin takes that will determine which way it falls.” I run my hand over all the glass cabinets that are filled with so many different coins. “Good or bad, madness or genius. Yeah, he loved to toss a coin for lots of different reasons.”
Cara’s hand fills mine and her eyes shine with sorrow, like she knows the pain of this room. “I don’t need a coin to know you’re a good man.”
I want to believe her. So I choose to. Leaving the room behind, I take Cara out to the gardens where I continue the tour. It’s a happier place.
A place where I might be a better person.
A happier person.
All because of Cara.
My Cara.
DARKER
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084TRKCN3
When we fell in love, he was royalty. When our wedding day arrived, he had become a nightmare. And I became his prisoner.
As children, he promised to protect me for as long as he lived. As teens, we fell in love and promised each other forever. He was the love of my life. Then he disappeared without a trace.
Ten years later, he shows up at my family’s estate, wielding his royal title and influence over my father like a weapon.
Malachi Sterling, the Duke of Corwick, transformed from a tender, sweet boy who held my heart in his loving hands, into a steely-eyed, sinister man who purchased my life and freedom with the sweep of a pen.
Ten years after promising to marry each other, Malachi and I stand before God and our power-hungry families as we exchange vows.
“I, Isla Sofía Reyes, take thee, Malachi Sterling, to be my wedded husband.
To have and to hold…”
To be ensnared and possessed.
“In sickness and health…”
In selfishness and torment.
“To love and to cherish…”
To defy, and despise, and make him rue the day we met.
“'Til death do us part.”
'Til the day I can finally uncover the secret that changed him forever.
SHAMELESS VOWS is a STANDALONE, full-length, royal arranged marriage romance with a guaranteed HEA. The books in the Shameless Love Series are interconnected standalones and can be read in any order.
Link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084WY7BWT
Contents
WARNING
CHAPTER ONE
HER
CHAPTER TWO
HIM
CHAPTER THREE
HER
CHAPTER FOUR
HIM
CHAPTER FIVE
HER
CHAPTER SIX
HIM
CHAPTER SEVEN
HER
CHAPTER EIGHT
HIM
CHAPTER NINE
HER
CHAPTER TEN
HIM
CHAPTER ELEVEN
HER
CHAPTER TWELVE
HIM
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
HER
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HER
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
HIM
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
HER
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
HIM
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
HER
CHAPTER NINETEEN
HER
CHAPTER TWENTY
HIM
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
HER
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
HIM
(12 HOURS BEFORE)
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
HER
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
HIM
About The Author
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PLAYLIST
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DARK Copyright © 2020 by VI CARTER.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.