Seduction Squad: Tainted

by Amanda Stewart

  His brows snapped together, and I heard the sharp intake of his breath. I knew that was the moment when he acknowledged to himself that it was really me.

  “The rest of you can go.” His eyes never left my face.

  The other women filed silently out. Probably a few curious glances came our way, two people locked in our own world. They could never have guessed our story, our hell. I didn’t think they’d be too sorry to find themselves dismissed. Now they could head for the bar, swimming pool, sauna or cinema. It was easy money. Big money. They would never get another payday like this one.

  “Okay, let’s do this.” A note of disbelief lingered in his voice as he returned to his chair. One side of his mouth lifted momentarily and my heart twisted. God, I’d missed that half-smile. The one that was just for me. “You shouldn’t be here, Christie.”

  I moved to stand between his knees. “Maybe not. But you want me to be here, don’t you?”

  My plan relied on him still wanting me. Having seen the other women who looked like me, and who were all dressed in the clothes I’d selected with such care on my eighteenth birthday, I knew I’d been right. Ten years hadn’t dimmed what was between us. If anything, now we were up close, that fire burned brighter.

  Which meant I had to hold on to what I’d come here for. I couldn’t let this feeling, and these memories, overwhelm me. I wanted to punish him. That sense I had of being tainted? I was here to throw it right back at him.

  Ten years ago, he’d remained silent for a long time. Just stared at me. Those beautiful eyes glittering unfathomable darkness as I waited and my heart tried to beat its way out of my chest. I remembered being achingly aware of the point where our bodies connected. Of his knees holding me lightly, but firmly, in position. Of feeling the concealed power in his thigh muscles. Of wanting to unleash all that coiled energy. Nothing had changed.

  Then and now, it was hard to breathe up close to so much masculine perfection. I couldn’t think. All I could do was stand imprisoned between his legs and gaze at his masterfully carved mouth and his rugged jaw.

  This time, it was different. I knew what was coming next. I was caught up in the thrill of a ten-year waiting game that was almost over. My head and heart were out of sync. My intellect was telling me the retribution I’d planned was within my grasp, my emotions were enjoying every lust-filled moment. I was going to make him pay, but did that mean I couldn’t enjoy my revenge? There was no point even asking the question. The answer was in the aching, throbbing pressure building in my clit and the need for my cunt to grip him so hard it hurt.

  I was going to have Theo Ward, right there, right then. I was going to give him the uncle-niece experience he craved. The one that took him to the brink from which he’d pulled back. Then I was going to walk away and leave him to deal with the consequences and what they did to his conscience.

  This time, his response came faster, with none of the hesitation and angst of a decade ago.

  “More than I want my next breath.”

  Gripping my hips, he changed our positions. Sitting straighter, he moved me closer until I stood with my legs wide apart, either side of his thighs. Although his eyes were hungry, he took his time, moving the palm of one hand over the plane of my stomach, the jutting bones of my hips, and the curves of my buttocks. I remained statue-still, the emotions that had assailed my eighteen-year old self storming through me again.

  His touch was like a brand, searing its way into my flesh. Even though I burned from the inside out, I had chills all over my body. The tingling in my vagina reached an intensity that was painful in its ferocity.

  I couldn’t trace the point when my feelings for Theo had changed. All I knew was something shifted between us. The love I had always felt for him had become a deep-seated longing. A fantasy fueled, throbbing need. And I knew he felt it too. He had tried to hide it. Had avoided me, stayed away, tried to treat me as a child still. It didn’t work. I knew he wanted me with the same overwhelming intensity. Knew he was suffering the same exquisite torture. My eighteenth birthday had been the day I decided to do something about it.

  He drew my attention back to now, moving his hand lower and tracing his fingertips up the tender flesh of my inner thighs. Featherlight, he repeated the action. Up and down. Now and then, he just brushed against the lace of my panties. Desperate to feel his touch on my sex, I moaned and tried to press myself into his hand.

  The action seemed to shake Theo out of his trance.

  He hooked his fingers into the elastic of my panties. “Take them off.”

  I started to push them down over my hips, but he moved faster, tearing them as though they were made of tissue paper and tossing them aside.

  “Not fast enough.”

  My skirt was so short my wide-apart stance left me fully exposed to his gaze. Bringing his thumbs up, he held my outer lips apart. Although the expression in his eyes didn’t change, I could see the pulse in his neck beating furiously.

  Swiftly he undid his pants, and tugged his cock free. One hand returned to probe the seam of my sex while the other slid up and down his straining erection. My gaze fastened on him, fascinated by the way he hardened and pulsed even further. It was unbearably erotic.

  “Can I touch you?”

  In response, he took my hand and wrapped it around his iron-hard shaft. Clenched muscle encased in the softest skin. I leaned over, using one finger to spread the glistening pearl of pre-cum over his bulging head. Theo hissed in a breath, his cock twitching in my hand. Giving me one of his rare smiles, he tugged my bra top down.

  As he covered my breast completely with one large hand, I clambered onto him, straddling him with my knees either side of his hips. Now. This moment was what I’d waited for.

  That was when he changed the script.

  “Say my name, Christie.” He held me suspended above him, his big hands gripping my hips hard. Hurting me. I wanted more of that pain-pleasure feeling.

  For a moment, I stared defiantly at him, then he bent his head and covered one nipple with his lips. The wet heat of his mouth on the diamond-hard tip sent a wildfire of longing coursing through me. I gripped his hair with both hands, holding him to me as he grazed my sensitive flesh with his teeth.

  “Theo.” It was a murmured plea for more.

  He raised his head and there was a laughing devil dancing in the dark depths of his eyes. Slowly, he lowered me until the tip of his cock nestled against my entrance. I shuddered with anticipation.

  “Now say what we’re both thinking.”

  He couldn’t mean what I thought he did. Even as shock held me rigid, a renewed shiver of lust thrilled through me. This was the taboo. The unthinkable. This was what kept me awake at night...writhing with longing and loathing.

  He rested his forehead against mine. “It’s just you and me. I’ve waited ten fucking years for this. Say it.”

  He shifted me so that the bulging head of his cock pressed into me a fraction, opening and stretching me in preparation for him to impale me.

  How could he stand this waiting? How could I resist him?

  I made a sound midway between a sob and a gasp.

  “Uncle Theo.”

  Chapter Six

  Theo

  Uncle Theo.

  The words unleashed a frenzy.

  I had barely finished rolling the condom down my length before we surged together, Christie sinking down as I jerked my pelvis up. I was instantly all the way inside her. Balls deep. Soul deep.

  I pounded into her like a wild animal and she matched my movements, pushing down to meet my upward thrusts. I couldn’t get enough of watching her as I fucked into her. Head thrown back, teeth digging into her lower lip, total concentration on her face. I gripped her ass, holding her cheeks wide apart, opening her fully against me. Honeyed heat wrapped around me. Scorching me
. Consuming me. Her sighs mingling with my groans. Her scent, her taste, her body taking every hot, hard inch of me. This was the fantasy. This was Christie. She fit me perfectly. Just as I had known she would.

  Each time I lifted her until I was almost all the way out, then slammed my cock back inside, Christie’s hips jerked in time with mine, rocking and grinding. My hands controlled her, using her the way I wanted, lifting her up and down, pounding her like I was pounding nails. Passion and pleasure mounted. Sweat sheened our skin. The rhythm of bodies slapping together in perfect harmony filled the room.

  She ground down on me, chasing her release and triggering mine. I thrust into her and held still, plunging my tongue into her mouth at the same time I drove my cock into her cunt. And the world flew apart. I could hear Christie crying out as everything faded except me in her and the slick sounds and musky scents.

  I held her as she thrashed wildly. My own orgasm thundered through me, tightening every part of my body from my balls to my spine. I dropped my forehead onto Christie’s shoulder, feeling her heart thundering as she turned her face into my neck. My chest jerked out an unsteady rhythm before settling as I slowly caught my breath.

  If I could have wished for an instant to freeze forever, that was it. The perfect moment. Christie cradled in my arms, my softening cock slipping out of her and the rest of the world a distant memory. Perfect moments don’t last.

  Seconds later she was flinging herself away from me as if she’d been scalded, pulling her clothes into place. Turning away as if she couldn’t bear to look at me.

  “It’s nice to see you again too.” Flippancy has always been my default setting.

  She dashed a shaking hand across her lips. I didn’t try and fool myself. She was trying to wipe away the feel of my lips. She never would.

  “You are not my uncle.” Outrage quivered in every syllable.

  “If we didn’t already know it, I think we just established that.”

  She turned back to face me, her eyes stormy. I’ve done a lot of things in my life. Taken risks, spilled blood, pulled triggers. I’ve learned the hard way that regrets are futile and wishes are a waste of time. But in that instant, I regretted the hurt in Christie’s eyes. I wished I could make things right. Did that mean I wished the last twenty minutes hadn’t happened? I wasn’t that fucking noble.

  “You made me say it.” She seemed to be regaining control. “You made me call you—” she swallowed hard, “—Uncle Theo.”

  “I didn’t force you, Christie. You wanted it. All of it.” I forced her to maintain eye contact and, after a stubborn silence, she gave a tiny nod. “And you came to me. Why is that?”

  Her eyes dropped to where my latex-sheathed dick was still hanging out of my pants. “Can you put that away before we talk?”

  That? Her dismissive tone was at odds with the frenzy with which she’d been screwing herself onto me minutes earlier. Was there a possibility that Christie was in denial about what had just happened between us? If she was, that would be only too happy to give her a reminder. My dick gave an enthusiastic twitch at the idea.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I went to the bathroom and quickly took care of the condom. When I returned, Christie was seated in a chair across the room from mine, knees pressed so tight together I couldn’t have fitted a dime between them. She’d even buttoned her jacket. Even attempting to be prim and distant, she was fucking gorgeous. I thought I’d memorized every freckle, but time had dimmed her perfection in my mind. Or maybe I’d convinced myself she couldn’t possibly shine as bright as I believed. If anything, she’d gotten more beautiful.

  “Drink?” I held up the bottle as I poured myself a glass of Scotch. She shook her head. I resumed my seat, watching her face, knowing it unnerved her. “So why are you here? Was it just for the nostalgia fuck, or is there another reason?”

  She still blushed like a teenager. The sight of that rose color staining her neck and cheeks made me hard again. “I needed to get you out of my system, Theo.”

  That stung, even though I didn’t believe her. She never could lie to me.

  “And it’s taken you ten years to decide that?”

  Something flared in the depths of her eyes. “I don’t have to justify myself to you.”

  “Considering it was my cock you were riding like it was your favorite fairground pony, I think you fucking do.”

  I wondered if she was going to hit me. Kind of hoped she’d make the attempt. It hung in the balance for a few seconds, then she clenched her fists at her sides. “Yes, it took me ten years.” There was a hint of clenched jaw about her response.

  “Liar.” I said the word softly.

  She shrugged. “Believe what you like.”

  “Why this way?” I gestured to her outfit. “You must have known you only had to call and I’d see you.”

  “I wanted to surprise you.” Her smile didn’t contain any humor.

  “You succeeded.” Spectacularly. “Did it work? Did you fuck me out of your system?”

  There was that flash again. It made her eyes appear more green than blue. It intrigued me. The Christie I once knew had been even tempered. I had never seen this blaze of emerald fire before. But what did I really know of the woman before me? I’d just been inside her—deeper and harder than I had ever connected with another woman—but we were no longer even acquaintances.

  “Yes.” She was lying again. I knew it. And she knew I knew it. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “Can I go now?”

  “Go where?” I swirled the Scotch around in the glass before taking a hefty slug.

  The tempestuous look disappeared and bewilderment took its place. “To my cabin.”

  “No.” I drained my glass and set it on the table at my elbow.

  “I don’t understand. They said you chose a different woman each night.” She got to her feet. “My turn is over.”

  I almost laughed. Did she seriously think what we’d just had was never going to happen again? I had endured ten years without her. Ten years of living inside my own second-rate fantasies. Now I had the real thing and I intended to embrace every fucking moment. And Christie was going to share this delicious torment.

  I rose and moved to stand in front of her. Crowding her. Although she tilted her head defiantly, I could see how my nearness affected her. It fucking should. It was affecting me. I was hard as a rock, ready to grab her and go again.

  “I don’t care what they said. You are not going anywhere.” I smiled. “My boat. My money. My rules.”

  Her breasts rose and fell in time with her quickened breathing. “Why? You’ve paid seven other women. Why change the rules now?”

  “Because I’m more honest than you, Christie.” I reached out a hand, tangling it in her hair as I drew her to me. “And I’m going to need a lot more before I can say you are out of my system.”

  Chapter Seven

  Christie

  I watched Theo turn the key in the lock, my mind racing. This wasn’t part of the plan. One time. Fuck him, remind him how screwed up his head was, and get on with the real job. The one the Signora had sent me here to do. Ten years of memories wiped out. I shouldn’t still be quivering like a candle flame in a draft as he took me in his arms.

  “Why are you locking the door? This is your boat, your room. No one is going to disturb you.” I tried to remain unyielding. It was like trying to tell my heart not to beat.

  “Just so we’re clear, Christie...I’m not locking other people out. I’m locking you in.” His lips traced my jawline.

  My plan was seriously unraveling. I’d walked into this room with a feeling of power. I was wearing the clothes that told me I had the upper hand. I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to get Theo out of my system, but I wanted more than that. I wanted to punish him. I wanted to remind him of al
l the things we’d shared. Of the hours he’d spent helping me with homework when my father had been too busy. Of how he knew I was afraid of storms, so he’d sit up all night with me until they passed. Of the puppy he’d given me for my twelfth birthday. Of how all those things were tainted now because he’d succumbed to his darkest longing. He’d come inside me.

  Except it was my darkest longing that had fueled our passion. I was the one who had taken us to new heights by calling him “Uncle Theo.” Although I had accused him of coercing me, it was what I wanted. I wanted it with a fierceness that twisted my gut and scared me to the bottom of my soul. Because, if I shined a spotlight on myself, it made me question everything. Even the very reason I was here.

  When I’d first gone to the Signora with my proposal, she had begun to wave a dismissive hand.

  “We don’t take requests.”

  It was Jake, coming into her office during the tail end of my impassioned plea, who had persuaded her to give my suggestion some thought.

  “We have never been able to get anyone on board The Dark Side. If Christie can accomplish that, it has to be worth bending the rules for. Particularly since Ferran Garcia will be attending Theo’s next party.”

  The Signora, ever the astute businesswoman, had been prepared to listen to his argument. One of her clients had just offered her a very lucrative contract. In that instant, my first assignment was decided. I was to earn my Seduction Squad stripes by assassinating the charismatic Columbian politician, Ferran Garcia.

  “Very well. If you can get through our induction and get on board, you get to act out your personal vendetta against Theo Ward. After that, it’s squad business. Nothing else.”

  She had placed her trust in me. That, and six months of hard work, had instilled a loyalty to her and the Seduction Squad that was about more than money. I’d never really had a family. A father who was too busy and ambitious to notice me, a beautiful, fragile mother who died when I was in my mid-teens, a stern grandmother who raised me to believe that duty was more important than love. The only light relief had been Theo...and he’d walked out on me after rejecting me.