Lucy breathed out a relieved breath that she wasn’t aware that she had been holding. She knew that Joe didn’t really want her there and that he was just being polite but she had to be beside him for one night. She needed to keep the feeling of his hot, hard body, to feel his breath on her face and to hear his heart thumping steadily, close to her for just a few hours more.
She quickly walked to the bathroom and washed her face and body in the cold water from the tap. She rubbed her teeth as best as she could with her finger and the toothpaste then she folded her clothes and crept back to the bedroom. She slid between the cool sheets wearing just her knickers and bra.
She listened to the water running in the bathroom and it was only a few moments later that Joe walked back into the bedroom. He had taken off his t-shirt but wore a vest beneath and he had replaced his combat trousers with soft pyjama bottoms. He stood at the side of the bed for a long moment as he stared down at her and then as she scooted to the other side of the mattress Joe slid into the bed and pulled the duvet over them. He stayed right on the edge of the bed and turned his back to her.
“Night Lucy.” He said quietly in the dark.
“Night Joe.” She replied.
Chapter Ten
The screaming woke him. He bolted forwards as the excruciating pain hit him full in the face. Everything around him was burning and he wasn’t sure if the animal sounds of terror were coming from his own throat or from the scattered remains of the charred bodies lying at his feet. Then there was someone lifting him and he was fighting them, screaming for them to let him die. Voices slammed into his head and he could hear someone telling him that he had no face, that he would never be the same again and the pain redoubled in his chest.
And then the agony just disappeared. He slumped back into the pillows, rolling over towards the source of comfort as tender warmth surrounded him, enfolded him. He didn’t know what this soothing balm was that they were spreading over him, but he wanted more of it. It was over his hands on his face, a softness on his leathery cheeks that he had never experienced before, and then there was something more.
The heat was spreading, not burning him just bathing him in sensations he had thought he would never feel again. He couldn’t help himself, he let out a deep groan of pure pleasure as he realized that something had changed and he was actually still in a beautiful erotic dream. He held onto the sensations, never wanting them to end as he felt himself thrust his hips forwards into the deepest pleasure he had ever felt in his life.
He could hear soft moans in his ear and the scrape of ragged fingernails at his back and suddenly he jolted back into the present.
Startlingly liquid brown eyes gazed up at him, kiss swollen lips smiled lazily up at him.
“Jesus! Lucy! What the hell have I done to you?” He tried to drag himself from on top of her but a slim leg was about his waist holding him firmly in place.
“Don’t stop Joe.” She breathed up at him as her back arched beneath him. “Don’t you dare stop now.” Her eyes fluttered closed and he felt her hips grind against him as she let out a deep moan of pleasure.
He still didn’t move. His mind was in turmoil. Had he forced himself on her? Had he raped her?
“Lucy, are you okay? I don’t know what happened.” He stared at the vision of beauty beneath him.
She nodded slowly as she lifted her head.
“I want you Joe. Please make love to me.” Her moist tongue reached out of her mouth and traced a line of fire around his lips. She dragged a hand down his back and shudders of pure pleasure shot up his spine, then she lifted her hips again and he couldn’t stop himself.
He thrust into her deeply and he heard a groan fill the air around them. He buried his head into her neck and held still again not daring to hope that she actually wanted him as much as he wanted her. He breathed in as though it would be his last breath on this earth. Her questing fingers moved across his shoulders, feeling every muscle, searching his skin as they made their way up the back of his neck and into his hair.
She pulled his face to hers and found his lips with her own and suddenly any resistance was over for him. There was no holding back now. He gathered her in his iron arms and began to move his hips rhythmically. He was so deeply embedded in her, her moisture covering him with a warmth so fluid that he couldn’t tell where he ended and she started.
He could smell her arousal and he wanted to taste it. He moved slowly, sliding his wet tongue down the valley between her breasts, lapping at her tender skin before moving to the sensuous globes of sweet flesh. He sucked a hard peak into his mouth, reveling in the feeling of the ever tightening flesh. He held her breasts in his hands and massaged gently, listening to her moan out her pleasure at the increasing sensations. He slid down further to her soft stomach. Her skin smelled of flowers and salt and he dipped his tongue into her navel.
When he reached the centre of her sex he couldn’t hold back. His lips ravaged the tender pink folds, his tongue tasted deeply, swirling over her tender bud. His moans of desire matched her breaths of release, and after she came in his mouth and he had tasted her true essence he moved back, climbing her body slowly, spreading her legs wide, pushing her knees to her chest and draping her legs over his shoulders.
He pressed himself into her soft, welcoming depths and just knew that he would never feel this good ever again.
Lucy hadn’t been sleeping. She had listened to his regular breathing and had been about to count to a thousand for the second time when something changed. His arms twitched and he was suddenly writhing in the bed.
His scream of agony had wrenched her heart from her body and she moved closer to him, her hands running over his face, her body pressed against him trying anything that would give him comfort. He had seemed to calm down but then he was rising, pushing her back on the bed. She knew he was still asleep but his cock was rock hard on her thigh and his hands were all over her breasts. She reached up her back and released the clip of her bra and he fell onto her, licking at her nipples moulding his hands to her breasts.
A few moments later he had shucked out of his pyjamas and vest. His fingers hooked into the top of her pants and she helped him as she wriggled out of them. She clung onto his huge muscled shoulders as seconds later his huge cock surged inside her. Her back arched to meet him as he thrust slowly but deeply and she felt as if she couldn’t get any closer to heaven.
It was only when she scraped his back with a broken fingernail that he suddenly woke and realized what he was doing. For a few seconds he fought to escape from her but there was no way she was going to let that happen. This might be her only chance to be with him. She would be leaving in two days and who knew if she would ever be able to come back. If she couldn’t escape the trap Freeman had laid for her she might never be free to feel like this again. She pressed her leg tightly around his back and held him inside as she touched his face and begged him not to stop.
And then she felt his surrender. It was complete and total and she had never experienced anything quite like it. The muscles in his shoulders and back bunched and released over and over as he thrust into her. He buried his face in her neck and cried out her name and she knew she would never find a feeling like this ever again.
She loved him. It was that simple. This big, broken man whose eyes shone with life, whose gentleness poured out through his scarred face and whose body she worshipped, was the only one for her. The feelings she thought she knew as love couldn’t compare with this overwhelming tidal wave that encompassed her heart and gripped it hard.
Joe moved down her body and she let him take her just as he wanted, let him taste her core, bathe in her juices. She came in his mouth and cried out in wonder as all the stars in the night sky tore through her vision and then he was inside her again, thrusting deeply, taking his time as he brought her to the edge of an endless universe and toppled over the brink with her.
His climax rocked his world. White hot light burned through his brain and for a moment he t
hought he had passed out with pleasure. The shuddering in his loins went on forever as he emptied himself deep into her body.
He pressed his face into her hair and breathed out her name.
“Lucy…”
The woman beneath him lay pliant in his arms, her gasps of air erratic, her heart pounding against his chest. He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. She stared back up at him and raised her hand to brush his sweat soaked fringe from his face.
“Joe…” She sighed on a whispering breath.
He leaned down and took her lips with his own once again, only breaking the kiss when he felt as though his lungs were going to implode.
“Lucy, I don’t know what happened. When I woke you were beneath me. I didn’t mean…I don’t…” He couldn’t explain why it had happened. He knew that she hadn’t objected but he wanted to her to know that he would have never hurt her for the world.
She smiled up at him and laid a gentle hand on his cheek.
“Shhh…It’s okay. You were dreaming. I don’t know what it was about but it sounded so painful. I just wanted to comfort you. When you began to make love to me, I didn’t want you to stop.” Her eyes were glowing in the dark.
He rested his forehead on hers and gulped in some air. He didn’t want this to be wrong but he didn’t want her to be making love with him out of pity.
“I have no excuse Lucy. I forced my way on top of you. I know I’m not like other men. My face…” He trailed off for a moment and then gulped out the words. “I have to know that you’re sure you are okay with this?”
She wound her hands around the back of his head and pulled his lips back to hers for another blistering kiss.
“More than okay Joe.” She whispered against his lips. She pressed her hand against his chest and ran her fingertips over his tight nipple. “You are just perfect.” When she pulled back he was hard against her thigh again.
“Oh god!” He groaned out, unable to stop the roar of passion in his voice, but Lucy wasn’t afraid. She maneuvered her hips and swivelled out from beneath him. She forced him over onto his back and straddled his waist, then she slid back down his taught body and impaled herself on his huge erection, pressing herself onto him until he was as deep as he could go. She raised her body and then slid back down on him as she watched his eyes roll up into his head as the ecstasy took him.
She ground her hips back down onto him and leaned forwards. His mouth searched for her breasts, took a nipple and suckled hard as his fingertips brought the other to an aching peak. She cried out in wonder that anyone could make her feel this good, feel this alive. She would take this pleasure, and would give it back to him a thousand times over.
And then he grabbed her around the waist, flipped up over her in a moment, bringing her to her knees as he rose up behind her. He pushed her forwards, spreading her legs with his thighs. He entered her in one smooth thrust as his hands moulded her peach like bottom, pulling her towards him. She cried out again, his name trembling from her lips as he set up a rhythm that had her gasping in moments.
As her orgasm rippled through her she felt his whole body tighten, every muscle screaming with tension and then he roared out his release as he held her hips tightly against him, his passion buried deep inside her.
Lucy blinked in the sunshine, confused for a moment as she stretched her aching body. And then she felt someone stir beside her. She rolled over in the bed and came up against a solid wall of heated muscle. She snuggled closer and breathed in his wonderful scent.
She couldn’t count the times he had made love to her during the night. Everything had disappeared into a passion hazed blur that went on for hours and hours. All she knew was that she wanted him, now and forever, anyway, anyhow.
A huge muscled arm draped lazily over her body and she felt a leg trapping her to the sweat dampened sheets. She looked up into his ragged face, raised her finger to trace the outline of his beautiful lips and she knew that she had never seen a man quite so handsome.
A blue eye glistened at her, twinkling fondly as he came to.
“Hey…” His mouth opened wide in a deep yawn.
“Hey…” She answered him and kissed the cleft in his chin.
He pulled her in close to him and kissed her lazily before he suddenly glanced up at the open window. The sunshine was glaring through the trees and dappling on the quilt. He shot up in bed.
“Christ! What’s the time?” He grabbed his phone off the bedside table and looked at the screen. “Shit!” He swung his legs out of the bed and stood up, obviously not caring that he was completely naked.
Lucy lay in the bed admiring his beautiful body as she laughed at his agitation.
“So what is the time? Not that I care. I don’t want to get out of bed yet.” She stretched lazily, lifting her arms above her head.
Joe hopped about on one foot, tearing his eyes away from the tantalizing glimpse of rounded breasts and reddened nipples as he dragged on fresh underpants and a vest. He gave her a quick grin.
“No, I’m sure you don’t. I can’t say that I do either especially as I know what you have on offer, but I have to go and help Dave. We don’t even know if Ellen is okay and Geraldine is as sick as a dog every morning. It’ll be chaos up at the chateau if I don’t show my face there quickly.”
Lucy sat up in the bed and pushed her hair from her face. She gave a great sigh and shifted to the edge of the bed. The muscles in her legs shrieked in defiance and she grimaced slightly.
Joe came and squatted in front of her, his eyes full of concern.
“You okay?” He rubbed his big hands up and down her thighs barely resisting the temptation to push her backwards in the bed, spread her legs and feast on her delicious womanly places.
She smiled up at him and caught hold of his face. She let her lips linger on his for a moment.
“More than okay Joe, you know that. Come on, hand me my clothes. I can’t just sit about here naked while you ogle me.”
He began flinging the covers about wildly until he came up with her knickers and her bra. She slipped them on and scrabbled around for her t-shirt and trousers.
Joe lugged on a shirt and pulled his combats over his lean legs. He shoved his feet into his boots and helped Lucy into her trainers. They were just about to walk out of the cabin when they heard the Land Rover pull up outside.
David stepped out of the car and grinned as Lucy twisted her hair into a low bun and tied it with a band.
“So, safe and sound then? No nightmares about being stranded in the dark?”
Lucy gave an embarrassed smile back.
“Of course not. I was in Joe’s capable hands.” She ignored David’s guffaw of ribald laughter. “Have you heard anything from Patrick?”
David smiled warmly.
“Little girl at about five thirty this morning. Ellen is exhausted and they will be keeping her in today and tomorrow for checks but everything went well. Baby weighed just under seven pounds so not even a problem there. They must have had the dates slightly wrong.”
Joe slapped David on the shoulder.
“So Uncle Dave, what’s on the agenda today for our victims? Apart from you making breakfast that is.” He dodged David’s fist and opened the car door for Lucy.
They were back up at the chateau in minutes and Lucy immediately ran up the stairs to shower and change before she went to the kitchen to help with breakfast. She opened her room door and was about to walk through to the bedroom when Carter Freeman appeared just inside the door.
Lucy stopped dead and stared at him aghast as she realized that he was wearing only his dressing gown. She cast her eyes towards the bed and suppressed a shiver when she saw that the covers were rumpled and the pillow indented.
“What are you doing in my room?” She hissed when she eventually found her voice.
Carter let out a grim laugh.
“Well I would have thought that was obvious. I was waiting for you. I assumed that you would come back here last night but I unde
rstand you spent the night with that poor excuse for a man who is helping run this idiotic course.”
Lucy stood her ground. Being with Joe for the night had made her a lot stronger.
“If it’s any of your business, yes, I did spend the night with him and I bloody enjoyed it. He a thousand times the man you will ever be.” She spat out the words with as much venom as she could muster.
Freeman walked forwards and Lucy nearly vomited as she saw his pale, hairless legs appear beneath the robe. It looked as though he waxed them; they were far smoother than her own.
He stood very close to her and lifted a strand of her hair. He leaned in and sniffed at the side of her neck. He jerked his head back quickly.
“I can smell him on you, you filthy tart. Did you enjoy having a freak between your legs? Did you make him feel like a real man for once in his miserable life?” His voice was low and menacing.
Lucy tore herself away from her odious boss and walked back to her door. She opened it wide and stood back.
“Get out! Get out now before I tell someone what a lowlife shit you are. And don’t come back to my room. I don’t care how you got in, just don’t try it again or there will be consequences.”
Freeman sauntered over to her. He stood by the doorway for a moment as he looked her up and down.
“Oh I will enjoy the day when you are homeless and penniless, begging on your knees before me. I’m in no hurry Lucy. I know how tight you are for money. Don’t forget that I hold all the aces here. You will lose everything if you don’t do as I say and don’t think this is just a threat. I will have you sucking my cock and licking my ass before long my dear, and you will be grateful that I let you do it.” He suddenly stormed from the room and Lucy slammed the door quickly behind him.
She stood with her back against the door breathing hard. She was beginning to believe that giving everything up and declaring herself bankrupt was worth it just to escape this man’s vile clutches, but then she thought of her own self esteem. How would she ever be able to hold her head high knowing she had walked away, turned her back on her problems and taken the easy option out? She just couldn’t do it to herself. She had to find a way to bring Carter Freeman down. She didn’t know how she was going to do it, but there had to be a way.
Forever Scarred (Scarred Series Book 3) Page 12