He tried to fight it.
He failed.
Talia didn’t resist when he reached out and pulled her in tight against his body. His hands gripped her ass as he rubbed the hard length of his cock against her and his mouth came crashing down on hers, his tongue parting her lips before plunging inside, taking complete possession.
He was instantly aware of molten heat, like being in the center of an erupting volcano. She also tasted delicious. That combination of hot, heady spices and summer flowers.
Too much. It was far, far too much even for his self-control.
Ethan gave a groan as he broke the kiss to move his lips to the slender arch of her throat. Her hands were flat against his bare chest. Palms hot, fingers caressing up to his shoulders before becoming entangled in the thick dark hair at his nape.
His own hands moved higher, the fingers of one hand splayed over the silky smoothness of her bare back as his other hand moved to the two buttons fastening the front of her leather waistcoat.
The black lace bra beneath cupped the swell of her breasts.
Talia gave a gasp as Ethan easily snapped the central ribbon of her bra before folding back the lace and baring her breasts completely. That gasp turned to a groan as he bent her back over his arm before lowering his head to suck an engorged nipple into the dark cavern of his mouth. His tongue was a moist rasp over that aching nubbin, his teeth biting just short of pain. The dark stubble on his chin was a pleasurable rasp.
She clung to his shoulders as pleasure coursed hotly through her body, resulting in a gush of juices between her nether lips. She pressed closer against him, rubbing her mound up and down the hard length of his cock, silently asking, begging for him to take her.
Ethan’s fingers were hot against her bared skin as he unfastened the button on her jeans and slid the zip down before his hand slipped inside. “Fuck, you are wearing a thong,” he groaned again as his fingers pushed aside that scrap of material to find and stroke the hard throb of her clit.
“I wouldn’t lie to you, Ethan,” she breathed shakily, back arching as he pressed one long finger into her channel at the same time as the soft pad of his thumb pressed down and around her clit.
“Everything about you has been one lie after another since I met you,” he dismissed harshly.
“No—”
“This is the only thing that doesn’t lie, Talia.” His lips moved to the sensitive skin at the base of her throat.
Talia’s face burned as she heard the moist sound of her channel sucking on his finger as it continued to slide in and out of her, her clit an aching throb she wanted to press and rub against that tormenting thumb.
She mewled—oh God, she actually mewled, like a cat in heat—her protest as he removed that hand, leaving her feeling empty and aching.
He gave her a hard grin as his hands once again cupped her bottom. Her legs automatically went about his waist as he lifted her before carrying her across the room to sit her down on the sofa. “Lift up.” He pulled her jeans and the thong down to her ankles as she instantly obeyed that command. “Part your legs for me,” he instructed as he sank down onto his knees in front of her.
There was no resisting a kneeling Ethan, no denying him as she allowed her legs to fall apart. “They won’t go any farther.” She was hobbled, held in place by the material about her ankles.
Ethan wasn’t willing to allow Talia’s legs any more freedom of movement by taking off her jeans completely, instead pushing her thighs as far apart as they would go before moving his hand so that his fingers could part the blonde curls, exposing swollen and glistening pussy lips and her erect clit. “So fucking beautiful,” he murmured before lowering his head and taking that clit into his mouth.
He heard Talia’s keening cry as he sucked rhythmically on that nubbin, her legs trembling as she sank lower down the sofa. Ethan pulled her down farther still, until her ass was balanced on the edge of the sofa. This new position allowed him greater access as he took his mouth from her clit and licked his way down those glistening pussy lips, greedily lapping up the flow of juices as they gushed onto his stroking tongue.
“Mustn’t neglect these.” He lifted his head, giving a brief smile of satisfaction. He watched for several minutes as Talia’s back arched into his fingers while they tugged on one erect nipple, before he returned his mouth to her pussy. “You like that,” he murmured his satisfaction as his tongue was instantly coated in another gush of the nectar between her thighs. “Don’t you?” he prompted darkly as a second finger joined the first.
“Yes, I…I like that.”
“You fucking love this.” The way the walls of her pussy contracted and grasped onto the thrust of his fingers, her back arching up to meet each of those thrusts, the erratic hitching of her breath as her hands entangled in his hair to hold him against her, all left him in no doubt as to how much Talia was enjoying what he was doing to her.
“Ethan—”
“Come for me, Talia,” he instructed harshly, increasing the speed of those thrusts, his mouth once again taking possession of her clit as his fingers twisted her nipple.
Talia screamed as the pleasure hit. Not in a gentle way, but with the force of a tornado ripping through her body.
All she could see was a white haze. All she could feel was heat and pulsing pleasure as she continued to grind against Ethan’s mouth and the sensuous rasp of his stubble, her breasts pressing into the almost painful tugging on her nipple.
“No more,” she finally pleaded, her body so over-sensitized it hurt to have him touch her. “No more, Ethan,” she begged as he removed his mouth from her clit, her juices glistening on his chin as he looked at her through narrowed lids.
A glance down showed her swollen clit was no longer beneath its protective hood but fully exposed and red. Her nipples were full and elongated from where Ethan’s fingers had pulled and twisted them.
It was pleasure-pain as Ethan’s mouth returned to her mound, his thumb stroking her clit, his other hand moving to cup and then tweak her nipples.
“Ethan, I can’t—”
“For me you can,” he growled.
She gasped as a second climax instantly tore through her already wrecked body, her breathing becoming a sob as she quivered and shook beneath the onslaught of pleasure that was almost but not quite too much to bear.
Ethan finally released her to sit back on his heels. “Still think I’m nice?” he taunted.
No, he wasn’t nice, Talia decided as she looked at him. But the glitter of his eyes, that unsmiling mouth, the tension in his jaw, were all indications of inner turmoil, not coldness or cruelty. Of a wound he carried inside him, festering and gaping, no matter what he did or how much time passed.
Something had happened to Ethan since she last saw him. Something bad.
She reached out a hand toward him. “Talk to me, Ethan. Tell me—” She broke off as the sound of an explosion shattered the silence of the night. Her eyes widened. “What was that?”
“I’m guessing it might be some of your friends letting you know they’re on their way.”
“I don’t have any friends.”
“Ah, poor little Talia,” Ethan bit out unsympathetically as he stood and moved to open the laptop on a side table before pounding away on the keys. “Well, someone is making their way here. Four someones.”
She was still too befuddled from the force of her climaxes to be able to take in what Ethan was saying to her.
“How long did your device keep my security disabled?” he demanded.
“I—” She gave a pained frown. “It’s still down…”
He gave an impatient shake of his head. “Then, intentionally or otherwise, you’re responsible for us having company.”
“I told you, whoever those men are, they’re nothing to do with me.”
He closed the laptop with a snap. “If I give you the benefit of the doubt and you’re lying to me—”
“I’m not.”
“In that case, I ho
pe you have a spare thong in that backpack, because we have to leave. Now.”
“I— But—” Talia stood to pull up her thong and jeans before refastening the latter, and then squirming a little with discomfort as the lace of her thong didn’t prevent the heavier material of her jeans from rubbing against her overstimulated flesh. Fastening the leather waistcoat over her ripped bra and oversensitive breasts proved just as uncomfortable. “Where are we going? How are we getting there?” She knew Ethan kept a motorbike here, had seen it parked beneath the carport outside a short time ago.
“To a friend,” Ethan answered economically as he pulled on a T-shirt. “By helo.”
Talia picked up the backpack she had brought with her and slipped the straps over her shoulders. “You have a helicopter here?” Her surveillance hadn’t picked that up.
“Yes,” he snapped. “Now shift your pretty ass, damn it!” He picked up the laptop before glancing around the finca to make sure there would be nothing left there for the intruders to find and use against him or anyone he cared about. There shouldn’t be; he had kept personal possessions to a minimum. “Let’s go,” he rasped impatiently, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her along beside him as she once again seemed incapable of moving on her own.
If Talia really wasn’t working with the men quickly approaching the finca, then Ethan had no intention of leaving her here to face the untender mercy of the Albanians. He already had the image of one tortured and dead woman inside his head. He didn’t want another one.
He had the camouflage removed from the helo he always kept fueled and ready to leave, but he used up precious more seconds doing a quick safety check before getting inside. The engine was running within seconds, and Talia was strapped in the seat beside him, her backpack thrown in the back, when he heard her start to hyperventilate.
Shit.
If Talia was to be believed, then in the past ten days, her father had disappeared and she’d been left alone and frightened, not knowing where he was or if he would be back. Ethan would take a guess on her father’s criminal record precluding her being able to contact the police and ask for their help in finding Ivan. Even the loyalty of their bodyguards would have been questionable if, after three years of running, Ivan had somehow been taken. And when Talia came to Ethan for that help, he had first treated her with distrust and then made savage love to her.
Way to go, bro, he could hear any one of his three brothers chastise inside his head. His sister Lily would say something far less flattering.
“Put your head down between your knees,” he instructed tersely, having seen movement in the trees surrounding the finca. “We’re leaving now,” he had time to add as he heard the sound of a bullet hitting the top of the helo and realized the men were aiming for the rotor blade overhead.
More bullets hit the helo as he took off faster than he would normally have done, causing the machine to rock violently from side to side as it made a too-rapid ascent. Ethan waited only long enough to clear the tops of the trees before shifting forward away from the finca and toward the open expanse of sea ahead.
All the time hoping and praying that none of those bullets had hit anything vital in the helo’s engine; otherwise, they would be ditching in the sea sometime in the near future.
Ethan gave Talia a brief glance. Her face was deathly pale in the lights from the dashboard, but at least she was sitting up and no longer breathing so erratically.
She swallowed before speaking. “Where are we going?”
“I told you, to a friend.”
“I asked where?”
“Does it really matter?”
It could, yes. She was no longer sure if the passport she was using would pass through an airport security. Her route here had been haphazard, three flights and two boat trips, but she was as desperate to avoid detection as Ethan and wasn’t sure she dare use that passport again.
“We’re going to Androcco.” Ethan seemed to guess some of her concerns, seeming slightly more relaxed now that they had left the island and were out over the sea.
“Androcco?”
“It’s a small principality in the Med.”
“I know what and where it is.” By now, Talia knew the geography of the world well enough to get a degree in the subject without even trying. The island of Androcco seemed a strange choice if, as she suspected, Ethan’s movements were as much under the radar as her own were. “I just don’t understand why you would choose to go there.”
Ethan gave her a long, narrow-eyed stare before answering her. “We’re going there because my brother Asher has been friends with Prince Alexandre since their university days, and consequently so has the rest of our family. The prince is also married to the best friend of Asher’s wife, Lissa.”
“Princess Anastazia?”
“That’s the one,” he confirmed.
The grimness of his expression told Talia that he wasn’t particularly happy about going to Androcco.
That he wasn’t happy with a lot of things, most especially with having her back in his life.
Chapter 3
Talia was exhausted by the time they reached Androcco in the early hours of the morning. She was also slightly deaf from the noise of the helicopter and feeling a little queasy from its up-and-down movement in the wind currents.
The noise level had also made it impossible for them to talk during the journey. Plus the fact Talia had kept a white-knuckled grip on the door beside her as she tried to stop herself from actually being physically sick.
“You’re looking a bit green,” Ethan noted unsympathetically as he helped her to step down onto the tarmac of the helicopter pad, situated behind a palace.
A palace, for goodness’ sake!
Ethan had spoken briefly on the radio to someone on Androcco a few minutes ago and been given permission to land within seconds of explaining who he was.
Talia gave him a sour glance, stumbling slightly as she tried to get her balance after hours of being cooped up inside the rocking vehicle. “Could you try sounding a little less pleased about it?”
The grin he gave was much more like the Ethan she remembered. “A little air sickness seems a small price for you to pay when you’ve ensured I can never go back to my finca in Majorca.”
She glared. “How many times do I have to tell you I am not working for this man Agon Alizoti?”
Ethan no longer thought she was. He’d been taken by surprise by her arrival at the finca the previous night, but he’d had plenty of time to think during the flight here. No matter how he tried putting the pieces of that puzzle together, none of them added up to Talia working in cahoots with Agon Alizoti.
For one thing, Ethan had deliberately kept his distance from her so that something like this couldn’t happen.
For another, Talia could just as easily have been killed by the hail of bullets fired at them last night.
Not that Ethan didn’t think Agon Alizoti capable of writing her off as collateral damage, if necessary. The man didn’t care for anyone except his son Vaso, and Ethan had killed him six months ago.
No, that whole scenario, of Alizoti senior kidnapping Ivan and then blackmailing Talia into finding Ethan was just too elaborate for Alizoti’s tiny brain. The man was a thug and was focused only on exacting vengeance for the life of his only son. With a blunt knife, if possible.
That meant the story about Talia’s father going missing ten, now eleven days ago, was true.
If Talia and Alizoti weren’t working together, then it would be too much of a coincidence for Alizoti to have found him at the same time Talia had. Which, considering Ethan had been living on Majorca for half a year without detection by Alizoti, had to mean those men from last night had been after Talia and not him. Possibly with the idea of using her to make her father cooperate and tell them where the money was.
So far, Talia didn’t seem to have worked that out. For the moment, Ethan would prefer it remained that way.
“Time for us to go up to the palace and
explain what we’re doing here,” he murmured as he saw and recognized some of Alexandre’s personal and armed bodyguards making their way across the grass toward them.
Both Alexandre and Stazzi were dressed and waiting for them when they were shown into their private sitting room.
Talia was slightly overwhelmed by the royal couple, and sat and listened rather than joined in the conversation after the introductions had been made. The coffee and toast the royal couple had provided for them were very welcome. The latter was at least settling her stomach a little.
Prince Alexandre, known as something of a playboy before his marriage, was imposingly attractive. Tall, dark, and handsome definitely applied to him. Princess Anastazia was beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and English. She also had no pretensions whatsoever. But that didn’t change the fact she was still royalty.
Ethan and the prince had greeted each other like the old friends they were, with a handshake and a warm smile. Princess Anastazia had been even less formal as she gave a squeal of excitement at seeing Ethan and instantly launched herself into his arms.
Talia had been greeted warmly by the royal couple. Even so, she had been a little overwhelmed when the prince and princess insisted she call them Alexandre and Stazzi.
“I can’t thank you enough for bringing Ethan to us,” the other woman told Talia warmly a short time later after insisting on accompanying Talia herself to one of the bedrooms. “He’s been avoiding us all for months now.”
Understandably so when it seemed Ethan was being pursued by an Albanian named Agon Alizoti. Why he was, Talia still had no idea, but Ethan living incognito in Majorca for so many months, seemed to be related to that. Talia might not have a spare thong in her backpack, but she did have her laptop, and as soon as she was alone she was going online to see what she could discover about the Albanian.
“I think you’ll find Ethan brought me here, not the other way around,” she answered the other woman ruefully.
“As long as you’re both safe, it doesn’t matter who brought whom.” Stazzi gave her arm a friendly squeeze. “I’m going to leave you to take a shower and get some rest now. Sleep as long as you like and then come down to the sitting room when you’re feeling up to it. You can meet our children,” she added with an obvious pride in her young son and daughter.
Seducing Ethan (Knight Security 6) Page 3