by Marie Kelly
Lifting her head with a finger under her chin he kissed her softly before she deepened the kiss with a sigh, her arms going around his neck.
“I’m sorry” she whispered against his lips “I know that come tomorrow we will both go back to our own lives, but I couldn’t stand the thought that you had done all this to use me that way…. Not after” her voice trailed away as he kissed her more deeply.
Walking back to the party Craig was quiet, once more thinking about the next day. Could he just put her on a plane never knowing when he might see her again? He frowned at the thought.
When they had re-entered the party Kira had noticed Alison frowning seeing the way in which Craig smiled down on her, his arm possessively wrapped around her shoulder as hers were wound around his waist. She had scowled seeing that her plan had not worked and a quick look of fear had passed her lovely cold eyes as Craig had held her eyes for a second with a look of such coldness that she knew that he was well and truly a man she should avoid from now on.
By midnight the party was starting to die and it was with relief that Craig asked her to collect her things. From across the dance floor Tom had waved to them his face shining with happiness as he held Marina in his arms. She had smiled softly back giving him a little wink, which he returned.
The helicopter ride home was short and once again Craig held her hand kissing it every now and then smiling softly into her eyes. Kira knew that they were going to make love that night she knew that it would be wonderful and she knew that when she left the island the following day her heart would be as broken as it had been three years ago.
Craig had brought her here to destroy her, she still didn’t know why, but she knew that he had succeeded. Tomorrow he would return her to Bill then he would once more walk away from her and leave her empty again. She swallowed hard knowing that despite knowing all this, she no longer even wanting to protect herself from the heartache to come. She wanted to have him even for this short period of time, knowing that she would deal with the heartache when it happened and not before.
Once on the ground Craig waved good night to the pilot who once more lifted off to some unknown destination. Hand in hand in the darkness they walked back to the villa, the two of them silent enjoying the sounds of the insects as they sang their evening song. As they neared the lights of the house Craig stopped turning her to face him. Gently he pulled her loosely into his arms bending down to look into her eyes
“Kira I think it would be an understatement to say that this was not the break I had planned” he said with a smile wavering on his lips
He touched a finger to her lips to silence the question he could see rising to her soft mouth
“I am ashamed of what I had planned” he groaned an apologetic look in his eyes
“I’m also ashamed of the way I made you come here” he added. Kira’s heart leapt at his words
“It’s been so wonderful….I can’t imagine you not being here” His eyes were now passionate as he looked into hers
“I want you to stay… to stay with me…..I know we can work things out” he said with sincerity.
Kira looked back at him. God how she had longed to hear these very words from him, she wanted to throw herself into his arms and tell him how much she loved him, but she remembered three years ago. She remembered the way he had looked at her in the same way only to throw her to the side with no explanation. What would happen when he bored of her again? This time it would be worse, this time it would be so complicated. Craig saw the shadow pass in front of her eyes and felt the panic rising within him.
“I can’t’” she said her voice miserable as she lowered her eyes from his
“Why” he pleaded with her
“It’s complicated….I have to think of….” Her voice trailed off before she looked back at him her eyes swimming
“Please Craig….it can only be for this time”
Pulling herself from his arms she then turned and started walking to the house. He followed her from behind feeling cold and empty inside. He should have listened to Tom he chided himself, should have never brought her here when his body had reacted the way it did to her in his office. What a fool he had been he thought and now she had done it to him again.
Somberly they entered their bedroom together, both of them lost in their own thoughts both of them feeling miserable in the knowledge that this would be their last night together. On the night stand Kiras mobile phone beeped indicating a message.
Looking at the caller ID Kira had picked it up, looking at him, knowing that she had to make that call.
“I need to make a call” she said softly before moving out to the balcony. When she returned a few minutes later he was sitting on the end of the bed with his hands in his head running his fingers through his hair
“Who are you calling Kira” he asked his voice low and pained
He looked up at the woman standing before him
“Tell me” he demanded a pleading note in his voice
She shook her head slowly a trace of fear crossing her wonderful aqua eyes
“No” she whispered almost inaudible “I can’t”
Jumping up quickly to his feet he grabbed her by the shoulders
“Tell me Kira I need to know”
Biting her lip she continued to shake her head.
Suddenly letting her go he stepped back
“Why won’t you tell me” he asked an angry edge coming to his voice
“God, you hypocrite, you have a cheek to react the way you did about Alison”
“Craig…”she began “I can’t”
“Just as I start to think that maybe…..” he said
“I bring you here to finally get you out of my system and what do I find ….I find the little innocent girl…the one who couldn’t hurt anybody……..but that’s not real is it”
His tone was now one of complete contempt
“Damn you Kira, you haven’t changed. You’re still the same manipulative, using bitch you always were”
She looked up at him her features shocked by the sudden change in him. She was not able to understand this assault on her.
“Craig, please” she pleaded her eyes wide with hurt
“You stand there whispering words of love to him… then let me bed you” he snarled
“There is no him… and you made me…” she whispered
He laughed a short mirthless sound
“I didn’t MAKE you enjoy it……..I didn’t MAKE you seduce me” he threw at her “Or did you forget this afternoon….what kind of woman does that make you Kira”
Dropping her eyes to the ground she slowly shook her head, biting her lip to stop them trembling
“Well if you want to behave like a whore then fine… have it your way……..but it ends here …tonight”
She could hear the anger in his voice and looked up to see him kicking off his shoes and socks, her heart starting to beat quickly as she watched him undress. Removing his jacket and tie both of which he flung violently onto a chair, making her jump slightly, before undoing his shirt pulling it from his shoulders enabling her to see the smooth contours of his stomach.
Kira swallowed a small lump in her throat as a familiar desire reached her eyes on seeing him partially dressed before her. Her flushed face did not escape his scrutiny.
“Come here” he ordered her
She moved over to where he stood. She was aware that her breathing was ragged as her eyes tried to mask the desire her body couldn’t hide. However, looking into his face she was shocked at what she saw. His eyes were cold, empty of all the softness which had been there earlier and filled only with anger. As her expression changed to one of confusion he spoke, his voice cold and hard
“Take off your dress”
Realisation dawned on Kira. She had been brought here to service his needs and now she was to be made to make good on that deal. Gone was the soft gentle lover of this afternoon and in his place stood something frightening and determined to break her.
“Loosen your hair”
Kira reached up and pulled the clasp from her hair, seeing a small flicker in his eyes as her golden tresses fell around her like a protective blanket”
“Get down on your knees Kira” he said huskily
Still keeping her eyes lowered she shook her head slowly
“Craig… please” she whispered in a small pleading voice
“We had a deal” he said his voice hard and low
“Now …..Down on your knees or I will destroy Bill”
Slowly she complied until she was kneeling before him, her head bowed. She felt the tears in her eyes as he continued
“Remove the belt” he demanded
Wordlessly with finger which trembled so much that she struggled to undo the leather belt, she did as he asked.
“Now the button” he said, but there was something different about his voice, something which caught at her, but she didn’t dare to look up to let him see the tears which were now sliding down her cheeks. As she put her hand on the zipper he groaned an anguished sound his hand covering hers to stop her going any further
“Stop…don’t” his voice was a whisper as he pulled her hands from him softly.
Kira dropped them to her knees clasping them together as her whole body shook violently. Placing both hands on her arms he pulled her up to her feet his eyes taking in the tear stained cheeks and complete devastation on her face as she kept her head bowed refusing to meet his eyes.
“I’m sorry” he moaned the sound so full of anguish that her eyes finally opened to meet his.
His were full of pain and self loathing, as he kissed her tears licking them softly he kept whispering apologies against her cheek, holding her within his arms until she stopped shaking, before putting her away from him with a shudder.
“Go to bed Kira” he said a sad defeated tone in his voice before turning and moving out to the balcony.
For a few seconds she stood in complete confusion her emotions in tatters. He had not been able to carry out his plan of humiliation and she couldn’t understand why. He had looked so vulnerable when he had walked away from her and suddenly she had an over powering need to hold him not just for his sake but for her own. She needed to touch him and have her arms around him.
Kicking off her shoes, she had silently followed him out to the balcony. He hadn’t heard her coming and was looking out sightlessly at the ocean which noisily crashed against the cliff face, a soft wind rumpled his hair and his expression was one which tugged at her heart.
As she moved behind him and touched his back sliding her arms around his waist he had jumped then shivered, allowing her to hold him in her arms her face cuddling into his back. However, as her lips began to kiss his spine he moaned a sound of deep desire his head and spine arching. Slowly he turned around in her arms so that her hands were still around his waist while his hands cupped her beautiful and gentle face. Looking down into her impassioned eyes she saw that his reflected the same desire back at her. Touching her soft lips, he remembered his assault on them the first day. The memory seeing a hurt, haunted expression cross his blue eyes as he slowly and so tenderly kissed them, making her whole body shiver with such sweet sensations as she raised herself higher to deepen the kiss
“I’m so sorry” he whispered against her mouth “I don’t know what I was thinking….. I could never hurt you”
She pulled her arms from around him to wind them around his neck feeling her breasts hard against his chest as he began to kiss her with a need in him which left her completely shaken with the power of her own reaction there was no past hurt just a burning desire which filled them both. She kissed his neck and shoulders her tongue moving down for and finding his hard nipple which she took between her small teeth her tongue flicking it so sensually that he groaned loudly. Her fingers now sure and determined pulled down the zip and helped to push down his trousers until they both stood completely naked their bodies demanding each other.
He pulled her head back to meet his mouth and lifting her slightly of her feet moved backwards with her until she felt the wall against her back. She gasped in surprise at the sudden cold roughness which seemed to drive her desire even further. Pushing her legs apart, and pulling them around his waist he entered her as they stood there. Kira cried out with the pleasure which erupted within her feeling him thrusting so deeply inside her. His breathing was coming harder and more laboured as he drove himself deeper and deeper into her until with a loud cry and her whole body trembling against him he felt her climax. She arched her back against him her fingers pulling at his shoulders and with one last hard thrust he joined her, his cries music to her ears.
His orgasm was so violent and wonderful that she felt him becoming unsteady, as his knees weakened threatening to buckle beneath him. Withdrawing from her he pulled her down with him onto one of the large chairs which covered the balcony area. She lay over his knee her head under his chin as his arms enveloped her, his mouth kissing her hair which fell around them both.
It took an age for both of their breathing to return to normal, time in which they sat silently in each others arms a peaceful contentment between them.
Finally she had groaned in anguish
“We didn’t use protection” she whispered against him “Oh God”
He held her even closer
“That doesn’t matter” he whispered back looking in to her soft sad eyes
“Not any more”
Kira didn’t know what that meant but just lay her head against him allowing the seconds to pass between them
“What a mess” he finally said softly against her head
“I swore this would never happen again”
His tone was gentle with no anger in it.
She looked up at his face to see the softness with a twinge of sadness in those beautiful eyes.
“Craig….why” she asked finally voicing the one question she had most needed to know the answer to for so many years
“Why did you cut me off?”
She saw the darkness return to his eyes and softly kissed his lips
“Please….I need to know”
“You know” he said his voice a little harder
Shaking her head she replied “No I don’t … did I do something wrong…. You just stopped talking …. You wouldn’t return my calls… my letters “
He looked unbelieving into those large eyes
“Kira… please… let’s start being honest with each other” he sighed a tortured note in his voice.
“Can we at least do that?”
She pulled herself up a little so that she could look better into his eyes
“Then tell me what you think happened” she asked
Looking at her for a few seconds she watched as he fought with himself as to whether or not to go over the story. Finally he dropped his eyes from hers looking away in the distance remembering
“I’d never met anybody like you Kira” he said his voice soft “And I totally fell for you.”
She watched his eyes growing softer at the memory
“When we met my company was having some problems. I was the target of a hostile take over bid but was successfully fighting it. Then information started to leak out. Suddenly they knew things that they could only have found out from somebody high up in my organisation…or …..Somebody very close to me”
He looked at her to see if this meant anything but her expression had not changed.
“It was getting really bad and we came this close to going under. I very nearly lost everything, but I started to deliberately leave false information around and this seemed to get picked up. It saved me from going under…However; the only way this particular information could be getting picked up was from somebody in my home.”
Kira looked at him in disbelief
“You don’t think that was me” she asked in shock
He looked at her soberly.
“The take-over was being run by a man named Allan Rothman”
Kira gasped in shock
“m..my father “ she stammered
“So it’s my father who’s going after Paul”
He nodded
“When we met you never told me anything about your father, in fact you said very little even about your mother. You were very secretive about your past all together” he continued “I never made the connection because you don’t even have his name”
He sighed a sad hurt sound
“The day I was collecting you from your dorm I arrived just as your father was leaving. God he thought it was hilarious that I had been totally taken in by his daughter. Your father I didn’t give a damn about... him I could handle, but you…I wanted to kill you” he said slowly
“I wanted to go in there and drag you out and kill you. You broke my heart Kira”
She moaned against him
“I didn’t know” she cried an anguished sound escaping her lips
“Damn him” she said softly
Placing her hands on either side of his face she looked deeply into his eyes so that he could see the truth in hers
“When I was four my mother fled from my father taking a suitcase and me with her. Craig he was a beast, who used to beat her and humiliate her regularly. She had to stay on the run from him for years because he kept his detectives on our trail, not that he wanted us… just that he didn’t like anything escaping from him… from his control. I spent most of my childhood in different schools up and down the country.” She hesitated before continuing
“When I was sixteen she died” Craig kissed her gently seeing the pained look which crossed her eyes.
“She was just worn out, she had to work several jobs to keep us going and they were all casual so that he wouldn’t find us. She ignored the early signs of the cancer….she was too busy to get checked out. If she had then maybe……” she hesitated biting her lip to hold back the tears “I’ll always blame him for her death” she said the sadness in her eyes
“Craig I absolutely loathed my father. When she died, he tried to force me to come back, but I wouldn’t I told him that I would rather clean floors than be anywhere near him. He found that funny too” she said her mouth suddenly tight with anger.
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