What Alex Wants He Takes

by EM Gayle

  Some of the wall around my heart I’d tried to build to shield myself crumbled. Alex wasn’t the kind of man to say something he didn’t mean. There were times he hid behind silence, but he never lied. I trusted that implicitly. Otherwise I’d have never accepted his necklace or his terms.

  My gut clenched as I reminded myself about my now bare neck. Like a fool I’d given the most important thing I had back. For the first time in our relationship, Alex hadn’t been the one to strip me bare… I’d done that to myself.

  A pinch to my inner thigh sent sudden pain signals straight to my brain. I gasped.

  “You’re thinking too hard about this. Or you’re not paying attention. Either way, it doesn’t have to be this difficult.” With both hands, he gripped my thighs and managed to spread me another few inches.

  My muscles screamed, my clit throbbed and my stomach clenched. What the hell were a few pounds when I had a man like this between my thighs doing whatever the hell he wanted while I laid there and encouraged him?

  With my body open and available there was simply no way to hide my arousal. A fact he regularly liked to expose. The dirty rotten bastard.

  I bit back a curse as his fingers worked their way around the edges of my pussy while obviously taking care not to touch any sensitive parts. He’d drive me mad as usual and if I wasn’t careful I’d end up as desperate and unfulfilled as I’d been on the plane.

  “Are you sore from last night?”

  I was but that didn’t stop the ache building in my core that didn’t want to be denied again. “I’m fine.”

  Alex sighed. “The cursed fine. If you never spoke that word again it would be too soon. Fine is a famous code word for women and one I don’t want to hear. Now answer my question appropriately.”

  I took a deep breath because he was right. “Yes, I’m a little sore, but I don’t want you to stop.”

  “Much better. Now give me your hand.”

  I reached for him, loving the way his much larger hand wrapped around mine. Actually, any and all contact with him felt pretty damn good right now.

  “Feel how hard I am for you.” He wrapped my hand around his thick erection and I gloried in how incredible he felt. Thin, soft skin over rigid steel. I could already imagine it stretching me as he sank deep. “By all rights I should be spent today, or at least sated, yet I’m as hard for you now as the day I laid eyes on you. You do this to me, Harper. You and this body.”

  While I began to pump my hand along his shaft his hands roamed across my body. First his hands spanned my waist while sliding up my ribcage and then he stroked and caressed my breasts. There was nothing urgent this time in his movements as he took his time touching me everywhere.

  After several minutes of lifting and kneading me, his touches drew closer to my nipples that now ached for his attention. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long. He squeezed each nipple gently over and over again until I writhed under him.

  When I moaned his cock swelled in my hand. Oh God that felt good. I’d caused that reaction all on my own.

  His easy movements and loving caresses had moved me into a place where I needed to be more connected to him. “May I have a kiss?”

  A quiet, low growl sounded from his chest before he leaned forward and dove into my mouth. Unlike his slow moving hands, his lips and tongue urgently sought more. The more he kissed me and touched me the easier it was for me to remember the truth about what he enjoyed about me. Particularly my curves. He’d never lie about that, or anything else for that matter. He wanted me and it was up to me to put my insecurities aside and let him love me.

  I slipped further into a dreamlike haze brought on by his attentions and the ever-increasing rate of my arousal. He wasn’t even touching my pussy and I wanted to come.

  Alex shifted and pushed my hand away moments before he resettled between my thighs. In a slow but smooth movement he began to slide into my aching center.

  Ohhh.

  I couldn’t breathe he felt so good. This slow, controlled stroke created an entirely different sensation. A prolonged sense of being filled beyond capacity. Despite my soreness, it honestly didn’t hurt. On the contrary. My inner walls were already contracting against his invading cock.

  “Don’t forget to breathe,” he warned.

  “I—I can’t.” Once he became full seated he began a similarly slow withdrawal that seemed to light up even more sensation rich nerve endings than before. I’d died and gone to heaven. Nothing felt this good. Nothing. I clung to his back for dear life while the rest of me lay frozen in ecstasy.

  With his hands on each side of my face, Alex imprisoned my gaze while he filled me again and again. “This is mine. Body and mind, you are mine. No matter how your body changes it’s always going to be mine.”

  Unlike the many times we’d been together before, this felt different. With my body filled to the brim and his eyes locked on mine with a torrent of emotion filling them, he claimed me. There was simply nothing else to call this kind of intensity as I unraveled around him while he drove us both over the edge in a slow, friction-fueled connection that I never wanted to stop.

  Maybe in his own way, he sort of loved me too…

  Chapter 18

  Alex

  * * *

  “So, whose island is this anyway?” She dug her toes into the white sand and stared out across the horizon when she asked her question. After the most mind-blowing sex of his life and a decadent breakfast out on the terrace, they’d joined hands and headed out to the beach. Her wearing his chosen bikini while looking a lot more confident about it, not to mention hot, and him in a pair of plain green swim trunks that seemed to make her happy as she kept sneaking glances at his abs that made his mind melt every time she looked.

  “A friend of mine. I explained to him that my precious sub was about to run off to some Florida resort and he suggested I use his island immediately to set you straight.”

  She turned and stared at him. “Seriously? I thought the only person who knew about me was Jeremy.”

  And there it was in a nutshell. At least part of it anyway. He gripped her chin and turned her to face him. He hated when she deliberately avoided looking at him when she wanted to discuss something that made her uncomfortable. “No, kitten. Jeremy is not the only one who knows about you. I have several friends from the club who have seen us together.”

  “Ahh, yes. Club friends.”

  She looked like she was struggling to maintain her composure, but the slight shake of her voice gave her away. “You know how important it is to me to keep the private side of my life separate from everything else. I don’t like to live by traditional rules, but sometimes public perception can often make or break a business deal.”

  She nodded as if she understood, but he didn’t believe she did.

  “Is it just business? What about your family? You never talk about them. I didn’t even know you had a brother until Viktor Sokolov told me I was a pawn in your fight.”

  Cold swept through him. He’d been avoiding this discussion most of all. “I told you about my father’s death. What else would you like to know?” he asked.

  She lifted her head and met his gaze. “Does anyone in your family know about me?”

  God, the pain in her eyes before he even answered started to shred his heart. His need to compartmentalize his life had taken a toll on her and he’d not even noticed. Fuck.

  After several seconds went by before he answered, Harper scrambled to her feet and headed back to the water’s edge. Alex sighed. He knew he had to open up to her about the rest of his life or they’d never move on together. But the anger forcing its way to the surface made his temper short.

  “My family doesn’t know because most of them are vindictive, dangerous bastards who don’t deserve to know a woman like you.” They were only a few feet apart but he’d raised his voice to ensure she heard him.

  She whirled back to face him. “What?”

  “Seriously, Harper. My stepfather’s a selfis
h prick who only cares about making some sort of twisted name for himself in a dangerous business that I don’t want you anywhere near. My stepbrother…” This was the part that was going to get him in trouble with Harper and he knew it. But he still didn’t want to reveal too much because her life was worth more than all of them put together.

  “You knew about the night I met Ronin?” she spoke quietly, asking the one question he didn’t want to answer as she sank to her knees.

  “I did,” he said, pausing before saying anymore more. “You left an impression on him that night and he got obsessed with you. That he couldn’t figure out who you were or how you got into his party drove him fucking crazy and was a pleasure to watch.”

  Her head jerked around and she looked up at him with her hand hovering over her eyes to shade her from the sun. “What are you talking about? I left that night before things went too far. I did nothing for him to be obsessed about.”

  “That’s where you are so very wrong, Harper.” He reached down and hauled her to her feet, pulling her against his chest. If he was going to be honest, then he would have her close as he did. Part of him wanted to make sure she couldn’t run and the other wanted her to feel what she did to him. What she obviously did to Ronin too. Although the thought of Ronin ever getting his hands on Harper made rage boil in his veins and thoughts of murder dance at the edges of his mind. That fucker would never touch what was his. “Just being you is enough to make a man obsess. You may be a kick ass chef and baker with a hell of a business reputation, but to a man like me, or Ronin and hell, for that matter Jeremy, you exude submissive need. It brings out certain instincts that make us want to not only protect the fuck out of you, but it sparks the darker needs that inspire us to do bad things to you.

  Very bad, kitten,” he whispered.

  He took a deep breath against her neck and inhaled her sweet, sugary scent. “Every time I smell your skin I want to lick every inch of you until you scream my name then I want to mark you with my come. When I look at you, I ache to feel your lush lips wrapped around my dick as I rub your sensitive little clit until we both have to explode. And when I touch you, I can only think about getting so deep inside you that you can’t get me out. That’s what you do to men like me.”

  Her breathing increased tempo and he chose to hide the smile of satisfaction that gave him—for now.

  “Why was it a pleasure for you to watch him go crazy looking for me? Because of your feud?”

  Alex had to close his eyes and grit his teeth against the husky tone of her question. Her words were asking one thing, but her body was already clamoring for something else.

  “I’m not sure feud is the right word for what is going on between Ronin and me. I’ve hated him from the moment he came into my life. Not simply because his father married my mother either. If his father was an accountant from New Jersey or retired fisherman from Maine I wouldn’t give a flying fuck, but my stepfather and stepbrother are fucked up human beings. And considering how fucked up I can be, that’s saying something, don’t you think?”

  “That doesn’t exactly answer my question.”

  No, it didn’t, but he was getting there.

  “Every day Ronin and his father put my mother’s life in danger and it terrifies me that one day I’m going to get a call despite all the precautions I take…I hate them for that and that’s never going to change. If I can do anything to return that terror to them I will. So, yes, I enjoyed watching Ronin twist himself up when, despite all his resources, he couldn’t find you. I wouldn’t wish him on my worst enemy let alone someone as sweet as you.”

  She ducked her head and averted her gaze. “I’m not sweet, Alex. I’m just as tainted as they are. I’m a criminal hiding from the law. You keeping me away from them is as good for them as it is me. Although I’m afraid I won’t be able to hide forever.”

  He reached around and tugged on her chin until once again their gazes met. “You are nothing like them and you are definitely not tainted. That man—what he did to you—I take back what I said. I would sic Ronin on the man who stole the last of your childhood. He doesn’t deserve even your thoughts let alone any guilt. You won’t have to spend any more time on him, I promise you that.”

  “Don’t say that,” she whispered. “You can’t control the law. I’m going to have to deal with it.”

  “You’d be surprised. Besides I spend an obscene amount of money on the best lawyers in the world. They always find loopholes where there are none. I’m confident that you will never have to spend another moment thinking about Bill Bennett. Seriously, Harper. Let me do this for you. It’s time to look forward not back.”

  Her eyes glistened with unshed tears and he wanted to kiss them away and then lay her down and make love to her. He’d give anything to wipe away the sadness still showing on her face. But they weren’t done yet. There was one more thing…

  Chapter 19

  Alex

  * * *

  “That night I first saw you when you catered that commitment ceremony. I didn’t just see a beautiful woman with need etched across her face.”

  “You knew who I was,” she finished for him.

  “I did.” Shame at his initial plan to use her against Ronin pressed down on him. “I’m a bastard too. I know this. Now you do too.”

  “I pretty much figured it out when Viktor Sokolov told me to stop thinking with my pussy.”

  He choked at her words. “Excuse me? What?”

  She smiled, but not quite enough to reach her pretty green eyes that always reminded him of sparkling jade. “He pretty much did and he was right. I had a little time to work it out on the boat before Ronin showed up. It hurt too because I never would have seen that coming.”

  Something dark twisted inside him and he clenched his muscles in an attempt to quench it. There was too much at play here and he needed to stop it before it got out of his control. “If Ronin survived that last explosion, Viktor will be first on his list.”

  “You think he’s still alive?”

  He shrugged. “I think he has more lives than a cat. It’s the only thing that explains all the serious trouble he has made his way out of.”

  “I don’t see how. Everything that wasn’t destroyed, sank.”

  “Me either. But it’s Ronin. If anyone could get out, it would be him. You’d be surprised what he can accomplish.”

  She narrowed her eyes and looked at him warily. “You don’t sound like someone who hates him as much as you keep proclaiming.”

  He pressed his lips into a thin, grim line. “Don’t take my comments as anything other than what they are intended. Just because I dislike him does not mean I can’t assess his skills and be amazed on occasion by what he can do. He’s not a fucking super hero. He’s a hired killer. It’s important you never forget that. If he did die, then there will be repercussions to deal with. The danger doesn’t end with Ronin.” He pressed his lips quickly to hers before he continued. “I told you it was ugly and I want to protect you from it. My mother has become jaded by their life and she ignores her safety protocols all the time, proclaiming how much she hates me for doing that to her. It’s enough to make me crazy. Please don’t take this lightly. Becoming more than my submissive means taking on the responsibility of sharing the other less pleasant parts of my life.” He took a breath and held it. Most of what he’d been trying to explain to her had tumbled out in a jumbled mess. He’d made them sound one step away from a psycho ward and at times it wouldn’t be an unfair assessment.

  Harper snuggled closer before pulling them both to their knees in the soft, warm sand. “What family doesn’t come with baggage? I appreciate that you want to warn me away. Your family is a mess and a menace to society. It’s been duly noted.”

  “A mess hardly scratches the surface of the dark spot that is my twisted family. They don’t care for me any more than I them. Over the years tabloids have published rumors here and there about my lifestyle and my mother goes ballistic every time. As far as she’
s concerned she’s already lost enough and she has no interest in anymore scandal. More than once she’s threatened to cut me out of the family if I can’t keep my attitude and sexuality under control.” Alex rubbed his neck as so many unpleasant memories flooded his mind. “If it wasn’t for the fact my mother is all I have left and I can’t bear to leave her with my stepdad or Ronin to destroy, I would stay away from her for a while. I’d like her to have peace.”

  Harper cupped both his cheeks and brought their faces together until they touched from forehead to nose. “You keep too much inside.” Her warm breath caressed his face. “It can get dark in there and if you’re not careful that darkness will consume you.”

  “You still don’t fully understand. I can’t bear the thought of my family touching you. At the very least they’ll do something to embarrass you and that’s unacceptable. At the worst they could draw you in, use what they know about you against me somehow. I have to anticipate, stay one step ahead at all times to keep them away from you. You’re mine. Mine to protect. I want your life to be perfect. That’s what you deserve.”

  Harper leaned back. “I’m not perfect, Alex. Far from it. I’ve done plenty to embarrass myself all on my own. And while your desire to protect me feels really good, I don’t need it. I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”

  He studied her for a moment, considering his response. The sounds of the ocean behind her gave him a renewed sense of peace. Something that only Harper brought to his life. The fact that for the first time in forever he wasn’t mired in some business drama in the city was an amazing bonus.

  Harper’s work ethic turned him on. In fact, he loved that she had a thriving catering business that was growing fast. It made him even more proud to be her Dom.

  Was that it? Was that all he was? The idea definitely didn’t sit well anymore. Like it or not, that night she confessed her feelings had changed everything between them. She might be confused now, but she loved him and as long as she loved him he had a chance to find a way to make this work.