by Opal Carew
He wrapped his hands around her hips and helped guide her movements, setting the rhythm and speed.
His cock stroked her over and over in a steady, relentless rhythm. His eyes locked her into a state of intense awareness of him.
Thrilling sensations fluttered through her as he filled her again and again. Heat washed through every part of her. Her senses quivered at the exhilaration of their bodies joining with each rise and fall of her body.
“Tell me what you feel,” Shock said, his gaze burning through her.
“Good.” She leaned forward, her hands clutched around his shoulders. She moaned at the exquisite sensation of him filling her. “You feel so good.”
“What else?”
His cock drove deep inside her.
“Ohhh … I …” She shook her head, swept up in the building pleasure.
Suddenly he rolled them over, tucking her under his body and driving deep. “Tell me how you feel about me.”
She gazed into his eyes, so filled with desire … and something so much deeper. “I …” His cock drove deep again and she moaned, then breathed the words he wanted to hear. “I love you.”
He groaned and drove deep again.
Emotion and building pleasure swept through her.
“Fuck, Liv.” Then he shuddered and erupted inside her.
She moaned again as bliss embraced her, shattering her control.
“Oh, God, I love you so much.” She clung to him as the orgasm rocked her to her core, blasting her to pure ecstasy.
* * *
Liv’s eyelids fluttered open. She was snuggled against Shock’s hard chest, his big arms warm around her. Sunlight streamed in the window.
“So you love me.”
She stiffened at his words, the blood draining from her face as memories of last night washed through her brain in rolling waves. Of her tangled in his arms. Of their bodies joining in sweet bliss.
Of her professing her love for him.
Oh, God, how could she have let that happen? The man was married.
But he knew she’d been playacting. He’d asked her to. He couldn’t possibly believe it was real.
Except that it was. Damn it, she was totally and hopelessly in love with him.
He was a perceptive man. Maybe he’d seen the reality behind the pretense. Maybe he was worried about it. Concerned that she had fallen for him, which would make it more difficult for him to cut her loose at the end of the month.
Her heart clenched. He was a considerate man—he’d proven that in so many ways—so now he’d be worried about hurting her.
But she couldn’t let him know that.
She rolled away and sat up, needing a little distance. “No, of course not.”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean ‘of course not’?”
She shrugged. “It was role-playing. You know that.” She stood up and walked to the dresser, then pulled open the drawer. She grabbed a pair of panties and pulled them on.
He frowned. “It looked pretty real to me.”
She slid on a bra and fastened it. “It’s what you wanted, so I did my best. But don’t worry”—she pulled on her T-shirt and jeans—“it was just an act.”
* * *
Shock’s gut clenched as he stared at her. He’d woken up in a wonderful mood, knowing the woman he loved actually loved him back. She’d said it not once, but several times last night, and that love had been crystal clear in her eyes.
Now she flatly denied it.
He stood up and pulled on some boxers and his jeans.
“So let me get this straight. You’re not in love with me.”
“No,” she said resolutely.
He stared at her in disbelief. The word was like a stake piercing his heart, sending pain so deep into his soul he could barely breathe.
So everything they’d shared—everything he’d seen in her eyes—had all been a lie.
Anger blazed through him and his jaw clenched.
“Since we started this thing, I thought we’d grown close.” His fists clenched. “I thought you’d started trusting me. Damn it, Liv, I have feelings for you. You must be able to fucking see that,” he said through gritted teeth. “And yet you feel nothing for me.”
“That’s not fair,” she flared back. “Especially since—”
But she broke off abruptly.
He narrowed his eyes. “Especially since what?” he demanded.
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”
He grabbed her shoulders. “It fucking matters to me.”
Her eyes widened. “Shock, please, don’t make this any harder than it already is.”
Fuck. He released his grip on her, then scowled. She had no idea how hard it was for him, or how much pain it caused.
Her rejection all those years ago had been torture, but this … now that he’d proven to her that he would always be there for her. Always protect her and her family. Yet she still didn’t care for him.
“So for you this has just been about paying back the debt all along. Nothing more. This is college all over again. You don’t want me now any more than you did then.”
Her rejection now was a betrayal so deep, he didn’t think he’d ever recover.
He turned and stormed from the room.
* * *
Liv stared at the door as it slammed behind Shock. The look of rejection in his eyes tore at her heart.
She darted across the room and pulled it open, then dashed down the stairs behind him.
She was out of breath by the time she reached the bottom, but caught up to him. No one seemed to be around.
“Shock, I’m sorry.” She hurried along behind him to keep up with his long-legged stride.
He opened the French doors and continued outside onto the patio.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said as she followed him along the stone surface.
Suddenly, he turned toward her, his nostrils flaring, his eyes like burning embers.
“Hurt me?” The words came out stretched tight with a hard edge. He grabbed her arms and yanked her toward him. “You don’t have the power to hurt me.”
She felt herself dragged forward, then pulled around a corner of the house, out of view of the windows.
His eyes blazed as he glared down at her. “You’re here as my slave for one month. That’s it.” He pushed her hard against the wall of the house. “You signed a contract saying you’d do whatever I tell you to. If I tell you to be my fucking loving girlfriend one night, you’ll do that. If I tell you to be my whore the next, then you’ll do that. Right?”
His searing stare pinned her to the wall. She nodded her head, unable to utter a word.
He stepped forward, crushing his body against her, grinding his pelvis into hers. “And if I want to fuck you right here on the patio, then you’ll open for me and beg for more. Right?”
She nodded.
“Answer me properly,” he ground out, molten anger flaring in his eyes.
“Yes, Sir,” she answered hoarsely.
He scowled, then grabbed her wrists and pushed them over her head. Pinning them with one hand, he shoved his hand under her T-shirt and squeezed her breast, then he pushed his groin forward, pressing the hard ridge of his cock against her.
The anger seething in his eyes disturbed her, but she could see past it to the hurt she’d cause him.
He released her breast and his hand slid downward, then pushed into her jeans. When he couldn’t get far enough, he cursed, then unfastened the button and zipper and slid his hand under her exposed panties, curling his fingers over her mound.
Anxiety coiled through her, while at the same time his touch inflamed her. She remembered the safe word in the contract and wondered if she should use it … but she didn’t want to.
He pushed a finger into her.
“God damn it, struggle,” he grated. “I don’t want some little mouse who won’t stand up for herself.”
She jolted her wrists against him, almost
knocking him free at the suddenness of her movement, but he recovered instantly, tightening his grip. A smile curled his lips and he pushed his finger deeper into her, then ground his body against hers.
Oh, God, the feel of his finger inside her, his big, muscular body pinning her to the wall, sent her plummeting into a dark desire for more. A wanton need pulsed within her. She wanted him to take her right here.
His finger slipped from her and he pushed down one side of her jeans, then the other with his free hand, the other still holding her wrists above her head.
With their gazes still locked, she felt his hand move between their bodies and heard the rustle of his jeans unfastening. Then his hard, hot cock pressed against her like a branding iron. He pushed it between her thighs, then stroked forward and back, his shaft caressing her wet folds. Her insides clenched in need.
She heard the rumbling of deep voices, then the sound of the patio doors opening. She froze. She and Shock weren’t in obvious sight, but they weren’t hidden either.
Through the haze of pleasure at Shock’s cock stroking her intimate flesh, she could hear three male voices—Steele, Rip and Wild Card—as they walked into the yard.
She glanced up at Shock, her eyes wide. He heard them, too, but he grabbed her right leg and lifted it, his hand under her knee, then wrapped his other hand around his shaft and positioned the head against her opening. Then he drove inside her, impaling her against the wall.
She tried to suppress her moan at the sudden invasion, but a small sound escaped.
“What was that?” Wild Card asked from around the corner, not ten yards away.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Rip said.
“Like a woman … you know … moaning.”
Steele chuckled. “Man, I think you’ve gone too long without a woman of your own. Now you’re hearing things.”
“True that,” Wild Card responded with a laugh. “Maybe I should go in and see if Raven and Tempest are up for a threesome with me.”
“Yeah?” Rip chuckled. “If they go for it, let me know. I’d love to watch.”
Then Liv heard a splash in the pool, then another.
Shock, who had been holding her pinned to the wall, his cock buried deep inside her, began to move. As his hard flesh sent pleasure rippling through her, she glanced toward the pool. Although they were around a corner of the house from the patio, only a couple of bushes blocked them from the pool itself, and not entirely. If the men looked directly past the lush landscaping to where she and Shock were, they could catch a glimpse of them.
Shock pulled back slowly, then drove deep again, forcing another moan from her as his thick shaft stretched her passage.
* * *
A part of Shock wanted her to push him away. In fact, as fucking good as it felt being deep inside her, he wanted her to shove him off her and stalk away right now.
Because he knew he was being an asshole. But right now he couldn’t fucking stop himself.
He nipped her earlobe and she stifled a cry, then he squeezed her nipple.
“Oh,” she moaned against his ear.
Fuck, this was turning her on.
He drew back, then plunged into her again. God, she was so wet and hot. He continued to thrust, driving her body hard against the brick wall. She groaned, then nipped his ear with her teeth.
He pounded into her, driving his hard shaft deep again and again. Her nails raked down his back, and her whimpers of pleasure heated his blood, driving him closer and closer to the edge. A powerful need coiled in his center, tighter and tighter. He groaned, driving harder and faster, until a blazing pleasure blasted through him, flooding his groin, then his cock erupted inside her with potent force.
As he continued to drive into her, she moaned, losing all pretense of keeping quiet, just clinging to his shoulders. He didn’t even know when she’d grasped them.
Her moans of pleasure filled his ears and he kept thrusting, until they waned. He leaned against the wall, her body crushed to his, trying to catch his breath.
Finally he drew away from her warm, soft body and strode into the house.
Fuck, he’d been mad at her, but now he was even angrier at himself. He’d fucked her without caring about her pleasure. He’d just wanted to prove to her that she was his to do whatever he wanted with. He’d wanted to convince her he didn’t have feelings for her. That nothing she could do would hurt him or affect him in any way.
Now, if only that were true …
* * *
Liv leaned against the wall, catching her breath. She pulled her clothes together and sat on the nearby bench.
Damn it, last night he had asked her to pretend she loved him. To get the “girlfriend experience,” he’d said. Just a role-playing scenario. But from his reaction this morning, she realized it had been a test of sorts. He wanted her to be in love with him.
But why? Damn it, the man was married!
He’d pursued her in college, but she’d turned him down. She’d done it because of what had happened to her, but he hadn’t known about that. Now she’d seen just how much that rejection had affected him.
Because he was in love with her. She had seen it in his eyes.
Had he been in love with her since college?
A small hope nudged at her and she barely wanted to acknowledge it. The hope that maybe Amy had been lying to her. The photo was pretty conclusive, but maybe Shock had been married in the past, and was now divorced or widowed. She had no idea why Amy would try to convince her that he still was married, but—
“Hey, you doing okay?”
She glanced up to see Rip standing in front of her, wearing a wet bathing suit, water dripping down his legs. His muscular chest was broad and heavily inked. Every one of these men was tough looking, incredibly sexy … and deeply caring.
She nodded. “I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, thanks. Just tired.”
“Why don’t you come for a swim with us? That might revive you.”
He held out his hand and she took it without thinking. He helped her to her feet.
“Thanks. I’m not sure about the swim.”
“Come on. It’s a beautiful day.” His handsome face lit up with a smile. “What else are you going to do?”
That was a good question. She didn’t want to go back to the bedroom. She didn’t want to face Shock right now, but even if he wasn’t there, she didn’t want to stay holed up somewhere.
She managed a smile. “I guess.”
She was a little embarrassed by the thought of facing the three men after they all must have heard her moans of pleasure, but there was nothing she could do to change that, so she’d just have to get over it. She followed him across the patio, then along a stone path to the curved pool.
The other two men, Steele and Wild Card, were sitting on the steps in the water.
“Liv’s going to join us for a swim.”
“Great. The water’s perfect,” Steele said.
She would actually love to go for a swim right now, but she didn’t want to go upstairs and change because she might have to face Shock. Then she realized she didn’t need to. They’d all seen her swimming in her underwear before. And these men might be big and rough looking, but she felt safe with them. And she knew they wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want them to do.
She grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head, tossing it onto the stone deck around the pool. Then she unzipped her jeans and pushed them to the ground, the men avidly watching her.
Liv walked to the side of the pool and dove in, then swam to the shallow end where Steele sat on the steps. Wild Card and Rip were lounging on the other side of the pool.
As soon as her feet felt the bottom, she stood up and walked toward the steps, then sat down beside Steele.
“You look like you lost your best friend,” he said.
She gazed at his intense blue eyes. “I just might have.”
“I saw Shock take off into the hou
se. I take it you and he are having some problems.”
She frowned and nodded.
“Don’t worry. He’s probably taken off on his bike to clear his head. When he gets back, I’m sure everything will be fine.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“I’m sure whatever problems you and Shock are having—”
“There is no Shock and me. I don’t know if he told you or not, but I’m just here to repay a debt.” She shrugged. “He loaned me money to help my sister, and in exchange, in addition to paying him back, I agreed to ride with him for a month. Once that month is over, I’ll go home and that’s that.”
“Yeah, I don’t believe it.”
Her eyebrows lowered. “Don’t believe what?”
“I’m not debating the agreement you had. I don’t know anything about that. But there’s no way that man is going to let you go. It’s clear as day the guy’s in love with you. And he has been for a very long time.”
Why would Steele say those things to her if Shock was married? Because surely Steele would know …
Her heart fluttered. Unless Amy had been lying.
The woman had made Liv promise not to tell anyone she had revealed that Shock was married. She said she could lose her job if Shock found out. But this was too important. And if she was lying, Liv had to know.
She gazed intently at Steele. “Can I ask you something in confidence?”
“Shoot.”
“Is Shock married?”
As soon as she saw his grim expression, her heart clenched.
“Oh. You know about that.”
* * *
Shock wasn’t in their bedroom when she got there. She peered in the bathroom, but he wasn’t there either. She sucked in a deep breath and stepped into the shower, then toweled off and dressed. For the next hour she fidgeted restlessly, her thoughts a swirl of confusion.
A few hours later she heard the roar of an engine outside, coming up the long driveway to the big house.
Shock was back.
She sat on the love seat by the window, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs, rocking slightly.
She heard the front door open and close and then the rumble of male voices. Then she heard his footsteps on the stairs and a few seconds later the doorknob turned. Her gaze darted to the door as it opened.