The Taming (Wild Cats Part Two): Erotic Romance Series

by Ross, Sandra

  Only in a place where she grew up would he get to be like that, she knew that well.

  Chapter Five

  AND HIS relationship with the press.

  He complained about the paparazzi, but she knew that the press had written barely anything about him, always only about his work and his business.

  A handsome, rich and single man like him would be eaten alive by the media sharks. They would be publishing photos of him with his women companions to restaurants and theaters, gossiping about his latest conquest.

  And yet, nothing. The journalists would have had a celebration writing about his newest affair with a simple waitress. Again, not a single article anywhere.

  That wasn't possible.

  Unless someone has enough money and power to shut people up.

  He's dangerous, she repeated to herself again. And she really began to feel fear, the kind that she'd only feel when she thought about the panthers.

  She shivered.

  IN THE morning of the fifth day, he texted her.

  “I’ll be out of your apartment at 6:30. Be outside, ready, or I’ll come in and get you.”

  Fine. She would be ready, she told herself once she's gotten over the mixed feelings that assailed her at the thought that he's coming back and that she would see him again.

  She'd get through this, she told herself again. She'd survived many terrible things that would have been too much for someone her age or even older. She would survive this.

  He was right on time to pick her up and so was she, standing outside her apartment building. She got inside the car and they exchanged glances.

  “Are you well?” He was polite and distant. She couldn’t help but notice how tired he looked, but she wouldn’t let that soften her. His face was cold and emotionless but his eyes were burning.

  “Perfectly well, thank you” she answered back, coldly but politely as well.

  NICKOLAS COULD tell that she was different. Her body was full of tension and her eyes were the cold blue of the sky after a winter blizzard. Once again, he wasn’t certain of what to expect from her and he wondered if maybe he shouldn’t take her out, if it would be better to stay at the Castle.

  But the rage inside him was barely uncontrollable. As well as the fear.

  For her own safety, they should be amongst people tonight.

  THEY WERE both silent as they drove to the Castle.

  When they got inside, he spoke. “I’ll take you to my favorite restaurant tonight. You should dress up.”

  She looked at his black suit and the green tie. She decided she would need all the weapon she could have, so she agreed.

  She chose a tiny silk silver dress, very short, with a bold neckline that revealed half of her voluptuous bosom. His eyes sparkled when he saw her choice, but he didn’t make a comment.

  Her choice actually surprised him, unpleasantly so.

  Oh, she was different alright. It seemed that the little stray cat finally revealed her sharp claws. It was not a good night to do so, though. Not with the way his rational thinking and patience was diminishing by the minute.

  His choice of shoes and underwear showed his embattled mood as well. Black, high-heeled stiletto shoes were his pick.

  “How about the underwear? It’s your choice,” she reminded him with an innocent look on her face.

  His look was sardonic. “Oh… I think we’ll skip them tonight. No underwear.”

  Bastard. She would get him still.

  She put eye-liner all around her eyes and a fire-red lipstick.

  Once dressed, she gazed at herself in the mirror to make sure that she looked exactly like a typical call girl.

  GOING OUT tonight was a very bad idea.

  The tension inside the car was thick enough to hold with both hands. He couldn’t take his eyes away from her legs, since he had a very clear view of almost every inch of them with this dress she wore.

  And her breasts… one careless move and he was afraid it would all come out in the open. He didn’t know what was stronger any more, his lust or his anger. They were both mixed together in a dangerous concoction, ready enough to explode in a moment.

  He shouldn’t have left her alone for so many days, not after the incident in his office. He didn’t have much of a choice, but he should have handled it differently, he could see that now.

  He had given her time to expect him, to think, and manage a reaction. Know that it would not do her any goodto resist. They came from the same place, damn it. She shouldn't even be fighting him.

  Had he underestimated her? Mistakenly believed that since she lived in a neighborhood the mirror of his own, she would be like the women he'd met there? This was clearly the case.

  Then he would have to regroup.

  Tonight they would enter the next stage of his plan. She would succumb to his will, whether she wanted it...

  Or not.

  Chapter Six

  ENTERING THE restaurant, they attracted too much attention they both didn’t like, for different reasons each. Nickolas saw many familiar faces among the tables but avoided talking to anyone.

  Iliana wouldn't even spare a look at the men who she knew would only be thinking of breasts spilling out of the neckline of her short dress.

  She attacked him right after the appetizer.

  “So, how was your journey?” Her voice was ironic and aggressive but not loud.

  “Very profitable, thank you."

  “I’m glad for you. Now, I think we ought to clear a few things out. First, you will never treat me the way you did the day you left. If you even try to hurt me again, in any way, I will kill you. Second, I am not wearing any clothes bought by you again. If you don’t like my clothes, you don’t like me. Third, I will need more time for myself, meaning we will not be able to meet every day. I wish for time to see my friends and do other stuff. Fourth, if you really want us to continue this, you’ll have to come out in the open. You’ll have to talk about yourself, your past, everything. You will tell me everything there is to know about you. The real you!”

  His words were painful and poisonous, given in a very cold, controlled voice.

  “I see you have come tonight in a rather murderous mood. However, I will endure it… for a while. The incident in the library you refer to was rather unfortunate. However it was a mere attempt at blowing off steam. You couldn’t be that hurt. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here now, would you?”

  “I’m here because--”

  “You’re here because you want to. I didn’t force you. As for your dress code, you will wear the clothes I bought you because I will not tolerate you embarrassing both of us with your ridiculous, ugly clothes. I am a man with acquaintances in high places and I expect everything to be proper when I go out. That includes my escort. If you don’t like it, then you don’t like me. I do not mix my past with my present. You belong to my present so my past is irrelevant to you. As far as you are concerned, I was born the day we met.”

  “Yes, but you pressured me to discuss my past with you!”

  “I did, because it interferes with your behavior in the present. And if I recall correct, you refused to discuss anything further than the death of your parents."

  “You didn’t ask again…”

  “Because I respected your privacy, a thing I expect from you, too.”

  He'd nailed her to the wall not only with his stare but with his logic, no doubt about it.

  She decided to throw him a question based on instinct since she couldn't be as analytic as him.Not eith her emotions running all over the place. “Where do you live?”

  His eyes widened, showing surprise and… admiration? In a few seconds that expression had disappeared already, making her wonder if she had imagined it.

  “What is that supposed to mean? You have seen my house. You have practically lived in it for the past month.”

  “I have seen a house, a dreamy castle coming out of the pages of a fiction story. I just don’t think I’ve seen your home.”


  Her observations overwhelmed him. Was he more transparent than he thought or was her instinct so powerful? It must have been the second and that would mean he'd truly underestimated her, no doubt about it. Her mind was cunning and astonishing. He had to turn her thinking to a different direction.

  He smiled playfully.

  “Surely, you don’t mean I have the Castle as a cover while I secretly live somewhere else, like a building somewhere inside the city, do you? If you do, you should cut back on those spying novels you read so much. They really trouble your mind, I think." Before she could even think of what to say to that, he went on. "But let’s return to your charming declaration of independence, shall we? This… time for yourself, thing. What exactly does it mean? Meeting maybe... your nice slut friends in this notorious, dangerous stripping club where they perform the most... ancient kind of service? Is this what you want personal time for? This is the reason why you refuse me the pleasure of your company?"

  Shock, fear, and then anger filled her.

  Chapter Seven

  “YOU HAD me followed?!”

  The feeling of being followed all the time was now making complete sense. At least she wasn’t paranoid, as she had almost started to believe.

  “From the very moment I decided to allow you to enter my life, you have been constantly followed and monitored by my people. A woman of your background is not the safest choice for a mistress, so I had to act accordingly. And keep your voice down. People are staring at us.”

  Now his voice was also louder than before and he was obviously, trying to control his anger.

  The rage growing after every word he said was now like a derailed train. Everything became red. Complete, fire-burning red. She couldn’t stop herself even if she wanted to. She stood, pushed her chair on the floor, threw a glass of water at his face, and told him in exact terms what to shove up his ass.

  She ran as swiftly as she could out of the restaurant.

  THE BLACK sports car had already reached the taxi Iliana was in and was driving right beside them. Although it could easily overtake them, so far the two cars moved side by side, making the taxi driver anxious as he looked from the rear mirror at the other car’s headlights.

  "Oh, come on you psycho! I’m letting you pass. Go on and do it before someone comes from the opposite side and turns you into a sticker, you moron!”

  Iliana, sitting at the back seat of the taxi, couldn’t see the other driver’s face through the dark windows of his car, but was certain that he was furious. His green eyes would be cold and his mouth would have definitely turned into one thin straight line.

  It was probably not such a good idea that she left running like hell from the luxurious restaurant after pouring that glass of water all over his face, making all those phony-aristocrats sitting at the tables around them stare in complete shock and embarrassing him like that. But she was so angry! She thought she has a head-start because he would still have to pay before he could leave the restaurant, especially since she found a taxi immediately considering the pouring rain outside and the late hour. She hoped he wouldn’t follow her anyway. But she was totally wrong, of course! Such an insult in his favorite restaurant where everyone knew him was a deed he would never leave unpunished.

  As she considered the option to warn the taxi driver about the unusual circumstances of this chase, the car beside them accelerated with an angry roar, passed in front of them and in matters of seconds had disappeared up ahead in the night.

  For a moment she relaxed with the thought the chase had ended.

  Then again, was not.

  The sudden hitting of the brakes almost threw her body from the back seat to the front.

  The tires screamed as the taxi driver tried to immobilize the car before hitting the tall man in black, who was standing in the middle of the road with one hand raised as if he could repel the tons of metal running towards him.

  And yet, he did. The car’s bumper stopped a few inches away from his knees!

  She felt like all hairs were raised all over her entire body! He could have been killed, the idiot! But as angry as she was she also knew she should be afraid.

  And her first thought after that was to secure the door beside her.

  But she was too late.

  Chapter Eight

  IT OPENED wide and his hand grabbed her firmly by the arm and pulled her brutally into the dark rainy night.

  She found herself stuck to his steel-hard body and the shock of the harsh bump froze her still. His right arm wrapped tightly around her waist and his left hand pulled her hair so that her face turned up to his. But all she could see was the shape of his head. The light was behind him.

  But the icy, satisfied whisper in her ear surely raised whatever body hair was still un-raised. It gave her chills all over.

  “Gotcha."

  She struggled to break free but the handle around her waist was like iron. She couldn’t move an inch away from him. Suddenly, she realized that his manhood was rubbing on her belly and it was alive... so hard in its arousal that it felt like a steel rod.

  That’s when she really knew she was in big trouble. She tried to scream but his mouth interrupted the attempt. This was no kiss. It was an attack. His tongue pushed inside her mouth violently, aggressively, cutting her breath short. His lips crushed hers and his teeth bit her upper lip hard, making it bleed. Her heart shook with fear. But not only that.

  A familiar sense of unwanted excitement was present there, too.

  He stopped kissing her. She licked her lips. She tasted blood. She hated herself when she felt more excited because of it, like with the phone sex. she didn't want it, but why was she feeling it?!

  “My wife tends to get a little impulsive every time we fight. She keeps running away and I run after her. You know how it is…”

  He talked to the taxi driver who, all this time, watched them, still sitting inside the taxi, clearly not knowing what to do. Without loosening his handle over her, Nickolas pulled out of his pocket a big pack of notes and threw it to the taxi driver telling him at the same time how silly women could be, as a guy-to-guy talk.

  Before she realized what happened, the driver turned the taxi around and disappeared towards the road they had come from.

  “Coward, greedy little man!” she whispered to the driver who was already gone. Her voice was trembling.

  Nickolas’ almost diabolical laughter was heard even through the pouring rain. His arm loosened up a little and she got her chance. First lesson she ever learned in the hood, thank god for Ramon!

  What to do when a man won’t let go and she wore heels.

  She stepped on his shoe with her pointed heel as hard as she could and he released her, moaning from pain.

  She ran like hell.

  Unfortunately, running on a dark, wet road wearing high-heeled stiletto shoes was not a sport indicated for such an occasion. She had moved only a few steps when his hand grabbed her hair and turned her around in an elaborate move, as if they were dancing. Tears filled her eyes because of the burning pain this caused on her scalp and once more she found her face stuck on his chest with his one hand gripping her hair firmly and his other winding just under her bum, lifting her above the ground.

  Now, not only that she couldn’t move, but she could hardly breathe as well.

  Holding her like this that she could not find a way to escape again, Nickolas started walking to his car which was parked at the side of the road, whistling a happy tune like he was having a fun walk in the countryside. That made her even more frightened, mostly because she could feel the waves of fury pouring out of his body and his tensed muscles.

  She had to find a way to get out of this in one piece, she thought. But feeling his rage, this option seemed very distant at the moment. He was a determined, merciless man with a bruised ego and she was at his complete disposal in an empty, dark road. She wouldn’t go down without a fight, though. Even when she's really more scared now.

  Strange that she felt more a
live, too.

  Chapter Nine

  NICKOLAS WAS fuming.

  After all the money and effort he'd spent in trying to build a solid reputation for himself because this was part of the grand scheme of his life, it could all be ruined by this stray kitten who gave the performance of her life in front of a people, same people he probably couldn’t control to make sure this story wouldn’t make it to the press.

  And not only did he not have time to organize damage control, he had to drive like crazy in the night to run after her. His bodyguards would not be very far from here, ordered to stay where they could watch the perimeter outside but not see what's happening inside. Otherwise, they could both be easily murdered on this empty road if his enemy was watching.

  But that was the only part he cared about. At this point, he was so madly out of control. She has to be taught her lesson.

  She has to be tamed once and for all.

  Because there's no other way. He wasn't willing to let her go. He wasn't sure he could live with that, or live without her in his life. He was damn with and damn without. He rather chose to be with Iliana.

  He didn’t plan on telling her about those people following her because doing so would entail that he tell her other things he wasn't sure he could say. But when he learned that she went alone to that strip club, he freaked out.

  He was forced to order his men to follow her inside and watch her very closely, even if it meant they might blow their cover, to make sure she would be completely safe. The main reason he had her followed 24 hours a day was to protect her.

  It was the same reason a car with four bodyguards followed him, too, everywhere. Association with him made her vulnerable. And if his enemy found out who she really was...

  She'd be in even bigger danger.

  She had to be taught obedience. Tonight could never be repeated, no matter what. Since he chose her to be by his side, she would have to play by his rules. And that was not an option for her to choose. It would happen whether or not she enjoyed the process… which would be very stimulating to find out.