by Vi Carter
“There is something wrong. You need to tell me. Did I hurt you?”
“No.” I focus on his chest, my fingers trace the water flows through the groves of his muscle. “I’ve just never felt anything like that, it surprised me.” Now I look up at him. His free hand holds my neck as he pulls me into a kiss. This time it is different and so much better which I didn’t think was possible. His tongue finds its way into my mouth and I moan in surprise. I follow his movements with my own tongue and his manhood seems to grow and press heavier against me. I want to squeeze my legs closed as it throbs. My head spins and I’m moving my other hand to his neck, the pain doesn’t stop me as I cling to him with both arms. He breaks the kiss and I bury my head into the nape of his neck and stare at the beige tiles. My body feels like I am going through the aftermath of being electrified. Every nerve end jumps and I feel frazzled.
Liam reaches around me and the water stops, his hand reaches under my legs and he carries me out of the shower. I’m still buried in the nape of his neck, not ready yet to allow this feeling to go. I want to cling to it a bit longer. Liam lowers me and I glance up as he sits me on the toilet before wrapping a towel around my shoulders. He has my full attention as he wraps a towel around his waist and then removes his boxers I watch them slip from under the towel and all the way onto the floor. Strong arms wrap around me as Liam carries me out of the bathroom. His towel holds up, firmly secured to his waist. He settles us on the bed and my pulse spikes.
“Have you ever had an orgasm?”
The question has my cheeks blazing and my thighs tightening. “Yes.”
His lip tugs up, and I bite my lip. “I mean by someone who isn’t you.”
A nervous laugh bubbles up my throat. “No,” I answer honestly.
“Then let me.” Liam’s serious words have my laughter ceasing abruptly. I’m terrified, yet excited, and he moves me back on the bed until I’m lying flat on my back, he hovers over me before planting a kiss on my lips. I return the kiss but my mind is too focused on the orgasm. Would it be different from when I do it? “You need to relax.” His words enter my mouth between kisses, but I feel his fingers trail down the towel; I pull in my stomach on reflex as his hands move across it. He is still on the outside of the towel and I inhale a sharp breath as his fingers touch my bare thigh, his hand moves closer to the area that throbs and begs for him to touch it. Pushing myself closer to his hand he deepens the kiss with his tongue. When his fingers slip under my underwear I open my eyes, he’s watching me and my body seems to jump.
Long fingers touch the rim of my entrance and I tense. Liam’s other hand parts my towel and when his hand brushes my breast I close my eyes in wonder and push my tongue deeper into his mouth. I want to touch him, but I’m too afraid so I keep my hand firmly on his shoulder. His fingers dip into my wetness and I push my body harder against his hand forcing his fingers to go deeper. When they fully enter me I moan into his mouth as shots of electricity pour through me. My hand leaves his shoulder and moves down his chest. I don’t stop until I feel the towel and beneath it his manhood. Fingers move deeper inside me and I arch my back while spreading my legs even further giving him as much access as possible. My fingers move under the towel and touch him, it jumps at the contact and Liam moans. He keeps his rhythm plunging his fingers into me before bringing them back out. His thumb flicks across my clitoris and I’m holding back the orgasm. I run my own thumb across the head of his erection and he groans breaking the kiss and shifts himself away from me before moving his fingers faster, his thumb hits my clitoris harder and I can’t hold back any longer. His lips crash down on mine as I release over his fingers and cry out his name.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
LIAM
I watch her as she releases all over my hand. My own need pulses but I focus on her. Her wide eyes and swollen lips make her look even more desirable. When she had said she was a virgin, I couldn’t resist. Who could? I know now as I look down at her that she’s mine, and I wasn’t giving her back. Removing my fingers from inside her warm and wet flesh I put the towel back in place.
Her eyes flash with uncertainty as she glances at my towel her hand moving in that direction.
I stop her. “I wanted to do that for you,” I say.
“I want to do the same for you. I know I haven’t much experience, well actually none, but I’d like to try.”
My self-control was slipping, but I needed to remember that this was all new to her. “You can, but just not now.”
She lies back and the disappointment rests on her shoulders. I lie with her for a while and just watch as her face transforms as she smiles at me. Blue eyes shine at me like I gave her the world. My lips tug up into their own smile and I plant a kiss on her swollen lips. “I’m going to get dressed.”
She nods while looking at me shyly from under her lashes making it hard for me to leave. One final kiss and I make myself push off the bed and get dressed into a t-shirt and a pair of jogging pants. Glancing back at Svetlana she still lies on the bed and guilt churns in my stomach. I had no idea how I was going to make this work. How would I keep her safe, I couldn’t keep her hidden down here forever? At the back of my mind the name Jan niggles at me. She told me he’s important. Was he important enough that she would return to him if she could? Taking out a fresh t-shirt I bring it over to her.
“I’ll get you some proper clothes tomorrow,” I say as I take her hand and pull her up gently into a sitting position.
“Maybe I could go with you.” She’s smiling but I’m not.
“I can’t allow that.”
Her smile falters and she won’t meet my eye now. “I know.” She shrugs and frowns. I let her remove her bra, she’s quick using one hand. Holding the surrounding towel I pull on the t-shirt and she slowly lowers it not allowing me to see a thing. I leave her to remove her underwear and get her a fresh pair of bottoms. She opens her hand to take them.
“I can help you.”
“I want to do it myself.” She still won’t look at me as she speaks. I place them beside her and leave the room.
***
For the next three days Svetlana avoids me. She withdraws into herself and I have no idea how to get her to come back. She eats the food and uses the restroom but she won’t leave the bedroom. I’ve noticed she’s moving around more but she never joins me. I bought her new clothes and made space in the wardrobe but she hasn’t changed out of the clothes I had given her three days ago.
“Anything yet?” I ask Gregor as I meet him at the entrance of the basement.
“Nothing with Larry but we have found the red haired woman.” Gregor hands me a file and I take it. Opening it up I study the image of the red haired woman that we had been searching for.
“Margaret Murphy,” I say out loud. She’s twenty seven and her brother Matt Murphy has an involvement with the RA. She’s from Belfast.
“Do you know where she is now?”
Gregor nods looking pleased with himself. “She’s been seen in the Nuemore Hotel in Carrickmacross and guess who she was meeting?” I don’t guess and Gregor gives up the information quickly.
“Connor.”
“Can you bring her in quietly?”
“She’s not alone. Her brother Matt is with her along with a few other associated members of the RA. But the first moment she’s alone I’ll bring her to you.”
“She’s your number one priority.” Her tie with the RA told me that it was an RA job. But why kill Siobhan and try to kill Shane? That was the information I wanted to get out of her. If her brother was deep in the RA, she just might know why she was told to get rid of the security the day of the wedding. I don’t return to the basement but lock it down before going into the house.
Darragh is showing great intuition and working hard at overseeing the hotels for me. I hope to return to them next week but right now the situation with Svetlana is niggling at me.
I find Finn and Shane in the bar playing pool. It’s nice to see Finn smile, but it sl
ips when I enter and the game pauses.
“Please don’t stop on my account,” I tell them but both of them don’t resume.
“I’m going for a walk.” Finn leaves the room and I look to Shane for an answer.
“He’s pissed that you are doing nothing to find Siobhan’s killer.”
“You think I’m doing nothing?”
Shane picks up a pool ball and weighs it in his hand before putting it back down. “No. But you need to talk to him, reassure him the killer will be found.”
“I can’t give him that reassurance,” I say honestly placing my hands in my pockets. “Have you a theory on why you were targeted?”
My question catches Shane off guard, he’s about to pick up another ball but pauses before completing the action. “I have no idea. Just someone doesn’t like our family very much.”
I nod and don’t call him out on his lies. I don’t like Shane lying to me but I would find out exactly what happened no matter how deep I had to dig. “I was actually looking for you for a different reason.”
His brows rise as he waits to hear my request.
“I’m looking for a psychology teacher to come here for a one on one.”
“Yeah I can ask Rachel, she works in the labs in Dublin but studied in UCD so she might know of any free-lance psychology teacher.”
“Good if they could be here in the morning at nine I would appreciate it.”
“I’m not sure I can organize it that quick.”
I remove my hands from my pockets. “I have full faith in you that you will.”
My phone rings as I step out of the room.
“Sam have you news for me?” I continue on down the hall and to the basement as I speak to him.
“The pub they stopped in was owned by Ciara Cunningham. Who’s married to Larry’s sister.”
“Interesting,” I say as I punch the code for the basement.
“So I got talking to Ciara, and she likes to talk. Larry has special needs, and she said he was always led astray by other kids. Right now he’s missing but they aren’t worried saying he will return as he left with an old family friend.”
I enter the basement and am surprised to see Svetlana sitting on the couch. She glances at me but looks away.
Removing my jacket I place it on the back of the chair.
“Get this, the family friend was Claire Rodgers who was into some dodgy things, but Ciara didn’t expand on dodgy.”
“Did you find out anything on Claire?” I ask and Svetlana is listening. I can tell by how she leans towards me. I go into the bedroom and close the door.
“Yeah, she’s part of a local group that sells drugs and even for the right price will kill someone. I found the group and none of them were willing to give up too much information. But one of them said that Russians had been around a few days previous and spoke to Claire.”
“Great work Sam. Stay on Mr. Novak.” I end the call and let the information slide into place.
Mr. Novak was playing me. He had arranged the kidnapping that’s how he knew about it. He was trying to maybe take what I had built, accusing me of losing Svetlana or even killing her. How far would he go? And when would he strike again?
The bedroom door opens and Svetlana steps in and she looks as uncertain as she had the first day she arrived.
“Who’s Claire?”
“None of your business.” I get up off the made bed, she had been keeping the living space clean. Boredom was setting in heavily on her.
“Do you touch her like you touched me?” She crosses her arms over her chest; I’m surprised by her level of jealousy.
Removing my tie I don’t answer her.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
I glance at her and hope she sees the warning in my eyes, if she does she ignores it.
“I want to speak to my uncle.”
I open the top button of my shirt. “No.”
“I’m demanding it.”
I stand now and she tightens her arms across her chest. “It wasn’t long ago you were begging me not to let them take you. Now you want your uncle.”
“I’m always going to be a prisoner with you. I’m just waiting until you send me back and its torture. So maybe I should make that decision of when I go back.” Tears brim in her eyes as she speaks.
“You have no say. When he wants you he will come for you.” She knows this; her struggle for control was a battle she would lose.
“I hate it here.” She speaks through gritted teeth. I try not to react to her words but my body reacts and I clench my fists.
“You think I wanted you here? You are the first person to have ever seen where I live and since you arrived, I’ve had a string of people in here.”
“I’m sorry for being such an inconvenience.”
“I don’t know what you want from me.” My loud words have her hands falling to her side and her eyes widen.
She doesn’t answer.
“You don’t even know what you want, do you?” I take a few steps towards the door knowing I need to leave before I lose my temper with her. She was asking for something I couldn’t give her.
“I just want to be happy.” Her watery half smile has me stopping. “I just want to know that tomorrow my time isn’t up. I want to be free.”
Frustration rattles through me. “You tell me how I can do that for you. You tell me how I can win this?”
“You can’t win against him.” Tears stream down her face. “But you could let me be free. You could pretend …”
I’m shaking my head already. “I can’t let you go.”
“Why not?”
My hands grip her arms and I shake her. “I want you to stop this. I’m not letting you go, that is the end of this discussion.”
“Not until he clicks his fingers.”
My hand moves up to her throat and I force her to tilt her head back. “I’m not letting you go,” I repeat, her lips are parted and I bend my head and kiss her. At first she doesn’t respond but it takes a moment for her to kiss me back. My thumb rubs her neck where her heartbeat pulses under it. Her hands slam into my chest, breaking the kiss and surprising me with the force she uses. I take a step back, her lips are swollen again her cheeks coated in a pink hue.
“Don’t ever kiss me again.” She marches over to the bed and I leave her to cool down.
CHAPTER TWENTY
SVETLANA
Liam walks out of the room with clenched fists and a part of me wants to go after him. But being here, locked in this place, is breaking me down. Each touch is making me fall deeper for him and soon I fear I will give up the sun just to have his touch. That of course is until my uncle wants me back. There is something in the way that Liam had said ‘I’m not letting you go’ that sounds so final. But I’m not naïve to think my uncle would just release me after so many years of being his prisoner.
My eyes go voluntarily to the wardrobe and guilt churns in my stomach. Over the last few days I’ve tried not to even make eye contact with Liam for fear he would figure out what I am doing. So far I had managed to get four hundred euro from his wallet, a knife that he had left out after making us food, and I know the gun is still strapped to the underside of the coffee table. All the clothes he had bought me are unnecessary, but I have an outfit picked out, all black and easy to move in. Liam has started to trust me, I’m not sure if he is aware of what he is doing but he stopped locking the basement. Normally he is only gone for a few minutes but that’s all I need. I just have to wait now for the perfect opportunity.
He passes the bedroom door and glances in at me, the kiss is still burning on my lips. I look away and move back to the corner of the room that I had favored at the start. My red stiletto heels still sit in the corner. I don’t know why but they make me think of Jan. Maybe because they are the last things I wore. If I ran, Holic would kill him to spite me. My plan was to first get away from Liam and get home to the Czech. I had no idea how, but with money someone might help me. It would be my best ch
ance at getting Jan since my uncle and Holic where here in Ireland.
“Is it night time?” I shout out at Liam. My fuse is short lately. I hate not knowing if it is day or night.
He appears in the doorway. “No.”
Always with one-word answers. I turn my head away from him.
“Claire is the girl who tried to kidnap you.”
I quickly look at Liam, he hasn’t entered the room, and instead he leans against the door frame like we are having a casual conversation. He’s opened two buttons of his shirt showing off some of that tanned skin.
“What?” I’m too distracted when I look at him.
“You asked me if I touched Claire liked I touched you.”
My face flames at his matter of a fact tone.
He continues. “The answer is no. I was inquiring about her because she was the woman who tried to kidnap you.”
“What did she want me for?”
“I’m still trying to figure that out.” He pushes away from the door frame as he speaks and steps into the room. I feel so vulnerable sitting in the corner of the room as he moves towards me. When he reaches me he kneels down until he’s on his hunkers in front of me. “Why are you sitting on the floor?”
“Am I not allowed?” I fire back.
Liam exhales loudly like I’m being some awkward teenager that he has no idea how to help. “Yes you are allowed Svetlana. You just don’t have to.”
Turning my head away from him I face the wall. His eyes pull me in and strip me bare and right now I need to keep my barriers up.
“Well I want to. It’s the only thing I have control over.”
“You have the full run of my home. I haven’t mistreated you.” His words are said through clenched teeth. “Have I harmed you?”
Now I look at him. “Am I meant to be grateful that you haven’t hurt me?”
A muscle flex in his jaw. “That’s not what I am saying. You’re acting like …” He trails off.
I sneer. “Like what Liam. Like a prisoner.”