Beyond Control (Beyond, Book Two)

by Kit Rocha

  He almost thought she was joking, but he shouldn't have. They'd only been seated for a few minutes when Lex landed her first verbal blow on Sector Seven, undercutting Colby's crudely leering greeting with cool ease. The lights dimmed before the man could recover, and a dozen of Cerys's girls glided into view, draped in transparent scarves and enough sparkling jewels to impress men used to pretty things.

  Dallas appreciated the beauty of woman debauching each other, but Cerys's little show always lacked heat, honesty. The girls were pretty, no doubt, and flexible in ways some of the dancers at the Broken Circle would envy. But there was an emptiness to their movements, almost an innocence, if you could call a woman innocent as she was spread wide and stroked by a half-dozen hands before being flogged to supposed ecstasy.

  For all their artful moans and graceful thrashing, Dallas couldn't see past the choreography. The other men never seemed to notice, but they weren't used to watching Lex and Noelle crawl all over each other, their tongue-tangling kisses hot because they weren't really meant for anyone else. Even on a stage, with a crowded bar of men riveted to her every move, Lex never let anyone forget she owned her own pleasure, and anyone who got to see it should count himself lucky.

  So should any man seeking to tame her. As a second girl submitted to a whipping that turned her ass pink, Lex's hand settled in Dallas's lap. The theatrics planned by Cerys had done little enough to stir his blood, but Lex got it raging with a few clever strokes. If she'd started teasing him already, she no doubt meant to drive him crazy by the time dinner ended and they returned to their rooms.

  When this was over, he'd have time to teach her the truth. He was always crazy when it came to her.

  Chapter Eight

  Their guest suite had been modeled after a nineteenth-century Parisian brothel, complete with wide, velvet-covered chaises, elaborate crown moldings, and gilt-edged wallpaper. Everything was decorated in shades of red and gold, opulent in a heavy, desperate sort of way, and Lex hated it on sight.

  Cerys had chosen it purposefully, of that much she was sure. The woman never did anything by accident, but always by design. This room, with its low lighting and furnishings that looked cheap no matter their extravagant expense, was meant to remind Lex of her origins. Of her place.

  No matter how far she ran, it said, she would always be a whore.

  Mad was sitting on one of the sofas, smoking. Lex dropped beside him, kicked off her shoes, and plucked the cigarette from his hand. "I hope you had a better evening than we did."

  "Hard to tell, sometimes, with Bren." Once she'd taken a puff, Mad rescued the cigarette and took a long drag. "Sometimes I think he's ready to blow a vein, and it turns out he's having the time of his life."

  Bren glowered at them from the bar across the room. "This is my relaxed face."

  Lex laughed. "Mad's right. It looks just like your I'm about to rip a bastard's spine out through his ears face."

  "And all of his faces are a little busted." Mad tossed the rakish fall of hair from his eyes and grinned at Lex. "He wishes he was pretty like me."

  "Mmm." She ran her thumb over his lower lip. "And you wish you were pretty like Dallas."

  Mad bit the pad of her thumb and caught her wrist. "Where is our fearless leader?"

  "On his way." She did her best to look innocent as she tilted her head. "The guy from Eight won't talk in front of simple-minded females like me, you know."

  "Lucky you. He's more boring than God and all the angels." Mad dropped her hand back into her lap with a wink. "Speaking of higher powers, you keep your pretty little hands to yourself. I'll cuddle you all night long, but this--" his finger brushed her collar, "--means I'll answer to one vengeful motherfucker if I get too friendly."

  "You could help me blow him." The mental images were more reminiscence than imagination. "Wouldn't be the first time you'd licked my tongue and his cock."

  "Sweet words won't change my mind," Mad informed her with mock severity, but she could see the heat of memory in his gaze, as well. He'd always taken pleasure as freely as he gave it, and the more warm bodies around him, the better.

  "Too bad." She shifted on the couch until she was leaning against the opposite arm with her feet in Mad's lap. "I think Dallas is feeling a little wild tonight. But if you don't want to play..."

  Rolling his eyes, he dropped his hands to her feet. He was clever with his fingers and knew how to push his thumbs right where her foot ached from her shoes. "Don't be dense, lovely. If Dallas is feeling frisky, even Bren and his busted face will jump in the pile with you."

  Bren grunted before draining his drink. "You're sure as hell not getting any of this, though," he told Mad.

  Mad winked at Lex. "We'll see, won't we?"

  Spoken as if he had no doubt Bren would fuck him, given half a chance. Then again, few people in the world had proven immune to Mad's charms. "You're terrible," Lex proclaimed. "And delicious."

  "We're all--" The door crashed open hard enough to make him jump, and he jerked his hands away from Lex's feet as if he'd been caught with them down her pants.

  Dallas was too furious to notice. He slammed the door shut behind him and kicked it for good measure, his face carved in forbidding lines. "I hate these motherfuckers."

  Whatever the bastard from Sector Eight had said to Dallas, it hadn't made him happy. Lex made a soothing noise and beckoned him. "Time to hide from them for a while."

  Mad abandoned the sofa to make room for Dallas, who dropped to the plush cushions with a groan. "That's how I kept from wringing his damn neck. I thought about how disappointed you'd be if we had to waste the night shooting our way across two sectors to get home."

  "What the hell did he say?" she asked.

  Dallas snagged her with one arm and hauled her into his lap so she was straddling his thighs, her face level with his. Still scowling, he traced his thumb along her jaw. "He was impressed with how neatly you cut Colby's knees out from under him. He wants to buy a girl from Cerys and have me train her up like I did you."

  A notion almost as laughable as it was horrible. "Someone doesn't understand how the concept works, hmm? A woman who'll speak her mind?"

  "Like he could handle one." Dallas let his head thump back against the sofa and grinned up at her. "Besides, there's only one Lex."

  "Only me." The tension started to seep from his muscles, and she stroked her hands up his arms. "Did you tell him to go fuck himself?"

  "Worse. I told him Cerys sent you to me just the way you are." He stroked her throat and the soft lace edging her collar. "I hope she sends him a clever little spy who jerks his territory out from under him. I don't care if it makes her stronger."

  Bren couldn't let that stand. "You can't afford not to care," he told Dallas firmly. "Cerys is ruthless."

  "Fine, I don't care tonight," Dallas amended. "He's already got it in his head to take one of Cerys's girls, and I was too fucking pissed to talk him out of it."

  Lex nuzzled his cheek. "Don't listen to Bren. You need to relax for a while, or you'll drive yourself nuts."

  "Mmm." His hands fell to her hips, edging her closer. "You gonna help me relax?"

  No matter what he'd promised before dinner, he couldn't mean to include Mad and Bren--especially since at least one of them had to pull first watch. Still, just knowing the other men could hear the gentle command was its own measure of arousal. Her skin prickled, and her nipples tightened. "Is that an order?"

  He kept one hand on her hip and caught her chin with the other, his thumb coming to rest against her lips. "All night, all those bastards' eyes on you. They wish they owned you, even Cerys. But they don't, do they?"

  She couldn't move her mouth under the bruising pressure of his thumb, so she shook her head.

  "That's right. You're an O'Kane." He eased his thumb down, forcing her lips apart. "And you had your hand on my dick half the night. Get on your knees and finish what you started."

  The urge to obey trembled through her. She wanted him in her mouth, b
ut not as much as she wanted to challenge him with a little bite. So she did it literally, closing her teeth sharply on his thumb.

  He laughed and drove his other hand into her hair, twisting as he surged to his feet and spilled her to the floor. "Fine, Lexie. I'll get just as hard putting you there myself. Maybe harder."

  He held tight to her hair, the delicious pressure skirting close to pain, and her hand brushed his erection as she reached for his belt buckle. "That's how I like it. Hard enough to be a little rough."

  "I know." He gave her hair an extra sharp tug as a fond smile curved his lips. "You got a taste of what you like. You want more? Give me what I like."

  She glanced over her shoulder. Mad quirked one eyebrow at her from a large cushion, and Bren's fingers had constricted around his glass. "You're a tease, Dallas," he muttered darkly.

  "I'm a selfish bastard," Dallas corrected, dragging Lex's head back around. "Ask them if they'll watch, Lex. Ask them if they'll do it because it makes you hot."

  "I don't ask anyone for anything." She pulled his belt buckle open. "Nobody but you."

  His eyes sparked, and his slow smile promised sex, the kind where you came so hard you'd ache for days. "That's my girl." He looked past her. "You two can make yourselves scarce or park your asses on the couch and enjoy the show. I'll return the favor when Cerys sends a girl around to bounce on your dicks."

  Bren set his glass on the bar with a gentle thump. "Someone has to make sure Cerys doesn't send bullets or blades instead. I'll man the door."

  "All right." Dallas stroked Lex's cheek. "And, Bren? Don't let anyone in. Not even one of the girls. I'm not in the mood to be interrupted."

  "Yes, sir."

  The door clicked shut, and Mad rose before circling to stand next to Dallas. For once, Lex couldn't decipher the odd look in his eyes. Assessment, maybe, or anticipation. "Sure you don't want a hand, boss? Or two? I'll put 'em wherever you want 'em and keep my dick to myself."

  "Stay close," Dallas murmured, still caressing Lex's face. "If she doesn't get my fucking pants open in the next ten seconds, I may have you spank her ass."

  Not quite a tease, because he was fully capable of doing it. Lex turned to lick his wrist, running her tongue over the ink marking his skin, and jerked at his zipper. Her fingers shook when she wrapped them around the thick, hot length of his cock to guide it free.

  He shuddered before easing her hand out of the way and gripping the shaft. "Hands at the small of your back, Lex. Mad, find something to tie them there."

  He walked away, and Lex leaned toward Dallas as she crossed her wrists behind her back. "I thought you liked having me touch you."

  Challenge didn't transcend the lust in his eyes as he stroked his fist up the length of his erection, but it came close. "You need your hands to get me off?"

  There was no part of her she wouldn't use, her hands or voice or tongue. She rubbed her cheek against his fingers and licked them before continuing on to his hard, pulsing heat.

  He groaned with the first touch of her tongue, and her victory was the involuntary twitch of his hips, pushing the crown of his cock past her lips. Rough fingertips dug into the back of her head, and Dallas's voice dropped to a low rumble. "I thought about this during that whole stupid show. I could've shown them a Sector Four barbarian. Demanded you blow me right there at the dinner table."

  That and more, anything to draw those harsh noises of pleasure that echoed inside her, left her wet and desperate for relief. Lex pushed on, taking him deeper without his urging.

  "Fuck." The word seemed torn from him against his will, but more followed, gruff and intense. "You would've done it. You would have let me fuck your face, and they would have thought I owned you, because they're stupid fucks. They'll never get it."

  Cerys would. She understood the power a woman could have on her knees, the intense give and take of control that made a man like Dallas so dangerous.

  And so delectable.

  She didn't realize Mad had returned until his fingers slid down her arms. Silk followed, a sumptuous length of fabric that had undoubtedly been left for this purpose. Mad tied her wrists with a few deft movements and released her, but she could still feel him behind her, an extension of Dallas's will.

  Delectable.

  With her hands bound, she was finally free to move. Lex flexed her fingers, testing the silk. It held fast, and she turned her attention to licking the ridge around the head of Dallas's cock with her tongue. She flicked the sensitive spot just under the crown, tapped it with her tongue, and looked up to meet his eyes.

  "Suck me," he whispered, the softness of the command not blunting it in the least. "Deep and hard and fast. Get me off."

  A shudder tore through her. Maybe she'd exhausted his patience already, driven him past the point of prolonging his pleasure.

  Or maybe he wanted to come because he couldn't wait to get his hands on her.

  She moved--quick and deep, just like he'd said--her own excitement speeding her movements. He wanted so much, and she felt it all, especially when he growled and pushed against the back of her head.

  "Take off her corset," he growled, and Mad reached around to tug at the laces crisscrossing her breasts.

  So heavy and full. Lex moaned in the split second before one more thrust took him all the way into the back of her throat. She swallowed, held him there, her breath cut off as surely as her resistance. Arousal thrummed in her veins, bloomed within her until she was certain the rigid leather was all that held her in check. Without it, the cool air and Mad's hands and Dallas's eyes would drive her over the edge, and she'd explode.

  Dallas snarled and dragged her head back, and the latches on her corset gave way just in time. Mad pulled it wide, and Dallas jerked his hand roughly over his dick before groaning his release. Semen spilled across her breasts, a primal mark of possession every bit as real as the collar and the ink--and as subtle as a hard left hook to the jaw.

  She licked the corner of her mouth and tried to catch her breath. Dallas's gaze was riveted to her breasts, which heaved with each panting breath. "All yours," she rasped. "Is this what you wanted at dinner?"

  "For starters." Dallas continued to watch her as Mad eased the corset out from under her bound arms. His hands were warm and strong but carefully, deliberately impersonal. Not even Ace would have tested Dallas with that possessive glint in his eyes.

  When the fabric slipped away, Dallas touched the corner of Lex's mouth. "Mad?"

  "Yeah, boss?"

  "Go jerk off on your own or wait for the hooker. I'll make it up to you."

  Mad leaned in just enough to whisper against Lex's ear. "Have fun, honey." Then his heat vanished, and there was no one left but Dallas, looming over her with an insatiable hunger in his eyes.

  She didn't speak. There was nothing to say--not yet.

  Dallas took his time refastening his pants and shedding his vest. He looked out of place in the delicate surroundings, his broad, tattooed chest too raw and unrelentingly uncivilized.

  He didn't match the polite lie of a fancy French whorehouse, but his sudden, cocky grin flipped that thought on its head. Then the room looked out of place around Dallas, as if he was the one who truly belonged and the whole place was flawed for not bending reality to suit him.

  Everything else did. Even her.

  After an endless silence, Dallas traced her jaw and put the tip of his finger under her chin. "I'm feeling possessive tonight, Lexie love, so here's your choice. I can untie you and we can have a little tease and cuddle...or you can stand up and go into the bedroom. If you do that, I'm going to play with you until you think you can't take it anymore, and then I'm going to ride you so hard your legs won't work in the morning. Pick one."

  "Just cuddling?" She managed to climb to her feet. "Don't be such a girl, Declan."

  "Hey, I already got mine." His gaze flicked to her chest, and she could taste the smugness in the air. "If you want your turn, less backtalk, more walking."

  As if he did
n't know the truth. "There's more to sex, the really good kind, than orgasms." She turned for the bedroom, but instead of his steps trailing hers, he veered off into the washroom.

  Lex waited, one knee propped on the velvet-covered bench at the foot of the bed. Mirrors lined the walls, inset into the panels laden with delicate, fussy woodwork. Each one was framed with drapes that could be released to cover the mirrors.

  They were open now, and reflected Dallas in dizzying multitude when he returned with a damp towel in hand. He swiped it over her breasts with a teasing tenderness that undercut his low, intense words. "Obedience, Lex. I'm going to take it tonight." His knuckles grazed one nipple, and he paused to tug on it. "But you go ahead and be as sassy as you want. I'll get off on shutting you up."

  She shivered, as much from the dark look in his eyes as the sensual contact. "You always do."

  His brows drew together as he tossed aside the towel and grabbed her hips. He hauled her off the bench, then jerked her pants open roughly. "That's my girl. Always going for blood."

  Because she couldn't stop, even when her words kindled that stormy frown. "Why don't you ask yourself why you like it so much when I hiss at you?"

  "Who gives a fuck why?" He hooked her pants and underwear and dragged both down her legs. "I'm not worried about psychology with your pussy two inches from my face, love. Lift your foot."

  She began to obey automatically, and that alone was enough to slam her heel back down on the floor.

  "No?" No anger in the word, just amusement, so she wasn't ready when Dallas lunged. His shoulder thumped against her abdomen as his hand slapped down on her ass, and then he was on his feet with her dangling over his shoulder.

  Instead of a shiver, this time it was a shudder, one that shook her whole body and left her nipples in hard points that got even harder when they rubbed against the hot, bare skin of his back.

  Dallas circled the bed and dropped her onto her stomach with her feet on the floor. Nothing had been left to chance in the design of the furniture, even the height of the bed. It was high enough to support her upper body once Dallas stripped away her pants and nudged her feet apart, and no matter which way she turned her head, she was treated to her own reflection--her body bent submissively in front of him and her wrists deftly bound at the small of her back.