“Yes.” He gripped my chin and squeezed. “You have done something to me. You’ve seduce me until I’ve forgotten everything. And more. You’ve done so much more.”
My heart jerked. I’d seduced him? “How? When?”
“Since the first minute I saw you. You’ve made me want you. You’ve made me need you. I fucking can’t think. I can’t eat. I can’t do anything but come crawling back to you.”
“Oh yeah, well why don’t you whip me some more?” I dared, so furious I was trembling all over. He was blaming me for all of this? I hadn’t tried to seduce him. Quite the opposite. I’d tried to run. I’d fought. I’d…defied him at every turn. Was that what he considered seduction? “Maybe another whipping will teach me a lesson.”
His eyes narrowed to glittering slits. His grip on my chin tightened. But I didn’t wince. I didn’t cry out. I welcomed the pain. “I should.”
I gave him stink eyes right back. “Do. It.”
“I will.”
“So quit talking. Fucking do it!”
Silent but seething, he hauled me back to the big X and chained me to it, my back facing out. Then he went in search of his trusty whip.
I stood there, shaking all over, absolutely livid. What the fuck? I was so tired of these games he played. If he didn’t like what was going on, why the hell did he make me come back here? Why? One minute he was kind, gentle, caring, the next he was seething, furious. It was enough to drive anyone crazy.
And yet, I knew if he unlocked me and let me go, I wouldn’t walk out the door. I wouldn’t.
“Say rojo, red, when you can’t take any more. Do you hear me, esclavo? Rojo.”
“Rojo,” I echoed, trying to sound bored. He could beat me until I collapsed. I was not saying that fucking word. He would not break me. Nobody would.
And as far as the pain went, it was all for her, for my brave, loving, selfless little sister. I’d known, when I had agreed to come back to this godawful place, that this was most likely going to happen. So, here I was. Once again. About to get whipped. At least there was a purpose in it all.
This time, instead of striking my ass, he hit my back, with some kind of whip with a lot of tails on it. The pain wasn’t as sharp, more of a dull thump, but more spread out. It was more than tolerable. So I closed my eyes and let myself get lost in all memories and images, good and bad. Of my sister and I playing. And sharing secrets. And crying. And holding each other when we were afraid.
“Say it, esclavo. Dammit. Rojo!” I heard him yell. I had no idea how many times he’d struck me. I wasn’t keeping track.
My lips sealed. I shook my head and braced myself for more.
They came and with them my tears and guilt streamed from my body. Yes, at last I was getting what I’d been searching for all this time, since I’d done the cowardly thing and run. I’d left my sister with that bastard. I’d known what would happen to her. But I’d been too weak, too selfish, to think about it. I’d just run to save my own ass.
All these years, I’d been looking for a chance to redeem myself, to pay the price for my weakness, my selfishness.
Every lash was for her. A punishment for a crime nobody but I knew about. And I accepted every one of them with gratitude.
I don’t know if he realized how grateful I was for the pain. I doubt he could know. But that didn’t matter. It was real. And it was right. And it was all for her, for Karrie. Every tear. Every drop of blood. Shed because of all the blood and tears she had shed for me.
If only I’d been stronger. If only.
Then she would still be alive.
“More,” I yelled. “Give me more.”
“No!”
He slammed the whip on the floor and yanked at the cuffs holding my arms and legs in place. While he worked, a stream of Spanish flew from his mouth, too fast and too angry for me to comprehend a word of it. Once he had me unbuckled he jerked me around. “What the fuck is this?” he demanded. “Do you wish me to kill you?”
My gaze met his.
Peace. All I felt was peace. Even staring this furious Spaniard in the eye. It was wonderful.
I smiled, and something inside him snapped. He jerked me against him and kissed me. His kiss was full of fury and passion.
His mouth punished me far worse than his whip could. It made me want him. It made me need him. It made me so desperate for his touch that I writhed against him, grinding my hips so the hard lump in his pants hit me at just the right spot.
God help me, I needed him to take me. All of me. And once he did that, I knew I would be his forever. My heart would belong to him. A man who didn’t want it.
He slammed me against the wall, scooped me off my feet. I wrapped my legs around his waist, feet hooked together. His tongue plunged in and out of my mouth, filling it with his decadent, intoxicating flavor. His hands explored my wet folds, one finger dipping into my tight core and stretching it while another flicked over my clit.
“You make me want what I cannot have,” he murmured against my mouth.
He made me want things I shouldn’t want. And he made me need things I shouldn’t need.
I shook. I trembled. I whimpered.
“Tell me to stop, esclavo,” he demanded as he pushed two fingers into my tight pussy.
There was no way I could tell him that. Every cell in my body was aching need. I wanted him to plunge his cock into every hole and mark me as his.
This was insanity. Despite the overwhelming sensations burning through my body, I knew it. I was ready, and more than willing, to let him take my innocence, the only thing of value I had to offer my future husband. Even knowing he would shove me out the door when he was done and buy his next girl.
I was fucked up. But at that moment, it didn’t matter.
“Take me,” I growled as I clawed at his shoulders. “Now.”
“No.” Spinning around, he set me on my feet. I wobbled and he clasped my upper arms in his steel-like grip and glared down at me. “I won’t.”
Fuck it, I would beg. “Please.”
“No. That is one thing that does not belong to me.”
Tears gathered and burned. My throat closed up. My knees buckled and I fell to the floor, my hands skimming down his body as I sank. “You bastard!”
“Esclavo.” He slipped to his knees too, kneeling across from me, his eyes sparkling with emotion. “Forgive me.”
“You made me want you,” I admitted, choking on the words.
“This is why I sent you away.” He cupped my cheek. His tender touch was more agonizing than all the whippings he’d given me so far.
“You don’t want me. But then why did you make me come back?”
“Because I do want you.” He bent down, angling closer. I could feel his sweet breath warming my skin. And my nostrils filled with the intoxicating scent of his cologne. “I want you more than I can say. More than I ever thought I could want a woman. But I can’t have you.”
“Why? I’m telling you it’s okay.”
His lips curled into a semi-smile as he looked at me. His eyes softened. And my breath caught in my throat. That was the expression that I had come to crave. That one. The one full of vulnerability and wanting. “All I think about is having you. I want you. To be mine. All mine and only mine. But…”
His confession made my heart feel so light I thought I might launch into space. “I could be yours.” I lunged at him, arms open, but he caught my wrists again and pushed me back.
“No. If you are mine I will destroy you.”
“No. I’m strong. I won’t let--”
“Yes, I will,” he interrupted. “It doesn’t matter how strong you are.” He released my wrists and stared down at his hands, as if he despised them. “I am a monster. I cannot help it. I cannot love anyone without tearing them to pieces.”
“I’m strong.”
“No!” He shoved me backward, hard, and I tumbled onto my ass.
Gritting my teeth with determination, I swung at him, palm open and aimed for
his face.
The resulting loud smack that echoed through the room should have been satisfying but it wasn’t. It only sparked more fury in me. I unleashed it on him, leaping on top of him and pounding his beautiful face and chest with my fists. I’d never struck another human being. Ever. I couldn’t believe how good it felt, letting the dam break and all those emotions come surging out. My knuckles popped as my hands slammed into his hard bulk over and over, but I didn’t stop. Not until I was breathless and exhausted.
Then I let my hands fall to my sides and glared at him. “You made a mistake, Kace. You bought the wrong girl if you expected me to meekly slink off and let you buy another. Fuck that. I’m the only girl you need.”
Kace shook his head. “Why the hell do you want me so much? Why do you ask for pain?”
“I’m in pain all the time,” I confessed, for the first time, even to myself. “There isn’t a minute that I don’t hurt. The pain you give me is a welcome relief. It cleanses me. It redeems me. It strips away all the guilt that has been eating at my soul.”
He reached for me, pulled me against him and wrapped his arms around my trembling body. “What happened to you? Why is there so much darkness in your heart?”
“Because I was once too weak and selfish to think about someone else, someone weaker than me, innocent,” I answered, my face pressed against his chest. “I can’t live with the guilt another minute. Every lash from you takes a little away. I finally found a way to pay for that sin. You can’t take it away from me now.”
Moving back, he tipped my chin so his gaze could find mine. “Then you want me because of the pain I might give you?”
“Yes. No. Not only for that. Because I not only crave the kiss of your whip but also the tender strokes of your hands. Those are the ones that have brought me to my knees. Your kisses. Your caresses. You have a heart, Kace. You have a soul. I know it. I’ve seen them both. And they’re beautiful.”
“Until I met you, I didn’t think I did.”
“And until I met you, I had no idea how lonely and isolated I’d let myself become. Or that there would be any way for me to shed the mountain of guilt I’ve been hauling on my back since my sister died. We’ve only known each other for a few days, but I know, without any doubt that we need each other. You are like a mirror, helping me see everything I couldn’t about myself. And I…I think I do the same for you. We just can’t be afraid to accept the truth.”
He shook his head. His arms slid away, falling to his sides. “I will destroy you, Kendall.”
I clasped his face between my hands and looked deep into his eyes. What I saw there didn’t scare me. Not at all. “No, you won’t destroy me. I trust you. You just need to trust yourself.”
God help me. She has made me want to live again. In the present. Not in the past. For the next three days. Only three days. Because to do anything else would be too cruel. And even I cannot be that heartless. –Kace R.
Eleven
Taking me by complete surprise, Kace pulled me flush against him. Mere minutes ago I had experienced the most intense orgasm of my life, but that didn’t stop my body from reacting to his heat. In an instant, my blood was burning. My heartbeat became erratic.
“Dammit, you should run from me.”
“Run? No.”
His hand skimmed down my side and every nerve in my system became electrified. His gaze darkened. “Yes, you should.” Without warning, he spun me around and slammed me against the wall.
Trapped. I was pinned between a cool wall and a hot man. Both hard, immobile.
He tipped his head slightly. “I’m dangerous,” he whispered.
Dangerous.
There was no denying that. But not because of the reasons he thought. It wasn’t because he…
He looked like a god.
He was strong and sexy.
He made me feel things I had never felt before.
I started to tell him what I thought, but he turned me around again and slammed his mouth over mine, cutting me off. His kiss was darkly erotic, feral. It was a claiming, a possession. His tongue pushed past my lips, dipping into my mouth. His hands explored my trembling body, making me whimper. Then one hand cupped my ass, his fingers slipping into my hot center.
Was he going to take me at last? Or would he torment me again? Make me beg for mercy?
He groaned. “Wet.”
Yes, I was. I was wet. I was ready. And…my pussy clenched.
I was empty.
“Unzip me,” he commanded.
Ohmygod, he was going to do it. He was going to make love to me.
Reaching between our bodies, I unbuckled his belt then unfastened his pants. He was wearing no underwear. I slid my hand inside his pants and curled my fingers around his hard, warm length. He was so thick. Oh God, he would fill me perfectly. I tugged his cock free from his pants and a deep rumble vibrated in his chest.
He grasped one of my legs by the knee and lifted it, opening my center to him. The head of his cock prodded at my opening.
This was it. Oh God. Ohgodohgodohgod.
“You’re mine, Kendall” he said, cupping my chin and forcing it up and back so I would meet his gaze. “Only mine.” His hips rocked forward.
I felt the thin flap of skin rip as his thick erection surged deep, claiming my innocence. The pleasure-pain was almost unbearable. My body tensed, muscles coiling into hard knots. My inner walls clamped around his cock as it slowly retreated, nearly pulling out then slammed back in, filling me. Again and again, he thrust inside me. And with each inward thrust my body accommodated him a little easier. The pain eased. Erotic heat took its place, rippling through my body in waves. The heat blazing through me, coupled with the sounds of his heavy breaths and the sweet scent of his skin, was almost too much. All I could do was cling to him and ride through the bliss.
It would overtake me. Quickly. Too quickly.
A string of growly Spanish words tumbled from his lips. I had no idea what he said, but they made me tremble with wanton need anyway. As if he could read my mind, he fucked me harder. His hips slammed forward and back, forward and back. Fast. Faster.
I was losing control. A scream of ecstasy gathered in my chest. Enormous waves of pleasure crashed through my system, sending me tumbling head-over-heels toward a swift, hard, bone-melting climax.
“Kendall,” he said. “Kendall.” Ramming into me, hard, he demanded, “Now. Come for me, ángel.”
His command was my undoing. The whisper thin thread of control snapped. I tumbled over the precipice. A spasm gripped my whole body. My pussy rippled around his cock and the scream that had been caught in my chest surged up my throat, echoing through the room.
I was his. I belonged to this gorgeous, amazing, sexy, complicated man. For today.
For the next few days.
And maybe, perhaps, who knew…maybe longer.
His cock swelled inside me. I wrapped my arms around him as he came, his seed filling me until it was dripping down the inside of my thigh. His cock drove deep inside, thrusting in and out until every last drop had been expelled. Then he pulled out of me, zipped his pants shut and scooped me into his arms. Carrying me as if I weighed no more than a feather, he hurried down the hall. He didn’t turn into my room. He continued to the far end of the corridor and opened a door, entering a magnificent bedroom.
His bedroom.
“This is where you’ll sleep for the rest of the week, mi angel,” he said as he lowered me onto his enormous four-poster bed. “Here. In my bed. With me.” As he bent over me, his gaze traveled down the length of my body. “Do not move.” He left me, hurrying through a door, into an attached bathroom. I heard cabinet doors slamming, water running. He returned with a damp washcloth. I reached for it, but he shook his head. “No, I will do it.” Gently, he eased my legs apart. “You bled. Are you in pain?” He pressed the warm cloth against my tender bits.
“I’m okay. Just a little sore. That feels good.”
“Hmmm.” He held it ther
e, smiling into my eyes. “If you are sore, then we will not do that again.”
“Oh, no!” I proclaimed, propping myself up on my elbows. “You can’t say that. We have three days left. I want to spend every minute of them doing what we just did.”
His deep chuckle was enough to make my heart go pitter-pat. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I insist. You must fuck me, Kace. Lots of times. Over and over. And I demand you tie me up. Whip me. Abuse me. Make me scream.”
His bewildered expression was priceless.
I giggled. “So, who’s the monster now, Señor Ramos?”
* * * * *
Three incredible days later, our time was up. A week flew by so fast. So much happened. So many things changed. What had started out as a nightmare had turned into a fantasy.
I hadn’t confronted Sid about calling Kace yet. I’d told her he was an abusive monster, and yet she’d called him and told him to come get me, and take me back. It was so unlike her. And yet...the more I thought about it...so not unlike her. So many times she’d proven she knew me better than I knew myself. Maybe this was another of those instances.
As I sat there, waiting for Kace, waiting to find out whether I would be going home or staying, a conversation Sid and I had shared one night flashed in my memory. A discussion we’d had about one of my stories. About whether we could fall in love with a man like Kace, a man who was powerful and sexy and flawed. In that book the heroine was kidnapped. I remembered, now, how Sid had mentioned kidnapping was a common theme in my books.
Holy crap.
Ohmygod.
It was Sid, not Fallon Franchot.
My best friend. She’d set the whole thing up. Everything. She’d probably even faked being sick.
God, I loved her.
Thanks to her, I’d spent seven glorious days with the most wonderful, complicated, sexiest man I’d ever met. Kace Ramos. My captor, my enemy and my tormenter. In one week he had become my redeemer, my hero, and my lover.
Just the thought of going a single hour without seeing him, touching him or hearing his voice made my insides tie into agonizing knots. I didn’t want to get on a plane and fly back to my old life. I wanted to stay longer. At least a few more weeks. Maybe a month. Or two.
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