Empowered

by Cynthia Dane

“How can you insult your own mother like that… and not use the proper accent?”

  “My apologies.” Sarah cleared her throat. When she repeated her insult, she made sure to use the proper, ladylike accent Elizabeth Brown-Clayborn would use and approve of. I almost sound like I belong in some low-class boarding school. Sarah was no natural when it came to British accents. Nigel could do it and get away with it. Helps him score chicks, I’m sure. Sarah saw no advantage to speaking with a British accent – outside of Europe, anyway. If anything, it upped her chances of being made fun of in a country that did not take too kindly to those damn foreigners, Anglo or non.

  “Not quite what I expected.”

  “What did you expect, Mr. Blackbourne?” Sarah put her wineglass down. “Utter complacency?”

  “With you? God forbid.”

  Sarah hated it when he got a smile out of her. Why show him this side of me? Girlish, fun, vulnerable. Men saw those things in a woman and instantly attempted to quash them. Why give him the satisfaction? Why put herself in that position again?

  Why trust anyone at all?

  “Damn. Got you to smile for a whole three seconds.” Lucas leaned across the counter. “But it was a good three seconds.”

  He collected the dirty dishes while Sarah remained in her seat. Whatever. She pulled out her phone and found a text from her brother. “You still gonna be out late?”

  Sarah glanced in Lucas’s direction. He rinsed off and stuffed flatware in the dishwasher, his muscular body flexing with every mundane movement. “Like I said, don’t wait up.”

  Sarah put her phone away the moment Lucas turned around, drying his hands on a clean towel. They shared nothing but a few seconds’ worth of looks before Lucas crossed the kitchen, rounded the island counter, and nearly pulled Sarah off her stool.

  Chapter 11

  “What do I have to do to get you in my bedroom?” he muttered against her cheek.

  Sarah’s instincts told her to grab onto his shoulders and hang on. Good thing her instincts rarely failed her anymore. Lucas had her up, legs wrapped securely around his waist and hair falling between them as he turned them both toward the back of the penthouse.

  “You’re doing it right now.”

  He growled in self-assuredness as they made their slow trek across the room. His hands both cupped her ass and hooked beneath her knee, gestures that helped her relax against his trek. Oh, they were doing this. Sarah would soon end up on her back on his bed, his body overpowering hers in that brutally animalistic way she hated to admit she loved. No, no. Not loved. Yearned for. That was it. She yearned for the wild way a man could fuck her.

  Occasionally she had obnoxious thoughts regarding how dumb this was. If their mutual acquaintance ever found out about this, she could be in big trouble. He could be in trouble, although not as big as her. It was natural for men in power to fuck their subordinates. That’s how it had gone for millions of years in every tribe around the world. Sarah was complicit to it whether or not her morals got in the way.

  With Lucas, her morals often showed themselves out the door.

  Could it be helped that they had so much chemistry? From the moment she saw him, Sarah was attracted to him. He feigned disinterest at first, but the need for her was there. It had continued to be there, until his need for her overcame that initial attraction on her end.

  Nobody could have anticipated this night would happen. Who would have ever guessed Lucas Blackbourne would haul Sarah into his room and fall with her on top of his bed.

  He kissed her as soon as they landed.

  “What makes you think you can fuck me that easily?”

  Lucas’s lips were merciless against her neck. She had half a mind to tell him to watch the hickies, but this? Too good. When his voice rumbled against her flesh, Sarah quivered in terrible anticipation. “The fact that we have yet to do it in a damn bed. You know you’re dying to find out what it’s like too.”

  “Am I?”

  He covered her mouth with his, probably to shut her up. The kiss that resulted was simply a cherry on their sexual sundae. “Yes, Sarah.”

  Well, if he said so.

  She kissed him back, raising her head, moving her lips, touching his face with her small hands and sharing the slight moans vibrating in her throat. Lucas’s hips sensually undulated between her thighs, awakening the sexuality always dormant within her. A sexuality she often reserved for a persona she adopted when the world was too hard to bear on her own.

  That persona was the first side of her Lucas knew. Most men would have pretended to never recognize Sarah later on, or at least try to lord it over her. Not him. It had only intrigued him more. Not once had he made her feel like nothing more than the help he happened to fuck.

  Unlike other men.

  Desperation drove Sarah to thrust against him, her body begging his to seal the deal that night. Fuck me. Make love to me. Have sex with me. I don’t care what you call it. She wanted him inside of her. She wanted him to share every inch of his body and what he kept inside. Share it with me. Please.

  Rushing was not an option tonight. With all the time in the world to amuse themselves, Lucas indulged in slowly undressing her. He ran his tongue from the depths of her navel to the bottoms of her breasts. Lightly sucked her nipple while pulling her blouse over her head. Unhooked her bra with one hand and pulled on her belt with the other. Slowly unzipped her jeans so he could slip his hand down on top of her underwear and feel her arousal through warm lace and cotton. It drove her fucking mad. Every tease of his body was torture to hers. I know I said I don’t care if you make simple love, but… I’m so not used to this. Men usually wanted it hard and fast. Hell, Lucas was usually fine with hard and fast. The idea a man would want to take his time with her was so foreign that she didn’t know what to do with herself. Five minutes in and she hadn’t been penetrated yet. How did she process shit like this?

  “Do you like it when I circle your clit or take it right on?”

  Seriously? He was asking that instead of experimenting? I would find the one considerate lover left on this planet. Sarah didn’t want to think when she had sex. She wanted to embroil herself in passionate play that left her thighs wet and shaking when it was over. Regret, if it happened, could come later.

  “Right on.”

  She groaned in undeniable pleasure from the delectable way Lucas touched her. The tightness of her jeans kept him close to her – little room for experimentation. That made it hotter. And her wetter.

  “I’m going to fuck you however you want, Sarah.” His other hand went to his zipper and yanked it down as quickly as possible. “Tell me how you want it.”

  “Bare.” Of course that was the first word out of her damn mouth. “Unless you still have a problem with that, sir.”

  He better not. Sarah’s thirst was unquenchable. The only way it could possibly be satiated was with his skin inside of her, not a single bit of anything else separating his touch from hers.

  Ah, there it was. His bare – and hard already, it should be noted – cock pressed against her abdomen. Lucas withdrew his hand from Sarah’s jeans and rubbed her slick essence along his shaft. Fuck me, that’s so hot. She could do that for him, if he wanted. Instead, she’d have to channel her throttling energy into tearing his shirt above his head and sighing at how damn good his warm chest felt against her naked torso.

  He was right. She had been dying to feel him like this too.

  “No fucking problem. God, if you don’t think I want to fuck you like this…”

  “Do it.” She pulled what hair she could find. “Don’t waste any more time, Luke. I’m not going to change my mind!”

  A man had never ripped a woman’s jeans off her so quickly before. Nor had a man kept his own pants on for so little time.

  This was it. Not that Sarah could quite believe it. Was she finally getting something she wanted from this man? And, really? It had only taken three previous encounters to get him to sheath his cock in nothing but her? At fir
st Sarah worried that he was nothing but a tease. He eased his tip into her, grunting in approval at how wet, warm, and soft she was against his sensitive tip. That was probably it. He wouldn’t dare shove more into her without reaching for a condom…

  “Ah!” She was wrong.

  Sarah’s fingers tangled in his short hair. His face burrowed into her cleavage and stayed there as he focused on his cock entering her. More, more. Every inch surprised Sarah, a woman who was not easily impressed when it came to men and their assets. Lucas was not the most well-endowed – or hell, even skilled – man to have his way with her, but there was something else, something beyond mere hooking up that existed between them. Was it his genuine like for her? Her willingness to open up to someone, if even for a little while? Whatever made that spark explode between them, it was only exacerbated by Sarah’s intense cravings for him to fuck her as naturally as possible.

  “Thought about asking if anyone’s ever told you that you feel really, really fucking good…” His breathless voice caressed her skin as his lips made their way up to hers. “But I’ve decided I don’t give a shit what other people think of you. God help me, you’re amazing.”

  “Stop flattering me and prove it.”

  Take her away. Show her heaven. Whatever he did, he better make sure Sarah had no idea what was up and what was down by the time he was through with her tight cunt.

  She wanted to die. Not because she was in pain, or because Lucas disgusted her. She wanted to die because it had never felt like this before.

  She had been with rich men before. Men who knew how good they were in bed and out to prove themselves to any woman who would let them. But they never made her feel like they were one, that they were meant to be doing this right here, right there. Lucas? He made her feel like their bodies had been crafted exactly for what they were doing. He was right there with her. Focused on her. Intent on bringing her to orgasm with nothing but his cock and the mouth that kissed hers. His tongue penetrated her mouth in time to his cock penetrating her depths. His skill was exactly the same from before, but Sarah swore she had never been closer to any other man before. And this was a woman who often partook in risky sex because she was convinced it made her stronger.

  Maybe this was why Lucas had been careful. He knew what he was capable of when completely unleashed. Sarah knew she could handle it, but could he?

  Not from the way his tongue plunged into her throat whenever her hips rose to take on his. Not from the way he held her hands above her head and leveraged himself against her thighs as he increased his speed, desperate to make them both climax already.

  “Look what you do to me.” Winded, but with enough stamina to ruin her still. That was Lucas when he demanded she rejoin him in reality, his girth filling her, swelling, hot, and eager to finish inside of her. Yes, yes! Sarah’s toes curled to consider it. “You make me do things I normally don’t do.”

  “Good.” Sarah couldn’t open her eyes when she was this far gone in the world of sexual serenity. “I’m gonna come.”

  “Fuck, I know! You think I can’t feel it?”

  “You’re gonna come too.” She lifted her head and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Come inside me.”

  He pushed her back down, pinning her shoulders while rocking himself into her over and over, as if she had never considered such intensity before.

  Too much. Too fucking much for one woman to stand. With her eyes opened, anyway.

  Sarah was prepared to lose herself in the moment. To close her eyes, arch her back, and think of nothing but this strong, handsome man bringing her to the kind of climax she always yearned to have. I need to be filled with more than your cock, Mr. Blackbourne. What she would give to share that level of intimacy with him right now…

  This was it. He touched her core in such a way that there was no stopping the orgasmic pleasure claiming her.

  “Lucas!” Shit. Why did she have to go and cry out his name like that? It was gonna go to his head. And his full name? Really? Not even “Luke?” She really was losing herself in this guy, wasn’t she? “Oh!”

  He had to be at his tipping point too. Because that was a mighty thick cock inside of her, and men didn’t get that way because they were aroused.

  They got that way because they needed to come.

  Rarely did Sarah achieve such an intense orgasm. While she could attribute it to the man, his skills, or that pesky emotion he insisted on dragging out of her… nah. She wouldn’t attribute anything to it. Why bother? Why not simply succumb to the moment and enjoy herself? They were here. They were doing this. Lucas knew she enjoyed sex, let alone with him. What would holding back achieve, aside some exit strategy in case this blew up in her face?

  Besides. This level of climax allowed a woman to physically encourage her partner to give her all he had.

  He did. All over her abdomen.

  Sarah instantly felt him leave her body, but she was so far gone that it didn’t matter anymore. Her thighs refused to close. Her muscles, still convinced they had something to encourage, continued to clench and beg for stimulation. But the emptiness Lucas left behind could not be filled again. His own orgasm made sure of that the moment it drenched her skin.

  She watched him come on her stomach, both in disbelief and in a little awe. The only time she realized he moaned in pleasure was when she stroked his shaft and rubbed the tip of his cock against the mess it made. More than a little bit of it filled her navel and began to drip down her side.

  They didn’t make eye contact again until they both came down from that strange space they occupied together.

  “Hope you’re going to clean that up,” Sarah said.

  Lucas remained hovering over her. “I’ve got a shower. With a bench.”

  “Oooh, a bench. So impressed.”

  Like he had practically lifted her off the kitchen stool, he now practically dragged her off his bed on the way to his master suite. “You will be when we’re done.” He didn’t give her an estimate as to when that would be. As it turned out, he expected them both to be good and pruned by the time they got out of there.

  ***

  Sarah sat on the edge of his bed wearing a large band T-shirt he loaned her. She hadn’t bothered to put her underwear back on, although she considered putting on all of her clothes and heading home. She didn’t intend to spend the night. Not with work in the morning.

  “Why so pensive?” He stood next to her, shirtless and wearing black drawstring sweatpants. They were loose enough to hang beneath his Adonis line. “Thinking about that tea I promised you earlier?”

  She glanced up at him before looking away again. Even when he tucked her stray hair behind her ear, she remained motionless. “Thinking about tomorrow.”

  “Ah. Worried about how we’ll act around each other?”

  “No.” That wasn’t what she had been thinking about at all. “Simply wondering if I have to do certain things for my job tomorrow.” Like going to the manor in the Hills. Last thing she wanted to do after a night like tonight was go see the man that fucked her up to begin with.

  “You mean going to see Russell? I thought that was Alisha’s job.”

  Sarah turned her head. “That’s not what I’m…”

  “Relax.” Lucas wandered away. “I know all about it.”

  Were there colors in the room? Because Sarah suddenly couldn’t see anything but a hot white light of rage. “All about what?”

  Why was he shrugging? Did he think this was funny? “About you and Damon’s father.”

  “You what?” She leaped off the bed. “Who fucking told you?”

  Lucas turned and crossed his arms. What? Had the urge to fend her off already? “Nobody. I figured it out for myself, based on the drops I cobbled together from here and there. Besides, Damon and his wife have terrible soundproofing in their home. I heard her taking him to task about last week when I was in the other room. I figured it out from there. You, him, clandestine affair that ended terribly… based on some things you�
��ve said, I’m guessing there was a baby involved.”

  Sarah’s weakened knees forced her back on the bed, her face so pale she thought she would be sick. “How could you…”

  “I’ve had a lot of things handed to me for being born, Sarah, but I haven’t doubled my family’s fortunes in ten years because I’m stupid.”

  No.

  Sarah pulled his T-shirt off like a man would – pulled it up over the back of her head and tossed it on the ground. Naked, she collected her clothes and put them on as quickly as possible, all while Lucas watched with only mild curiosity on his face.

  “I’ve offended you.”

  Sarah wrestled with her twice-damned jeans. A damnation for each pant leg. “Fuck off!”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She shot him the nastiest look she could muster, which was not difficult with her current level of boiling rage. When his expression did not change, she marched up to him, blouse half on and bra unclasping on its own. “If you were really sorry, you wouldn’t have said a damn thing, let alone pried into my personal life. I bet you’re one of those assholes who gets off on fucking women with crappy histories.”

  “Hardly.”

  Would it be uncouth to slap a man she had slept with? Because that’s what she was going to…

  He caught her wrist the moment her hand came for his cheek.

  A standstill commenced. Sarah refused to spare him her burning gaze. Lucas’s grip tightened.

  He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

  Sarah attempted to resist. An attempt that began in her brain but quickly lost steam once his lips were on hers again. Fuck off. Go jump in traffic. Never show your face around me again. Thoughts that dissipated from her mind because of one stupid kiss.

  “How else was I supposed to find out anything about you?” His hands remained around her head while her fingers lightly scratched at his throat and chest. “You won’t tell me anything.”

  “As if you have no skeletons in your closet.”

  Lucas kissed her once more, briefly, enticing her with promises of more lovemaking if she would have him. She wouldn’t. Not after a betrayal like that.