“I’m doing no such thing.” Sophie stubbornly remained standing where she was. “Move on how?” she prompted warily.
“I’m going to give Haydn a call and have him check out the Cayman Islands. See if he can find any sign of your father there or locate which bank your father hid the money in.”
Sophie knew exactly how scarily honed Haydn’s computer skills were. “Surely my father wouldn’t be stupid enough to have gone to— Yes,” she sighed at Rourke’s knowing look. “Yes, he really would.” She pushed her hair back from her face, chin high in challenge. “I am not letting you spank me, Rourke.”
The confident smile that slowly curved his lips didn’t garner any confidence in Sophie that she was going to be able to stop him.
Chapter Five
“I don’t think so.” Rourke caught up with Sophie and used the press of his body against the back of hers to pin her to the wall before she even reached the en suite bathroom, let alone managed to get inside and lock the door behind her.
Locking him out.
Rourke had locked himself out of Sophie’s life for too many years already. For what, at the time, he had considered to be valid reasons. Not only was he was ten years older than her, but he had the physical and emotional experiences that went with those extra years. Until Tillman, Rourke was pretty sure Sophie had no knowledge of the darker side of life he had seen so often and was often a part of, and which had helped to mold him into the hard man he was. He and his brothers had all served in the army and done things, seen things, they would never talk about with anyone but each other. Bryce couldn’t even do that because he had been in Special Ops.
God knows how Bryce coped with that, because some of the things Rourke had been involved in still gave him nightmares and had definitely helped mold him into a hard and demanding lover.
Which was why he had decided all those years ago, for Sophie’s own sake, he couldn’t be any more to her than a work colleague and friend.
That ended now.
Through no fault of her own, Sophie was in danger.
Which was something Rourke intended taking up with Sophie’s father when he met him. What the hell sort of father just walked away with his stolen five million and left his own daughter alone and vulnerable to face the music?
There was still the chance that Tillman had already gotten rid of his erstwhile accountant permanently, but was still continuing to harass Sophie by holding that threat of injury to her father to get her to comply over finding the five millions pounds. It was what Rourke would have done in these circumstances.
Whatever the outcome of this, Rourke no longer intended sitting on the sidelines of Sophie’s life. Something she was going to be made all too aware of.
The only way he had kept his desire for Sophie under control was to keep his physical distance from her. That was no longer viable. Which meant hiding his desire for her was no longer possible either.
He pressed his lips against the creamy skin beneath Sophie’s earlobe. “I’m not asking you to let me spank you, Sophie,” he reassured, waiting until some of the tension had eased from her body before continuing in a hard voice. “Why the hell would I bother asking when I can easily hold you down and do it, with or without your permission?”
He stepped back only far enough to grasp Sophie’s wrist so that he could tug her along with him when he crossed the room to resume sitting on the side of the bed. He used that same leverage to pull her down until she lay across his thighs, his expression one of determination. He placed his arm across her back to hold her in place when she began to struggle as he untied and removed the robe before discarding it onto the floor.
Sophie turned her head to glare at him. “You bastard—” She broke off with an indignant squeak as Rourke used his other hand to push her ripped gown up to her waist.
His cock hardened and lengthened as he stared down at those two delicious globes of bare flesh divided by a ribbon of blue lace.
A succulent vision Rourke believed he could stare at and enjoy for hours.
Now that Sophie was safe inside his apartment, there was no reason why he couldn’t do exactly that.
Rourke continued to hold her down as he pulled his cell phone out of the breast pocket of his jacket, scanning down the contact numbers before making the call. “Haydn,” he acknowledged when his brother answered after only two rings. They might as well get this call over with now, because Rourke didn’t intend letting Sophie out of his sight again tonight. Or for however long it took to ensure her safety.
Sophie turned to give him an incredulous glare, but she didn’t verbally rebuke him for making the call, probably because she knew Haydn would hear her if she did.
Rourke gave a mocking inclination of his head in recognition of the reason for her silence.
“Didn’t expect to hear from you again tonight, bro,” Haydn answered him dryly.
“Something came up.” Rourke deliberately rubbed the length of his erection against the softness of Sophie’s belly and had the satisfaction of seeing her pupils dilate at the intimacy. “I want you to find out all that you can about Stephen Hammond’s current whereabouts and any bank accounts, worldwide, associated with his name. You might need to do some digging with the latter.” He gave Sophie another glance. “Some of those bank accounts will be associated with Zachary Tillman.”
“Oh.”
“Yes,” Rourke confirmed grimly, knowing that Haydn was as aware of Tillman’s illegal activities as he was.
He felt some of the fight leave Sophie as she listened to his side of the conversation.
“Things are winding down here anyway, so I’ll get right on it,” Haydn said distractedly. This was the sort of work he loved to get his computer skills and teeth into. “Is Sophie okay? I’m guessing that Stephen Hammond is somehow related to her?”
“Her father. And she’s fine.” Rourke stroked a caressing hand over the bared cheeks of Sophie’s bottom. “Peachy, in fact,” he added tongue-in-cheek, chuckling when he received another narrow-eyed glare from Sophie for his trouble. “Get back to me on this as soon as you know anything,” he advised his brother before ending the call and turning his full attention to Sophie’s delectable arse.
Fleshy globes that would look even more enticing once they had a few reddened handprints on them.
“My bottom does not have a peach fuzz,” she protested indignantly.
He shrugged. “Then I probably should have said nectarines. It just didn’t fit in with the conversation as well.”
“I’m sure you think you’re being sooo fucking amusing,” Sophie scorned. “But let me tell you— What the hell!” She let out a low groan as one of Rourke’s hands landed painfully on one of her bottom cheeks.
“You said the forbidden word,” he growled.
“Fucking?”
“But,” he reminded. “But now you’ve mention it, it isn’t ladylike to say fuck either.”
“You just said but!”
“I’m allowed.”
“Since when?”
“Since I make the rules and I damn well say I am.” He landed a smack to the other cheek. The fleshy globes were just rounded enough to produce the right amount of jiggle when spanked.
Rourke thought very briefly about trying to hold back on this darker side of himself, but instantly dismissed it. He was no longer going to hide a single thing about himself from Sophie. She could take him or fucking leave him, but he was through being Mr. Nice Guy where she was concerned. Besides, after his behavior today, he doubted Sophie would ever again believe that was all there was to him.
That decision was enough for Rourke to release a torrent of smacks to both her bottom cheeks while fending off the flailing hands she used to try to stop him. Just as he ignored the names she called him until she ran out of them and instead, her breaths became choked sobs.
He heard her gasp as he deliberately placed a possessive hand across both those hot and reddened cheeks. “Had enough?”
She sniffle
d rather than replied.
“You need to answer me with words, Sophie. Otherwise, I’m going to think you want some more.” He used both hands to squeeze her burning, painful flesh.
“Please, no!” Sophie no longer cared if she sounded as if she were begging. Because she was. The cheeks of her bottom hurt, damn it. So much, she doubted she was going to be able to sit or lie down comfortably for several days. “I-I’ve had enough,” she confirmed.
“Sure?” Rourke’s long fingers moved lower to stroke along her swollen pussy lips. “God, you’re so wet,” he said appreciatively as those fingers gathered up and then spread those juices over her clit and then up to rub that moisture on and around her anus. “Are you still a virgin, Sophie?” The soft pad of his thumb pressed against that sensitive flesh.
Embarrassed heat now warmed her face. “There?”
“Anywhere.”
She was twenty-three, for goodness’ sake. Old enough to have had half a dozen lovers. Except she hadn’t. “Yes,” she confirmed huskily.
“Yes what?”
“Yes, Rourke…?”
He gave another of those husky chuckles. “I want you to say ‘Yes, I’m still a vaginal and anal virgin, Rourke.’”
The color now burned her cheeks as she squirmed. “I can’t.”
“You will.”
“I’m not sure I like the sudden way you’ve decided to show this dominant side of yourself.”
“Oh, there’s nothing sudden about it.” He sounded amused. “It’s just not something I usually share with my family and friends.”
“Well, lucky old me for having been made the exception! Ouch, that hurt, damn you.” She scowled at him for having smacked her again. Hard.
“Then save your sarcasm for someone who’ll appreciate it,” Rourke rasped. “And say the fucking words,” he added in a hard, implacable voice.
Sophie swallowed before obediently repeating. “Yes, I’m still a vaginal and anal virgin, Rourke.” God, how humiliating was it to have to say those words out loud!
Not because they weren’t true, but because Rourke had known how uncomfortable it would make her feel.
She wasn’t a complete innocent, knew all the clinical details about sex, including anal penetration. But the latter had never featured in any of her late-night fantasies starring this man. In light of the Rourke that had now been revealed to her, maybe she needed to revise those fantasies…
She gave a surprised squeak as Rourke’s thumb pushed fully past that ring of muscle, pausing for a second or two to allow her to adjust to the intrusion, before commencing to gently thrust that digit in and out.
It was the weirdest sensation. Not unpleasant, just different.
The longer Rourke continued that intimate penetration, the more hitherto unknown nerve endings were sparked to send sensations coursing through her body. Heat. Pleasure. Intimacy.
From what Sophie had read on the subject—which, she admitted, wasn’t much—it took an enormous amount of trust for anal exploration or sex to take place, even between two consenting adults.
Did that mean she trusted Rourke?
With her life, came the unhesitant reply.
Despite whatever else was happening between them now, Sophie trusted Rourke to keep her safe. Knew with absolute certainty he would never do anything to hurt her. Physically, at least. Emotionally was a whole different matter.
“Hm, you’re very tight here.” He wiggled his thumb inside that heated channel. “A series of increasingly bigger plugs would help to stretch and loosen the muscle before full penetration.”
Now they really were talking about things she had no knowledge of.
Deliberately?
Because Rourke was still punishing her.
For not confiding in him or another member of his family about her father’s embezzling and the threats from Zachary Tillman. Although, having now seen this demanding side of Rourke, she doubted he would have appreciated it if she had confided in one of his brothers.
But spanking her, bringing her to climax again and again, touching her so intimately, especially there, was surely cruel and unusual punishment? And, whether Rourke meant for it to happen or not, it had also irrevocably changed the dynamics of their relationship.
To a degree Sophie knew she wouldn’t feel comfortable working at Steele Protectors anymore.
Now that Rourke knew her father was nothing but a common criminal who had spent a career laundering money for an even worse criminal for fifteen years, Sophie doubted continuing to work for the Steele family’s security company would be an option for her come Monday morning.
Despite the intimacies between them today—or because of them?—the thought of not seeing Rourke on a day-to-day basis, Monday to Friday, as she had for the past three years if Rourke wasn’t away on a case, made Sophie feel ill.
Her fantasies about Rourke had been exactly that before today, but now she knew how it felt to be caressed and pleasured by him. She ached, hungered, for him to repeat the intimacy of those caresses. To deepen them and take her to that pinnacle of pleasure again and again.
She didn’t just want them for today but forever. Which was unfortunate for her, because she already knew Rourke didn’t do relationships. That he never lingered after he had made his conquest. As much as Sophie might love him, she knew the feeling wasn’t reciprocated.
She knew from the women he had been involved with in the past that with Rourke, it would be a case of accepting what he gave her for however long he gave it, and not making a fuss when he walked away.
The alternative was not to become involved with him in the first place.
Which Sophie doubted was even possible after the events of today.
Which didn’t mean she had to surrender her pride completely. “Will you let me up now, please?” she requested in a small voice.
Rourke was momentarily thrown, as much by the request as by Sophie’s low and withdrawn tone.
Had he completely fucked this up by bluntly voicing his demands? It wouldn’t be the first time a woman had shied away from that physically darker side of him. He’d hoped Sophie wouldn’t be one of them.
Obviously, he’d been wrong. “Up you get.” He helped her back onto her feet and into his robe.
Sophie gave him a searching glance once she had pulled on and refastened the belt of the robe about her slender waist. Color warmed her cheeks, and her eyes were lowered before she obviously remembered Rourke’s earlier instruction and lifted her head until her gaze met his. “What happens now?”
“Well done for remembering to look at me,” he praised.
He was instantly skewered on the daggers shooting out of Sophie’s angry eyes. “You condescending bastard!” She continued to glare at him. “As you’ve ripped my dress beyond repair and I don’t intend to continue wearing your robe, I’ll need to borrow some clothes to go home in.”
“Everything of mine will be far too big for you.”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before destroying my gown.”
“Maybe I should.”
“Clothes, Rourke,” she bit out economically. “Now.”
Her almost defiant tone told Rourke he had definitely seriously fucked up this situation.
With no hope of redemption as far as Sophie was concerned?
Damn it, he hoped there was.
Because one taste of Sophie was nowhere near enough.
Rourke wanted it all.
Wanted her hands caressing him.
Her mouth on him.
Wanted to feel the hot caress of her tongue against his flesh.
He also wanted to be the only one to give her pleasure.
Most of all, Rourke wanted to claim and possess every inch of Sophie physically, with lips, tongue, hands, and cock.
Chapter Six
“You can use the bedroom next door to dress,” Rourke informed Sophie as he handed her one of his T-shirts and some gray sweats. “It’s where you’ll be sleeping tonight anyway.”
As if Sophie didn’t have a mind or will of her own.
Which she still did, didn’t she?
Sophie mulled that over while she was pulling on the overlarge T-shirt and sweats, the latter having to be rolled up at the ankles and over at the waist.
There was no doubting that Rourke’s lovemaking drove her out of her mind with pleasure, but Sophie hoped she had managed to hold on to her self-determination. And it was telling her—loudly—that she needed to put distance between herself and Rourke if she wanted to maintain what was left of her sanity.
“I’m not staying here,” she informed him the moment she entered the sitting room enveloped from neck to ankle in the T-shirt and sweats. “Tonight or any other night.”
Rourke shrugged. “So you intend to return to your own apartment where Henderson, or another of Tillman’s men, can easily get to you?”
“I didn’t say that,” Sophie snapped.
“If you’re thinking of booking yourself into a hotel, then you’ll be just as vulnerable there, if not more so, than in your own apartment.”
Sophie frowned at the way Rourke’s gaze no longer met hers. It was all the more noticeable because he had been so adamant earlier that she would look at him when she spoke to him.
What was he trying to hide by avoiding her gaze?
Sophie intended to find out. “What do you mean, more so…?” she prompted slowly.
His gave a dismissive shrug. “Haydn could probably hack into the hotel security cameras, but they wouldn’t be focused on you in the same way the cameras in your apartment building are.”
Her eyes widened. “You have security cameras in my apartment building? Inside my apartment?”
“You’re starting to sound like August now. She totally freaked out at Logan when she learned the apartment she shared with Jenna had Steele Protectors security cameras inside and outside the building.”
“I’m freaking out too!”
“There are no cameras inside your apartment,” Rourke assured. “But Haydn monitors the homes and safety of all Steele Protectors personnel.”
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