A Ruthless Lust

by Raquel Belle

  Heat flooded her face, turning her skin bright pink, and he smirked. Abby couldn’t believe she was getting down and dirty with Damian while his mother and cousin were just downstairs. What if they heard them? She wasn’t one to be quiet, especially with Damian. The man had a gift when it came to touching a woman and she tended to lose all control with him. Already, the volume of her moans was climbing. His fingers teased her sensitive bud while he lips moved along the column of her neck.

  “You have to be quiet, Querida. You don’t want my mother to know that I’m fucking you in the bathroom, do you?” With that, he nipped her ear lobe and slid a finger between her folds.

  She moaned again. The wicked, wicked man. Slowly, sensually, he strummed her like an instrument until she was panting, her body begging for release. The way he held her captive with his eyes, forcing her to watch herself as sheer pleasure flitted across her face was so erotic. He kept his slow pace, never missing a beat even as he freed himself from his jeans. His erection brushed against her bare bottom when he rolled her underwear over her hips.

  “You’re close,” he whispered. “I can feel you tighten around my fingers. Can you be quiet, Abby?” She shook her head no, then yes, and he smiled. They both found out seconds later when she shattered, biting down on her lip to keep her cry muffled. Before she could recover from the first wave of pleasure, he grasped her hips and plunged into her channel, sending shockwaves of pleasure though her. Her cry was barely contained as she clamped her mouth shut. All too soon, she was overwhelmed with the feeling of ecstasy. She couldn’t believe she was nearing another release so soon after the first.

  “Keep watching, Abby,” he demanded when her eyelids drooped.

  They flew open to stare at their reflection. Her pupils were dilated, her skin flushed and her lips parted as she panted. She didn’t see the liar she’d become at that moment, but rather a woman being thoroughly pleased by a man whom she desired, as she desired no other. That was the woman she wanted to be, not a deceiver. At the end of the day, she wasn’t any better than Damian. Disturbed, she forgot to keep her expression in check and only realized that her true emotions were visible when Damian paused to keenly assess her face.

  He frowned. “I’ve seen that troubled expression more than once.”

  “Don’t stop.”

  “Abby …”

  Alarmed that he was going to start asking questions, she moved against him, satisfied when his jaws clenched. “I said, don’t stop.” She witnessed his control slipping until he had no choice but to keep going.

  Her legs quivered, and his breathing quickened. Abby could feel the heat within building to a fever pitch. She knew he would follow her over the edge soon by the way the muscles of his neck strained and his fingers dug into her flesh. Forgetting that she was supposed to be quiet, her lips parted to release a high-pitched cry as her body shuddered and warmth blossomed in her core. His hand quickly clamped over her mouth to muffle her cry.

  Damian shuddered his release, the sound coming from him half way between a laugh and a groan. “I knew you wouldn’t be quiet.”

  Abby rested her forehead on the cool surface of the counter and worked to steady her breathing and also to hide her panic. Each time she made love to Damian, she experienced overwhelming guilt. She heard him moving around behind her and gasped when she felt something soft between her thighs.

  “No! I’ll clean myself up.”

  Batting her hand away, he spun her around and continued his task with a small smile. “I’ve had my head between your legs on several occasions, surely you’re not embarrassed if I clean you up.”

  With her cheeks burning hotly, Abby let out a breath. Of course, she was embarrassed. He did things to and with her that no one else ever had. And she found his gesture too sweet and thoughtful, which made it that much harder to keep the image of him as a villain in her mind. When he was through, he surprised her yet again by hoisting her onto the counter to bestow a searing kiss that nearly made her combust. Already, she felt her body readying itself for more of him.

  “Thank you,” he said, lifting his head to meet her gaze.

  “For ... for the sex?” she asked, dazed and confused by his kiss.

  He smiled. “For being here.” Confusion clouded his expression for a moment. “I wasn’t thrilled about allowing you to see this part of me…of my life, but I’m glad you came. I don’t think anyone has ever managed to pull me from my sulky moods quite like you have, and I have to thank you for being honest as well. You were right, maybe I should grow up and stay out of my mother’s romantic life.”

  She gulped, wanting desperately to break eye contact, but she couldn’t. He had a way of holding her hostage with his eyes.” You’re going to listen to me, just like that?”

  With an upward curve of his mouth, he said, “I’m just as surprised as you are.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t use any protection.” She wasn’t too worried since she was on birth control, even though she’d barely gotten any action before Damian. But she was shocked that he’d forgotten the condom. So had she.

  Damian stiffened momentarily. “I’ve never been so careless before, but I think I can trust you.”

  There was something different in his eyes when he looked at her. There was more warmth and trust. It was what she’d wanted. To get close to him. Instead of feeling triumph, she wanted to burst into tears.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Damian

  The only light illuminating the room where Damian sat was the glow from his laptop screen. He stared at it, without blinking, until it started to blur. The only sound heard was the clinking of ice-cubes inside his glass as he swirled it in one hand. It had become a nightly ritual, sitting in the dark, staring at his laptop screen, drinking, while a battle raged in his mind. The same question plagued him over and over and still, there was no answer. Hammer the final nail into Aldridge’s coffin, or let the man rest in peace?

  Damian’s frowned and he let out an aggravated growl. Damn, the woman that was still sprawled in his bed. If he hadn’t allowed her to slip under his covers, and as he’d recently realized, his heart, he’d be able to do what he’d set out to do without remorse. Years of meticulously calculated business and social maneuvers might very well be for naught because of one tiny redhead.

  Jaws clenched, he slammed a fist onto his desk and lifted his glass to gulp down the rest. The strong drink burned its way down his throat, just as his passion for revenge had once burned in his veins. Caleb Aldridge and his entire family, even his wife’s family—powerful, with old-money—could be brought to their knees, and all he had to do was present what he held in one file to the rest of the world. There were others involved in destroying his father’s life, people he’d taken down over the years, but his hatred for them didn’t run as deep as it did for Caleb and Celeste Aldridge.

  Then, there was Abby. So innocent, so foolishly concerned with the welfare of her devious family. The change in her behavior hadn’t gone unnoticed. Compared to when they’d first met, she’d become withdrawn, always deep in thought. Then there was the troubled expression he caught a glimpse of when they laid together, breathless and sated. Understandably, she was still torn up about her father. He’d stolen a glimpse of her painting, the one she went out of her way to keep hidden. Curiosity had driven him to take a peek. He had to see what she stared at so forlornly when she thought he wasn’t watching. She’d loved her father and she was worried about what would become of her family.

  She would be devastated once he’d completed the plan he had for her brood by once and for all airing everyone’s dirty laundry. In doing so, he would reveal a secret about Abby and her brother that he’d recently discovered. Caleb was a disgusting piece of work and everyone should be allowed to know that secret. He should continue with his ruthless plan and simply pick up the pieces after. He'd make himself available to comfort Abby, lend her his shoulders to cry on if need be. Still, he struggled with the decision.

  “Damia
n?” The soft, drowsy voice snapped him out of his deep thoughts. The light flicked on, and he immediately slammed his laptop shut.

  “Fuck, Abby. What are you doing in here?”

  Her eyes lingered on the laptop before moving to his face. Damn if she wasn’t temptation itself, standing in the doorway wearing nothing but his thin white dress shirt. He loved seeing her in it. He’d left it out in the open knowing she’d grab the first thing she saw to throw on, and he had the opportunity to ogle her in it.

  “What are you doing in here?” she asked. “In the dark.”

  “Couldn’t sleep.”

  A smile curved her lips. “Why didn’t you wake me? I could have helped with that.”

  Eyes traipsing over her, taking in the flaming tresses falling around her shoulders, her breasts left exposed by the unbuttoned shirt, her legs bare…his cock twitched, excitedly. “No doubt you could have.”

  “Sitting all alone in your office in the dark,” she said, sauntering towards him. “Were you working?” She glanced at the glass in his hand. “Or sneaking a peek at porn?”

  Damian threw his head back and laughed, still amazed by the fact that she could so easily make him drop his serious façade. “What need do I have to watch porn when all I have to do is think about you in my bed to get stimulated?”

  “What about me spread on your desk? Does that stimulate you?”

  He sat up, his full attention now on her. “You have no idea how much.” His earlier thoughts were forgotten the second she straddled him. His palms immediately found her skin to reverently run over the smooth expanse of her torso. He gazed up at her, wondering how she’d managed to become so important to him. He hadn’t felt the slightest interest in another woman since getting Abby into his bed, and he constantly got offers. His behavior and new emotions made him wonder just what he was doing with Abby. Certainly, they were more than bed partners by now. She’d been inside his mother’s house for goodness sake. He enjoyed having her around. His entire attitude toward women and relationships had taken an interesting turn.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Abby studied him, her head tilted to the side.

  Damian caught himself and quickly masked his expression, afraid to allow her to see how much she affected him. “You’re beautiful.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you’ve been with greater beauties. In fact, you have. I’ve seen the evidence.”

  “None of them have ever been quite like you,” he said, honestly.

  He assumed she would kiss him, anything but continue talking. The idea of her spread open on his desk was appealing, and that was what he was preparing himself for. To his dismay, she wound her arms around his neck. “Tell me why you couldn’t sleep.”

  “You don’t really expect me to carry on a conversation with you half naked and straddling me, do you?”

  She smiled sweetly and nodded. “I do. You can talk to me. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

  The misgivings he always felt about trusting anyone—outside of his very small circle—presented themselves, though not as much as he’d expected. He studied her for a moment too long, until she cocked her brow and she asked. “Is it that bad?”

  If only she knew. He ran a hand through his hair and grimaced. “It’s, uh…work related. I can’t discuss it right now.”

  She glanced back at the laptop suspiciously. “Top secret, huh? By the death stare you were giving your laptop, it must be something of grave importance.”

  Damian shifted, grabbed her thighs, and rose in a fluid motion. “I don’t want to talk about work or anything else when I can be doing something better with my time, like being inside of you.”

  Abby’s arms tightened around his neck, as he took hasty strides out of the office. For some reason, he felt like a jerk having her so near the information that would no doubt cause her misery. There was a time when he wouldn’t have given a damn, and he kind of missed that time.

  “What’s the rush?” she asked.

  “I have a hell of a boner, sweetness. I need you to remedy my affliction pronto.”

  Her giggles floated down the hallway and Damian smiled, barely managing to bury his guilt.

  ***

  “Is there any way to get the house back?” Damian tapped out an anxious rhythm on his desk.

  “What?” Joe shook his head as he stared at Damian in disbelief. “It’s too late. It's out of your hands. You orchestrated things so that the estate was up for grabs if Celeste Aldridge failed to pay her husband’s debts.”

  “I’m well aware of how I orchestrated things, Joe,” Damian snapped. He rubbed his eyes, tiredly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take that tone. I’m a little on edge.”

  Joe hooked an ankle over one thigh and rubbed his chin. “That is something I’ve never seen in all the years I’ve known you, Damian. What’s going on?” There was a brief hint of guilt that danced across Joe’s face—which he quickly hid.

  “You can relax, Joe. This isn’t about you and my mother, traitor.”

  Color flooded Joe’s face, and he turned to look out the window. “I know you feel like I betrayed you but …”

  “You did. You betrayed our friendship. Imagine, I let you into my life as more than my lawyer, as a friend. I brought you around my family, and you go and start sneaking around behind my back with my mother. And everyone says I’m the asshole.”

  “Damian, I’m sorry but Arlet and I were not sneaking around. We're not fucking teenagers. The woman is fifty-five, a fully developed woman who knows what she wants. I’m a divorcee with two grown children. People like us don’t need to sneak around. You need to cut your mother some slack. By the way, she’s worried that you’re still angry. You’d better call her soon.” He glared in Damian’s direction.

  Damian grinned. “So that’s what it takes for you to lose your cool. Defending my mother. How sickeningly sweet.” Both men stared each other down until Damian cleared his throat. “You’re forgiven, Joe. I suppose if my mother is going to get back into the dating scene, I should be happy it’s at least with someone I trust. I gave you shit just now because of the guilty look you get whenever my mother is mentioned. It amuses me.”

  “You’re a sick bastard,” Joe said, smothering a grin.

  “So I’ve heard.”

  “Alright, you don’t have your boxers in a twist over the issue with me and your mother, this must be about another woman.”

  A frustrated hiss escaped Damian. “Yes. A little witch, and she has red hair.” Abby had to have cast some kind of spell over him. There he was, desperate to save the cursed Aldridge mansion for her sake, after it was he who ensured it would be taken away.

  “I figured as much.” Joe let out a laugh, “I never thought I’d see the day that Damian Coldwell would alter his path of revenge for anything or anyone.”

  He wanted to feel shame. Shame that he’d been foolish enough to let Abby get so close. But there was none. He’d enjoyed every minute he spent with her in and out of bed. She was the first woman since he was a teenager to ever hold his attention long enough for him to start developing feelings. “It’s no big deal. It isn’t like I’m not going to finish what I started, it’s just one detail that I wish to change.”

  “Why do you care? The girl doesn’t even live in that house.”

  “The girl’s name is Abby,” he said, causing Joe’s jaw to drop.

  “I’ll be damned. How the mighty have fallen. Fine, Abby lives on her own. Why do you care what happens to the damn house?”

  Damian was silent, reluctant to admit his reasons. He averted his eyes. “Her father’s office.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  Squirming in his chair under Joe’s shocked look, Damian recalled Abby’s stories about sneaking into her father’s office as a child when she was supposed to be in bed. His ears practically bled each time she reminisced about Caleb, but he always listened. Her father’s office was her sanctuary, with the many books and paintings and sweet memories. Whe
n she mentioned going back to the mansion just to sit in her father’s office when she was troubled, he knew then that he’d have to try to save the damn house, even if it meant Celeste and her other daughter got to keep a roof over their heads. From what he understood, the kid, Wyatt, was away at school. Abby adored the boy so he was safe from Damian’s wrath.

  “The place has sentimental value to her, Joe.”

  There was a long pause as Joe carefully considered his words. He didn’t want to say the wrong thing and send Damian into a rage. The man was like a wounded predator out for the blood of anyone who got in his way. “You know, Damian, if you feel for this girl…for Abby, you could just drop the entire vendetta. You already got what you most desired, the downfall of Caleb.”

  Damian scowled. He couldn’t believe Joe. Forget about revenge? He had grown up without his father because Caleb Aldridge had sent him to prison. Benjamin Coldwell was Caleb’s best friend and he’d been stabbed in the back, used as a scapegoat for crimes Caleb committed. There had been more than one corrupt businessman involved in the fraud his father went to prison for, all of whom Damian had successfully and systematically brought to their knees, all the while ensuring they knew precisely why they were losing everything they held dear. It had felt good, but he knew nothing would make him feel as good as bringing down the one who had hurt his father the most. Damian hadn’t counted on Aldridge’s guilt driving him to suicide though. He’d wanted the man to suffer for years to come. News of his death had brought about some satisfaction. If Benjamin Coldwell was rotting in a grave, Caleb Aldridge should be as well.

  “There’s no way I’m going to give up, Joe. Never. Caleb may be dead, but Celeste played a part in my father’s demise. She goes down as well. Celeste and her high and mighty family.”