by Anna Edwards
A pair of arms wrap around my waist from the side, hugging me tightly. “I love you, Kara. I’m sorry I got you into trouble.”
Turning in his hold, I hug him back with the same strength. “Let’s just make this the first and last time, hmm? No more going along with Tony’s plans. If he tries to talk you into something, phone me,” I tell him quickly before Malcolm has time to sink into the driver’s seat and over hear us. “And I love you, too, Sam.”
Chapter Seven
Darius
“Verne, Jules, wait.” I instruct my German Shepherds outside of the guest room. Feeling for the handle, I’m not surprised to find the door closed. Not bothering to knock, I open it and step inside. I know Kara is here. I’d heard Malcolm return and show her where she’d be staying. With the house built all on ground level, I don’t have to worry about stairs.
There’s a gasp and the sound of movement. Whatever she’s doing, I’ve caught her by surprise.
“What do you want?” Her soft, sweet voice is full of alarm.
“I’ve come to sample the goods. You’re mine for six months, remember.” Moving toward her, my foot hits something on the floor that shouldn’t be there, making me swear.
“I…I moved the chair. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not broken. I don’t need your sympathy.” It comes out in a snarl. I’ve had enough people in my life treating me differently. I don’t want her compassion. “Get on the bed, Kara. It’s time I get a taste of your tight little pussy.” My words are crude and harsh. I want to shock her.
“Please…I’m still unpacking.” There’s a note of pleading.
“I don’t care. You agreed to this, and there will be no backing out. You’ve been with a man before, right?” I ask, hoping to fuck she isn’t a virgin. What I’m feeling right now is brutal. I have no intension of being anything other than ruthless with my little siren tonight. All those weeks of pent up sexual frustration, I intend to slake them on Kara without an ounce of mercy. By the time I’m done with her, she’ll be branded inside and out. There won’t be a moment she won’t think of my possession of her. The thought of my cock inside her will be enough just to get her wet.
“I’m not a virgin.”
Reaching for the top buttons of my shirt, I unbutton them slowly. “Then you know what to do.”
A sob breaks the momentary silence, with the creak of the mattress. Next follows the rustle of her own clothes.
Chapter Eight
Kara
Tears tumble freely down my cheeks. I hate him. He’s forcing me into this to save my brother. Darius is a beast. He doesn’t have any feelings. He’s nothing but unforgiving and hard.
“Tears won’t get you anywhere, sweetheart.”
“I hate you,” I spit, fumbling out of my bra. At least he can’t see me. The thought of him touching me has me hot and cold all over. I’ve never been into casual sex. Steered away from one nights stands. The one relationship I had lasted four months.
“You don’t need to like me to have sex,” Darius points out, stripping off his shirt revealing a muscular chest with an arrowing of dark hair. “I’ll make sure you’re wet enough to enjoy it, don’t worry.”
Sobbing softly, I lay back on the mattress, naked and shaking. The bed dips by my feet. Darius’s unseeing gaze roams but never settles. When he touches my leg, I automatically flinch.
“Lay still,” he growls, looming over me, dark and dangerous.
Oh God, I just want this to be over. Maybe I can just imagine I’m not here. Send my mind somewhere else while he takes my body. Hopefully he’ll be done with me quickly, then leave me alone. Biting my lip to stem my crying, my tears fall faster.
“Your trembling.” His tone alters slightly. His palm trails down until he reaches my foot. Feather light, his fingertips brush slowly up my leg from my ankle to stop at my knee.
My breath hitches. I’ve been touched before, but this feels different. The way his caress glides over my skin with a gentleness I wasn’t expecting.
“Where did you get this scar?” His lips brush over the raised flesh. It’s so small I’d forgotten I had it.
I shiver in reaction. “I fell over when I was six.”
Darius continues his inspection without another word. Running his hands over my nakedness, he hunts out every dip and hollow. Behind my knees, the roundness of my hips. The swell of each of my breasts to the straining peak of my nipples.
He reads my body like a book. Stroke by stroke. An aching seduction that unhurriedly unravels me inch by inch. I’m lost to the sensation, my tears soon forgotten. The allure keeping me a captive of something I can’t escape. I should despise what he’s doing, but instead, it brings everything inside me alive. A sweet, spreading liquid heat that has me squirming with a throbbing in my pussy. He shouldn’t affect me like this.
When his teasing hands reach my thighs, a moan trickles from my lips. I’m not sure I’ll be able to resist him. When he parts my legs, he’ll discover just how wet he’s made me.
It takes me a moment to realize he’s no longer touching me. Levering himself up on his elbows, Darius rolls to the side of the bed. Rising slowly, he moves methodically toward the door.
“Goodnight Kara.” His voice is soft.
I lay confused. Every fiber of my being shaken from his attention. Only when it clicks closed do I realize he really has gone. Heart still pounding in my chest, I try to catch my breath. He’s had me right where he wanted me. There was no way to hide the desire he invoked, yet Darius left.
Slowly gathering my tattered thoughts, I drag the blanket over myself to hide my nakedness.
Chapter Nine
Darius
My fingers follow the braille, moving lightly over the bumps. As I read, I’m aware of the ticking of the clock in the hallway. The feel of Kara’s skin still lingers. How I’d learned the secrets of her body far more intimately than with a look. Each moan and cry she uttered is seared into my memory along with her tears. The impression of her slender figure molded to mine. She smashed the fantasy I’d harboured off its pedestal and replaced it with something far sweeter, bewitched me like a siren with the beauty of her youthful voice.
Instead of fucking her, I walked away. In the end, I couldn’t do it. Not against her will. Knowing that she’d hate me afterward.
I should release her from this contract, but I won’t. Not when I have her here all to myself. Not after tasting how it felt to have her writhing under my hands. I won’t deny I want more. All I can get her to give in the time we have. She will be mine.
Footsteps in the hallway tug me from my musings.
“Good Morning, Kara.”
They falter at my call right outside the dining room door. “How did you know it was me?”
I smile at her question. “Your steps are lighter than Malcolm’s. Would you like some breakfast before he drives you to work?”
“Yes, thank you.” She ventures farther in her tread, cautious and slow. “He doesn’t have to do that.”
Either Verne or Jules, I’m not sure which, huffs from their dog basket to my left but doesn’t move from their spot.
Fingers still poised on the page I was reading, my whole focus is now on this woman. “Nevertheless he will drop you off in the mornings and will be there to pick you up when you finish.”
Kara scrapes back a chair. Dragging it forward, I hear her make herself comfortable. She’s showered. The smell of something faint and vanilla tantalises my nose. A fragrance that will forever remind me of her, from this moment on. It had been intoxicating on her skin last night. A smell I’ll never forget.
“Do you work, Mr. Cross?”
How formal she is this morning. No trace of the woman who had practically fallen apart in my arms so beautifully. Had she slept as badly as I had? Yearned for me to return to her bed and finish what I’d started? If she did, she gives no sign of it now.
Discarding the book, I’m careful to place it on the surface of the table a good distance from t
he edge. “You’ll call me Darius. I’m a narrator.”
I’m not about to explain to her my other business. Something I partly retired from after my accident. With my sight gone, it was an easy choice to make. One I don’t regret.
“Narrator?” she asks with curiosity.
Cutlery clinks, then the scrape of a knife over a piece of toast.
“For audio books,” I explain casually. “They’re very popular. A lot of authors have their stories converted to listening books nowadays. Something about the deepness of my voice and my English accent is appealing to the opposite sex. I’m never without inquiries into if I’ll narrate a novel or short story. Something I took up as a hobby has become a very successful business.”
I expect more questions but am met with silence. For a while, she eats quietly.
“Why didn’t you…” she finally asks the second she’s finished with her toast.
“Your asking why I didn’t fuck you last night?” I cut in perceptively, knowing this has been coming.
She doesn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“We should get to know each other, first.”
“Why?”
Reaching out, my hands curl around the cool china handle of my coffee cup exactly where I left it. “I thought you might need time to…adjust to our arrangement.”
I’m more than aware she’s frightened of me. Even now, there’s a tension in the room I can easily pick up on. I’ve made demands of her no decent man would. Blackmailed her. Forced her to live with me. There’s been not one ounce of kindness that I’ve shown to her, and I know that must change if I want her to relax around me.
“So, you still want payment in sex for the vase?” The question is light, hiding her emotions.
A smirk tips my lips. “Your pussy is still mine, Kara. Every luscious inch of you, so don’t think I’ve changed my mind. This generosity won’t last long. I’m going to take what I’m owed. Are you on the pill?” I ask as an afterthought. In my desire to have her, it’s something I’ve neglected to ask.
“Yes, I’m on the pill,” she confirms with wariness.
“Good. I’m clean, and I don’t like using condoms. When I take you, it will be with nothing between us.”
A chair squeaks. I barely have warning as something smacks against wood. Cold, wet liquid drenches my legs, making me swear.
“Oh god, I’m sorry. I’m so clumsy…I knocked over my juice,” Kara babbles. “Let me get that for you. Here I’m putting the napkin in your left hand.”
She’s suddenly too close. I’m aware of her presence to my left, the heat of her body. A delicate hand touches mine. Snatching away the smooth material, I thump it down on the table top with annoyance. “Stop fussing over me, woman.”
My snarl is met with a startled gasp. Reining in my temper, I take a deep breath. She was only trying to help I tell myself. This is all new to her, and she doesn’t understand I hate to be nagged.
“I’m ready to drive Miss Kara, if she’s ready,” Malcolm interrupts from the door. Turning my head in his direction, I nod with impatience. “Yes, thank you. I believe she is.”
Chapter Ten
Kara
I’m such a klutz. Spilling the orange juice over Darius hadn’t been intentional. His anger, when I’d attempted to help, had been frightening. After last night, I’m still confused. There’s something familiar about his voice, but after admitting that he’s a narrator, I wonder if it’s that. I’ve listened to audio books before and enjoyed them. I’ve never really stopped to consider the name of the person doing the reading. I’m usually too caught up in the story to care.
“A word of advice, Miss, don’t treat Mr. Cross as if he’s lacking; he doesn’t like that.”
Malcolm’s comment jars me from my thoughts. “How long have you been with him?”
Steely grey eyes flick to mine in the rear-view mirror, for a moment, so he can see me in the back. “Almost three years. He employed me two months after the accident.”
“Accident?”
“I’m sorry, Miss, I’m not allowed to talk about it.”
I frown, the small gem of information stirring my curiosity. “But Darius…Mr. Cross could see before that?”
“Yes, Miss,” Malcolm confirms, his attention returning to the road.
It doesn’t take long before we’re pulling up in front of the cafe. Showing up in a fancy car gets some unwanted attention, and I’m quick to get out before Malcolm can open the door for me. I’m thankful he doesn’t wear a uniform. Still, with his muscular physique and daunting looks, he draws gazes.
“Could we please stop at my place on the way back? Sam’s never lived alone before, and I’m worried about him,” I ask with a note of pleading.
“Of course.” Slamming the rear door closed, he gives me a friendly smile.
“Thank you. Knowing him, he isn’t eating properly…”
“Anything to help, Miss.”
I can see the manager and another waitress I work with peering through the front window. They’re both wearing matching expressions of curiosity, and I know I’ll be questioned. I’m not about to tell anyone about Darius Cross. I’ll just have to tell them Malcolm is a friend. Heat seeps into my cheeks at what they’ll make of that. Not that I care. I’m not close to any of them.
“Please call me Kara.”
Malcolm gives me a long considering look before answering. “All right, Kara, but only when Mr. Cross isn’t around. I’ll see you at six.”
The cafe is already starting to fill up when I enter. Work is long and hectic, but my thoughts stray continuously to the blind beast I’m now living with. Darius is there in every wandering moment. Echoes of his seductive touch have me clenching my thighs together more than once. His crude, harsh words shock and excite me. By the time it’s almost six, I’m dead on my feet. The hours have dragged, and like usual, I barely get a second to myself.
Ready to leave, I grab the rubbish bag, taking it out back to the alley where the bins are located.
“Kara.”
Startled, I find Tony lurking hidden just behind it. He doesn’t look well. The older brother I knew when I was growing up doesn’t exist anymore. He’s been replaced by this man who’s lost all his sunshine and smiles. Stolen by his addictions. Tony has lost so much weight the second-hand clothes he wears hang from his frame.
“What are you doing here?”
Bloodshot eyes are pinned on me with such intensity it has unease shifting my feet.
“I saw you leave in the big fancy car last night and saw you go back.”
He was still waiting? Anger rises, flattening my lips into a thin white line. What the fuck is wrong with him? Doesn’t he care? He’s the most selfish person I’ve ever met.
“I’m not helping you anymore, Tony, and neither is Sam,” I tell him, dumping the bag into the metal bin. “You aren’t allowed in the flat, either, where money disappears from my purse and valuables vanish when you come over.”
Scuffling forward, he invades my space, bringing with him the thick stench of stale alcohol. “Did that blind rich guy fall for your sweet voice, is that it? Did you give him a sob story for why you were there? Or maybe you let him fuck you real nice,” he sneers unpleasantly.
My skin prickles in warning at his mood. I’ve been the victim of it before. When he’s like this, he’s quick to turn to violence. Shrinking away, I find myself trapped between him and the wall.
“I want you to leave us alone,” I tell him, hating the tremor in my words.
“I know you’re staying there with him, Kara. You’re in the perfect place. Just take a few things I can pawn for money. Small stuff that won’t be noticed.”
“No. I told you I’m not helping you out anymore.”
Leaning forward, Tony cages me in with his scrawny arms. “You know what Slick will do to me if he doesn’t get his money.”
This is his tactic. Intimidation when the guilt trip he tries to send me on doesn’t work. It’s succeeded in the past. How
he got me to pay his debts off for him, but I won’t let him do this to me again. He’s a coward who uses. I should have stood up to him long ago but never found the courage until now.
“That’s your problem not mine.”
The blow comes so fast I don’t even see it coming. For an instant, my cheek is numb before I feel the sting of pain.
“Listen to me, little sister. This is your problem. I’ll hurt you if I have to. Now you’ll steal what you can and give it to me tomorrow.”
Stunned, I recoil. Tony has never hit me before. Not like this. Grabbed and shaken me, even pushed me, in the past, but never attacked me with his fists.
“No,” It comes out as a shaky whisper.
Rage washes redness into his pasty face, transforming him even more into a stranger I no longer know.
Raising my arms to defend myself, I can’t deflect his assault. The next punch finds my jaw, the third my mouth. Dazed, there’s ringing in my ears, an odd flash of light in my field of vision when the back of my skull hits the brick wall.
“Are you really that stupid, you dumb bitch? Do you think I won’t fuck you up because we’re related?”
“Kara!”
Disorientated, terrified, I catch sight of Malcom, charging down the alley. As big as he is and with the expression he’s wearing, he’s a chilling sight. Tony sees him, too. Swearing under his breath, he takes off in the opposite direction.
Sliding down, my arse meets the concrete. Shock has me shaking so badly my teeth begin to chatter. My brain still trying to grapple with the magnitude of my older brother’s attack. He’d been brutal. If Malcolm hadn’t stopped him, would he have kept going? There’d been nothing in his gaze but hate. Tears fill my eyes.