Magnate (Acquisition Series Book 2) (22 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Stella

I sat on
Teddy’s bed as he paced the room. When we heard the commotion on the stairs that eventually settled on the third floor, we knew it was over.

“Does that happen a lot?” I hugged my knees and watched as he came apart with each fitful step.

“No. She’s done…things before. But she’s never done this.” He sank next to me and cradled his head in his hands.

I leaned over against his back and listened to the rapid beat of his heart. “I’m sorry.” It wasn’t enough, but it was all I could say.

“She’ll be okay, I think. They caught her quick, right?”

“Speaking from experience, I’ve made that same dash across the lawn and didn’t make it far at all.”

“I remember. That was a fucking weird day.”

“You’re preaching to the choir.” The memory of Vinemont, the sun high and blinding as he glowered over me, was something I would never forget.

“I know.” He sighed. “It’s because of Christmas, you know? Why she’s like this.”

I put my hand on his shoulder. I’d guessed that the time of year had something to do with it, especially after Renee told me how hard her Christmas trial had been on both women.

“I understand.” I didn’t know if I meant that I understood Teddy or his mother. Maybe a little of both. My mother was dead by her own hand, and Teddy’s seemed to have killed herself in much the same manner. Winning the Acquisition was a self-inflicted, fatal wound.

“She wouldn’t hurt us.” His eyes met mine, as if begging for agreement.

“I’m sure she wouldn’t.” I had no idea, but I would say anything to wipe the pain from his kind heart. “I think Vinemont just wanted us out of the way so he could tend to her.”

“Yeah.”

Footsteps sounded in the hallway. Two sets. Teddy unlocked the door and peeked out. Lucius walked by, Renee’s arm slung over his shoulder as he helped her to her room.

“Is she okay?” Teddy asked.

“They both are. Sin is staying with Mom. I’m putting Renee to bed. She’s exhausted. You can take Stella back to her room.”

I wanted to run to Renee, but by the time I’d made it to the door on my sore feet, they’d turned the corner, and the house was quiet again.

Teddy offered his arm. “Come on. I’ll take you over to your place.”

I peeked down the hall. “I really want to see Renee, if that’s all right? I promise I’ll go straight to my room after.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think Sin would—”

“Teddy!” Laura rushed down the hallway and into his arms. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

I took my chance and began hobbling away as some wet noises erupted at my back.

Teddy broke their kiss for long enough to call over his shoulder. “If you don’t get back to your room, Sin is going to kill me.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll go just as soon as I see Renee.”

“You better.” The kissing noises resumed as I turned the corner.

This was the same hall where Lucius’ and Vinemont’s rooms were. They stayed along the side of the house, and Renee’s small suite was at the very back. I passed Lucius’ door, a lamp burning on his desk and some rock music playing low. I kept going and came to Vinemont’s door, but it was closed.

I leaned against his doorframe to give my feet a momentary reprieve. I stared at the closed door, and curiosity got the better of me. I turned the glass knob and swung it open just a bit. A beam of moonlight lit the curves and lines of a piece of my soul—the painting I’d made after the first Acquisition trial. He’d hung it in his room, the stark image made even harsher in the low light. I pushed the door the rest of the way open and flipped the light switch. My breath left me.

Every painting I’d ever exhibited, save one—
The North Star
—covered his walls. I was everywhere, my heart, my thoughts, my emotions covering every bare inch of space in his room. I walked in and spun in a circle, disbelieving my own eyes. But it was real. All of me was here, in this room, with Vinemont.

“I bought them a little while back.” Vinemont leaned on the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. His face and neck were scratched, but the marks appeared to have been cleaned. He no longer bore even a shred of the merriment from the music room. His mother had stripped it all away, leaving him cold and raw.

“Why?”

His eyes pierced me but he gave no answer.

My heart began to thump in my ears as we held eye contact. I wanted to turn away. I tried. I couldn’t. His gaze dropped to my lips. Instead of cold, his eyes were suddenly alive with heat. He filled the door, his wide shoulders the perfect barrier.

I felt the urge to run. It was instinctive. My breath caught in my throat.

“Stella, if you keep looking at me like that…” His strained words trailed off as he walked in and shut the door, clicking the lock in a smooth movement behind him.

I took a step back, but there was nowhere to go. One more step and I’d be against his bed.

He covered the short distance between us, his aggression hitting me like the wave of a turbulent sea. I placed my hands to his chest and found his heart beating just as fast as mine, if not faster. He put one hand in my hair and another at my throat.

I tilted my head back, wanting to see every bit of his emotion, his need. My own surged inside me and created a blaze in my core.

“You’re still hurt.” He squeezed my throat and used his thumb to turn my head to the side. His lips ran along my jaw as he ghosted his mouth to my ear. “And I won’t be gentle.”

The blast of heat that shot through me at his darkly whispered words was beyond reason, beyond anything I could comprehend. I didn’t want gentle. I wanted everything he had. And I wanted it just as real, just as raw as he was.

“Then don’t be.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.” He moved his hand down my body and gripped my wrist, rubbing the palm of my hand against his hard cock. “I can’t control myself with you, Stella. Especially not now. I want to make it hurt, make you scream.”

Something in his words clicked inside my mind. He
wanted
to hurt me. My thoughts flickered back to the first trial—each time he’d hurt me, it was as if he was hurting, too. And he’d never wanted to bring me pain. The second trial proved that beyond doubt. But, here and now, we were two people who didn’t have to be master and slave. Here and now, when I could choose, I wanted him to hurt me.

“I want you to.” I rubbed my hand up and down his cock as it strained against his jeans. My pussy was already wet, and my heartbeat pulsed in my clit.

“You’re making a mistake.” He groaned and yanked my wrist away, twisting it up behind my back. The slight pain sent a buzz straight between my legs.

He grabbed a fistful of my hair right at my scalp and pulled so I was completely at his mercy, my body arching into him. His lips were at mine, his gaze bearing down on me. “If we do this, there is no safe word, Stella. There is no tapping out. I will hurt you. Do you understand? You’re mine.”

“Sin, please.” I wanted every dark thought he’d ever had. I wanted to cede him control freely, not have it taken from me.

He closed his eyes when I used his name. “Say it. Say you’re mine, and I’ll show you how much I can make it hurt.”

My knees grew weak and fear kicked in my breast like a snared rabbit. But fear didn’t rule me. Not here in his arms.

“I’m yours,” I breathed.

He released his hold on me and gripped my robe before yanking it down. His hands were all over me, his eyes locked on mine as he fisted my tank top and pulled it, the seams coming apart with a popping sound. My body jerked forward but he put a hand at my chest. Then, he gripped my shorts and panties with his left hand and yanked twice before ripping them off.

He stepped back, breathing hard, and raked his gaze down my naked body. Goose bumps rose along my flesh, and when he stopped at my pussy, the tightness inside me increased. I felt like I might come just from the pressure of his stare.

“Lay on the bed on your back, head toward me.”

I backed away as he watched, his body completely still. When my knees hit the bed, I sat and then spun so I was on my back and looking at him upside down. His hands went to his belt, his strong fingers nimbly unbuckling it and pulling it slowly loose. He tossed it on the bed next to me. The faint smell of leather filled my nose. He unzipped and pushed his jeans and boxers down while drawing out his rigid cock. I swallowed hard.

His jeans at his hips, he walked to me and gripped my shoulders, pulling me so my head hung off the bed. Blood rushed to my brain, pooling there as the lust pooled between my thighs.

Oh my god.
When he rubbed his wet tip across my lips, my nipples stiffened and I scissored my legs, my clit desperate for attention. I darted my tongue across his head and savored the salty taste.

He groaned. “Open.”

I opened my mouth as wide as I could and he shoved into me, his head hitting my tongue and then moving to the back of my throat. I gagged, but he only pulled back and pushed in again. I closed my eyes and fastened my lips tightly around him, sucking and playing my tongue along the top of his shaft.

He leaned over and squeezed my breasts to the point of pain as he fucked my mouth in hard strokes.

“Spread your legs. I want to see what’s mine.” His voice was an animal growl.

I obeyed, parting my legs as I squeezed his thighs. He continued shoving in and out of my mouth.

“Wider!”

I pushed my heels as far apart as they could go, cool air against my hot, wet pussy.

“Fuck.” He pushed in farther and my eyes watered, but I didn’t stop sucking him, his cock filling my mouth and making my jaw ache. I wanted every last bit of him, though I couldn’t possibly have taken him all in my mouth.

He pinched my nipples, making me squirm and moan around him. He backed away, and I gasped for breath. His cock stood at attention, out of reach and tantalizing.

“That’s going to make me come, and we aren’t anywhere near done yet.”

He stripped his shirt over his head and pushed his jeans and boxers the rest of the way off. “Get on your stomach. Head on my pillow.”

I rolled over and did as he said, burying my face in his clean, masculine scent as he prowled up to the bed. The jingle of his belt got my attention and I turned to stare at him. His eyes were wild, every muscle on his body tense.

“On your hands and knees.”

I slid my legs under me and pushed up as he ran a hand down the line of my spine from my neck to my ass. I shivered under his touch.

“Spread your legs more.” I shifted my knees apart and he teased a finger down my pussy and to my clit.

I moaned and pushed back into his hand. He withdrew his fingers. “Not yet.”

He gripped the belt in his right hand and for a moment I was back at the first trial, chained to a tree. I hung my head, taking in a gulp of air, and tried to stay in the moment.

“Stella.” He gripped the back of my neck. “Look at me.”

I turned my head and caught his gaze. His body was drawn tight, tension infusing every muscle, but his eyes were steady, reassuring. “I’ve got you. I’m right here. Just you and me. I’ve got you.”

I was doing this because I wanted to. Not because I was chained against my will. I nodded, and he placed his hand on my cheek, gentle for a moment before he reached behind my head and gripped my hair tight.

“When you scream, make sure it’s my name.”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, Sin.” Hearing the words spill from my mouth made my pussy tighten even more, my arousal reaching new heights each time I gave in to his demands.

“Good.” He let go and stood with his knees against the bed, his cock pointing at me straight and stiff.

He reared back, and a sting erupted along my ass, a sharp crack echoing around the room. I grunted and fisted the blanket.

“My name, Stella.” He hit me again, harder this time.

“Sin!” I cried in unison with the sound of the leather on my skin.

He fisted his cock and hit me again, this time the leather grazing against my pussy lips and making me shudder. The impact went straight to my clit. I gave him his name again and again and again. My ass stung, but I leaned back into every strike, begging for more. I wanted the pain. It was mine. I owned it. I’d chosen it.

One more stroke and I buried my face in his pillow, screaming his name and breathing hard. The belt jingled to the floor and the bed shifted. His hands were on my ass, spreading me apart and pushing me forward, and then his tongue was on the hot flesh between my legs. I jerked as he licked from my clit to my entrance.

He groaned and stabbed his tongue inside me, fucking me in and out with it. I rocked my hips back to him, and he moved to my clit, sucking it between his teeth as I pushed back into his face. He sucked until my moans grew louder, my pussy tensing. I was at the edge, so close, his tongue swirling and flicking me into a frenzy.