Taken by Passion: King of Hearts (Wonderland Book 1) (12 page)

She couldn’t believe he considered her beautiful. And it was unbelievable how serious he seemed when he touched her and called her exquisite. Was it possible that on this world it didn’t matter what size she was? Or was it Jarronn, the man, who saw her as no one had seen her before?

Need and desire spiraled through Alice, more intense than ever, and she squirmed in his lap. She became aware of his very large and hard erection pressed against her ass. She wanted him inside her more than anything.

Jarronn apparently sensed her passion and seemed determined to torture her out of her mind. He pulled away from the kiss and his face was serious. “Promise me that you will love your body and yourself.”

Alice hesitated, fighting back years of self-abuse. Years of hating the way she looked, the hateful things that had been said about her weight, and years of feeling invisible next to her slender sister. No matter how much Alice loved Alexi, it had not been easy being her twin. The bullying from children and her father’s verbal abuse about her weight had damaged her self-confidence.

The king’s expression turned fierce, and Alice’s eyes widened. “I—I promise, Milord.”

His gaze remained fixed on hers, and she knew that he meant every single word when he said, “If you break this promise, your punishment will be far more severe than what you have been dealt thus far. Do you understand?”

She nodded, her hair sliding against the arm that held her tight. “Yes, Milord.”

With a growl of approval, Jarronn carried her from behind the curtain of water and continued until he reached the middle of the moonlit pool. In an easy motion he tilted her head back so her hair was completely wet, then settled her on her feet so she was standing. Water trickled from her wet hair down her back and over her breasts. Fine grains of sand shifted beneath her feet and she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt fish lightly nibbling at her toes.

Trust,
she reminded herself before she opened her mouth to mention it to Jarronn.
You’re supposed to trust him, Alice. He wouldn’t set you down just to have something munch on your feet.

“Assume the position,” he commanded, and Alice immediately lowered her eyes, clasped her hands behind her back, moved her feet farther apart, and did her best to ignore the fish nibbling at her toes and knees.

She didn’t know where he got it, but Jarronn began washing her hair with an orange blossom-scented shampoo. For such a large and powerful man his hands were gentle as he worked the lather and massaged her scalp. “Tell me about this world you come from, Alice,” he ordered as he shampooed her hair.

“What would you like to know?” She hurriedly added, “Milord.”

“Everything.”

Okaaay. If that isn’t a lot to ask a girl.

At first she felt a little shy, but it helped looking down at the glowing water while she spoke. She wondered then if that was one reason why he demanded she keep her gaze lowered—to allow herself the freedom of no distractions, and the freedom of turning everything over to him.

Talking to Jarronn about herself became easier as he responded to what she told him, and easier yet as he asked her questions, prompting her to go on. While he shampooed her hair, Alice talked.

“I grew up in San Francisco with my twin sister, Alexi.” Alice swallowed hard and bit her lip. “We’re really close, and I miss her.” Jarronn said nothing, so she continued. “We pretty much raised ourselves. Alexi is only a couple of minutes older than me, but she took on the role of oldest sibling and head of our little household when our mother…didn’t. I did everything I could to help, but Alexi is a natural take-charge leader and succeeds in everything she does.”

“Go on,” Jarronn said as he dipped her back and rinsed her hair in the pool.

“I went to community college for a couple of years and took business classes so I could work in that field.” She shrugged. “I never had the drive that Alexi has. She pushed and fought her way through law school and is now a successful attorney. She specializes in sexual harassment cases and divorce.”

Jarronn grunted. “Sexual harassment and divorce? What do you speak of?”

Alice shrugged. “Sexual harassment is when someone makes advances or says obscene things, usually in a workplace or some other professional situation. Sometimes it can be in social situations, too.

Jarronn was quiet a moment. “This sexual harassment happened to you in your world.”

The way he said it, as a statement, threw her off. How could he know? “Yes. The same day I ended up here, my boss fired me because I wouldn’t have sex with him. I guess that was a week ago by now.”

A low growl rose up in Jarronn’s chest and she glanced up to see a fire in his eyes. Or maybe it was the reflection from the pool’s glow. Whatever the case, he looked pissed and like he was holding back his temper.

He began to shampoo her hair a second time. “What is divorce?”

She frowned as she thought of her father divorcing her mother and how that had devastated their mom. “It’s when two people who are married decide they don’t want to be married anymore. At least one of them doesn’t.”

“This married.” Jarronn sounded like he was testing the word. “Is this a bonding between mates?”

“I guess you could call it bonding.” Alice enjoyed the massage he was giving her scalp. “But sometimes the union is just not meant to be.”

“Not in the land of Tarok.” He had disapproval in his tone. “Here we mate for eternity.”

“Even if one of you no longer wants to be married?” She corrected herself. “I mean bonded.”

“That does not happen here.” His voice was firm. “Our people are attracted only to the one who would be his or her lifelong mate.”

“Must be nice.” Alice thought about her two bad experiences with so-called permanent relationships. “That’s not so in our world. Something like fifty percent of marriages end in divorce.”

“I do not think I like your world.” He dipped her back to rinse her hair again. “Divorce, sexual harassment, and especially that they do not appreciate such beauty as yours.”

Alice’s cheeks heated. “There are good things about my world, too.”

“Tell me of you and your sister.” He finished rinsing her hair “You love her very much.”

“My twin and I have a special bond.” A smile touched Alice’s lips. “Alexi and I got into lots of trouble as we grew up. She would try to take the blame, always wanting to protect me, but I never let her. The blame was equal, so I deserved whatever punishment was dealt as much as she did.”

“My brothers and I were also into much mischief.” He sounded amused. “I have a twin as well. Darronn.”

“I didn’t know Darronn is your twin.” Alice tipped her head to look over her shoulder at Jarronn. “How funny and odd that we both have twins.”

“Indeed.” Jarronn adjusted her head so she was looking forward again. “Tell me what trouble it is that you and Alexi found yourself in.”

To her surprise, Alice didn’t mind sharing with him. She found she enjoyed it. “Once we spied on Aunt Awai when we were fifteen and she was twenty-three. Our aunt is only eight years older than us, but she kept an eye on us once we were alone.”

Alice smiled to herself. “Awai had just come home from a date with a hot guy, and we snuck out of the house. We watched her have sex with the guy in the backseat of her Mustang. She cried out, like in ecstasy, but at the same time she saw us peeking through the car’s window. I think she had just orgasmed, but we didn’t know that at the time. We were grounded for two solid months after that bit of fun.”

Jarronn had a grin in his voice. “At that age you would have been considered adults in our land. Did you not see others enjoying pleasures of the body around you?”

“No.” Alice knew she sounded horrified. “People can’t have sex in public.”

Jarronn laughed, deep and throaty. “In Tarok sex between adults occurs anywhere they wish to enjoy the pleasures of the body, as long as children are not nearby.”

A pained look crossed his face, his laughter dying, as if talking about children somehow hurt him. “However, nakedness is a normal part of our world.”

“That’s so different from where I come from.” Alice leaned into Jarronn’s touch as he put conditioner on her hair that felt cool and soothing. “You can only be naked if you go to some kind of nudist colony or beach. And you definitely don’t have sex in public.”

“What other mischief did you participate in?” he said, clearly amused.

“One time our cousin, Annie, was going to put red highlights into her dark hair. Alexi and I were into experimenting with chemicals in science class.” Alice remembered it as if it was yesterday. “We wanted to help, so we added something to the mixture Annie was going to put on her hair.” Alice held back a groan. “We were responsible for turning her butt-length hair orange in our failed experiment. It took Annie years to grow it out so it was all glossy dark brown again, and took just as long for her to forgive us.”

A bubble of concern rose up inside Alice. “Alexi is probably going nuts trying to find me. Annie and Awai are probably helping her and they all must be worried like crazy.” Her throat tightened. They were her only real family. Alice’s best friend, Maryam, was no doubt in on the search, too.

Jarronn finished conditioning Alice’s hair, dunked her backward, rinsing it clean. “What of other family?” he asked.

She swallowed. “I don’t want to talk about them.”

Jarronn began washing her body with a sponge coated in soap that was the same scent as the shampoo and conditioner. “Tell me.” It was a command, and despite herself it drew forth the words that she hadn’t wanted to say.

“My father cheated with someone a lot younger than our mother and left us all when my sister and I were teenagers.” Alice couldn’t help the crack in her voice. The pain was still there, lodged in her chest. “The bastard just up and abandoned us, moved to Florida, almost three thousand miles away. He took off with his bimbette. Mom, Alexi, and I ceased to exist as far as he was concerned. Last we heard, the dick and the bimbette had married and have twin boys. That’s his family now.”

Alice had always hoped the dick and bimbette were both bald from tearing their hair out from terror the twin boys might inflict upon them, but she didn’t say that to Jarronn. It seemed petty, but after the pain her father had caused, it also felt justified.

“Bastard.” A growl that sounded both protective and angry rose up in Jarronn and the pressure of the sponge increased as he moved it over her body. “How does your mother fare?”

“She mentally faded away during our teenage years after Dad left, and was barely conscious of us anymore.” Alice felt the burn of tears at the backs of her eyes. “Mom just went through each day like some kind of zombie.” Minus the eating the brains part. “That’s when Alexi took over running the household.”

Alice swallowed. “Once we started college, Mom disappeared. We found out she had become a transient and homeless. Alexi and I tried to give Mom a home and tried to help her when we found her, but she kept vanishing. She would turn up every now and then, out of the blue. We don’t even know where she is right now, although it’s probably somewhere warm like Southern California.”

It was the first time Alice had been able to talk about it without tears rolling down her cheeks. Why did she find it so easy to talk with Jarronn? Perhaps it was the way he listened, and the note of caring in his tone with every question he asked.

“Your father is just as much a bastard as the man you worked for,” Jarronn said with disgust.

“Yes.” She didn’t want to tell Jarronn that all the men in her life who had hurt her had made it difficult to trust. So how could she trust Jarronn? What if he discarded her, too? “I don’t have much luck with men in any situation.”

Jarronn dunked her in the water to wash away the soap. And maybe to wash the negative thoughts from her head. Didn’t work.

“They are not the only men who have hurt you.” He said the words matter-of-factly.

“No.” Alice closed her eyes, not wanting to tell him any more. “They were not.”

Jarronn took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. She kept her head bowed, not looking up at him. “You must tell me about these men.”

It was harder to tell him about her exes, but she obeyed. “First I dated Steve for a long time, but he cheated on me.” She managed to hold back tears. She hadn’t cried over his betrayal for a long time. She could feel the tension and the anger rising within Jarronn as she continued. “Then there was Jon, my fiancé.”

“What is a fiancé?” Jarronn sounded like he was trying the word out on his tongue.

“We were supposed to be married. Bonded as you say here.” She pushed strands of wet hair over her shoulder. “After I was fired, I went home and found him cheating on me with a woman
and
a man.”

The ache lingered within her that wouldn’t go away. She’d always thought that it was her failings in life. She wasn’t a good daughter; somehow she had invited the unwanted advances from her boss; she was too fat for her boyfriends to love.

Now she’d have to update her Facebook status to “single” again.

What was she even thinking about that for? Maybe it was because she felt like a complete and total failure when it came to men.

God, she needed therapy. Seriously needed therapy. It came down to one thing in her mind:
I’m not slender and beautiful.

Alice didn’t realize she’d spoken the last sentence aloud until Jarronn abruptly caught her chin and forced her to look at him. “You are one of the most beautiful women I have ever known.” She gasped at the angry light in his eyes. “Those bastards do not deserve to breathe the same air as you.” His growl was so deep it almost scared her. “Do not waste another thought on any of them.”

He held her gaze. “Do not let those poor excuses for life forms make you doubt yourself. And do not let their actions make you question your trust in
me.
”

She swallowed and whispered, “Yes, Milord.” Jarronn’s mouth came down on hers in a hard and brutal kiss. He pressed his body tight against hers, so rigid against her belly that she was sure he would bruise her flesh.