This Love's Not for Sale (17 page)

Tucker let out a long audible breath and placed his hands on his hips.
“Oh, Christ. Are we going to do this awkward dance? Look, I want you to stay, but if you want to leave, I respect that.”

Lilliana slowly turned to face Tucker. She stared at him a moment, trying to gauge his expression.
“You’re the most confusing man I’ve ever met. You want my land, you don’t want my land, you don’t like that I assumed I would stay, now you want me to stay.”

Tucker
looked affronted and nervous, but nervous about what? Her statement reminded her of the man at the mall. What was his name? Derrick? Darold? Darren.

***

“Darren approached me at the mall today. He said something about my decision about my land, and that you two were old friends.”

Tucker
didn’t know how to respond. The unprompted comment about her land had him feeling uncomfortable. More than that, uneasy. No, he wasn’t interested in her land, at the moment. And why the fuck had Darren approached her again? Tucker didn’t want to lie to Lilliana anymore, but now this?

“Yes, we went to college
together,” Tucker responded without answering Lilliana’s question.

Lilliana’s eyes brimmed with
confusion. “Do you know what he was talking about?”

Tucker cleared his plate
and loaded it in the dishwasher as he tried to formulate his answer.

“I put the word out that you weren’t selling it.” Tucker had told the truth, even if it was only a half-truth.

“Thank you,” Lilliana said softly.

Tucker
faced Lilliana, and the grateful look on her face delivered a mental kick to his balls. “Sure,” he shrugged her off, not wanting to think about his shitty actions.

“I bought you
something at the mall today,” Lilliana grinned, her face beaming impishly.

“Oh?”
Tucker listened with incredulousness. He was the one usually handing out the gifts. What could Lilliana possibly have gotten him on her meager income?

“Well, it’s actually for
the both of us,” Lilliana smiled. “It’s in my overnight bag.”

Tucker lifted a brow.
“So you’re staying then?”

Lilliana
wavered back and forth, then finally responded precisely the way Tucker was hoping she would.

“Yes.”

Tucker was glad to hear it. He hated the waiting game of dating. He was a grown man and Lilliana was an adult, and he just wanted to dispense with the fake pleasantries and get down to business like they had earlier. Hell, yes, an uninhibited, passionate, and willing Lilly in his bed is exactly what he wanted more of.

“So what is it that you b
ought?” He hoped it was some sexy lingerie or maybe something kinky.

“Right here in the kitchen?” Lilliana asked.

“Where would you prefer?”

“The bedroom,” she smiled shyly.

Very nice.  Tucker was hoping to hear that, too.

After getting her bag from his car, they made their way to his large bedroom. Lilliana looked it over carefully and then gave him the same laugh
she had when she first laid eyes on his home. Tucker slipped his pants and shirt off, and lay down on the bed while Lilly disappeared into the master bathroom. He docked his phone, cued some music overhead, and laid back. He could hardly wait to be inside of her again. He also couldn’t wait to show her the time-out room. How would she react to it? Would she run? Would she submit? Would she…

Tucker’s thoughts were interrupted when Lilliana came out laughing at herself.
She had on a black lace tank top and nothing else. Tucker loved her unabashed comfortableness with her own body. She wasn’t shy and she didn’t pretend to be. There was nothing more irritating than having a beautiful woman in his bedroom only to have her suddenly act as if she was virginal or demure. He cherished a confidently alluring woman. That was not to say that he liked an easy woman. Quite the opposite. An over-aggressive woman was more of a turn off than was a prude, in Tucker’s eyes. But Lilliana seemed to walk that fine line between being at ease with her sexuality without being too assertive and flashy. Tucker was, after all, a dominant male and he wanted to be the one calling the shots when it came to sex.

“This is a perfect song,” she giggled when she heard
Bamboleo
by Gipsy Kings.

Lilliana began
gyrating her booty around in time with the music, inching closer to Tucker. What the hell was going on? Was this Lilliana’s version of a strip tease? Tucker grinned stupidly as he watched her. She was a terrible dancer and her rhythm was completely off, but she was cute as hell. Lilliana laughed louder as she moved next to the bed. She turned her back to him, backed her ass up and lifted the lace, revealing her plump, glittered ass.

Tucker
sat up, kneeled on the bed, and howled with laughter as he held his stomach. God damn, Lilly knew how to entertain! Her sense of humor was quickly jumping to the top of his favorite things about her. He bounced up and down on the bed like a sex-depraved lunatic at a strip club, clapping his hands as Lilliana continued to shimmy her ass to the beat, her bottom jiggling with each shake.

“Shake that money maker!” Tucker yelled.

To Tucker’s absolute joy, Lilliana pushed her ass out further and reached around and slapped it, sending rainbow-colored, sparkling flakes flying everywhere. Just before the song ended, Lilliana leaped onto the bed with Tucker, pushed him onto his back and pinned his arms beneath her knees.

“Say
my ass is the best one!”

***

Lilliana’s pussy was only inches away from Tucker’s face. Their laughter slowly died down and Tucker’s smile turned into something more sinister. Lilliana lifted the lace up, revealing herself to him.

“I’m waiting.”

Tucker lifted a sexy eyebrow at her. “Are you attempting to top me, Lilliana Norris?”

Lilliana had to think quickly. “Sitting
on top
of you does not equate to
topping
you.”

Tucker was quick and before Lilliana realize
d what had happened, she was beneath him, his strong, hot body suffocating her. His smell was exhilarating. He shifted and Lilliana could feel his hard cock against her thigh.

“I’m
still waiting,” she whispered, undeterred by the slickness between her legs.

Tucker glided his finger down her
cheek and across her lips, the rough tip of his finger igniting a fire within her belly. He was trying to manipulate her like he had undoubtedly done to countless women, but she wouldn’t allow it. She had embarrassed herself for him and she wanted to hear the words from his beautiful mouth.

“Say it, Tucker,” Lilliana pleaded.

“Beg for it, my beautiful, little pet,” Tucker leaned down and licked the crook of her ear.

“I did what you asked. Are you a man of your word or not?”

Tucker’s eyes narrowed to mere slits. “Most of the time.”

Lilliana wondered what kind of hidden message was in that statement. “I still don’t trust you, but I want
to. Give me a reason to.”

Tucker’s eyes became fixed on Lilliana’s mouth
, and she could feel his heart begin to beat rapidly in his chest as he lay on top of her. She could see the internal struggle in his eyes, but he finally gave her what she asked for.

“Your
ass is the best I’ve ever bitten,” he stated in a low, composed voice.

Lilliana woke sometime after a short nap. She rolled over, her body still covered in sweat from the sex she and Tucker had before finally falling asleep. Her body ached, her pussy was sore from the pounding it had received, and her jaw creaked and throbbed from sucking Tucker off again. Tucker had finally allowed her to cum and her pussy was still vibrating from the massive orgasm she had.

She sat up on one elbow and blin
ked several times trying to adjust to the darkness of the room.  When her eyes finally came into focus, Tucker’s glistening silhouette practically glowed in the dark. She had been surprised to see his upper arms covered in tattoos when she had come into the bedroom to shimmy her ass for him, and it was just another thing that fascinated her about Tucker.

Dusting
a finger over the family crest on his upper arm, Tucker stirred and shifted from lying on his side to lying on his stomach. He was absolutely flawless. His muscular thighs and ass reflected the moon filtering through the large window, and she couldn’t resist reaching down and squeezing a cheek just to convince herself that he was real. She traced the outline of the tattoo in between his shoulder blades. She had only caught a glimpse of it during the heat of the moment, and she could now inspect it closer. It was an ambigram tattoo of the word family in gothic print, large and bold and etched in raven black ink. There was nothing sexier to Lilliana than an inked body beneath a business suit. Lilliana leaned down and kissed his back, the taste of his salty skin stirring in her nethers.

The urge to urinate hit her and she trotted
quietly to the restroom. It was tastefully laid out, but was gigantic and over-the-top just like everything else in the house. As she sat relieving her bladder, she eyed the in-floor whirlpool tub and open shower stall encased by stone walls. There was no denying Tucker had good taste when it came to decorating.

When she was finished, she stood
at the mirror and opened a drawer, curious what kind of personal items a man like Tucker kept in his restroom. There was nothing of note in the first two cabinets, just the standard fare of hair products, cologne, and a shaver. She dabbed a bit of the aftershave onto her wrists and neck, and smiled. She loved the smell of a man lingering on her.

When she opened the bottom drawer, she came face t
o face with a strawberry blonde-haired woman staring back at her. The female was stunning with her long hair, straight white teeth, and modelesque figure. She flipped the photo over and it read
Aubrey 2011, Venice.
She looked back into where she had found the photo and found two more pictures. One was of a brunette with medium-length, wavy hair and haunting blue eyes. She was young, probably in her mid-twenties. On the back was written
Sarah 2008, Paris.
The last photo looked much older than the other two and featured a gorgeous, golden-haired girl who looked very young, early twenties or so, with sad brown eyes. The name scrawled on the back:
Gwen 1999, Iowa.

Lilliana
was struck with what she was looking at; his ex-wives and ex-fiancé. She suddenly felt like a nosy bitch for snooping, and hurriedly put the photos back into the drawer and closed it. For a man who got around, it was strange that he kept these images so close to him. Was it possible that Tucker had a bit of a romantic side to him that he was hiding? It shouldn’t surprise her considering his upbringing. Most country boys that she knew had a rough exterior with a soft inner core. But Tucker was no longer a country boy as evidenced by his surroundings, home and attitude. She glanced one more time around the bathroom and shook her head.

L
illiana snuck back into bed and Tucker rolled over and opened his eyes.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, reaching out and running his fingers through her hair.

Tucker’s eyes shone brightly in the pale light of the moon and Lilliana moved closer to peck his lips. The pain of missing a man’s touch, smell, and warmth hit Lilliana. She had suppressed it for so long, but lying next to Tucker only reminded her how alone she really was. She turned away from him, trying to get her emotions under control and remind herself that it was just a weekend of fun, then back to the real world.

Unable to fall back to
sleep, Lilliana dressed in her lace tank top and panties, and tiptoed around his large home, getting turned around several times in the darkness. How damned big was his house? It seemed like she walked forever from one end to the other. She counted eight bedrooms in all and six restrooms. That’s a whole lot of toilets. How much could one person piss anyway? Though, now that she thought about it, Tucker could be quite a shithead, so maybe that’s why he had so many turd receptacles.

As stunning as his home was, Lilliana found it
to be cold and sterile with all the standard issue paintings on the walls and expensive décor. What it was lacking was personal items. There were no family photos to be seen anywhere. How could a man who had the word
family
etched into his skin have no images of that family he loved so much hanging from his walls? Lilliana found what was clearly his office and thought it was lovely, but just as impersonal as the rest of the house. The only upside was that it had the distinct scent of Tucker in it. Lilliana inhaled deeply and hugged herself. Hot damn, she loved the scent of masculinity.

***

Tucker had awoken to find himself alone in his bed. Lilliana’s perfume was still lingering in the room and glitter was strewn everywhere and shimmering in the moonlight.  He knew she couldn’t have gotten too far considering her clothes and bag were still in his room, so he went out looking for her.

Several minutes later he
found Lilliana wandering around his home. The hallway was almost pitch black when he came up behind her and took her by surprise. “What are you doing up at this hour and at this end of the house?”

“Taking a tour of the McGrath Estate,” she responded looking around the lightless room.

Tucker reached over and flipped on a light, and Lilliana snorted when faced with the expansive room and luxurious furnishings.

“What’s so funny?”

“You. This house.”

Tucker felt offended. No one had ever complained about his home before. “You don’t like my home?”

Lilliana looked around the room and nodded. “Of course I like it; it’s gorgeous. I’ve only seen this kind of extravagance in magazines.”

“My home is hardly extravagant,” Tucker huffed, though he supposed in Lilliana’s eyes it might seem that way.

Lilliana motioned with her head towards the gold-leaf, Italian billiards table and lavish chandelier hanging overhead, and raised her eyebrows accusingly.

Tucker looked around the room and was finally forced to admit, “Okay,
that might be a little superfluous.”

“
A little?” Lilliana wrinkled her nose. “Do you even play pool?”

Tucker hadn't purchased
the damn billiards table to play on it; he had bought it because it looked good in the large room and because it was a great place to fuck. Seeing legs spread wide on the black baize fabric or a firm ass bent over the hand-painted rails made it well worth the investment. Hell, he didn't know anyone who owned a table that actually used it for its designed purpose.

Tucker gave Lilliana his best condescending grin and fake upper class accent. “The pool, my dear, is out back. It’s where
us highfalutin folk dip our toes while we sip on mimosas. This here…” Tucker waved to the table, “is called a
billiards table.
”

“Potāto, p
otàto,” Lilliana puckered her mouth. “So do you play or not?”

“As a matter of public knowledge, I do indeed play, mada
m,” Tucker raised his nose in an exaggerated snooty gesture. “Am I any good at it?” he asked starting to laugh. “No,” he silently mouthed and shook his head.

“Oh. My. God
. Did Tucker McGrath just admit he’s not good at something?” Lilliana gripped her chest and staggered backwards.

“Zip it, woman.”

Lilliana giggled. “Tell me: Why does a single man with no children need a 10,000 square foot house?”

“It’s only 8,000
square feet,” he winked. “And if I’m not spending my hard-earned money on living extravagantly, then what?”

“Making memories? Traveling?
Charity?”

“Charity?” Tucker asked sarcastically.
“Since when did you become a humanitarian?”

“I’m not. I just can’t fig
ure out why you need all this,” Lilliana nodded her head toward the room.

“No one
needs
a house this big, silly girl,”

“
Who are you calling silly? You’re the one living in a castle. All this place needs is a moat with a draw-bridge and a few dragons in the front yard to complete your look. I mean, seriously, why do you have a place like this? To prove something?”

Tucker shrugged his shoulders and chuckled at her remark. He did like to think of himself as country royalty, but his intentions with a house this size wasn’t to make people believe he was a God damned king.

“Everyone knows you’re successful, brilliant, and commanding, Tucker. Everyone respects you. You don’t need a big house to prove that.”

Do they? H
e wondered. Yes, people respected his ability to get things done and make money for everyone, but did they really
respect him?

“Not a lot of people like me, Lilly.”

“Well whose fault is that? You want respect and reverence, and you demand it. I’ve seen it firsthand. You can’t expect to treat people the way you do and make besties along the way. It just doesn’t work like that.” Lilliana squeezed his shoulders. “But I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Am I?”

Tucker
exchanged a smile with her, and shook his head. Her honesty was something he was still getting accustomed to. “No, you’re not.”

Lilliana’s eyes became unfocused and she stepped back. There was clearly something
she wanted to ask him.

“What’s on your mind
?” Tucker prompted her.

“What did you do to make that woman
outside the dance studio so afraid of you?” Lilliana asked with an expression of deep concern.

Did she really want to know? He had been holding back his true perversions for fear of scaring her awa
y, but there was no time like the present to make his intentions clear. “Unspeakable things,” he answered.

Lilliana’s eyes rounded. “If by unspeakable you mean…”

Tucker covered her mouth with his index finger. “By
unspeakable,
I mean I’d rather not go into the details out of respect for her. Come with me. I want to show you something.”

Nervous appreh
ension settled in Tucker’s gut. Would she run? Tucker led Lilliana by the hand to a room on the east wing. Entering the smallest room of the house, he turned the light on.

“This is the time-out room.”

Lilliana’s jaw gaped and her eyes scanned the select few pieces of equipment furnishing the space. Tucker was expecting the worst; a slap across the face, a blood-curdling scream, something.

“Why didn’t you show me this room before?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Tucker stood silent, not really knowing the answer to her question.

“Do you
really like doing this sort of thing?” Lilliana waved to the equipment.

“That, I do.”

“So is this what you meant by unspeakable?”

“Yes.”

Lilliana raised her eyebrows and moved to the wooden bed that contained a whipping cross on one end, a bed with a neck and wrist yoke, a cage on the bottom, and an assortment of suspension points and padding. “If you’re embarrassed about your preferences, then why do you do this?”

Tucker’s brows lifted in surprise.
“I’m not embarrassed about this. Is that what you think?”

“Why else would you keep it from me?”

Tucker had no real excuse except to say that he didn’t want to freak her out. “Because I’m discreet.”

Lilliana moved
to the small wooden horse that’s designed purpose was for spanking, and ran her hand along the leather seat. Tucker admired her driving intelligence and wished he could be inside her head for just one minute. Next she moved to the only other piece of equipment in the room, a sex swing that hung from the ceiling in a corner, and seated herself in it.

“So you’re not freaked out?”

Lilliana’s gaze simmered as her eyes moved over Tucker’s body. “Does it look like I’m freaked out?”

No, it didn’t. In fact, it looked like she was intrigued. When her eyes moved around the room they stopped on a wall of ropes and belts. Her eyebrows pinched together.

“I told you that I have an affinity for bondage,” he responded before she could speak.

“You
also told me you weren’t a sadist.”

Tucker couldn’t help but smile
. “I’m not. The things in this room are for disciplining purposes and pleasure, not pain. Though to a certain degree, pleasure can be derived from pain.”