Authors: Julia Sykes
Then his hand came down on me hard, and pain bloomed hot and sharp on my ass. I gave a small cry, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the pain or from the way that my inner walls clenched, longing to have him inside of me.
“You will learn not to question me, Claudia,” he said, his voice rough with unconcealed lust. His fingers swirled in the wetness on my inner thigh, trailing their way upward before pausing just beside my clit. I whined in need, but I resolutely forced down the instinct to rock toward him; I remembered his order not to move against him without permission. I trembled with the effort of resisting.
He traced the line of my swollen folds. “You see? You’re learning. Good girl,” he rumbled.
I shuddered beneath him as my clit throbbed painfully, desperate for him to touch me there. There was a ripping noise behind me, and I was relieved to realize that he was slipping on a condom. He was going to take me.
Please,
I silently begged.
Please…
A sharp cry was ripped from me as he entered me with one powerful thrust, driving in to the hilt. Then he drew almost completely out of me.
“Don’t move,” he ordered through gritted teeth.
He began to rock against me, entering me in swift, shallow thrusts, only the head of his cock penetrating me. I let out a low whine as he teased me, desperately trying to resist the urge to drive my hips back against him. Slowly, agonizingly, he eased further into me each time as he rocked against me. I was panting by the time he almost reached my g-spot, my fingers curling into the rug beneath me as I bit my lower lip to hold my resolve. I wanted to obey, I wanted to…
But then he stopped his progress, keeping me on the edge. All of my muscles were taut with the effort of keeping still. His low chuckle floated down to me. The bastard was enjoying torturing me, making me wait as he tested me.
I couldn’t take it anymore; I shoved back into him in one sharp motion, nearly climaxing as his dick hit me where I craved it most.
He let out a low growl, and I felt his cock twitch within me as he almost lost his iron control. His hands were around my shoulders, jerking my body upright so that my back pressed up against his hard chest. One arm closed around my waist, trapping my arms at my sides as he pinned me in place. His other wrapped around my neck, trapping my throat between his forearm and bicep.
A tremor ran through me as I realized how breakable I was in his grip. But the slight pang of fear only heightened my arousal, and my inner muscles contracted around him.
“Fuck, Claudia,” he groaned, tightening his hold around my throat incrementally. I could still draw in ragged breaths, but he was pressing against my arteries, restricting the blood flow to my brain. He moved within me, thrusting into me with jarring force.
His movements were possessive and punishing. I was growing lightheaded from the lack of oxygenated blood reaching my brain. My focus honed in completely on the feel of him inside of me, our sweat-slicked bodies sliding against one another as he took me completely. I moaned in wild abandon, reveling in it.
I could feel him hardening impossibly further, his need for release mounting even as I was pushed towards the precipice. As I felt him jerk inside of me, his fingers found my clit, pinching hard. At the same time, his grip on my throat eased, and blood rushed to my head. The high was incredible. I was shoved over the edge, falling into a bliss-filled haze. Sean was the only real thing in the world as I flew out into the abyss, pleasure consuming me. I didn’t recognize the strangled cry that echoed around the room as my own.
His cock pulsed inside of me as he reached his own orgasm, his low grunt reverberating throughout my entire body. My pussy fluttered around him as I floated in ecstasy.
He didn’t release me from his grip as we tumbled to the floor. He held me tightly against him as he curled around me, his cock still inside of me. I trembled as the little aftershocks tingled through me, shuddering against him.
My body was limp, completely spent as I huddled in his arms. I remained floating in warm darkness for long minutes, relishing the feeling on his hand gently stroking up and down the curve of my waist as he softened within me.
I sighed happily, completely sated and utterly content.
Chapter 5
I let out a small moan when Sean pulled out of me, the friction against my hyper-sensitive nerve endings making me tremble. I didn’t want to move yet, and I was glad when he remained curled against me. But my mind was whirring back to life, the bliss-filled haze beginning to lift.
What had I just done?
You had amazing, mind-blowing sex, that’s what,
a smug, satisfied part of me responded.
But at what cost? Hadn’t I been resolutely telling myself that I had to keep my hands off of Sean if I had any hope of spying on him without breaking down? My gut twisted.
“You can trust me.”
Regardless of my intense attraction to him, of my undeniable feelings for him, the cold, hard truth was that I was deceiving him. It was possible that I might be condemning him to years in prison by carrying out my task. How could I sleep with him when I knew that?
It was made worse by the fact that I had forced him to open up to me. Had I done that because I wanted to know more about his father so that I could report it back to the FBI?
No. No, I truly had wanted to comfort him. When I asked him about how he had been hurt, I hadn’t known that it was his father’s doing. Anger bubbled up within me again at the thought of him hurting Sean.
Sean had said that he hadn’t chosen his life for himself. It was becoming pretty clear to me that his father had something to do with that. Clayton had promised me that he would protect Sean if he truly hadn’t had a choice in becoming what he was.
I was just going to have to find out more about Ronan Reynolds. The only way that I could protect Sean and avenge my parents was to ensure his downfall.
See?
A kind part of me said.
You’re helping him escape this life.
Maybe if I succeeded in taking down the Westies and managed to get Sean off the hook, then we could be together…?
Yeah, right. As though he would ever be able to look at me again once he discovered that I betrayed him. It would be made all the worse by the fact that I knew that he was a very guarded, private person, just like I was. And I was going to actively tear down his barriers in order to extract information from him. How could he ever forgive me for that?
He couldn’t.
Despite Sean’s heat against me, I shivered. He rubbed a hand up and down my arm as goose bumps covered my flesh.
“Are you cold, little one?” He asked, kissing my shoulder tenderly.
A pang shot through my heart at the endearing term. I rolled away from him quickly, no longer able to bear his touch. I didn’t deserve it.
“What’s up?” Sean asked as I pushed myself to my feet.
“Ummm… Bathroom,” I muttered by way of explanation.
He propped himself up on one elbow, his deep green eyes studying me. I couldn’t hold up under his scrutiny. Dropping my gaze, I turned on my heel and tried my best to appear calm as I walked towards my bedroom. Once I rounded the corner and was out of sight, I took the stairs two at a time, flinging myself through my room before locking the bathroom door behind me. It seemed that I was beginning to associate bathrooms with refuge from Sean.
I closed my eyes and took several deep, calming breaths. I was in my own house, for god’s sake; I shouldn’t have to hide here.
Gathering my resolve, I forced myself to face the mirror. Every time I caught my reflection these days, I was always shocked to find just how normal I looked. How could I appear so unchanged when I felt like a completely different person than I had been two weeks ago? I felt as though I should have aged at least five years.
But other than my over-bright eyes and my slightly flushed cheeks, nothing was out of the ordinary. Well, almost nothing. I noticed that my hair was in disarray. Tendrils that had been pulled from my bun fell wildly around my face. I definitely looked like I had just been well-fucked.
I frowned at myself, at the evidence of what I had just done. Angrily, I began jerking pins from my hair and ran a brush through it. The sight of it down just reminded me of my time as Sean’s captive, and I was tempted to put it back up again. But that was stupid. Pursing my lips, I stalked away from my reflection and out of the bathroom. I stopped short as soon as I opened the door.
Sean was sprawled out across my four-poster bed in all his masculine glory, completely naked. My tongue darted out to wet my lips at the sight of him, and I noticed his cock twitch in response. I flushed, forcing my gaze to his face.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked, my voice high and thin.
He grinned at me, obviously amused at my discomfiture. “Well, I wasn’t going to sleep on the floor,” he said matter-of-factly.
The presumptuous ass! I huffed indignantly. “I didn’t say that we were having a slumber party,” I said snappily.
His smile turned predatory. “I don’t think boys are usually invited to slumber parties. Especially not boys who want to do the things that I want to do to you.” He had the audacity to wink at me as he patted the bed beside him. “Now come over here and get in with me. I don’t want you catching a chill.” His eyes flicked to my hardened nipples.
I threw up my hands and marched to my dresser. I saw him frowning at me out of the corner of my eye.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
“I won’t be chilly if I put on extra layers,” I said coolly. Yes, I definitely needed to hide my body from him. The way he was studying it was making me decidedly uncomfortable.
He was out of the bed and across the room before I could fully open the top drawer. I gasped as his arm closed around my waist, jerking me away from the dresser and back into his body. I could feel his cock hardening against my ass.
“I didn’t say you could cover yourself,” he said, a warning in his voice.
I squirmed in his grip, trying to push his arm away. He didn’t budge. “I don’t need your permission,” I snapped.
He tutted at me, and suddenly the world spun around me as his grip shifted. I found myself in his arms, cradled against his chest. He closed the short distance to the bed in three long strides before dumping me onto it unceremoniously.
Even though the impact was soft, all of the air was momentarily knocked out of me. But as I looked up at him, I wasn’t sure if I would have been able to draw breath anyway. His eyes were blazing, his expression forbidding.
“I think you’ll find that you do need my permission,” he said coldly.
Now I was getting angry. “No,” I insisted. “I don’t.” I moved to push myself up, but his hand was between my breasts, shoving against my sternum and pressing me down into the bed.
He pinned me with a hard stare. “Don’t you?” He asked. “You wanted to get dressed a moment ago. Are you wearing clothes now?”
I glared at him and clawed at his hand that held me down. He frowned at me, quickly gathering up my wrists and pinning them above my head with his free hand. He was hovering over me now, his face inches from mine. I tugged against his grip, but he held me fast. Despite my frustration – or perhaps because of it – I felt my sex stir back to life.
“Answer me,” he demanded. “Are you wearing clothes now?”
I held my baleful look. “No,” I ground out. “Obviously I can’t get to them with you holding me down like this.”
He released me abruptly, a smirk breaking out on his face as he eased up. “There,” he said, amusement evident in his voice. “I’m not restraining you anymore. What do you think your chances are of getting to your dresser before I stop you? And even if you did manage, how do you plan on preventing me from ripping the clothes right back off of you?”
He was toying with me, the light in his eyes practically daring me to try to get around him. So I settled for folding my arms over my chest. “You’ve already destroyed enough of my articles of clothing for one day,” I said coldly. I reached for the covers and jerked them up over my body before turning away from him, curling up on my side. “Goodnight, Sean. You can let yourself out.”
There was a moment of stunned silence, and then I heard him curse softly. “Shit, Claudia, I’m sorry. I just… I guess I got caught up.” His hand touched my shoulder lightly, hesitantly. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry if I crossed a line.”
Fuck.
Yes, he had upset me. But I was more upset with myself for liking his treatment than I was upset with him for threatening me. I sighed heavily and rolled onto my back so that I could face him again.
“It’s okay, Sean,” I said. And it really was. I was the one who had cajoled him into dominating my body even though he had tried to resist; I had been the one to provoke this side of him. But he wouldn’t meet my eye, and all of his muscles were tense. I reached out and grasped his hand in mine. He flinched at my touch, but he didn’t pull away. I tugged on him gently. “Sit with me?” I asked.
He hesitated for a moment, but then his knees folded and he sat carefully on the edge of the bed. I didn’t release my hold on him.
“I’m not mad,” I said gently. Now his eyes met mine, disbelief filling them. “I mean, I was. But I’m not anymore.”
He studied my face carefully. “Are you trying to fuck with my head, Claudia?” He asked.
“No!” I said quickly.
His brows drew together. “Well you sure are doing a hell of a good impression of it.”
“Listen,” I said, squeezing his hand. “I’m sorry. I know that I asked for you to treat me that way.” He winced, but I carried on. “But I want you to. I like it. It’s just… My reactions confuse me sometimes. The way I am when I’m with you doesn’t match up with how I think of myself at all.”
I really shouldn’t be confessing this to him. I should be maintaining my distance – emotionally, at the very least. But damn it if I was going to let him leave me when he seemed so hurt. Especially when I was the one at fault.
“I’m a very independent person,” I continued on. “I get angry with myself for enjoying what you’re doing to me when it goes against everything that I am. I don’t recognize myself when I’m with you,” I admitted quietly.