"You think I'm a softie?" My voice is deceptively gentle when the rest of me is so hard. "Do you know why I pulled over?"
"Why?" she says, seeming to hold her breath.
Don't you dare. She's innocent. I say the words, anyway, however. I want to drive her away. Now. She caught me with my walls down and that is the ultimate invasion, made worse because I crave it happening again. "I pulled over because I know tight pussy when I see it." I frame her jaw with my right hand, tilting her blushing face up toward mine. "I'd like to fuck you on all fours, right here in the middle of the road, little girl. Rough as you can stand. Still think I'm a softie?"
"No," she gasps, the green of her eyes deepening to a forest shade. "I don't."
I ignore the regret stabbing me in the neck. "Good."
She tugs her chin out of my hold, skirts around me and continues walking up the road, arms stiff at her sides. I'm monetarily dumbfounded by the sense of loss I experience without her in front of me—and then I'm turning on a heel, going after her. "Get in the limo. Now."
"Why would I do that?"
"How about so you don't catch pneumonia?" I growl. "Or get kidnapped."
"Or roughed up on my hands and knees in the middle of the road?" she inquires primly over her shoulder, hurt dancing in her eyes.
More regret piles onto my head. "I said I would like to do those things, not that I'm going to," I say through my teeth, following on her heels. "Stop walking away immediately and tell me your name."
"Since you asked so politely, it's Grace. Grace Hellington," she says, spinning back around to face me. "I don't understand. Why would you want me to think you're terrible and rude? Can't you just be the man who shares his umbrella?"
"Grace Hellington." That name hits me with such an odd sense of déjà vu, I feel slightly dizzy. I shake my head to clear the sensation. "I'm William Jones."
She crosses her arms, pursing those bee-stung lips, and my cock turns harder than fucking steel in my slacks. "You didn't answer my question, William."
Is it my imagination or does my name roll off her tongue as if she's said it a million times? "You asked me a personal question. I don't answer those." She starts to turn again, but I catch her by the elbow. "If I make an exception this time, will you get in the limo? I...find myself wanting you warm and fed. Immediately."
And spoiled rotten, dripping in diamonds, pearls and my come.
Some of the ire fades from her eyes. "Everything is 'immediately' with you. Do you ever have to wait for anything?"
"No." My answer makes her smirk, cross her arms and wait. For the answer to her question, I assume. Can't you just be the man who shares his umbrella? There is a shard of discomfort in my throat when I answer. "Sharing an umbrella might seem like a small gesture, but it made you expect more from me...emotionally. I have nothing to give in that way." My jaw is tight enough to shatter. "If you come home with me, however, I have possessions that will make the fact that I'm an asshole seem irrelevant."
A line forms between her brows. "You think I won't mind you being mean just because you have nice things, like a fancy limo?"
"Exactly."
Her smile is tremulous. "You're wrong."
I arch an eyebrow. "Prove it. Come with me and stay for a night in my home. I'll remain my total bastard self while I'm spoiling you silly and we'll see if you truly want to leave in the morning."
Visibly mustering her confidence, she sticks out her hand for a shake. "It's a deal, William."
My hand slides around hers and static ripples up my arm. And since our deal gives me permission to be my typically ruthless self, I pull her up against me roughly, flattening her sweet little tits against my chest. "You just made a deal with the devil, little girl," I rasp, stooping down and throwing her over my shoulder. With her sputtering in shock, I turn on a heel and stalk back toward the open limousine door, already envisioning her in my home. In my bed. "No going back now."
It's incredible how quickly my plan went out the window once I came face to face with the man I'm supposed to be bartering with. My body for our home. Or rather, it's my mother's plan I'm failing to execute. She's the one who dropped me off less than a mile from our landlord's gated mansion, advising me to walk the road indefinitely in the hopes that William would stop to offer assistance.We thought about simply arriving at his home and asking to make the trade, my virginity in exchange for cancelling the eviction, but my mother didn't think that would work with a man as shrewd as William.You'll have to get under his skin first, honey.Make it impossible for him to say no.If anyone can do it, it's you.Dripping wet on the expensive leather seat of the limousine, I have no idea if I'm succeeding. William watches me from the dark end of the vehicle, his long legs stretched out in front of him, a frown on his harshly attractive face as he considers me, his fingers in a steeple in fron
Why does this girl insist on trying to endear herself to me?She gasps at the sight of my living room and the downstairs kitchen on our way to the pool, stopping to gawk and turn in slow circles. Stumbling into furniture because she's so distracted by the chandeliers mounted to the high ceilings. I don't like the way my chest tightens over these things. It's odd and alarming.Who is this girl?I want to know everything about her, down to her blood type, but at the same time, I'm terrified of knowing too much. Making her too real to me. I'm already way outside of my comfort zone having her in my home for the night. I told myself I just wanted to fuck her, but here I am, giving her a tour of my house. Needing to see her swimming. Wanting to give her this thing she's been deprived of.Those urges are a warning sign that this girl is creeping into uncharted territory. I learned a long time ago that personal attachments are a weakness. A desire for affection, connection with another person
"Grace," I shout, already stripping off my shirt. Shoes are kicked off and I'm diving into the water, fear icing my veins. Adrenaline propels me toward her. I don't hesitate to wrap an arm around her middle and kick for the surface, already anticipating mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.Why didn't I ask her if she could swim? I did this, by trying to drive home how irredeemable I am. She had to jump into the fucking water just to get away from me.We reach the edge of the pool and I place her carefully on the side, climbing out after her, kneeling down on the cold stone, dizzy with worry. "Dammit, Grace." With unsteady hands, I tilt her head back, getting ready to blow breath into her lungs. "I'm sorry. Don't do this to me."She peeks one eye open and smiles, whispering so low I almost can't hear her over the pounding of my pulse. "Uh oh." Pool water rolls down her temples. "Caught you being a good man again."Shock sweeps me. Followed by relief like I've never known.Then, there's respec
I pull the belt tighter around the fluffy, cream-colored robe and creep down the seemingly endless hallway. There really is no reason to creep, but the ceilings are so high, the art on the walls looks so expensive and it's eerily quiet. I feel as though I'm in a library or a museum, so I try not to make a sound, my purpose made easier by the thick rugs arranged on the hallway floor.Where am I going? I have no idea—and I might even be lost. After William left the pool room, I followed a few moments later and promptly lost my way in the labyrinth William calls home. Who needs this many rooms? Or bathrooms, for that matter? Every one is pristine and decorated expensively, just waiting for someone to arrive and enjoy. No one ever will, however, because the man who owns this house is so damaged on the inside, he can only drive people away.When William unzipped his pants in front of me, I could see his intentions clear as day. God help me, knowing he was trying to scare me off only made m
Awareness prickles along my skin, especially when his open mouth drags up behind my ear, exploiting that sensitive patch of skin. "Why did you come in here?""I tried not to." He sounds frustrated. "But this...I don't know, this burning in my stomach won't go away. It has been there since what happened downstairs. I think it's guilt." It's obvious the admission was painful. "I don't know what to do about it."Why is his honesty making my knees weak? "You could apologize.""I never apologize." His chest heaves twice against my back. "But if I did want to apologize, what would be the appropriate way to go about it?""You'd say, 'I'm sorry, Grace'."His scoff blows my hair forward. "Words? Words don't mean shit.""They do to me." He makes a sound of disagreement and I start to pull away, but his hand creeps inside my robe, smoothing across my belly, squeezing my hip. That touch leaves a trail of lava in its wake, my core clenching hotly between my legs. "What..." I breathe, struggling to
This house feels different with her inside of it.I've never wanted to be around another person...at all.Let alone so fucking badly. She's like a steady heartbeat in the middle of a gale, the purity of it, the reassurance of her, drawing me closer. Closer.I thought telling her about my past might make her understand why I'm such a bastard—and why I'll continue to be one. But she clammed up when I tried to kiss her. Have I ruined anything that might happen between us? If I could turn back the clock an hour and change my actions, I would. I'd allow the perfect exploration of her mouth on my cock without turning it into something forceful.Better yet, I'd go down on her instead.My dick is already hard from being close to Grace, but it swells painfully when I think of getting my tongue between her thighs. Now that will be an effective apology. Far better than words. But first, I have another impulse that is entirely unlike me. I want to...be sensitive with this girl. Whatever the hell
"Once I lick this, angel, I'm the only one who licks it." I pin her knees open wide. "Is that understood?""Yes, sir," she whimpers.My groan is loud enough to wake the dead. I'm called sir all day long by my staff and yet when Grace does it, I almost come in my pants, my mouth latching eagerly onto her pussy, sucking her smooth flesh, inhaling the pure femininity until I can taste her in the back of my throat. I don't make her wait for that first stroke of my tongue up the split of her sex, stopping at her clit and applying pressure, pressure, before teasing it in quick rubs."Oh!" Her thighs jerk, trying to close around my head, but I keep them open. I keep them wide. Because I'm not leaving an inch untouched. This is a claiming. "Al-Al-William. What is...oh, please, please. Keep going."Like I could remove my tongue from this paradise?My cock wants in. It throbs so hard, I'm fucking dizzy, humping the couch cushions like an animal in heat. I remove my hand from where it has been k
I wake with a start in an unfamiliar place.The last thing I remember last night is losing consciousness on the couch in William's library. There's a vague memory of being carried up a staircase, but that's where my recollection ends. Slowly, I peek an eye open and look around, my eyes bugging out at the sight that greets me.First of all, I'm in a man's room. There's no doubt about that.Everything is decorated in deep, chocolate leather and hunter green hues. I'm in the center of a gigantic bed complete with the softest sheets I've ever felt on my skin—a far cry from the scratchy ones I'm used to. Light peeks in from around heavy curtains, an antique fan turns lazily on the ceiling. This is luxury.I also suspect this is William's room. Does that mean...he slept beside me?My skin flushes at the possibility. Not to mention when I think of what happened last night. I'm not a virgin anymore. Far from it. I'm not sure it's possible for a woman to have one's virginity taken so...thoroug