8. Cian
Chapter 8
Cian
When she finishes with the text, I snatch the phone from her lap, roll down my window, and toss it into the darkness.
She gapes at me, glassy-eyed and flushed, as I focus on the road ahead. The sensation of her gaze on me rouses my cock, yet again.
I hit the hazard lights and slow onto the shoulder. I was so eager to get on the road, I forgot to input the address the Kings sent me into the car’s navigation.
To tell the truth, it takes all my willpower to concentrate on driving and not toss Harper into the backseat for a guided tour of my cock.
My brain flips from lust to anger and back again so fast, I can’t keep up.
Act like a fucking professional.
“Where are we?” She speaks up just as I hit the ‘go’ button on the nav.
“How the hell should I know?” At least her tears have stopped. “I’m just a tourist.”
Harper scoffs, nestling herself tighter into the crevice between the passenger seat and the door.
For good measure, I engage the child lock.
She twitches at the soft noise and glares at me.
I smile. “Safety first.”
“Fuck you.”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard Harper Brennan curse. Not hard curses, anyway. Didn’t fit her peppy, perfect daughter reputation back in New York. Maybe she’s different now. For a moment, I let my eyes wander her body, crawling over her lips and chin, down the slope of her neck to her collarbones to the valley between her breasts.
Shooting off defiant vibes, Harper crosses her arms over her body. Her cheeks flush a rosy red, and her chest rises and lowers more quickly as her breathing becomes shallow.
My gut clenches. No way. I can’t be reading her correctly. Because if I am, she’s showing signs of arousal.
A lightning bolt of lust flashes through me, and the predator in me growls.
If she ’ s awake enough to feel horny, she ’ s awake enough to take my dick.
I crush the wheel beneath my fingers and inhale through my nose. Instead of telling her to fuck off or fuck me right here, I find myself saying, “Hawaii looks good on you.”
Christ. Did she just Jedi mind-trick my tongue into complimenting her?
“Wish I could say the same.” She flicks her eyes away from me.
“Cute.” Her sass triggers a fresh burst of lust. I always sensed fire hiding beneath Harper’s good girl guise, and I burn with the need to experience that fire firsthand.
I suppress the urge to grab her face and pull her lips to mine. “Aggravating, but cute.”
Harper readjusts in her seat and leans her head against the window.
“Once upon a time, Harper Brennan decided to run away to a faraway island kingdom called Hawaii and become a new person named Elena Dane. You couldn’t have been a little more inventive and not use your middle name?”
Harper throws me a queasy look. “Why do you know my middle name?”
“I know more about you than you think.”
She scrunches up her nose. “Well, that’s horrifying.”
“Too bad.” I clear my throat. “And your pseudonym doesn’t suit you, by the way. I think you’re better off being yourself.”
Clicking off the hazard lights, I ease back onto the road.
The navigation says we’re only fifteen minutes from the address. I follow the directions in silence until I can’t handle it anymore.
“Why Elena , though?”
“Since you know so much about me, why don’t you ask yourself?”
At this point, I’m just fucking rambling to keep her talking. Which sucks, since Harper would clearly rather stick pins in her eyes than hold a civil conversation with me.
Several silent minutes unfurl between us.
I steal glances at Harper’s defeated face, but she doesn’t glance back.
Not even once.
This is what I hate about her. She’s my arsonist, setting me on fire inside, then disappearing and leaving me to burn alone. The contrast between how she affects me and how I don’t register for her makes me want to throw back my head and howl.
Not that I care about her. I’m just saying.
She holds herself a little tighter. “Is…Finn with you?”
She’s asking about Finn?
Possessiveness flares to life in the pit of my stomach. Don’t tell me she’s upset because I was assigned to come after her instead of him ?
Her question irks me too much to merit a response. She waits a few seconds before asking another.
“Who else came with you?”
“I came on my own.”
She regards me with suspicion. “You expect me to believe that?”
“Shane and the others know I’m here to protect you, but that’s all.” Not entirely true, but she doesn’t need to know that.
I don’t know if she believes me, but she stays quiet until I’m coming to a stop outside a gated beach house somewhere along Oahu’s North Shore.
When she speaks again, the panic in her voice has risen a few notches. “How dumb do you think I am?”
“Considering you ran away from the mafia? Pretty dumb.”
When I put the window down and punch in the code, a tropical sea breeze fills the car. The sounds of the ocean flow from the back of the property like a lullaby, but the rhythmic crash of waves fails to soothe Harper.
The gate rolls back, allowing our entry and striking both of us mute.
Bougainvillea bushes with pink and purple blossoms greet us first. Woven through with string lights, the sprawling plants give the entire driveway a warm glow as it curves into a circle just in front of the house.
The beach house itself is a two-story, post-modern paradise with floor-to-ceiling windows everywhere, yet the property is entirely hidden from view by the hedge-covered fence line, providing ultimate privacy.
I snap my jaw closed. This is the place the Kings arranged for us? A fucking honeymoon hideaway? It’s almost as if my job wants me to fuck Harper Brennan.
“What is this place?” she whispers in awe.
“Let’s find out.”
I park the Porsche in the circle, disengage the locks, and hop out. I’m around to the passenger side in seconds, but before I can open Harper’s door, she tries to hit me with it by opening it herself.
As soon as she’s out of the car, her hands go to her elbows. She’s holding herself. I step toward her, and she steps back.
“Harper.” I exhale her name in exasperation. “Come inside.”
Wariness spreads over her expression.
“You expect me to believe you’re here to protect me ?” She takes another step back, fear and anger colliding on her face. “From what, Cian? Sharks? Sea turtles? Drunk tourists?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose to prevent myself from snapping at her.
It’s obvious she has no idea the De Lucas are after her. And on a day like today, ignorance really is bliss.
“Look. I?—”
“Stop lying to me!” Harper shrieks, actually shrieks . Her eyes cut like razor blades. “If you’re not here to drag me back to New York, then why the fuck are you here?”
Okay, that’s it.
I close the distance between us in three quick strides, wrap my fingers around her right bicep, and proceed to drag her to the front door.
She protests all the way up the steps and over the threshold. I barely register the chandelier hanging in the entryway or the warm brown tiles at our feet.
The gorgeous interior decorating doesn’t seem to distract Harper either.
“What the hell are we doing here?”
As soon as we’re inside, I shove her back to the door, closing it and pinning her with my body in the same motion.
Harper zapped the last of my restraint, and she’s about to fucking find that out.
The hard way.
With my hands pressed to the wood on both sides of her face and my torso pushed tight against hers, I finally have her full attention. Those clear blue eyes are wide and focused on me, as they should be.
“Stop asking questions.” There’s no stopping the kiss I’ve been dying to give her since the last time we met. But when my lips descend to hers, she turns her face at the last second. That’s fine. My lips trail down her neck instead.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“What did I just say?”
“Why are you acting like this?”
Impatience roars inside me.
“ Why? ” I drop my forehead against hers, holding her in place. “Because I haven’t fucked anyone in months.”
“What does that have to do with me ?”
“Ever since that night we kissed at the bar. You’re to blame.” I growl at her like I’m a fucking wild animal. And maybe I am one. Maybe she draws it out of me. “The least you can do is take some responsibility.”
“Me?”
“You.”
In her confusion, I lay my lips to hers. But she keeps them clamped shut, still protesting this moment. When I pull back from her, she’s already making excuses.
“But we can’t—” Her words tickle my skin.
“We fucking well can. Now stop talking and open your mouth.”
Indignation plays across her pretty features. “I will not?—”
My cock’s so hungry for her, I don’t know how to hold back. I take advantage of her open mouth and thrust my tongue inside.
She freezes for half a second before giving in.
Kissing Harper again is like diving into an icy lake and a pool of lava at the same time. The sensation of her sweet mouth, of her tongue tangling with mine, is a shock to the system, a rush of electricity that shoots down my spine and out to every nerve ending.
This kiss is just as good as the first one. Maybe even better. Her soft, pliant lips invite me to plunder them, and her curves cushion my body in a way that tears at my self-control.
I press closer, enjoying the feeling of her tits smashed against my chest and her belly pillowing my throbbing dick.
I want to drink her down like an addictive drug. Drown in her and never resurface.
Fuck, I’m so lost to this woman. I wonder if I can ever let her go.
The next time I allow her to come up for air, I take stock of her expression.
Hazy defiance stares back at me. “I’ll scream.”
Her threat lacks any bite.
I smile as I cup a hand around her ass and pull her even closer, her breathing hitching when I bend my knees so I can grind my dick against the seam of her thighs.
“Is that a promise?”
Not that I care either way.
Now that I’ve got my hands on Harper Brennan, I may never release her.