34
Damien
Sweat drips down my neck as I prowl down the corridor. After the three-hour workout session, my body is screaming for food. A steak sandwich and a protein shake are what I need right now.
Soft cluttering sounds reach my ears as I get near the kitchen. It’s not noon yet and still early for Dora to start preparing for lunch. Slowing my footsteps, I peer through the door.
To my surprise, I find Lucia. She’s whisking something in a large copper bowl while Dora is nowhere in sight.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, striding inside the room.
Lucia looks up at me, her emerald eyes widening in surprise. “Hey,” she says in a small voice and looks away guiltily, continuing to beat the batter.
My suspicion piques at once. I prowl closer, taking in the bags of flour and sugar, packets of chocolate chips, and a carton of eggs.
“Who’s making you cook?” I ask as she continues to look away.
“No one,” she murmurs. “Lilja said her favorite cake was chocolate, so I’m baking one for her. She’s been so sweet to me all this time, I wanted to do something special for her. If I had money, I’d have taken her out to a spa or something.”
Her explanation sounds fine but why is she still avoiding me?
Reaching out, I place a hand on hers, stopping her from whisking like a maniac. A shiver jolts through her at my touch. She stays still, reluctant to look at me.
Hooking a finger under her chin, I lift her face to me. Those jewel-like green eyes stare back at me, hypnotizing me for a moment. I blink, my gaze falling on a bruise on the right side of her forehead.
My heart squeezes at once. How did she get hurt?
“What happened last night?” I ask, caressing the spot with a gentle finger.
“This?” she says, chuckling nervously. “It’s all my fault. I was clumsy and fell. All my fault.”
My brows rise high on my forehead. She’s trying a little too hard to convince me she fell and hurt herself.
“You were always a bad liar,” I tell her.
Fear flits through her eyes.
“Who hurt you?” I ask in a deep, demanding tone. “Was it my brothers?”
“No!”
“Then, who?”
“No one,” she mutters, her gaze sliding away from my face.
“Did you get involved with the incident that happened at the club last night?”
Her widening eyes tell me I’m getting closer to the truth.
“What incident?” she squeaks.
“They found the body of a man whose throat had been slit open,” I say, relaying the news I read in the headlines this morning. “They also found a woman who’d been drugged and left in one of the bathroom stalls where the corpse was found. I had a feeling Leon was involved but you were there too, weren’t you?”
“It wasn’t Leon’s fault,” she insists.
“Tell me what happened,” I demand with a threatening growl. “Don’t miss a detail or I’ll make my brothers pay.” It’s an empty threat but enough to scare her.
She blurts out the whole story, telling me over and over that Mikhail and Leon aren’t to be blamed for what happened, that everything was a coincidence.
Deep inside, I feel the choke of a familiar fear. It’s a deep-seated terror that Callum Baldwin has buried in my mind. I hate knowing my mistake or ignorance can cost me the life of someone I love and cherish.
Casey Martelle had been reported by several victims. He was a lawyer who knew how to use the law against the women he preyed upon. The creep lured young women into thinking he was a friendly, laid-back beta guy.
When they lowered their guard, he poisoned their drinks and raped them. Some of his victims were roofied while the others were merely incapacitated while going through the terrible ordeal of being torn apart by him.
The thought of this man laying hands on Lucia sends a thrill of terror through me. She’s so soft and vulnerable. Her bastard brother kept her imprisoned in their home, never letting her see the ugliness of the world outside their glittering mansion.
My arms wrap around her, pulling her against me.
“Damien?” she whispers with a hint of confusion.
I hold onto her, savoring the feel of her soft, warm body.
The urge to devour her completely overcomes me. Leaning in, I capture her lips. She opens up to me but I sense her hesitation.
Is she disgusted by me? I wonder as my insecurities play out a cruel scene in my head. Maybe she still abhors my ugly, ruined face. Why will she ever want me when my brothers are unblemished and whole?
I don’t care if she wants me or not. She’s mine, anyway , I decide stubbornly, forcing my hand between her thighs and cupping her sex. My tongue dives deep inside her mouth, giving her no chance to reject me.
A sharp pain suddenly shoots through the tip of my tongue.
Breaking apart, I glare at her. “Did you just bite me?” I growl.
Lucia breathes hard, her eyes betraying the fear she feels.
“I don’t like it when you’re forceful,” she says, panting hard. “Why do you have to bully me so much?”
“It’s the only way to make you accept me.”
A strange emotion comes over her. “That’s not true.”
I scoff. “Tell me this face doesn’t disgust you.”
“It doesn’t.”
I look at her closely, trying to see if she’s lying.
Lucia stares back at me. “You disgusted me when I thought you were a stranger hurting me. My feelings changed when I realized who you were.” A frustrated look comes over her. “I’m sick of repeating myself! Here, let me show you.”
To my astonishment, she closes the distance between us and smashes her mouth to mine. Her arms wrap around my neck tightly as she pulls herself against me.
The kiss sends my mind spinning. Lucia is kissing me thoroughly. Willingly .
My hands graze her sides, sliding lower to cup her ass cheeks through her short, frilly skirt. My hips jerk forward, the hardened bulge of my trousers’ front digging into her soft belly.
Breaking off suddenly, she grabs my collar and starts unbuttoning my shirt. My hands squeeze her ass, proceeding to cup them. Needing her closer, I haul her into my arms.
She squeals, throwing her arms around my neck to avoid falling off. With a growl, I place her on the counter and attack her mouth.
Her fingers claw the back of my neck, spurring me on to kiss her thoroughly. I never expected her to want me in such a primal way. My hands pull at her top, nearly ripping it off her body.
Lucia suddenly pushes me away, breaking the kiss.
A frustrated growl escapes me and I’m about to pounce on her when I realize she’s pulling her blouse over her head. Before my astonished eyes, she reaches back to unclasp her bra, letting it fall off her.
She’s about to reach for me but her elbow knocks a bowl of chocolate sauce. Flustered, she tries to get down to clean the mess but her palm falls on the slippery mess, making her topple off the counter in a clumsy heap.
“Oww!” A pained moan escapes her as she tries to sit up.
“Shit! Lucia, are you okay?” I’m beside her in an instant.
“Yeah...” She slowly sits up. A mischievous gleam descends into her green eyes as she looks at me. Without warning, she reaches for me, smearing something warm on my cheeks and neck.
“What are you doing?” I ask confusedly.
She pushes my chest, forcing me to lie on the floor. Moving over, she straddles my thighs and sits on top of them. A wicked grin stretches her luscious lips as she hurriedly unbuttons my shirt and throws it away. Next, she unbuckles my belt and proceeds to push my trousers off my hips.
I lie still, giving her complete freedom to own my body.
She takes away every scrap of clothing off my body and leans down to run her tongue along my neck, licking at the chocolate she’d smeared over my skin.
The feel of her warm, wet tongue sends a thrill through me. Lucia moves up and captures my lips in a searing kiss. I relish the taste of chocolate on her tongue as utter bliss flows through me.
The need to be inside her overpowers me. Unable to take her teasing anymore, I twist my body, easily throwing her off me. Before she can recover, I’m on top of her and hungrily sucking on her nipple.
Her head falls back as she moans.
Lifting her hips slightly, I part her thighs and enter her with one rough thrust.
Lucia cries out at the breach but winds her arms around my neck, pulling me down for a kiss. My tongue fights hers for dominance as I pull out, almost all the way, before plunging back in with another hard thrust.
Lucia breaks the kiss but only to shout my name.
My mouth presses along her neck and shoulders, kissing and biting. Her body arches up, trying to swallow me balls-deep in her heated core.
I can’t hold onto control anymore. My thrusts turn rough and hard as she squeezes and pulses around me.
“Oh, Damien,” she moans. “Keep going. Don’t stop...fuck, oh! Please, don’t stop...DAMIEN!”
She’s crying out my name, heightening the pleasure coursing through me. I can feel my body tightening into that moment of ultimate bliss as I keep plunging inside her.
My teeth sink into her shoulder as my control breaks. Pinning her down with my weight, I hold onto her.
Lucia moans as her body shivers against mine, her clenching walls tightening impossibly against my cock as I shatter inside her.
I collapse onto her, still too consumed by the delicious heat coursing through me. We stay like that for a while, catching our breath until I’m able to move again.
Pulling out gently, I slide off her.
“I’m sorry about the mess,” she says in a small, apologetic tone.
For a moment, I don’t even understand what she’s talking about. Why does she have to feel sorry about giving me the best gift I could’ve asked for? She made love to me while staring at my ruined face.
A moment later, I hear the shallow drip-drip of something trickling down from the counter. Turning my head, I see a big bowl of upturned chocolate sauce. Now that I’m able to focus on my surroundings, I realize the liquid is too thick to be a sauce.
“Is that cake batter?” I ask.
She turns around to face me. “Yeah,” she moans. “I wanted to make a four-tier chocolate cake for Lilja. Now, there’s barely enough batter to make one simple cake.”
I stare at her incredulously. “Is that what you were thinking about this whole time?”
She suddenly chuckles. “I didn’t care about it when you were inside me,” she says with a naughty grin. “But now...” She lets out a sigh. “I’ll have to clean everything up. At least, there’s still going to be cake.”
“I can do it for you.”
Pushing herself into a sitting position, she stares at me. “Really?”
I smile and grab the pieces of her clothing that had fallen on the floor. “Let me take you to your room,” I say. “I’ll clean up the mess here while you take a shower.”
Her emerald eyes glow with happiness. Moving closer to me, she presses her lips to mine. “Thank you.”
Warmth flows through me as I watch her getting dressed. I finally allow myself to believe that Lucia wants me as much as my flawless brothers.