Chapter 11
11
ALLEGRA
C oen is on me the second the door to his condo closes behind us, pinning me back against the hard wood and slamming his mouth to mine, stealing my breath and trying to take my soul straight from my body.
I groan as he presses into me, his already hard cock pinned between us, grinding against my stomach. Frantic hands bury themselves in my hair, angling my head to give him the access and angle he desires as I cling to his shirt, holding on for dear life as he destroys me with one damn kiss.
It goes on forever.
A thorough exploration. A claiming. A release of something he’s been holding on to all night and couldn’t contain one moment longer.
And I fall right into it.
Allow myself to drift into that place where all that exists is him and his lips moving over mine.
When he finally tears his mouth away and presses his forehead to mine, he pants heavily, squeezing his eyes closed as if he’s searching for some sort of control he’s lost along the way tonight.
It takes me a few moments to locate my own. “What was that for?”
He lifts his head, his warm, welcoming eyes meeting mine. “I didn’t think you’d come back with me after that.”
I shouldn’t, but I laugh, releasing my hold on his shirt and spearing my fingers through his thick, dark hair. “You’re surprised I survived the inquisition?”
My question makes him chuckle darkly, and he kisses me again, near the corner of my mouth. “That wasn’t even bad. You should see them when they really get ramped up. It’s like being flayed alive.”
A tiny shiver courses through me with the knowledge that he’s likely not kidding or exaggerating what that group is capable of. Tonight proved they’re more than willing to pepper a complete stranger with invasive and personal questions relentlessly for hours on end.
Even after dinner finished and the table had been cleared, every time I turned around, I found another Hawke there, waiting for me with at least a dozen lines of inquiry ready to throw at me.
I dodged and weaved like a true prize fighter, only answering when necessary and doing my best to divert the attention or involve myself in another discussion or activity that might save me from the worst of it.
And through it all, I learned another very valuable thing about the Hawkes.
I like them.
They’re good people who are sarcastic, and funny, and who rib each other and push buttons because they care. Because they love every single person at that house tonight. They care about what happens to them, even if they occasionally irritate nerves and draw ire.
None of it is permanent.
Except the love.
Except that warm feeling of acceptance that seemed to permeate the air there.
That same warmth seeps into me now, staring into Coen’s eyes, as if I’m swimming in those Caribbean waters with the summer sun beating down on me.
Coen’s hand slips up my dress between my legs, easily finding my slick core. “No panties again…”
I groan at his feather-light touch, the calluses grazing over my skin—a tease more than anything. “I’m nothing if not predictable.”
He chuckles low. “You are anything but predictable, Allegra Knight.”
It almost seems like a compliment.
I gaze up at him, at the need and desire in his eyes, my heart flip-flopping with the urge to either save myself and run or throw myself at this man before I can take that first step. “What are we doing, Coen?”
His gaze darkens from a warm, tropical blue to darker, stormy waters. The kind people get swallowed by and are never seen or heard from again. And that’s the way it always feels when I’m like this with him—like being swallowed by a storm of passion. “What do you mean?”
What do I mean?
It would be so much easier if I actually knew, but the question came out before I had a chance to consider what I was actually asking and why.
Does it matter?
If this is just lust we have to get out of our systems, then there’s nothing wrong with enjoying it while we have the opportunity. If it’s something more…
That is where the danger lies.
I press my hands against his chest, his heart beating steadily under them. “I mean this . What are we doing?”
“Well…”—he kisses his way over to my ear, warm breath fluttering my hair before he tucks it back—“I know what I want to do.”
The promise lacing his words makes me press my thighs together against the dull throb centering there, but all I manage to do is pin his hand and earn a throaty growl from him.
And I’m suddenly very interested in what Coen has in mind, even if that wasn’t what I was asking, and he knows it as well as I do.
“What’s that?”
Coen nips at my bottom lip, then pulls it between his teeth before letting it go. “I told you earlier that I took it far too easy on you. Now that we have my place and no interruptions, I think it’s time I paid you back.”
My pussy clenches, desperately wanting it while that little shiver of fear courses through me, making me question everything I thought I knew about sanity.
“What about you, Allegra? What are you doing?”
He raises a brow, waiting for my response, and it takes longer than it should for me to come up with one because staring into his eyes, pressed against the door, it’s hard for me to remember why I came back here with him in the first place—other than to feel his touch again, his warmth, his fiery passion all directed at me.
And I know just the way to stoke it further.
“I was thinking…” I trail my fingers down his chest, stopping at his six-pack. “It was time for payback for what you did to me in that restaurant booth.”
There are so many ways I could torture this man. So many tricks I could use to leave him breathless and begging the way I was that night…
But the grin he gives me before he presses his lips to mine and reaches down and grasps my thighs, lifting me easily to wrap them around his waist, tells me that he won’t go down without a fight .
He carries me through his dark condo, down a hallway, and into what must be his bedroom.
His scent permeates the air.
Masculine.
Crisp.
Like warm ocean waves on a sunny day.
And despite the dark shadow that often seems to hover over him, that’s precisely what Coen is—bright and warm. If I didn’t know better, I would almost think I’m safe with this man, but we both know there’s too much history between us now, too much unsaid and too many lies told to ever really believe that.
It won’t stop either of us, though.
Not tonight.
He stalks over to the bed, each step causing his cock to grind in exactly the right spot. I push against him, tightening my thighs, needing the friction, wanting more, and he groans as he lays me down on the comforter and settles on top of me, aligning his strong, hard body over mine.
His lips find my jaw, then my neck as he slides the tiny straps of my dress down my shoulders and exposes my breasts. My nipples pucker, hard as a rock, both from the chilly air in his room and the desperate need for him to touch me, to do something other than get me worked up.
He growls a low approval at the sight of them, then dips his head and takes one in his mouth, lightly grazing his teeth along the turgid peak.
“Fuck!”
My hips buck up against his, grinding, seeking, my body ablaze already after his lingering touches during dinner. Those reassurances he gave me while his family questioned me like it was a job interview.
Each brush of his hand. Every squeeze of his palm. All the lingering glances and half-smiles all proved how protective he can be—even of someone who hasn’t given him any reason to be.
If anything, he should be protecting himself from me.
From what I am capable of.
But tonight seems more like it will be about what he is capable of now that he’s gotten me where he wants me.
Our first time together was so frantic. Filled with a burning hatred on his part and a desperate need not to break on mine. Tainted by all the things left unsaid and the resentment he felt for me. Lust inextricably entwined with the desire to win something that would never be satisfying.
He never explored me.
Never got to know what I like.
What my body responds to.
But I’ve suddenly realized giving him that opportunity right now might be a bad idea, given his crystal-clear intent.
Pleasure bordering on pain.
Sensual torture.
His hand slips up between my legs and finds my core, easily sinking two fingers into my slick heat. I buck and clench around him, and he holds me steady, clamping his thumb down across my clit, preventing me from moving as he licks and sucks and flicks his tongue across the peak of my breast.
I writhe under him, his body keeping me prone. His mouth swirling and lifting me higher and higher. Each draw on my nipple feels like a direct line to my most sensitive spot. It throbs and aches, and I squirm harder against his tight hold.
He lifts his head. “Sensitive, aren’t we?”
It isn’t really a question.
More of an observation of a weakness that he will absolutely use against me.
I press my lips together firmly, biting back a strangled moan of frustration that wants to slip out, refusing to admit that he’s right, that he’s discovered my Achilles’ heel. But it doesn’t do any good because he sees the truth in my gaze and offers a lecherous grin as he drops his head to the other side, giving it the same treatment.
He sucks on it hard, drawing the entire nipple into his mouth, then bites, his tongue quickly spreading over the sharp sting, and my pussy clenches around his fingers.
Not.
Enough.
I try to shift my hips, desperate for some friction, but he refuses to let me move, keeping me pinned.
He wanted to torture me?
Well, he’s doing it.
The man has no idea how easily I could come just from this, but I think he’s starting to understand, given how soaked and slick his hand is where it’s buried between my thighs.
He slowly burrows his fingers into me as far as they’ll go and withdraws them, dragging them along the inside of my cunt on the retreat. I groan low and deep, my hands clutching at his comforter to try to find any purchase.
Any fucking relief.
“Could I make you come just by doing this?” He flicks his tongue across my nipple again, then grazes his teeth over the other. “You’re soaked, Allegra.” He thrusts in and out of me, the sound of my embarrassingly wet arousal filling the otherwise silent room. “I think I could.”
He drops lower, kissing his way across my abdomen as he drags my dress down over my hips.
His tongue dips into my belly button, and I buck like a wild horse desperate to free itself from the bridle. He pulls his hand free of my legs only long enough to pull my only clothing off and tosses it on the floor. Leaving me fully naked. Exposed to him with nowhere to hide.
Coen settles back over me, still fully clothed, and very obviously enjoying his little game with me, evidenced by the way he lifts his glistening fingers to his mouth and licks them greedily. His hand returns to offering torturous ministrations, moving inside me, curling and thrusting but never quite where I need it, while my nipples ache for more of the treatment they just received.
“I can’t let you come that easily, Allegra. What fun would that be?”
I groan, arching into him. “Sounds fun to me…”
The low chuckle that rumbles through him doesn’t give me any hope of it happening fast.
Coen is going to make this hard.
And God knows he has it in him not to allow it at all because he wants to demonstrate that he is the one in control after I’ve proven I can take it away from him with a smile, a glance, a touch.
He slips back onto his knees, pulling his fingers free from inside me?—
I push up onto my elbows. “No, don’t?—”
A sly grin plays on his lips, and he shifts off the end of the bed and slowly starts to unbutton his white dress shirt.
Each one that pops free exposes more lightly tanned flesh…
Hard, broad chest…
Immaculately sculpted abdominal muscles…
Fuck, he’s beautiful.
That body was earned .
The callouses on his hands that so surprised me the first time the rough skin dragged against mine told me he was so much more than he first appeared.
Not just a pretty rich boy.
He has worked.
Hard.
This billionaire heir does the things that need to be done, regardless of what they are.
And it has done him good.
He shucks off his shirt, letting it fall to the floor with my dress, then reaches for his fly, popping the button and undoing the zipper on his dress pants before he slips out of them, allowing his cock to spring free.
God …
This man has been inside me.
Moving.
Grinding.
Touching.
Fucking me into oblivion.
It’s barely been twenty-four hours, yet all I want is more of him.
All of him.
He steps up to the edge of the bed and easily grasps my hips and flips me onto my stomach in a move that demonstrates just how fucking strong he is.
Fuck.
I’ve never particularly enjoyed being manhandled during sex, but there’s something about Coen Hawke and the way he controls everything, allows me to just be and forget all the reasons life has made this such a terrible idea.
He leans over me, pressing his hot cock between my ass cheeks, nipping at my shoulder. Lips drag over the spot. Then he pulls my hair over to one side, tilting my face back to look at him. “You know what game I want to play, Allegra. This is your last chance to concede.”
I suck in a sharp breath, trying to fill my lungs before I know he’s going to do things to me that won’t allow me to anymore. “I already told you. I love to play, and I thrive on challenge.”
“Oh, Allegra, that is the wrong fucking thing to say to a man like me.”
* * *
COEN
Allegra looks like a stunning, heavenly gift spread out before me. An angelic offering from God. Her skin practically glows against my dark comforter in the moonlight shining in from the window. Like a beacon drawing me to her.
A moth to a flame.
Though, maybe the Devil sent her.
A wicked, beautiful temptress sent to test my resolve after I’ve already committed so many horrible sins. A final trial before the fate of my soul is sealed for eternity.
So many mistakes.
So many sins built on stupidity, greed, and hubris.
I’ve accepted that I have to pay the price for them.
But none compare to what I want to do to Allegra. The sins I want to engage in with her.
So many ways I want to take her and make her beg.
So many ways to make her scream my name…
So.
So.
Many.
But I have to be patient. Choose my words and my actions carefully. And patience is very hard for a man like me.
Rushing into things without fully thinking them through is what got me in my position with Satriano in the first place. It’s what made me keep playing while I was losing. Taking chances I never would have otherwise. It’s what made me believe one bet could cure it all and allowed me to disregard the potential ramifications because I believed I couldn’t lose.
And Allegra might well be another in a long line of bad choices resulting from rash decisions.
I knew she was dangerous the moment I saw her at that bar, but it didn’t stop me then. It didn’t matter that I thought she was a professional. I would have taken her back to my suite and fucked her senseless anyway.
Even confirmation of what she’s capable of hasn’t been enough to keep me away.
Nothing could right now.
Not now that I know what she tastes like.
Not now that I’ve had her incredible cunt wrapped around my cock.
Not now that I’ve seen her come alive with my family and really be her instead of the version of herself she thinks she has to be at the poker table.
Tonight, I saw her be shy.
Sweet.
Generous with her time and affection when it came to Viviana and Charlotte wanting to monopolize it.
She was everything I didn’t know was there but had the smallest hope might exist beneath the facade.
And tonight, she’s all mine.
I drag her hips back and up so her ass is in the air, a beautiful offering, her glistening pussy right there for the taking. My palm curves around each cheek, her smooth skin so soft and flawless. Dropping to my knees, I bury my face between her legs, feasting on her wet cunt, her arousal coating my tongue and filling my mouth as I lick it from her quivering thighs and lips.
“Fuuuck…”
She jerks against my face, and I wrap my arm around her thighs, tugging her back, keeping her there.
Immobilized.
At my mercy.
My cock aches the longer I eat her sweet pussy, and I reach down and grab it with my free hand, stroking the length several times. Twisting my wrist. Tugging sharply. Brushing my fingers over the slick pre-cum on the head. Until I can’t take it anymore…
I have to be inside her.
I have to take her.
Waiting any longer wouldn’t just be torture for her.
It’s driving me to the brink of madness.
I release my grip on her, push to my feet, and drag my cock through her wetness, coating the head thoroughly before I slam into her. Driving her forward and down onto her forearms. Rocking her completely off her knees.
She gasps, taking all of me from this angle, her ass cheeks bouncing with thrust.
So.
Fucking.
Deep.
I bottom out inside her, driven all the way to the hilt.
A low growl of appreciation rumbles through me, and Allegra’s cunt squeezes along my length in response. I grasp her hips, fingers biting into the flesh, and draw back until only the head of my cock remains inside her.
Her pussy clenches, trying to draw me back in, and I don’t have the ability to stop my hips from rocking forward, from plunging into her again.
“Oh, God…” Her strangled cry echoes through my room with every thrust and retreat. “Oh, fuuuuck, Coen!”
It’s the single most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.
I roll my hips, dragging the head of my cock against that spot deep inside her. She twitches, clasping and unclasping, gripping, desperate to keep me in each time I withdraw.
Her hands twist in the comforter, and she buries her face in it, her cries muffled but the sound of skin slapping against skin fills the room.
But it isn’t enough.
Not yet.
I pull my cock free.
Allegra whimpers, pushing up to look over her shoulder at me. “Why’d you?—”
I drag my thumb through her drenched core, then slip it up around her most forbidden place. She jerks at the contact, and as I thrust my cock back into her waiting cunt, I slowly slide my thumb into her tight, puckered hole.
A muffled groan falls from her parted lips, and she drops back down, pressing her forehead into the comforter, squeezing in both places enough to force me to grit my teeth and dig deep to find every ounce of self-control I have left so I don’t come immediately.
Somehow, I knew what she needed.
What she wanted, even if she couldn’t voice it.
I rock my thumb in and out of her in time with my cock.
Slow and lazy.
Not at all the way I want to take her.
But if that’s what she wants—hard and rough—that’s not what I’m going to give her.
Not this time.
I want her close to the edge for so long that she’s begging for it, frantic, completely losing herself for something that only I can give her.
And apparently, I was right about what she wants.
Because the more I fuck her in long, slow, deep thrusts, the deeper I shove my thumb, the harder her body trembles. Her pussy ripples. Her face buried in the comforter muffles her muttered curses, but the way she clenches the fabric and my cock tells me everything her words can’t.
She finally turns her head to the side so I can hear her. “Motherfucking Goddamn prick!”
I grin at her insult and the fact that she doesn’t know how much it turns me on to know I’ve brought her to the point that those words are falling from her mouth.
Leaning forward, I press my free hand down next to her face to support my weight and kiss her cheek. “If you want me to be a prick, sweetheart, this isn’t anything. I can certainly honor that request.”
She whimpers as I still inside her, buried deep, holding her immobile on my cock and hand.
“If I wanted to, I could do this for hours , leaving you hanging, wanting, desperate. And completely at my mercy.”
To prove my point, I drag my thumb out, then push it all the way into her asshole again, and she groans, tightening around it the same way she does my aching length.
Like a fucking vise.
I brush the hair from the side of her face and lick her ear. “You like that, Allegra, my finger in your ass?”
Another whimper and an almost imperceptible nod.
“I thought so.” I pull my hips back slowly so she can feel every inch of my cock, then plunge into her again deep. “And that’s very good because I’m going to fuck your ass.”
She freezes, her body going rigid, her eyes fluttering open to meet mine.
“Have you ever had anyone in here before?” I thrust my thumb in and out of her, and she shakes her head, that low rumble of approval rushing through me again. “Good.”
I’ll be your first and your last.
I don’t say those words, but they somehow echo in my head all the same.
They feel right.
No.
Fuck no.
You cannot fall for this woman, Coen.
She’s toxic and came to me with an agenda from day one. Plus, it would be stupid and selfish to expose her to the kind of danger I’m smack dab in the middle of with Satriano. But Christ, does she feel good wrapped around me, clenching my cock, her body so responsive and primed.
“Do you want it, Allegra?” I plunge into her again in both places to drive home my point. “Do you want my cock up your ass?”
The mewl that falls from her lips as she nods sounds less human and more animal, and an additive rush goes through me at knowing she does. And that only makes me want to withhold it from her more.
I slip my thumb out, and she groans and looks back at me as I continue to thrust into her cunt slowly, then stand fully and drag her hips back and up, spreading her knees even wider to change the angle and redouble my efforts.
Gasps fall from her parted lips.
Her body trembles so hard it shakes the bed as much as my thrusts do.
My fingers dig into her hips.
And I can’t keep pretending this isn’t torture for me, too.
I unleash.
Fucking her hard.
Long.
Sharp.
Punishing strokes.
A rhythm that won’t allow me to last much longer.
The slap of our skin and bodies coming together echoes violently around the room.
She gasps and cries out, clutching the comforter, and the way she begs for release might as well be fucking kerosene being thrown on the fire that’s been raging since the moment our eyes met at that bar.
I reach around and find her clit, clenching it between my thumb and forefinger and twisting it as I continue to drive into her, unable to keep the game up any longer.
Allegra told me what she wants.
But I’m not going to give it to her tonight.
I have to keep something from her, hold something back to protect myself.
That’s becoming harder and harder.
After seeing her at the Hawke table, surrounded by the entire family, everyone I love and care about, everyone I’m doing all this for, it felt almost right to have her there.
Like she belonged.
Just like she belongs here . In my condo. In my bed. In my arms. Locked together in the most intimate way imaginable, with nothing between us except the lies I still feel like she’s telling me—or at least the things she’s holding back.
I know she isn’t being one hundred percent honest with me. It’s obvious since I was taught to sniff out a liar from a mile away at a very young age by the man who excels at it in the courtroom, but even knowing that, I can’t bring myself to walk away.
And that’s fucking terrifying.
I can’t fall for a woman like Allegra, who’s walking sex and danger and lies and ulterior motives.
They ooze out of her the same way my cum does from my cock as I bury myself to the hilt and her pussy clenches and drags out my orgasm. I collapse on top of her and roll to the side, dragging her with me, keeping myself embedded deep inside her.
It takes several moments before I can process thoughts again after that. The little rapid-fire shocks of pleasure still making my body twitch and my brain foggy.
But one thing screams at me with crystal clarity.
Something I should have demanded before we made it this far.
Before I brought her to Nana’s.
Before I introduced her to the entire family.
Before I allowed myself to give a damn about her.
Kissing the back of her sweat-dampened neck, I brush my lips against her ear. “You want my cock again…anywhere…”—I glide my palm over her ass cheek—“then I’m going to need you to come clean about everything. Do you understand?”
I can’t do this if I can’t trust her.
She nods but doesn’t say anything before her body sags even more and she drifts off to sleep.