Chapter 22
22
HOPE
I was sick of the way everyone treated me.
The people of Playa de la Palmera, although friendly, still considered me an outsider.
Jorge had thought of me as nothing more than breeding stock and his guarantee of succeeding to the cartel throne.
My father wanted to use me as a pawn in his revolting game of corruption and power.
And now, Vaughn tried to handle me as if I were an immature, naive girl and he knew better than me.
I might be inexperienced, but I was ready to change that. And the sad truth? Vaughn might be the only man I could sleep with and not worry about his safety where my father and Jorge were concerned. Not that Vaughn wasn’t in danger—he was up to his eyeballs in it—but having sex with me wouldn’t make him more of a target than he already was.
That wasn’t why I wanted him. Vaughn’s presence, strength, and darkness all called to me in an unsettling way. I shouldn’t want a man so possessive, dominant, and capable of committing violence, but if I was honest with myself, that side of him turned me on. I’d have to overanalyze that disturbing realization later.
I knew Vaughn didn’t like to be touched. I never imagined he’d be a gentle lover, yet I still craved him. But he’d turned me down, and his rejection stung.
Time to teach him a lesson and show him just how lacking in innocence I was.
During our scuffle, Purple BOB had landed somewhere on the floor, and I wasn’t about to go searching for it now, so I reached into the nightstand drawer and snatched up whichever toy met my fingers first.
When I slammed the drawer shut, Vaughn asked, “What are you doing?”
“Finishing what you started.”
Even though only a small shimmer of moonlight passed through the curtains in the dark room, I knew exactly what I held in my hand. My small bullet vibrator. It wasn’t Purple BOB, but it’d get the job done.
I held down the button until the toy buzzed.
“Knock it off,” Vaughn growled.
“Make me.”
“I mean it.”
“Then you shouldn’t have left me horny as hell. You had your fun in the shower this morning. Now, I’m having mine.”
If only he could see the wicked grin on my face. If this didn’t drive him to action, I didn’t know what would.
From the floor, Vaughn made a pissed-off grumbling sound and punched the pillow before resting his head on it once more.
Letting my knees drop wide, I slipped the bullet inside my panties and pressed it to my clit. Holy hell. I was so on edge this wouldn’t take long.
A small moan slipped from my lips. “Oh, God.” My voice came out low and breathy. I might be playing it up for my audience, but I needed to push Vaughn to get the reaction I wanted.
“Dammit, Hope.”
“Shh. You’re distracting me.” I closed my eyes and moved the vibrator in slow circles, letting the sensations take over. “Feels so good.”
“You’re gonna regret this.”
“I doubt it.”
Seconds passed by where the only sounds in the room came from my raspy breaths and the buzzing bullet.
“Fuck it,” Vaughn said, then I heard the unmistakable sound of his belt buckle releasing and leather snapping. “You wanna play? Let’s fucking play.”
My eyes flew open.
Oh, shit.
He wouldn’t spank me with his belt, would he?
Vaughn’s broad body became a dark shadow looming over me from beside the bed. A moment later, the sheets were ripped away, and the mattress dipped where he knelt. I drew my legs together and shimmied back on the bed.
“Oh, now you’re scared of me?” His gravelly voice promised revenge. “You should be. Give it to me,” he demanded. I assumed he meant the bullet. When I hesitated to hand it over, he added, “Don’t mess with me, woman. Hand over the toy and I’ll give you what you need, or don’t and I’ll tan your ass with my belt. I’m good with both options. What’s it gonna be?”
My butt cheeks clenched. “You wouldn’t dare spank me.”
There was an evil edge to his quiet laugh. “Gatita, I’m already hard just thinking about how sexy you’d look with stripes on your ass.”
Okay. He wasn’t bluffing.
If I had to choose between Vaughn delivering pleasure or pain, was there really an option?
I thrust the bullet toward him. He snatched it from my hands and turned it off.
I let out a squeal when he grabbed my ankles and dragged me down the bed. “Just so you know, that’s the last warning you’ll get. Disobey me again, and there’ll be consequences.” Then he wrapped the belt around my wrists.
“Wait.” I squirmed. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“What I should’ve done as soon as you started acting out.” He looped the belt through the headboard and secured the buckle.
A small tremor of fear rippled through me when I realized I was completely incapacitated and had a vengeful brute of a man positioning himself between my thighs. I’d never been more turned on or terrified in my life.
I’d never felt so alive .
Vaughn’s rough hands gripped the waistband of my sleep shorts, but then he paused, and his eyes came to mine.
“Do it.” I nodded. “Take them off.”
He wasted no time in stripping my lower half bare.
“This won’t do,” Vaughn said, and switched on the nightstand lamp. “Much better.”
I might’ve felt self-conscious in such a compromising position if it weren’t for the sheer hunger in his eyes as they raked over my body.
His hands came to my knees, and he pushed them open. He stared between my thighs and swallowed thickly.
“Has anyone seen you like this before?” he asked without taking his gaze from my center.
I assumed he didn’t mean my gynecologist, so I shook my head. “Or touched me. You’re the first.”
He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath before opening them again. “I’m not worthy of what you’re offering.”
“That’s my call to make.” I licked my lips, desperate for Vaughn to do more. “You know, you talk an awful lot for a man who’s supposed to be giving me what I need.”
He eyed me like a predator sizing up its prey. “You think you’re in control here?”
“I’m the one with the pussy you look like you want to either eat or fuck.” I parted my legs wider, and Vaughn’s eyes flared as they again dipped below my waist.
“What a beautiful pussy it is, Hope, but you’re forgetting one thing.” The ghost of a smile on his lips looked more threatening than a loaded weapon. “You might think that this”—he cupped between my thighs, and I gasped—“belongs to you, but I’m going to show you who really owns it.”
I stifled my whimper and cocked one brow, determined not to reveal how delirious his confident words and intimate touch made me. “That’s a bold statement.”
“Then you don’t know me as well as you think.” His fingers made circling motions, gliding through my slickness. “Let me make this clear. From now on, if you need to come, I’m the one who’s going to do it. Not you. Not any of those jackasses from the village. Only me. Understood?”
I raised my chin. “But you’re leaving soon. What should I do then? Ask your brother?”
Vaughn froze.
“Or maybe your friends will send me the sexy Irishman after all. I wonder how thorough his bodyguard skills are.”
Oh yeah. I was poking the bear. It was my new favorite thing to do.
A deep rumble from his chest was accompanied by the grinding of his molars. “Plans have changed. I’m not going anywhere. Now be a good girl and open your mouth for me.”
Since I really wanted Vaughn to get down to business, I did as he asked. He ran his thumb along my bottom lip, so I darted my tongue out to taste his salty skin. He cast me a roguish grin, then slipped something cottony past my teeth. Material packed my mouth, and I tried to spit it out, but it wouldn’t budge.
What the hell?
Vaughn leaned in close, his big body hovering above mine. “Let this be your first lesson, Gatita. Mention another man again when I’m between your legs and it won’t be your panties filling your mouth; it’ll be my cock.”
My panties?
That was what the son of a bitch had stuffed in my mouth?
My furious words of retribution were muffled, although I was certain he understood their intent.
But those protests turned to moans when his hand returned to my pussy, his long fingers stroking through my wetness and teasing at my entrance. I needed more of that.
“You’re soaked.” He sucked his bottom lip between his teeth. “What should we do about that?” Then the bullet buzzed, and Vaughn pressed it to my clit.
My hips bucked. My heart pounded. Heat accumulated at my core.
He only smirked at my reaction. But then he took the bullet away, and I growled with frustration.
“Are you ready for more?” he asked.
I nodded frantically, my wrists tugging at the restraint involuntarily. Vaughn had been wise to tie me up. I’d have my hands all over him in a heartbeat if they were free.
“I need to hear it.” He pulled the panties from my mouth and shoved them into the pocket of his jeans. “Tell me what this greedy pussy needs.” His fingers continued teasing me, so close to where I needed them but without sinking inside.
“I need to come.” And I wasn’t too shy to ask for it.
“You can do better than that,” he teased.
“Please, Vaughn. I need to come.” The words came out breathy as I panted.
My legs quivered when Vaughn returned the bullet to my clit. “Since you begged so nicely.” He plunged one finger inside me, and on the next stroke, he added a second.
“You’re close, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“You should see how good your pussy looks. So hot and wet around my fingers. You’re practically dripping for me.”
I was vaguely aware of the wild look in his eyes as he watched his hand work me, but I was too consumed by my own euphoria to pay much attention.
But, oh my God, if he curled his fingers like that again, I was going to?—
I cried out when my release crashed through me with the crushing force of a tidal wave.
Before I could tell Vaughn the bullet was too much sensation, he switched it off and tossed it aside but continued thrusting his fingers inside me while I rode out my orgasm. Then his other hand came to my hip, squeezing the flesh and holding my writhing body in place.
“Look at you coming all over my hand.” His deep voice had never sounded sexier. “Such a good fucking girl.”
I’d made myself come hundreds of times before. It’d never felt as incredible as this.
Vaughn withdrew his glistening fingers and, while holding my gaze, slid them into his mouth and sucked them clean.
He made a satisfied groan in the back of his throat. “Knew you’d taste perfect.”
I blinked slowly and closed my mouth before my jaw dropped any lower.
I could hardly believe this had finally happened. Vaughn was the first man to give me an orgasm, and it was amazing.
I grinned, still tingling with a whole-body bliss. “Can we do that again?”
He pressed his lips together. “You need to sleep.”
That wasn’t a no.
I blew a stray lock of hair from my face. “Sleep is overrated.”
“You won’t think that tomorrow.”
Vaughn unbuckled his belt and took a moment to inspect the bands of reddened skin where I’d tugged against the restraint. He frowned with disapproval as he rubbed my wrists, which I thought was a curious reaction given he’d threatened to tan my ass not long ago.
“That was phenomenal,” I said, still catching my breath.
His only response was a grunt. Strange. He’d seemed to enjoy what had just happened, but now, his attitude had flipped. Why wouldn’t he look at me?
Vaughn snatched up my sleep shorts and flung them at me as though my seminakedness were scandalous.
“What about you?” I slipped into my shorts. “You look like you’re about to burst through your zipper. I could take care of it for you.”
Not that I had any practical experience in that department, but I knew enough to fumble my way through, and I figured Vaughn would tell me what he liked.
“I didn’t do that so you’d return the favor.” He winced and continued avoiding eye contact. “And besides, it’d be…complicated.”
Of course. How stupid of me. “Because I can’t touch you.”
He nodded solemnly.
My hands fidgeted in my lap. “Well…we could try. What if I?—”
“No.” His sharp tone made me flinch. “It’s not going to happen.”
I exhaled deeply, suddenly feeling like the naive girl Vaughn thought I was. But I wasn’t ready for this night to be over. Not yet.
“You don’t have to sleep on the floor. I wouldn’t mind if you?—”
“This isn’t the part where we cuddle and fall asleep together.” He stood quickly and threaded his belt through his jeans.
Ouch .
I tugged the sheet up to my belly, my body colder than it’d been moments ago. “You don’t need to be a jerk about it.”
“Christ. Are you always such a nag after getting off?” Finally, his eyes met mine, dark and menacing.
My spine stiffened. “I wouldn’t know. It’s not like I’ve done this with another person before.”
Vaughn returned my glare. There was anger in the hard set of his jaw, but something told me it wasn’t aimed at me. He was angry with himself. I presumed it was because I’d played him and he’d fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
His chest heaved once. “Turn the goddamn light out, and go to sleep.”
Grim and all his surliness had returned, along with the unscalable fortresslike walls he kept around himself.
Fine. I wouldn’t push him any further tonight. I should be satisfied with the progress we’d made.
I switched off the lamp before settling on my back once more. Sleep evaded me while a million thoughts whooshed through my mind. Excitement over the memory of Vaughn’s touch and the gratified look in his eyes when he’d made me come. Frustration with how quickly he’d shut down after. Turmoil as I wondered where this would leave us in the morning. Would he be cold and closed off or pretend like nothing had happened?
More than all of that, one question plagued me until I couldn’t stand not knowing a moment longer.
“Vaughn?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah.” His tone was gentler now, like maybe he regretted his biting words earlier.
Titan jumped onto the bed and curled up beside me. I ran my hand over his smooth coat. “Did you mean what you said earlier?”
“I always mean what I say, but which part exactly?”
I rolled to face Vaughn and threw an arm over Titan, drawing him nearer. “Are you really staying?”
He let out a deep sigh. “Not leaving your side until this is over. Not even if you tell me to.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Good. I didn’t want anyone else watching over me.
“And are you going to give my panties back?”
“Nope,” he replied, popping the P.
My chest warmed, and I smiled.
Knowing I had Vaughn’s company for at least a while longer, I finally relaxed enough to sleep.