THIRTEEN
Harper
She would not lower herself to grapple with the idiot for her journal, so when Harper crossed the carpeted room, she simply held out her hand and waited.
To Harper’s surprise, Cain snapped the book closed and placed it in her hand. She quickly shoved it into the top drawer of her nightstand while glaring at him.
“Why didn’t you write about your husband?”
“As if I want a record of knowing you. When all this mess is over, you’ll only be a nightmare I had long ago.”
Rather than insulting his ego, Cain flashed his white teeth.
“Get into bed, Harper.”
Biting her lip, she knew this was it.
There was no going back.
She had to see it through, no matter how unpleasant it was. Saving her family was no sacrifice at all. That’s why Harper climbed over his solid body to settle herself at his side.
All she had left that belonged to her was refusing to show nervousness, so she tipped her head back and stared into his bottomless eyes. He searched hers like he was hoping to see something there.
There was only hate.
And she hoped he choked on it while he was using her body.
Cain pulled the rug from beneath her at every turn, never acting like she thought he might. And when he touched her cheek, she didn’t want to tremble, but her body reacted anyway. She felt like an insignificant kitten caught in the sights of a predator. And that predator was showing his ravenous canine teeth.
“Just get on with it,” she hissed when he did nothing else.
“Is that what you want?”
Why did he sound so seductive?
What she wanted didn’t matter. It never had with Cain. He’d been playing her from the start, but she only realized she was his pawn.
He trailed a thumb over her lips, pulling the bottom one down and releasing it.
“So brave, aren’t you, little girl?”
She felt anything but.
As willing as she was to get this over with, her instincts kicked in when Cain leaned closer as if to kiss her, and she jerked her head back.
His gray eyes flared, and he growled low in his throat.
He froze in that position, so close to her mouth. Waiting.
“Do that again, and I’ll walk out of here, and you won’t see me ever again, wife .”
As threats went, it hit its mark.
He wanted her to be a willing—very willing, active lover. He’d already warned her it wouldn’t be just Cain taking from her.
She swallowed a curse, feeling her heart thudding out of sequence. Cain displayed no show of nerves. Why would he? He was the one in control. His hand roamed down her side and sat within the waist dip. Still waiting for her to make the next move.
She hated this man. And it was that hate she kept dancing behind her eyelids when she shut them, closing the inch of space between them, and pressed her mouth on his.
Cain slanted his head and sealed his lips over hers when she didn’t propose any resistance. He had soft, giving lips for a villain, and she could almost buy the lies to get through this.
They were demanding as he nibbled on her lower lip, and her mouth yielded to him instantly.
Maybe she could pretend she was kissing someone she liked.
“Say my name, little girl.” He growled, sucking her lower lip and then the top one. “Say it,” he demanded, his kiss more forceful and rough. He could practically read her mind. And though she kept her eyes tightly closed as he fought around her tongue with slow licks, she said his name, and he hummed his pleasure.
With many ungoverned thoughts whirling in her mind, conflicting feelings battering Harper from all corners, she pulled back with a much-needed inhale. His eyes flared with searing determination. He caught Harper by the neck and crushed her with another kiss.
When he flicked his tongue against the seam of her lips, she parted them naturally with a throaty moan, allowing him entrance. Oh, god , she liked his kisses and hated herself for enjoying his torture. As villains did with weakness, he took full advantage, deepening the kiss as he pressed his body into hers, rolling her toward him by cupping her ass cheek, holding her in place so she could feel every hard inch of his shaft.
If Harper had been under any delusion that he might not perform and she’d be let off the hook, then the thickness told a different story.
She fisted both hands in his hair, pulling him deeper. Her tongue became a weapon, battling him. He would have to fight her the entire time if he wanted this. He’d realize she was no simpering passenger. She wouldn’t back down from anything he threw her way if he was trying to test her limits.
But just as Harper thought she was in control, he took it right back. Effortlessly, with only a slide of a hand over her butt, squeezing so hard she gasped into his mouth, and he moaned, licking her while he took what he wanted from her mouth, all passion and dominance.
She hated how good he was at kissing.
How good he tasted.
She hated more how it was the best kiss she’d experienced.
How she imagined passionate kissing should be.
Nothing weak and passive.
Cain was wholly in control of their kiss, forceful and demanding. A groan thundered through his chest and into her open mouth, mingling with the desperate, needy whimpers he was dragging from her unbidden.
And if Harper thought his kisses were magnetic, he shocked a gasp of air from her when a hand cupped her lewdly between her legs. Oh, god . Panic and heat set in simultaneously.
She couldn’t do this!
She had to do this.
Her panic flew away with a groan when he ground the heel of his hand right over her clit, and her body reacted long before her brain could.
It felt incredible, and she hated it. She hated him so much for making her feel something other than loathing.
“That’s right, sweet baby. Pop those juicy hips and grind into my hand.”
“Fuck you.” She fumed, linking their gazes.
He only smiled and tore the breath out of her when he went into her PJ pants, right down until he was skin-to-skin with her pussy.
Harper jerked. “This isn’t what we agreed.” But he wouldn’t let her pull back from his touch.
“I can use your body every way I want to.” He reminded her. “I want to know you’ll splinter apart for me when I get my dick buried in this married pussy.”
Harper looked into the eyes of the man who would destroy her.
It was so clear there was no room for misinterpretation.
And she had to let him destroy her.
She had to allow him to break down what little resistance she had left, or he’d see it as her reneging on their deal.
So, with her thumping heart and breathless inhales, she used the only power she had in her bedroom by locking a hand around Cain’s throat, seeing how his eyes went wild, blowing out the color until all she saw was two black disks of his pupils.
“Go on then. Make me splinter.”
There was no besting his game, Harper realized as he stared at her with demon eyes and a monstrous, empty heart. This man wanted to destroy her family, therefore, destroying her. All she could do was go toe-to-toe with him and never back down from his taunts because that’s how monsters won.
Men like him feasted on other’s weaknesses.
And with defiance in her mind, she kissed him this time. She slammed against his mouth, wanting him to get it over with.
But Cain had other ideas, and when he started stroking his fingertips through her pussy slit, he was confusingly gentle.
Like a lover coaxing her, she growled into his mouth, kissing him rougher, trying to force him to be mean so she’d have no lasting good memories of him once he was out of her life.
She couldn’t cope with a gentle Cain.
There was nothing soft about him, and she didn’t understand why he was pretending now.
“Open your eyes, Harper.” He said, his breath fanning her mouth.
She forced her eyelids to open and found him staring at her while he plied the sweetest pleasure to her sex.
It was impossible not to moan, and each time she did, he watched her, smirking.
No matter what she did or thought, Cain was ten steps ahead of her. He would not let her get away with faking anything because his hand was skilled, like he knew what she enjoyed, pushing her closer to orgasm. The moment he circled her clit, her back bowed in the middle, and her hand flexed on his throat.
“I hate you.” She had to tell him. It was all Harper could still control.
“You’re so fucking wet for someone you hate,” He taunted, nibbling his teeth along her jawline as he stroked and tormented Harper in the harshest way she hadn’t expected, by making her feel extraordinary, leg-shaking pleasure.
Needing relief from the ache between her wet thighs, she felt like she was battling her own body as she ground against his seeking fingers, and he grunted his gratification as she groaned.
Harper was shaking all over. Cain wouldn’t give her a moment to think. Her head spun like she’d been on every rollercoaster at Disney World.
She tried everything not to come for him.
But he was patient, going around and around on her clit, never slowing his pattern, and with each sweep of his finger, she felt herself gathering ever closer. Hating herself for feeling anything but contempt and disgust. And then it happened, and she slammed her eyes closed as the shuddering orgasm took her down like an enemy owning her from the inside. Warm pleasure settled into her bones, and a tear seeped from the corner of her eye, but before she could wipe it away, Cain leaned forward and licked it gone. He couldn’t even allow her to have tears without stealing them.
To prevent seeing his smug look of victory, she looked away. Refusing, Cain grabbed her throat, tilting her head up to meet his gaze. “You can pretend you don’t want this, but we both know you do. This body doesn’t lie to me, my soaked baby.”
His grip on Harper’s throat suddenly eased, a gentle touch she found more hateful than anything. She didn’t want his seduction.
Why couldn’t he just fuck her and get it over with?
When Cain pressed his mouth to her cheek, he gave her a little scrape of teeth as he whispered. “That’s one, wife.”
No, he couldn’t mean…
But he did.
Cain’s fingers started caressing her sex again, rougher this time, crudely prying her soaked lips apart in a V shape, and then he went further until he teased her entrance.
Unsure she could take any more torment, Harper’s gaze wavered. But there was little choice when he continued to rip moans out of her throat. Her back left the bed in an arch as pleasure rushed through the lower half of her body, disturbing her with its strength so soon after the first orgasm.
“Mmm, this little hole likes me, too. All slick and dripping.” If any words could make Harper hate Cain more, it was those words, and she tried to dislodge him, but he pressed in harder until her pussy sucked in those fingers right to the knuckles, and Cain grunted, burying his face in the side of her neck.
He ran his teeth along her throat. And each time his fingers drilled and then plied the exquisite torture to her clit with his rubbing thumb, he bit down on her skin and moaned her name.
He was making it impossible for her to block him out. The pleasure gathered, anyway.
“That’s a good stubborn girl. So fucking tight. Come in my hand again.”
“N-no. This isn’t what we agreed.” More tears leaked even as the bliss swirled through her stomach, making her shake and dig her nails into his forearm.
“Don’t think about disobeying me. I own this body now. I will orgasm it until it’s fucking weak and can’t function without my fingers and cock shoved down to the bottom of this little pussy.” His teeth worked on her throat again, the shock of the slight pain shot pleasure across her skin, and Harper shrieked as she came again. Wave after indescribable wave, she shattered under his mastery.
And, like the first time, he licked away her leaked tears. The monster savored her despair for knowing how easily he could make her break apart.
She couldn’t watch him licking her from his fingers, her eyes shut tight, but she heard how he enjoyed it by moaning. And then he pressed his mouth to hers, prying her lips open, making her taste the orgasms he’d forced her to have.
Cain didn’t allow her to keep anything to herself.
He stole everything and did it openly.
“I’m wiped,” he told her. “I’ve been traveling all day to get here.”
She didn’t care about his woes.
Harper slung an arm across her eyes, blocking him out as best as she could. She hoped he’d leave, but he flipped Harper onto her side and curled his bigger body around her, placing a hand on her lower belly to hold her in place.
Harper was in a state of disbelief.
Her thoughts spun even as her body felt sated and exhausted, yet she was too wired to sleep. She’d wait until he passed out and crawl out of bed.
No way she was sleeping in the same bed as Cain. That was not their deal.
But as sleep pulled her under, he stroked a delicate touch between her breasts, and as she went under, she heard his voice from far away, almost dreamlike.
“Happy birthday, Harper.”
When she resurfaced hours later, she was in bed alone. And there was no sign Cain had ever been in her apartment.
Almost like coming under his tormented hands never happened.
And that was the lie she told herself for days.
It never happened.
And it wouldn’t happen again.