TWENTY-THREE
Harper
Harper’s racing thoughts downgraded minimally after eating two of Paige’s addictive pastries.
She licked the hazelnut crème from her thumb and watched how Cain swerved his head to stare at her through heated eyes. As turbulent as she was feeling, her body wasn’t so confused as that one look from him was enough to shimmer heat along the surface of her skin. She blushed fiercely, forcing her gaze away until he refocused on the road.
“Why did you go to Paige’s?”
“I heard it was the best.”
“You’re lying.” She burst. “You went there because she’s married to Reaper, and you hate anyone associated with the Souls.”
“Yes.” He agreed easily.
For the first time since knowing him, hearing that admission hit her deeply because she was Souls. If you cut Harper open, she bled the Renegade Souls. Even though she wasn’t a biker, she was one of them in spirit. It was her existence. She didn’t know any different and wouldn’t want anything else.
“I’m Souls. You hate me too, then.”
“I tried,” Cain answered again without hesitation, his eyes steady on the road. They’d almost reached her apartment.
“I haven’t stopped hating you,” she informed. The truthfulness was in doubt now. Unless he dropped his vendetta, it would only end one way.
Harper would need to choose her family over the man she… she. Unable to articulate her emotions, she recognized that doing so would create a point of no return.
“I know, sweet baby.”
Sweet baby .
It didn’t much sound like a taunt from an evil man anymore, and her heart squeezed.
For the rest of the journey, she sat quietly. Surprised Cain followed her in, but didn’t comment on it.
“I need to get showered.” She told him, not quite meeting Cain’s eyeline.
“Go. I’m in no rush.” Shrugging off his jacket, he settled at the kitchen island.
“Answer this first. What did you say to my parents? Do they know who you are?”
His eyes hooded, drumming his fingers on the counter. Cain’s focus was only on her, and she wanted to itch all over from the inspection. He held her family’s safety in his hands, making her crazy. She didn’t know if being extra nice to him would work. Probably not. He had his agenda. And he’d thrown his closest friend out of his house, which meant Cain had zero loyalty to anyone.
When he explained the exchange with her parents, Harper frowned. “Who did my mom think you are?”
He shrugged. “I don’t have any idea.”
“Can’t you drop this, Cain? It won’t end the way you think it will. And even though I hate you.” Her heart twanged with pain. “I don’t want to see you dead.”
He chuckled, unfazed. “Do you think I would let that happen, sweet baby?”
“You don’t know my dad. My family. You’re going up against a powerhouse of determination. I’ve seen people go for them before, and they always lose. It’s not too late to change your mind.”
“Go get your shower, Harper.” He said finally, after staring at her like he could see the desperation in her harrowed soul.
With a sigh rattling in her throat, she did that, turning away from Cain without another word. If she had all the time in the world, she would’ve waited for Cain to leave. But she couldn’t be late for class, so she rushed through a shower. Tender in places as she cleaned, a stark reminder that she’d had sex last night. A lot of sex. Because of what happened with Damon, she hadn’t had time to reflect on losing her virginity to the enemy she was married to.
If she had any delusion left, she could have played the martyr and claimed she did what was necessary. But being in Cain’s bed was based solely on her unbelievable attraction to him.
Right or wrong.
And it was pretty much wrong. She’d wanted to bang the villain’s brains out for so long.
And it had lived up to every middle-of-the-night fantasy.
He’d surpassed every expectation of sex and then some.
If she didn’t hate him, she would have praised, fawned, and applauded him for making her first experience memorable, back-breaking, and spine-tingling.
Lost in thought, she walked out of the bathroom in a towel, then nearly tripped seeing Cain on her bed, checking her out.
Harper showed every emotion possible, making ignoring her feelings for Cain challenging. Now that she knew his capabilities, things were even worse.
He could do delicious and wicked things until she was a screaming mess.
“Come here,” he issued roughly.
It was a testament to how this man had fucked with her head because the sensible thing would be to run in the opposite direction, not have her feet carrying her to him. When she was standing before him, he spanned her waist and pulled her between his spread knees.
Over the towel, he stroked, kneaded, and caressed her body. He was both rough and respectful about it, and Harper’s fingers found their way into his hair because, despite knowing everything, she still wanted to touch him.
When he ripped a groan out of her, cupping her ass cheeks, he went for the towel and made it drop. She didn’t have the modesty to act coy. She liked his eyes roving over her.
“Are you sore here?” he rasped, palming the fullness between her legs, grinding a little over her clit, making it throb.
“Would it matter what I said?” taking a fistful of Cain’s hair, she tugged a little, and when he directed his eyes up, he was grinning a spectacular smile and stealing her breath.
“No,” he answered, sliding a long finger into her pussy. There was a pinch of soreness from being invaded in there last night, but the pain was nothing compared to the bursting pleasure as he brushed her g-spot. He continued to pump in and out, sliding to that place inside which trembled Harper’s knees. “But it will determine how hard I fuck you.”
“ God .” she cried, eyelids flickering. Though her nipples were hard little stones, she was soft everywhere else. Pliable under his hands, and when she splintered into an orgasm, the thing zipping through her like a train, she grasped his hair and puffed out a staggered breath. The bliss was so enormous.
“Mmm, sweet as you tasted last night.” He said, sucking his finger. Climbing to his feet, Cain licked his lips. “I can’t remember the last time I wanted a woman this badly. You’ve run through my fucking head like a disease, Harper.” He declared, lust thickening his voice. Her name from his mouth made her shiver because he rarely used it. “Sit on the bed and show me what I want.”
It made her react. Her knees didn’t even attempt to close. With her tiptoes resting on the carpet, she spread open for him, and he inhaled hard enough she watched his chest expand.
Watching a man unbuckle his belt was erotic as hell. It got better when he reached into his unzipped pants and brought out his solid cock. She remembered that warhead from last night. The frothy ecstasy it caused. His size was obscene , far too much for one man, but Cain owned it.
When he lifted her legs and made her rest her feet on the front of his thighs, the move opened her up so lewdly she inhaled as he ran fingertips around her wet opening, and when his fingers were soaked, he rubbed them over his cock.
“I know you’re a studious little wife and won’t take the day off, so if you don’t want to be fucked for hours, you need to come fast, got it?” he said it like a threat, and she licked her dry lips, watching as he fixed himself at her opening. The palpitating excitement she was experiencing was striking, and she tried to memorize every moment of the man joining their bodies.
“Yessss.” she wheezed languidly. Cain pushed himself inside her an inch at a time. She was grateful he didn’t go at her like a rampaging bull. Whatever he said about her being sore, he was gentle and plied pressure on her clit. And the more he did, the wetter she became. With each inhale, he drove inside a little deeper. The moment he was at the bottom, he groaned and grabbed Harper around the neck, bringing her mouth to his.
“Devil woman, what have you done to me?”
She didn’t understand, nor had the mental bandwidth to decipher his cryptic dialog. Not when he started snapping his hips back and forth, fucking her slowly. He was doing it in such a way that the crown of his cock scraped against the front wall of her vagina, and Harper had a solar system of stars erupting behind her eyelids.
There was pain and pleasure in equal measure.
Letting out a choked cry, Harper dug her nails into his shoulders, needing him to move faster, harder, to hurl her over the brink. With little warning, on a deep, measured thrust, while they watched his cock disappear into her body, she was there on the precipice. Violent hot shakes seized her. Cain kissed Harper deeply, savoring her moans of pleasure as a rush of ecstasy spread throughout her body.
Harper’s head lolled on her neck, her eyes half-closed as she watched Cain, the concentration of his gaze making her skin tingle. She watched him with passion as he savored the erotic image of his cock entering her, and she could feel a powerful, pre-orgasmic sensation building within her.
“Ah, fuck, sweet baby.” He grunted, slamming a little harder than she could take, but it still felt incredible, and she held on while he churned.
Cain intensified his thrusts five more times, driving her deeper into the mattress with every push. To her disbelief, the tension gathered like fire again, and she widened her eyes as Cain brought her mouth to his, licking his way inside. Her heightened sensitivity made her react as he rammed home, and she groaned into his lips. Oh, the feeling was heaven and hell.
He swelled inside her, and another soul-stealing orgasm ripped through Harper, shocking the breath from her lungs at the suddenness as she bowed back, breaking their lips. At the same time, Cain ground out his climax like he was imprinting himself on her because he grunted, locking eyes with Harper, and remained buried inside of her for long minutes while the tremors abated from his body.
They remained in that position, their foreheads together, breathing into each other. The moment was intimate and made Harper agitated to move. He withdrew before she could ask him to.
“Stay there,” he said, striding to the bathroom. He came back carrying a cloth, and before she could protest, he was doing the clean-up between her shuddering thighs.
“So fucking pink and sore now.” He remarked, almost to himself.
Not expecting it, Harper inhaled her surprise when Cain gathered her into his arms, putting her into his lap. Her heartbeat was still elevated.
Because Cain looked less evil and conniving than usual, she stroked around his neck tattoo and watched how his eyes flared. Hm, he enjoyed being touched. She kept her hand there and risked broaching a subject.
“Cain. If we keep doing this.”
“Oh, we’re doing it again,” he smirked, leaning into her hand so she caressed him with feather-like touches against his strong jawline and down to where his pulse was a steady thud.
“If we keep doing this, will you forget the other stuff?”
She was debasing herself.
But who was she kidding? It was no hardship to be intimate with Cain. Even now, two orgasms down, her pussy stretched to the point of tenderness, and she still wanted to experiment with his incredible body. She was across his lap, naked, while he was dressed, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to be that way with him.
But she couldn’t remain trapped between him and his revenge. It was killing her.
“Cain.” She said when he didn’t speak, his gaze roaming her face. And when he pinched her nipple, she gasped. He idly rolled it between finger and thumb.
“I can’t sleep for worrying about what you’ll do. I’ve done everything you’ve demanded of me. Even so, I can’t relax for a minute. When you’re not here, my head is chaos, so scared you’ll hurt my family. And every minute of the day, I war with myself not to confide in someone. I can’t take it anymore,” she said, her voice a little erratic. Finally, she showed all her worries, spewing them over her husband, hoping he had a scrap of decency in his coat of evilness.
When she thought her plea might go ignored, he palmed the fullness of her breast and left it there. Then he spoke. “If I swear not to do anything for the next month, do you promise to be nice?”
“Nice? To you?” both eyebrows shot up into her hairline. “You want me to be nice… to you?” it deserved repeating because she didn’t expect that. She thought he might ask for something easy, like breaking into the Treasury to steal fifty bucks.
“That means no more combative verbal wars. Unless it’s foreplay prelude.”
Another blink. “And you won’t do any evil plots, schemes, or fuck with my family. Including going anywhere they might be, like you did this morning?”
He nodded and hummed with his mouth to the side of her face.
“How many deals do I need to make to get you to forget it all?”
“Hm. Let’s start with a month.”
Harper exhaled. “Can I trust your word?”
“I haven’t broken a promise to you yet.”
After a minute of searching his face, she had to ask. “Are you sure my dad killed yours?”
“He gave the orders. It wasn’t by his hand, but he’s equally responsible. All the Souls are for the demise of my father’s MC.”
“It was a long time ago.” She tried, voice weak.
Was she getting somewhere with Cain?
Was her reasoning reaching him at all?
Could she dare hope?
“It was twenty years ago. It was last month. It was yesterday.” He growled low, and the noise vibrated against her skin when he raked his mouth down to her neck. “You have a month without worry, sweet baby. Do you agree?”
“Yes,” Harper answered. What else could she say?
Pushing off Cain’s lap, she picked out an underwear set and a casual outfit of wide-legged jeans and a loose sweater, well aware her husband watched her dressing, even as she styled her hair. When she faced him, the look in his savagely hooded eyes gave her belly flips. They were as hot as they were when he was pushing into her.
If she didn’t go now, she’d end up attached to his face.
“I need to go.” She croaked, breaking their eye lock.
Cain followed her into the main room, and he grabbed something from the kitchen, handing them over when she swung the messenger bag around her shoulder.
Harper eyed the water bottle, and the wrapped pastry. “What’s this? Do all women warrant this kind of attention from you, Cain?”
“Only the ones I’m married to.” He replied, hooking up her hand.
Harper had no quick-witted response. She was tongue-tied and in her feelings.
And when he dropped her off at college, the kiss he gave her nearly set fire to her hair. She could only respond with a hum when he told her he’d pick her up later.
It looked like she’d entered a peace treaty with her villain husband.
She hoped he’d follow through because, for better or worse, she badly wanted to believe him.
Not only because she wanted to have more sex with the villain and his immense ego.