Chapter 9
NINE
JESSICA
Nothing could have prepared me to see Kane again.
Absolutely nothing.
I knew he’d be here tonight because it’s his house, after all. But I never imagined how much it would hurt to see him across the room.
I was only here for about five minutes when I saw him. As soon as we entered the living room, I spotted him across the room, talking to the girl who threatened me in the parking lot the other day, and I instantly froze.
She was just as stunning as I remembered, in a gold sequined dress, strappy heels, and a black lace eye mask. How could I possibly compete with that?
She looked like she belonged on his arm, as if she was made for him.
“You’re staring,” Rain whispers near my ear as she sways her hips to the beat.
She looks stunning tonight in a black backless maxi dress, stilettos, and a silver mask. Her purple hair is hidden under a brown wig, with bangs framing her face.
I didn’t want to wear a dress at all, to be honest, but Rain pointed out that it would only attract more attention if I didn’t dress up, so I reluctantly agreed to wear a mint green camisole mini dress that she dug out from the back of her closet.
Once I return the dagger, I’m never wearing a dress or heels again. Speaking of heels, someone accidentally knocks into me, and I almost topple over in mine.
Rain steadies me. “You okay?”
“Fantastic,” I mutter as I glare down at my shoes.
Clear heels. Silver points. Modern, striking, and definitely not my style in any sense. I look like Rain’s pet project. If I bend over, I’ll flash everyone, but some of the men here probably wouldn’t mind, judging by how they stare at us like we’re slabs of meat.
Across the room, the girl says something to Kane and walks away, but not before kissing his cheek.
Breathe.
He completely ignores her, his eyes locking onto mine for a second before drifting past. It’s like I’m not even here. The itchy wigs we wore, paired with the masks, did a great job.
“Staring again,” Rain says, guiding my hips to the beat.
“Do you think he’s fucking her?” I ask.
“I thought you said you didn’t care.”
“I don’t.”
“I can tell.”
I stop dancing and glare at her. None of this is funny, but that doesn’t stop Rain from snickering on my behalf.
“Go on,” she says, spinning me around by the shoulders. “I’ll wait here.”
“Try to blend in. Don’t get into trouble while I’m gone.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. Now go, before we get caught.”
In theory, this could work.
For one, the party is busy enough that I can easily slip out unnoticed.
Thank goodness. I couldn’t think of anything more humiliating than getting caught sneaking around by Kane or his friends. That conversation wouldn’t go over well.
On the other hand, I also thought it was a decent plan the first time. And look where that got me. Caught, in more ways than one.
I slip through another hallway. The mansion’s layout is thankfully familiar to me now, and I reach the office quickly.
Glancing over my shoulder, I turn left down another hallway until I find the office door.
After I make sure no one followed me here, I quickly enter the office, close the door, and remove the dagger from my purse, unwrap it from the kitchen towel, and hurry across the room to put it back on one of the shelves.
The moment I set it down, a weight lifts off my shoulder.
I can finally breathe easier. That’s one less thing to worry about.
This is the part where I should make a quick exit, grab Rain, and put Heights behind me.
Never look back.
Move on with my life and forget all about Kane Ravencourt.
No hesitation.
So why does my throat tighten at the thought? Why does it feel so… wrong? God, I need to get a fucking grip on myself.
When I hear a soft click behind me, my thoughts scatter, and I hold my breath.
I don’t know how long passes in complete silence. Maybe a minute? Five? I completely lose track of time.
And then it all crashes down.
“It seems I caught a little rabbit.” Kane’s deep voice echoes through the room, and I gasp as if I’ve been shocked.
Fuck.
What’s worse? The icy panic that roots me in place, my racing heartbeat, or the jolt of excitement that sparks at the sound of him?
“So it’s true.” The soft sound of his shoes on the rug makes my pulse spike. “It was you who stole the dagger.”
“I didn’t steal the dagger.” The words escape before I can stop them.
Silence settles over the room and I stay quiet, thinking that holding my breath might keep me safe from the looming threat behind me. It won’t. Nothing will.
But then his shadow engulfs me, accompanied by his intoxicating scent.
Kane picks up the dagger and traces it along the curve of my neck. “You didn’t steal it?”
“No.” My voice trembles as his chest presses against my back.
“Don’t lie to me, little thief.” He spins me around and presses the sharp tip to my throat.
“I’m not—”
“I swear, if you say you’re not lying, I’ll rip off this pretty dress and fuck you right here on my father’s desk.”
I swallow hard against the blade. The look in his eyes is one of cold detachment as he tears off my mask and tosses it to the floor. “On second thought...”
I gasp at the violence in his touch, but before I can react, he digs his fingers into my jaw and crashes his mouth down on mine. The kiss erupts with a flood of emotions.
His tongue invades, forcing my lips to part as a whimper catches in my throat, and he savors the sound with another deep sealing of his lips.
A part of me is slow to catch up, caught off guard by his bruising touch and biting kisses. The other part is shouting yes, yes, yes, without a thought for the consequences.
The knife clatters to the floor, and then he lifts me by the hips, spins us around, and sets me on his father’s desk. A laptop crashes to the floor and shatters, but Kane doesn’t even look.
His wild mouth stays pressed to mine, his tongue making me dizzy enough to forget what we’re doing.
This is madness, and I should stop it.
Kane yanks my panties down my thighs and nips at my lips as he tears the lace with a sharp flick of his wrist.
“Kane, we can’t—”
“Shut up!” He kisses me again, palming my breasts through my dress, and sucks on my tongue.
Despite the sting of his possessive touch, I crave more of this unhinged, feral version of him. It’s like someone has brought me to life.
Even now, as he forcefully unzips my dress and shoves down the front, I gasp as he kneads my naked breasts hard enough to redden the skin.
He slaps one and then grabs my jaw, his gaze burning into me as he unbuttons his pants. “Look at me,” he says under his breath and frees his hard shaft.
This is wrong, but so fucking right.
“Did you actually think there wouldn’t be any consequences? That you could steal the dagger and make me fall in love with you along the way.”
Grabbing my hips, he pulls me sharply onto his cock, and I cry out at the sudden intrusion, at how thick he feels as he splits me in half.
The power imbalance is impossible to ignore. Kane is still fully clothed, while my wrinkled dress is bunched around my waist.
He sets a ruthless pace, driving into me with sharp, methodical thrusts so fierce all I can do is cling to his muscled arms. My cries grow louder. My tits bounce wildly, and my pussy clamps around his rigid length.
Kane’s gaze fixes greedily on my mouth. He buries his hand in my hair and pulls hard on the strands, exposing my neck. “I’m so fucking angry with you,” he growls on another punishing thrust. “Do you have any idea what my father would do to you if he finds out about the dagger?”
Thrust.
“I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.”
Thrust.
My nails dig into his shirt, and I moan as my walls tighten around his deliciously thick cock. The initial pain quickly melts into unbridled pleasure, unlike anything I’ve ever felt.
My orgasm begins to build in my core, but before I can fall apart, Kane releases my hair and slaps my face. “Fucking look at me, little rabbit.”
I didn’t even realize my eyes had closed, but as I take in every sharp angle of his shadowed face, he grabs my jaw again and digs his fingers into my skin, still prickling from his stinging slap.
“I missed fucking you.” He sinks his teeth into my lip and feasts on the tender flesh, sucking and nibbling, and drawing blood. “I missed the feel of this tight little pussy.”
“Kane…” Another moan spills from my lips, and he crushes his mouth to mine, groaning into our kiss.
As his ruthless hips slap into mine, the pleasure builds until I’m right on the edge. Kane must feel me tightening around him because he breaks the kiss and looks down between our bodies.
I have no doubt that if it were anyone else staring at my soaked pussy the way Kane is now, I’d feel embarrassed.
But it’s not anyone else. It’s Kane.
And if anything, it turns me on more because I know he likes watching me struggle to take his massive cock.
And I can feel it. The way my cunt tries to push him out. The bite of pain with every intrusion.
And how it adds to the head-spinning pleasure.
“Fuck me,” he whispers, slowing his thrusts until his cock glides in and out of me with a torturously slow pace that has me seeing stars. “I’ve never seen you so wet.”
It’s a good thing I can’t think clearly, because there’s this voice in the back of my head yelling about how wrong this is.
That he was with someone else.
But then he buries his dick deep and starts thrusting with renewed intensity, and that little voice gets lost in the euphoric feel of him.
It doesn’t take long for the shattering pleasure to grow into a white-hot blaze. I come undone, crying out while Kane chases his own release.
“Fuck,” he grunts, knocking over a picture frame and something else that clatters to the floor.
I’ve never known anyone to fuck this hard, so, yes, I cling to him as he empties inside me, driving his cock deep again and again.
Unfortunately this is the moment when reality starts to kick back in.
Kane, as if he can sense it, buries his face in my neck, panting hard like he’s just run a marathon.
For a brief moment, I let myself believe the fantasy of us being together again. But that’s all it will ever be… a fantasy.
I push against his chest.
Kane doesn’t move at first, so I push harder.
Just because I allowed him to drive through me with his cock during a moment of weakness doesn’t mean I forgive him for cheating. No matter how much I love this infuriating man, I can’t keep doing this.
Now that I can finally think clearly, I won’t let him hurt me again.
“Kane, let me go.” I push on his chest, and he shakes his head against my neck, clutching me to him.
“Don’t do this.” His voice crackles with something that almost sounds like fear.
My light shoving quickly turns into a struggle as I squirm, trying to get him off me, but he holds me down and easily secures my wrists above my head.
“Kane,” I sob, but he won’t let me go even if I beg. I can see it on his face. No matter how much I kick and scream, he’s tasted me again.
This time, he won’t take no for an answer. But that’s not the worst part. No, I want him to force me to stay. I want him to take the decision away because then I won’t feel so weak for falling into him again.
“You’re not leaving,” he says, his voice low and threaded with danger and desperation. “I won’t let you.”
Another sob racks through me, causing my breasts to tremble on my chest, and Kane dips his head to suck my nipple into his hot mouth.
“No,” I choke pathetically, struggling against his grip on my wrists.
It’s not that I don’t want it. I want it so badly it scares me. That’s why I need to get out of here.
“What did you think would happen?” He circles the hardened bud with his tongue. “That you could return the dagger and walk back out of my life?”
Desperate, I look around for something, but he bites my other nipple hard, and I let out a yelp.
“You shouldn’t have come back here.” He soothes the sting, sucking leisurely on the nipple until I almost give in.
Almost.
No, this is wrong.
I plead. “So let me go.”
“No.”
“Kane, you can’t—”
He slaps his free hand over my mouth to keep me quiet, then studies me sprawled out and freshly fucked on the desk. I struggle against him, looking for something to use, when my eyes land on a letter opener.
Deep breaths.
“I can do anything I want, little thief. I’m a Ravencourt.”
He leans over me, and I catch a glimpse of tanned skin down the open collar of his shirt. I squirm again, and he slips his hand from my mouth, shoves two brutal fingers into me, curls them to hit that magical spot, and thrusts without mercy.
“See how easy it is for me to take what I want?”
There are no hard kisses or out-of-control passion on his part now, only the desire to break me open and make me submit. Kane knows I’m at my weakest when I’m lost in pleasure.
He’s trying to break me.
I keep twisting my wrists, fighting his grip until my hand slips free. I don’t waste the chance. My fingers close around the letter opener.
There’s no time to think. My body moves on autopilot as I drive it into his arm as hard as I can, piercing fabric and flesh.
Shit.
Kane staggers back, staring in shock as blood seeps through his white shirt and stains it red. “What the fuck?”
And that’s my cue to run.