Chapter 5
I knewsex was on the table when I began devising a plan to marry. There was even a strong possibility that it would happen whether or not I was willing. For some reason, I thought Lucas might be different. A hidden talent was my ability to read people, and I’d been grossly mistaken about him.
The fear I should have felt when I first met him now swallowed me whole. “If my father catches you?—”
“Your father invited me and gave me permission to do whatever I wanted to do with you.”
It was all I could do to keep myself from hyperventilating. This club held my darkest secret. “Please, not here. Anywhere but here.”
“So, it’s not the threat of what I might do to you that upsets you; it’s the location?”
“Both are equally appalling, but this club…” This time, my entire body convulsed. “I’ll go willingly as long as it’s not here.”
His hold on me loosened. “I’m a lot of things, Claire, but a rapist isn’t one of them.”
“Are you trying to tell me you don’t take what you want?”
The hand that held me snaked around my waist, making me gasp as he pulled me hard against his granite body. “In that department, I’ve never had to take anything. It was freely given.” His voice dipped low and sultry.
I’d never given my body to anyone willingly, but that purr did things to me no other man had ever achieved.
I licked my lips, and he lowered his gaze to them.
His eyes narrowed. “You keep doing that, and I’m going to kiss you.”
“Do you normally warn your prey?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and like an insane woman, I licked my lips again, testing him.
I don’t know what I expected. A hard kiss, one where his tongue invaded my mouth and taught me a lesson on dominance and submission, at least. Instead, his gaze swept over my face one more time before he angled his head and caressed my lips with his.
It was so soft and sweet that I arched into him. His free hand slid up my back and continued its ascent until his fingers were buried in my hair. The sensation was unreal. It almost felt like he wanted me.
Lucas’s kiss was unhurried and sensual. His tongue gently probed against my mouth, and I surrendered. It was a magnificent dance of passion and desire. He explored my mouth while I explored his, and all I wanted to do was live in that moment.
Breaking the kiss, he pulled my head back until my neck was completely exposed. The tender kisses he trailed across my sensitive skin pulled an uncontrollable moan from me. I’d never wanted a man. Never thought I’d ever want a man, but he was a force of nature that made me helpless and desperate for him.
“Lucas…”
His teeth nipped at my throat. “Yes, Claire?”
“Does this mean you’ll marry me?”
“It means I was itching for a kiss, and you were the closest available candidate.” His response was sharp and hit its mark.
Ice flooded my veins. All men ever did was use me. I wasn’t sure why I expected any better from Lucas Kalantzis… or myself. How incredibly stupid. He’d been playing me the whole time. I pushed against him. “Let me go.”
“Now, is that any way to treat a guest of your fathers?”
The words were the same. The only difference was the voice. Where his felt like feathers against my skin, the others had felt like a rusty knife. They should have felt the same, but my body was at war with my brain.
Why was I even fighting? It wasn’t like I could overpower him any more than I could the last man, so I stopped struggling. “What would you like from me, Mr. Kalantzis?” My voice was foreign to my own ears. The mechanical way I spoke as I drifted somewhere safe. He’d have my body, but he’d never touch my mind.
Instead of answering me, he claimed my lips again. My treasonous body quickly responded, igniting a kiss that threatened to consume me. I slid my hands up his toned chest and around his neck, clinging to him as my knees weakened. I’d never experienced kisses like this. The only kisses I had experienced were forced by men who were old enough to be my father.
I was panting by the time he broke the kiss this time. He released me and stepped back, a smirk on his lips. “I’ll see you around, Claire.”
Before I could catch my breath or speak, he was back inside the club. Not two seconds later, my father was prowling toward me. I wanted to run, but if I did, it would be worse. When he reached me, he buried his hand in my hair and wrenched my head back. “What did you do?” His spittle hits my cheek.
“Nothing, Daddy, I swear. I even let him kiss me.”
“No doubt that’s what’s chased him away.” His lips twitched up as he shifted us until I was hidden from the prying eyes of guests who might happen to drift by. “Perhaps it’d be in my best interest to get you lessons from a few of our more seasoned members.”
Terror clamped down on my throat. Tears welled in my eyes. I couldn’t do that again. “Please, no.”
His free hand came to my throat and squeezed. “You’ll do what I tell you, when I tell you, and with whom I tell you. An Italian has mentioned wanting to have a taste of you. Maybe it’d be better to form an alliance with them. They’ve got an operation in Thailand. When I get what I want, we can both be rid of you.”
My knees gave out, increasing the pressure of his hand, cutting off what remaining air I had. I had no desire to die, but the thought of being a toy in a foreign country stole my will to live.
“Franklin? Have you seen Claire?”
Lucas.
I’d never seen fear in my father’s eyes before tonight. His grip loosened as he bent closer to me. “I’m going to let you go. Make sure you’re standing when I do. Do you understand? And if you say anything to him, I might just forget how much I want that trust fund.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
A smile was already on his lips as he turned. “Yes, she’s right here. I was checking on her. She wasn’t feeling very good before we arrived, and I wanted to make sure she was okay.” He met Lucas at the halfway point. “I thought I saw you leave.”
“Oh, well, I realized I’d forgotten my cell phone. It’s typically busy on Friday nights at the restaurant, and I want to make sure I’m available.”
My father turned to me. “I see. Well, why don’t you two come inside? Dinner will be served shortly, and seafood isn’t nearly as delicious when it’s cold.”
I nod. “Yes, Daddy.” By the time I reached Lucas and my father, I’d pulled myself together enough that perhaps it’d escape the notice of Lucas. “I’m starving.”
When my father’s hand landed on my lower back, I wanted to wrench it away. His touch made my skin crawl. All I wanted was to be free of this man. That was all I’d ever wanted.
At least under the watchful eyes of our guests, I’d be safe.
Lucas sat to my left,adjacent to my father, who sat at the head of the table. The room was buzzing with animated conversations.
“Are you okay?” Lucas whispered.
“I’m fine.” I pinned my shoulders back. “It’s been a lovely evening. I’m so glad you could join us.”
I could feel his eyes on me, but I refused to look at him.
“Do you always rock the librarian vibe?”
The question caught me off guard, and I laughed. “What?” I asked.
There was humor in those dark eyes, and it transformed his face into something even more beautiful than before if that was possible. Memories of the kisses we shared returned, and my cheeks heated.
“So put together. It’s like you’re a walking organization system.”
“I’ve had a lot of comments thrown my way, but in all my twenty years, that’s the first time I’ve heard that. I don’t even know what that means.”
His head tilted as he looked at me. “You’re always so put together, like nothing rattles you.”
He had no idea. No one at this table did. I took a moment and scanned the room, noting the people in attendance. People who were by all accounts the same pillar of the community my father pretended to be.
I brought my attention back to Lucas. “I never had a choice to be anything less.” The subject had the potential to draw my father’s unwanted attention, so I steered it in a different direction. “You look very handsome tonight.”
Lucas stared at me for a moment. “And you look beautiful.”
I held in a snort. One because it was unladylike and two because I’d die of embarrassment. Beautiful? Me? “Thank you for the compliment.”
For the rest of the evening, our conversation stayed light and flirtatious. Lucas was easy to talk to, and that feeling of safety I had earlier slowly began to return. I got the weirdest feeling that something had shifted, but I couldn’t figure out why for the life of me.
It wasn’t until I got in the car to return home at the end of the night that I realized my father was in high spirits. He’d let me stew a moment and then smiled. “Well, I’m not sure how you pulled it off, but just before Lucas left, he said he’d agree to marry you.”
He’d told my father without telling me. That only meant one thing. Whatever glimmer of goodness I’d seen in Lucas was a mirage. He was no different from my father.
I responded in the only way my father would find acceptable. “Oh, that’s wonderful.”
He glared at me. “Yes, it is. I’ll leave it to you to see to the arrangements. This time, two weeks from now, we’ll be holding a wedding at St. Andrews. It’s big enough to accommodate the guests you’ll need to invite. Make sure it’s to my standards, Claire. Do you understand?”
Nodding, I replied, “Yes, Daddy.”
The wicked curl of his lips made my stomach sink.
Lucas was marrying me and aligning with my father. I’d leave one horrible man for another. I was beginning to wonder if my trust fund was worth the torture the next three weeks would bring me. Planning a wedding, getting married, and being married to Lucas. The only thing that stopped that thought was my mom. She would want me to fight. To live. To be free.
I couldn’t, and I wouldn’t just lie down and die. I didn’t know how I’d get myself out of this situation, but I would.