Jess Michaels Read online

  For a long time, she simply laid on the settee, too exhausted by her orgasm to move. When she withdrew her fingers, her pussy immediately began to ache again. She let out a low curse. It seemed she could pleasure herself all day, but what her body truly craved was Hawk.

  Whatever else happened, he could not be allowed to stroke her to such a fever pitch again.

  Rising to her feet, she smoothed her skirts and paced to the window. “I will break Hawk,” she muttered to her wavy reflection in the glass. “And I shall start tonight.”

  Chapter Four

  Hawk rested his forehead against his front door. He could actually feel Bianca’s heat as she stood on the stoop waiting to be allowed in. His cock readied at the knowledge that she was there. There for him.

  He lifted his head. No matter what happened, no matter what she did, he had to remember his strategy. Bianca needed mastery. She too often got her way in life and in love. She used her body as a tool for control. If he was going to win her wager, win her, he’d have to take that control, no matter what manner of sensual trickery she launched at him.

  Drawing a deep breath, he opened the door.

  For a moment, his thoughts of mastery and control fluttered away as he stared at her. In the circle of light coming from the doorway, she looked like a fallen angel in her white satin gown. Lace covered the shockingly low neckline, but beneath the fabric he saw skin. The little yellow flowers that had been painstakingly embroidered in a fall along the front of her skirt implied innocence, but the sultry look in her eyes said sin.

  And then there was her scent. Vanilla and rainwater. Heather and lust. The same combination that had been driving him wild for years. Tonight he would immerse himself in it, surround himself with her. And he couldn’t wait.

  “I’ve miscalculated your station, Mr. Hawkins, if you must open your own door,” she said with a saucy wink, but her voice was husky and strained. “Must I stand out on your stoop all night?”

  With a start, Hawk stepped back to allow her entry. As she passed by him in a cloud of heat and intoxicating scent, he did his best to collect himself.

  Mastery. Control.

  Grabbing her arm, he spun her around and used their combined weights to slam the door shut. He pressed her back, tilting his hips to rub his aching body against her. She let out a quiet moan while she tilted her face and fluttered her eyes shut.

  Hawk smiled. She wanted a kiss. As much as he wanted to give her that, he refused. Instead, he shoved his fingers into the silky web of her hair and glided each and every pin free to clatter on the foyer floor. Waves of silky hair tumbled around him, catching him in a web of heat. He caught a blue-black lock and raised it to his nose for a long whiff. The scent made him weak, but her frustrated groan made him strong.

  “I only open my own door when I have dismissed my servants for the night.” He paused for full effect. “All night.”

  To his delight, Bianca shivered in reaction and the pulse that throbbed at the base of her throat increased its rate two fold.

  “Did you?” Her voice wavered.

  He nodded as he rubbed his rough cheek against her satin one. Her husky sigh reverberated in his ear and set his blood on fire. “I like the idea of being able to take you anywhere.” To accentuate that statement, he surged against her with his pelvis. “To possess you in any way I please without any possibility of interruption.”

  “Oh, God.”

  Her little whispered plea and the way she stared up at him with clouded, need-filled eyes made Hawk’s erection jolt of its own accord. He dipped his head and finally took the kiss he’d been denying them both. Her mouth fell open and he thrust inside, swirling and tasting until his body shook with dizzying need.

  Control.

  With effort, he pulled back. Winning this bet was very important. It seemed more important than taking his next breath at the moment. Even before he had her the first time, he knew a month with Bianca wouldn’t be nearly enough to slake what he had desired for so long.

  “Come with me,” he said as he took a painful step away from her and offered her his hand. After being in such close quarters, pulling back felt like having an ice bath, but it was necessary. His goal tonight was to make her plead with him. The only way to insure that was to deny her whatever she desired most.

  Even if it meant denying himself in the process.

  Bianca followed him up the stairs in uncharacteristic silence and didn’t protest when they entered his bedchamber. She didn’t look around, even though she’d never been upstairs in his home before. She didn’t even seem to notice the huge bed that had been made up with sinful satin sheets.

  She stared only at him. Her hunger was plain, unhidden and she wasn’t embarrassed by it. That direct, pure desire was intriguing, powerful… And Hawk wanted it all.

  Still, when she stepped forward and tried to wrap her arms around his neck, he caught her hands and pinned them behind her back. She squirmed for a moment, then stopped. Her blue eyes came back up to his face, but there was no hint of pleading in them yet.

  She rose up on her tiptoes and lifted her mouth to his. He dodged her kiss even though his lips ached. Now her eyes flew open.

  “Hawk!” she protested softly.

  He didn’t answer, but pushed her back until she fell onto the bed. Using one hand, he lifted her arms over her head and held down them against the satin. He restrained her legs by throwing one of his own over both of hers. To his surprise, Bianca didn’t struggle. Instead, she looked up at him with a smooth, hot smile.

  “I see,” she whispered. “I see what you like.”

  Her voice made his ears tingle and his erection lengthen. He cursed himself for being so aroused by her. There was no doubt she knew it and would use that as her weapon of choice. Not that he blamed her. She certainly couldn’t fight him physically, but she could toy with him using her sultry words and the needful expression on her face.

  His only defense was to go on the attack. Still holding her arms over her head, he dragged the buttons on the front of her gown open to the waist. Shoving the silk and lace aside, he grasped the thin layer of her chemise and yanked. It tore easily, baring her from the waist up.

  Hawk gasped. He had imagined Bianca in this state for so long, but he’d never pictured her to be so beautiful. Her breasts were the perfect size to fill his hands, with rosy nipples and a darker areola that puckered as he looked at her. Using his free hand, he traced the edge of the dusky flesh, reveling in her soft sigh and the way she arched up just a little to force him to increase his touch.

  Even though he should have resisted her silent order, he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to touch her, to cup her breast and turn her sigh into a moan. His free hand curled around one globe, gently kneading the soft flesh until he palmed one hard nipple.

  He glanced up. Bianca was biting her lower lip with enough force that he was surprised she didn’t draw blood. With a smile, he realized she was trying not to cry out. His game was working and now it was time to make it even more difficult for her to resist.

  Dipping his head, he let jut the tip if his tongue dart out to sweep across the tight nub of flesh. He swirled it around the edge of her nipple, sampling the sweet wine of her skin in little darts and laps. Bianca’s breathing increased, but she still didn’t cry out. He couldn’t help but admire her control, even though he was more determined than ever to break it.

  Hawk let his licks become firmer and last longer as he toyed with her nipple until it shone in the candlelight, jutting out in proud announcement of her desire. Finally, when her breath was coming in sharp, deep gasps, he sucked her between his lips.

  Her cry was like music to his ears. A long, harsh wail that seemed to echo in the silent room and filled him with triumph. His blood rushed as her hips tilted up, knocking her thighs against his cock in a delicious, tortuous fashion.

  “Tell me you need me,” he ordered as he started a hot trail from one breast to another. “Beg me.”

  She sh
ook her head, though it was clear the motion took considerable effort. “No.”

  With a laugh, he started his torture over again, this time on her opposite breast. Again, she writhed; working doubly hard to hold back her gasps and cries, but failing the moment he took her nipple between his lips and suckled.

  He released her with reluctance and pulled her to a sitting position. Now that he wasn’t holding her arms down, she immediately grasped his shoulders. Her fingers kneaded into the muscles there, her fingernails grazed his skin and sent sensation throbbing through him.

  “Stop,” he ordered as he backed away from the bed.

  Her eyes cleared slightly and she looked up at him in hurt confusion and wild desperation. “Why? Don’t tell me you’re going to leave me like you did earlier.”

  He smiled. So his trick had worked. Leaving her needy had given him power, power he would require if he wanted to take this wager at the end. “If you try to touch me when I haven’t given you leave to do so, I will desert you as I did this afternoon.”

  She clenched her fists. “I want to touch you.”

  He grabbed her skirt at the hips and pulled until it yanked free. Her shredded chemise went just as quickly, then her boots and stockings. In as much time as it took her to draw her next breath of protest, he stripped her naked.

  “That’s unfortunate,” he murmured. “I suppose you’ll have to learn to live with disappointment.”

  She clenched her jaw, her eyes following him as he shucked off his own clothing. He tracked her gaze to his cock. It jutted upward in a carnal display of his desire. He was pleased when she wet her lips, though it put a painful image of her suckling him into his mind.

  “You know,” she purred as she lay back on the bed. She spread her long legs to give him a view meant to entice. “I could simply pleasure myself as I did after you left me this afternoon.”

  Hawk barely held back a moan. How he would love to see her strum herself to an orgasm. To see her fingers tangle in the wet warmth of her pussy, arch up beneath her own touch.

  She smiled wickedly, fully aware of what her casual comment did to him. “If you won’t let me have what I want, I don’t really need you.”

  “Don’t you?” He arched a brow before he gripped his cock in his right hand and stroked it from base to tip in one smooth action. Pleasure shot through him but he knew it was nothing when compared to what he’d find when he entered her. Still, he had to bluff.

  The bluff paid off when she squealed, “No, wait!”

  She sat up with difficulty as the sheets slithered beneath her shapely backside. “Very well. Tonight I’ll do as you ask.” Her eyes narrowed in warning. “But don’t think you’ve won me yet.”

  Hawk didn’t try to mask his triumph. “Lay back.”

  In a last show of defiance, she followed his order as slowly as she could. But when she settled her head on his pillows, he saw she had truly surrendered to his will. It was a first step. The next was to make her ask for what she wanted. Beg.

  He crawled up the bed, nudging her legs apart to lie between them. He could already smell the dark musk of her sex, calling to him, asking him to fill her. His own body responded, but he held back. It wasn’t time to have her yet. Not until she needed it above anything else. Not until she sobbed with desire.

  He kissed the smooth curve of her belly, rubbed the rough stubble of his cheek against her skin. Her hands stirred at her sides, but she gripped them into fists with a purse of her lips.

  With light nips and nibbles, Hawk feasted on her, tasting the swell of her hip, the curve of her outer thigh. She gasped when he crooked her knee and suckled the inside and he made a mental note of it. He needed to know every single pleasure point, every weakness if he was going to make her crave him more than breathing, more than life.

  She thrust her hips up, saying without words where she wanted his lips and tongue. Normally, Hawk would have fulfilled her request, but tonight he needed her desires to be spoken. Instead of moving toward her core, he teased her thighs.

  Hawk glided his hands beneath Bianca’s backside, lifting her up in offering and spreading her sex as a result. Her breathing increased, but he still didn’t touch her where her desire was flowing like wine and her flesh was quivering. He looked at her, spread open to him in utter acquiescence. Her pussy was as beautiful as the rest of her. Dark with desire, shining with need.

  Bianca let out a low, pained moan. It wasn’t the words Hawk wanted, but it was good enough that he let his hand cup her. She sighed with relief and shivered. Her outer lips clenched at him, trying to pull him in, trying to find that touch that would release her from the sweet agony she was experiencing.

  Hawk drew in deep breaths. It took all his concentration to block out the intense throb of his erection as he fingered her. He spread her with his thumb and forefinger, just rimming the opening to a place better than heaven, then dipped inside. She clenched around him with a cry, pulsing on the edge of an orgasm he was determined to deny her.

  Slipping a second digit inside her tight sheath, Hawk bent his head forward and lightly licked her clit. Her wail turned into a scream, a cry of frustration and relief merged into one. Her earthly flavors filled his senses as he went to work in earnest on her clit. When she shivered close to release, he removed his lips, but continued to flex his fingers inside her.

  “If you tell me what you want, I’ll give it to you,” he promised as he blew a gust of hot breath on her swollen sex. “You just have to say please.”

  She glared down at him as she continued to writhe in blissful agony. “You know what I want,” she panted, her tone strangled by continued efforts to remain in control.

  “I apologize, but that isn’t the proper answer,” he teased before allowing another light lick. One that was meant to make her throb, not give release.

  Her guttural moan rocked through him. With a sob, she said, “Suck me, Hawk. Lick me. Make me come with your mouth. Now.”

  He’d ordered her to say please, but her command was a good enough start. Delving down, he caught her clit between his lips and suckled. She ground against him with a cry, thrusting in time to his tongue-lashing until finally he felt her shiver and quake before a massive release.

  But instead of allowing her pleasure, he removed his fingers and slid up her body. He pinned each arm with one hand until he had caged her in his embrace.

  “Do you want release?” he whispered close to her lips.

  “Yes, God yes!” she screamed as she thrust her hips up.

  “Then say please.”

  Her gaze met his with such heat he almost turned away from its intensity. “Please Hawk! Please!”

  “Thank God,” he moaned as he spread her legs wide and impaled her in one smooth motion. Her sex contracted wildly around him as she put her mouth against his shoulder and screamed out the most powerful release he’d ever felt a woman experience. She thrashed against his thrusts, taking every hard glide with a turn of her hips and a squeeze of her internal muscles.

  His cock swelled and his balls tightened in painful, magical bliss as he neared his own release. He wanted her to quiver around him, to make her cry out one last time before he spilled his seed. He released one of her hands and dipped his fingers between them. Finding her clit, he ground down on her.

  She arched up again, tears streaming down her face as she gripped at the sheets and trembled around him. Hawk thrust deep, deeper. Deep enough he feared he might be lost.

  Or perhaps found.

  And then the world shattered around him as he filled her with his essence amidst an earthshaking cry he realized came from his own lips. Her cry merged with his until the room echoed and shook.

  In a few moments, Hawk realized he was breathing again. His vision was no longer blurred and shaking. And Bianca was staring up at him with eyes that were totally unreadable. And beautiful in the dying candlelight.

  He collapsed onto her sweat slick body with a final moan and wrapped his arms around her while his mind c
ried out in triumph.

  Finally, he had claimed Bianca’s body. Now to lay claim on the rest of her.

  Chapter Five

  Bianca groaned as another delicious ache crested through her body. She sank lower into the steaming bathwater and stared at the ceiling with a satisfied smile. The achy muscles were well-worth it. Her first night with Hawk had gone well beyond all her fantasies.

  Quite a feat considering she’d been dreaming of him for so many years. Even before Oscar’s death, Hawk’s face and body had haunted her private thoughts.

  Her only complaint about their night together was that she hadn’t been able to touch him, please him, as he had pleased her. It was a significant change from her other lovers. Normally, she took the lead. Even when a man claimed her, she was the driving force behind every stroke, every burst of pleasure.

  Not with Hawk. He had controlled her. Melted her. Made her cry with frustration as much as she had sobbed with pleasure when he finally gave her release after release.

  She’d all but forgotten how good that felt.

  She smiled at the memory and enjoyed the shiver that rocked her body, despite the hot bath water. Her eyes fluttered shut and she relived every sinful moment of the night before.

  Hawk pressing her against his door, not able to wait to get upstairs. Hawk pinning her arms behind her back. Above her head. Stripping her and demanding she surrender to him.

  A gasp escaped her lips as her eyes flew open. Surrender. Hawk may have made it seem like he was out of control with lust, but in the end, it was she who had surrendered with very little fight. She’d pleaded with him to enter her, to make her come.

  “It was a trap,” she murmured to herself as she covered her mouth with her wet hand. “A way to whittle away my resistance, piece by piece.”

  She slammed a hand against the water’s surface, sending a splash over the edge to slap the floor below. How could she have been so foolish? She had let her baser needs rule her mind and Hawk had taken the upper hand in their wager for the second time!