Jess Michaels Page 6

  “Blackmail,” she gasped as he rolled his hips in a slow circle.

  “Incentive,” he countered.

  Bianca fought to keep a handle on her emotions and her mind. Her body screamed for her to tell him whatever he wanted to hear, but she couldn’t surrender again. Not so soon after he’d bested her last night. And especially not when emotions had run so raw between them just moments before.

  With a growl, she slid her hand down the front of her body. With a few flicks of her fingers, she knew she would obtain what she craved. Only Hawk anticipated her. In a flash, he pinned her hands against the wall and withdrew to the head of his cock again. Only this time he held there, withholding his body, her pleasure, even her very sanity.

  “Tell me you’ll stay or I’ll tie you to my bed and keep you on the brink of orgasm the whole night.”

  His voice was strained. Even without looking at him, she knew he was hurting himself as much as he was torturing her. But she also knew from experience that he would follow through on that threat. She wasn’t sure she could take a night of pleasure so intense.

  Her body tingled, throbbed and she bent her head in defeat. “Yes,” she whispered. “I’ll come and stay here with you. Now, please-!”

  She didn’t have to finish before Hawk slammed forward. She arched against him with a cry as they both slid down the wall. Now he knelt behind her body, thrusting with more purpose and intensity than before. She couldn’t hold back the little cries as each thrust brought her closer and closer to powerful release.

  Hawk grasped her hand, this time guiding her fingers down to her clit. Together they stroked the throbbing nub until finally, with a blast of hot wetness, she exploded. As if he’d been waiting for that moment, Hawk joined her in release, grasping her hips with all his might as they collapsed onto the rug before the fire.

  Pinned beneath his heavy body, Bianca stared at the dancing flames as she listened to their breathing merge into one common rhythm. As amazing as that experience had been, she was furious with herself. Hawk had used her body against her yet again, forcing a promise from her that she hadn’t wanted to give.

  With a moan, she separated their bodies and rolled away. He flopped onto his back with a satisfied smile. Of course, he would be satisfied. He was winning their damned bet not two days after they’d begun!

  She covered her eyes with her hands. She’d thought this would be easy, but Hawk simply wouldn’t give in. She scowled up at the ceiling high above. The trick was to pull herself together, stop thinking with her clit and use Hawk’s weaknesses against him just as handily as he used hers. He didn’t have many, but it was obvious he wanted her.

  She peeked between her fingers at him. Hawk had put his hands behind his head and crossed his bare ankles. He looked like he was napping. Napping!

  But his cock was still awake. Even though he’d just spent, it was still at attention, ready for more.

  Quietly, Bianca smoothed her skirts back over her naked lower body and crawled to Hawk’s side. She grasped the base of his erection and wrapped her lips around him before he could protest.

  “Bianca,” he gasped.

  She looked up. His eyes were wide open now, staring as she slowly worked her mouth up and down his steely shaft. With a smile, she made her job a show, darting out the tip of her pink tongue to stroke the underside, gliding her hand up and down in rhythm with her mouth. For once, she was in control. And Hawk was going to pay for forcing her hand not once, but twice.

  She worked his cock with every bit of skill she had learned over the years, taking him to the edge of orgasm several times, but always backing away before he found his pleasure. A thin sheen of sweat glittered on his brow and his hips arched helplessly as she sucked and licked him to what she knew was the edge of madness.

  But before she let him free, she popped his erection from her mouth and scrambled to her feet. Hawk’s eyes went wide.

  “What are you doing?” he gasped with a wild expression.

  She strolled to the door, confident in the knowledge that with his pants feet away and his throbbing cock keeping him off guard, he wouldn’t follow quickly enough to dole out punishment.

  “I’m going home. If I’m coming back here to stay with you, I certainly need to prepare myself. Good evening.”

  She shut the door behind her with a sound click and enjoyed the echo of his howl of frustration as she headed for the exit and her waiting carriage.

  Chapter Six

  Hawk watched Bianca’s wrinkled skirts disappear as she slammed the door behind her and flopped onto his back with a frustrated growl. However, he couldn’t deny he was also impressed by her. For now, at least, this wager was a game and Bianca had just scored her first point.

  His cock throbbed with unspent need and his blood rushed hot with desperation. Which was exactly what his adversary needed and desired.

  He couldn’t help his grin as he hooked his hand behind his head. Desperate or no, he had enjoyed every moment of their intense encounter. Well, nearly every moment. He scowled as an image of Bianca’s bruised face and arms twisted his gut. Firth would pay and pay dearly for daring to put his hands on her. No matter how much her rejection had crushed the man, it gave the bastard no right to brutalize her.

  The fact that Firth had gone so far in such a public fashion was cause for even more alarm. If the man didn’t care if Bianca’s protective servants saw his attack, how much further would he have gone in private?

  Hawk had little doubt Bianca was in more danger from her former lover than she cared to admit. Why she was so resistant to the protection he could provide, Hawk didn’t know.

  Except when it came to Bianca, resistance seemed to be a part of her very personality. Shutting his eyes, he pictured her. The image he conjured was clear and powerful. It also revealed something he had never marked before.

  Bianca forever had distance in her stare. Even with a lover, even with Oscar…even with him. She invited and enticed with her body. She was wild and bold without fear of consequences, but behind the come-hither audacity, there was a glimmer of something else.

  Pain.

  There had been flashes of true emotions that sometimes bubbled to the surface when they were together, but he had never identified what those feelings were until that very moment.

  His eyes flew open and Hawk surged to his feet. He stepped into his discarded trousers and paced the room like a caged tiger. Why had he never recognized that pain before? God, he had practically been obsessed with the woman since the moment he met her. He had lost himself in the way she moved, the way her hair fell across her face, the way she smelled…

  “Wait,” he murmured as he stopped pacing at the window and stared outside with unseeing eyes. “That’s it.”

  He had never taken note of Bianca’s pain because she used her lush body like a shield. Her sensuality, her open, even blatant promises were simply weapons used to keep herself isolated. To control every situation and every man in the only way she knew how.

  Sex.

  He winced as an overwhelming sadness crested in him. Bianca found pleasure, he had no doubt of that. But her pleasure was secondary to the protection and control she found in a man’s bed.

  Even his bed.

  The thought that she kept him separate from her true self was hateful. Still, for the first few moments in the sitting room that night, her guard had been down. Her face had been drawn and emotional as she wrapped her arms around him and clung to him as if he was her lifeline. She had given him trust, if only briefly.

  Hawk grabbed his shirt off the floor and shook it out absently. Bianca had given him an all-too-brief glimpse of herself.

  He wanted more.

  A shock went through his body at that admission. But it was true. He wanted more than her body for a month. He wanted more than to win the wager. He wanted to gain more of that precious trust Bianca withheld from everyone else in her life. He wanted to see her heart.

  But it wouldn’t be easy. She’d shown
that already. He was torn by two objectives that seemed to oppose each other. To win the bet and keep Bianca in his life, he was forced to play her game of sexual warfare. But to win her heart, he would have to show her there was more between them than simply the heat of sensual desire. That there was more to her than a protective shield of sex and sin.

  He pulled his shirt over his shoulders with a new resolve. The only way to win Bianca was to know her past. To know her pains. Her secrets. To know her in every way possible. Even if he had to fight her resistance every step of the way.

  Even if he had to use her own weapons against her.

  ***

  The door leading to Bianca’s bedchamber opened as easily as every other entryway to the house had. No one had heard an intruder come in. No one had been on guard for an attack. And here in the shimmering moonlight, beneath her sheets, the outline of her body was as plain as if every candle in her room were lit.

  Hawk shut the door quietly and leaned against it. His heart was racing and not only because the sight of Bianca made his blood hot. The ease of his forced entry only proved what he feared. Bianca was in too much danger from Everett Firth if she stayed in these walls.

  His jaw set as rage pulsed through him. He could kill the bastard.

  Slipping across the room in silence, he stopped at the foot of Bianca’s bed. Her beauty hit him like a punch and set him off balance. But that beauty wasn’t her only attribute. He wanted her for much more than the shell she showed the world.

  Tonight he needed to gain back some of the ground she’d won from him with her skilled mouth. Gain back some ground and gently extract more of her trust… all while exacting a little sensual revenge in the process.

  Hawk grabbed the edge of her coverlet and slowly pulled the blankets away from her body. When he saw she was nude, he had to bite his lip to keep from gasping out pleasure. Of course she would sleep naked. She hardly wore undergarments when she was awake.

  He took a ginger perch on the edge of her bed. Bianca made a soft sigh in her throat and arched her back, but she didn’t wake.

  The fact that she was utterly helpless aroused Hawk. He liked that he could do anything he wished and make her wake in the thrashes of a powerful orgasm. The idea of that was far too intoxicating not to try.

  He placed a gentle hand on each of her thighs and spread her legs. She moaned in her sleep, but still didn’t wake. He thanked his luck that she was a deep sleeper. Her sex shone in the dim moonlight, wet though he’d barely touched her.

  “What were you dreaming about?” he whispered as he slid down the bed between her legs.

  Drawing a deep breath of her earthy, aroused fragrance, he spread the pouting outer lips of her pussy. Now her moans grew louder as she arched toward his seeking fingers. He bent his head and gave a languid lick from the bud of her clit all the way to the pinched hole on her bottom. Immediately she grew wetter and lolled her head to the side with a gasp.

  Hawk’s cock stretched as he went in for another stroke of his tongue. She tasted sweet and hot with unspent desire. Slowly, he glided one thick finger into her sheath, then another before he suckled her clit. He glided his fingers in and out of her clenching body as he darted his tongue over and over the tight core of her pleasure.

  “Oh, Hawk,” she moaned.

  Startled, he lifted his head. Bianca’s eyes were closed and her breathing remained heavy with sleep. She wasn’t awake, she was simply dreaming. Dreaming the pleasure she so craved was being given by him.

  His erection ached, but he didn’t take her. He’d only do that when her eyes were open and she could watch him slide inside inch by inch. And the best way to make those beautiful blue eyes flutter to awareness was to make her come. He was sure the powerful pleasure of an orgasm would bring her to reality.

  He strummed his tongue over her clit, pounding a hot tattoo of pressure and breath over her most sensitive spot. Finally, she arched up and let out a low, hungry cry. Her body spasmed around his hand and a gush of cream coated his fingers while she came.

  As he had predicted, the moment her body twitched with release, her eyes flew open. As she cried out and gripped for her sheets, she glanced down at him in sleepy confusion.

  “H-Hawk?” she stammered on a groan as her body wracked with tremors one last time. “I-I…”

  He smiled as he rose from the bed. Leaning down, he pressed a hard, hot kiss on her lips and let her taste her own essence on his tongue.

  “You’re not dreaming,” he murmured before he backed away to let her awaken fully and realize what had just happened. That he had pleasured her out of her slumber.

  Bianca struggled to a sitting position to blink at him. “I-I don’t understand.” Her lips quirked up. “Not that I mind.”

  Her hand stirred as if to reach for him, but Hawk backed away. As much as he wished to take her, it had to wait. They were playing a dangerous game of control and surrender. One he had to win.

  “You left me in a bit of a state earlier,” he said and enjoyed the way she smiled triumphantly. “I thought I’d prove to you I can take you anywhere and anytime I like.” He said the words evenly and slowly and watched her smile fade and high color enter her cheeks. “Even if you walk out of my sitting room and leave my erection ready to explode.”

  She swallowed. He watched her throat work and couldn’t help but remember the feel of her lips on his member.

  “Is that so?” It was obvious she meant for her tone to be challenging, but instead it came out as a squeak.

  “I’m here, aren’t I?” he asked as he walked to her fireplace. He tossed a few logs on the dying embers and the flames leapt up to brighten the room. “And I made you come without even waking you. I’d say it’s so.”

  With a purse of her lips, she pulled the sheet up around her nude body. Hawk had to laugh at her grasp for control over the situation when he’d so readily proven he could and would take her despite her tactics to keep the upper hand.

  “Actually, I was a little surprised not to find you sleeping in the master suite.” He motioned his head toward the adjoining door to Oscar’s old bedroom. He had first searched there upon his arrival.

  Bianca’s eyes came up to look at the door, then she turned her head away with a small shrug. Hawk’s hackles rose. They had never spoken of Oscar, partly because of his own guilt, but mostly because he hadn’t wanted to hear about their happy marriage and passionate existence. Now he had to hear the truth. As painful as that might be for him, it was the key to gaining her trust. To showing her she meant more to him than a warm body in his bed.

  “Does it hurt you to talk about him?” he murmured as he let the fire’s warmth ease into his suddenly cold skin.

  “Hmm.” She shrugged again. “I don’t like that he died. It makes me sad to think his life was cut short by such a stupid accident.”

  Hawk flinched. If only she knew the truth…

  “I wonder if you still love him.” He said the words in an even tone, but inside a shot of pain rocked him. Why, he couldn’t have said, or didn’t want to. After all, Oscar had been her husband. Why wouldn’t she miss him? Why wouldn’t she mourn him?

  “Love him?” Bianca pulled the sheet up ever further, protecting herself from him, as she always did. “I never loved Oscar and he certainly never loved me.”

  Hawk was glad he was leaning on her mantel. If he hadn’t been, he might have fallen over in sudden surprise and delight at her answer.

  “That sounds terrible, doesn’t it?” Bianca shuffled on her bed with an uncomfortable glance in his direction. “Especially to you. You were so close to him.”

  Hawk shook his head. “No. Not terrible. Just surprising. You two always seemed so-so-” He stumbled for a word that wouldn’t reveal how jealous he had always been.

  “We were happy,” she interrupted, freeing him from the chore of covering his real feelings. “Oscar was very open with me. On our honeymoon night, he told me a marriage with passion, but not love was the healthiest kind. He s
aid no one got hurt in that equation. Two people could be friends and share pleasure in every way, but that they would avoid the petty jealousy and fighting that plagued so many marriages.”

  Hawk frowned. He could only imagine how Oscar’s explanation must have hurt Bianca at the time, even if there was no pain now.

  Her eyes took on a faraway distance. “Oscar awakened my body. He taught me about my sexuality and that pleasure wasn’t the shame society said it was. And he pressed my boundaries and gave me absolute freedom to explore my deepest desires.”

  His eyes widened. He and Oscar had talked about their sexual conquests, but Bianca had remained off limits. Now his cock stirred as he pictured her sexual awakening. And wished he had been the one to give it to her.

  “How?” he asked in a hoarse whisper as he moved from the fireplace to the foot of her bed and sat down.

  Bianca arched an eyebrow, but her eyes sparkled. He could see remembering the decadence of her past also awakened fresh desire in her. She let the sheet slip down suggestively and looked him straight in the eyes.

  “Oscar taught me how to touch myself,” she said quietly. “He brought a mirror to the bed and let me examine myself while he touched me so I would know which spots brought me the most pleasure.”

  Hawk shifted, but it didn’t relieve the desire caused by her words and the powerful images that accompanied them.

  “He would spend hours making love to me in the beginning.” She rubbed her neck seductively. “And he’d concentrate on one spot for so long. The shell of my ear. The slope of my neck. My nipples. My thighs. Sometimes I’d be trembling for him by the time he finally entered me. But it was all part of his education. That pleasure was sometimes about waiting. Giving. And sometimes it was about taking and immediacy.”

  She looked at Hawk for a long moment before she dropped the sheet around her waist. Her rosy nipples were puckered and hard.

  “And then he introduced me to pleasures so dark and scandalous no one ever talks about them. He brought other women to our bed, other men. He would watch as another woman bathed me, touched me. Then he would take us in turn.