Captured (7 page)

Every good intention he’d ever had was swept away by the look in her eyes. Hunger, a need so strong it threatened to eat her alive. How could he deny her? Especially when that same hunger had haunted him since the day those self-portraits arrived on his doorstep, bringing back the ghosts of dreams he’d thought long laid to rest.

With an abandoned groan he claimed her lips again, meeting the desperate sweep of her tongue with his own. His hands found her breasts, pinching her nipples harder than he’d intended then pinching them again when she moaned into his mouth and spread her legs. She hooked her ankles behind his hips, pulling his still trouser-covered cock against her quim, grinding against his length. Her breath came in small, swift pants as he kissed her neck, her rhythm growing faster, as if she would find her own satisfaction against him before he’d even removed his clothes.

“Not yet, Lil, wait for me.” He pulled away from her and swiftly disposed of shoes and pants, then sat back on his heels, his cock straining against the front of his body.

“Zander, please. Come inside me.” Her legs still lay on either side of him, the slick, swollen petals of her sex bared with a shamelessness that made him ache to do exactly as she commanded.

“I will, but you must do something for me first.” He hooked his hands behind her knees and pulled her closer, taking the arms she reached toward him and pulling her to sit in his lap.

“Oh!” She cried out as her legs spread and her nub pressed against his shaft. Her arms looped easily around his neck, fingers tangling in his hair, nails scraping against his skin in a way that made him groan.

“I want you to come for me, Lil. I want your cunny wet, dripping when I push inside you.” He kissed the flushed skin at her throat, then down to her breasts, where her nipples

were already drawn into tight buds, begging to be kissed. He pulled one rosy tip into his mouth, sucking and swirling, nipping at the eager flesh and then laving away the sting.

“Zander!” She writhed against his cock, now trapped between his belly and her molten core, bucking against him until his shaft was coated with her juices, slick and pulsating with the need to be inside her.

“Come for me. I want to see you come apart in my arms.” He sucked the nipple in his mouth harder and pulled her hips closer, meeting her grinding circles with his own. She cried out, fingers digging into the skin at the back of his neck until he felt blood, warm and wet stinging in the grooves she made.

He pulled away from her breast to watch her come, head thrown back, black hair tumbling down to her ass, breasts shamelessly arched toward his face. A strangled sound escaped his throat as he continued to buck against her, struggling to stave off his own release. He hadn’t waited this long to come on her belly. He would come inside her, buried to the hilt in his Lil, his sweet girl, the only woman who had ever made him lose control, lose his mind, his heart.

“Yes, God yes.” She cried out as he lifted her, positioning the head of his cock at her entrance. He reached between them, gently spreading the petals of her sex, working just the head of his thickness into her channel. Immediately she tried to impale herself upon him.

“Wait, Lil. Wait.” Sweat broke out on his lip as he dug his fingers into her hips and held her still. “Take it slowly. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Zander, please. I don’t care if it hurts. I want your cock inside me, I want to be filled with you, every inch.” She wiggled and pushed her hips down, taking just a bit more of him into the liquid velvet of her cunny. “Fuck me, Zander. Fuck me now.”

He surged inside her with a roar, pulling her hips down, lifting his own, until he tunneled as deeply as he could, until the tip of his cock rested at the end of her channel and his sac nestled in the hollow of her ass. She stiffened in his arms for a moment, sucking in a breath, then pressed her mouth to his, licking, biting, the urgency he also felt communicated in the restless squirming of her hips as he lay buried inside of her.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked, pushing her back onto the quilt, keeping them joined as he moved above her.

“A little, but I liked it. I like everything you do to me.” She kissed him again and again, tears mingling with laughter as her nails trailed along his back, down to grip the muscle of his ass. “I already want more. I want to come with you inside me.”

“I wouldn’t settle for anything less.” He kissed her softly, once, twice, trailing his tongue along her swollen lips, as he slowly began to move, in and out of her tight sheath. Then he moved his mouth to her breast, suckling, licking, kissing, until her passage grew slicker, until her muscles relaxed and he could push deeper, harder, faster into her welcoming body.

“Zander, God, you feel so good,” she mumbled against his mouth, her hips beginning to meet his thrusts with her own. He could feel her juices coating him, running down the base of his cock to cover his balls, already tight and aching with the need to shoot inside of her. He could smell the heady scent of her desire mixing with the flowers around them, quickly driving him to the edge of reason, until he pounded into her with wild abandon.

She cried out beneath him, her body tensing, straining toward a second release, and Alexander reached down to thumb her nub. He shifted his angle so that he could circle her with a firm pressure while his cock pistoned in and out, watching his engorged organ disappear into her cunny and emerge slick and shining with her desire.

“I’m going to—oh!” Her back arched as she came, her face twisted with ecstasy, his once innocent Lillian a dark beauty who marked his soul.

He cried out seconds later, gasping for breath as his cock twitched inside her clutching sheath. Her orgasm milked every last drop of seed from his body, drawing out his own release until he was dizzy, adrift on an ocean of pleasure and peace, unlike anything he’d ever known.

“Lillian, God, what have you done to me?” He collapsed on top of her, kissing her lips, smoothing his hands through her hair.

“I have forced you to ravage my harbor of love with your masterpiece of nature until we were both quite deliciously spent.” She laughed, a glorious sound that made her tighten around where he still lay deep inside of her.

“And where did you hear such nonsense?’ He joined her laughter, feathering kisses over her flushed cheeks.

“I read it. My father has quite a large collection, but I never thought. Nothing ever…” She let her words trail off and brought a hand to his face, the look in her eyes telling him everything left unsaid.

“Come inside with me. Let’s get something to eat, some tea, and—”

“Don’t run away from me, Zander,” she said, wrapping her legs around him when he tried to pull away. “I don’t think I could bear it again.”

“I’m not running away, Lil.” He ran his fingers through her hair, looking everywhere but at the piercing blue eyes that searched his face. He wasn’t physically running, but in his heart…

A part of him was already composing the talk he would give her over tea, how he would explain to her that there was no future for this affair. He wasn’t good for Lil. He hadn’t been eight years ago, and despite his increased wealth, he wasn’t now. She deserved better, she deserved a man who would devote himself to her. He could never be that man, even if he wished to be.

“Very well, let’s go have tea.” She let him pull away this time and moved to gather her clothes. “And talk. I believe we’re long overdue for a good talk.”

“Talk?” His throat grew tight once more, and something in his stomach soured. “Yes, talk, Zander. You didn’t suppose you’d get something for nothing, did you?”

She paused and tilted her head to the side, no doubt taking in his shocked expression. “Remember Zander, nothing in this great, grand world is for free. Never sign anything, or commit any lascivious act, without first consulting a lawyer or trusted friend. Hell, the degree to which you’ve compromised yourself is as good as a signature written in blood.” She turned and walked away, her dress and undergarments clutched in one arm, the round globes of her ass swaying temptingly as she made her way to the door and

disappeared inside. Alexander didn’t know whether to laugh or curse his own stupidity. In the end, he did a bit of both, laughing and cussing, as he struggled into his clothes, determined to be dressed before he went in to meet his match.

Just tell him the truth, the
whole
truth. You’ve already made a fool of yourself, admitted far more than even you intended, just—

“Lillian?”

“Good heavens!” She yelped and jumped half a foot in the air, her squeal of surprise mingling with the squeal of the teapot steaming furiously on the stove.

“I believe the water’s hot.” Only Alexander’s head showed in the doorway leading out of the kitchen, as if he was afraid to enter the feminine domain.

But Lillian knew better. He’d arranged the tea service with ease, swiftly piling cakes and scones on a plate and preparing the china pot with a mesh ball filled with a blend he’d imported from England. No, it wasn’t the kitchen he feared, but the woman in it. Ever since she’d mentioned a “talk”, he’d been positively skittish.

“Sorry, I was thinking,” she said, using a thick towel to pull the black pot from the stove. “Apparently I can’t think and make tea at the same time. Really, it’s quite ridiculous, my cousin insists women are superior when it comes to juggling various—”

She turned to pour the tea to find the doorway empty. He’d fled. Again.

He doesn’t want to talk to you, not about making tea and not about the past. He probably doesn’t want to talk at all. Ever. He’s only interested in an affair, not—

“Which is exactly what I wanted.” Lillian set the hot water back on the stove and plunked the lid of the china teapot down with more force than necessary.

All she’d wanted was to lose her virginity, and engage in an affair scandalous enough to make her completely unmarriageable. She’d achieved the first goal and the second wouldn’t be difficult either. If she kept disappearing from the meetings for her various Lady’s Societies, skipping out early on lunch dates and frequenting Alexander’s home and business, it wouldn’t be long before the sharp tongues of the gossips would begin to wag.

Then Halewater will call off the betrothal, and I’ll be free. At least until Daddy can arrange to buy another husband.

The thought made Lillian squeeze her eyes shut and bite her bottom lip. She couldn’t let her mind be clouded by doubt. Her father
did
love her. It had taken him months to decide that Halewater would be a good match. He wouldn’t settle for just any husband, and no one that he deemed worthy would settle for a woman with a scarlet reputation. She would be safe. She had to believe that or all of this—the scandal, the pain of getting so close to Zander and knowing he would never truly be hers—would be for nothing.

She picked up the tea tray and headed up the stairs to Zander’s drawing room, no longer certain that talking was necessary at all. What would a rehashing of the past accomplish? It would only open old wounds and taint the passion they’d found. She should simply enjoy her time with him as a partner in delight and forget that she’d ever loved him, or that it would be so easy to love him again.

“Wait, stop right there.” Alexander spoke from the opposite side of the room. She turned to face him and the shutter on the tripod beside him snapped closed.

“Do you want me to go back out and come in without the dress? Is serving tea in the nude the latest thing in erotic photography?” She tried to make her tone light, but failed miserably. She sounded as tense and confused as she felt.

“No, I thought I’d take some conventional portraits if you don’t mind. Something acceptable for polite society,” he said with a grin as he snapped another photo.

“Hardly. I still have my hair down, and I didn’t bother putting on my corset, in case you hadn’t noticed.” Lillian set the tray down on the small table near the fireplace, trying to ignore how self-conscious she suddenly felt. He’d photographed her in the nude, why did this sudden urge to document their tea seem so much more intimate?

“Oh, I noticed.” The heat in his voice made her lift her eyes. He met her gaze and that familiar erotic charge filled the air. She was about to speak when he took another photo.

“Zander, stop it.”

“Why? You look lovely. I like you like this.”

His words made the tightness in her chest nearly unbearable. He liked her like this? Serving tea with her hair down in his home? She couldn’t imagine a more domestic scene, yet he seemed to have no interest in the domestic life. He’d never even been betrothed, a fact that made Bostonian mothers with marriageable daughters positively livid.

Once Lillian had been foolish enough to believe that he was holding off on marriage in order to ask for her hand. But that dream faded after her debut came and went without so much as a letter from the boy she’d been in love with since she was fourteen.

“Never mind. I’ll stop. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t mean to upset me? Upset me?” Anger filled her words, the anger she hadn’t let herself acknowledge, but had been building inside of her since the day Zander disappeared from her life. “How did you think I’d feel? You never even wrote me a note to say good-bye.”

“That is what you wish to talk about? Childish fancies?”

“They weren’t childish, the way we felt for each other was real— It was— But then you left, like a thief in the night while I waited, hoping that— For years I—”

“Lillian, there are things you don’t know. You don’t understand—”

“I understand perfectly. I followed you and Curtis in my boy’s clothes, you took me out of the gambling hall to the street. You kissed me and gave me a birthday gift and said you hoped some day you would be able to give me more.” She babbled the words, feeling like a fool but unable to stop herself, just as she hadn’t been able to stop the confessions pouring from her mouth when he’d discovered her crying in the garden.

“And I meant that,” he said, his voice tight, controlled. “But I—”

“Then the police discovered us kissing and that I was a girl and said they were going to arrest me for ‘attiring myself in men’s trousers’. But you told them who I was and convinced them to deliver us to my father’s house instead. You kept me from being put in jail, I don’t understand how that led to your expulsion from our home.”