The Virgin: Revenge (9 page)

talked me into spending time with you.”

He rubbed his neck, his expression shuttered. “You never did have to try hard.” He slid

me a look. “I convinced myself that it was harmless, you know. I knew it wasn’t but up until

that last night on the beach, I managed to fool myself. I can understand if you’re pissed off at

me. I was a bastard, and never should have allowed things to get personal between us when I

was doing business with your parents.”

I felt cold, uneasy, while a slippery ugly weight settled in my gut. “You can

understand,” I said, echoing his words. There was an ache inside me. A hollow, empty one,

spreading throughout me, so wide, so all-encompassing, I thought it just might drive
me
out

and I’d cease to exist. I’d just be…emptiness.

“I was wrong.”

Flicking him a look, I turned away and moved into the kitchen. There was a wine-cooler

built into the island and if I thought my hands would be steady, I would have opened myself a

bottle, had a glass. I needed it. But my fingers were trembling. Curling them over the edge of

the counter, I gripped it and tried to breathe around the huge, hollow ache. “Is that all you’ve

got to say?”

“What else do you want me to say? I shouldn’t have let things get personal between us

when I was doing business. It was a mistake, and one I’ve never repeated since then.”

His footsteps were muffled on the carpet and then I heard the soft whisper as they hit

the tile flooring of the kitchen. I shivered, tried to convince my legs to move, but I felt frozen

there. Frozen and trapped as he reached up and brushed his fingers down my neck. “That is,

until now. I never let myself get involved with anybody I had a business connection to. Not

even remotely. And then there you were, and it’s like its ten years ago. How do you pull me in

like this?”

His lips brushed my neck.

Heat exploded through me and that snapped the spell.

Jerking away from him, I slid around the island and turned to glare at him.

“Don’t.” The word came out of my throat like I had to drag it over glass, broken and

jagged. Glaring at him, while my knees went weak and everything inside me melted, I shook

my head. “You don’t get stand there and say you were
wrong
, that was just business, brush it

all off just like that and then put your hands on me.”

“You want my hands on you.”

He circled around the island.

I started to back away, but then, feeling like a silly little child, I planted my feet and

glared at him, angling my chin up.

He caught it in his hand, tipping my head back and staring down into my eyes. “Even

though you’re furious with me—and
why
are you furious, damn it? Even though you’re

furious, you still want my hands on you.” He dipped his head, pressed his face to my neck and

breathed me in.

I shuddered. My knees threatened to give out, and my strength all but abandoned me.

Swaying, I slammed one hand against the island and although I knew I shouldn’t, I clutched at

him with the other hand. “Drake…”

“That’s it,” he whispered, his lips stroking across my skin. “Say my name.”

A fog of lust clouded my head.

One of his hands curved over my hip, stroked, his fingers spread wide. As he slid it

around to the small of my back, his mouth closed over mine.

Should I do this?

He pulled me against him, hard, and I felt the long, heavy length of his cock against me.

Oh, yes.

It was a slow, maybe even unnoticeable surrender. I’d stood against him, not rigidly,

but not exactly welcoming. Now, I let my hands wander, down his chest to tug his shirt from

the waistband of his pants, under that crisp white cloth to seek out the warmth of skin, the

hardness of muscle.

Those muscles jumped as I ran my fingers along his sides. Ticklish. He was ticklish. If I

could have thought, that discovery might have delighted me.

As it was, I was too busy trying to just breathe as he spun me around and put me on the

island. It was cool beneath me, and hard.

One hand pushed my skirt up.

The other sought out the hidden zipper at my side.

“You drive me insane.” He said those words calmly, like he was dictating a note, but as

he lifted his head to look down at me, the look in his eyes was anything but calm, anything but

cool. And I all but moaned as he reached up and ran his hand straight down the midline of my

torso, stopping only where the material of my dress bunched at my middle.

He caught the material and tugged it down, leaving me clad in nothing but the strapless

bra and panties.

Beneath my back, the marble was a cool relief against my overheated skin. Then his

hands closed around my waist and I wasn’t thinking about the marble, or how I’d suddenly

become so much hotter.

His mouth pressed to my hipbone. Reaching up, I gasped, my fingers curling into his

short hair, tangling in those dark red strands. He kissed a line across my lower belly, just above

the lace of my panties.

When he lifted his head, his eyes cut into me, stark, hungry, so intense. It was a look

that made me shudder, made me want.

He lifted, slowly, bracing his hands beside my shoulders as he peered down into my

face. Our gazes held for a long moment, the silence taut between us. Neither of us spoke, but a

thousand words seemed to pass between us.

If only I could understand those unspoken words on
his
part.

His hand pushed into my hair and I followed his subtle urging, sitting up. Once I was

upright, he slid a hand down my back and I felt the catch on my bra give away. Then it was

gone and nothing separated me from him but the thin silk of my panties.

It wasn’t enough.

I wanted to pull back. Wanted to hide.

After all of this time, I was suddenly terrified.

His hands cupped my face and he pressed a soft, gentle kiss to each eye, my cheeks,

taking his time before he worked his way down to my mouth. As his tongue stroked across my

lips, I reached up, clutching at his wrists. Deep inside me, something started to pulse—that

hunger. A deep, unshakable sort of need. It had slumbered inside me all of this time and now

that he was here, now that this was happening, again, it was like a beast, threatening to take me

over.

Arching against him, I pressed myself to him, felt that power of him through that sleek,

sexy suit.

He growled against my lips and tugged my hair, pulling me back from him. “Stop,” he

muttered, pressing his brow to mine. “Or this might just be over before it ends.”

“I don’t want to stop.” Staring into his eyes, hoping he didn’t sense the desperation in

me, I let go of his wrist and reached down, cupping him through his trousers. I stroked, up,

then down. This, here, was one thing I could do. Perhaps I’d never actually had sex with a

man, but that didn’t mean I was completely inexperienced.

His lids drooped as I stroked my thumb across the blunt, rounded head and when I

dragged my hand back down and cupped the sac of his balls, he snarled and yanked me against

him, capturing my hands and pinning them behind me as he started to pump against me. Fast,

short little strokes that had the wet silk of my panties dragging over my clitoris in a teasing

caress. I cried out against his mouth while that pulsing deep inside me tightened, drawing me

tight. I felt it, a queer little heat spreading through me.

And then he sank his teeth into my lower lip. The heat inside spread, grew larger. My

skin felt tight, too tight and I couldn’t breathe. There just wasn’t enough air, but my heart was

racing, hammering—

“Come for me,” he muttered against my mouth.

I can’t
—

But I was. With a sob, I climaxed against him, just like that, so easily as he rocked me

back and forth against the ridge of his shaft.

I sobbed out his name and all he all but breathed out mine, almost a blessing, his voice

reverent and hushed.

“Shan…”

Panting, I lifted my gaze to his, staring at him, trying not to let him see how deeply this

affected me.

His eyes were turbulent, full of emotions I couldn’t even describe.

A moment later, he hooked his fingers in the straps of silk that ran over my hips. I felt a

jerk, a twist, then the silk fell uselessly away. “Not waiting another minute.” He pushed my

thighs apart. “We’ve waited too long.”

Yes. Yes, we had. I clutched at his shoulders as he reached down, freeing himself from

his trousers.

I didn’t dare look down.

I’d managed not to let him realize—
yet
.

Because the nerves were tangling, twisting inside me, because that voice had risen up to

jeer at me in the back of my mind
…I don’t fuck naïve little virgins
…I leaned forward and pressed my mouth to his chest. The starched fabric of his tuxedo shirt separated us and I fisted my

hands in it, hating the barrier.

His hand cupped the back of my neck, twisting in my hair. “Look at me,” he rasped.

His voice, low and guttural, stroked over me like a velvet glove.

Shivering, I tipped my head, letting my lashes fall to shield my eyes.

Between my legs, I felt the press of his cock. Naked, thick, hard. My mouth fell open

and his gaze dropped, lingering on my lips.

I whimpered as he wrapped a hand around his length and teased me, using the head to

stroke over me, once, twice, three times, before he parted me, taking the caress deeper. My

mouth fell open on a hungry moan while his vicious snarl bounced off this walls. “So fucking

wet…that’s it, baby. Let me feel…”

Abruptly, he swore, tensing as he slowly pulled back. My body screamed in denial as he

slammed a fist against the counter. “Fuck. I…no condoms,” he muttered, his eyes going dark,

narrowing to slits.

No. I…I can’t lose this now…

Reaching down, I trailed the tip of my finger over the crown of him. He was wet.

Slowly, I looked down, stared at the ruddy, swollen head. A bead of fluid gathered on the crest

and unwittingly, I licked my lips. Oh. Oh…my.

His hand tangled in my hair, yanking my head back. “Fuck. Stop it, Shan. Didn’t you

hear me? I don’t have anything with me.”

“I don’t need it,” I said, the words spilling out of me. “I’m on the pill.”

“You need it for more than that.” His features were hooded.

I never had. But I didn’t think this was the ideal time to point it out to him. I had to

take the pill for other reasons, so pregnancy wasn’t much a concern and I’d never needed

protection for anything else. But this wasn’t really the time to mention that because I wasn’t

going to risk him pulling back…again.

I arched, pressing one knee to his hip. “I’ve been…busy…for a while. No time. I’ve

always been careful.” That wasn’t a lie. How much more careful could a
virgin
get?

“I’m…” He groaned as I wiggled against him. “That’s not…”

I slid my hand between us and his gaze locked on it. I’d intended to touch
him
, but

instinct had me doing something else. Smiling a little, I trailed my fingers up my thigh. “If

you’re not interested, Gallagher, just say so. I’ll handle it myself then. I’m used to it.”

A dare.

Harsh flags of color rose on his cheeks and he caught my wrists once more. Pinning

them at my back, he muttered, “You fucking little brat.”

Victory was a sweet, sweet thrill in my chest as he angled his head, took my mouth

again.

And then, he took me.

I felt him nudging at my entrance, slow at first, my body resisting him at first. A dark,

hungry little growl escaped him as he lifted his mouth, his eyes cutting in me as he let go of my

wrists to shift his grip to my hips. “Fuck…you’re so tight. Relax, baby…relax…”

The sound of his voice was a velvet caress against my senses, one hand steady at my

hips as he withdrew and then surged against me. Slow, steady…again, and again, each shallow

thrust taking him a little deeper.

But still, I resisted him. I gasped at his invasion, feeling too tight and full of him

already.

Pain flared and without realizing it, I tensed, tried to pull away.

“No,” he muttered, gripping my hip. “Just…”

He surged deep and I cried out as he buried his cock completely inside, pain splitting

through me.

A ragged, high cry escaped me and it was done.

His eyes, startled, sought mine out.

“Shan…”

Beneath the pain, something glorious and thrilling rode me. Curling my arms around

him, tighter, I whispered his name.

He pulled back, surged in deeper. That slice of pain lingered, but this time, sweet,

beautiful ecstasy rolled through me and I moaned, shuddering around him. The head of his

cock stroked me, just
there
as he fucked it into me and it was bliss. Pure, sheer bliss. Each thrust, each stroke of his body left me dazed.

And all the while, he stared at me.

If I could have thought, if I could have focused, I would have seen it.

The knowledge in his eyes.

But it wouldn’t have mattered.

I had this…I had
him
.

For now.

Pain mingled with the pleasure as he rolled his hips against mine. He hunkered down

over me, his body forcing mine flat back onto the island until both of us where on top of it. I felt