Falling In (24 page)

Chapter 33

Skewer

A severe attack to a valuable piece that compels it to move

Lucian felt the weight of her gaze on him before he'd fully awakened.

“Am I in a hospital?” Pearl looked frightened and pitiful compared to the uncontainable force from the day before.

“You're at the Patras Hotel. I brought you and Scout here.”

“Scout's here?” She asked the question with evident doubt.

“She is. I hope you know your daughter loves you very much.”

Pearl moaned and gripped her stomach, curling into herself as sweat beaded on her brow. “Get Scout,” she groaned. “I need Scout.”

“Your daughter's sleeping.”

“Get her!” she shouted. Knowing Pearl would only continue until she woke Evelyn up herself, he stood with resignation and much dislike for the woman resting in his home, and went to wake Evelyn.

Keeping an eye on the guest room door, he carefully sat on the bed of the master bedroom and touched Evelyn's cheek.

She started and came awake immediately. “Is Pearl—”

“Pearl's fine. She's awake and asking for you.”

Evelyn rushed to stand and he eyed her wearily. She'd lost weight over the past two weeks. Her skin looked pale and her arms frail, but most disturbing was the change in her eyes. They had lost so much of the vibrancy he'd seen when they first met.

Pearl was sitting on the edge of the bed when Evelyn approached. He stayed at the door and observed them together.

“Scout,” Pearl sighed with obvious relief. “Baby, where's my stuff? Someone's gonna steal it.”

Evelyn smiled sadly. Gone was the glint of laughter in her crystal eyes. Her mouth held no happiness. He wanted to shake this rotten women for what she'd put her daughter through.

“Momma, your stuff's fine. Don't worry about that now. You're sick and you need to get well.”

Pearl only half listened as Evelyn went on about how worried she was and how delirious with fever Pearl had been. Her mother scratched at her arms, her eyes jerky and her demeanor skittish.

As Evelyn was professing how relieved she was that she was awake and showing signs of life again, Pearl interrupted, “Scout, I need some money. I need a fix. Can you get me one? It hurts, baby. Make it go away.”

His hate for this despicable woman doubled in that moment as her words visibly cut through Evelyn. Pearl was too entrenched in her own selfish need to notice what she was doing to her daughter. She was no mother.

He watched as Evelyn again stiffened her posture, refusing to be worn down. She was so incredibly strong. He'd never seem someone appear so beaten and so resilient at the same time. She was astonishing.

“Oh, Momma, no. You can't do that here.”

“Then I got to go.”

“Momma,” Evelyn said taking her mother's hand. “You're sick—”

Pearl snatched her hand back. “
Why you always bossing me?
You're not the boss of me, Evelyn Scottlynn Keats! I am your mother—”

“Then act like it!”
Evelyn suddenly snapped. Her voice cracked and in a much softer voice she said, “For once in your life act like it. You almost died. I know you don't care, but what am I supposed to do without you?” She stood shakily. “Not this time, Momma. I'm not letting you go back to that. You're going to get through this because you owe it to me.”

With pathetic sluggishness and pitiful strength, Pearl's hand came up to slap her daughter.

Evelyn caught her wrist with surprising preparedness. “Stop it!”

She released Pearl's arm as the other woman tugged. Pearl, now feeble, nearly fell back with her own ungainliness. She sneered at her daughter, “You little bitch! You're doing this on purpose, you hateful thing. Always jealous of how much they all like me. You're stupid! Do you hear me? Do you, stupid girl? Where's my daughter? I want my daughter! Scout!”

Lucian was speechless. The woman shouted cruel words in Evelyn's face and she barely flinched. She did cry, but silently and without visible emotion. As the tirade continued, he'd heard enough. He stepped in and took Evelyn gently by the shoulders and steered her out of the room, slamming the door hard behind them, stifling the insane diatribe.

Evelyn was nonresponsive as he laid her back in bed. He didn't know what to do, so he curled in behind her and held her as she wept, kissing her hair and offering any comfort he could provide. She silently sobbed for several minutes and eventually Pearl's screeches quieted.

Soft sniffles broke the silence every few minutes. “She didn't mean it,” she finally muttered. “She doesn't know.”

Her skin was cool to the touch as he ran is fingers over her arm. “I know, baby. I know.” But he didn't. He couldn't understand because he'd never seen the like.

Chapter 34

Quiet Move

A move, which does not attack or capture

Vivian's final warning had been an understatement. The four days that followed Evelyn and Pearl's arrival at the condo had been one trial after another. Evelyn barely spoke. She tended to Pearl, bathed her, fed her, cleaned up after her, took unending abuse from her and slept. While she slept, Lucian tended to her mother.

As they dropped Pearl off at the clinic Vivian had suggested, she was sedated and easily dealt with. Lucian understood that she could not be held there against her will, but the clinic was out in the middle of nowhere and Pearl would be stranded. His only hope was that, as Evelyn's mother's appetite returned, she would find the steady supply of food, heat, and shelter worth more than her need to inject herself full of dope.

Evelyn cried silently as she stared out the window the entire way home. He called and had chicken and dumpling soup sent up ahead of their arrival. He also asked for melon wrapped in prosciutto and a hot fudge sundae, but knew it would probably go to waste.

They dined in silence. Evelyn finished her soup but touched nothing else. He moved the tray to the hall and ran a bath for her. Her tears had subsided through supper, which relieved him, but her continued silence increased his concern.

His fingers combed through her soft hair, pouring water over the thick strands and rinsing away the shampoo. She passively allowed him to bathe her. While cleaning her fingers and removing the dirt under her nails, she suddenly burst into tears again. Unsure what to do, Lucian reached for a towel, lifted her out of the tub and held her as she cried.

Her warm tears burned through his shirt and the dampness from her hair soaked into his sleeve. He stilled when the light caress of her lips danced over the flesh on his throat. It was no accidental touch. Lucian turned and stared into her tired eyes.

She cupped his unshaven cheek and whispered, “Make love to me, Lucian. Take me away. Make me forget the last few weeks.”

Tucking a strand of damp hair behind her ear, he met her gaze. “You're tired.”

“Please.”

His lips swept softly across hers and she leaned into the caress. His hands moved to her bottom and he stood, holding her slight body in his arms as he walked back to the master bedroom. Laying her back on the blankets, he stared at her as he slowly removed his clothing. The curtains hadn't been drawn and moonlight pooled onto the bed from the balcony doors, snowflakes dancing in the shadowy night's reflections.

His hands gently removed the towel from her body and she lay before him naked. Her small pink nipples puckered under his gaze and her hip cocked to one side, her legs twisting in absolute female perfection. He reached for the covers and pulled them over them as he crawled in beside her. Her skin was cool. His heated skin was in such contrast as he drew her close, pulling her under his protective embrace, wanting to shelter her from all the pain.

Softly, he sipped from her lips. His thumbs coasted over her delicate jawbone as he tipped up her face to meet his kiss. Her body cushioned his as her small hands drifted over his flesh. The satisfaction her touch brought him on so many levels was almost too much to bear. The pressure of the past few weeks unraveled inside of him. He was exposed, raw, and more helpless against his passion for her in that moment then he had ever been.

She owned him. He was completely possessed with his need to have her in his life. Such vulnerability would normally be unwelcome, but his mind couldn't fight the power she had over him. She was what gave him purpose. She altered his perspectives and made the unbearable bearable. She was his drug, his addiction. She was his heroine.

Closing his mouth over her breast, he drew her downy thighs apart. Her body was moist and warm, ready. His tongue licked at the sensitive flesh of her breasts, pulled on her nipples, and his fingers opened her tender folds. Kissing a trail over her soft belly, his mouth moved over the delta of her sex, now dusted with soft brown hair. His lips lowered and he tasted sweet ambrosia.

Lucian drank from her folds as if she were the fountain of youth. Her legs curled over his shoulders as her needy cries filled the room. When she came, it was intrepid and breathtaking, such an honest release lacking any modest insecurity.

Pulling her to his chest, he rolled to his back and brought her atop of him. Her thighs spread over his hips, anointing his stomach with her dewy arousal. She braced her hands on his chest as she seated herself over him.

Once their bodies were aligned he caressed her cheek and whispered, “I love you, Evelyn. Don't leave me again.”

Her gaze drilled into his as a tear slid from the corner of her eye. She lowered herself onto him and he thrust slowly to meet her halfway. Her fingers scored his flesh as he moved under her, holding her tight. Her hips rocked and swelled with refined motions and he studied her, experienced the sensations of their bodies combining in every sense.

The sight of their bodies meeting, their pelvises kissing with each thrust, the sound of their moans and breathy sighs muffled by their closeness, the taste of salty skin as they stole kisses, the fragrance of their combined need; it was the most complete sexual experience of his life. Never before had he known the need to be so tender and savor every slide and shift, every sigh and breath.

Lucian rolled her to her back and moved on top of her, balancing his weight on his forearms, trapping her close. Restraint was no longer an option. It was beyond his will to deny himself her offering a moment longer. He longed for the intimate bonding that came with the physical act of possessing her wholly.

Their tongues licked and lips kissed. He pressed deep into her heat, needing to bury himself, irrevocable, in some secreted part of her soul no other man would ever know. She arched and called his name as he thrust back in hard and deep. Again and again, he took her with long deep strokes.

Her body gripped his. Her fingers bit into his shoulders. He sucked at the tender flesh of her throat, biting softly as she throbbed against him, milking his own climax with her contracting sex. His release burst from him with sureness and bathed her womb.

It wasn't until that moment it occurred to him that there was nothing between them. No emotional barriers, no lies, no obstacles, and no protection. He thrust again, wanting her womb to take his seed, wanting, needing to find her belly swollen in the coming months with his child.

As the aftermath of their climaxes faded, their hands refused to let go. His face pressed into the curve of her shoulder and he breathed her in, memorizing her feel, committing this moment to memory, knowing their lives would be forever changed from this moment on.

Chapter 35

Amateur

A rare term only relevant when an untried player faces a master

Lucian's mind roused with the sense that he was being watched. He breathed and Evelyn's soft fragrance filled him with warmth. Opening his eyes, he found her at his side, chin perched on hand as she rested on her elbow. Her amazing eyes were fixed on him.

“Good morning,” he whispered.

Sleep had restored some of the radiance to her eyes. The skin under them was no longer drawn or bruised. She smiled. “Good morning. Did you know you're entirely too beautiful for a man?”

“Should I pay someone to break my nose?”

“I'm sure you could find someone willing to do it for free,” she teased and yipped when he rolled on top of her.

Her body was a soft sanctuary for his. He kissed her sweetly. Against her mouth he whispered, “Is that so?”

She giggled, her lips curving under his. “But anyone who'd want to hurt you wouldn't really know you. I know you Lucian Patras, and you're nothing like the hard-ass you pretend to be.”

He stilled, schooling his playful behavior. “Don't be so sure, Evelyn,” he said with total gravity. “I take care of the people I love, but those who betray me live to regret it. I didn't come this far by being easily maneuvered. Never doubt I'm in complete control of myself and those around me.”

He regretted his words as a bit of the lightheartedness washed from her eyes. Her days had been wrought with hardship and he wanted to take away the pain. He softened his disposition and pinned her arms above her head with nowhere to move as his body boxed her in. He ran a thumb over the crest of her soft cheek.

“You don't intimidate me, Lucian,” she whispered brazenly.

“Well, that's good. I don't want to intimidate you. I want to master you, love you so thoroughly, know you completely, in a way no one else ever has, and that doesn't happen when one feels threatened, coerced, or intimidated. I'd say we're making progress.”

When her silver eyes moved as if calculating some in-depth equation, he knew she was overthinking things. He wished he could read her thoughts.

“What're you thinking?” he asked.

“I'm wondering, now that you have me here, what you are going to do with me.”

His cheek pulled and his lips twitch as he fought a smile. He moved his knees between hers and nudged her body open. Heat from between her thighs scorched him. His erection fell heavily onto her soft tummy. He pressed his hips seductively and she arched into his suggestive hold.

“I believe I'm going to fuck you and you're going to let me.”

Her lashes lowered and her gray eyes deepened with darker hues of blue. Her hands began to reach for him, but he pinned them to the pillows again. Uncertainty momentarily flashed in those stormy eyes.

“I want you, Evelyn, and I want you to let me take you. When I want, how I want, you are to be mine. Do you call checkmate?”

Her mouth formed the word
no
. Blood surged to his cock as her head shook slowly. She was his, and he was
never
letting her go.

Unbidden, thoughts of her friend Parker came to mind. Lucian had given him his word and his word was something he always kept. He shook off the thought. He'd move on, forget about the promise he made. If Parker kept the job, good for him, he'd meet new people and realize there were other fish in the sea. If he lost the job, which he suspected he would—good work ethic was not something beggars usually possessed—then the opportunity would pass him by and he'd be nothing more than a memory. Evelyn was his, and he was a very possessive man.

Ducking low, Lucian took one soft nipple into his mouth and sucked it hard. Her belly pressed into his as her spine arched and she moaned softly. He treated the twin nipple with the same force, taking pride in the wet marks his mouth left over her tender flesh.

Her body curved and stretched in his tight hold. She needed to move and was growing frustrated with his restraint. She needed to learn self-discipline when it came to submitting. Even though her strong will sometimes amused him, and he adored her feisty little spirit, respected it, submission was a beautiful display of inner strength and he wanted to teach her.

“Don't move your arms, Evelyn.”

He dragged his hips lower. Her arousal glazed his cock and he nudged between her soft folds, careful not to penetrate. He probed her clit as she jerked and sighed.

“I want to show you every form of pleasure two lovers can share when they trust each other. Do you trust me, Evelyn?”

He waited, not wanting to give away how much her answer would mean to him. He had confessed his love and knew, while she didn't reciprocate his sentiment, her presence in his life again was not meaningless. Love would come, but for the kind of relationship he wanted with Evelyn, trust was necessary.

Reaching down, he turned his wrist and pressed his palm into her clit, his fingers dipping into her honey, and waited. “I trust you, Lucian. More than I probably should.”

Good enough. His hand pressed down and his finger plunged deep. She hissed and thrust her body into his touch. “That's it. Let me feel your wanting. I'll take care of you, baby.”

His palm pressed and glided over her pussy as his fingers swirled and opened her slit. She was very small and he wanted to take her hard and fast, but would not fuck her until he saw to her pleasure first.

Her body writhed, but like a good girl, her arms remained above her head. Slick nectar coated his fingers. Her breath lightly tousled his hair with each panted sigh. Curling his middle finger, he plunged deep. Her body expanded in accommodation and she stilled.

“Feel that, Evelyn? That's me pressing on your G-spot. I'm going to teach you every part of your body, and you'll learn that no one will ever pleasure you the way I can.”

He applied pressure onto the spongy inner tissue and rubbed his thumb over her clit. She shouted and came fast and hard over his hand. Her channel fluttered against him, throbbed and tightened around his deep grip. He smiled at the shock he saw in her stare.

Removing his fingers, he gazed into her lust-glazed eyes and sucked his digits deep into his mouth. Her sweet, tangy flavor tickled his taste buds. He pressed up, sitting back on his heels, and took himself in hand. His slick fingers tugged over his hard flesh, and he thumbed a drop of precome, massaging it into his heavy cock.

“Look at what you do to me, Evelyn.”

Her lashes lifted as she gazed up at his length. His hand pumped hard over his straining erection.

“I'm going to teach you how to bring me pleasure the same way I bring it to you. Your body will know mine like I know yours. You'll crave my touch like a drug and I'll take you higher than you've ever been. I'm going to teach you every way possible to satisfy me and you're going to love it, need it, want it so badly you'd sell your soul for it.”

Her breasts lifted as her breathing increased. Her eyes locked on his hand slowly stroking his hard flesh. “Do you want to be fucked, Evelyn?”

“Yes,” she rasped.

“Yes what?”

“Yes, Lucian. Please.”

Releasing his cock, his fingers sank into a plush down pillow and moved it to the center of the bed. He piled another on top. Once he formed a nice little mount, his mouth crashed over hers and he plunged his tongue into her, demanding, taking, and driving her to a point of need that was hopefully dizzying.

Her knees raised and gripped his hips. His hand lifted her head, sifting through her heavy waves of soft auburn hair. He kissed down her jaw, purposely scraping his rough stubble against her delicate skin, marking her. Lips nipped at her throat, licked and pulled at her earlobe. Her cries became frenzied, her muttered sighs a cross between a curse and a prayer. She begged and he made her wait awhile more, ensuring that when he did plunge into her she'd be so ready for his cock, she'd likely come immediately.

Lucian tickled and teased her pussy, his hand a constant presence at her sex, yet careful not to bring her to peak. She'd learn to accept his touch, depend on it. He was a demonstrative man, and Evelyn would become conditioned to expect his touch in all things, be it carnal, corporeal, or spiritual.

He intended to possess her wholly, not just mind and body, but also her soul. She'd already taken possession of parts of him no one had ever laid claim to. It was unnerving, and he needed to balance the scales for his own peace of mind.

Once he had her trembling with need, he pulled her and flipped her over the pillows. His cock throbbed with delight at the vision of her succulent ass raised before him. One day soon he'd take her virginity there too. At first he had been appalled and uncomfortable with the fact that he had taken her virtue. Now, it made him want to howl with satisfaction.

She was his. Only his.

He adjusted her hips and kneed her thighs apart. The pink flesh of her pussy was drenched with cream. It practically dripped down her thighs. His finger traced from her nape, down the long column of her spine, between the crevice of her ass, and through the pool gathering at her awaiting pussy. She stretched like a cat and purred with need.

Crawling close to her backside, he lined his cock with her sex, bathed it in her slick fluid. “You're mine, Evelyn. I'll never willingly let you walk out of my life again. I intend to make it so that you never want to.”

Lucian thrust into her in one smooth glide, gripping her hips hard, preventing her body from propelling forward with the force of his entry. Her tight little pussy strangled his cock in its moist heat. She cried out and he gritted his teeth, fighting back his own release.

He withdrew slowly, savoring every bit of friction along the way, and slammed back into her. Her channel constricted and pulsed around him. Extracting his length with painful gradualness, her body reflexively tried to suck him back in. He held the glossy tip of his cock at her rosy opening. His gut clenched, causing his come to stir deep inside, when he saw the muscles surrounding her pussy lips twitch and tighten, stretching around his girth. He plunged into her, burying himself to the hilt. Her head reared up, glorious chestnut hair arced in a wild mane, and she screamed as a violent orgasm took hold of her.

Lucian's hips cocked back. He angled himself over her and began drilling into her. He took her hard and he took her fast. Her pussy gripped his as if it never wanted to let him out. That was fine, because he never wanted to leave the shelter of her body.

He fucked her like an animal. Their bodies glistened with perspiration. Her narrow shoulders flexed as her arms extended into the plush pillows at the headboard and fisted the silky fabric. His balls tightened, drawing up tight, and his hips smacked into her ass. He dug his fingers into her sides, yanking her back on him each time he plunged forward.

Sharp cries of ecstasy echoed each thrust. He blinked as salty dampness burned his eyes. His tongue tasted the briny moisture along his lips as he panted through his teeth. He wanted her to remember his possession, still feel him inside of her when she lay down to sleep at the end of this day.

He needed to possess her ruthlessly in a way that the sense of him would never leave her, his presence entombing itself so deeply that once removed she would feel hollow without him, steadfastly aware that something was missing. Him.

Tingles of ecstasy shot up his spine, firing sparks of intense sensation into his nervous system and heating his blood. His release climbed up his dick, chugging thick and forcefully until he shouted and it burst into her body. He fucked his seed deep into her, burying it. Deep satisfaction bloomed inside of him as, again, he considered they might be creating life. Lucian thrust his hips deep one final time for good measure and collapsed on top of her, catching his weight at the last moment.

They lay in a panting, sweaty heap. She continued to moan, and every few seconds her pussy fluttered with postorgasmic tremors that had his dick twitching in her flooded channel. He kissed her shoulder, and she chuckled quietly.

“Something funny?” he asked as he licked at her salty nape.

“You,” she said, her voice muffled in the pillows.

“I wasn't aiming for that kind of amusement,” he remarked drolly.

Her hand reached back and patted his sympathetically. “Oh, there was nothing funny about your performance. I was laughing because last time I was here I could barely get you to lay a hand on me and after the way you just fucked me . . . well, I guess you're over my virginity.”

He bit her shoulder and she yelped. His mouth soothed the bite. “After this week there'll be nothing virginal about you, Evelyn. I intend to make sure of it. So yes, I suppose you can say I'm over it.”

She sighed happily. “I'm glad.”