His Prize (The Cleaners Book 1) (7 page)

“If you’ve got something to say to me, spit it out already, Josh, otherwise, move out my fucking way, so that I can get to my girl.”

A muscle ticked in Josh’s jaw, and seconds passed by, during which Ren readied himself to take the guy down a notch. Not that he was looking forward to that. Josh threw a mean punch, and that was when he wasn’t personally invested, which he clearly was right now.

“So you remembered she’s your girl, at last then? Funny that. After the shit you pulled in that kitchen, we all thought your orders last night were chicken shit. You don’t treat her like that, boss, ever, do you hear me?”

“Or?”

Josh stepped back and cracked his knuckles.

“Or I’ll have something to say about it, that’s what. The girl is an innocent, you fuckin’ know that after last night, and we don’t mess with those. Least of all when she’s under Huntly’s protection, and knows enough to blow the whistle on all of us. I don’t wanna fucking kill her, but if she tries to run, because her
owner,”
he mimed quotation marks around the word, “is treating her like shit, then us cleaners will have to hunt her down. None of us fucking want that. So, you sort it, boss.”

With that Josh stalked away. The front door slammed shut behind him with enough force to rattle the window frames, and Ren smirked.

What was it about his little pumpkin that garnered such loyalty in his men?

Chapter Seven

Susie stood under the hot spray and let the water wash away the hateful words that seemed to have lodged in her skin. It also hid the tears she couldn’t hold back anymore. Tears which made her angry at herself. Why couldn’t she simply stand up to him, and tell him to take a fucking hike? That’s certainly what she would have done before, if any other man had tried to pull that stunt on her. The urge to disobey him, to call him out on his crap had been overwhelmingly strong for all of one second, before he’d grasped her hair, exerting his dominance, and his disapproval at her action had robbed her of any suitable comeback.

She still felt the injustice of it all. It festered in her side like a poisoned dart and warred with the need to please him. She still couldn’t understand what she’d done so wrong. His men had to eat, after all. It’s not as though she’d tried to run away. The thought of freedom made her cry harder with the knowledge that that thought hadn’t even occurred to her. No, like the lamb to the slaughter she had trotted right past the front door, and entered the kitchen. Her stomach cramped, reliving that moment she’d pushed open the slightly ajar door, and had found herself at the receiving end of five pairs of assessing male eyes.

Each one of Ren’s men was a drool-worthy specimen male in its prime, and that’s without the underlying air of danger, leashed aggression, and pure male dominance that was an almost palpable force in the room, as their attention as one shifted to her. Susie didn’t have the visceral reaction to Ren’s men like she had to him, but she was certainly not immune to them either.

No woman would be with that much testosterone filling the space. Josh, the biggest and meanest looking of them all, had tipped his chair back on its legs and given her a sinful smile that had promised all sorts of wicked delights. Like the majority of them, he’d been shirtless, wearing just loose fitting pajama bottoms, and Susie hadn’t managed to look away from the myriad of tattoos gracing his impressive chest. He looked the sort to hit first and ask questions later, and she would have backed away, had the “sin brothers”, as these two members of Ren’s team were known among the dancers, had not come up behind her, and barred her escape from the room. Six foot three of lean muscle they had surrounded her, one large hand on each of her shoulders. Not restraining her exactly, but letting her know she wasn’t going anywhere either. She’d flicked a nervous glance at each one of them, and Alex and James Synn had both grinned at her. Alex, the older one, had more muscle mass than his slightly leaner brother James, but they’d both still towered over her, making her feel small, feminine, and like the prey they were about to devour. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to leave Ren’s protection.

Two sets of identical amber eyes had crinkled up at the corners in seeming amusement at her clearly far too obvious thought processes.

“Relax, little lady. If we wanted to eat you, you’d be strapped to this table already,” James said, and Alex laughed and ran his thumb up her neck, over her rapidly beating pulse point.

“You’d enjoy it too, wouldn’t she, bro?”

James winked at his brother’s statement, and Susie had swallowed hard.

“The boss would have your hide, so leave her alone.”

Ty Mason, Ren’s brooding, dark haired second in command, and the one man apart from Ren, who Susie knew best, intervened, and she flashed him a grateful smile. Chuckling, the sin brothers stepped away from her. They’d still barred her exit route, however, and when Josh rose to his feet, gathered his shoulder length brown hair and tied it back behind his nape, she took an involuntary step back.

He’d smirked and addressed Ty, his deep gravelly voice sending shivers of unease through her.

“So, if we can’t eat her, what’s for breakfast, Ty? I’m fucking starving.”

Ty had shaken his head, but before he could say anything the last remaining member of Ren’s team, had spoken up. The enigmatic Ace Jackson had made her more nervous than the other four put together.

“She looks as though she knows her way around a kitchen.” His dark eyes had taken a leisurely tour around her body, making Susie feel as though he could look right through her protective layers. He’d licked his lips lingering on her breasts, and his cruel looking lips had curved into the semblance of a smile, which had only served to send yet more adrenaline through her body. Ace so rarely smiled. It didn’t bode well when he did. Susie had never wanted to run more, yet she also knew she wouldn’t get anywhere. So, instead she’d crossed her arms over her chest and dropped her gaze to the floorboards.

“After all, you don’t get those curves unless you like your food.” The inherent insult had brought her head up, and she’d done her best to glare at him. Not that it had any effect on the man. He’d simply stared her down, raised an eyebrow, and smirked some more.

“What are you doing here, girl?” Ty’s gentle voice had broken the tense moment, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Not thinking of the consequences she’d blurted out the first thing on her mind.

“Well, Ren is still asleep, and I figured he would want some breakfast.”

A collective murmur had gone through the men. Cocking his head to one side Ty had studied her with the most curious expression on his face.

“You’re telling me the boss is still sleeping, and doesn’t know you’re here?” he’d asked.

She’d only managed a nod in response, as the tension in the room seemed to hit boiling point again, and she jumped at Josh’s response.

“Well, I’ll be fuckin’ damned. You best get on with making that breakfast then, girl. What’cha thinking of doing?”

“Pancakes?” She’d hated the way her voice had wobbled, but Josh’s grim face had broken into a wide grin, and he’d slapped his rock hard abs.

“With bacon and stuff?” he’d asked. “Not the flimsy kind you chicks like, right?”

“If you like….”

Josh had sat down and hitched his thumb over his massive shoulder.

“Get on with it then, girl. I’m hungry.”

That had set the mood for the rest of the hour, and the men had become rapidly more relaxed, once she’d started cooking. In truth it had felt good to see them all enjoying her cooking for them so heartily. They’d cracked jokes, and for a few precious minutes Susie had forgotten why she was there. It had felt as though she’d belonged in this kitchen, safely surrounded by men who meant her no harm it seemed, even though they all looked as though they could break her neck without even breaking into a sweat. That was until Ren had walked in, all furious and cold.

She should hate him, but the opposite was true, and she knew full well that, should he turn up now, she’d be putty in his hands again. It was freaking insane, that’s what this was. How had she managed to successfully run from Brian, only to be ensnared by someone far more dangerous than that man had ever been?

Ren’s dark words came back to haunt her.

He’s fish food, baby… he hurt
you
.

That had made it sound as though he cared about her, as though she meant more to him than just a convenient fuck, but after the impersonal way he’d treated her in the kitchen, and in front of his men…

Susie angrily blinked away her tears. He had no right, and she would tell him so. Consequences be fucked. As though she’d conjured him up with her thoughts the sound of the door guarding the wet room opening and shutting made her flinch. His scent enveloped her seconds before his heavy hands landed on her shoulder and pulled her back against his naked frame. Against her will her breathing hitched, as she felt him hardening against her ass. He kicked her legs apart, and she put her hands up against the tiled wall for support, as he slid his hair roughened thigh between her open legs. Ren brought his hands slowly round to her front, cupping her heavy breasts as though to test their weight, and her traitorous body responded to him like a puppet on a string. She ought to be screaming at him, not pushing against him, melting under his touch as he flicked his thumb over her nipples, and nuzzled into her neck.

“Forgive me, pumpkin. I was an ass back then.”

Susie bit back her groan in answer, as he slid his thigh through her pussy lips, while rubbing his morning stubble along the sensitive skin of her neck. Ren nibbled on her earlobe, his heavy breathing audible even over the stream of water cascading on them both.

“Please, don’t.”

He stopped the movement of his thigh along her slit, and Susie gasped, as he swung her up and around without much effort at all, as though she weighed no more than a feather. The marble countertop he perched her on felt cool under her bare ass, and she hastily braced her hands behind her back, as he yanked her thighs apart and lifted them up. There was no mistaking his intention as he stared at her exposed cunt, and to her shame Susie grew wet for him. Even more so when he dropped to his knees, so that he was eyelevel with her most intimate parts. His hot breath ghosted across moist flesh rapidly swelling in readiness for him, and screwing her eyes shut she whispered her denial.

“I hate you.”

Ren’s laughter washed over her, seconds before he flung her legs over his shoulders, parted her labia with his thumbs, exposing her clit, and flicked his tongue over that needy bundle of nerves. Susie tensed and bit her tongue to stop herself from groaning out loud, as Ren set to work.
Oh, God
, he could eat pussy, and her body didn’t care one iota about her misgivings. Her mind might scream at her, but the rational part of her wasn’t in charge right now. In truth, it never was where Ren was concerned. He drew her like a moth to the flame, knowing she would get burned, yet she still flew anyway.

Ren shifted his hands under her ass cheeks, and lifting her higher he switched his attention from her clit to her pussy hole. The appreciative murmurs as he tunneled his tongue inside her and lapped up her arousal only served to make her wetter. Her hips took on a life of their own, grinding against him, as he alternated tongue fucking her hole with sucking her clit into his mouth until she miraculously hovered on the brink of orgasm. Ren withdrew, and when she moaned her denial he laughed. Trailing kisses up over her mound, he licked the shower induced moisture off her skin. His open mouthed adoration of her body left tingles of awareness in its wake. She jerked when he reached her breasts, tonguing each nipple, before drawing the needy points into his mouth and suckling on each point hard in turn. The action left her a panting mess, desperate to come. His hard cock probed her thigh, and fisting one of his hands in her hair, Ren kissed her at the same time, as he impaled himself inside her body with one long hard thrust that lifted her off the counter. Susie screamed into the kiss and braced her feet on the wall opposite for leverage as her long denied orgasm raced through her.

Triumph flared in Ren’s dark gaze as he pulled away, and flexing his hips, pistoned in and out of her, prolonging her orgasm.

“I don’t … fuck … I hate you.”

Ren laughed, and stilling between her legs, kissed her again. This one was tender, reverent almost, as his cock swelled, and twitched inside her. He groaned as she clenched around him, and broke the kiss. Another gasp escaped her, as Ren pulled all the way out, only to slam back into her. The action ground his pubic bone into her clit, and Susie trembled around him. The just waning shock of her contractions seemingly flared anew, under his expert handling of her body, and try as she might she couldn’t look away from his penetrating gaze.

“You might think you hate me, but your body tells me otherwise.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to refute that, but then he set his thumb on her clit, while he started to pump in and out of her and in no time at all, she was falling apart around his cock again.

“There you go. You’re mine. Don’t ever forget that, girl, and in future, if you wake up before me, you won’t sneak out without asking my permission, do you hear me?
Look
at me when I’m talking to you.”

His tone of voice brooked no argument, and Susie forced her eyes open. She’d screwed them shut as her orgasm hit, and she tried her best to focus on what he was saying to her. With her body still shaking in delicious aftershocks, her breaths seesawing in and out of her, and her heart beat thundering in her ears it was hard to do so.

He smiled when their gazes connected, and Susie bit her lip when he pulled out of her. She felt bereft without his thick cock stretching her, and she swallowed hard when she saw him reach past her to the coconut oil he kept on the counter.

Her breathing grew even shallower when he proceeded to squeeze a generous dollop onto his hand and then lathered his cock, already slick with her arousal, in the oil. His grin turned sinful at her reaction.

“I’m still waiting for your answer, girl,” he said, while getting yet more oil, which he spread across his fingers. Not once breaking eye contact with her, he grabbed her hips and tilted them upward more while half pulling her ass off the counter. A gasp escaped her when he slid first one, and then two lubed fingers into her asshole, and started to thrust in out of that tight place. Pleasure surged through her anew, especially when he added a third finger, stretching her until the sweet burn added that bite of pain guaranteed to send her over the edge again.

The urge to close her eyes, to give into the rapidly increasing need to let go consumed her, but his heated gaze still held her spellbound. A raw need reflected back at her, mirroring her own, and it made her blurt out the words she knew he wanted to hear.