The Hunted (7 page)

His gaze moved to my parted lips and I realized that I was holding my breath.  In fear?  My heart missed a beat when I saw his eyes narrow and his tongue flick along his bottom lip. 
I want to be the one to lick that lip!  Oh - where did that thought come from? Well, at least I know I wasn’t holding my breath out of fear!

The atmosphere was so tense that seconds seemed like hours.  An air of expectation hung between us and I waited for him to close the small distance between us.  The sexual charge was suddenly broken when he closed his eyes and sighed deeply.  I felt his grip release and then he was pushing me upright in my seat.  The few inches between us may as well have been miles.  I didn’t know what had passed between us but I know that it was significant and that I had felt disappointed when he’d pushed me away. 

“You’ve missed lunch - are you hungry?” he said suddenly. 

I looked at him, uncomprehending his words for a second - such was the turmoil that I felt.  His face was impassive and his body language was formal, even distant.

“Um, what?” I asked, struggling to understand this whole weird situation.

“Issy, you’ve slept for almost four hours,” he said impatiently, his tone businesslike.  “I think you should eat something.”

I shook my head, trying to clear my confused thoughts.  “Almost four hours?  Oh gosh, I really should be going.  Um … where exactly am I?”

“You’re in my apartment,” he replied.

“Oh.  And where is that?” I couldn’t even look at him now.  I felt embarrassed and at a disadvantage.

“On the top floor of The Orion Building, above my office,” he said tonelessly.

“But your office is on the top floor of the building,” I said in confusion.

“No it isn’t,” he said, impatiently.

“So, are you telling me that the elevator doesn’t take you to the top of the building?”

“That’s right.  Only my personal elevator services my apartment.  There is an emergency staircase, of course, but there is no public access to that either.”

“Oh, I see.  Well, thank you for your help.  I feel so much better now.  Could you please show me how I get back into the main building?”  I stood and immediately, he was standing next to me.

“Don’t be stupid, Issy.  You can’t go anywhere yet.  You could be concussed; you may be stonehearted but your head isn’t made of stone.  My doctor said that you needed to be under direct observation for 24 hours.”

My eyes flew to his face.  His expression was unreadable.  “What do you mean, I am stonehearted?  And incidentally, what happened to my head?  It hurts like hell but I can’t remember what happened.”

I heard his sharp intake of breath but my eyes were locked on his.  His eyes were almost black now and they bored into mine relentlessly.  Eventually, he turned and walked away, raking his hand through his hair.  He stood in front of floor to ceiling windows and placed his hands on his hips, keeping his back to me.

“So, you don’t remember hitting your head?” he said eventually.  His voice was calm but it sounded suspiciously forced.

“Um, no.  Do you know what happened?  Where you there?”  I desperately tried to remember but there was nothing.  I couldn’t even remember anything that I’d done today.

“Yes, Issy. I was there. I tried to catch you but I couldn’t reach you fast enough.”

“Oh, so I fell?” 
Why the hell can’t I remember any of this?
  “And you tried to catch me?”

“That’s right.”

“Where were we?  How did I fall?”

I saw the muscles in his back tense through his black shirt and then he shoved both hands into his hair but rather than run his fingers through it, his fingers curled around his dark locks and stayed there. 
I know I’m missing something but why is he acting like this? 
Suddenly, I realized.  Guilt.
He feels responsible.  Whatever happened to me, he thinks it’s his fault.  What the hell happened? 

I found myself closing the distance between us.  Instinctively, I placed a hand on his shoulder but I removed it when I felt him recoil from my touch.  I turned away, stung by his reaction, but felt the room begin to lurch as my legs gave way.  Before I hit the floor, strong arms were around me pulling me against his chest. 

“Issy, I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry.  Please forgive me.  Please …” His impassioned voice broke off and his arms tightened further around me, almost crushing me.  Responding to the raw emotion in his voice, I wrapped my arms over his and ran my fingertips up and down forearms.  I turned my face so that my cheek was pressed into his chest and we just stood there until I felt the tension drain out of both of us.

“Let’s sit down,” I said.

He didn’t let go of me so we walked as one, back to the sofa.  We sat side by side and he took both of my hands in his. 

“I didn’t mean for you to hurt yourself when I chased you.  I just wanted you to stop and hear me out,” he said, his face looked as though he was the one with the head injury.

“You were chasing me? I don’t understand, Lucas.  Why would you be chasing me?”

“I didn’t mean to.  I just couldn’t bear for you to walk away.  I felt so embarrassed for sending you the check like that.  I felt ashamed for the way that I had treated you.  As soon as I had done it, I regretted it.  And besides, there was no way that I could stay away from you.  I’d planned to come to see you today anyway to apologize and try to make things right between us.  I know that you don‘t want what I want but I am willing to take whatever I can get when it comes to you, Issy.” 

I had no idea what he was talking about but I was more bothered about the effect that whatever had happened between us was having on Lucas.  Lucas Hunter the confident, powerful alpha male.  He was arrogant, controlling and, I suspected, fairly ruthless.  Yet, there he was, looking crushed and deflated.  I could sense that he was way out of his depth.  I couldn’t stand seeing him like that; I couldn’t stand that I was in some way responsible for it either.  I had to help him regain his composure - to regain control.  But how?

I slid one of my hands out of his and cupped his jaw.  His eyebrows rose questioningly so I smiled and leaned forward and placed my lips gently against his.  I felt his confusion at first and he made no attempt to respond to my kiss.  I couldn’t bear to look into his eyes so I closed my eyes and concentrated on making him respond to me. 

I ran the tip of my tongue along his bottom lip and then attempted to slip my tongue between his lips.  He was having none of it.  So I did what came naturally and nipped his bottom lip, hard.  He groaned into my mouth as he responded as I thought he would.  As his mouth devoured mine, he grabbed me and pulled me onto his lap.  I pressed my breasts against his pectorals and wriggled my ass until I felt him growing ever larger beneath me.  Abruptly, he slid out from underneath me, grasped both of my hands in one of his and gently pushed me down onto the leather cushions. 

He knelt down on the floor facing me; he pushed my hands up above my head and held them there.  He gazed down at my face and those beautiful jet eyes were shining with passion now.  They swept from my face, moved leisurely down my entire body and then back up.  I was so desperate to touch him that I pulled against his grip, only to feel it tighten instantly.  My back arched off the cushions involuntarily as the need to be touched became unbearable.  I glared at him in frustration and saw his mouth twitch although I got the distinct impression that he wanted to admonish me for my attempts to move things along. 
He is enjoying making me squirm, the bastard!  Oh, there’s no doubt about it - Mr Lucas ‘Control Freak’ Hunter is back!  Oh god, what have I done?  What’s he going to do to me?

My insides contracted at the thought of him doing anything to me.  Immediately, I felt how wet I was getting. 
And he hasn’t even touched me yet!
  The thought of him touching me sent waves of desire through my body and I squirmed, pressing my thighs together.

“Ah Miss Prince, impatient as ever, I see,” he drawled in that oh so sexy voice.  “You need to learn patience.  You need to learn who is in charge here.”

Oh, I have no doubt who is in charge!  Who is restrained - their hands effectively bound?  Who’s already on the verge or orgasm before they have even been touched?  Whoa! Now, who is trailing their fingers up whose inner thigh?  Argh!  Oh god, if he so much as touches me there …

I squeezed my eyes closed and attempted to force myself to relax. 
I refuse to come yet!
  I heard a deep, throaty chuckle and realized that he knew exactly what effect he was having on my body.  That only made it worse.  He slid his finger along the lace on the edge of my panties and I thought I was going to explode.  I squirmed again and he immediately growled “Keep still or I’ll make sure you can’t move!”  Instantly, I obeyed without even thinking about it.

He trailed his fingertips gently across the lace panel of my panties and I heard a low groan.  “Look how wet you are, Issy.”

I whimpered, unable to speak.  I was concentrating everything I had on keeping my orgasm at bay. 

Without warning, he slid aside the lace strip and plunged a finger between the folds of skin and inside me.  Instantly, I clenched around it, aware only of his finger and his face right in front of mine.  Our eyes met and something sparked between us.  He grazed his fingertip on back and forth over my g-spot. “Come for me, Issy,” he whispered and I did. 
Oh my god, I did! 
My body was wracked with overpowering shocks and shudders as my orgasm tore through me.  Our eyes never left each other’s and I saw the flare of triumph as I came for him, on his command.  Something passed between us in that moment and I sensed that I wanted to please this man.  After all, he seemed to know exactly how to please me!

I felt him slip his finger out of me.  He then slid both arms underneath me and lifted me as he got to his feet.  My body was still limp and I found it difficult to speak.  “Lucas, what …”

“Shhh,” he said, then kissed the top of my head.  “You’ve pleased me and now it is my turn to please you.”

What?  I’ve pleased him?  Now he is going to please me … oh, lordy!  If that was for his pleasure, then how is he going to pleasure me? 
I felt faint with desire as he carried me along a hallway and into the master bedroom.

I gasped as I was placed gently on a king size bed.  This room was so at odds with the minimalist design of his living room and office.  It was decadent and elegant - all rich cream and pale gold fabrics.  The only link with his other rooms that I could see was the solid oak flooring.  A huge long pile chenille rug sat on the floor, at the foot of the bed. 

The bed was a huge oak sleigh affair that would have dominated the room had it been anywhere near an average sized room.  I realized that this room was probably larger than my whole apartment.  The only other furniture was the two oak bedside tables and a suede chaise longue.  There were two other oak paneled doors leading out of this room and I guessed that these would lead to an en-suite and a dressing room.  If I’d thought about what his bedroom would be like, this would not have been it at all. 
He is just full of surprises.

I was so absorbed in my surroundings that I had failed to notice that Lucas was standing at the foot of the bed, watching me with his head tilted and his eyebrows raised.  I blushed, feeling sure that he could read my mind and he smiled.

“Come on then, let’s have your professional opinion, Miss Expert Interior Designer,” he said.

I blinked, not sure what to say.  I decided to be honest about the room and to leave any comments about how unexpected it was out of the conversation.  After all, Lucas would have hired an interior designer and may not have had much input into this room at all.

“Lucas, it is beautiful.  Who was the designer?”

His head tilted to one side.  “I’m glad you like it.  I didn’t use a designer for this room.  I chose the furniture, the paint and all the furnishings myself.  I wanted this room to be for me.”

“You did?  What about the other rooms?  Your offices?”