The Protectors Christmas Box Set (sexy paranormal romances) (17 page)

“She promised to take good care of the baby. Several years passed before Damien could safely come back for the boy. By that time, Brendan was gone.

“She’d sold him. He couldn’t have been much more than three years old at the time, but Brendan remembered. Everything changed that day. His name. His home. His life. He went from sleeping on a cot above Lady Czarina’s shop to shivering in a pile of straw out in a barn three states away.

“It wasn’t until twenty years later that Damien finally tracked him down and rescued him. He found Brendan living with the working dogs in a barn. He was half-starved, naked and horribly abused. The owners of the farm had cruelly worked Brendan like a beast in the fields all day and then when he returned to the barn, exhausted and starving—well, you don’t want to know what tortures and humiliations they made him endure at night in order to earn a few morsels of dog food.”

“God.” Horace had no idea. “None of us like to talk about the past, so I didn’t even think twice when Brendan shied away from any mention of his childhood.”

“I’m not telling you this so you can pity him,” Stone said sharply. “Be his friend, Horace. Support him, but don’t push. Like fate, he will only push back and make everything worse.”

“Okay, I get what you’re saying. But…but…I don’t think you see what I’m seeing. He’s on a path of destruction. You and I both know that he’s vulnerable when he gets obsessive. What will happen to his sanity if he loses control of the situation, or worse, loses her to
the darkness
? There’s a good chance of that happening, you know. For his own good, Stone, you need to get him away from her.”

“Fate wants Brendan and Dallas to be together. I’m sure as hell not going to tamper with fate…not when Brendan’s involved. He’s been hurt enough by our trying to outwit fate where he’s concerned.”

“Even if it destroys him?”

Stone’s strange silver eyes turned hard and cold. “I will not interfere with what fate has set in motion.”

* * * * *

Brendan brushed his fingers over Dallas’s exposed nipple. She sighed in her sleep. Her wrists were tied with that lovely red velvet cording and bound to the bedpost above her head.

Not that he always made love with her helpless and beneath him. He’d taken her against the tile wall in the shower as the steaming water poured over them. And then in the kitchen, he had hoisted her so she was leaning naked over the cool countertop with legs dangling, her toes not quite able to reach the floor and her perfect ass exposed to him. He’d enjoyed watching her shiver from the chill of the smooth stone and then from delight as he rammed into her. She came almost instantly, bucking and wiggling against him like a madwoman. Afterwards, she’d blushed from head to toe. Even her ass cheeks had turned rosy.

He couldn’t think of one place in his apartment that hadn’t seen some action. His kitchen chairs. The sofa. The table. The recliner. And, heaven help him, the coat closet where she’d locked the door, gone down on her knees, taken him in her mouth, and violently sucked until he was screaming with pleasure. And even then she didn’t let up. She’d wrapped her legs around him and impaled herself on his still rock-hard cock and rode him as if she needed his seed in order to survive.

No, he didn’t always take her with her hands tied above her head.

But he liked her that way, bound and vulnerable. Even in her sleep, he could feel her incredible power surging through her veins and tingling across her glistening tan skin. She had to be the strongest one among them. And she belonged to him.

His for the taking.

He couldn’t imagine ever letting her go.

* * * * *

“You’re not going anywhere.” Brendan grabbed Dallas’s arm and gave her a tug back toward his apartment door.

“Excuse me?” Dallas couldn’t understand what had gotten into him. Up until now everything had been perfect.

Something had changed that morning. But what?

Brendan was being unreasonable, and it made her itch to shout at him. A dangerous gleam in his eyes kept her from telling him exactly how unreasonable she thought he was acting.

“Explain it to me. Why don’t you want me to go to my apartment?” she asked. “I simply want to pick up a few things. Like clothes.”

The air in the apartment hallway grew almost too heavy to breathe as he pressed his will against hers.

“No.” His voice was barely above a whisper. And cold. Frighteningly cold. “Everything you need, I can provide.” He motioned toward his apartment door. “Come back inside.”

“And if I refuse?”

His grip tightened on her arm.

“I’m not your prisoner, Brendan.”

“No, not a prisoner, but you belong—” He ground to a halt and growled before sputtering, “You belong
with
me, dammit.”

You belong to me
, she suspected was what he’d barely stopped himself from spouting. What utter nonsense. She didn’t need or want a jealous, possessive lover.

A door a few apartments down opened and an elderly lady stepped out. She stopped cold when her gaze landed on Dallas and Brendan. Though Dallas was fully dressed, Brendan had rushed out the door wearing merely a pair of navy blue silk boxers.

The lady’s gaze latched onto the heavy, nicely outlined package between his barely covered legs. Her eyes widened.

His voice grew softer and more guarded. And more demanding. “You will do as I say, Dallas. Come back inside.”

“Why should I? I don’t think I want to be around you right now.” That was a lie.

She’d thought sleeping with Brendan would cure her of the feverish lust she felt for him. It hadn’t worked. Being with him, touching him, making love to him, had only made her ache for him all the more wildly. Even now, despite being so angry with him she wanted to scream, her clit was tightening and her panties had suddenly turned damp.

While
she
might not crave a possessive relationship, it seemed her body did.

“Do you need some help, dear?” the lady asked. She took a step toward them.

“Help?” Dallas rolled her eyes to the ceiling and swallowed down a nervous giggle.

Though she’d spent the past several days in his bed, Brendan was still very much a stranger. What was she doing getting her emotions and desires all tangled up with a stranger? And who was he to dictate to her? She’d depended on herself all her life. She had no plans to change that now.

“What do you think, Brendan? Do I need outside help, or do you think perhaps I might be strong enough to take care of myself?”

Another door down the hall opened.

His fingers released her arm and his hand fell limp at his side. Pain flashed across his face. “Please don’t do this here, not in front of everyone.” He closed his eyes. His voice dropped to a whisper. “
I beg you
.”

His raw plea touched her in places that hadn’t seen the light of day in over a decade. It broke through a dam that had held back years of disappointments, regrets and frustrations. Tears filled her eyes.

“I’m okay, ma’am,” Dallas said. She blinked away the flood of feelings she wasn’t ready to face and flashed Brendan’s neighbor a bright smile. “We were just having a…um…discussion. Nothing to worry about, I assure you.”

“Well, don’t give in to him. Not one inch.” The lady shook her head and then wagged her finger in Brendan’s direction. “If he’s anything like my Chester, he’ll use whatever weapons he has available to get his way. I’m off to buy some eggs, because Chester wants an omelet.” She clucked her tongue. “It never ends, dear. Ah, but I love him and like him to think he’s got control every once and a while. So, if he wants an omelet, every now and again I’ll break down and make him one.”

“That’s sweet of you, Mrs.—”

“Thanes,” Brendan supplied. His voice was low, tight.

“Mrs. Thanes,” Dallas said, her smile blazing, though inside she was a tangle of confusion over Brendan’s odd mood. “I’ll be sure to remember your advice.”

* * * * *

Brendan slumped on the sofa and stared straight ahead. Dallas had followed him back inside. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, her hand still on the knob.

“I have trouble with public scenes,” he said. He sounded defeated. Beaten down. Everything about him felt so very different from the strong, confident Brendan who had taught her the fine art of the multiple orgasms.

“The people who raised me took pleasure in humiliating me in front of others.” His muscles were taut as he hunching in on himself as if trying to guard against a blow. “The more strangers they could get to watch—” he swallowed hard “—and participate, the more they enjoyed my mortification.”

She fought the urge to say something to fill the silence. His anguish weighed down the air in the room. It hurt her chest to breathe. More than anything else, she wanted to make things better for him. But he was remembering the past, and there was nothing she could do to help him with that.

“I was their pet.” His voice sounded flat. Hollow. “A thing. My emotions weren’t important. My mortification irrelevant.”

He blinked up at her. “I’ve never told anyone.” His cheeks darkened and he quickly looked away. “I had promised myself I’d never speak a word about what they did to me, how they’d tormented me to the brink of madness.”

She crossed the room and went down on her knees in front of him. Thinking only of him and his needs, she took his hands in hers and after uncurling his fingers from the tight fists they’d formed, kissed his scarred and beautiful knuckles, each one in turn.

“I’m honored that you trusted the truth with me, Brendan.” He tried to pull away. But she held on to his hands with all her strength. “No, please don’t shut me out.”

Though she could fight him physically and keep hold of his hands, she felt him slipping back behind his sarcastic, slightly crooked grin and self-depreciating shrug.

“You have one sick puppy on your hands, Dallas,” he said with a laugh. “Damaged goods. A cracked—”

She kissed him. This was one argument she didn’t plan to lose. She planned to kiss away his pain, to use her hands to soothe away his hurts.

He jerked back, fighting her until she lightly flicked her pink tongue over his sealed mouth. He growled and loosened his lips just enough for her to deepen her kiss.

At first it seemed as if he was surrendering to her and the passion she was offering. Soon, his movements turned more demanding. He wasn’t surrendering at all. With a frantic edge to his movements, he ripped off her sweater, tearing a seam.

He reached down the back of her jeans with one hand while stroking her through the front of her jeans with the other. Her body ignited for him. She whimpered and tossed her head back. His lips closed over her suddenly tight breast.

Her world spun. She eased his boxers down his hips and then tore off her own clothes as she fought to get closer to him. More than physical need drove her. She ached to soothe the injured soul who had suffered those unspeakable indignities. She wanted him to know that he mattered.
To her, he mattered.

Without asking her permission, he tied a velvet cord around her wrists, and tossing her to the floor he took the long dangling end of the cord and tethered her to the coffee table leg. The velvet tightly bound her hands together. It made her fingers tingle. She didn’t complain. The pain etched in his expression was reason enough to let him have this moment. To take, without having to worry about what it might cost him.

In that, she realized, they were the same. While she hadn’t been able to enjoy a man’s body because she’d been too afraid of being hurt, Brendan had kept himself from enjoying a woman’s love for the very same reason. Even when they were making love, he was giving everything and accepting very little.

They were a pair of broken hearts. Neither of them had been willing to take the risk.

This afternoon would be different. For him, she would risk everything. She was going to give herself and her heart to him unconditionally. She prayed it would be enough.

He spread her legs and pushed his long, thick cock into her until he was buried deep inside. No man had ever filled her so completely. Every time he entered her, his size surprised and thrilled her.

For several stuttering heartbeats, he remained absolutely still, staring into her eyes. His deep brown gaze touched her in ways she had never been touched before. His eyes spoke to her in a way she knew he would never be able to bring himself to say in words. It was as if he was still pleading with her. Begging her to listen to him…to value him.

“Yes, baby,” she whispered. “I desperately need you, too.”

His cock stirred inside her. She moaned with pleasure and angled her hips so she could take more of him.

His movements grew more frantic. He pumped into her. His hunger for her was overwhelming. She could taste his need as he made love to her not only with his cock but also with his tongue thrusting into her mouth. She was being filled on both ends. His hands roamed her body. His questing fingers knew the landscape. He lingered on spots that made her stomach quiver and teased her by avoiding her swollen clit until she was close to sobbing for release.

Only then did he touch her. She nearly shot off the floor, her cunt throbbing from the first of many orgasms. Over and over, he teased her. Keeping her aroused lips between her thighs hard, thick, and slick. It was almost as if he had used some sort of spell to keep her hovering at the edge of bliss, throbbing, screaming, and never letting her fully take the plunge. He wasn’t exactly human, after all. And neither was she.

They hadn’t discussed that part of their existence beyond his short explanation her first day at his apartment. She wasn’t sure what powers he possessed. The ability to torture her sexually was certainly a possibility.

She screamed as her soft nether lips pulsed and her womb throbbed as another orgasm filled her body and spilled out over the both of them. In that exhausted state of hanging on to the edge, unable to achieve bliss, she saw into his fractured soul. And she knew with crystal clarity that they belonged together. Though he was broken and scarred, there was nothing in him she needed to fear. They were two halves that would create a beautiful whole. He had the strength she lacked and she had the power to give him what they both desperately needed.