Claim (A Dangerous Man, #3) (8 page)

“Carole,” I say patiently, “Don’t act like we ever had a real commitment. I’m surprised you keep hanging on to a brief fling that happened a long time ago.”

“Well, I didn’t forget how good it was between us.” She states peevishly.

I start to shrug, but she steps towards me and pulls my face down towards her, kissing me. She’s holding on tightly to me. I don’t want to shove her, and it takes a while to extricate myself from her embrace.

I take a step back. “I don’t know what you’re trying to prove Carole, but it’s not working.”

She narrows her eyes. “Whatever, go back to that mewling baby you call a wife.” She shrugs. “I don’t care.”

I leave her there, intent on finding Sophie and leaving. I don’t expect to look for her everywhere and not find her. I don’t expect to call her cell phone over and over and get no answer. I don’t expect the fear that grips at my stomach when the guy at the front desk tells me he called a cab for someone who fits her description.

I can’t get to the apartment fast enough. I don’t know why Sophie’s left but my worst fears are realized when I find her in the apartment, in our room, packing her bags, her face stained with tears.

She is really leaving me this time.

I feel like something is squeezing my chest. It’s suddenly very difficult to breathe. I have been dreading this for weeks, with a certainty that one day she would decide that she made a mistake and leave.

One day. But not today, not so soon.

I want to beg her not to leave, desperation clouds my thoughts, and I feel like a little boy again, throwing myself at my mother, begging her not to leave.

I take a deep breath. “What are you doing?” I ask Sophie, my voice calm, masking the mounting apprehension beneath.

“What does it look like?” She doesn’t even stop to look at me.

I swallow the angry words threatening to come out of my mouth. “I left you for a few moments at a party, and now you’re leaving me?”

“You left me for far longer than a few minutes, to make out with your old girlfriend.” Her voice catches as she speaks. She pauses and swallows, then goes back to her packing.

Silently I damn Carole and myself... mainly myself. This is all my fault. With the realization comes a blinding anguish.

“So now you’re running off back to Ashford,” I lash out before I can stop myself. “Tell me, is it Eddie Newton who’s going to be picking up the pieces of your broken heart, or will it be somebody else?”

“What do you care?” She chokes out the words.

I care. I care so much I feel as if my senses are being obliterated. “For God’s sake, Sophie!”

She steps away from me, as if I’ve threatened her. “Let me go.” She whispers almost inaudibly. “I don’t belong here, in this big apartment, or in your luxurious life, and we both know it.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.”

She sniffs and looks up at me. “David, do you love me?”

I stiffen, looking from her face to the bags on the bed and back again, I don’t want to deal with her question. I can’t, not now, not yet.

“What’s come over you?” I ask, eager to steer the conversation in another direction.

It doesn’t work. “Do you love me, David?” She asks again.

I turn away from her. “What do you want from me?” I’m not a man who loves. I know what she’s asking me. She’s asking if I’m willing to open myself up to hurt, to betrayal.

I’m not.

“You don’t love me do you?” She states softly, with the wounded expression of someone hearing the confirmation of something they already knew.

I scramble in my head for something to say. “Love isn’t all it’s cracked up to be Sophie.” I say finally. “Other people would take what they have and be grateful for it.”

“And what do I have?” She asks accusingly, “tell me the truth David. Why did you marry me?”

How could I not? How do I tell her about the lust that drove me to claim her body, the possessiveness that made me tie her to me, and the desire now to have not only that body, but also everything that comes with it?

She took my body prisoner that first day. There was no way I could have left her in Ashford. No matter the reasons I’ve given myself for marrying her, it was because I knew even then, that I wanted her forever.

And I still do.

I can’t let her go.

I reach for her, my eyes never leaving hers as I run my fingers down her arm. Her lips tremble softly as she shivers.

She can’t hide her reaction to my touch. “Because of that.” I tell her. If we have nothing else, we have that. The pleasure we find in each other’s arms.

I continue to explore her body, drawing out the reactions I know she can’t conceal. Feeling her tremble beneath my fingers, I lean closer to whisper in her ear. “Because of this, Sophie. This is what we have between us.”

“This is only sex.” She says shakily. “We have nothing.”

What we have is enough, and I’ll be damned if I don’t make her accept that.

I know how to make her light up, and as I touch her, I can feel her resistance crumbling.

“Is this nothing, Sophie?” I whisper, letting my breath warm her ear. I hear her ragged sigh, the shaky explosion of breath. “Don’t you want this Sophie?” I continue, “Don’t you want me to touch you? To make love to you, over and over again?” I kiss her neck exactly where I know she likes. “Isn’t it enough?”

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Don’t lie to yourself? Sophie, what else is there?” My fingers are busy, undressing her. I let her dress fall to the ground, exposing her flushed skin. I continue to tease her, touching her lightly, until I know she is aching for more

She is begging me with her eyes and body to make love to her, but it’s not enough. I want her complete capitulation. I want to hear her say it.

“What do you want Sophie?”

She doesn’t reply. She’s panting softly, her breasts heaving, her lips parted. She wants this. I squeeze her firm breasts through her bra, gently, the way I know she likes, and she lets out a soft moan.

“Isn’t this enough?” I ask again.

She shakes her head again.

I sigh, undoing her bra and freeing her breasts. Deep down I know that what I’m doing is despicable, but I’m used to fighting with all my weapons, and I’m used to fighting to win.

I undress quickly. When I’m naked, I guide her hand to my aching erection. She gets on her knees, stroking me lightly with her fingers, then she takes me in her mouth. I groan, almost losing my head to the pleasure. But this is not what I want. I want to feel her tighten around me, I want to hear her moan from the pleasure I give her. I want her to lose her head. I want her to accept that she’s mine, only mine.

I lift her up to her feet and position her over the bed, with her perfect backside facing me. I stroke her with eager fingers, feeling how wet she is through the silk of her panties.

She clenches around my fingers. “Please.” Her voice is a plea. “Please David.”

“Tell me what you want.”

“Please,” She moans.

“Tell me.”

“I want you.” She admits, her voice hoarse, telling me with words what her body is already saying very loudly.

“You want what?” I insist.

“I want you to make love to me. David, please.”

Pulling down her panties, I spread her legs wider and enter her slowly, drawing out each movement, teasing her. She tightens around me, pulsing, hot and so incredible sweet. I hold on to her hips and drive in deep. She lets out a long sigh as I pull out and drive in again. I press her body to mine, thrusting in and out, over and over again, drawing my pleasure from the sounds of her moans, the heat of her skin, from her tightness clenched around me. When she comes, I can barely hold myself back.

“Isn’t this enough?” I ask again as her body shudders, then stills.

She doesn’t say anything. I want her to accept it, that what we have is more than any desire for love, or whatever she thinks she feels. Love is an illusion, a weakness.

She’s still sensitive when I start to move again, her low moans fill the room, her body is shaking, slick with sweat. I feel her insides pulse around me again and again, but still I don’t stop. I don’t stop until she agrees that what we have is enough.

“Don’t mistake what we have.” I tell her, when I’m able to catch my breath, “and don’t underestimate it either.”

“And what about Carole?” She retorts, an edge of pain in her voice. “What do you two have?”

I have already inferred that she must have seen me with Carole on the balcony, but that can’t be all. “Is that what this is all about? Carole? Did she say something to you?”

“You used her, just like you’re using me.” Her eyes are accusing. “You wanted the shares she had in your company.”

“And she threatened to sell them to the man who wanted to take over my company, if I didn’t marry her.” I shrug. “A man she was sleeping with I might add, along with a few others.”

She stares at me. No doubt, she has convinced herself that Carole is some innocent victim of my cruelty. “You’re just saying that.” She says finally.

I laugh humorlessly. “Maybe you should try to get your information accurate before you start throwing accusations.”

“It doesn’t make any difference.” She says resolutely. “Even if she did all those things, it doesn’t change the fact that you don’t love me. I’m just the girl who was stupid enough to marry you so you could teach your ex-girlfriend a lesson.” She gets up from the bed. “I can’t take it David.”

I watch her put on a robe and fasten the zippers of the bags she has packed. “What are you doing?” I ask, although I know, I know that I haven’t managed to convince her to stay. Apparently, sex is not enough for her.

“I am leaving.”

My throat thickens as I try to fight the desperation rising like bile in my throat, “Don’t threaten me.” I say, getting off the bed.

“Why not?” She flings each word at me. “Will you marry someone else to teach me a lesson?”

“Don’t test me Sophie.” I reach for her. God! I want to beg, but somehow I can’t find the words.

She ignores my touch.

“Fine.” I turn away. “Do whatever you like. Go back to Ashford. I’m sure your little boyfriend will be more than eager to find you a place in his bed.” I snort with derision. “But while you’re at it, you might want to ask yourself why you married me.”

She looks like she can’t believe what I just said. “I love you.” Her voice breaks on the words and my chest clenches.

She loves me. Even in her pain, she loves me.

I almost back down, but she’s already cast me in the role of the villain, and that is a role I know how to play.

I laugh mockingly. “What love? Did you fall in love with some stranger you barely knew Sophie, just because he asked you out to dinner. Get real sweetheart, this has always been about sex.”

“Not for me.” She argues, tears in her eyes.

“Then you’re a liar as well as a fool.”

“I hate you,” her voice is low but decisive. “I hope I never have to see you again. Carole was right about you. You use people, and when you’re done with them, you toss them away like rubbish. You’re not worthy of my love.”

Each word pierces me like a barb, because I know she’s right. I turn away from her. “Do whatever you want Sophie.”

I’m so angry, with her, with myself. I can’t even bring myself to look at her, because I know I’ve just ruined the best thing that’s ever happened in my miserable life.

I can’t sleep. I spend the night in my study because I can’t bear to sleep on our bed alone. I’m assaulted by unfamiliar emotions, loneliness, heartache, pain... I don’t want her to leave. I won’t be able to bear it. As soon as morning comes, I go to her. I’ll do anything she wants, and if it’s not enough, then I’ll leave, if that’s what she wants, if she hates me that much.

I open the door to the guest room where she spent the night, and see her body stiffen on the bed. She lies still, pretending to be asleep. Words fill my head, but I can’t bring myself to say anything. After a few minutes, I leave her lying there. I’ve always known that I didn’t deserve her. Now she knows it too.

I give Mrs. Daniels the day off, sure that Sophie would want to be alone to do whatever she’s decided. Downstairs, I instruct Steve to take her wherever she wants to go.

Leaving me is probably what’s best for her. She deserves better than an empty carcass with a barely beating heart. She deserves a man who’ll love her, everything about her, and never hesitate to announce it to her, and to the world.

I just wish I could be that man.

Sophie

I
always thought of love as a beautiful feeling, and it is, when you’re happy. When you’re sad, it’s a monster that tears at your insides, until the pain spreads to every part of you, until you just want to be numb, to lose the ability to feel, to ever feel again.

I have no clear idea where exactly I’m going when I leave the apartment. I just know that I can’t stay there anymore. I feel humiliated and empty. Each memory of last night is like a raw wound in my mind. I remember every hurtful word David said to me as clearly as if I can still hear them. I can’t believe that he would use my body’s need for him to prove his point.

That our marriage is nothing, only sex.

How could I have been so stupid? I was so desperate for him to love me that I ignored all the signs that he didn’t. I lied to myself because I wanted to belong to someone, to be happy for the first time in my life.

“Isn’t this enough Sophie?”

His taunting words resound in my ears, and the memories of my easy capitulation make me cringe. I hate him, but I hate myself more.

Thankfully, Mrs. Daniels isn’t in the apartment. I’m glad that I don’t have to face her. I don’t want to face anyone. I feel like a failure, a fraud who attempted to take something that didn’t belong to her in the first place. I just want to go silently. I take the service elevator to the ground floor, leaving the building through the service entrance. This way there’s no chance of running into Steve outside, or seeing the curious looks of the doorman.

The service entrance leads unto a side street. Outside it’s clear and sunny. On the worst day of my life, the weather chooses to be perfect.