A shiver of fear ran through her, surrounded by all that heat, all that male power.
But his mouth, when he lowered it to hers, was achingly gentle. He traced his tongue over the seam of her lips and she sighed shakily, letting him push his tongue inside her mouth. A rough groan rumbled out of his chest, the vibration of it tightening her nipples and making her belly clench.
“You’re so damned sweet,” he muttered, drawing back and staring down at her. Thick black hair tumbled into his eyes as he stared down her, the lean planes of his face hungry and intent, dark flags of color high on his cheeks.
She tried to look away, but his hand caught her chin and lifted her face back to his. “Mine,” he said gutturally, and she shivered at the possessive, rapacious look in his eyes. His eyes stared into hers as he cupped her face, pressing a gentle kiss to her brow, moving down to buss her lips gently. “My every desire… You are all of that, and more.”
The gentleness in his voice, the sincerity of his words made her head spin. Damn it, it had been too long since she had dealt with these kinds of emotions. Not just interest, but need, coupled with a need to please as well as be pleased.
All she knew how to handle anymore was fear. Tracy was so damned tired of being afraid.
She swallowed and moved her hands to his chest, gliding them down and reaching for the buckle of his belt. As she unfastened it, she heard his rough gasp. Behind her, she could almost feel the hot, heavy breaths of Vincent as he watched them.
Blocking Vincent out of her mind, she focused on the goal. That was how she survived. Focusing on the goal. Right now, it was making sure that Joel was pleased with her. If she made him angry…Vincent would make her pay. If she disappointed him, Vincent would make her pay.
So she did what she guessed was expected, and unzipped his slacks.
The hard, heavy length of his cock jerked as she freed him, the ruddy head already glistening with moisture. Tracy swallowed as she reached out, capturing that bead of moisture and slicking it over the head of his cock. His sex bobbed under her touch and she started to jerk her hand back at the sudden movement, only to have Joel close his hand over her wrist, guiding her back to him. He pumped his hips against her hand and she automatically closed her fingers around him, staring at him with wide eyes as he started to shudder.
His eyes met hers and she looked away, nervous, embarrassed. Staring at his cock seemed a little safer, oddly enough, than staring into those hungry eyes. Another drop of moisture seeped from him and unconsciously, she licked her lips as she watched it roll down the crown of his cock.
As she started to sink to her knees, she heard Vincent, his voice harsh and raspy, as he said, “Suck on his dick, Trace. Tell me how it feels.”
Tracy’s face flushed, blood roaring in her ears so loudly that she barely heard Joel snarl at Vincent. “Shut the fuck up. You want to watch, I don’t give a damn. But stop talking.”
His hands caught her hair and he forced her face back up to his, shaking his head. “No, Tracy,” he murmured. “Just what you want…” but she ignored him.
Focus on the goal…focus…focus…it had been her mantra for so long, but rarely had the path to the goal caused such urges to arise within her.
As she closed her lips around the fat head of his cock, she was startled at the hot, hungry urges that suddenly flooded her.
This wasn’t the first time she’d given a blowjob. Vincent liked it when she sucked him off…it was the only thing she could do that he actually enjoyed without having to hit her. But she’d never enjoyed doing it before. Never…the rush of heat that hit her belly as she slowly pumped her head up and down was foreign. She sucked on him, moaning softly at the hot, rich taste of his skin, the way he jerked in her mouth and the soft, almost ecstatic moans that slid from him.
“Tracy…”
She continued moving, reaching up with one hand to wrap her fingers around the base of his cock. He was so wide that it stretched her mouth to suck on him. Wet, slurping noises filled the air and part of her realized how frantic her movements had become.
His cock jerked again in her mouth, but then her mouth and her hands were empty and she felt as though she was flying through the air. His hands closed around her, lifting her up and planting her naked ass on the waist high garden wall. A soft hungry moan escaped her and she didn’t even realize she was reaching for him until he caught her hands and moved them down, holding them flat against the stone upon which she sat. “Fuck, Tracy…” he muttered, staring down at her, his chest heaving up and down. “Look at me. Listen…he doesn’t exist right now. You do what you want, not what he expects of you.”
But she had been. Licking her lips, she tried to find her voice, but she couldn’t speak.
She was too damned hungry for him. All that escaped her was a soft, hungry little moan, and when Joel heard it, his eyes narrowed and he hissed.
His hands let go of her wrists and he pushed her thighs apart. She was dimly aware that he stared at her as he sank to his knees in front of her. Tracy’s head was still reeling, her mouth watering for another taste of him, and nothing she saw made any sense. She couldn’t focus…had to focus… had to…
But then he put his mouth on her. She was wet. Oh, shit. Wet…aroused…she hadn’t actually wanted a man’s touch in what seemed like forever and when he slid his tongue over her clit, she exploded, her fingers buried in the thick black curls of his hair, and she screamed.
He drew the tender little bud into his mouth and pumped two fingers inside of her as she climaxed, and another one hit even before the first one had ended. He groaned against the mound of her sex and the vibration of it had her shivering.
“You’re sweet,” he muttered, pulling back just a little as he pushed her thighs wider apart and shifted his angle.
Then he plunged his tongue inside her core, fucking it in and out. Her eyes flew wide, one leg coming up to hook over his shoulder and hold him tightly against her.
She came again and again as he feasted on her pussy and by the time he rose, she was limp and exhausted, staring at him with huge dark eyes, her mind clouded, her body one big ache of satisfaction.
But he wasn’t done.
He reached for the pants that he had kicked off at some point and she watched dully as he donned a rubber. Blood rushed to her face as she caught sight of Vincent standing to the side—staring at them. He was masturbating, his pants unzipped, cock out, his hand pumping up and down his length while he watched them greedily.
“Stop,” Joel whispered, catching her face. “Don’t look at him. Look at me…you’re mine now. He knows this…and you will, too, soon enough.”
As he moved between her thighs, she stared up at him, her gaze held captive by his as he slowly pushed inside her. “You’re so damned sweet,” he grunted. “So tight.”
He was stretching her—but oh, it was glorious. Tracy whimpered in his arms as he pulled out and slowly worked a little more of his cock inside her. “Am I hurting you?” he rasped.
Soundlessly, she mouthed, “No,” as her head fell back, limp. Her flesh was slicked with sweat and as he buried his cock completely inside her, he brought her fully against him, his chest rubbing against the tight buds of her nipples.
“Good…this sweet little pussy won’t ever feel pain again,” he crooned as he pulled out, surging back inside her with just a little more force. “Say my name, Tracy…I want to hear you scream it as you come again.”
“Joel,” she whispered automatically, her eyes closing. She didn’t see the look of disappointment that crossed his face as she arched against him.
She was tight, slick, hotter than anything, so hot she burned him even through the thin barrier of the rubber. He hated that latex barrier—soon, soon, he’d fuck her without a barrier. Feel the silken, slick skin of her pussy clenching around his dick…damn it, he couldn’t wait. His balls drew tight against him with the thought and he gritted his teeth as he fought not to come.
Not yet.
He wanted her to scream out his name because she couldn’t help it…not because a man had ordered her to, and she was too afraid not to obey. No more. He wouldn’t see fear in her eyes again.
Cupping one slender thigh, he drew it up over his hip as he circled against her, smiling painfully as she gasped out a startled “Oh”. Aware that her bastard of a husband was still watching, he lowered his head, keeping his voice low as he crooned against her ear, “I’ve been dreaming of this…dreaming of the day I’d get you in my arms, when I could bury my dick inside your sweet little pussy, your body moving against mine. The dreams don’t even come close…this is the closest to heaven I’m ever going to get.”
She shivered as he spoke and the snug little sheath of her pussy started to flex around him. He watched as those pretty, dove gray eyes darkened. When she came, she opened her mouth and breathlessly screamed out his name. A hot blaze of satisfaction rolled through as she climaxed, his name falling from her lips a second time, her eyes wide and dazed. As she shuddered against him, he exploded inside of her, roaring out her name as vicious, gut-wrenching need tore through him.
Everything around him faded away, and for a few minutes, he was aware of nothing more than her—her gasping cries, the way she shivered against him, the way her pussy flexed and squeezed around his cock.
Just her…
* * * * *
It had worked.
Joel still couldn’t believe it, damn near two weeks later as he lay behind Tracy, his cock cuddled against her ass while she slept peacefully in his arms. Vincent had come into the room again, watching them.
Tracy had seen him and froze, but Joel had simply eased her back onto the bed and moved down her body, kissing his way down until he sprawled between her legs and used his mouth on her.
She loved that. A slow, sad smile curved his mouth. He understood why—Vincent’s only pleasure in her body was when he could hurt it.
Stroking his hand up and down the smooth skin of her hip, he pressed his lips to her shoulder. “Not anymore, Tracy,” he promised. “Not anymore.”
Vincent had fucked up. A man never gave away his greatest asset so easily, so blindly. Maybe Vincent hadn’t realized how much Joel had wanted her.
His every desire…
Those words echoed through his head and he buried his face in her hair.
In his arms, he held what his heart had desired for years. He just hoped that once he was done with what he had to do, he could keep her.
But even through the satisfaction, and the slightly dismayed awe that he had for her, he was afraid.
Before, if he had fucked up and ended up dead, it would be only be his life that was lost.
But now—if he messed up now, if Grainger somehow figured out who he was, Joel would pay.
And so would Tracy.
Chapter Two
Tracy shook her head as Joel repeated himself. “Divorce him. File for divorce. I’ll come with you. Then I’ll take you home with me. He won’t hurt you.”
“I can’t,” she said softly, shaking her head again. She still couldn’t fathom it—even though she was still trapped, the same way she had been before, she was happy.
At least, happier than she had been in a very long time.
Vincent never touched her anymore. Hardly ever spoke to her. And Joel was always there, it seemed, pampering her, coddling her, taking care of her.
And now he was offering yet more protection—he could. He could protect her from Vincent, was possibly the only person who could.
But she couldn’t risk it—not yet.
As though he was following her silent train of thought, he asked, “Why not?” As he took her hand, he sat down on the rock-strewn beach, tugging her down until she cuddled on his lap. As he wrapped his arms around her, she rested her cheek on his chest, listening to the steady sound of his heartbeat.
“I can’t, Joel. He’s told me what will happen if I ever try to leave…and I’ve tried. But the last time…”
Joel knew about the last time. She’d ended up in the hospital with a broken jaw. That had been seven months ago, two months before he’d made his decision and told Vincent that he wanted his wife. And for five months, he’d had her. And she hadn’t been hurt, not once.
Surprisingly though, he was. Hurt that she wouldn’t leave her husband for him. Even though he understood how afraid she was.
“I won’t let him hurt you, Tracy,” he whispered against her brow, hugging her fiercely.
“I know.” She drew back a little, and Joel felt his heart clench as she stared up at him with those big gray eyes, her soft, blonde, tousled locks framing her elfin features. “It’s not me I’m worried about.” She swallowed and he watched, rage already brewing inside him. What had Vincent told her?
“Last time I tried to leave him, he sent a man to my mom’s house. While she was sleeping, the man raped Mama’s nurse. And he told me next time, he’d find somebody who liked them old and feeble.”
Joel clenched his jaw, fighting back the need to bellow out the rage inside him. Quietly, he said, “I can take care of your mama, Tracy. And you. I don’t want you living in that house anymore.”
As she tucked her head under his chin again, he felt his hopes die. But then, an insane delight ripped through him as she murmured, “Let me think about it, Joel. Okay? Just let me think…”
He was silent for a few minutes, his head whirling with thoughts. Over the past few months, he had been making moves that would eventually bring Vincent’s world crashing down around him.
Soon, Joel knew, he would have to make the final move. Reveal his hand, so to speak.
When that happened, information he had been gathering would be in the hands of people who desperately wanted to bring Grainger down. Letters, memos, videotapes that Grainger was completely ignorant off, all of which would be sent to the New York City DA, the FBI, and every major news station.
Grainger would have no place to turn. Too many of the people he’d walked on to get where he was would only laugh if he tried to get help. He’d be alone—and that was exactly how Joel wanted him.
He wanted the bastard to feel alone, helpless.