Ultimate Surrender (11 page)

S
eeing
Damien always left him scrambled, but Lucian knew the coils of tension in his body had little to do with his brother and more to do with the woman who waited for him in his home.

The ride felt interminable, but when Lucian opened his condo door and found Cassandra standing at the patio windows, time stopped. This was where he should be, who he should be with. He closed and locked the door behind him and then let the frenzied need for her take over.

“Lucian—”

She cut off when Lucian slammed his lips against hers, kissing her hard but without even a fraction of the emotion he felt. As he kissed her, he pulled her clothes away and guided them toward the bedroom. Cassandra quickly began removing his clothes as he did hers, and by the time they reached the bedroom, they were both completely naked.

He wanted her, but he paused long enough to clumsily roll the latex over his shaft. Then he pulled her on top of him and bracketed her legs around his waist. They stayed that way for a moment, his hardness against her slick sex, her full, ripe breasts within kissing distance.

Deciding that was an excellent idea, he leaned forward and closed his lips around one of her tight, protruding nipples and pulled hard, sucking the hard nub of flesh between his lips. Cassandra arched her back, which fed more of her sweet flesh into his mouth.

He sucked hard again and she moaned, the sweet sound, the feeling of her hands roaming over his chest, then lower, only increasing his need. When she gripped his cock, it was his turn to moan, and he did, releasing her breast with a wet-sounding
pop
.

Eyes glittering, Cassandra squeezed him tighter and began to rock her hips, brushing the tip of his cock against her slick lips, her low breaths, the little smile that played on her lips showing her pleasure.

When she settled his cock against her opening, Lucian took over. He anchored his hands on her hips, the generous flesh warm against his palms but not nearly as warm as her heated core.

Lucian thrust up, cock barely breaching her, but the barest feel of her silken walls against his cock was so intense, he tightened his hold on her. When she dropped her hips, taking him in another inch, he lost the last strands of his control. Hands tight on her hips, he pushed inside her, entering her in one unyielding thrust.

She clamped her walls down around him, squeezing him so tight, he again cried out. Her tight cunt around him, her warm, soft body above him, were better than anything he’d ever felt, and he wanted to stay this way forever.

Which wasn’t possible, not with Cassandra atop him, riding him, her passion matching his own.

Desperate to hold out, but not sure if he could, he reached between their bodies and teased his thumb along her hard clit, allowing himself a moment’s smile at her sharp inhale. She clenched around him again and squeezed his shoulder, and at the contact, Lucian’s cock hardened and jerked inside her. He pinched her clit and she cried out her pleasure, her body fluttering in time with her climax.

They stayed connected until Lucian softened and pulled out of her. He discarded the latex and then returned to her, and when Lucian lay against her, she immediately curled against his side, her presence giving him an uncommon peace.

“How is he?” she asked a few minutes later as she lay with her body against his side, lazily brushing her fingers against his chest.

Lucian exhaled and then glanced at her and saw the knowing expression on her face. “How did you know?” he asked.

“Damien has a certain effect on people,” she said, laughing lightly though there was hardly any humor in the sound.

“He didn’t used to,” Lucian said, giving voice to some of the sadness he felt.

“No, he didn’t,” she replied.

“He’s…not well,” Lucian said.

“I know. But don’t give up on him. He’ll fight back,” she said, her voice laced with iron certainty.

A certainty Lucian wished he shared with her, but at least Damien still had people in his corner, good people like Cassandra. Speaking of…

“How are you?” he said, changing the subject.

She moved away quickly, putting space between them, though she made no move to get out of bed.

“I’m fine,” she said, the eagerness and excitement of earlier gone.

He moved to close the distance between them, put his arms around her and pulled her body to his, the faint restlessness he’d felt instantly gone when Cassandra was again in his arms. “Yeah, fine. You’re sticking to ‘fine’?”

She nodded. “I am.”

He looked at her and stared, searching her face. Maybe there were a few more shadows around her eyes, but her expression was serene; it was Cassandra.

“Okay. But I’d like you to stay for a while longer,” he said.

Her eyes narrowed slightly but then she said, “Why?”

Were he telling the truth, he would say because he’d gotten used to her, couldn’t imagine a day without her in his life, a night without her in his bed. But he didn’t. Instead, he went with the easier answer. “I want to finish looking into Tammy’s background before you go home,” he said.

“Is there something to worry about?” she asked.

“I don’t think so, but I want to know everything. We’ve hit a couple of roadblocks, but Seth is going to chase down everything. Until then, you’re with me. You good with that?” he said.

“I’m good with that,” she said.

They sat silent for a moment and then she turned her lips up and locked eyes with him again.

“So when will Seth get back to you?” she said.

“Tomorrow, hopefully,” he replied.

“That means we have time?”

“Time for what?”

She pushed him back and then straddled him, and then began to kiss her way down his chest. Lucian responded immediately, his cock beginning to harden.

She moved lower until she hovered just above his stiffening shaft, her lips close but not touching, her breath warm against his skin.

“Time for this,” she said as she leaned forward and slid her tongue along one of the veins that outlined his shaft.

He was fully erect by the time she circled her tongue around the crown of his cock, and when she closed her lips around him, all thought fled.

A
little over a week later
, Cassandra roamed the halls of Silver Industries, headed to the break room.

Things at work were slowly getting back to normal, and that included working hard and drinking her tea far later than she should have been. She’d seen Lucian almost every day, though not today yet. He’d given her the clear to go home, so she’d spent the last three nights back in her house, in her big, lonely bed. Odd how quickly she had acclimated to having Lucian around, how positively bizarre it was to be without him.

But she hadn’t talked to him about it, deciding instead to simply let it play out.

And she was fine with that for the moment.

What had happened with Tammy had taught her she could relax, let what would come come, and trust herself to deal with it. So she hadn’t been in any real rush to clarify things with Lucian, no rush to define them, and she contented herself with the status quo.

She turned in to the break room and headed directly to the machine, attention completely focused. As she prepared her drink, she felt a tingle at the back of her neck, and she smiled before she even turned. She recognized that feeling, the one that he sparked even when she wasn’t consciously aware he was in the room.

But what her conscious mind didn’t know, her body seemed to and she felt alive, abuzz with his presence.

She turned and looked toward the door as he turned the corner and walked into the room, getting close enough to her that she could see the faint stubble on his cheek, smell his masculine scent.

“You were looking for me earlier?” he said.

She’d gone in search of him this morning and hadn’t found him, but left a message with Sloan to find him. That had been hours ago, but he was here now. She smiled, deciding to take care of business first, then pleasure later.

“I needed you to sign—”

Her words were cut off by the hard press of his lips against hers.

He kissed her in that way she had never experienced with anyone but had come to crave. His mouth moving over hers possessively, strongly, kissing her like he had every right to. That kiss, the rightness of Lucian touching her, was like a deep sigh, one that set all in the world as it should be.

When he broke away, he looked down at her with almost hazy eyes, and then in the next moment she didn’t see him anymore and was instead staring at the glass-front cabinets. She reached out to grip the smooth marble countertops to balance herself and let her eyes drift close as she felt him press against her.

“I think you were looking for this,” he said, his breath a whisper against her ear, his deep voice warm, prickling her skin.

As he spoke, he had one hand anchored against her hip, the heavy weight of his palm pressing against her. And soon that pressure was matched as he anchored his other hand on the opposite side and then pulled her hips toward him, molding her ass against the hardness of his cock.

He kept one hand on her hip and let the other roam down her form and across her thighs as he rocked his hips against her.

Without conscious thought, she gripped the countertop tighter and then spread her thighs, giving him permission and access, both of which he took advantage of.

He lifted his hand and began to work her skirt up and over her hips.

As a part of her newfound freedom, Cassandra had eschewed pantyhose today, and for that she would be eternally grateful.

As the cool air brushed against her thighs, she shivered, and that shiver intensified when the coolness was replaced by even cooler air when he pushed her panties aside and then scorching heat when his hand touched her skin. Cassandra cried out at the weight of Lucian’s palm against her sex, fingers pressing into her, her pussy lips sticky with the wetness that flowed from her freely.

“Yeah,” he said, breath again coming out against her ear, “this was what you needed.”

As he spoke, he moved his fingers back and forth across her labia, and then once her lips were soaked, he pushed his finger to part them slightly.

She stood a little taller on her tiptoes and exhaled deeply at the first touch of his blunt fingers so close to her core, but then she gripped the counter even tighter as he stroked along, toying with her pussy at a leisurely pace that only intensified her need.

His cock throbbed consistently against her ass, but he didn’t seem hurried, and instead barely explored her sex with his fingers, his breath harsh against her ear as he flicked her clit and then coated his finger with her juices and finally inserted one, then the other, pushing him inside of her with short, hard thrusts.

She clamped down on him automatically, the fullness nothing compared to what she would feel when his cock was inside her, something she hoped to happen soon, but still pleasurable nonetheless.

When he pulled his fingers out, she moaned her disappointment, but the sound died in her throat as he quickly pushed her panties down until they fell around her ankles. The next moment she heard the sound of his belt opening and then felt his hardness as he pushed it between her thighs.

At the touch of his hardness against her soaking-wet sex, she cried out, reached behind her, groping for him, groping for anything. He paused for a moment, interlaced his fingers with hers, and then he moved their hands up and pushed hers back against the counter.

She returned the grip and then focused on the feeling of his skin against hers, the sensation more intimate than almost any they had shared before.

For a fleeting moment, she wanted him to push himself inside her, wanted to feel him with no barrier, but in the next moment he was gone.

Cassandra heard the rip of foil and then felt him probing at her entrance with his latex-covered hardness.

She spread her thighs wider, and in the next moment he reached for her, grabbed one of her hands with one of his, and entwined their fingers.

With their fingers entwined, not an inch between their bodies, he pushed himself inside her.

Full, almost overflowing, but the slight discomfort of his entry soon faded, became nothing but an insistent pounding of pleasure as he moved inside her.

He moved with a purpose, his thrusts needy, insistent, almost bordering on urgent, an urgency she understood. She was already teetering on the precipice, but his hands atop hers, his cock inside her, pushed her over, and after a few more short thrusts, she came on a harsh breath.

Lucian stayed inside her, thrusting for a few seconds longer and then followed, sighing out his own climax on a low breath.

They stayed connected, his fingers entwined with hers, her body resting against his for several moments until he finally broke away. She was sad at the loss of the contact, but also felt warmed when he lifted her panties and returned her skirt to its original location and then capped his actions with a soft kiss on her neck.

When she turned, she looked into his dark eyes, saw the satisfaction on his face that she knew was on hers.

“I’d actually wanted to harass you to sign those papers, but that’s a good second place,” she said.

He smiled quickly and then said, “Come to my place tonight.”

She nodded, smiled. Then she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

T
he next morning
, Lucian pulled out of his parking garage and began the familiar trek to his family’s old home. He’d quickly check on Damien and then go to the office. Cassandra was still inside his apartment, and it had been nearly impossible for Lucian to leave her. He had, though, because he had work to finish, work he knew wouldn’t get done if he stayed with Cassandra.

As he pushed his SUV down the highway, a little over the speed limit but not as fast as he wanted, he let his mind wander. It landed on the woman he hoped would be waiting for him when he returned home. Cassandra meant more to him than he could really express, and they needed to have a talk about where they stood, where they hoped to take this thing.

There was something else, though.

Anxiousness he didn’t really understand crawled at the base of his skull, a feeling of unease that had been there since Cassandra had called him from the café. He tried to tell himself it was simply a comedown from the fear of losing her, but something still didn’t sit right with him.

They’d gone through Tammy’s background, found the small house she’d been living in, and all they had found confirmed that she’d been obsessed with Cassandra for years.

It had been so easy.

Too easy, to Lucian’s mind.

He hadn’t seen Tammy, but there was no doubt that she was profoundly mentally ill. So much so, it was impossible for Lucian to imagine how she’d survived all those years on her own. But she had, or at least she’d seemed to.

He punched the Bluetooth connect button on his steering wheel.

“What?” Adam said gruffly.

“Glad you’re still your usual sunny self, Adam,” Lucian said, allowing himself a moment to laugh.

“Can I help you with something, boss?” he said.

“You have the file on hand?”

“Cassandra’s crazy lab partner? It’s right here. What am I looking for?” Adam said.

“Not certain, but something’s not sitting right,” he said.

“I’m getting that feeling too,” Adam said. “It’s feeling a little neat, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Lucian said somewhat distantly. “What’s picking at you?”

“The ever-eager Seth was looking back through the records and found a couple more things that looked like they were worth investigating.”

“Things like what?” Lucian said, hitting the gas a little bit harder unconsciously before easing off it.

“I find it suspect that good old Tammy was capable of staying off the radar so long,” he said.

“This is going somewhere,” Lucian said, certain it was.

“You familiar with America’s New Dawn?”

He was. They’d reached their pinnacle during the militia craze in the nineties, using rhetoric and politics to front what had ultimately been a standard gun-and-drug-smuggling ring.

“Yeah, I know them. Didn’t they splinter, with most of the leadership getting killed or sent to prison?” Lucian asked.

“They did. In particular, one Wayland Lee Miller.”

“Tammy’s father?” Lucian said.

“Bingo. Presumed dead in a shoot-out and subsequent fire,” Adam said.

“Presumed,” Lucian said.

“Not a comforting word, right?” Adam said.

“Nope,” Lucian said, anxiety flaring. He needed certainty, or as much as he could where Cassandra was concerned, and he’d get it.

“Wayland’s death occurred on poor Tammy’s twelfth birthday. Apparently lost two of her brothers in the fire, which only left her with two,” Adam said.

“This fire happened the year before she was institutionalized?”

“Eleven months.”

“And those two other brothers?”

“One’s dead, arms deal gone bad. The other is enjoying an extended stay in Supermax,” Adam said.

“So what else?” Lucian said, knowing there had to be more.

“Well, Wayland was a busy guy. He had yet another son with a young lady who happened not to be his wife.”

“Another Miller,” Lucian said, his stomach dropping.

“Yep. Went to foster care, apparently. No real intel on him since 2005.”

“And you think he was in contact with Tammy?”

“Don’t know. But it would explain a lot, and I figure it’s worth tracking down. I don’t like loose ends,” Adam said.

“Me either. Find him,” Lucian said, his voice far more calm than he felt.

The steel vise around his stomach tightened, but he pushed it aside. Now wasn’t the time to lose it—he’d hold it together until he saw her. Lucian looked out of the rearview mirror and felt that band tighten.

“Fuck,” Lucian muttered.

“Silver?” Adam’s tone had taken on a questioning edge, but Lucian could barely pay attention.

He was too focused on the blue lights that lit up his rearview mirror.

“Get someone on Cassandra. I’ll call you back,” he said.

Then he disconnected and slowly pulled over, doing everything in his power not to curse this turn of events.

Fuck, but he did not need this, he thought. He stayed calm. It was a temporary delay, and one of the guys would be with Cassie until he got there.

He reached into his glove compartment, making sure he moved slowly, and retrieved his registration and insurance information.

He’d be nice, this would be over in a few minutes, and then he’d be on his way.

He didn’t get that chance.

“Step out of the vehicle with your hands interlaced behind your head.”

The loud voice came over the speaker, authoritative, and far more intense than it should’ve been given what was simply a routine traffic stop.

Those nerves that had started to slacken ever so slightly at the formulation of the plan of action intensified all over again.

Lucian did as instructed, trying to be as nonthreatening as he could muster, but with each passing moment his worry intensified.

“Are you armed?” the state patrol officer asked as he stepped toward Lucian.

“Glock in the glove compartment,” Lucian said.

“And the paperwork for it?”

In that instant, his mind couldn’t help but venture back to the unsigned form that still sat on his desk, hoping that Cassandra would be nice enough to not say “I told you so.”

As the sun was starting to shine more brightly, Cassandra stood, stretched, and then made her way around the apartment.

It had become familiar in the time she had spent here, but she hadn’t had a chance to be here alone.

Now, though, she took the place in, searching for hints of Lucian’s personality, wondering if he had done the same when he had been in her space.

Probably.

He liked to tease her for being closed off, but he wasn’t exactly an open book himself, and this opportunity to see his home, get to know him a little bit better, was one that she’d take advantage of.

She still didn’t know what would happen, and as the days had passed, she’d considered it more. The idea of him being friendlier to her, but still treating her as an employee, would be difficult, a transition that she didn’t know she’d be able to make, especially not the way she felt now, with his scent still on her, her skin rough with the scrape of his beard, her body sore from his ministrations.

No. There was no way they could go back to the way things had been before. No way she could, anyway.

She didn’t know what it meant for him, and that thought disheartened her, made her a little bit sad, but she wouldn’t let that hold her down. She really was going to stick to her resolution to let the future take care of itself. So she dressed and prepared to make herself breakfast, pausing for only a moment to reflect on how much had changed in such a short period of time.

Half an hour later, she’d sat down to eat her scrambled eggs and toast when there was a knock at the door.

She froze, looked at the huge portal, wondering who it could be.

Then she chided herself for being silly, knew she should shake off those last remnants of paranoia.

Tammy was gone. Besides, she was at Lucian’s place, the one that had a doorman and forty-two other stories, not to mention whatever top-notch security Lucian had included. She was better off here than she would ever be anywhere else.

The knock sounded again, and she stood, sparing a moment to gaze longingly at her rapidly cooling eggs, and then walked toward the door.

It was probably Seth or Adam, or maybe Cruz, though he was probably with Nola. But it had to be someone she knew. There was no reason to worry, she thought.

The blast of what she instantly recognized as a shotgun changed her mind.