Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

HIS own personal slice of heaven. Luc speared her pussy with his

tongue, chocolate, champagne, and Alyssa‟s natural taste a flavor that

instantly hooked him. Kneeling beside the couch, he lunged for her again,

spreading her thighs wider with insistent hands and wedging his shoulders

in between.

As he tasted her again, Alyssa‟s hips bucked as her body thrashed.

She cried out, and the sounds drove him up, higher. Closer to that place

where he‟d lose control.

Tonight, he didn‟t care.

Another tempting taste of her, another laving of her clit. She gasped

and fisted her hands in his hair. The sting on his scalp aroused the hell out

of him.

He grabbed the mousse from the table beside him and spooned more

right onto the hot flesh of her folds with his fingers, then poured more of the

champagne right over that distended bundle of nerves. Her breath caught,

a jagged inhalation that thrilled him. Then he swooped in, taking her hard

bud in his mouth and sucking, and shoved two fingers inside her weeping

entrance. She screamed.

Her body clamped down on his fingers, hungry, demanding, and he

couldn‟t stop imagining exactly how she‟d feel on his cock when he got

inside her. Everything about this woman, his wife, made him feel hedonistic and rapacious. Fuck apologizing for it anymore. She incited him like no

other, and it wasn‟t something he could—or wanted to—stop.

As her orgasm high subsided, he smeared a bit more of the mousse

on his fingers, then spread it over her nipple. As he laved it, then sucked

deep, she groaned.

Damn, she looked beautiful. As he tore off his clothes and threw them

haphazardly over the back of the sofa, he glanced at her left hand, at the

sparkling diamond on her finger. She was his.

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Easing his way up her body, Luc reached out for the champagne flute

and tipped it over, above the valley between her breasts. She gasped as he

covered her chest with his. The liquid heated between their bodies as they

slid sensuously against each other. He grabbed a strawberry and placed it

against her lips.

Alyssa stared with wide blue eyes, sparkling with excitement and

curiosity, and he felt himself fall for her a bit more. She parted her lush lips,

her tongue peeking out to wet them, before she accepted his offering. Luc

set the berry in her mouth, chocolate first. As she bit down, she moaned.

Her eyes slid shut. His cock jumped as impatience and need thrummed in

his blood. He was dying to get inside her.

As she chewed the chocolaty fruit, he tossed back the last of the

champagne. The moment she swallowed, he consumed her mouth in a

greedy kiss, tasting the sharp swirl of flavors, savoring the way she opened

to him, accepted him deep inside her mouth. He wanted to be deeper.

Clutching her hips in his hands, he probed her slick, creamy folds with

his cock, then began to push his way in, straight to the haven he‟d missed

and yearned for over the past seven weeks.

Tight. So damn tight. He always had to fight his way in, and tonight

was no exception. One shallow thrust, another, a third . . . Each time he

eased in a bit farther, her snug walls created a sinful friction that had him

hissing in a breath. Teeth-gritting patience and destructive pleasure—both

nearly undid him.

Finally, he sheathed himself completely inside her. With an eager

moan, Alyssa rose up to meet both his tongue and his cock. What was it

about her? So lush, so perfect, so . . . whatever that he could never get

enough?

Under him, her body grew taut. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders,

and her legs rose around his hips. She caught his rhythm, and she writhed

beneath his increasingly harsh thrusts.

Her breath, hot on his neck, feathered over sensitive skin. An icy-hot

shiver nearly undid him. Sex with Alyssa was always more dazzling, more

mind-blowing, than anything he‟d ever experienced. But tonight, knowing

she was his in every way, was killing his control.

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A fact he couldn‟t miss. She kept tightening around him with every

second, and he had to anchor his hands on her hips to push his way in.

Every thrust became a rich slide into ecstasy that had him panting,

growling, needing to empty himself inside her.

She tensed even more, gasped. Then the moment was on her, and

her eyes flew open. As their stares met, the naked connection smacked

him, grabbing him by the cock, tugging at something in his chest. He didn‟t

stand a chance in hell of resisting her.

Pleasure seized his whole body as the climax boiled inside him, then

burst wide. He shouted, shuddered, buried himself deep. The sensation

was so perfect Luc never wanted to leave.

If he had anything to say about it, he never would.

They were married now. Officially, in every way. Time to put the baby‟s

parentage aside and make this work. At the least, he wanted to earn her

trust, be her best friend, the man she turned to for anything.

But deep down, Luc knew he was fooling himself. He wanted much

more. Everything she had to give. He wouldn‟t rest until she was his

completely.

MOONLIGHT streamed through the windows as Alyssa stretched, her

body aching in a million delicious places. She marveled at how treasured

and sated she felt. Every night she spent with Luc ended in mind-blowing

passion, but this one . . . She couldn‟t help but sigh in bliss.

After all but ravaging her on the couch, she‟d nearly fallen asleep. Her

untimely insomnia the night before, coupled with stress and pregnancy, had

shut her body down. He‟d said nothing about the interruption to the

wedding night he‟d so carefully planned. Instead, Luc had carried her to the

cottage‟s huge claw-foot tub and set her in hot water to soak. With infinite

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care, he washed her body, her hair—even when she‟d insisted she could

perform the task herself.

She may as well not have wasted her breath.

Afterward, he‟d combed her hair, even dried it, then urged her onto the

most inviting bed she‟d ever seen, firm yet plush, with pillows and fluffy

quilts built for comfort. He‟d slid her between soft sheets, naked as the day

she was born, then followed her down, kissing her lips gently. Alyssa had

fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

Now, a few hours later, she‟d awakened, comforted by Luc‟s deep,

even breathing beside her. But then she smelled him. Tempted, she curled

up against his body heat and tentatively smoothed her palm down the hard

chest, traced his ribbed abdomen, guided soft fingertips over his growing

erection.

Flashes of his passion and care bombarded her—the romantic

wedding night she‟d never expected, the feel of him filling her mouth and

body at once, his soothing touch as he‟d bathed her from head to toe.

Tears flooded her eyes, closed her throat. And here she thought she

couldn‟t love him more, but tonight his care had expanded her feelings until

they nearly drowned her. Alyssa didn‟t kid herself. Even if this marriage

ended badly, Luc would always be in her heart.

From the moment she‟d met him, she‟d been fascinated. He had

intelligence, coupled with a kindness she rarely saw in her customers.

When she and Luc had first met, he‟d wanted nothing to do with her. He

hadn‟t been rude or disrespectful, but merely stayed away.

Then came the unexpected Sunday morning last summer he‟d called

her with an outrageous proposition: the favor of fucking him and Deke in

exchange for the culinary favor of her choice. He‟d known of her restaurant

opening soon, just as he‟d known she wouldn‟t be foolish enough to turn

him down. Accepting had felt a bit like prostituting herself, but given her

past and how much credibility he‟d lend to her opening, being squeamish

seemed silly.

That wild evening, Deke had departed without touching her—and Luc

had been insatiable. Incredible. But he‟d never treated her like a whore. In

fact, he‟d acted as if he‟d never been so enthralled with sex, never wanted

a woman so much. God knew she‟d never burned for any man the way she

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had for Luc. The next morning, she‟d awakened aching for him again . . .

only to find the bed empty.

Deep in her heart, she‟d hoped that their astounding night might lead

to something more. So she‟d be lying if she said his desertion hadn‟t hurt.

She‟d also be lying if she said it was unexpected.

For weeks afterward, she‟d tried to think of something to lure him back,

hoping that the memories of their amazing sex would give her a foundation

to build on. But she‟d seen him again only when she‟d forced him to live up

to his obligation. The fact he‟d resisted her advances and had a new

girlfriend had been an ax to her heart . . . but instead of giving up on Luc,

she‟d seduced him—only to realize he assumed she was fucking Tyler and

thought her little more than a whore.

So despite Luc‟s “explanation,” his insistence on this marriage still

didn‟t make sense. She was the same person with the same occupation

and the same bouncer Luc believed was her lover. The only difference?

She was pregnant. Yes, he‟d claimed to miss her in the weeks they‟d been

apart . . . but enough to marry her?

And now she was in deeper. Last night, with his passion and

tenderness, he‟d shattered her. No other way to describe it. He‟d begun

tearing away the walls she never let anyone behind, destroying her

defenses. Whether he‟d meant to or not, he‟d made her irrevocably his.

Alyssa hoped that, maybe, at least in part, Luc was hers, too.

His inky hair tumbled over his shoulder, the ends flirting with his

pectorals. His bedroom eyes looked black and smoky in the shadows. Her

pulse picked up speed.

It would be so easy to fall into his arms, and let whatever was going to

happen between them simply happen. But she‟d never had the luxury of

wearing rose-colored glasses. Alyssa needed to know why Luc had married

her. Asking why had gotten her nowhere. If she wanted to know if he‟d

married her simply for the baby or the sex, she had to change tactics.

She nodded. “Getting married is huge, and we really haven‟t known

each other long. I mean, we‟ve spent, maybe, five days together total.”

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Luc brushed the hair back from her face. “It doesn‟t sound like a lot,

but . . . somehow, between us, it is.”

Alyssa understood exactly what he meant. Every moment had been

full of discovery and gravity, bringing them together when they were at their

best, pitting their tempers against each other when they were at their worst.

pregnancy hormones. What if Luc laughed or scoffed or became angry at

her question?

Then you’ll know.

shoulder. She shivered.

Her question clearly surprised him. Luc hesitated, then resumed his

brushing caress. “That‟s a direct question, but I expect that from you.”

She bristled. “I‟ve had to be.”

As he cupped her cheek, his face softened. “I‟m not judging you. In

fact, it‟s part of what I admire about you.”

That warmed her a bit. “So you admire me?”

Like a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar, Luc smiled.

rebounded after Peter‟s attack even impressed the hell out of him.”

Great, but none of that added up to love. Though she hadn‟t expected

more, disappointment caved in on her.

Alyssa fought off the feeling. Maybe her love would be enough for both

of them.

Then she sighed. She knew nothing about relationships, but doubted

one-sided devotion would work. After last night, she needed to pull back,

do her best to rebuild the walls around her heart.

He grabbed her arm and turned her back to him, fitting their bodies

together. “Where are you going?”

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He pressed her back to the mattress. “The restaurant has been

cleaned from top to bottom—dishes, linens, the works. Today‟s food is

already prepped for tonight‟s opening.”

Her mouth gaped open. “Who did . . . ? How do you know?”

Like he‟d taken care of everything else. She just kept falling over and

over for Luc, with no end in sight. “Thank you.”

He was so thoughtful, good at anticipating her needs and seeing to

them. Did that mean he maybe more than admired her? Or was she letting

stupid hope talk her into making more of the gesture than she should?

stared down into her face with an expression she couldn‟t read. “Like I said,

I admire you, but I worry.”

down. “It helps, I‟m sure.”

Luc took her face in his hands. “I didn‟t say that was all I felt.”

Alyssa‟s heart skipped a beat. His arm encircled her waist, and he

urged her thigh over his hip, opening her to him. He pressed a kiss to her

mouth, nibbled at her neck, breathed in her ear. Tingles and goose bumps

skittered across her skin. Her body snapped to attention, as if it knew its

lord and master, and readied itself in anticipation of his possession.

But the way he looked at her made her breath catch. His expression

said she mattered. Very much.

slanted his mouth over hers again, and Alyssa had to fight to focus on his

words when he pulled back enough to whisper. “The truth is, I‟ve never felt

for any woman as deeply as I feel for you.”

More than Kimber, even? Thump, thump, thump. Her heart threatened

to jump from her chest.

delving deep. “How do you feel about me?”

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So ridiculously in love it scares the hell out of me. “I care, too. More

than I thought possible after a few days.”

Alyssa didn‟t dare confess to more than that. Telling him too much,

being too open, she knew from experience gave a man exactly what he

needed to make her vulnerable and drop her to her knees—right at his feet.

curled. “It‟s up to us to make this marriage work.”

And what did she know about that? “Agreed.”

a husband?”

In truth, she‟d never given it any real thought. “Someone who likes and

respects me, who understands what makes me tick. I‟ve enjoyed the fact

you‟ve taken care of me these past few days, but I don‟t expect it. I need

you to believe that I can stand on my own two feet.”

He brushed a thumb across her lips, then took possession of them in a

lush but brief kiss that melted her even more. “I believe you can do

anything you set your mind to.”

Pride filled her. “Thank you. I‟m not always good at sharing what I‟m

thinking. I‟ve lived and worked alone for too long, I guess.”

That, and barely surviving the ultimate betrayal of her feelings and

trust. But he didn‟t need those gory details.

going on with you and being involved in Bonheur or anything else you have

going on. I‟ll help however I can. You have only to ask. I won‟t step in the

middle of your business unless something seems dangerous or wrong. I

know you‟ve managed just fine for many years without me, and I‟d never

presume to think that‟s changed.”

God, just when she thought the walls around her heart couldn‟t

crumble anymore . . . “Thank you.”

things of you.”

Was this the catch she‟d been looking for? “What?”

need to see my wife naked anymore.”

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bunch of drunk, slobbering strangers again. The fact he cared about who

saw her body warmed her heart.

that someone once raped you. I don‟t need details today or tomorrow. But I

want you to know you can trust me with whatever you want to tell me.”

She‟d figured he‟d come to some fairly accurate conclusions, but the

fact he wasn‟t going to push her? Her relief was almost tangible. She‟d

heard enough from the other dancers whose cavemen husbands thought a

piece of paper entitled them to know everything to be afraid. Alyssa didn‟t

think she was wired to share herself that deeply again.

collarbone. “I appreciate your skin.”

As his palm drifted down to her breast, she caught his wrist and

stopped him. Yes, she wanted him again, feeling him deep and strong and

demanding inside her. She was a glutton where Luc was concerned. But

this conversation was too productive to stop now.

He froze, except for the clenching of his jaw. “Complete fidelity.”

Stinging as if she‟d been slapped, she yanked away. “You still think I‟m

a whore.”

Luc was right on her, curling his arm around her waist and dragging

her closer. “No. You don‟t turn tricks or fuck customers. Before I got to

know you as a person, I believed the stereotype, that a woman who‟d shed

her clothes for money would also be willing to spread her legs for it. But

that‟s not you.”

Alyssa pushed back tears, the relief was so profound. Then she

noticed that her husband‟s carefully crafted reply hadn‟t included Tyler.

She‟d given Luc a dozen reasons to assume that she and her bouncer

were lovers. Tyler touched her openly in public, had a key to her house,

saw her naked often . . . In Luc‟s shoes, she‟d assume the same thing.

Insisting again that Tyler was only her friend was counterproductive. Luc

would learn the truth soon enough.

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you‟re going to demand it of me, I want the same in return. When you go to

Los Angeles to tape your shows next week, don‟t imagine it‟s okay to hook

up with whatever brainless starlet plops in your lap.”

Luc laughed. “Not interested in brainless starlets plopping in my lap,

bed, or anywhere else. I‟m completely enthralled by you, and being with

you, inside you . . .”

His voice lowered an octave, his gaze turning dark and forceful. Intent

narrowed his eyes, and before she could think or breathe, Luc probed

between her thighs and pushed inward.

His penetration seared her swollen folds. Not surprisingly, she was wet

for him. Her nipples beaded. He took one in his mouth and nipped with a

stinging pleasure-pain as he forced his cock higher inside her. Alyssa

parted her thighs wider and lifted her hips, desperate to have him as deep

as he could go. He pressed at her walls, straining her ability to take him.

Accepting all of his length and girth in one stroke was impossible. The ramp

up to feeling him deep inside her was deliciously maddening.

Her flesh stung, and the burning behind her clit nearly drove her

insane. Luc continued to work her nipples. They were already slightly sore

from last night. Now they stood up hard and straight and responded to the

smallest lick, even to the feel of his breath on them. But when he sucked

them in his mouth and bit gently as he plunged the rest of the way inside

her . . .

She screamed.

in this tight, hot pussy. I love sex with you. I‟m addicted.”

He withdrew slowly, so slowly, she whimpered. As he lingered, his

thumbs brushed her tight nipples before he bit at her neck and plunged

deep and hard to the hilt, making her gasp again.

I can‟t think about anything but getting you naked and working my cock

inside you, all gripping and scalding. And bare. Always bare. I don‟t ever

want anything between us.”

Condoms had always been a way of life for Alyssa. She‟d never

allowed any man to have sex with her without adequate protection, but

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what Luc did to her . . . God, there was no description. Even his words

made her hot to take him constantly and deeper.

your pussy, but how you‟re ever going to be able to keep me out of it. You

make me damn hot, so expect that meals will sometimes get cold before

you‟ll eat them, that your showers won‟t be solo, that you may not often get

a full night‟s sleep. I love you swollen and wet and ready, and I plan to keep

you that way.”

Every word out of his mouth melted her into a worthless puddle. When

men had talked to her like that in the past, she‟d felt sleazy. But something

about Luc and the way he whispered to her, almost reverent and amazed,

made her feel both needed and special.

As Luc continued to drag his cock through her sensitive channel, blood

heated her skin, rushed to her clit. Sensation flooded her as he drew back

with stunning friction. She mewled as he pushed back into her so slowly,

she dug her nails into his back, tried to push her heels into his ass. He

refused to be rushed. In fact, he refused to allow her any say at all.

a slower fucking.”

Before her scrambled brain could regroup so that she could figure out

what he meant, Luc withdrew and turned her over. Then plunged in deep

again, his strokes maddeningly unhurried and torturous.

Luc leaned over her back and kissed the side of her jaw, the back of

her neck. “What do you want faster?”

God, he was going to make her say it. They‟d played this game their

first night together, months ago. She‟d resisted, and he‟d wrung every

begging admission from her eventually, then fulfilled a dozen fantasies.

That he might do the same now made her blood thicken like lava in her

veins.

Alyssa clenched her jaw to hold the words in, but his unhurried strokes

were undoing her. Then he added his fingers to her clit and toyed with the

distended button.

want.”

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Yes, he would, but he‟d also take so much power from her. She‟d

already handed him her heart. This . . . would be a sign that she‟d

surrendered the last of her independence. Her soul.

His fingertips dragged over the exposed head of her clit, and she

gasped. He nipped in her ear. “I could do this all morning. You‟re so wet,

and I love to keep you on edge. You swell and swell, gripping me so tight . .

. Mmm.”

Pleasure ripped through her body. Her stomach clenched. The

pressure built until it burned and tightened, like hot clamps squeezing at

her resistance.

Another dragging withdrawal, another sheet-fisting glide back inside

until he bumped her most sensitive spot and pressed. She couldn‟t breathe.

Dizziness encroached. Luc fingered her needy little bud again.

shoulder and used it as leverage as he continued to saw in and out of her

body at a molasses pace that made her insane. “Tell me what you want. I

can‟t give it to you until you do.”

He was playing her, daring her. Giving in went against her grain . . .

but Luc had become so effective at strumming her body for his pleasure.

The staggering ache kept crashing in on her until she had no more

defenses.

She sobbed again. “Please . . .”

Still he hesitated, his hot, heavy breaths on the back of her neck

making her tremble. “Faster? If I do that, what will you do for me?”

He wanted something, and Alyssa had no idea what. If she‟d been in

her right mind, she would have refused. Who promised something before

knowing what it was?

But Alyssa was in no frame of mind to bargain.

Luc clutched her, preventing any movement. “Just anything?”

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The pleasure was coalescing inside her, turning thick and sharp and

tight. The slightest movement . . . She needed it. Now. Her mind was about

to snap, her body already his slave.

Alyssa couldn‟t find her breath, so she gave him a shaky nod.

pad of flesh above her pussy, denying her that one touch to her clit that

would send her into the stratosphere.

God, she had nothing left to fight him with, no way to keep even an

ounce of herself hidden. She arched to him, and he slid a bit deeper inside

her. And still it wasn‟t enough.

Like a predator sensing blood, Luc moved in for the kill. “Absolutely

everything?”

her with deep, merciless strokes, fast enough to multiply the friction and still

slow enough to savor the mountain of pleasure burying her.

He pressed slick fingers onto her clit again and rubbed in tiny circles.

Her blood boiled over, her sanity snapped, and the pleasure burst through

her, seemingly bigger than her whole body. It rewrote the definition of

amazing sex, became the stick by which she measured encounters with

every other man. They all came up woefully short. And still the ecstasy kept

piling on top of her, a raging deluge she gladly drowned in.

She‟d barely caught her breath and remembered her own name when

Luc struck again, this time circulating his slick fingers around the rosette of

her back entrance.

Oh, God. He wasn‟t just trying to tear away her defenses; he was

trying to destroy her. “No.”

still circling the small hole.

longer cared.

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He knew better. As often as she‟d come for him, he must know. But

like everything else tonight, he wanted her admission.

He pressed two fingers deep, his tongue laving her shoulder. “I‟m

going to make it good, sugar. So good.”

Of that, she had no doubt.

Alyssa gasped as his fingers went deep, deeper, as his cock stroked in

and out of her pussy, bringing back to life nerve endings she‟d been certain

were overwrought and dead. They didn‟t just flicker, but flared, leapt, raced,

throbbed.

She was still trying to adjust to the change when he withdrew from her,

then angled his body higher over hers. He began pressing his cock into her

small back entrance. The stretching bordered pain, and she hissed at the

riot of needs flaring to life again as he shoved past her resistance, then

pushed in a seemingly endless tunnel inside her until his body pressed

completely against her back and she swore she could feel him everywhere.

palms, then grabbed her hips in a brutal, desperate grip. “Rub your clit.

This is going to be hard and fast.”

Small mercy after all this time, and she should probably tell him she

wasn‟t following his directives. She‟d rub her clit if she wanted to and not

before. But he‟d already made her itchy, edgy, needy.

As soon as she touched herself, Luc set a pounding pace that stole

her breath. In seconds, he overwhelmed her. Sensations she hadn‟t felt in

months, wrought by the awakening of greedy nerves and a jacked-up

libido, demanded more. She touched herself, dragged up higher and higher

by his ferocious strokes into the deepest recesses of her body, igniting the

darkest of her fantasies where Luc took her exactly as he wanted, for as

long as he wanted, making her climax for him at will.

As he pinched her nipple and tunneled back into the tight channel, he

panted at the back of her neck, “Come!”

Her world exploded like a supernova again. Tears of relief and release

burst forth. Luc had devastated her, scraped her raw. And still, he kept at

her, thick and hard and demanding as tears streamed down her cheeks,

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until she possessed no more buffers between her husband and her

battered heart.

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