Chapter Six

Chapter Six

ALYSSA marched up the stairs. One foot in front of the other. Get to

your bedroom. Shut the door.

No damn way was she showing Luc Traverson her tears. She‟d

already given him too much power to hurt her. And he‟d used it

thoughtlessly.

her and grabbed her, spinning her around to face him. “The same pervert

who broke into your car broke into your club?”

Tyler‟s job, which is why he came here tonight. Now, if you‟ll excuse me . .

.”

She tried to jerk free from Luc‟s grasp. His heat and musky scent were

getting to her. Those burning eyes, his tautly muscled body, were making

her weak-kneed.

Never had she thought of herself as one of those stupid women who

stayed in a destructive relationship with someone who held more contempt

for her than affection. Apparently her heart was as susceptible as anyone

else‟s.

It was a bitter pill.

He shook his head, took her face in his grasp. “I can‟t.”

On the shadowy landing, Alyssa saw the intent in his glittering eyes a

moment before he lowered his head. God, she wanted his kiss so badly.

Muscle, bone, blood, all strained forward to join with him. Touch him. Give

him anything he wanted.

Why did he suddenly want her?

Because he fears Tyler just had you.

She turned away, biting the inside of her cheek against the pain of

denial. A debilitating pang settled in her chest. As his lips fell to her cheek,

tears stabbed her eyes.

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she smelled the park‟s freshly cut grass on his clothes and the whiskey on

his breath. His touch was riddled with desperation as he wiped her tears

away. Alyssa felt herself weakening.

God, how could she want a man so badly who held her in such low

regard? She was supposed to be too smart for that game.

sexual trophy in some fucking competition. Just . . . let me go.”

She tried to wriggle free, mentally flaying herself for the stupid hope

that had encouraged her to seduce Luc in the first place, to lure him close

with the silly idea that he might fall for her. He probably wanted someone

like Kimber: wholesome, with a bright future and a squeaky clean past.

Someone without a string of former lovers and a résumé in the sex trade.

If that was what he wanted in a woman, Alyssa was completely

doomed.

He cupped her cheeks and brought her face back to his.

what to do.” He brought her even closer, and even in the dark, she saw

pain contort his face. “I was jealous. So fucking jealous, it was eating me

alive. The thought that you gave him what I so desperately wanted.”

Jealous? Maybe he cared a little bit . . .

accusation.

plunder you again. I didn‟t want you to think I was a caveman or a

madman. I didn‟t want to lose control. I have a specific future in mind, and I

don‟t see how we fit together in that picture. But . . .” Pain laced his voice;

then he exhaled raggedly. “I can‟t ignore or deny what I feel anymore. I‟m

worried as hell about you, yes. I‟m terrified at the thought of this sick stalker

getting his hands on you and hurting you. I‟ll do whatever it takes to keep

you safe.”

Whatever it takes. He sounded as though she really did matter. Yes, it

hurt to hear that she didn‟t fit into his future, but for the right here and now .

. . His words tugged at her heart, broke down the dam holding her emotions

in. She was moments from a flood of tears. “Luc—”

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than my next breath.”

Raw honesty ripped across his features as he leaned in again, thumbs

brushing her jaw. His touch, like his stare, pleaded. Alyssa didn‟t have the

will to refuse him.

She thrust her hands into his hair and pulled him to her. Their mouths

met in a rush, a gasp, a melding of lips, a moan. The tang of alcohol and

need burst across her senses. Luc threw his arms around her and lifted her

against him, as if he could suddenly make them one.

Instinct guided her to wrap her legs around him. He was there to

support her with a hand beneath her ass and another blistering kiss.

He sank deep, desire searingly evident in the way he fused their

mouths together. Nothing had ever been so intimate. He kissed as if he

wanted to savor every bit of her, memorize her. Alyssa kissed him back

with the same fervor, though she‟d memorized him long ago.

In her head she knew this embrace might not mean to Luc all it did to

her. Clearly, he wanted her—at least for now. But what did he really feel for

her? Anything?

Wasn‟t she too far gone to care?

Tomorrow would come soon enough, and with it, a load of

recriminations. But from now until dawn was purely about pleasure. About

connecting again.

Luc slanted another kiss across her mouth and stepped toward her

bedroom, every move brushing their bodies together. Alyssa sucked in a

breath at the incredible friction. He was really here. With her. She held him

closer and moaned against his throat, stringing kisses up his neck, across

his five-o‟clock-shadowed jaw, until she met his mouth again. He was

waiting, open and voracious. She melted under his onslaught.

Moments later, her world tilted; then the bed was at her back, and Luc

was above her, propped on his arms. Breathing hard, he looked down at

her through the moonlight.

She met his gaze, which glowed with raw passion and truth. He meant

every word, despite what else he believed about her. Despite what he

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thought she had done with Tyler tonight. Despite the empty months since

they‟d last joined.

In fact, she‟d yearned for Luc since waking up alone three months ago,

aching, and realizing he wasn‟t coming back.

and I know you have someone else—”

face. “I‟ve thought about you so often . . . From the second I got you

beneath me all those months ago, you‟ve been a fever I can‟t shake.”

Not a declaration of love, but she‟d take it. He did feel something for

her. And honestly, she couldn‟t name her feelings for him. She‟d never had

a yearning to be in love . . . until she‟d met Luc.

Luc took her mouth deeply, longing in every crush of his lips, every

swipe of his tongue.

Long minutes later, he lifted himself away to unbutton his shirt. Alyssa

caught on quickly and helped, her fingers brushing his silk-on-steel skin. He

blasted heat. In the shadows, she found the intriguing trail of hair that led

down from his navel to his cock. She remembered tracing it with her tongue

and making him moan and shiver.

She didn‟t even try to resist now. Instead, she pressed her mouth to

him, low on his abdomen.

He stiffened, then hissed. “You‟re playing with fire.”

A coy smile drifted across her mouth. “I like to burn.”

With a moan, she licked her way up his treasure trail, savoring the

spicy flavor of his skin, the hint of sweat, his utter maleness on her tongue.

So addicting.

Tensing, he thrust his hands in her hair and pressed her closer. “The

first time you did that to me, it nearly made me insane. This time, I want

you so much more. Dear God . . .”

She smiled against his stomach, then nibbled her way up toward his

chest, unfastening the rest of his shirt‟s little white buttons. Finally, she

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reached his brown nipples, small and male, already hard. She eyed them

greedily.

thread.”

with a hot stare—just before she closed her mouth around his nipple and

sucked.

He cried out, the sound both broken and harsh.

Encouraged, Alyssa scraped his nipple gently with her teeth and

sucked it again, even as her hands made their way to the fly of his jeans.

He grabbed her wrists and leaned away. “Don‟t do that unless you

want me on top of you, inside you, in the next ten seconds. I‟m a time bomb

with a seriously short fuse.”

thought about you . . . Our night together was incredible. I need more of

that feeling now.”

Luc exhaled raggedly. “I don‟t want to hurt you. Last time, I was too

rough, too demanding—”

He stilled. Something crossed his face. Acceptance? Eagerness?

Whatever it was made her heart pound in her chest in a crazed ra ttle.

Easing back, he stepped off the bed. She sat up, and anxiety clawed

through her. Had she misread him? Was he leaving?

Instead, he shrugged out of his shirt, exposing miles of gorgeous

bronzed shoulders, lean, rippling muscles, and a six-pack that made her

gasp. God, he was . . . everything. Sensual, intense, so smart and

engaging, not to mention talented. And he wanted her right now.

Luc tore open the button at his fly, jerked the zipper down, and shoved

his jeans and underwear away with brutal efficiency, then stood naked.

Fists at his sides, his chest heaved as he fused his stare to hers, piercing

her with a desire that set her body ablaze, made her pussy ache.

No man had ever done this to her but Luc.

And that was another reason she had deep feelings for him. Whether

he wanted to care or not, he did. Her safety was always a consideration.

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He might have taken her profession and life at face value, but he never

treated her well-being as inconsequential.

The woman who landed his heart would be completely treasured, and

Alyssa longed to be her.

A hard glint entered his chocolate eyes. “Stand up.”

Shivering, her insides a jumble of anticipation and need, she did. Luc

bent to her and caressed his way down her legs, fingers tracing a sensitive

line from the curve of her ass all the way to her calves.

Just having his hands on her made her tremble, but his touch, full of

soft demand, made her knees weak. Her longing and impatience surged.

Without warning, he grabbed the hem of her negligee and pulled. A

tear at each shoulder was her only warning before the gown slithered down

her body, to pool in a soft circle around her feet.

Suddenly, she stood naked.

At a brush of the cool night air, her nipples peaked. Or was that

caused by the sight of his rapacious smile? Her belly quivered as he curled

his hands around her calves and urged them apart. His mouth followed,

working hot and openmouthed over her shins, the insides of her knees and

thighs, until she was breathing hard, reaching blindly for his hair, her

fingers itching to feel its softness.

He rose to his knees and kissed the flat of her belly. “On your back.”

She complied as he lifted her and stood in a single motion, apparently

too impatient to wait. She grabbed him tightly when he crushed her mouth

under his and kissed with a demand that robbed her of breath and thought.

Then he laid her across the bed and looked down at her, naked, his

cock heavy with arousal. Those sinful dark eyes both threatened and

promised pleasure unlike anything she‟d ever known as his gaze latched

onto her face. Slowly, his stare lasered its way down to her breasts and

lingered, before scraping down her belly and fixating on her pussy.

She‟d seen his dominant side before. But Alyssa had a feeling she

was going to experience it on a whole new level. His dark tone made her

shiver. The commanding look on his face confirmed the gravity of his

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words—and stole her breath. Her chest could barely contain the chugging

of her heart. But she did as he asked, parting her thighs a few inches.

His expression demanded that she make herself open and vulnerable

to him in every way. Alyssa had no doubt he would take everything she

was willing to give, then, like last time, coax more from her until she was

hoarse and sore and sublimely satiated. She eased her thighs farther apart.

Breath catching, she hesitated. But despite her trepidation, she could

refuse him nothing.

She parted her legs again, until the muscles of her inner thighs

strained. Need was a pool of heat shimmering and undulating in her blood.

Emptiness thrummed inside her. Everything cried out to be filled with his

cock—and all the blazing passion that came with it.

He grabbed her hips, then slid his hands to the small of her back and

pulled up. At his silent command she arched for him, bending her knees,

thrusting her breasts toward him.

rasp of his chest raking hers, making her tingle.

A hard press of his lips against hers morphed into a sweltering line of

kisses down her neck, collarbones, then straight to her breasts. As he

cupped one, he devoured the other, his mouth a hot shock to her system.

He sucked hard on her nipple, and she felt the draw all the way between

her legs. He thumbed the other simultaneously.

Moaning, she held Luc close to her, wishing the night would never

end. Already, the man made her feel far more than any lover. More

feminine, more natural, more ready for everything.

Were they tender afterward?”

hour—still fresh in her mind. “I still felt you there the next day.”

Quivering, she nodded. “Please.”

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Luc moaned as he dragged her nipple into his mouth once more and

gave a hard pull, gently scraping her with his teeth. An electric want surged

through her body. He bit his way down the side of her breast, then nibbled

over to the other and repeated the process.

He was harsher than before, more demanding. Already the tips were

growing tender, and he didn‟t show any signs of letting up. Even if she‟d

wanted to ask for mercy, she suspected he would show none. She sensed

that he needed to find some way to brand her tonight, prove to himself that

he had some part of her Tyler didn‟t. Rather than assure him that he had

every bit of her, she embraced him, encouraged him with a murmured plea.

His free hand roamed over her shoulder, down the curve of her waist,

across her hip . . . toward her parted thighs.

She nodded. “You wet?”

His fingers flirted with her belly button, but that thumb drew little circles

against her skin, so near her clit she wanted to scream.

You were so tight last time, you grabbed me, milked me. Your arms around

me, you screaming my name . . . So fucking hot. Unforgettable.”

Alyssa could only whimper as she waited for him to finally touch her

where she needed him most. Instead, he toyed with her.

Her ache multiplied, soared. Arousal gathered in her core. She felt

swollen, needy, ready to beg if it would do any good. But he simply brushed

his knuckles over her folds, giving her clit the barest touch.

Alyssa gasped. “Luc . . .”

else‟s.”

She didn‟t think she could even remember her own name right now,

much less anyone else‟s.

For endless minutes he cupped, laved, and stroked her breasts. He

tugged on their tips, sucked them hard, murmuring his appreciation as they

swelled, reddened, peaked even more. Her nipples were so hard, her want

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so sharp, that she fisted her hands in his hair, using him as her lifeline as

she drowned in need.

Swiping his thumb over the taut bead of one, then the other, he

stepped back and swallowed. “So tender and worked. Gorgeous.”

Now without his touch, Alyssa craved more of the sensory overload

and stroked her own breasts. But it wasn‟t enough to ease the relentless

gnawing of her hunger. She slid her hands down her abdomen, toward her

wet folds. Relief. She needed to curb the ache. Now.

Before she reached her destination, Luc grabbed her wrist. “No. I say

how and when. It‟s not by your hand tonight.”

Alyssa never finished the thought. He crashed his mouth against hers

and prowled inside, possession evident as he took the kiss deeper. Without

warning, his fingers slid into her wet cleft, and he plunged inside. She cried

out her pleasure into his mouth.

His fingers played her perfectly, as if he remembered her body and

exactly how to make her scream. His devilish touch skidded across that

sensitive spot inside her; then he alternated, pressing and rubbing, his

thumb also strumming her distended clit. Fire converged inside, outside,

tugging, drawing, swirling and growing. Again he smothered her cries with

his kiss. She dug her nails into his shoulders, and he hissed. Then he sent

her a predatory smile, a flash of sexual promise and white teeth in the dark.

He didn‟t need to ask; he knew. But he wanted her to say it. Luc liked

making her confess her desire. At the moment, she had no way of

concealing it.

Instead of sending her over, he withdrew his fingers and raked them

through her slit. “Very swollen. You‟ll grip me so tight.”

He eased closer until he covered her, his chest pressing her deeper

into the mattress, his thighs parting hers even more to accommodate his

hips. His hands urged her wider still.

The anticipation suffocated Alyssa. She wanted Luc deep, so deep

he‟d never remember another woman and never imagine leaving.

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vowed.

She never did anyway, but he didn‟t understand that. Yet.

head in his hands, and she met his stare in the dark, drowning. “I have to

be inside you.”

Alyssa tried to nod, but he held her too tightly, pinned beneath the lush

heat of his body and her own desire. She panted, wanting, waiting . . .

She‟d closed her eyes. She wasn‟t sure when. Didn‟t matter . . . Now

she opened them. Bing! Their gazes connected, and her heart followed.

That wild sense of connection, of belonging, slammed her. She could no

more escape his glittering dark eyes than she could her own craving for

him.

Again?”

He didn‟t answer his own question and didn‟t let her try. She merely

marveled that he felt it as well.

Then she thought nothing as he grabbed her hips and surged forward,

burying as much of his cock inside her as he could. She grunted at the

delicious intrusion. Already, she felt full with him and knew he was halfway

in—if that. His back stiffened. He cursed, wriggling his hips.

me, sugar?”

His gaze was like the darkest syrup, sweetening her, melting her,

covering her. She focused on loosening up, letting him in.

He eased back, then surged in again, this time a bit farther. She

gasped at his steely penetration, at her pleasure-pain.

Alyssa sensed he was on the very edge of his control. And she

couldn‟t wait for him to lose it.

Beneath him, she writhed, lifted up, taking him a fraction deeper. After

months without sex, it burned . . . but felt oh so good. No one had ever

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made her love sex like Luc. No one else had ever made her feel her heart

during the act, either.

Finally, he slid deeply and completely inside her.

The feel of him buried in her body unleashed a fresh surge of need—

and a flood of warmth in her chest. As their gazes connected again, she

flashed back to their first night together and a rush of memories swamped

her—all dripping pleasure.

But as he nearly withdrew from her body, she clung to him, tonight

took sensation to a whole new level.

Luc eased his arms under Alyssa, up the length of her back, hands

curving over the tops of her shoulders. Then with a roar, he thrust deep.

Once. Twice. Then she lost count.

The sensation lit her up, then exploded through her body. She

absorbed the power of his surge by moving with him, opening to him

completely with a cry.

More warmth flooded her chest as the ache behind her pussy

converged. Her legs wrapped around him as she tried to grip him tighter,

keep him closer. He groaned, panted, sinking deeper, then deeper still.

Luc picked up speed, setting a hard rhythm. His stare drilled into her

as his cock did, never wavering. Every thought and sensation flowed from

his body to hers, then back again. And Alyssa knew he could read her

every feeling, too. As soon as a reaction hit her body, he adjusted to take

advantage of it, deepen it, exploit it.

Dear God, she was beginning to unravel. The fortitude and pain,

caution and fear, that had held her together for years were coming apart.

Yes, she‟d come for Luc before, but this . . . this was reaching inside her to

claw out something she never shared with anyone. He was going to take

the pleasure from her, steal it right out of her soul without permission or

apology.

She tensed. Could she give that much of herself to him?

Too intimate. Too real. Too deep. He was everywhere. Why hadn‟t she

had a lover in the months since him? Or in the years before him? Because

no one else made her feel as if sex was anything more than a cross

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between an obligation and a bodily function. Even if she‟d let every

customer who came to the club have his way with her, Luc alone could take

her apart, fill her with something so persistent and sweet and yearning,

then remake her.

And that compelling voice . . . No way she could ignore him.

Biting her lip and bracing for the rush of feeling, Alyssa did as he

asked. She connected with his probing dark stare just as he rammed home.

Energy shifted, gathered, turned nuclear inside of her. Then she

exploded.

Clawing at Luc, screaming his name, she burst into a million pieces,

her heart beating for him, her soul scattered utterly by mind-bending

pleasure. He rode her through the orgasm from crest to blast, pulling back

as it coalesced into a tender ache that had her sobbing.

This time, like last, Luc used that as his cue to continue plundering her

into the ultimate pleasure.

THE morning sun soaked the sheer curtains and hardwood floors.

Gasping in a raspy breath, Luc pulsed up into the heat of Alyssa‟s pussy

again as she rode him. She moaned and clung to him, her nails raking his

chest. Above him, she looked like a sensual nymph, nubile, striking, built

for pleasure. She‟d long ago seared through his restraint and good

intentions. Again, he‟d lost every shred of control, and as he drowned again

in the fierce ramp from pleasure to orgasm, he was caught in her trap. And

he hungered for it.

Her mussed pale hair swung around her, some ends clinging to her

waist. The shorter ones around her face flirted with her hard nipples, which

he still hadn‟t been able to get enough of. Even now they beckoned.

Throwing his arms around her, he pulled her close, then anchored a

hand at her nape. The other clutched the small of her back, controlling the

arch. Yes . . . Right there. Again, he had the tempting little nipple on his

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tongue, his teeth scoring it just enough to sting. She hissed, then tightened

on his cock.

He‟d been demanding her pleasure all night, and she‟d been giving it

with utter abandon. It was never enough. He needed to see her again now,

desire parting her lips and making her whimper. He craved the feel of her

clamping down on him and hearing her scream his name.

She‟d grown hoarse hours ago, her flesh swollen to the point that

every thrust was work. Luc had driven her to orgasm so many times, he‟d

lost count. He‟d fallen over the cliff into a fiery pit of pleasure three times,

saturating her every time, reveling with a primitive need to mark her that

he‟d stopped questioning. An odd relief poured through him each time he

spilled himself deep inside her. No, he couldn‟t get her pregnant, but

damned if he wouldn‟t fill her up anyway.

Triumph spiked through him, followed by another insane urge to mark

her. He laved one of her nipples again, then the other. Her pussy became

sublimely, blisteringly tight. The fact she was so close urged him on.

He fit his mouth over hers, forcing her lips wide under his, and sank in

as far as possible. The cadence of his kiss matched the rhythm of his

thrusts as they strained together toward a cataclysm so powerful, it would

likely devastate them both.

He pursued it with reckless abandon.

His body was about to give out, and he was furious. Hours upon hours

he‟d spent delving her, but he hadn‟t tasted her cream with his tongue until

she cried out in surrender. Nor had he worked his way into that tight,

perfect ass. Tomorrow. No, later today. He would do both. But tonight, once

he‟d gotten deep within her wet folds, he‟d single-mindedly submerged

himself and watched her come apart in his arms.

He tiled her hips until they pressed completely against his, then rubbed

her up and down his cock, forcing friction on her clit. Alyssa undulated with

him, her groans becoming whimpers that turned to a plea, then . . .

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word as her cunt clamped down on him. He used all the strength in his

arms and thighs to keep her moving.

The pleasure was excruciating, scorching, beyond anything he‟d ever

experienced—or imagined. The sensations roiling around inside him

melded into a tight ache in his balls. Then, primed, the orgasm began to

explode.

Luc grabbed her tighter, clutching her hair, throwing an arm around her

waist. Oh, fucking hell. This was going to bring him to his knees. Destroy him. It swelled and built and converged, big as a mountain, powerful as an

earthquake.

with her in every way possible; it was his most basic instinct. He slammed

his mouth over hers and dove into the sweet heat.

The orgasm flattened him.

As everything inside him crashed around his heart, he held her tighter,

burying his face in her neck while the storm raged inside him. “Yes! Lys,

yes . . .”

His heartbeat thundered in his ears, and he felt nothing but blinding

ecstasy. And Alyssa.

Long minutes later, exhaustion pounded him. Bitter reality roared in.

She was still a stripper, likely with another lover. He still needed to find a

suitable wife. And he wanted her more than he‟d ever wanted any woman

in his life.

Slowly, he lifted his head as Alyssa stroked his hair and tried to catch

her breath.

She bit her lip, then glanced at him, her face flushed with satisfaction.

His gut clenched, even as a drugging call to sleep rolled through his

veins. “What are we doing?”

Her mouth tightened. Her eyes grew guarded. “Just fucking.”

Were they? Really? Because for long minutes—hours—he‟d forgotten

every other woman in the world. He‟d wanted to grab this one and never let

go.

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Alarm bells went off in his head. Luc knew he should say something . .

.

Before he could, exhaustion claimed him.

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