Something wicked this wa.., p.9
Something Wicked This Way Comes 1, page 9
part #1 of Something Wicked Series
“So all this,” she flung out her arms, hands spread, “has been orchestrated just so Benson could get me pregnant?”
“Guilty as charged,” he said with a lewd smirk that made her feel violated on so many levels.
“What about my parents? What did they ever do to you?”
He shrugged. “The agency searched for your parents for years. When they were eventually found, along with their young daughter, it was undoubtedly the most important find in the history of the PDA. Unfortunately, your mother and father were suspicious of me from the moment I bought the house next door.”
“So I wasn’t alone in thinking you were a creep,” she stated, somehow comforted by that small kernel of knowledge.
“Creep?” he echoed, with a baritone cackle that grated on her nerves. “I’m not sure your parents thought of me in quite that light. I think they considered me much more dangerous.”
“If they had, they wouldn’t have stayed, wouldn’t have taken any chances.”
“I’d only been your neighbor for three weeks when I began to notice their suspicious stares,” he continued conversationally. “I’d clearly taken too much interest in their little girl. I knew right away I couldn’t risk everything the agency and I had worked so hard to achieve.”
Her vision swam, her belly tying itself in painful knots. She didn’t want to hear…but she had to.
“They were throwing things into suitcases the night I slipped in with two of my trained werewolves. They were about to do a runner with you. I couldn’t have that.”
“No. I’ve heard enough!” she croaked.
The room was doing a slow spin as her thought processes shifted into overdrive. She understood now why the “authorities” had arrived so soon after she’d found the grisly bodies of her parents. Grace hadn’t recalled anything after the horror she’d walked in on. She pressed a shaky hand to her mouth. She’d assumed—wrongly—that she must have rung someone, the police. But the truth was, the agency had already known. They’d been waiting to bring her in.
When she ran off after the funeral, it had taken the PDA months to find her—just one more half-starved, waifish child on the streets, covered in filth and ragged clothes. And they’d suckered her in by pretending to care about her, by giving her clothes, food and warmth. Trained her, gave her the skills she needed should she ever find her parents’ killer. God…
Mr. Briggs studied her, as though reading her deepest thoughts. “We know you’ve fucked the dragon. We also happen to know a breeder is always fertile when intimate with a Kezmat.”
“Sorry,” she bit out, “I’m definitely not pregnant.” She sent him a disgusted look. “I’ve always used contraception.”
The three agents fell back a little as Mr. Briggs stepped forward. He snorted with mild amusement. “That’s true—until recently.” He shrugged. “The agency replaced your birth control pills with placebos. You’re now very much fertile…and, I’m sure, very much pregnant.”
Grace felt the blood drain from her face. No. That choice was hers to make! And no baby of hers was going to be torn from her arms by the agency. She’d die first. And take every last one of the bastards with her.
She shook her head, focusing on each of the three men who’d once been her comrades in arms. “How could you let this happen? I trusted you.”
Luke glanced at Pete. Alexander’s jaw clenched, discomfort flashing in his stare.
Mr. Briggs laughed scornfully. “More fool you. But you can be smart now and leave with us. You get one chance to save Benson and your unborn little freak.”
Her voice gave nothing away as she asked, “Why? So you can take away my child to use as a killing machine?” Over my dead body.
“No need to be so melodramatic,” he sneered. “I only want to take advantage of your child’s full potential, brainwash the kid while he—or she—is still young enough not to know any better.”
Yeah. In just the same way you had the agency exploit me.
She swept a hand in the direction of the front yard. “And what about Benson?”
Mr. Briggs shrugged again. “We’ll restrain him with chains shortly, keep him safely locked up.” His pleased expression was beyond repulsive. “And you’ll fuck him as often as needed to make me a whole family of dragons.”
“Oh my god.” Full comprehension dawned. “You’re going to keep them in their dragon form, aren’t you?”
Where they’d forget their humanity, forget everything but their beastly instincts, urged on by the agency.
Alexander frowned, clearly uneasy by this information. “You said no harm would come to Grace—”
Mr. Briggs swiveled his head, fury mottling his face. “Shut your mouth, maggot!” he snarled. “This operation is way bigger than anything you three could ever imagine.”
Pete’s shoulders stiffened. “We’re not one of your pets, Briggs.”
Luke glanced at Grace. “We’ve always done right by the agency, taken our oaths seriously. But it seems the agency hasn’t been completely forthcoming.”
An inhuman growl suddenly echoed from the front yard.
Grace’s heart thudded hard. Against all odds, Benson had woken and, by the sound of it, shifted fully into dragon form. She almost felt sorry for any agents outside.
She swiftly nodded at her ex-comrades. “Go. Before Benson annihilates you too.”
Mr. Briggs’ eyes narrowed with rage. “Stay and fight the dragon, you fucking cowards!” Strings of spittle caught on his chin. “I will see you murdered for this!”
“Don’t listen to him,” she said, feeling oddly calm when another roar from Benson rocked the house. “Your boss won’t be leaving here.”
Pete and Luke nodded before hightailing it out the back door. Alexander tossed his gun to Grace. He gave her a pleading look, opened his mouth as if to apologize.
“Don’t,” she breathed. “Please. Don’t.”
When Alexander disappeared through the back door, she trained her gun on Mr. Briggs, who fell to his knees, his face ashen. “Grace! Think of everything we’ve done for you. Have mercy! I have no weapon. No defense.”
“Nor did my parents,” she said flatly.
Benson crashed through the house, too big and in too much of a hurry to spare furniture and walls. She kept the rifle trained on Briggs, though she knew the gutless prick wasn’t going anywhere.
When her dragon burst through the narrow kitchen entry, Grace stepped toward him, watching in fascination as his eyes glowed red. Then she stepped aside.
A stream of fire poured from Benson’s mouth, flaming the man—the murderer—where he knelt.
* * * * *
It had turned into a glorious day. The lake gleamed like a sheet of iron beneath the sun, a vague drift of honey-scented jasmine in the air. But Grace’s senses were captured by Benson and the sheer beauty of his dragon form.
Her chest ached, her throat thick with love.
If he was handsome as sin in human form, as Kezmat he was divine. Like a chameleon, his scaly body had taken on the palest blue of an early-morning sky. Perfect camouflage for flying.
With the burnt smell of Mr. Briggs in her nostrils, Grace had stumbled outside, breathing deep of the surrounding scents and sitting close to the water’s edge. Benson had dropped beside her, his scaly head resting on her lap, his eyes beseeching.
“Don’t be sorry,” she murmured with an unsteady sigh, running a hand over his head and rubbing the blunt twin nubs that she guessed were horns. “I’m only grateful that cold-blooded killer got what he deserved.”
She felt his change come even before the pained dragon roar that sounded all too human. His big bones snapped and crunched into the much smaller frame of man as his tail and jaw retracted, his scaly blue skin becoming a smooth, golden hue. Her fingers slipped through his dark hair. In contrast, his face was white, his closed eyes shadowed beneath.
His eyelids flicked open, raw emotion shining in his weary stare. “You’re free,” he whispered. “Those agents are on your side now.”
“You heard?”
His lopsided grin looked almost painful. “Dragons have exceptional hearing.”
She released a taut breath. “Free,” she whispered. “I can hardly believe it. Though the agency could send others.” She paused, chewing her bottom lip. “Then you would have heard that…that I’m pregnant?”
He sat up and held out his arms. “Come here. Please.”
She slumped gratefully against him, her arms curling around his broad chest as she murmured, “I never planned to have children. I thought that only ‘normal’ women deserved such gifts, women who had someone to love them as much as their child.”
One of his big hands cupped her scalp, his thumb gently kneading. “Sweetheart, I do love you. With all my heart. My soul.” His breathed out a husky laugh. “And I never did really like normal, for obvious reasons.”
Was it possible? Did he truly love her? “You…you do?”
“Grace, look at me.”
She lifted her head, staring into his adoring eyes. “I loved you from the moment you walked through my bedroom door, dressed as a hooker but looking every inch an angel.”
Her heart glowed even as she frowned. “But you knew who I was. You knew I was a breeder.”
“Yes. Though it took many years for the best detectives to find you,” he admitted. “The agency isn’t the only one with connections. Hiring you as a ‘call girl’ was the only way I could get close to you.” His hand drifted gently along her jaw. “You’d already sold your soul to the agency.”
She released a slow breath. Benson was right. All those times she’d mentally repeated never to forget who she was, never to trust anyone—she’d done the exact opposite. “So how did you know who I was—that I was the right girl? The agency changed my name.”
His fingers twirled around some of her impossibly wild hair. “Besides the fact breeders have the fiery red tresses of a dragon’s flame, there’s an instant, undeniable chemistry between a Kezmat and a breeder that scatters all logic. All common sense.”
Little wonder all reason, all judgment, all her years of extensive training had flown out the window the moment she’d clapped eyes on him. “So our attraction is really nothing more than…lust?”
He shook his head. “No. What I feel for you is much deeper than just the physical. It’s emotional. It’s spiritual.” His hand moved downward, spread fingers resting on her flat belly. “You’re my life mate.”
She allowed him to tug her forward, his mouth settling over hers briefly before she pulled back, searching his stare. Reservations still lingered despite the love and adoration for him that longed to break free and reveal itself. “You realize you’re taking on more than just a breeder and an ex-agent? I’m all too human sometimes. I don’t sleep much—I have terrible nightmares even after all these years. And I have this bad temper to go with my red hair—”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh.” His smile was all affectionate warmth and primal heat. “The only thing I care about is you…our future.”
Then he abruptly rolled until she lay sprawled beneath his hard body. “And I think I know just exactly how to prove it,” he finished huskily.
Dangerous Addiction
Desiree Holt
Dedication
To my late wonderful hubby, who was always my most dangerous addiction.
Chapter One
If she keeps nibbling her bottom lip like that, I’m going to take her down to the floor right here in this restaurant.
Cord Jamieson slouched in the booth, studying the woman across from him. She was typing furiously on her netbook, her lower lip caught between her teeth in a way that made him want to thrust his tongue into her mouth. Her red top showed just a hint of cleavage. He’d already memorized the lush curves that enhanced her medium frame. Streaky blonde hair fell in a curtain around her face, emphasizing high cheekbones and unusual violet eyes.
The moment he’d been introduced to Fallon Crowe, the instant they shook hands, the electricity of the connection shocked him. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had hit him that hard, if ever. He saw the effect reflected in her eyes, too—and in the way she quickly removed her hand from his.
The awareness was still front and center—as well as that intangible something, that undeniable feeling when like recognized like.
Did she get it too? Did she recognize him as a Dom, just as he knew without question she was a natural submissive?
Like many of the subs he knew, Fallon was a confident career woman, very sure of herself. Still, the latent need to be dominated was there, all right.
Hiring her to do the promotion for his ranch and plan the facility’s opening event had bought him time to truly assess his attraction. He’d had a hard time chasing away his recurring fantasy of her naked, on her knees, hands bound behind her back, her full lips wrapped around his cock. His currently very hard, swollen cock.
All the desires he’d been tamping down for two months, ever since they’d met, came roaring back as he sat in this booth. The need to dominate. To play the games that had been such an integral part of his life for so long.
Or was it just wishful thinking on his part? She’d been very careful to avoid any touching since that single handshake, almost as if she was afraid of her reaction to him.
Cord had certainly expected a dry spell upon arriving in this very conservative community to revitalize a failing ranch, turning it into a working one with a little tourist attraction thrown in. He didn’t think this area was much into BDSM, and traveling back and forth between Dallas and the Texas Hill Country had kept him busier than he’d expected since he bought the old ranch. Restocking the herd. Hiring new hands. Interviewing a foreman. Meeting with architects. The planning commission. The county commission.
Too busy to satisfy his needs.
His head ached just thinking about it all. Other parts of his body ached too.
He wondered what Fallon’s story was. She’d certainly been avoiding the little test signals he’d sent out. Had her last Dom been insensitive? Uncaring? Too harsh in the games they played? God, how he hated when that happened. It cast a blight on the whole lifestyle.
The thought of restraining her and paddling what he was sure was a very sweet ass nearly made him moan. It had to be the unusual abstinence that was making him so horny.
Knock it off or you’ll embarrass yourself.
Fallon looked up from her keyboard, a tiny vertical frown between her eyebrows.
“I’m sorry this is taking so long.” God, he could listen to her voice forever. “I want to make sure I’ve included all the notes you brought.”
“Take your time. I’m happy with the work you’ve done so far. I guess I should consider myself lucky. I understand you’re the best around but you were on sort of a sabbatical for a while?”
A shadow of sadness washed through her gaze for just an instant. What was that about? Family problems? Something else? Probably something he didn’t want to know. He sat up a little straighter and signaled for the waiter.
“Another drink, Fallon? Maybe some wine?”
“Oh,” she sighed. “Wine sounds great but not when I’m working. A soda will be fine.” She smiled. “I’ll be done in just a few seconds. Then you can scroll through to see if it’s what you want.”
Cord looked around the restaurant as he sipped his drink. Fallon preferred meeting here rather than her office, which was in her house. Since the lunch crowd had left, they pretty much had the place to themselves. This was one of very few upscale watering holes in the county yet still rustic enough that he didn’t feel as if he was back in Dallas, where the claustrophobic environment of the city was choking him little by little. He was tired of it all.
Forty was just around the corner. Before it hit, he wanted a change in his life. He was tired of a seemingly endless parade of subs, women who meant little to him except for the exchange of physical pleasure. It had been his choice, of course, only now he wanted to choose something different. For a while he even thought about giving up the D/s lifestyle, but it was too ingrained in him. Like a drug that he couldn’t kick. And the tension in his body after a few months of enforced abstinence proved he was too addicted to change now.
“Thanks for being so patient,” Fallon said, tucking her hair behind her ear.
The little gesture always turned him on. Hell, everything about her turned him on.
“No problem,” he assured her.
He lifted his bourbon on the rocks, sipping it slowly. He didn’t need alcohol dulling his brain for what he had in mind later on. Today was their fourth meeting, and he finally had a plan he thought might work. Get her in a private situation, something much less public than this restaurant, even if it was nearly empty. Away from any and all prying eyes so he could let her know what he wanted. See if she wanted it too.
If for some reason she was reluctant, he certainly wouldn’t force her. That wasn’t part of his personality. But holy shit, he wanted to top her more than he’d ever wanted to dominate a woman.
Take it easy, asshole. You’re not talking about a life commitment here.
But wasn’t that exactly what had been rambling around in the back of his mind? Forget all the casual playing and settle down with the right person?
He mentally kicked himself. First he had to know if she was even interested in him. Then they could take it from there. Sweet Jesus, she got to him deep down in a way no woman ever had, and he hadn’t even fucked her yet.
Cord figured if he didn’t do something soon, his balls would explode. Good thing he was able to work out his energy lately by herding the new cattle and testing out the horses.
“Okay.” Fallon turned the little netbook to face him. “I’ve got everything in here, from the first press release through the entire campaign to the opening event. Take a look at this timeline. Tell me what you think.”
