Imprisoned by Desire Page 2

  I’d given my bodyguard the rest of the night off, telling him I was going to head straight home to bed. He hadn’t argued, probably because he had a new girlfriend he was anxious to meet. And I’d never done anything like this before.

  On my way to the underground parking garage, I’d made a halfhearted attempt to talk myself out of it. But, by the time I unlocked the door of my BMW coupé and slid behind the wheel, my sweaty palms and shortness of breath made up my mind for me.

  I hadn’t been this excited about a man since…well, since never. And it felt good.

  Thinking about what his naked body would feel like against hers made my panties wet. I revved the engine, letting the tires spin for a second before they grabbed and shot me forward.

  Driving was the one absolute joy in my life and I took every opportunity to do it fast and dangerous.

  Kind of like tonight’s rendezvous.

  With a smile, I downshifted around the corner with my foot on the accelerator and popped off the seat at least a few inches as I exited the garage. As the car screeched to a halt in front of the building, I looked around for Cass.

  The roar of a well-tuned engine drew my gaze to the muscular Challenger in the lot. Yeah, that suited him.

  Making his way out of the aboveground parking lot, he stopped next to me and lowered the passenger window while I lowered my driver’s window.

  “Nice car,” he said.

  I grinned, liking the way his gaze narrowed and intensified. “I like them fast.”

  I would have finished with “Like my men,” but didn’t want to give Cass a completely wrong impression of me.

  Of course, I’d agreed to go to his house with him—after they’d talked for what had seemed like forever but could only have been an hour at most. He probably thought I was easy.

  But I’d show him I was no pushover.

  “Want to show me how fast?” His smile returned and his gaze shone with a competitive light.

  Bring it on. I was ready for anything he could dish out.

  “A race? You’ll need to give me your address, because once I blow you away, I’ll need to know where to go.”

  His smile intensified. Holy hell, I’d thought his other smiles had been devastating. This one blew those away. It made my thighs clench and I swore I might have started to orgasm.

  “One-ten Spook Lane, Reading. The entrance to the driveway is a little hard to find in the dark. But don’t worry, you’ll be following me all the way.”

  I repeated the address for the navigation system. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that, Cass.”

  Then I stepped on the gas pedal and let the Beemer leap out ahead of the Challenger. Exhilaration whipped around me with the wind that came in through the open window as I sped down the road to the exit.

  The hotel was located in the country to the northwest of the city. The quickest way to get to Cass’s home would be to take Route 78 to Route 183 then straight into the city. Provided I didn’t run into any cops—which I’d make sure didn’t happen.

  The Beemer hugged the curves as I raced for the entrance ramp to the highway. In my rearview mirror, I saw the Challenger right on my tail.

  A jolt of electricity shot through me, a feeling unlike any I’d had before. It felt like…freedom. And it felt good.

  Reaching the open freeway, I pressed the pedal to the floor and cranked the stereo.

  My Chemical Romance’s “Dead!” blared from the speakers, Ray Toro’s guitar propelling the rock song to near-operatic heights.

  I’d never felt more alive in my life.

  * * * * *

  Cass

  I watched the Beemer nearly disappear into the late-night traffic of long-haul trucks and SUVs.

  Damn, the woman had a lead foot—and gave me a raging hard-on that threatened to bust the zipper on my pants.

  I’d never expected the cool blonde I’d met at the party to drive like a Formula One contender.

  Letting my foot drop to the floor, I wove in and out of traffic, keeping an eye on her taillights. When I’d closed the gap to only two car lengths, I settled in to follow.

  After a few miles, she took the exit ramp off the four-lane highway at fifty miles an hour and stepped on it again when she hit the two-lane country road that rose and dipped and curved. No streetlights illuminated the road and driving required my total concentration. I spent a few tense minutes rounding curves, hoping I wouldn’t see her car wrapped around a tree.

  Instead, I watched her taillights wink back into sight. She was a hell of a driver and I was left to play catch-up. Not that I couldn’t do it but I loved the thrill of the chase. It made the catch that much more intense.

  I stayed on her bumper when they hit the open stretch of Route 183 from Bernville to the city limits, grinning like a kid with a new toy. They encountered more traffic the closer they got to the city and she decreased her speed to a more manageable fifty miles an hour.

  When Route 183 became Schuylkill Avenue, she surprised me by turning off Schuylkill and heading toward Centre Park. She winged around Charles Evans Cemetery then continued uphill to Thirteenth Street, past Reading High School and the old St. Joseph hospital to Duryea Drive.

  Tinia’s Teat, this road was treacherous during the day. I hoped to hell she knew what she was doing, because one wrong tug on the wheel and she could send that little car over the edge and down a steep drop into the forest covering Mt. Penn.

  Every time her taillights disappeared, I held my breath until I saw them winking ahead of me as she tapped the brakes to take another curve.

  I lost sight of her at the turn onto Hill Road. My heart nearly stopped when she didn’t reappear.

  Shit, what the hell—

  Her Beemer idled just past the turn onto Spook Lane, sleek and gleaming in the pale light of the half-moon.

  I released the breath I’d sucked in and pulled alongside her to find her smiling at me.

  “I figured I’d let you show me which house is yours.” She smiled at me through the open window. “You said the lane was hard to find.”

  I nodded. “You’re good.” That was a complete understatement. She’d single-handedly shattered all my prejudices about women drivers.

  Her smile kicked up a notch, firing the already-boiling lust in my gut.

  “I love the freedom of speed. It’s exhilarating.”

  Damn, if I didn’t know better, I’d think the woman was laying a spell on me. My palms were damp, my chest actually ached and my cock felt ready to burst.

  But from everything I’d learned about Sara Prescott, she didn’t have any power. Except that which came naturally to women.

  “The driveway’s just a few hundred feet ahead. Don’t worry about the trees. They’re not as close as they seem.”

  Actually they were, but I made the tiny lane onto my property safe to pass with the soft chant of a displacement spell. Sara wouldn’t realize what was happening, especially in the dark, but the spell would displace the trees long enough for the cars to pass.

  My house couldn’t be seen from the road, not even in winter after the leaves had fallen. It was camouflaged in a stand of centuries-old pines that I supplemented with new trees every year. The modified A-frame log cabin blended into the trunks perfectly.

  Parking my car on the circular driveway instead of the belowground garage, I waited for Sara to pull in behind me. I walked to her door, opened it and held out my hand to help her out.

  Her hand was as warm as mine and the look in her eyes even more so.

  They didn’t say anything as I opened the front door and ushered her through. I’d willed a few lights on as I’d parked, just enough to banish the shadows.

  She took a thorough look around, noting everything from the hardwood floors covered with thick Turkish carpets to the Italian silk drapes and the overstuffed couches and chairs scattered around the open-floor plan of the first floor. The kitchen in the back was utilitarian, but then I wasn’t much of a cook. If she noticed my lack of a
dining table, she didn’t say anything.

  “Your home is gorgeous,” she said, her voice low, as if she didn’t want to break the silence but had to fill it somehow.

  “Thank you, it’s been in my family for a few years.” I had lived here for nearly sixty years and my grandfather had built the cabin almost two hundred years before that, but she didn’t need to know that. I didn’t want to scare her away…not yet.

  If I was honest with myself, I didn’t want to scare her at all.

  “Would you like a drink? I’ve got prosecco or pinot grigio.”

  She flipped me a glance over her shoulder as she walked toward the seating area in front of the natural-stone fireplace. “Prosecco, please, unless you’re going to have the pinot?”

  Holy hell. If I’d read that look correctly, she’d just told me to forget the wine and kiss her. I froze by the door, my every muscle straining to take that first step toward her, grab her and flatten her lithe body against mine. I desperately wanted to grind my erection against the soft silk of her dress before ripping it off her body.

  Instead, I headed to the fridge in the kitchen, pulled out the bottle and poured them each a glass. I turned and found she’d followed me. She leaned a hip against the small island separating the kitchen from the living area, her now-bare feet pale against the dark terracotta tiles on the kitchen floor.

  She noticed my glance downward “My shoes were killing me. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all.” I planned for her to take off a lot more than her shoes later. “Make yourself comfortable.”

  “Your home is beautiful. Do you live alone?”

  I handed her one of the glasses in my hand. “Yes. Though my brothers crash here a lot.”

  Her fingers grazed mine as she took the glass, leaving behind a tingling sensation. “How many do you have?”

  “Three.” I took a swallow of sparkling wine, hoping the alcohol would douse the lust, at least a little. I hadn’t anticipated this uncontrollable desire that drew me to this woman like a moth to a flame.

  “Younger? Older?” Sara asked.

  I led her back to the sitting area, waiting until she’d settled onto one end of the couch before taking the other. “I’m the oldest.” And supposedly the one with my head screwed on tight. I never fell for the wrong women. Lately I hadn’t fallen for any of them.

  My last steady companion had been nearly twenty years ago. Since then I’d dated but never the same woman more than twice. I hadn’t met a single one I’d wanted to wake up with more than twice.

  My second-oldest brother Tonio had hit the jackpot recently. Fiorella was a sweetheart and I’d promised Nino nothing would ruin their happiness.

  That meant I needed this woman.

  I wished that was more of a hardship than it really was, because, damn it to hell, I liked her—too fucking much.

  “I’m an only child,” she continued, still gazing into my eyes. “I enjoyed it while my parents were alive but after they died, I was very lonely.”

  With that statement, she’d handed me an opening on a silver platter. “You had your uncle.”

  Her smile softened. “Yes, Uncle Daniel did my best. But I wasn’t my dad and since I’d never had kids of my own, I was a little lost with me.”

  “You seem to have turned out fine.”

  “Thank you. Uncle Daniel may have my faults but I never doubted his love.”

  She took a sip of the prosecco, drawing my gaze to her now-glistening lips. I caught myself before I could lean forward and lay my mouth on hers.

  “Did you grow up around here?” She looked at me with such sincere curiosity I knew I was a goner. I might as well scrap this whole mission before I screwed it up completely.

  Or maybe it was time to stop talking.

  I nodded, swallowing before I spoke. “My parents still live in the area so they’re close enough to meddle.”

  “Do you get along with your family?”

  I did. I loved my family unconditionally. I’d do anything for my parents and I’d die for my brothers. I was seducing this woman, because the woman my brother loved was in danger from Sara’s uncle.

  Daniel Bonnini had a dark side, one I didn’t believe Sara knew anything about.

  But what if she did?

  “Cass?”

  If she did, I’d deal with it. But at this moment, I could almost pretend they were just two people doing the mating dance—and I was ready to change the tune.

  Leaning forward, I set my glass on the low table in front of the couch and turned to face her. Sara must’ve picked up on my intention, because she put her glass on the table next to me then held my gaze.

  She wasn’t going to back down and I had a momentary twinge of… Regret?

  Guilt? Doubt? Whatever it was, I shoved it away and reached for her. I didn’t have to go far, because she met me halfway.

  My hands fell on her shoulders, pulling her against me. Her chest hit mine at the same time their lips met.

  Blessed Goddess, her soft lips and the press of her firm breasts made my chest made blood rocket through my veins. And when she opened her mouth at the first touch of my tongue… She tasted hot and sweet and, Gods be damned, her mouth fit mine as if it was made for me.

  As I lifted my hands to cup her face, my thumbs slid along the slash of her cheekbones then down her jaw to her neck. Her smooth skin felt warm to the touch and I continued stroking down to her shoulders then back up.

  I felt the growl of a moan start in her throat then spill into my mouth, stoking the fire already roiling in my gut. Damn, I could lose myself in the act of kissing her, of stroking my tongue in and out of her mouth, mimicking what I wanted to do with my cock.

  Just the thought of the sweet wet suction of her lips wrapped around my shaft made me throb with pleasurable pain.

  Need to get closer.

  Dropping my hands to her waist, I lifted and shifted her over my lap, the skirt of her dress easing up to allow her legs to spread so she could place a knee on either side of my thighs.

  She couldn’t weigh more than one-ten, all long limbs and sleek muscle. Her tiny rounded ass settled against my thighs and my hands slid down and cupped it before pressing her closer to my groin.

  She took the hint without much persuasion on my part, scooting closer until the material of her dress was caught between her mound and my erection.

  The pressure both eased and inflamed me and I had to break away before I hyperventilated—which would’ve proved just how much of a moron I really was for letting this woman get to me.

  Staring into her equally startled green eyes, I thought about what I had planned to do tonight, what I needed her for and who Sara was—a tool to use to screw Daniel Bonnini. Or so I had thought.

  Then I’d met her and talked to her. And damn if I hadn’t fallen for the one woman I couldn’t have.

  * * * * *

  Sara

  I stared into Cass’s dark eyes, mesmerized by what I saw there.

  I wasn’t alone in this maelstrom of pure emotion. Raw male desire was evident in the jumping muscle of his jaw and the rough sound of his breath escaping from between his clenched teeth.

  And I couldn’t ignore the rock-hard erection that not even four layers of cloth could disguise. God, the man was huge. And hot. Not just between his legs. He radiated heat like a furnace and I soaked it up like a black cat in the sun.

  It should’ve made me wary. Instead, seeing in Cass’s eyes the same mix of confusion and lust I felt made my blood fizz and pop.

  They were going to have sex and it was going to be good. I knew it just as sure as I knew Cass was about to lean forward and kiss my again.

  I met him halfway, threading my fingers through the longer curls at his nape and locking him to me I sighed into his mouth as if the few seconds he hadn’t been kissing me had been a lifetime.

  God, the man kissed like, like…well, like someone who knew how to kiss. Maybe that was a warning that I was in over my head way too f
ar. But I couldn’t seem to care when his tongue stroked along hers, shooting a bolt of sensation through my body. My nipples tightened almost painfully and, if he didn’t move his hands from my waist to cup my breasts soon, I would have to move them myself—after I got rid of the dress.

  I needed his touch on my bare skin, needed to feel his hands, his fingers. I knew I didn’t have a great body. I was too short to be willowy and too skinny, all angles and sharp points.

  I worked out so I’d built up a little muscle mass, which helped me to not look like a gangly still-developing teenager.

  My breasts, though small, were shapely and extremely sensitive. I wanted Cass to cup them and put his mouth on my naked skin.

  Unfortunately, Cass’s hands were still fastened to my waist, as if holding me in place. He didn’t have to worry about me going anywhere. Not until he’d made me come at least a dozen times and he couldn’t get it up anymore.

  It took me a few long seconds to break away from his mouth, from the sheer erotic pleasure of his lips against hers. Then it took me a few more seconds to be able to speak.

  “Cass.”

  He froze, his expression wary, as if I was going to tell him to stop. God, the man was absolutely beautiful, so why would he think I’d want him to stop?

  I leaned forward until we were cheek to cheek. He must’ve shaved right before the mixer, because the expanse of skin was still smooth. My lips stopped only a whisper away from his ear, partially covered by silky black hair. I could’ve sworn he tensed but he didn’t move an inch. It was a challenge I couldn’t deny.

  I flicked the lobe of his ear with my tongue and had the satisfaction of feeling him shudder. “The zipper’s on the left side. Didn’t want you to have to guess.”

  His fingers dug into my waist and he swallowed hard, so hard I swore I heard the muscles in his throat work—which made my want to put my mouth there. I pressed a kiss to his hard jaw first then moved my lips to the pulse beating directly underneath. I gave it a quick peck before opening my mouth and laying it over the delicate flesh between his shoulder and neck, sucking the skin and nipping at it.