His Ransom 4 Page 3

  “But what?”

  “I don’t know.” I gripped the railing tightly and looked down. “Do you think you’ll live here in New York City forever?”

  “I’m not sure,” Jake said.

  I needed to know more. I couldn’t take uncertainty for an answer. He was going to be gone for a week, and I was already losing my way.

  “When you imagine life in the future, what do you imagine?” I asked. “Where would you raise your kids? Where do you want to live forever?”

  “I’ve never considered it. Do you want kids?”

  I flushed.

  “I’m not saying—I mean, we’ve known each other for a few weeks, that’s nothing.”

  “Lacey, it’s not nothing.”

  I shook my head, embarrassed. I’d said the wrong thing. Again. I’d messed up.

  “I shouldn’t push you,” I said. In the streets, lines of red and white moved in slow lines through the grid of the city. Where were they all going? Did any of them do anything that really mattered? Everybody thought that what they did mattered, I suppose. Looking down on everything, though, it was hard to believe it.

  “It’s tough for me to commit to anything,” Jake said, looking off. “I don’t feel like I could be responsible enough for a normal life.”

  “You certainly don’t have a normal life. You have a perfect life.” I felt terrible for pushing him with these questions before he left. I don’t know what I wanted. Some kind of commitment, maybe. He was going to Paris, probably surrounded by gorgeous women—

  I snapped my mind shut on those awful thoughts.

  “You’ve thrown a wrench into the works, though.”

  “Me?” I frowned. I didn’t want to mess up Jake’s perfect life.

  “Yes, you. Your art. Your words. Your beautiful body.”

  Jake moved behind me. His hands cupped at my breasts, lifting them in appreciative palms.

  “Jake, come on.”

  “I’m serious,” he said. “Before you, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I wasn’t going to care about anything except the next day. There wasn’t anything for me except superficial entertainment. I feel so guilty… I used women who wanted me. I used them and threw them away and never cared. Not until you.”

  “Then why do you flirt with other women?”

  There it was. Jake’s eyes fell dark.

  “Other women? When have I ever flirted with other women?”

  “Belle,” I said, summoning my courage to face him. “Tonight.”

  To my surprise, he burst out into hard laughter. His emerald eyes were hard, though, and he put his arms around me. I stiffened.

  “Lacey, are you serious?”

  “Yes!” I blurted out. I turned around in his arms so I could see his face. The city was reflected in his eyes, but right now, even his beauty wasn’t enough to make me let this go. “Are you serious? Promising to bring her a present back from Paris?”

  “That’s not—”

  “You did. She knew exactly what she wanted, and you gave it to her.”

  Jake’s arms dropped to my waist and he looked at me with concern.

  “Why are you so upset?” he asked.

  “Because everything I do is irrelevant! My art is irrelevant. None of it matters. I don’t matter. You’d be fine without me.”

  “You know that’s not true.”

  “And you’d go flirt with someone—”

  “Who?”

  “Belle, or someone else,” I said, waving my hand in the air for emphasis. “She flirted with you, and you flirted right back.”

  “No! That’s just how she is.”

  “And you?” I asked. “Is that just how you are? Flirting right back?”

  Jake sighed.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I am. I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear. It’s just… business.”

  “I don’t like that kind of business,” I said flatly.

  “Lacey—”

  “And now you’re going off to Paris, for business, in the company of a bunch of super models and super successful businesswomen, and… and… Can you not see how I would be the littlest bit insecure?”

  “No.”

  “NO?!”

  “I mean, yes, but no. Lacey, you’re… you’re you.”

  His eyes softened, and the lights behind sparkled in his irises. I didn’t know if it was the city lights or the stars that I was seeing.

  “What about me?”

  “You’re mine.” He said it with such emphasis that the words shook me physically. All of a sudden, I felt the familiar fear of heights. I leaned forward against his chest and he wrapped me in his arms. Jake was the only person who could make me forget my fears.

  “So you care about me?” I whispered.

  I hated myself for being this needy. I didn’t know what would make me happy. Shouldn’t I be happy already?

  “Lacey, of course I care about you. I’m sorry if I don’t say it enough. I’m sorry if I don’t say it in the right way. I never knew what it was like to have a caring family.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. And I meant it.

  Jake had had a truly tough beginning. When he’d told me about his family dying in the apartment fire, I’d felt the pain in his heart. It had been the first—and only—time he’d let me see him cry.

  “My mother hated my father,” he said. “And my father…”

  He shut his eyes, his face contorted. I squeezed his arm to comfort him.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I know.”

  I know that your father was a drunk. An abusive husband. An abusive father.

  “It’s not okay,” Jake said. His voice was filled with anger. “I don’t know if I could be a good husband. Or a good dad. Or anything like that. I don’t know what any of that is like.”

  I nodded, thinking of my own family. How different we were. My parents were poor, but they had always been in love. And his parents had given him everything he wanted… everything except love. Until they too had been taken away from him.

  In a burst of sympathy, I wrapped my arms around him. He held me tight against his chest, pressing a kiss down onto the top of my head.

  I could hear his heart beat calmly, steadily. His chest was warm against me. He rested his chin on the top of my head and looked out to the view below.

  “New York City isn’t all bad,” he said.

  “No, it’s beautiful.”

  “So are you.”

  He pressed a tender kiss to my lips.

  “Lacey, let’s… let’s talk more about this when I get back from my trip,” he said. His face looked torn with worry. “I promise we can talk then. I’ll have more to say. Just—”

  “Alright,” I said. “Alright.”

  I thought about what he had said before. In the art studio, in bed… I was entirely his.

  And if I was his, shouldn’t he be mine?

  Chapter Five

  “Okay,” he said, tugging me away from the railing. “Now, let me give you your present.”

  I raised my brows.

  “Present?”

  “A little goodbye present. Don’t argue with me.”

  “Why?” I asked slyly, tracing one finger down the line of his already undone tie. “Will you have to punish me if I argue?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Maybe I want you to punish me,” I said. My fingers moved down to his waistline. His member twitched as I brushed the back of my hand along his length.

  “Oh, now you’ve done it, sweet girl,” Jake said. His voice tingled over my skin.

  “Are you sure that I’m so sweet?” I teased.

  “Nope, not sure,” Jake said. He bent down and picked me up at the waist, swinging me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.

  “Aiyee!” I cried out.

  “Let’s make sure,” he said. “One hundred percent sure.” I smacked his ass as he carried me back inside.

  Jake strode back through the living room, back, back down the hallway…

/>   “Where are you taking me?”

  “You know where I’m taking you,” he said. I could hear the grin in his voice.

  “Jake! Ahh! Put me down!” I smacked uselessly at his butt, his back, his shoulders. He had me gripped tight in his arms.

  “Say please.”

  “Please!”

  “Sorry, nope.”

  “What?!”

  “Not even a please is going to do it this time.” He kicked open the door that led to the mirrored room.

  He’d had the mirror replaced and extended in a curve, so that the bed was now surrounded almost entirely by reflective surfaces. I saw my rear swing around as he let me drop unceremoniously onto the mattress. All of my reflections bounced, bounced, and then stood still.

  Jake ripped his tie off.

  “Hands.”

  I offered my wrists up for him to bind. He wrapped the silk tie around them. He kissed me first on one palm, then the other.

  “You’re so sweet,” I said. He grinned.

  “I’m going to wear you out so badly that you won’t be able to walk for a week.”

  “Okay, maybe sweet isn’t the word.”

  “Turn around.”

  “You just want to control me,” I said. I obediently spun so that I was facing away from him. In the mirror, I could see him unbutton his shirt, revealing his muscled chest. My core clenched inside of me.

  “Yes. I want to control you. In here.”

  “Not out in the real world?”

  “This is the real world,” Jake said. His eyes bore through mine in the mirror. “It’s everything out there that’s fake.”

  His hands ran down my sides lightly, then tugged on the side zipper of my dress. The fabric fell away from my body easily and pooled at my knees. I’d obeyed his order—no underwear—and the look on his face when he pulled my dress away was worth any discomfort I’d felt throughout the evening.

  He looked at me like I was his perfect present. Like my body was sculpted out of marble and every curve was beautiful. I’d never looked at myself in that way before. Not before Jake.

  “God, Lacey,” he said throatily. The rumble of his voice made my nerves tremble. The ache inside of me grew with every brush of his fingertips on my skin.

  “Take me,” I said.

  Jake bent his head and pressed a kiss on my angled shoulder. I leaned back against his warm chest. God, he felt good.

  “Lacey, I want you to trust me tonight,” he said. His voice was a whisper.

  “Of course.”

  “I’m going to push you farther than we’ve gone before,” he said. “I’m warning you now so you know what to expect.”

  A thrill of fear ran through my body. All of Jake’s experiments—the blindfolds, the handcuffs—had been terrifying at first. I tried to imagine what else he had in store. But there was no way I could know. Heck, I’d been a virgin before I met him!

  His hands caressed me, fanning the flames of my desire even higher. I wanted nothing more than for him to make love to me right then and there. I was burning with need.

  But instead, he stood up.

  “Please…” I moaned quietly. He smiled and pulled a blindfold over my eyes. The dark fabric covered my eyes and ears, muting the sound in the room. I was enveloped in darkness.

  Blinded now, I heard him make his way over to his drawer of toys. He came back, his weight shifting the mattress. I held myself steady on my knees, kneeling on the mattress. What was he going to do to me?

  His mouth came down on my neck, biting. His hands wrapped around my body. So far, he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. Then I heard a low hum.

  I nearly jumped out of my skin when he pressed the vibrator against me.

  “Ahh!” I cried.

  “Too high of a setting?” I heard the pitch of the hum drop, and then I felt the vibrator again. I’d never used one before, and I squirmed back against Jake’s chest. He pressed it lightly onto my most sensitive flesh, then pushed harder. Lighter, then harder, pulsing it against my already-aching clit.

  “Oh! OH!” I cried out in surprise as the orgasm ripped through me nearly instantly.

  Jake held the vibrator against me and held me in his arms as I shuddered. The waves of this orgasm were short and sudden, hitting me in a burst of ecstasy that made my muscles melt. If Jake hadn’t been holding me upright, I would have crumpled to the mattress.

  “Easy now,” he said.

  I gasped a breath. The room was hot now, much hotter than it had been before, and beads of sweat tickled my temples.

  “That… that was so fast,” I whispered. “How did that… how did you…” I couldn’t form sentences at the moment. My heart was catching up to the rest of my body.

  “I’m just trying to get you relaxed,” Jake said.

  “I—I—”

  “Good,” Jake said. “That’s a start.”

  I heard his zipper being undone, and I moaned in anticipation. I wanted his cock buried deep inside me. The orgasm he’d given me with the vibrator had been short and sweet, but nothing like the ones he’d given me before. I wanted him completely, fully.

  Instead, though, he began to massage my shoulders. His hands kneaded my muscles, and I let out a few low sighs as he moved down, rubbing my arms, then my hands. He kissed my fingertips as his thumbs massaged the palms of my hands.

  “Oh, Lord,” I moaned. This was nearly as good as the orgasm I’d just had. Jake’s hands were strong, his fingers pressing a perfect amount of pressure against my aching muscles.

  I didn’t protest as he pushed me down onto the mattress, rolling me onto my back. He straddled me, massaging my breasts. I could feel his hard cock pressed against my stomach, throbbing against the soft skin there. My lips parted. I wanted to take him inside of me so badly.

  “Please… please…” I whimpered.

  “Not yet.”

  His weight came off of me, and I nearly cried out with the pressure inside of me. The last vestiges of my orgasm were fading, and I already felt the burning throb that wanted more.

  Then he kissed me just under the bellybutton. His lips were whispers against my skin, and I writhed on the bed. His tongue darted out, wetting my skin.

  “Oh God,” I moaned. “Oh, Jake.”

  He moved down, continually kissing me, sucking my skin lightly. He kissed one thigh, then the other, his hair tickling me. All throughout, his arms pinned me down, kneading me with one hand as he caressed me gently with the other.

  It was torture, blissful torture. I was hot and throbbing by the time his tongue moved down, lightly flicking my swollen clit.

  “Ah!”

  “You’re going to come for me two more times,” Jake whispered. His hot breath moved over my raw and aching flesh. Then I felt his mouth curve into a smile. “At least.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from reaching down with my bound hands. I couldn’t do anything but run my fingers through his hair as he began to lave me. His tongue turned alternately hard and then soft against my clit, and I moaned again and again as he brought me closer to the edge of orgasm and then left me there.

  “Please!” I cried. I gripped his hair tightly, arching my back so that I would press harder against him. I needed it. Needed more. The ache inside me was burning with such intensity that I thought I would implode. And then he pulled away, yet again, and I screamed with unsatisfied need.

  “Such a good girl,” he said. “I almost don’t want to do this to you, but I’ve been waiting and I don’t think I can wait another week.”

  His fingers slid into me as he sucked my clit, and I burst into a second orgasm.

  “Mmmm.” His lips hummed against me as I came again and again, rolling my hips against his needy mouth.

  His tongue circled my swollen, pulsing sex as I cried out in ecstasy. White light blossomed in my vision. In the darkness of the blindfold, I was surrounded with the light of exploding pleasure, the release of tension.

  I rolled my hips against, wanting his fingers
deeper in me. No, it wasn’t his fingers that I wanted. He knew as well as I did that nothing he had done so far had truly satisfied me. Even now, with the echoes of my orgasm thrumming through me, I wanted him to push into me with his cock.

  “Easy, beautiful,” Jake murmured. I moaned, twisting my body. The silken sheets of the mattress were damp with the moisture from my hot body. Nothing, it seemed, could cool me down. As soon as my orgasm diminished, I felt the ache rise even higher.

  “I need it,” I said, my voice hoarse and ragged in the hot air. “Please, please Jake. I need you—”

  “Shh,” he said.

  I pressed my lips together and made a low noise of need. I could hear his breath growing fast. The pulse of blood through his fingers was almost as fast as my own. He needed it just as badly as I did. And yet—

  “Now,” he said, coming back up to straddle me. I felt the tip of his cock twitch under my chin. “Get me wet, Lacey.”

  I wanted to scream that I was wet already, that he didn’t need any more, that I needed him now, right now, inside of me. But before I could say anything, the scent of his musk filled my nostrils.

  My mouth watered even as he cupped his hand under my neck and lifted me to take his huge cock into his mouth. I tongued the end of his length, tasting the salty drop of precum on the end. I moaned as he slid into my mouth.

  My hands were tied and I brought them up to touch him. He pushed my wrists away with one hand, pinning them above my head.

  “God,” he gasped. I swirled my tongue and felt the throb of his cock in my mouth. He groaned.

  “Easy, Lacey,” he said. “Not yet.”

  No. Not yet. I wanted him so badly. I wriggled under his grip as he withdrew from my mouth, pressing a kiss onto my wet lips.

  “You’re gorgeous,” he said. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes.” It was a gasp of desire.

  “Good,” he said.

  He flipped me around onto my stomach with his strong arms. My hands were still tied over my head, and he lifted me, placing a pillow under my stomach, before letting me rest.

  “Take me,” I moaned.

  “I will,” he said. “Oh, Lacey.”

  His hand slid under my body and I felt something strange. It was a dildo, long and hard, pressing into the skin of my stomach. I shifted my weight, unsure what was happening. He pressed the dildo against my aching slit, and eased it in slightly.