Bartered (10 page)

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Chapter 17

Hugo

Just as I was about to pull my pants down, Isobel started to have second thoughts, rattled at the notion of going au naturel.

“What if there’s a speed boat passing through? What then?”

“Then they see us naked. Who cares?” Her shyness was something I wasn’t used to from women. It was refreshing to see. “Live a little. Consider this a hiatus from your regular life; a free pass to indulge in things you usually wouldn’t consider.” Also the fact I was a selfish man who loved to torture himself by staring at her body like a true pervert, imagining what it would be like to sheath myself inside her moist tunnel.

“Be reckless
, you mean? But that’s just not me—”

She tried to argue, but I cut her off
, proving it with an example. “Signing that contract wasn’t like you either, but you did it anyway.” It was fate when she’d happened to be the daughter of the man who just so happened to owe the casino money.

Isobel shook her head
, adamant about making a point. “That’s different.”

“Not entirely. What you did was risky. I could’ve been a man who gets pleasures from hurting women
, or a man with serial killer capabilities, yet you took a chance, trusting I would take care of you.”

“I didn’t really have that much choice…
My father isn’t an easy man to deal with,” she insisted with vehemence before chugging another gulp from the bottle.

“We always have a choice, Isobel.” She needed to know that
in case her father kept using her to pay off his gambling habit. “Whether it’s right or wrong,
you
always have an option.”

She broke into a beaming smile, looking up at me with pure sincerity.

“Thank you for taking a chance with me
. I know it’s odd to be thanking you, but now that you’ve revealed that you won’t do anything until I allow you to… well, not a lot of men would be that noble.” Pressing her lips together, she whispered another gratitude, “So, thank you.”

“I did tell you I have a weakness for beautiful, catty, sharp
women, with eyes so blue they sometimes turned purple, who’s also unafraid to speak her mind and constantly likes to push my limits.”

Her smile was pure beauty. I wished she’d
do so more often. I’d give her whatever she wanted when she looked at me that way—serene and impressionable.

The catty and feisty attitude turned me on like a raging lunatic, yet this
, too, had the power to drive my lust to epic proportions. One way or the other, I wanted her with a passion. Like a flip of a switch, so did my objective.

“You know, you could further thank me by swimming with me.”

Rolling her eyes, she feigned an exasperated sigh. “All right, but I’m leaving my underwear on.” She sharpened her eyes at me, as if in warning of some sort.

I’ll take whatever she’d throw at me.

“Whatever you feel comfortable in.” I was a rabid dog with an unfathomable hunger that only burned for one particular person. It was as if my nature and my senses came together when with her.

Pulling the zipper down on the side of her chest, she eyed me warily. “It’s weird that I feel shy doing this even though you’ve seen me naked before.”

I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath, awaiting the striptease, but her hesitation made me concede to giving her a little space. Emphasis on little. “I’ll pretend like I’m a gentleman and go in first.”

Walking into the water until it was around my hips, I dove into the dark sea before I came up for air and swam
farther out. The water was cool, a refreshing change for my heated body. The summer heat was crucial earlier today, and in those times, a dip in the sea was mandatory.

Taking a gulping breath, I spun around towards the beach as I pedaled to stay afloat. The beach was empty. Where
had she gone?

“Isobel?” I called out, keeping still as I tried to adjust my eyesight.
I was about a little over a kilometer out in the sea; therefore, my vision wasn’t as clear as I’d hoped.
“Isobel!”
I bellowed again, but this time, I heard a small reply.

“I’m right over here.” Her voice was a great distance away. “Where are you?”

Scouring the dark sea as I swam with slight, silvery rays of the moon to lighten my sight, there was still a vast area that was shaded, and I desperately needed to make sure of where she was.

“Stay where you are and keep talk—”

She made a startling yelp, almost stopping my heart. “Oh, fuck!
Something touched my leg!
” She made an alarming screech.
“Hugo, something’s out there!”

“Don’t move.” I swam towards her, following the echo of her voice. “I’m coming.”

“Hugo, please hurry!” she screamed, but this time with pure terror. “I just saw a fin!
Oh my God, I saw a bloody fin!
I’m going to die.
I’m going to die!
” She kept chanting that she was dying.

Her alarmed voice sent a chill all over my body, making
me feel truly frightened for the first time in over a decade. The small splashes of water done by her panicky arms made me halt for a second as I noticed the dorsal fin slicing briskly about her before it disappeared again.

Then
,
I barked out a laugh as I reached for her, wrapping my arms around her as I held her close. “Relax. It’s only a dolphin.” I kissed her forehead as relief spread all over me. “The Rissos dolphin feeds at night, and they have a long dorsal fin, so I guess it’s easy to assume it’s a shark circling about you for its next meal.”

“That’s not funny. I truly
, really was frightened.” She sobbed, a little frazzled.

Pauvre bébé
. (Poor baby.) She looked so scared she had tears in her eyes. Wiping them away, I kissed her nose while trying to reassure her. “Even if it were a shark, you can’t blame it for wanting to have a taste; you’re quite a delectable treat,” I teased, watching as the fright slowly ebbed away from her eyes.

She lightly tapped my chest before resting her head against
it. “I almost had a heart attack. Be nice.” Then she pulled her head back, taking a peek at me. “Since when did you know so much about dolphins anyway?”

“I swim a lot at night during
the summer months.”

“This is actually nice,” she murmured, as she unknowingly sought for more warmth from my chest. “But do you mind if we’re closer to the shore? I don’t like being all the way out here in the open
. It’s like baiting ourselves to be eaten alive for the next hungry predator that happens to be nearby.”

“I’m a predator
, and I’m famished.” Her breasts were squished against me, and it was getting increasingly difficult to resist her by the second.

“In a different circumstance
, I would’ve quivered, but now’s not the time to put the moves on me.” She swam away, heading towards the beach while I followed closely behind, needing to draw more of this drug from her.

Once she felt safe from the “predators
,” as she’d put it, she tilted her head back, staring into the sky above, while my eyes centered on the two creamy orbs before me.

“So…
I make you quiver,” I asked, wanting to delve more into that detail. “Tell me more about it.”

“You don’t let up, do you?”

“Your admission just took me by surprise.”

Her long hair floated around her while her breasts thrust forward. She reminded me of a siren.
La belle sirène
.

She made a dry laugh. “Why should it? I mean
, come on, you know you’re sexy and shit.”

“Sexy and shit
,” I mused at her choice of words.

“You’re beautiful and shit—” She then bit her lip
, as if she didn’t mean for the words to come out, while her cheeks blushed profusely. Her eyes dropped to my lips, concentrating on them.

“Take a chance,” I said huskily, hoping she’d follow her urges. “Touch me.
Kiss me
.” I moved closer, just enough to feel the slightest touch of her nipples against my chest. The contact made me delirious.
“I dare you.”

Her breathing turned shallow as she moved her lips a hairsbreadth from my own hungry one
s. If she kissed me once, she was done. I wouldn’t stop until we both released some of this tension, one way or another.

In a second, my wish came true
, ending my beautiful torment. I gave her a minute—one torturous minute of reeling in the animal that had been unleashed by a mere kiss from her—before I took charge.

Since we were close to shore, I lifted her body to wrap
it around mine without breaking our lips apart from their fevered kisses. From there, I carried her to where we’d left the bottle, right next to the bucket, before I splayed her on the sand. Hovering above her, I sought eye contact, needing to see her. In her luminous, dilated depths came reassurance that she
did
trust me.

“Close
your eyes and keep them shut,
mon amant
.” She did as I asked, and for a moment, I let my eyes worship her,
savor her
. She was ready for whatever I had planned for her, however I had made a promise, and as much as it pained me to harness my hunger, I had to pass this test to fully earn her trust.

Reaching inside the wine cooler, I captured a cube before I softly brushed it against her aroused nipple. The sheer
, cooling contact made her gasp.

“Do you like ice, Isobel?” I croaked out, feeling helpless when my cock became too painful to bear.
Still, I kept on with the sweet torment. The ice was melting, therefore I let the drip trickle on her stomach as she started to shift and moan.

Her legs were parted
, and I couldn’t help myself from reaching to touch her there. Pushing her thong aside, I slightly rubbed her with my thumb. “May I taste you, mon amant?”

She was breathing
erratically as she made a hesitant nod. It was all I needed to bunch up the thong in my hand before wrenching it off her. The sudden move made her gasp, although before she could protest, I inserted the ice cube inside her pussy, driving her into a little tizzy.

“Savor the sensation
, ma belle. Don’t stop until you come in my mouth.”

Parting her legs wider, I situated my head between her legs before softly blowing air
along her slit. The ice was melting inside her, and the melted water slowly dripped out of her entrance. Using the tip of my tongue, I flicked it back forth, letting the water soak onto my tongue before I swallowed and tasted her. I let out a grunting sound then let my mouth delve into her folds, relishing every bit of her relentlessly… harshly.

“Hugo—
God!
” she shrieked before both of her hands grasped the back of my head and used it to gyrate on my mouth, making her scream in pleasure.

Chapter 18

Isobel

“Is this what you do all day; stare into oblivion?” Julee interrupted my shortened reverie.

I wasn’t technically staring into
oblivion as she’d spitefully put it. I was merely thinking about what had occurred last night with Hugo.

After I
had embarrassingly come for the umpteenth time, I had been too out of it to use any strength to function, let alone walk. Consequently, he had carried me in his arms and brought me to my room where he’d run a bath for both of us and washed me. I had never felt like I was being taken care of that way. It was sweet and something out of the ordinary, especially coming from a man like Hugo. Nevertheless, I had lavished in it, falling in and out of sleep in the nook of his neck and chest. I didn’t even remember getting into bed with him. However, when I had woken up this morning, I’d noticed the indent on the other pillow.

“I’m throwing an event
at The Riviera. A task that was done by my sister, Celeste, but after she passed, I carried on the project,” she informed me, even though I couldn’t care less what she was talking about. The woman was purely horrid.

Not getting the clue she was unwanted, she kept on pestering me. “If you’re not d
oing much else, you could be of help.”

Oh
, she was asking for my help when a little less than twenty four hours ago she had accused me of being an ill-mannered gold digger? Seriously. How about not?

“I’ll think about it, Julee
. I have a lot going on at the moment,” I responded with a subtle tinge of sarcasm, since it was quite obvious to anyone around here I practically didn’t do much until Hugo bossed me about.

Julee gave me a scathing look, eyeing me up and down as if I was a cockroach she wanted to squash with her heel
, before she lifted her snobbish chin and harried away.

Shaking my head, I was about to get up to go to the kitchen in search for some sweets when my phone rang on the table.

“Hello?”

“
Ça va
,
ma belle?” (How are you, my beautiful?) His sexy, French voice filtered through the phone, making me feel all sorts of arousal.

Stifling my weird reaction to his raspy bedroom voice, I focused on his question. “I’m doing well. And you? I didn’t realize you
’d slept with me last night until this morning.”

He made a deep laugh,
causing me to react all the more. Damn this overheated body. Last night was intense, but I didn’t expect myself to go haywire each time he called me, too. I mean, it was bad enough when he was around me.

“Does it bother you that I share
d your bed?”

Well…yes, it did. But instead of saying that, I ended up telling him something else, “I don’t know
. I was asleep.” The image of him holding me close kept appearing in my mind, and each time it did, I’d get these butterflies in my stomach.

“I didn’t intend to
, but when you asked me not to go, I couldn’t resist the invitation, either.”

What? I
had asked him to stay? How come I couldn’t remember it? I mean, I remember falling asleep on his chest in the bathtub while he was washing me, but that was where my memory stopped.

“Oh…
Well, I don’t remember that part.”

Hugo made a toe-curling laugh. “I’d love to do more of that every night if you like
. I love how you taste on my tongue, ma belle.”

Flashbacks of the beach and him in between my legs
—the carnal images of us—left me panting,
breathless
.

“We’re invited to go to a yacht party tonight. I’ll be home at five
, and we can leave around six. Is that good enough time for you to get ready?”

“Yes, it should be enough.”

“You’re all I thought about today, and I can’t wait to see you again tonight,” he said, sounding like he truly meant it. “Dress for me tonight, Isobel.” It was the last thing he said before he hung up, leaving me wondering what had just taken place in that conversation.

Dress for him? Damen
had never asked me that before. How did one dress for a man? I had no clue how to perceive his request. I wasn’t sure if he meant not wearing underwear or dress like a slut, though maybe the latter. He did go berserk with that small dress I wore last night. I think it even drove him over to the edge.

He was the
mine
kind of guy. Possessive and extremely demanding and, not to mention, dominating. The kind of man I had told myself I wasn’t attracted to, and yet, here I was, undeniably attracted to the man who was the epitome of it. I was a hypocrite. No, scratch that—I was a confused hypocrite. Because, as much as I told myself not to give in an inch, there was something about him I couldn’t resist, either.

Take a chance
.

Touch me.

Kiss me.

I dare you
.

I
had dared to kiss him. Every inch of me had sung, had been alive, when I pressed my lips against his. It was like a magnet, I couldn’t help being drawn to him, even if I was protesting, kicking and screaming all the way. I still ended up in his arms. God help me because, when he was doing all those things to me and my body, all I could think about was him. It was beyond troubling, to say the least, that the man I loved didn’t enter my conscience whatsoever.

“How did it go with Hugo last night?” Elena sprung out of nowhere, joining me
on the outdoor patio before pulling the chair across from me and sitting comfortably. “I’ve never seen him that angry with any of his girlfriends before.”

Smiling at her, I shook my head in denial. “You’re being silly.” If she only knew what
had gone on between Hugo and I last night… I still couldn’t fathom how easily tempted and persuaded I had been to let him have a meal of me out in the open. I hadn’t been able to stop him because he had been weaving magic through my veins, and I was still feverish from it. The aftereffects of being served a healthy dose of Hugo Xavier-
ism
.

“Men can’t take it when their women are hot and naughty.”

I wasn’t Hugo’s woman, but Elena didn’t know that.

“He was just being weird.”

“Weird? Or maybe he really likes you,” she pressed on with colorful exaggeration. “Or maybe you’re the one for him. I mean, he looked angry and devastated at the same time. Poor cousin, if I wasn’t so shocked about his reaction, I might’ve laughed and teased him about it, but that would’ve been cruel.”

“The one? Uhhh, no
.” I stared back at her, beyond stunned. “We’re just having fun, and come on, have you forgotten this is your
cousin
we’re talking about here? The great Hugo Xavier.”

“I’m telling you
, you’re different. So even if you believe it or not, just be prepared. ‘Cause my cousin has his own way of handling things. Be careful, though, because once you mess up, he’ll leave you, and you wouldn’t even know it until it’s too late.”

Well
, that was a lot to wrap my mind around. Nevertheless, whatever happened between Hugo and I, I was still walking out when the contract was up.