In Wicked Chains (The Wicked) (3 page)

Chapter Two

Elina crumpled to the floor in a quivering heap after Kingston yanked the belt from her wrists. Finally, she knew what his touch felt like on her skin. She’d have proof, real-life images in her head when she went to sleep tonight. But did she pass his test? Had she shown him she could take whatever he dished out?

She lifted her head. He sat next to her on the floor, his back against the couch. His head was thrown back, eyes closed, fists clenching and unclenching at his side.

She swallowed. “King?” He didn’t move, but his jaw flexed. “Kingston, look at me. Please?’

His eyes opened slowly. Pain, lust, and for a brief flash, fear stared at her from his blacker than black gaze. “I can’t do this with you. I won’t.”

“Why?” She scrambled to her feet. Warm moisture slid down her legs. His gaze dipped, settling at the juncture of her thighs before leaping back to her face. He struggled with something, but kept his lips sealed.

“Why won’t you do this with me?” Lips and limbs trembling, she asked, “Is it because of him, my father?’

His eyes flashed. “I’m not going to judge you by your father’s actions, El.” He glanced away. “Besides, we’re kind of in the same unlucky boat when it comes to parents.”

“Then why?” Elina caught herself before she dropped to her knees. Begging a man to want her, to need her was so beneath the Vicente image, but she couldn’t make herself care. This was Kingston, the man she’d wanted from day one, the one she dreamed of at night, the name she called out in moments of stolen self-pleasure.

He blanked his features. “You’ve been through some stuff with your father and I’d never hold it against you, but today is the first time I’ve seen you be stubborn, be assertive, be…someone other than Elina Vicente, daughter of a dead gangster.”

Tears burned her eyes. “That must tell you something. It must tell you that I want this.” She stepped forward, held out a quivering hand. “I’m offering up myself to you, King. I’m willing to take whatever you dish out.” The words broke in her throat and she had to force them out, but it wasn’t from fear. Anticipation and the thrill of finally admitting her wants and needs to the man who made those emotions come alive was the cause.

What happens if he turns me down?

He jerked upright. “It tells me you still have no idea what you’re asking for. No idea what the words you’re saying really mean.”

“I allowed you to touch me. Make me…” She dropped her hand and pursed her lips.

“Come. That’s the word you’re looking for.” He pushed off the floor and stood, arms folded, deep gaze glued to hers. “I made you come, Elina. You can’t even say it, can you?”

“Of course I can say it,” she scoffed. “Come. See?” Despite her bold words, heat still swept her face and neck.

Kingston’s mouth twitched. “Yeah, you’re a regular dirty-talker.” He approached slowly, crowding her. She couldn’t hide the reflexive flinch, but managed to squelch the urge to retreat.

I’ve got to be strong. Show him I can do this.

His hand snaked around her waist and yanked her close. His breath feathered across her forehead. Elina shivered and gulped his scent into her lungs. At the faint hint of patchouli, her eyelids fluttered.

“You’re tough, right?” Up close, his words rumbled in her ear.

She nodded up at him.

He grinned, nostrils flared. “Show me.”

“Ho-how?”

“Touch me.” He grabbed her right wrist and laid her palm on his chest. The muscles jumped under his black t-shirt. “Touch me.”

She curled her fingers, teeth digging into her bottom lip. And now came the time to really show and prove. While she had no problems with Kingston’s hand on her body, her confidence surely didn’t extend to being the one who did the touching. Her experiences with Niko were limited to being on the receiving end, except the time she got him drunk and climbed him. Even then, she barely did anything.

“Your hesitation tells me I’m right, you’re not ready.” Kingston’s words interrupted her thoughts.

Usted puede hacer esto, Elina
.
You can do this
. Elina put those words on permanent repeat in her mind and lifted her hand from his chest. Reaching up and behind him, she pulled out the rubber band holding his thick braids in place. They spilled over his shoulders, framing his face and giving him a wild, untamed appearance.

“Shake them,” she whispered.

He did. Tilting his head back, he shook his head with rapid moves. The braids flew around, beauty in motion. When he stopped, she did what she’d wanted to the second she laid eyes on Kingston. She sank her fingers into his hair and wrapped a few stands around her fingers.

His gaze burned her, face inscrutable. She met his eyes and emotions swamped her. “I’ve wanted to do that forever,” she confessed in a husky voice. And today most—if not all—of her dreams came true.

“What else have you always wanted to do?” Kingston shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Show me.”

A little braver, a little more in control of her runaway emotions, Elina did. She removed her hand from his hair and cupped his cheek. His closely shaved facial hairs tickled her palm. She kept her eyes on her hand as she swiped her thumb over his cheekbone.

And again her hand shook. Breath left her in heavy pants. She leaned into him and pressed her nose to his throat. Kingston jerked, then stiffened. His arms rose as if to hold her in place, but dropped back to his sides.

Elina inhaled the salty scent on his skin. Whimpers fell from her lips. Kingston’s chest rose and fell in rapid movements. She swore she heard the thudding of his heart, felt it in his pulse. Nose to him, she slid a hand down his chest and lifted the hem of his t-shirt. His body went back to taut, but she ignored him, dragging the tip of her fingernail across his exposed flesh.

“Fuck!”

The groaned word vibrated in his chest. Triumph raced through her body. She’d made him feel.

Her. Timid Elina.

Balling up the edge of the t-shirt, she used her nails again to trace the ridges on his stomach. He grabbed her arms then. She lifted her head, meeting his stormy gaze. He stepped back and pulled his t-shirt up and over his head.

She gulped. Muscles were everywhere, smooth, dark, and bulging, rippling as he held his arms wide open.

“Do what you want,” he said softly.

God help her, but she wanted to. She wanted to touch, and taste, and-and…

She moved forward, laying her palm over his heart. The organ beat strong and steady under her touch. More than anything else, she wanted in there, in his heart, under his skin.

She trailed a finger down the middle of his chest, watching the muscles contract under her touch. “You’re beautiful,” she whispered. “So much more than what I imagine when I close my eyes at night.”

He moaned. She smiled, happier than she’d ever been. This she dreamt about, this she wanted like water, like air. And she stayed with the confidence his reactions evoked, placing tiny kisses on his throat.

Above her head, she heard the rush as breath left him. His hands moved. Fingers sifted through her hair and anchored there. He held her close, his body heat transferring to her, singing her insides.

“El…”

“Hmm.” She kissed down his body, flicking her tongue out to taste the sheen of sweat on his left pec. The fingers in her hair tightened, pulled.

“Christ, Elina!” He jerked her head away. She raised her head and met the wild darkness in his gaze. “You’ve proven your point.” His chest rose and fell rapidly. “You’re something else, El.”

She licked her lips. “Something else?” Cocking her head to the side, she asked, “Is that a good or bad thing?”

“I don’t know.” Kingston flipped his hair over his shoulder. “I honestly don’t know.”

“Am I good enough for you to fuck with?”

He encircled her wrist and yanked her close. “Get this straight, my hesitation isn’t about you being good or not. You’re amazing and too good for me. I hesitate because I don’t want to hurt you or make you feel and do things you otherwise wouldn’t.”

“I want those things.” She eyed him squarely. “With you. Only you.”

Heated promise flashed in his eyes, sending shivers down her spine. “I’m giving you what you say you want.” He turned away, picking his t-shirt up off the floor.

Elina tracked his movement with a hungry gaze. “You’re giving me a chance?” She put her hands behind her back, clasping them in an attempt to stop the shaking.

“Yes.” Kingston pulled on his t-shirt, then met her gaze. “You say you want it, you’ve got it.”

“Oh, my God.” A wide smile creased her face. Nerves threatened to overwhelm her, but she ignored it for now. She had plenty of time to give in to the panic later. “I want this, I want you. For so long.”

A small smile curled his lips. “You’ll have me, but there are rules.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Umm, rules?” She licked suddenly dry lips and narrowed her eyes. Rules?

“Yep.” He flashed that pretty-ass grin. “They aren’t negotiable and they go into effect immediately.”

Ah shit!
Elina just knew she was going to hate whatever came out of his mouth next.

“I don’t want love, that’s not what this is. This is all about the physical. If you can get with that, we’re good.”

Well, fuck. Call her Ms. Cleo ‘cause damn she was psychic. She hated all right.
I’ll just have to make him change his mind.

She swallowed. “What are the other rules?”

“There’ll be no one else in your life, in your bed, besides me for however long this thing lasts between us.”

Since there hasn’t been anyone warming her sheets but her for three years, she simply nodded.

“My sister must never know about this.”

“What?” She frowned. “You want me to lie to Sasha?”

“Why would it be a lie?” His hard gaze bored into her. “She doesn’t know anything about this, so don’t mention it.”

Elina flashed to the conversation she had with her best friend two days earlier. Sasha knew how she felt about Kingston, and she could share some of her good news with her, but she certainly didn’t need to know the specifics of Elina and Kingston’s arrangement.

“This isn’t up for debate, Elina. Sasha can’t know about this.”

“Are you afraid she’ll kill you for messing with me? Or is there something more?”

He glanced away, but didn’t answer the question. “One night. Then we decide if and where we want to go from there.”

Elina remained standing in the middle of her living room long after Kingston left with the terse command to,
come to me when you’re ready.
Her body wouldn’t stop shaking, heart wouldn’t stop thudding in her chest. She’d gotten Kingston to agree to give her a chance.

But he held the reins with the ability to end things at any time.
I have to show him we can be more.

Her legs gave out and she crumbled to the carpet, hugging her knees to her chest. It’d been so long since she’d been hopeful, since she anticipated anything as she did the returned heat of King’s touch. At one time she’d considered Niko her savior, the person to take her away from the snake pit that was her father’s house. The way she went about securing her escape still shamed her. She’d gotten the unsuspecting man drunk, then climbed him in his stupor.

She was the only one in that bed aware of their surroundings, the only one who knew she’d given him her virginity. Weeks later she’d achieved her goal and conceived.

Elina straightened her legs and brought a hand to her stomach, curling her fingers against the smooth flesh.
El hijo de puta
who’d fathered her took away her life, took away her freedom, took away her child.

He deserved whatever he got, deserved the two bullets to the head. The pain of losing her child didn’t go way. It only lessened, dulled. She’d disappeared into herself, became a walking shell until she met Sasha Forde. Sasha brought her face to face with Niko, the father of her child, the man she’d thought had also died by the hand of Johan Vicente. Her father had in some way affected the family she’d been brought into, Sasha’s family, but no one looked at or treated her differently.

They all accepted, embraced, and cared for her. They’d become close-knit and it could all change if things with Kingston didn’t go as she planned. Sasha knew how Elina felt about King, but things would definitely change.

I have no intention of allowing this
to be anything but permanent
. She finally had her confidence back, and though she no longer walked around with an entitled air, she was going after what she wanted,
again
.

She sent up a silent prayer this didn’t end as badly as her last attempt at self-assertion.

* * * *

Kingston’s phone rang as he let himself into his house. He kicked the door closed and fished the phone from his back pocket. The caller ID flashed Blocked Number, but he answered anyway. “Yeah.”