Read Lora_Leigh_Bound_Hearts_4_Wicked_Intent[1].pdf Online
Authors: Lora Leigh
pussy in a spasmodic clench as she released a muttered moan of satisfaction. In this, her
secret would be safe.
73
Lora Leigh
Lucian hid his surprise, his shock. It wasn’t easy and he was well aware that Devril
was doing the same. She had actually attempted to fake her orgasm. He couldn’t believe
it. He slid his fingers slowly from the fisted grip of her pussy, feeling the ripples of
regret in the soft tissue as he retreated and fought to tamp down his anger.
He couldn’t believe she had dared anything so reckless, so completely unneeded, as
what she had just done. Rather than giving in to her own desires, her body’s demand
that she release the control she prized so highly, she had instead staged an orgasm so
blatantly false that he wanted to paddle her ass for even attempting it.
Lucian raised his eyes, keeping his gaze hooded as he looked up at her. She was
staring at the ceiling, her expression tense, her body taut with both unfulfilled desire
and nerves.
She had a right to be nervous. His eyes met Devril’s; in them he saw the same anger
he could feel growing inside himself.
“Let me go now.” Cool, calm, as though she hadn’t just begged them to fuck her,
hadn’t been trembling in their arms as she fought for her release.
He nodded slowly to his brother, watching as the large hands slid away from the
dusky, passion-flushed breasts they had covered. Her nipples were hard, reddened, her
arousal in no way abated. She had cheated not just him and Devril, but herself as well,
in such a manner that he wondered how often she had done it before. It was a practiced,
well-versed move. One that a man of lesser experience might not have caught. But
Lucian had caught it, and though now wasn’t the time to force her past the control she
was fighting so hard to maintain, he vowed that soon he would push her past that and
more.
74
Wicked Intent
Lucian moved back from her slowly, coming to his feet as she stumbled away from
Devril. Jerking her blouse from the back of the chair, she quickly pulled it over her
arms. Her hands were trembling; her long hair was tangled and mussed, her cheeks
flushed with both anger and need. She kept her head lowered, but from her profile he
could see the emotions chasing across her face, the fear and vulnerability, the fight for
control. Her and her fucking control. He’d had enough of it.
“Do you think I’m that big of a fool, Tally?” he asked her softly.
She paused in her attempts to button her shirt, freezing before him, searching
desperately for explanations, he could tell.
“Don’t bother lying to me, Tally.” He lifted her chin with his hand, staring into
those incredible brown eyes and for the first time, seeing a vulnerability he hadn’t
suspected her of. “Tell me why.”
She swallowed tightly before jerking away from him and quickly securing the
remaining buttons of her shirt as she pushed her feet into her shoes.
“I’m leaving.” Her voice was husky, remnants of desire and shades of fear
shadowing it. “I won’t be back.”
He crossed his arms over his chest as Devril moved to her.
“Do you really think running is going to help, Tally?” Dev asked her gently. Lucian
could sense his brother’s need for action, to ease her, to take away the pain and fear
they could both see in her face.
Her head rose, fury engulfing her expression for one shattering moment before cool
mockery overcame it.
“Such arrogance,” she said imperiously. “I’m not running, I’m merely disinterested
now. You tried, you failed. Too bad, so sad.” She shrugged negligently. “No harm
done.”
Then she raised her head proudly and though Lucian could sense her need to make
a graceful exit, she was practically running for the door.
75
Lora Leigh
“Tally, do you really think this is over?” He followed her, pausing in the doorway
and watching as she jerked her purse from the desk.
As she turned back to speak to him the outer door opened and Jesse and Terrie
walked in before stopping and staring at Tally in amazement. Dev watched fleeting
horror cross her face before she rushed past them and out of the office.
“Dammit.” Devril cursed furiously as he started through the door.
“Wait,” Lucian cautioned him. “Let her go for now.”
“What the hell has happened here?” Terrie turned from the door, anger filling her
face. “What did you do to her?”
“Not nearly enough, I would suspect.” Lucian pushed his fingers wearily through
his hair as he turned back to Devril. “Make sure she gets home okay. I’ll be there later.”
“You shouldn’t have let her leave,” Devril snapped, his green eyes coldly furious.
“Dammit, Lucian, she was in no shape to be walking out of here.”
“She was in no condition to fight.” Lucian sighed. “Follow her home. We’ll decide
what to do later.”
Devril stalked from the offices and Lucian turned back to face Jesse and Terrie’s
concern.
“You and I need to talk,” he told Terrie. “There are obviously a few details about
your friend Tally that you neglected to mention in the past few months. I think it would
be a good idea if you mentioned them now.”
* * * * *
She had made such a fool of herself. Tally accelerated out of the company parking
lot, barely missing an incoming employee as she rounded the curve and headed for the
freeway.
76
Wicked Intent
She breathed in deeply, fighting the excess emotion straining to be free. She needed
to scream or rage or something. It had never been like that. Never before had an orgasm
completely eluded her in such a way. They were often not satisfying, barely taking the
edge off the hunger that strained inside her, but rarely had she failed to achieve any
relief at all, and with such horrifying results. They had known. Her fingers clenched on
the steering wheel as fear and humiliation swept over her. They were aware that she
had faked the release; that she had been unable to achieve her orgasm despite the fierce,
exacting pleasure sweeping through her body.
God, it had felt so good. Their hands, their mouths, Lucian’s lips at her clit, his
tongue raking the little gold ring that pierced it. The pleasure had been unlike anything
she had known in her life, sweeping through her, sensitizing every nerve and cell in her
body until the need for release had consumed her. Yet the harder she had reached for it,
the farther away it seemed.
She was burning now. Her skirt was hopelessly stained with her own juices, she
knew, and horribly wrinkled. Wrinkles were a sign of sloppiness, both of mind and of
appearance; the sisters of the Catholic school she had once attended had lectured that
point to her constantly. Her blouse wasn’t even buttoned straight. She clenched her
teeth against the overwhelming urge to scream out her mortification.
Years—years of careful control, of watching every move she made, controlling
every hidden impulse and presenting an appearance of unshakable calm had been
destroyed at the hands of the two men who now knew her most shameful secret.
She needed the pain.
A low growl of fury passed her lips before she throttled it back and once again
forcibly controlled her inborn fury. They were dominants, for pity’s sake. Trojans. Part
of the much whispered about Club. They liked their sex wild and rough, their women
submissive and screaming, not whimpering from the gentleness of their touch. Of all
the men she had thought could bring her to mind-blowing orgasm, she had thought
Lucian and Devril surely could.
77
Lora Leigh
The drive to the upscale apartment complex where she lived was made in record
time. She refused to admit she was speeding. She never broke the law. It was a point of
pride for her. Just as an unwrinkled skirt, smooth hair and unblemished skin were
points of pride. One’s inner person was reflected in the way she carried herself, how she
handled hardships. She grimaced at the thought. Why were those old, harshly worded
lectures tormenting her now? The good sisters of the St. Augustine’s Academy were a
part of her past, or so she had tried to convince herself.
Tally, only whores wear skirts above their knees. You must rise above such
hedonistic impulses. Your parents deserve so much more than such a disrespectful
child…
What shame you bring to your parents, Tally. Such disgrace…
If your mind must become the Devil’s playground, the least you could do is give an
outward appearance of decency. Even the prostitutes that stroll the streets show more
decorum…
She shook her head, parking the car and heading quickly for the cool silence of her
apartment. She needed a shower. A cold shower. She needed to forget that she was
different, that her needs were so depraved that even a Trojan couldn’t fulfill them.
Cool silence greeted her as she entered her apartment. It was dim, perfectly neat
and spotless, and so cold. Tally stared at the desert tones of the living room. Despite the
warm colors, the room was cold, sterile and unwelcoming, just like her life.
Her fists clenched as she fought back the need to move something, anything. To
scatter the potpourri filling the jade vase across the floor. To shatter the crystal against
the wall. She wanted to destroy the very essence of what her life had become. Sterile.
Unlived and unloved.
“Stop it.” She breathed in roughly, pushing herself away from the door and striding
quickly through the room. The dining room was no different. The heavy oak table had
never known a spot of food spilled on it. She couldn’t remember the last time she had
used the stove in the kitchen.
78
Wicked Intent
The dark hardwood floor didn’t have so much as a stain on it and her carpets, even
after five years, appeared in flawless condition. Her bedroom… She stepped into the
room and stared around it silently. There was no life here. No memories. Not even
sullied ones. She had never brought a lover to her home, had never fouled her bedroom
with the unnatural desires that twisted through her mind.
She had never realized how perfectly the good sisters had conditioned her. She had
never known how empty her life had become until now. Until she had been forced to
walk—no she hadn’t walked, she had run—from something she hadn’t realized she
needed. Lucian and Devril.
She walked over to the bed, her hand smoothing stiffly over the white bedspread,
fighting to ignore the compulsion to clench her fingers into the fabric and rip it to the
floor.
Enough. She straightened her shoulders and turned, forcing herself to walk
sedately into the bathroom. She undressed, stuffed the skirt and blouse into the
wastebasket before dropping the demi-bra in after it.
She twisted on the cold water to the shower, watching the pounding spray run into
the glass cubicle before stepping beneath it. Her breath caught as ice seemed to envelop
her skin, pouring through her hair, over her face, stealing her breath. Washing away the
proof of the hot tears that finally fell.
79
Lora Leigh
Self-control, that much sought after, often sadly lamented virtue, should not have
the destructive, unforgiving undertones that Dev had glimpsed in Tally’s wounded
brown eyes. It shouldn’t cause a passionate, vibrant woman to deny the very heart of
her sexuality, nor leave her sobbing beneath the force of a shower whose chill could be
felt outside the glass cubicle she stood within. But that was exactly what it had done.
Dev and Lucian had known for quite some time that Tally Raines was unique, a
challenge unlike any woman they had known in their lives. The fact that they had
slowly, over the past year, fallen in love with her, wasn’t the point. They had seen in her
a strength of will that often mirrored their own, and a loneliness that echoed in their
chests.
He and Lucian had, despite all appearances, lived a quiet, often lonely life. The
bond they shared was more intense than most other twins, stemming, he thought, from
the fact that they were fraternal rather than identical twins. The first years of their lives
they had been largely separated by their divorced parents, seeing each other only
occasionally and even then the visits had been brief. Only with the death of their
mother after their tenth birthday had they finally been given the chance to know one
another. From that moment on they had been inseparable.
Dev was the quiet one. The one everyone rarely paid much heed to. He preferred to
watch the foibles of men and quietly learn from other’s mistakes. Lucian was the more