Young, Allyson - Broken [Running to Love 2] (Siren Publishing Allure) (3 page)

Kyle admired how the black dress fit Tabitha’s form, her breasts beautifully draped by the silky fabric and her trim waist and curved hips covered with just the right amount of snugness. She wore her black hair swept up, and her jewellery was simple. Small diamond studs were set in her ears, and a tiny white gold watch circled her wrist. A minimum of makeup enhanced her porcelain skin and ice-blue eyes. He could detect a faint scent of cherries and Tabitha’s own fragrance. As before, she wore black stockings, but this time, her heels were higher than her office pumps and displayed her legs to full advantage. Kyle hoped she wore a garter belt or at least thigh-high stockings instead of pantyhose, but regardless, she was leaving those shoes on when he fucked her.

Kyle handed Tabitha into the limo and directed his driver to a restaurant he favored. Tabitha remained silent during the drive, and he did not attempt to engage her in small talk, rather enjoying the lack of feminine prattle. When they arrived at their destination, Kyle helped her out and guided her inside with a hand on the small of her back. He could feel her tenseness and carefully increased the pressure. She visibly made herself relax.

They were seated in an intimate booth beside Kyle and their order placed.

Tabitha didn’t protest when he made the selections for her, although she seemed to bite back a comment or two. Kyle thought she might be processing his approach and hoped that was the case. As soon as the wine was poured, he leaned over and pressed his lips to her temple, placing his arm around her shoulders, stroking the side of neck, making her shiver. He continued petting her gently until she settled.

Tabitha said, “I’d like to hear more about the job, please, Mr., I mean, Kyle.”

Kyle was willing to be distracted, and they talked business throughout the meal. He was impressed by her intelligence but noted the lack of personal content in the conversation. She was skilled at drawing him out, again only on a superficial level. Kyle occasionally brushed his hand over her arm and pressed his thigh close to hers. Tabitha would tense then relax. He fought down his increasing arousal as he recognized her inexperience and, most probably, innocence. There was a reason that a beautiful woman had reached twenty-six years of age without any obvious experience in flirting or foreplay. Kyle had enough confidence in himself to believe he would be able to move her past whatever had kept her from expressing her sexuality and teach her how to submit, surrender to him, and come into her own.

As the waiter brought their brandy, Kyle made his next move. “I want you to come back to my home, Tabitha.”

Tabitha seemed to recognize that he wasn’t asking but telling her, and she looked at him her eyes assessing and her body language tense.

Without giving her time to process too much, Kyle added, “I won’t ask you to do anything you don’t want to, and you can go home anytime you like.”

He thought Tabitha wanted to believe him, even trust his word, but he also knew that she was well aware that if he was that kind of man, he could do with her what he chose, and given his power and position, she would have no recourse against him. She shook her head. Kyle took her chin and tipped her face up. He kissed her, not plundering her as he had done that afternoon in his office, but with care and finesse. Her lips softened and bloomed, parting to breathe softly into his mouth.

“I promise, Tabitha.”

“All right.” Her answer was muted, almost resigned.

Kyle’s dominance leapt at this additional sign of submission, and he firmly took himself under control, schooling his features against anything that might frighten her and cause her to change her mind.

* * * *

Tabitha used the restroom and then allowed Kyle to escort her to the limo. They rode in comparative silence to his home. It was set on a large acreage, with a long curving drive. She got an impression of an imposing brick structure, albeit with ivy softening the bulk of it. The driver opened the limo door, and Kyle helped her out, asking the driver in front of her to remain available that evening. Tabitha’s anxiety, building during the drive, diminished at his request. He really did intend to let her leave when she chose.

Kyle led her into a large foyer, simply but beautifully decorated in warm, soothing colors and a large vase of cut flowers set on a tasteful antique table. They passed into the living room, and Kyle directed her down a hallway and into a large bedroom. Tabitha came to an abrupt halt just inside the door. Kyle’s arms circled her and pulled her back into him, his lips at her temple.

“I don’t take a lot of time with preliminaries, Tabitha. I want you, and you want me.”

Tabitha couldn’t make herself relax. She didn’t date, but surely people didn’t just go to bed right away. Even on television or in movies, mediums she rarely watched, people had a drink or talked in the living room or something before sex. Yet, she admired Kyle’s directness, impatient as she sometimes was with the wordplay so prevalent in everyday life. She had become expert at it out of necessity, but there were times, when closing a business deal, that she felt like screaming for someone to just come out with it and stop beating around the bush. Of course, no one would ever see her impatience.

She let Kyle gently push her further into the room, coming to a stop near an enormous four-poster bed, lit dimly by bedside lighting. Kyle stood back, and his eyes swept her from head to toe, and she saw his eyes darken. Other men had looked at her in that way, and she was initially frightened, falling back into her past. Kyle reached out and ran his hands down her arms, and she was immediately grounded and back in the present. He came closer for another kiss, and her senses spun out of control. She felt his hands at the side zipper of her dress while he attacked and ate at her mouth, and then he was inching the fabric up until it reached her shoulders. He stepped back and carefully pulled it up and over her head, allowing it to rest briefly over her eyes, disorienting her.

She stood before him in a simple set of white underwear, nothing frivolous or seductive, her nipples beginning to peak under his gaze, a new feeling for her and distracting. Tabitha knew Kyle could see her sex just evident behind the scrap of fabric, a few dark curls of her pubic hair escaping. The thigh-high stockings now seemed like sluttish clothing, and her shoulders began to hunch, and her toes turned in as she tried to hide herself.

“Don’t.” Kyle laced the order with dark dominance. “Never hide yourself from me, Tabitha. You won’t like the consequences.”

Tabitha was shocked by his statement and stepped back to feel the edge of the bed against her thighs.

“That sounded like a threat,” she gasped.

“Not at all,” Kyle purred. “I have already told you, I don’t take refusals easily, and you must know something about me, Tabitha. You read people well. What is your read on me?”

Without hesitation, Tabitha said, “You like to be in charge and tell people what to do. And if they don’t do what you say you…” Tabitha stopped, wondering where those words had come from and yet knowing how accurate they were.

“I what?” asked Kyle.

“There are consequences,” she answered.

“And do you see the fairness in that, Tabitha, the honesty?” he asked.

She offered, “People don’t like to be told what to do. They don’t like to be held accountable and face consequences.”

“Some people don’t like it, Tabitha. Others crave it, if it’s fair and meets their needs. And people learn from consequences.” He spoke so softly she had to strain to hear him.

“What about you, Tabitha? Would it be a comfort for you to have someone take over just for once and ease the burden you carry? If that someone was fair and had your best interest at heart?”

Tabitha heard an ugly sound and realized it came from her. It was a cross between a sob and a laugh. “I don’t trust anyone enough to let him or her take over,” she choked out.

Kyle immediately gathered her close and cuddled her. “I hope to earn that trust, Tabitha, starting tonight. Now, should I call Thomas and have him take you home?”

Tabitha didn’t know what she expected, but it was anything but that. She was nearly naked in this man’s bedroom, had shared something with him she had never told anyone before in her life, and he was giving her a choice. She resolutely stopped thinking and shook her head.

“But I don’t know what happens next.”

Something crossed Kyle’s face. Something that looked like satisfaction, and he smiled at her. Tabitha wondered if she had made the right decision. He looked so male, almost feral.

“I do, Tabitha,” he said. “Now, stand straight, and face me, shoulders back, hands at your sides, feet apart.”

Tabitha followed his orders and tried to stay in her body. She wanted to see this through, whatever it was. Kyle studied her and motioned for her to turn around. She complied and felt awkward as she felt his eyes on her, yet other than that satisfied look, she now couldn’t read him. She felt off balance, but not scared, and she wondered at that.

“Turn around, and take off your bra, Tabitha.”

She turned to face him then reached behind her and separated the hooks, allowing the bra to fall down her arms and to the floor. Kyle’s gaze stayed on her breasts, and she fought not to cover them.

“The panties now, and leave your shoes and stockings on.”

Tabitha pulled her panties down and carefully over her heels, leaving them beside her bra.

“Feet shoulder width apart.”

She complied and fought against the tingling and ache between her legs, feeling such moisture gather there. She was mortified, for it felt like her curse had arrived and was dampening her thighs. Tabitha reached, unthinking, between her legs.

“Stop. You are not to touch yourself unless I tell you to.” Kyle’s tone was again dark and inflexible.

“I didn’t mean to. What do you mean touch myself?” Tabitha blurted.

Kyle’s face softened. “What was it you were going to do?”

Her face flamed. “I felt some, some wet, I thought…” Her voice trailed off.

Kyle placed both hands on either side of her face and passed his mouth across hers. “That moisture is the juice of your arousal.”

Tabitha closed her eyes in humiliation. She was totally, absolutely stupid. God, she needed to run, get away from him, from herself. His hands were so gentle. She had a fleeting memory of her grandmother’s kind hands. She was twenty-six years old for Christ’s sake and as lost as a newborn babe.

Kyle pushed the issue, “Do you touch yourself between your legs for pleasure, love?” he asked gently.

Tabitha didn’t recognize herself. She was hugely embarrassed and yet sought to explain, to tell him the truth, hold nothing back. “No. Sometimes I wake and my hands are there, but…”

* * * *

Kyle was overwhelmed. Tabitha had come to him frigid in every sense, and he now had the marvellous opportunity to unlock her. That initial kiss, although impulsive, had totally been the right thing to do. He would come to find out what or who had made her so disconnected from her sexuality, but in the meantime, he was going to push her even more and introduce her to orgasm. She wasn’t leaving tonight no matter if she asked. He would distract her with pleasure.

“Take your hair down, Tabitha.” Kyle watched, spellbound, as her black hair spilled over her shoulders. She looked absolutely beautiful.

“Lie back on the bed, Tabitha, with your knees at the edge of the mattress, feet toward the floor.”

Tabitha obeyed him. Kyle knew that his voice seduced her brain and that she was moving as in a trance, mindless and heavy limbed. The bed was high, and she had to take a little hop. Her breasts bounced, and Kyle drew a quick intake of breath as he saw them do so. Kyle wanted to touch those mounds and feast on her nipples, pinch and twist them, even clamp them, but he wanted even more to pull an orgasm from Tabitha then soothe her and have her drift into sleep. He would awaken her shortly thereafter, of course, for more instruction, but her sense of panic would be diminished, and she wouldn’t ask to leave. He found that he was desperate that she would not. Tabitha had bewitched him.