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Derrick felt like an idiot wearing a pirate shirt that bared his chest and tight black trousers that clung to his thighs, but the women at the party seemed to like his costume well enough. Where the hell was Sydney? He hadn’t seen her or Hailey, come to think of it. Then he spotted Gage by the punch bowl.

The annual Halloween bash brought in tons of new clients. Warren Construction and a few other businesses provided the funds while the Conservation Center set up the decorations in their community hall. Located right on the River Walk, the place had the right atmosphere for a Halloween party. Tonight the moonlight glinted off the Savannah River while the outdoor hall remained shrouded in shadow, the dim lighting and dry ice providing the perfect environment for ghosts and ghouls to come calling.

He’d passed a ton of friends and old clients, as well as a few old girlfriends—an unavoidable happenstance in a business that networked as much as his did. He managed to shake free of most of them. And then he saw Brittney Adams heading toward him.

“Shit.” He turned and made a beeline for Dylan, who was dressed exactly the same. “Bro, I need help.”

Dylan saw Brittney and set his jaw. “My pleasure.”

While Dylan intercepted Brittney, Derrick headed for Gage. Until he spied one hot redhead wearing a French maid’s outfit. He took an unconscious step in her direction, unable to think about anything but bending her over and sinking his dick inside her. How he’d managed to keep them platonic the past few weeks still boggled his mind. Just being around her aroused him, but he’d wanted more from her than a few fucks. No matter how sexy she was or how many times she hinted she wanted to hit the sheets with him, he’d wanted to prove to her he had more going on than good game.

Which should have worked. She’d seemed to enjoy their time spent playing cards, taking walks and bowling. Hell, they’d even gone miniature golfing; the woman had beaten him without trying. They’d laughed and held hands a few times until she’d remembered not to act like a couple.

Dylan told him to bide his time. To keep it light. But Dylan hadn’t mentioned how to react to Sydney laughing it up with some muscled bozo dressed as Tarzan. No wimp, but some tall, blond dude who had his hands all over her.

Fuck that.

Derrick stormed over to the pair, pleased when Sydney’s eyes widened. If she moved the wrong way, he’d be able to see down that excuse for a costume or up that barely-there skirt. Sydney’s friend stood way too close.

She licked her lips. A nervous tell, and he wanted to crow with glee when she took a half step away from the half-dressed asshole still draping an arm around her shoulders.

“Sydney?” Tarzan asked, his voice questioning as he watched Derrick bearing down on them.

“Brian, I—”

The asshole client she’d mentioned, or another Brian? Either way, it didn’t matter. Derrick yanked her away from the guy and tossed her over his shoulder. People around them cheered as the buccaneer stole himself a woman.

“That’s right, little maid.” He smacked her hard on the ass, glad as hell that he’d booked a room at the hotel right next door. He’d thought about a nicer hotel, but he needed proximity to seduce and take proper advantage of her. After Gage had told him about Sydney crying all over Hailey—because of her feelings for him—he knew his plan had worked. He’d prepared well for tonight. The hotel, his bag of tricks, the silken scarves... His skittish lover had finally taken the bait. He just needed to reel her in. “Now you’re pirate booty. Not a word until we’re in my room, or I’ll make you walk the plank.”

He glanced behind him to see Brian watching him with a half smile. Then Hailey and Gage were there talking to the half-dressed guy. To stop him from calling the cops or following maybe? Derrick didn’t much care. He finally had what he’d come for.

A few waves and chuckles from guests met him as he made quick time to his room. The shirt gaped at his chest and he had a fake sword on his hip. The bandana and eyepatch were great, but it was the woman over his shoulder that really completed the outfit.

To his bemusement, his captive didn’t complain much. A few grumbles, curses and shifting over his shoulder. But that was it. He entered his room on the first floor—thank God—with relish. The door closed behind them with a loud bang, and he took a few more steps inside and tossed his wench on the bed.

He placed his hands on his hips and glared down at her, no longer playing. “Who the fuck was Tarzan?”

She leaned back on her elbows and pushed her hair out of her face. He loved that gorgeous mass of red silk. He planned to see it against his belly and hips while he fucked her mouth.

“What do you care? We’re just friends, Derrick. Remember?”

Outraged she’d throw that bullshit back in his face after all their time spent together the past few weeks—hell, the past few months—he ripped the bandana and eyepatch from his face and threw them to the floor.

“Fuck that. You’re mine and you damn well know it.” He wasn’t sure how she did it, but she made him forget himself when he was with her. All he could think about was Sydney—as a lover, a mate, a person he loved spending time with.

“How would I know? It’s not like we do more than talk.”

Hell, he’d gotten hard the moment he’d seen her. His dick never let him forget her, not for a minute.

“Need a reminder, hmm?” He stared hard at her breasts, barely contained by the low-riding costume, at her legs all but bared by the short skirt and those fuck-me heels. Christ, she had garters on. How had he missed that? Garters.

Derrick lost his mind. He crossed to the bed and pulled her off it, up into his arms. Then he kissed her until neither of them could breathe. As he did, he ground against her, needing to come. There was something visceral about being with her now. Something meaningful. Fucking her wasn’t just physical, but an emotional desire to tie her to him with something she couldn’t forget.

“You little witch. God, Sydney. You make me so hard all the time.” He yanked down what could loosely be called her shirt and stared at her hard nipples.

“Want me to dust something for you?” she asked, coy and panting for breath.

“No.” He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed, wondering if she’d go for it. To his amazement, she moved to her knees. He shoved down his pants, glad he’d left the underwear at home. “Suck me, baby. Take me to the back of your fucking throat and make me come.”

She moaned. And then her mouth was over him, licking and sucking. Tentative fingers played with his sac, then grew firmer when he sighed at her touch. His balls felt as hard as rocks, and too sensitive.

“Oh yeah. I’ve been dreaming about this for days. Weeks. Fucking your mouth. Oh man, I wish you could see how sexy you look.”

He stared down at her, watching himself disappear between her lips. When she moved, he could also see the swell of her breasts, those plump nipples stabbing the air.

“I’m going to eat you, baby. Lick that clit and suck you until you come. And then I’m going to finally fuck that ass. You’re mine, Sydney. And it’s time you knew it.”

Dylan had given him a plan his mother would have been horrified by. Because it involved a lot of fucking. Sydney needed more than emotional crap, they had realized. The woman needed sex. She was a lot like him in so many ways. A lot of her issues with her mother revolved around intimacy, the communion between a man and a woman, the loss of a father figure. The need for a strong man in her life. Dylan was at times an ass, but he knew his stuff.

Sydney needed to belong to Derrick, even as she was afraid of tying herself to him.

Fucking, to her, meant acceptance. And then he’d have to prove he wasn’t leaving. The key to winning his woman’s heart would be sticking around for the long term while he loved her into admitting how she felt.

And damn if she wasn’t loving him right now. She took him deeper into her mouth. To his shock, he couldn’t stop pumping his hips.

“Sydney, I’m gonna fill that pretty mouth. And then I need to fuck your tits. Oh baby.”

She ran her hands down his thighs and back up, prodding him to widen his stance. He moved his feet, and then her hands pushed past his thighs to his balls and slid along his perineum. A finger crept to his hole, and he surged harder down her throat.

“Wait, baby. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—  Oh fuck.” Her finger pushed into his anus and he lost his fucking mind. “Syd, yeah. Oh yeah.”

He came hard, releasing down her throat while she played him like a well-tuned instrument. The orgasm had caught him by surprise, and he groaned when she continued to shove her finger deeper. He’d had a few girlfriends play with his ass, but nothing like this. And he’d never been so hard or come so long during a blowjob.

She removed her finger, finally.

“Jesus.” Suddenly super-sensitive, he shivered and pulled out of her mouth. With shaky hands, he tucked himself back into his pants.

She licked the drop of come that had landed on her lip and smiled up at him.

He couldn’t help it. The sight of those large blue eyes dark with joy—because she’d pleasured him—pulled the confession out of him. “I love you, Sydney.”

The smile on her lips froze.

“I love you,” he said again, no longer trying to hide it. The alarm on her face gave him an idea, and the more he thought about it, the more he liked it. He’d use the truth to break her down. But first thing’s first... “Now let me show you.”

Before she could argue, like he knew she would, he pulled her up and walked her back to the bed. In seconds he had her naked except for her garters, heels and hose. Then he pushed her. Her legs hit the bed and she fell onto her back, her knees bent, her heels on the floor.

The perfect position for what he had in mind.

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Sydney felt a sudden panic urging her to get the hell out of there. He’d said love. The word that had been the Fields family downfall for years. The few times Sydney had let herself love a man, he’d ended up leaving. Whenever her mother had fallen for one of her many men, she’d suffered inevitable disappointment. And Sydney would share in the downward spiral, watching her mother cry and moan and finally stir herself back into available mode. An unhappy cycle she’d never seen broken.

A relationship with Derrick was all well and good. Sydney had no problem enjoying him. They had fun. He was sexy. He—

“Oh, God.”

His mouth clamped onto her clit and he sucked, licking and teasing with a hunger that pulled her straight out of her panic and into a world where nothing existed but feeling. The warmth of his mouth, the brush of his fingers between her thighs and up, gliding along the slick folds of her flesh.

His thumbs teased through her arousal, edging near but not penetrating her empty channel. She squirmed in his hold, needing more. Always needing more.

Sydney hated the emptiness, but this climb wouldn’t end in disappointment. Derrick would give her what she needed. She trusted he would, until he left. The way they always did.

“No, damn it, stay with me.” He leaned up over her and kissed her, fusing his mouth to hers so that she tasted herself on his lips. His tongue played her, licking and stroking while he teased and tormented her breasts with hands that never stopped.

“Fuck me,” she breathed, wanting him.

“Not yet. Not until you’re ready.”

She tried to grab him but he wouldn’t let her. He pinned her hands to her sides and once more made his journey south. Past her neck and breasts, leaving small bites down her belly. She shuddered under his tongue and teeth, caught in a lust so extreme she couldn’t think.

“I love your body. So soft but strong. You’re mine, baby. Time you understood what that means.” He continued lower, finally coming to her pussy once more, where he feasted until she was breathless, squirming with desire.

He finally relented and shoved a finger inside her, then two.

“I’m coming. Derrick, yes.”

With a hard push, he thrust his fingers deeper, stroking inside her with an unrelenting drive that pushed her over the edge. She crested her climax, unable to do more than ride the wave as her body came apart under his touch.

He gentled his hands and mouth, kissing her through the intensity. The rapture stole her breath away and she had a hard time coming down.

“That’s it.” He kissed his way up to her belly, then leaned over her, his gaze intense, hungry. She shivered, wondering if they were done, embarrassed that she’d come so quickly.

“Wow. I guess I needed that.” She was boneless, but she needed to force herself to get back to the party. Because if she stayed, he might say the L-word again.

But what scared the hell out of her was that she might say it back.

He smiled and nipped her belly. “You have no idea what you need.”

His smug tone unnerved her. Lying almost naked while he still wore his costume put her at a disadvantage. But when she tried to rise, he pushed her back down.

“Excuse me, but I need to get up.”

“Why?” He slowly dragged his weight over her, pinning her to the bed with his body.

His shirt gaped, and he slid over her chest, brushing her nipples and turning them super-sensitive in an instant.

“Damn.” She tried to ignore her body’s returning arousal, but she felt his erection pressing against her belly through his pants. Flattered that she’d gotten him hard again so soon, she nevertheless wanted some time and space to process what had just happened.

“You’re not going anywhere, sweetheart.” The low growl sent tingles through her. “I have plans for us tonight.”

“Oh?”

He chuckled. “There’s that challenge again. That subtle fuck you I hear when I’m not meeting your standards.”

So he’d figured that out, had he? “You’re smarter than you look.”

He shook his head. “Wish I could say the same for you.” Before she could ask what that meant, the man flipped her to her belly and reached under one of the pillows. He pulled out a long silk scarf and dangled it in front of her.

“What do you say? Wanna play?”

Intrigued and turned on, having always wanted to dip her toe into bondage, she thought about it. She might not like Derrick’s highhandedness from time to time, but in the bedroom, she more than welcomed it. And she trusted him implicitly not to physically hurt her. Emotionally on the other hand...

“Well, maid? I’m waiting.” He ran the scarf over her cheek and throat. “Don’t tell me you’re scared?”

“Oh hell. Go ahead and tie me up, Conan. But not too tight.”

He chuckled and tied it around one wrist. Then he pulled another scarf from under the pillow and tied it around her wrist as well.

“Hold on.” He fiddled with something by the headboard. “I was hoping you’d say yes, so I prepped ahead of time. And let me tell you what a bitch it was to tie this rope beneath the bedframe.” He tied the ends of her scarves to the rope. Nothing she wouldn’t be able to get out of if she wanted, but it would restrain her well enough while he had his way with her. She hoped.

“You see, Syd, I know what you need, and I’m going to make sure you get plenty of it.”

“What would that be, genius?”  She should have been annoyed at his arrogance, but his mastery excited her. She liked not knowing exactly what Derrick had planned. Giving up control to him felt better than good. It was as if he’d tied her to him, and some twisted part of her liked that.

“You have a smart mouth, Sydney.” He caressed her ass, lingering long enough to make her nervous. “I told you you belong to me. Well, seems to me I’ve fucked your pussy and come between those pretty lips.”

God, his sexy talk was making her hot all over again. “Yeah, and?” She sounded breathless. Oh, God. Derrick was going to take her in every way. She knew it. To her shock, she wanted it. The love talk she couldn’t handle, but she understood fucking. Basic human needs.

And after tonight’s emotional upheaval passed, they’d be over anyway. He wouldn’t be able to handle it when she cut him loose. They never did. She blinked to still the annoying tears threatening to spill, grateful she faced away from him while he finished tying her up.

“You know what’s coming. I love you, Sydney Fields.” He gripped her hair and forced her to turn her head to face him. He just stared at her, then nodded. “Yeah, you need this, baby. You need me.”

“You and your ego,” she huffed.

He chuckled. “I think that’s your ego you’re talking about. You get off knowing men want you. But that’s okay, Syd. I like a woman who values herself. You’re beautiful, successful, smart. But rock-stupid when it comes to me.”

“Hey.”

“That’s okay. You just need someone to teach you how to behave.” To her shock, he smacked her ass. “Oh, that’s pretty.”

“Derrick,” she said, strangled on her outrage. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Just getting you warmed up. You’re a bad girl, Syd.”

The asshole! She struggled in the silken ropes around her wrists and ankles. “Don’t you even think—”

He shoved the tip of his finger between her ass cheeks, and she froze.

“Now be a good girl and keep quiet, or I’ll have to spank you again. And who knows? I might accidentally slip and slide my finger up that fine ass of yours before you’re good and ready for me. Now, are you with me, my pretty little French maid?”

She nodded violently but didn’t do more than glare at him when he removed his finger. She tried to hold onto her mad, but Christ, he was so sexy. His natural dominance fit him much better than that costume he wore.

“Now take this. You need it.” He smacked her ass a few more times, but to her shock, the sting warmed, especially when he stopped and rubbed it away. “Now discipline’s not really my thing. More Dylan’s specialty. But we are twins, and we share a lot. But not you, Sydney. You, beautiful, are all mine.”

She could feel his focus, the pure masculine intent centered on her. He confused her, made her feel cherished yet...scared.  “Derrick, what do you want from me?”

“You mean, after I come in your ass?”

She squirmed in the restraints, more than turned on by her helplessness. “Derrick...”

“Sydney, I love you.” He studied her each time he said it, as if trying to torture her with his words. “And I’m going to prove it to you. You need a man strong enough to handle your temper, as well as that finer than fine body. That fuckhead Brian wasn’t the man for you, baby. I am.”

She didn’t mind being tied up, but Derrick was  taking things too far with this love nonsense. “Derrick,  Brian isn’t my date. He’s a client. Nothing more. Not that it’s your business. You and I are friends who fuck. No need to pretty it up with fancy words and romance.” Her words hung between them. Now the only question remained. Would he fuck her, then leave? Or just leave?

She turned her face forward into the pillow, giving herself enough room to breathe while unable to see the rejection coming her way.

He paused, then continued to caress her ass. “Not my business? You wish, baby. Everything about you is my business.” He stepped away and returned moments later. He touched her ass again, but this time he pried her cheeks wide.

“Derrick?” She refused to turn her head. And then she felt it, the slow intrusion of something cold, slick and there, sitting at her anus.

“Now, baby, it’s time to show you how much I love you.”