Sacrifice

Chapter Seven



He didn’t come to her bed that night as she expected. Kimberly lay awake, long into the night, listening for him, her body sensitized, ready, aching for him. She watched the connecting door until her eyes finally closed in exhaustion and sleep claimed her as restless dreams haunted her.



The next morning she sat bleary-eyed and irritable over a cup of coffee, listening to Matthews and Adams as they discussed the reports from the previous day. No sign of intruders, not a whisper of danger. Other than a deer munching the grass in the backyard, there was nothing to report.



“I’ll cover the inside today,” Matthews said thoughtfully. “Adams will take the outside. I gather you’re stuck with Mr. Dark and Gloomy Raddington,” he snickered at her.



Kimberly lifted her brow mockingly. “Dark and Gloomy?” she asked him curiously.



“Yeah, he came down earlier for breakfast looking like a thundercloud before retreating to his office. Barely said two words to us.”



At least he spoke to them.



She lifted her shoulder as though unconcerned. “Maybe he just doesn’t like company.”



Tim Adams snorted. “Maybe we’re the wrong company. From what I saw last night, he liked you pretty well.”



She looked over at him slowly, careful to keep her expression blank.



“Excuse me?” she said carefully, her body tensing at the implied insult in his voice.



He stared back at her, his gaze condemning.



“I saw you on the porch with him last night,” he sneered. “Getting a little close and personal weren’t you?”



“Getting a little nosy aren’t you?” she snapped back.



“I would say too nosy.” Jared’s voice was dangerously soft as he walked into the room. “Should you have an opinion on how close I am or am not, with my stepsister?” he asked the bodyguard softly as he moved to the table.



Kimberly took one look at him and came to her feet quickly.



“Geez, is there enough testosterone in this room?” she growled irritably. “What the hell is with you guys?” She turned back to Tim Adams. “What I do is none of your damned business. And you,” she poked a finger in Jared’s chest demandingly, fighting to hold back a shiver as those steel-cold gray eyes turned on her, “are not my keeper. I don’t need anyone to defend my honor or whatever the hell you think it is you’re doing.”



This was just great. She was pretty certain she knew who her father’s plant was. Tim Adams was as moralistic as they came. His views on women and what they should or shouldn’t do was as rigid as the Senator’s.



Jared’s expression didn’t change. It remained hard as stone and more dangerous for it as his gaze turned back to Adams.



“I’ll call your superior myself,” he said flatly. “Until then, stay the hell out of my sight, or you’ll regret it.” He snagged Kimberly’s wrist as her eyes widened in surprise. “And you, I need to talk to.”



Before she could stop him, he was pulling her along behind him, again. Dammit, she was getting tired of him dragging her along like medieval chattel.



“Jared, has anyone ever told you that you’re a pain in the ass?” she snarled as he propelled her into the study and slammed the door behind them.



“Has anyone told you that you’d test the patience of a saint?” he retorted shortly. “You should have let me kill him. I would have enjoyed it.”



She rolled her eyes at his bloodthirsty tone.



“He’s a moron. If you killed all of them, there wouldn’t be any men left to continue the species,” she informed him sarcastically. “What the hell is your problem anyway?”



“The bastard was sneaking around my house all night,” he snarled. “If I had caught him listening at either of our bedroom doors again I would have killed him.”



Surprise widened her eyes as she stared back at him.



“Just what I need,” she sighed roughly. “Ignore him. It won’t do any good to have him taken off the assignment, because I suspect at least two of them were sent here deliberately to watch me. It’s the Senator’s favorite sport, having me spied upon.”



His lip lifted derisively. “I won’t give you my opinion on the Senator,” he bit out. “I can’t believe my mother married that bastard.”



Kimberly had a hard time believing it herself. Carolyn was a warm, caring person, besides being smart as hell. It was one of the most unlikely matches that she had ever seen.



“Is that why you’re so pissed this morning?” She moved over to the couch and sat down wearily. Damn, she needed a few more hours sleep, or a pot of coffee to herself.



“I’m not pissed,” he informed her rudely. “I’m pure mean mad. I don’t like people sneaking around my house listening at doors, Kimberly. I’ll take him apart the next time I catch him.”



Kimberly sighed at his snarling voice, her fingers smoothing back the stray curls that had fallen from her thick braid.



“Take him apart then.” She shrugged negligently. “It’s your house, not mine.”



He grunted at that, moving to stand over her, staring down at her as his eyes went from cold steel to stormy gray.



“Take your hair down,” he ordered softly. “Slowly.”



Her breath caught in her throat, her womb clenched with instant arousal. A quick glance to his thighs showed that he wasn’t in a bargaining mood. He was fully erect, his cock straining the zipper of his jeans as he watched her.



“What about the ears at the doors?” she asked him breathlessly.



“Let him listen,” he snapped. “I’m not going to take your virginity, but I’ll be damned if I’ll leave that sweet mouth of yours innocent much longer. Tell me, Kimberly, is it true you’ve never been taken there? Never felt the hunger to have a hard cock straining between your lips, pulsing with the need to fill your mouth?”



Oh God. Her mouth was watering with the need now while her lips were drying with nervous excitement. She licked over them quickly, her breath hitching as his eyes darkened at the movement.



“I haven’t.” She shook her head, entranced by the shifting color of his eyes.



She never had. Had known no desire for it, until now. Her hand gripped the cushion beneath her, her nails biting into the fabric as the bulge inside his jeans seemed to get larger.



“I won’t follow your rules,” he growled. “You’ll share my bed. I’ll touch you, hold you, kiss whenever I damned well please. If you can’t handle that, Kimber, then you better get the hell off my farm now. Because I’ll be damned if I’ll fight the need knowing how hot and hungry you can get.”



She lost her breath. Sitting there, staring up at him, fire exploded in her body, washing through her veins and sending the juices spilling from her desperate pussy. She couldn’t contain the whimpering moan that whispered past her lips, or the sudden, overwhelming urge to experience every touch, every sensation he had painted on the canvas of her imagination.



“Undo that fucking braid,” he growled. “Now.”



The braid? She blinked up at him for a second in confusion, her mind so entranced with pictures of them entwined, his arms wrapped around her, his larger body shielding hers, possessing her, that for a moment she wasn’t certain what he meant. Then she blinked as it connected, her hands raising, pulling the length of her hair over her shoulder as she pulled at the stretchy band holding the braid in place.



Within minutes her hair was spread out over her shoulders, the long, fiery ringlets falling around her in wild disarray.



“God, that’s so pretty,” he whispered, his voice thick with longing as she pushed the mass over her shoulder nervously.



“Now, stand up. I want to watch you undress. All the way, Kimberly. Let me see that hot little body I’ve been dying for.”



She could hear the raging hunger in his voice; see the lust glittering in his darkened eyes. She rose slowly to her feet, her hands going to the buttons of her blouse as she fought to stand steady.



He towered over her. She had never noticed that before, not really. How tall and broad he was, how much stronger and heavier. He would cover her like a living blanket; shield her from even her own fears.



“I’m scared,” she suddenly whispered, though her fingers never paused as she finished with the buttons. “I’ve never done this before, Jared.”



Not like this. Before, at The Club, she had known the rules, known what was coming. She showed up, undressed and prepared herself in the privacy of her room before donning a robe and heading to the bar area. There, she would order a whisky over ice, down the liquid courage and turn to whichever member awaited her.



There were few preliminaries before she was bent over a table or pulled onto a hard, willing cock. There were no kisses, no foreplay, no breathless anticipation.



His fingers paused as he unbuttoned his own shirt. Stepping closer, his hands framed her face, his gaze holding hers hostage as he whispered a kiss over her lips.



“I’m going to eat you up,” he warned her sensually. “There won’t be a place on your body that doesn’t know my kiss, or a single cell that isn’t crying for my touch. There’s no reason to be scared, honey. No reason at all. All I’m going to do is love you.”



Chapter Eight



She could drown in his kiss. Kimberly whimpered beneath the lustful demand as Jared held her against his half naked body long moments later, his hands roaming over her back and hips as his lips and tongue possessed her with an assurance, an ownership she knew she could never deny.



Her hands buried in the thick, short strands of his hair as she arched closer, trying to feel every inch of him, every hard muscle and strong contour of the fierce male body she was plastered to. She couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t feel him deep enough inside her skin.



Every breath she took was filled with his scent, with his passion, until she felt consumed by him.



“Good, baby,” he groaned roughly as he tore his lips from hers long moments later, his hands pushing her blouse from her shoulders before his lips slid down her neck, finding the creamy, swollen curves of her upper breast as she arched to him. It was heaven and hell. Ecstasy and agony.



“You’re killing me,” she whimpered, feeling his fingers on the buckle of her belt, releasing it quickly before he attacked the snap and zipper of her jeans.



Within minutes he had everything stripped from her except the damp, violet thong she wore. Her juices spilled from her pussy, wetting the small triangle between her thighs as Jared slid the backs of his fingers over the soft fabric.



“I’m going to make you scream for me,” he warned her, his voice husky, deeper, darker than she had ever heard it before. “I’m going to make you burn, Kimber, in more ways than one.”



She shuddered in pleasure from his voice alone. The gravelly tone rasped over her nerve endings and made her ache in ways she had never ached before. She had never known this overwhelming compulsion, this craving for another person’s touch.



“Jared, it’s killing me,” she panted with the excess sensation, trembling as his lips teased the tip of her nipple, his breath wafting heatedly over it, his lips barely smoothing it, toyed with her.



“Then you’ll surely die before it’s over if it’s killing you now.” She could hear the wisps of amusement lingering at the edges of his passion. “Just relax, Kimber. You don’t have anything to worry about here. Nothing to fear. I’ll take care of you, baby.”



She jerked, crying out as his lips snagged the small gold ring that pierced one of her nipples and tugged. She could feel the pleasure whipping through her body, bolts of it spearing into her womb as her hands fell to his shoulders, her nails piercing the hard muscles there.



“Mmm,” he murmured softly. “How responsive you are. Let’s see what else you like now.”