Haunted (3 page)

“Unless I miss my guess,” he said, striding past them, “there’ll be a ladder at the end.”

The fireball drifted forward, revealing a wood ladder that led up to a loft. But as they neared the last stall, Shayne paused. Though Gillian couldn’t see what he was doing, he seemed to be lifting something from the gate.

“Horse blankets,” he said, showing her. “There’s a saddle and tack hanging inside.” He fingered the material. “They’re like new.” With her gloves on, there was no way Gillian would be able to tell. He folded the thick blankets and tossed them over his shoulder. “I’ll go first.”

Following the fireball’s glow, he quickly climbed. Then his feet disappeared. As she waited in the semi-dark, Gillian listened to his footsteps creaking up above. Of all the places in Tenebris she’d once hoped to visit, horse stables hadn’t been high on the list. But if there was a place to lie down and hopefully sleep, stables quickly moved to the number one spot. More light spread around her.

“Come on up,” Shayne said.

With legs that were more tired than she’d thought, she climbed. As she passed through the narrow opening and the ladder ended, Shayne held out his hand to her. No sooner had she taken it than he easily pulled her up, swept her into his arms, and carried her.

“It’s not exactly the Ritz,” he said.

The loft was big and piled high with hay. A pitchfork hung on two pegs on the wall. A coil of rope lay underneath it. He’d laid one of the blankets out in the middle of the mound of hay. Despite the weariness, Gillian couldn’t help but feel a trickle of excitement. Cradled against his broad chest, his strong arms around her, he was carrying her to their bed.

“It looks perfect,” she said.

There had always been something between her and Shayne. Before they’d even known each other’s names, their eyes had met on that subway. Some strange alchemy had already mixed their souls, maybe here in Tenebris. Though he gently laid her down, she slid her arms around his neck.

“Don’t let go,” she whispered.

She drew him down, though it didn’t take much effort.

“Not ever,” he said, lying down next to her, so she could snuggle into his shoulder.

Whether it was the ghostly return of the Hollow City around them, or that they were the only people who existed here, Gillian didn’t know. But the thought of losing physical contact with Shayne was more than she could stand. His arms wound around her as though he felt the same. There was no other place in the world where she felt safer.

“You’re so tense,” he said quietly. His hand drifted to the back of her neck and gently massaged. “Your muscles are knotted.”

Under his touch, the ache at the base of her skull quickly gave way to relief.

“Tenebris isn’t what I thought it would be,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry I brought you here.”

The massage ended as his fingers found her chin and tilted her face up to him.

“Don’t ever be sorry we’re together. We were meant to be.” His thumb brushed lightly over her lips. “Here, or in Cappadocia, now or then. All that matters is we’re together.”

At the thought of Cappadocia, their night under the stars with Mathias came back to her.

“And with Mathias,” she said lowly.

Though he didn’t agree, he didn’t disagree. The two men’s history was complicated. She’d seen a different side to both of them when the three of them had made love. She remembered the way Shayne had threatened to whip Mathias with his belt.

“Gillian?”

She blinked and came back to the present. “Yes, love?”

The endearment slipped out before she realized what she’d said. If Shayne had thought it awkward, he didn’t let on.

“What I did with Mathias,” he said, his eyebrows furrowing. “Did it frighten you?”

“No,” she said softly, a huskiness to her voice. She paused, wondering how much to say. “It excited me.”

She felt him tense. “Did it?” he said. “Are you sure?”

In answer, Gillian slowly swung her leg over his hips, sat up, and straddled him. Her hands found his wrists and pinned them to the blanket. He outweighed her by maybe a hundred pounds. If he wanted to get up, there’d be no stopping him. But the look in his eyes said he wanted nothing of the kind. Underneath her, she could feel his cock stir. The sensation sent warmth between her legs, and she deliberately pressed herself down on his erection.

“Tell me the roughest thing you’ve ever done with Mathias.”

In the orange light of the fireball above them, his eyes seemed ablaze, his lips full and red.

“The roughest thing…” His gaze took on a faraway look, then focused on her again. “I…don’t know.”

“Something came to your mind just then.” She grinned a little and looked at him askance. “What was it?”

He was fully hard now. He rocked his hips up against her, pressing himself to her cleft. His irises dilated and his nostrils flared.

“It was in Spain, I don’t know when. He… He pissed me off. He always pissed me off. He’d said something about not wanting me to act like his father. I was ready to leave Spain entirely. But then he wound up bent over his own desk, his trousers down around his ankles.”

She could imagine Mathias like that: the sculpted curve of his muscles, his flaring back and thick thighs, his dark eyes glaring over his muscled shoulder, even while he was bare and vulnerable.

“Did you have to tie him down?” she whispered.

“No. He doesn’t always like that. No. I told him to hang on to the edge of the desk, because if he let go…if he let go, I was going to leave.”

Gillian could feel a pang in her chest. What would she endure to prevent Shayne from leaving?

“Then what did you do?”

“I took out my belt.”

“You beat him with it.” A familiar surge of heat rushed through her.

“Yes. He started out so tough and taunting, telling me I couldn’t hit him hard enough, and that if I didn’t hit him harder, he would find someone else who could.”

Gillian shivered at the idea of challenging Shayne like that. He was rock hard underneath her now.

“He wouldn’t let up, and I wouldn’t let up. It took a while, but he finally stopped taunting me. His groans…” Shayne sucked in a breath. “They went right to my cock. It was hurting him, but he wouldn’t tell me to stop. Finally, he just started crying.”

Gillian went still and stared at him. “He cried? What did you do then?”

“Stopped. I was horrified. I knew I hadn’t hurt him, but I thought for a moment that I had broken
him somehow. I stopped, I dropped the belt, I turned him around.”

“And then?”

Shayne looked straight into her eyes. “He told me to fuck him. As hard as I could.”

Gillian gasped at the thought––Mathias, the beautiful, pained wreck, being turned around by a man who was equally as gorgeous, a man who was in command.

“Did you?”

“Oh gods yes. I got him on the floor. I tore off his clothes. And I fucked him into the ground. He was swearing at me, and crying, and I’m pretty sure he came at least twice, maybe more. The next day, he could barely walk, winced when he sat down, and he never stopped grinning.”

“And then he listened to you and did what you said?”

“Oh no. We split up a few months later because we couldn’t stand each other.” Shayne paused, looking at where their bodies connected, his gaze drifting to each of her breasts, and then to her face. “But you wanted to know about the roughest I ever was with him.”

She could picture it, Shayne and Mathias together, like two Olympian gods. Slowly, she shifted her body against Shayne’s with a languid, sinuous motion. She drew soft groans from him that made her feel molten inside.

“Is that what you want to do with me?” she whispered, her heart racing.

She was afraid of the amount of pain it would take to break down and cry. But the mere thought of it made her body thrum with desire.

“No,” Shayne said, his voice strained. “You’re not Mathias. I can’t see you like that.”

“What do you see then?”

Shayne swallowed, his eyes roaming over her body again. “When I think of it, of hurting you, I imagine something much more…civilized.”

Searing heat flooded between her legs.

“Hur…hurting me?” she whispered hoarsely, barely able to say it, as her hips ground hard on him.

“You bent over,” he said quickly. “Because that’s what you need. Because you crave it, and because it pleases you.” The words began to tumble out. “I tell you to hold your position. I get out a cane, or maybe a switch. It flies through the air and stings like a wasp. I put stripes on that gorgeous rear of yours.”

Gillian moaned a little and squirmed on top of him. His aim would be perfect. He would lay the lashes down in beautiful, parallel lines, red and aching.

“And what happens when you’re done?” Gillian breathed.

Shayne made a deep growling noise in his chest that vibrated throughout his body.

“Then I get you on your knees. I use your mouth, and when you’re nearly delirious with it, I pull you up, and I fuck you until you come.”

The heat rising from his body was compounding her own. The hammering of her heart rushed in her ears. She swayed for a second as the loft began to spin.

“You need to fuck me,” Gillian gasped. “Now.”

Shayne moved like a wild beast. With a snarl, he rolled her to her back. The tunic came off over her head. Her trousers and panties were nearly ripped from her. He shoved her to her side, and tore at the bra. By the time he flipped her to her back, she was stripped. His clothes came off in a blur. Then his delicious weight pressed her down. She spread her legs, and he quickly settled his hips between them. Without warning, her pelvis bucked up, encouraging him, needing him to take her, to push straight in. But instead he lowered his mouth to her ear.

“You love to tease me,” he growled. “Should I show you what I do to people who tease me, Gillian?”

“Y–”

Before she could even finish, he pulled back and forced her legs wide open. He could see every inch of her, and she’d never been more wet in her life. He bent his dark head to the already sensitive flesh. His tongue was as wet as her. He lapped at her, stroking her, rough and fast. The pleasure swept over her within seconds.

“Shayne,” she gasped. Her gloved hands landed in his hair, tugging. “Shayne, I can’t. I’m going to come. Shayne,
please
.”

His tongue lashed her clit, his fingers spread her open. There was no escape. Ecstasy burst on her as though from a breaking dam.

“Shayne!” she wailed, as she went over the edge. A shower of sparks rained down inside her closed eyes.

But Shayne didn’t stop. His tongue worked her as his hands gripped her hips.

She shook her head. “Too,” she gasped, trying to get her breath. “Sensitive.” She pulled his hair, but it only spurred him on. “No,” she choked out, as the pleasure bloomed again. Her hands fisted the blanket next to her. His stiff tongue pushed and probed, and a high whine escaped her. She twisted and writhed, but his strength was too much. Her clit pulsed as though it might explode. His timing was maddening, grueling, and pure ecstasy.

Her second climax rocked her like a raging storm. She groaned with the release, the wonderful heat, flooding upward and sweeping through her belly. As though he’d come, Shayne groaned as well, but then his mouth covered her clit.

“What–” she gasped harshly, her eyes flying open.

Then he began to suck.

Her hands landed on his shoulders, her fingers digging in. What had she unleashed?

His mouth owned her in a way she’d never dreamed possible. He devoured her as though he were starving. It was too much. She drew in a ragged breath to scream, but it only made him suck harder. The air escaped her in a harsh rasp. She whimpered now, her body no longer in her control. Under his mouth, her clit was on fire. Tendrils of flame snaked up into her belly. Hot, shooting pulses of pleasure claimed her. Her back arched impossibly high, as a scream was finally wrenched from her throat. She didn’t know what she cried out, but as the third climax slammed into her, she didn’t care.

Tears streamed down the sides of her face. Wild clenching threatened to rip her in two. Her back felt like it would break, and her throat was dry and raw. And as the climax peaked, every fiber of her being went taut at once, and she shuddered uncontrollably.

Finally Shayne released her.

With a wild cry, she collapsed.

Her lungs heaved, trying desperately to get enough air. Her heart thudded against her ribs. The loft spun as though she were the center of the world. But she was dimly aware of Shayne watching her. Her hips flexed spasmodically and her entire body twitched. Somehow she was on her side, curled up as if to protect herself from the pleasure he had forced on her body. He laid down behind her and gently spooned. After a few minutes, his arm wound around her middle and his mouth found her ear.

“I’m not done,” he whispered. He pressed his erection against her rear. “Do you know what that means?”

She’d barely got her breath back, her body covered in sweat. Whether it was the chill air or the edge in his voice, Gillian didn’t know, but she shivered.

“I see you do,” he said, his fingers tracing a line down her belly. He spread his hand flat across her mound. “Are you ready?”
 

Gillian started to nod, but Shayne got up and left.

Behind her somewhere she heard him moving around on the creaking boards, then there were bumps as well. By the time she managed to roll to her back, he was picking her up.

“You’ll need to stand,” he said, carrying her past the ladder.

As he set her lightly down facing the top rung, she imagined being bent over it and caned. Her face flushed hot.

“Are you going to–”

He followed her gaze over his shoulder to the top rung.

“No,” he said, gathering her hands in front of her. “You’d expect that.”

When she looked down, he was tying her wrists together, over the gloves. With a start, she realized it was the coiled rope, but it wasn’t falling to the floor. She followed the line of it up behind Shayne. It was strung over a pulley at the roof.

“Oh gods,” she whispered.

He backed away from her, and she could see that his erection was huge, with a condom already sheathing it. She gaped at it, squirming, her legs instinctively coming together.