Sweet: A Dark Love Story (8 page)

She would only get more sensitive when his baby made her stomach swell, and her body nurtured his child. He’d probably be able to make her come just from his mouth at her breast then.

His cock spasmed inside her at just the thought of seeing her stomach round and ripened, while he played with her breasts swollen with milk for his child. He almost spilled himself inside her right then from imagining how it would be to sink into the slick heat of her pussy once she was pregnant. She’d likely be wet almost all the time. Of course, his goal was to keep her in that state at all times, pregnant or not.

As he approached the zenith, he could feel her twitching around him and knew she was close to coming again. It was heaven to feel her cunt tighten around his cock, and he craved the sensation enough to stave off his own release long enough to savor it.

Hand still in her hair, he jerked tightly enough to make her cry out sharply, and her sound of pain almost pushed him over the edge, but it was the sound of pleasure that followed, which made her entire body tremble and shudder underneath him as she reached climax, that brought on his own release. That breathless moan, coupled with her snug cunt twitching around him, made him spill into her as she tightened around him, her sheath milking him for every drop of his seed.

He emptied himself inside her until his testicles stopped pulsing, and his cock was so sensitive he couldn’t stand to be in there another second. With a harsh groan, he withdrew from her as a torrent of their mingled cum came with him. He eased back to eye his handiwork, a primal surge of satisfaction sweeping through him at the sight of her swollen, dark-pink pussy still twitching while his cum flowed from her and onto the bed.

Her exhausted, sweaty, and sated face was almost as pleasing. It sent a surge of male pride through him to know he had reduced her to that state.

Her eyes had closed in her pleasure, but now they slowly opened and focused on him. As the passion faded, he wasn’t surprised to see anger taking its place.

“What are you doing in here? I barred the door.”

Declan lifted his shoulder. “I have my ways.”

She rolled her eyes. “Is there nowhere I can go to escape you?”

Her words were sharp with sarcasm, but he couldn’t take it as anything other than utterly serious. Taking her chin in his hand, he held her tightly and forced her to look at him when she tried to turn her head. “There’s absolutely nowhere you can go that I won’t follow or find you. You belong to me now, Kat.

“You have ever since you made the fatal mistake of talking to me in the courtroom. Or maybe even before that, with your shy little eyes constantly watching me instead of the trial. I don’t think you looked at your father more than a few times the entire week, but you came back every day. Why was that?”

She tried to ignore his question. “I’d like to have some privacy sometimes, at least. Am I going to be in the bathroom and look up to see you standing in the doorway watching me pee?”

“If I wish to, but that’s not really my kink,” he said in a neutral voice. “Why did you come every day for the trial, Katriona?” He drew out her full name in a sensual fashion that made her eyes darken. “I don’t think you were there to support your father…you couldn’t seem to look away from me…so why were you there?” He’d never pondered the question before, until now.

She looked over his shoulder, clearly determined to ignore his gaze. He refused to allow that and tightened his grip on her face a bit more, until she whimpered from the pressure. He leaned over her, filling her field of vision with his eyes and refusing to allow her to look away. “Answer the question, Kat. Why were you there?”

Her eyes widened, her pupils dilated, and her breathing was raspy and harsh. She seemed fearful, but he didn’t think it was of him despite the intense way he was holding her and looming over her at the moment.

“I don’t know, okay? I really don’t. I went the first day…I guess out of curiosity. I kind of hoped it would be a quick trial, and he would be sentenced to life in prison, since our state didn’t have the death penalty, unfortunately.”

“Yeah, there wasn’t much chance of that after he declined his right for a jury trial, and his smarmy little lawyer revealed the clerical error.”

“He always was a sadistic bastard. I have no doubt he was behind letting the whole trial drag out, forcing you to hear all the details of his crime, and then having his attorney reveal at the last moment, practically before judgment and sentencing, that the case had to be dismissed.”

Declan’s eyes widened, and he nodded at her perception. “I got the same sense.” Nausea roiled through his gut as he remembered Joseph Evans testifying about how he had stalked Hilary coming out of the baby store, followed her to her car, and took her hostage at knife point. He’d forced her to drive away from the mall to an industrial area of the city and made her park the car in a warehouse parking lot.

It had been an abandoned building, and the perfect place for him to rob the young pregnant woman. Sweat beaded Declan’s brow as he remembered the almost boastful way Joe had described taking Hilary’s purse before forcing her to remove her dress and raping her. Declan still didn’t understand what kind of person could rape a woman, especially one who was six months pregnant.

After he had finished defiling Declan’s wife, Joe had slit her throat and left her to die. Of course, Cordelia had died with her, because there had been no one around to help either of them. It had been hours later before the police found her, and by then, Declan had been a frantic wreck of a man.

Even now, he could barely recall what he had been like
before
that moment, when the police that came to his house to tell him they had found his wife murdered, and
after
that horrible moment. That night had sharply cleaved Declan’s life into two eras. The first was full of normal ambitions and appetites, and filled with love and laughter. There had been hope and anticipation for the future, especially for their daughter’s future. Afterward, there had only been pain, rage, and grief. He’d nearly gone out of his mind.

In fact, he was certain he had while locked away here on this island. He was definitely not the man he had been, and he’d never be that person again. Abruptly, he realized he still held her jaw tightly in his hand, so he loosened his grip slightly. “That explains the first day, but why did you keep coming back? Why were your eyes on me most of the time?”

Her cheeks flushed, and she looked embarrassed. “I don’t know. I just kept coming back. When I was there, I couldn’t stop myself from looking at you. You were so silent and stoic, but when you heard particularly painful things, your mouth would tighten, and your right eye would twitch. It was in those moments that I wanted to cross the aisle and sit beside you, just to offer a hug or hold your hand for support.” The raw vulnerability in her eyes made it clear she didn’t like making the admission. “I don’t know what compulsion drove me, and it doesn’t mean anything. It was probably just compassion.”

He sighed. “Maybe, or maybe there was something even then. I was far too immersed in my grief to even think much about you then, but as the months passed after Joseph got off, and then killed himself while driving drunk just two days later, I had no outlet for my rage. There was no one left to blame, until you became the focus.”

He trailed his thumb across her cheek, pausing near her big brown eyes. “These eyes haunted me. As the time passed, and I lost myself in a haze of alcohol and mourning, your eyes would randomly flash through my mind, coming more and more frequently. Finally, after…” He trailed off, omitting the turning point, because it would probably frighten her to hear everything. “I realized you were the key to getting revenge, but more importantly, having something close to a normal life again.”

She flinched, and her eyes closed for a moment. When they opened again, tears shone in the depths, but he admired that she didn’t let them fall. “How can this be anywhere close to normal? What you’re doing here—I think you know it’s not right. You should let me go.”

His mouth tightened, and he shook her face lightly to emphasize his words. “I’ll never let you go. I’m not looking for rainbows and sunshine and fairytales these days, sweet little Kat. I’m going to keep you, and I’m going to do anything and everything I’ve been thinking about all these years.

“Your sole goal in life now is to please me, and it pleases me when your tight little cunt spasms around me, or when you cry out from pain and pleasure as I mark your skin. And it will please me when your stomach swells with my child.”

Tears sparkled in her eyelashes, but his brave, stubborn woman still refused to let them fall. “You can’t do this to me. I can’t be happy like that, and I deserve happiness too.”

He let out a harsh bark of laughter. “You seemed pretty happy with my face between your thighs. I can give you what you need, but you have to stop fighting.”

She rolled her eyes, obviously exasperated. “And just what is it that I need, Dr. Phil?”

“You need to feel safe and protected, to feel cherished and loved.” His hand slipped farther down her body, moving from her chin to cup her throat. “You need to feel guidance and control, and most of all, you need to be able to trust that someone in your life won’t leave you or turn out to be something different from what you thought.” He could see his insights had rocked her, and her eyes glazed over as she looked away from him. He allowed her to that time, realizing she needed a moment to compose herself and accept his words as the truth.

“How am I supposed to trust
you
?”

He wrapped his hands around her throat, squeezing just until he could feel her pulse hammering under his palm. She looked back at him, and her eyes were wide with fear, but also a renewed spark of excitement. She might not like that she did, but she clearly fucking loved it when he choked her and controlled her. That confirmed for him that all the theories he’d formed over the years as he had learned more about her were dead-on.

“I literally hold your life in my hands at the moment. I could squeeze tighter,” He paused long enough to do so, and her eyes flared with fear, but her nipples also crinkled with need against his stomach, “Or just hold tightly enough to make you feel secure.” He adjusted his grip. “You’ll learn to trust that, while I hold that power over you and control you, it’s not my intention to hurt you.”

He released his hold on her neck, though he kept his hand there. He was a sadistic bastard who enjoyed feeling her heart race under his hand like a frantic little bird trapped in a cage and throwing itself against the metal in a futile attempt to escape.

“Tell that to my ass—that you don’t want to hurt me.”

Declan chuckled. “Oh, baby, I want to hurt you plenty. But the thing is…” He bent his head, bringing his mouth close to her ear. He took a moment to brush his lips against her cheek before whispering, “You love it. You come alive when I’m hurting you, and so do I when I’m causing your pain. We’re a fucked up pair, but we’re the perfect pair for each other. The trust will come, and then love someday.”

She shook her head, though she had very little room to move with his hand on her throat and his face pressed to hers. “I could never love you.”

Her words sent pain shooting through him, but he refused to acknowledge it. Her defiance was to be expected, and just another hiccup along the way as they settled into their new relationship and learned each other’s boundaries. “Okay, if you say so.” He made it clear with his tone that he was simply indulging her, much like he would a small child.

Her stomach rumbled at that moment, and it broke the atmosphere. He released her neck and sat up, rolling off the bed before extending a hand to her. “Come on. We’ll shower and eat breakfast, and then maybe we can go for a swim.”

“In the pool?” she asked timidly.

He shrugged. “There’s a pool, or we could go in the ocean. Whatever you prefer.”

“How about a kiddie pool in the backyard?” She said the words lightly and carelessly, but there was real fear in her eyes. “I don’t swim.”

There was more to that, and he was determined to find the answers, but at the moment, he was starving. The only thing he wanted more than food was another quick fuck in the shower, with her luscious breasts pressed against the glass door while he drove into her from behind. His cock liked the idea enough to spring to life with immediate interest. Breakfast was a long time coming.

Kat sat on the edge of the pool with her feet reluctantly dangling in the shallow end, her stomach twisting into knots as she watched Declan slice cleanly through the water, swimming lap after lap as though it required no exertion at all. He was obviously an accomplished swimmer, but being so close to the water made her anxious, and the idea of him swimming in the deeper water really brought beads of sweat toher forehead
.

She had managed to avoid his suggestion for swimming for the last five days, even going so far as to deliberately seduce him away from his plans more than once. He wouldn’t be swayed this morning, and he had dragged her from bed, insisting she come with him for his usual morning exercise that he had skipped the past few days in favor of a more carnal workout. She’d tried protesting, but soon found herself agreeing as he licked her pussy to encourage submission.

She hated seeing his head disappearing below the waterline before popping up again a moment later previous to the pattern repeating. If he got a cramp or had some other kind of problem, she couldn’t save him.

She tried to tell herself it was solely her personal interest that motivated her, but she knew that wasn’t entirely true. True, if he died, she’d be stuck on this island for who knew how long, at least until she figured out where he hid his cell phone and the key to the boathouse.

He claimed to keep that near him at all times, but she had yet to see any evidence of it over the past five days, and she had been practically glued to his side. He had insisted on it, but to her shock, she hadn’t minded being his shadow.

Eventually, she would find a way off the island if something happened to him. He had mentioned periodic grocery deliveries, so surely one of those would be coming again soon. It shouldn’t make her worried or afraid if he got in over his head, literally, and drowned. She should be praying for that outcome, but as she watched him swim vigorously, she couldn’t muster enthusiasm for the idea of his death. In fact, dread at the idea pierced her, and she bent forward slightly when a pang shot through her stomach.

It was startling to realize she didn’t want to lose him, and that had nothing to do with self-preservation. In fact, keeping him or staying with him was contrary to every shred of self-preservation, wasn’t it? He always flirted perilously close to the edge of pushing her past her boundaries, and she feared how much control he maintained over her.

It wasn’t the little things, like deciding when they went to bed or when they woke up, because that was usually just a natural rhythm into which they had fallen. No, it was deeper and more intense. The way he could control her body terrified her as much is it enthralled her. When his hands squeezed her throat as she was coming around his cock, she was equally parts invigorated and horrified. She still hadn’t reconciled herself to her dark appetite, and she tried not to think deeply of it during the daytime.

Not that he didn’t fuck her senseless during the day too. They had spent most of the last week doing everything sexual there was to do. She was relieved to have a little break today, as her ass and pussy were still sore from last night, when he had pounded her so vigorously while stuffing his largest plug into her back passage. At the time, she had reveled in every moment of it, but now she felt guilty and kind of sick to her stomach for having done so, and for having surrendered so easily.

She felt like she had surrendered this whole week, losing a little bit more of herself each time she did so. It frightened her that she was so tempted to give in to Declan’s idea of safety and providing for her and protecting her. It was easy to separate herself from it all when she wasn’t in his arms, but not so clear-cut in moments of passion. She felt incredibly safe when he was holding her, and even when he was hurting her.

That was the upsetting part, that and her inability to resist the dangerous lure of Declan’s darkness. It wasn’t even so much the breath play as it was surrendering herself to his hands and trusting that he would take her as far as she needed to go, while instinctively knowing when to stop and not take her any farther.

In other words, she was starting to trust the madman who had taken her, and she was slipping far too easily into the lifestyle to which he was introducing her. For the first time in days, she had enough clarity to realize she should probably be terrified and still fighting every step of the way.

Fear sparked in her, but it wasn’t the primal survival instinct that she needed. Rather, it was more of a lackluster response, the kind one gave because it was expected, not because it was what was really felt.

That realization terrified her. If she was only going through the motions of trying to escape and offering tepid protests about the way he had taken over her life, she was a weak-willed fool, and she deserved to sink into the mire of his degradation and lust.

And love.

She sighed heavily as she contemplated the word. He hadn’t said it, of course, but she was certain Declan loved her, or he was convinced he did anyway. He had been fixated on her for so long, obsessing over her and imagining all the ways he would make her pay for what her father had done, that perhaps it had turned into a dark and twisted form of love, or he’d simply convinced himself it was. She didn’t know, and she shouldn’t care. It shouldn’t matter whether he really loved her or just thought he did and was really just a completely obsessed, sadistic bastard.

But it did matter. How he felt influenced how she felt. She whimpered as she realized she was starting to depend on Declan in a way she hadn’t trusted anyone else in her life for a long time, if ever. She had learned the lesson young not to believe in anyone, but here was this crazy fucker, who liked to strangle and whip her before fucking every hole in her body multiple times per day, either with his own dick or a sex toy, and she was blithely handing over her trust to him.

Maybe she was the crazy one. She should be racking her brain for a way to escape.

She let out a startled yelp when he abruptly popped out of the water in front of her, having lost track of his motions as she had contemplated her thoughts. As his hands went to her waist, she shrieked and tried to pull back. “Don’t put me in the water.”

He froze and slowly lifted his hands from her bare body. His embargo on clothing had  extended to both of them for the last few days. “Whoa, calm down, Kat. I wouldn’t bring you into the water without your permission. Have you seen anyone about your phobia?”

She let out a sharp laugh of ridicule. “I didn’t exactly grow up in a family who put mental health as a priority, Declan.” To be fair, Claire had encouraged her to speak to the counselor she was assigned via the foster care system about anything bothering her, not just her fear of water, but Kat had never managed to open up to the older man who had been her therapist.

He’d always seemed so brusque and distant, and she’d had the sense he would repeat anything she said to her caseworker, despite his legal obligation not to do so. She certainly hadn’t mentioned her heated infatuation with the husband of the woman her father had killed.

He inclined his head. “Fair enough. I ask because my mother was always running to her therapist for every little thing, and while I believe it’s important to maintain good mental health, seeing her require his opinion on literally every detail so she could function made me somewhat skeptical of the profession.”

Kat arched brow. “Then why are you asking me if I’ve gone through it?”

“As I said, I think it can work for some people in some situations. Unfortunately, my mother was just exceptionally weak-willed and easily swayed to follow anyone. I
think
her relationship with her therapist was strictly platonic, but the man wielded way too much power over her. My father did the same, and so did the three stepfathers she went through before she died.”

“And your father? Is he still alive?”

Declan shook his head. “He died of a heart attack at his desk when I was just twelve. I never had any brothers or sisters, and my grandparents are gone too. Hilary and Cordelia were the only family I had until you.”

Warmth filled her at the words, and she did her best to shrug it off and force back the reaction. Pretending like he hadn’t said something so sweet, yet heartbreaking, she said, “I don’t need a therapist to know where the fear comes from. There’s no magical cure for it.”

He frowned. “I don’t think there’s a magical cure for anything, Kat, but maybe it would help to talk it over with someone.”

She rolled her eyes. “What, you’re just going to let me off the island for my weekly therapy appointments?”

He winked at her. “We have Skype, and there’s always the telephone.”

“Things to which I have no access,” she said bitterly.

“You will someday, as soon as you’ve proven yourself worthy of the trust. In the meantime, I can always sit beside you when you have your sessions.”

She scoffed. “And make sure I’m not saying anything you don’t want me to say? No, thanks. Anyway, like I said, it’s no mystery why I’m terrified of the water.”

He was floating now, though his hands gripped the pool on either side of her legs, and his head pressed against her knee. The wet strands of hair clung to her skin, and she felt overwhelmingly smothered for just a moment, convinced Declan would physically meld their bodies together if he could.

The moment passed, and she took a deep breath. “When I was four years old, my bat-shit insane mother tried to drown me in the bathtub.”

Declan gasped, his eyes widened in shock. “Your own mother? Who could do that to their child?”

“Like I said, she was pretty fucking nuts. I don’t know her official diagnosis, but my father and uncles always called her Nutjob.”

“What happened?”

She shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I know she was remanded to some kind of mental hospital for a while, and eventually, I think she got out, but she never looked me up. For all I know, she could still be alive, but I don’t care.”

He rubbed his damp cheek against her shin, in a gesture that was surprisingly soothing. “I can’t blame you there, but I meant what happened the day of the…incident?”

Again, Kat shrugged. “I don’t know what set her off, and I don’t remember much about the day, but you can guarantee I’ll never forget the terror of being held underwater. I think I remember her praying, and I think she was going through a super religious phase at the time, so she probably thought I was possessed by the devil or something.

“The woman was fucking crazy, but thankfully, my useless father actually did one good thing in his life. He happened to arrive home in time to save me, and surprisingly, not too drunk to do so for a change. He beat the crap out of my mom before calling nine-one-one, and then he finally remembered to check on me.”

Declan looked appalled.

She managed a tight smile. “It was fortunate I didn’t need CPR, I suppose, or I would have been dead by the time he was done with her. She was shipped off to wherever, and he spent a couple nights in jail until the judge released him on compassionate grounds. I don’t remember all of this, of course, but my uncles and my dad filled in the details over the years. They always liked to drag up the topic of my mom and her craziness, especially if I was doing something they didn’t understand or agree with. Then I was always crazy Irene’s daughter.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how terrifying that must have been, but it does sound like a situation where therapy might help you get over your fear of water.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t intend to bother, Declan. I have no burning desire to be on the swim team, and I don’t sail, and my life is not exactly chock-f of the opportunities to take pleasure cruises. Even if it were, I’d die either way, whether I was a swimmer or not, if the ship capsized in the middle of the ocean. I literally have no reason to get over my fear of water.”

He raised himself out of the pool slowly, dripping water on her bare skin. “You live on an island, babe. It might be a good idea to learn how to swim.”

She sighed. “No, I’m being held captive on an island, and I intend to escape it someday, but it won’t be by trying to swim fourteen miles.”

His right eye twitched, but his expression betrayed nothing when he said in a lighthearted voice, “Fourteen
nautical
miles, babe. A nautical mile is longer than a mile.”

She rolled her eyes yet again. “Whatever. Just drop it, okay? And please don’t ask me to come out here to the pool with you again.”

He nodded. “I won’t bother you about it for now, but I reserve the right to talk about this again later.”

Frustrated, she wiggled back away from him and got to her feet when she was far from the edge of the pool. “Then you can talk it over with yourself, because this topic of conversation is closed.” Without waiting for a reply, she turned and stomped into the house on her wet feet, moving gingerly across the travertine tile to avoid slipping and killing herself. That would be far too ironic, to die indirectly because of water after having come so close to doing so as a child.

She had gone to the kitchen, taking out her aggression on a pile of vegetables, and he found her there a few minutes later. She braced herself for him to continue badgering her, but was thankful when he only introduced light topics. Her ears perked when he mentioned casually, “The grocery delivery will be coming in a few days, so if there’s anything you’d like to be added to the list, just let me know.”