Authors: Sabel Simmons
“Now … since you
realize I am not budging and wasting valuable time… shall we start to deplete
the stash I bought?”
Before she could react,
his mouth covered hers, whilst at the same time he ripped the sheet from
between them and settled his naked body on top of hers.
She tried to resist and
willed her body not to react. What he just said swept through her mind. It was
so cold, so calculating, as if he wanted just her body, nothing more.
Depleting the stash …
no … he would not use her … not like this … he would not break down her soul …
he would not …
But he did. Feeling
the struggle within her, he patiently set out to seduce her, to awaken once
again the fire in her body, forcing her to acknowledge her need for him, to
give him her all.
And she did. She gave him her all. She
stopped resisting, even thinking, she just felt. She lost count on how many
times he pulled her closer, gave her the most amazing pleasure and climaxes. It
was a night filled with unadulterated passion and lust, and she, just like him,
did not seem to be able to get enough of the other. Until eventually just as
the sun’s rays peeked over the horizon, he left her to fall in an exhausted
sleep.
With the pirate’s week in full swing,
Clarissa’s days were full and very busy. It suited her just fine, because at
least that way she managed to forget about Raymond for brief periods.
Very brief periods, but
she could not close her mind against the rush of emotions and heat, coursing
through her every time she remembered the night they spend together.
Nor was his constant
presence any consolation. He was everywhere, at the breakfast run, the beauty
contests, the swimming contests even the Pirate’s war contest, which of course,
he won. It seemed wherever she was, he was!
Of course, it would
have been heaven if he was there because of her, but everywhere he went he had
the same petite bombshell that hung on him at the Pirate’s Week pre-party on
his arm.
He, of course, exulted
in it. He smiled into her eyes, hung his arm around her shoulder, danced with
her, and even kissed her when he was sure Clarissa was around to notice.
It had been three days
since their night together and apart from slanting fiery looks her way he
ignored her. Judging by his attitude towards her one would never guess he
spent a whole night making love with her a few nights ago!
Clearly as he said, he
got his fill of her in one night and was now off to his next prey!
These thoughts assailed
her mind while charging down the corridor on her way to the dining room, to
ensure everything was ready for the little Pirates’ competition, which included
a child’s dream feast of little hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken sticks, all
decorated as if on a pirates’ deck.
She rushed around a
corner and nearly collided with the couple just leaving the lounge. She was
going so fast there was no way she could sidestep them and collided directly
with Raymond.
She tried to step back
so fast that she tripped over her own feet and started to fall. His hands
closed around her arms and he heaved her upwards against him.
“Careful there … you
don’t want to hurt those pretty legs, now do you?” His voice was syrupy sweet
and deep. It felt like a caress against her cheek.
Her traitorous body
started to tingle and she inhaled his scent like a starving sailor.
“Let go of the poor
women, darling. You don’t want her fainting on you!”
The husky voice of the
beautiful woman next to him grated on Clarissa’s ears and she clamped her teeth
together, whilst tugging herself away from Raymond.
His hands barely left
her arms when the women pushed against him, mewing up at him. Clarissa had to
force herself not to snort at the obnoxious woman! Could she not wait until
they were in their room!
She mumbled her excuses
and shoved past them, flouncing through the dining room doors. She hardly took
six steps when a hard hand on her arm drew her back. She swung around and came
face to face with Raymond, her fuming eyes detecting the sulking woman a few
feet away.
“What do you want?”
It came out in a sneer,
but she didn’t care. He took pleasure in flaunting his latest fling at her all
the time. Their night together obviously meant nothing to him. The anger
heaved even higher inside her when he smirked and leaned close into her.
“Ahh … but I told you
what I want, my dear Clarissa. You …”
His gaze burned
insolently down her face to come to rest on her heaving breasts. When he
noticed her budding nipples through her thin blouse, he raised his shimmering
gaze to hers.
“And I see the desire
is reciprocated … still …”
“Oh, you … you … one
not enough for you nowadays I see! The blond on the one arm … and me on the
other! Get away from me; I don’t want you to ever touch me again.”
His grin widened and he
lifted his hand to softly stroke down her cheek, brushing against her
protruding nipple as he dropped his hand, his body shielding his action from
the woman behind him, still glaring at Clarissa.
She gasped and the fire
still sizzling through her body at his soft touch. He brought his face closer
to her and whispered softly against her cheek.
“Jealous, my love?
Don’t worry she does not have nearly as much passion as you do.” She gasped
furiously but his gaze held her captive.
“Oh no, my beauty,
don’t for one moment think I’m done with you just yet. I only gave you a
respite the past few days so you could recover. I’m sure you were quite sore
and bruised after … “
“Oh you … just shut
up! Don’t you dare even mention that night! And stay away from me.” Twin
spots of red on her cheeks were testimony of her fury.
His hands fastened
around her arms and capturing her glimmering green eyes with his blazing ones,
vowed softly.
“You don’t really want
that. The other night has proven that much. And until I’m ready to stay away, I
will come for you when and where it suits me.”
He swung around, draped
his arm around the petite woman and sauntered away, leaving Clarissa to bristle
at the hidden insult. He just made it abundantly clear that all he wanted from
her was just sex, nothing more.
It felt as if he had
just stabbed a dagger into her heart. She swallowed a few times to force back
the sobs lodged in her throat, along with the tears shimmering in her eyes.
The rest of the day was
torture. Clarissa spent the afternoon on the spread out lawns overseeing the
little pirates’ ship building competition. There were four teams of ten
youngsters; each offered the opportunity to build their own ship. The hotel
sponsored all the materials and everywhere you looked there were eager young
pirates, carrying around pieces of cardboard and thin wooden slates.
Bette and Clarissa
stood watching the building process after just handing out refreshments to
everyone. Bette wiped her brow and smiled at Clarissa.
“Aren’t they just the
sweetest?” Clarissa laughed and nodded her head.
“Aren’t they just. I
wonder however, how much of the design and building process is really their
efforts or those of their Dads. They seem to be just as caught up in it than
the kids!”
They both laughed and
watched the contest heating up with all the Dads involved with each team. The
little ones of course did not mind, as long as their ship was the best, they
were happy.
“Well, I suppose it is
time to mingle and ensure that the actual building process is handled only by
the little ones …” Full of laughter they skipped down the stairs to start their
judging process.
“Rissa! Look! Our
ship is nearly finished! And it is the best one there is! Just look!”
Robby’s excitement
sparkled in his bright dark eyes, flashing in joy up at her. His little hand
folded around hers as he pulled her closer to their ship.
“See…”
He pointed a crooked
little finger outward as if she could miss the … ship … in front of her. She
smiled warmly down at him.
“I see Robby and it
really is a nice ship. Who designed it?”
Her one eyebrow lifted
high as she squinted like a real pirate down at him. He shuffled from one foot
to the other, and uhmed and ahed, until Miguel rescued him.
“Don’t worry Robby;
there was no stipulation that you can’t have assistance with the design as long
as you and your team build it yourself.”
“Oh, we did! We build
it alone! Dad and Christopher’s dad helped us to design it. Right Chris?” He
turned to a little blond haired boy busy gluing a piece of cardboard, which she
assumed was a door to the cabin, in place. His head bobbed up and down, but
he kept his gaze fixed on the job in front of him, his tongue peeking out his
lips in concentration.
“C’mon Rob, stop
talking to the lady and help me!” Eagerly Robby squinted down next to him and
the two small pairs of hands pressed down on the cardboard door to make sure it
glued on properly.
Miguel and Retha
laughed and pulled Clarissa to one side. “It is so good to see Robby so happy
and carefree. He does not make friends easily and has always been somewhat
lonely. This trip really was the best thing we could have done for him.”
On the other side of
the ship in progress, Raymond glanced up and his gaze became fixated on the
woman standing next to his aunt. He took in her windblown hair, tumbling down
her back and took a shuddering breath at the warmth in her emerald green eyes
gazing down at his son.
A soft smile trembled
on her mouth and her hand clawed over her heart. She seemed to have trouble
breathing and he willed her gaze up to his.
The moment their eyes
met everything around them disintegrated. It was as if it were only the two of
them at that moment. Even over the distance he noticed the pain and regret in
her eyes. He frowned and took a step in her direction, which broke the
connection. Hastily she excused herself and hurried away towards the hotel.
He started after her,
but Lizelle, the beautiful blond model that befriended him, grabbed hold of
him. His eyes followed Clarissa until she disappeared through the hotel doors.
Doubt, disbelief and
hope battled inside him; did he interpret that look correctly? Did she regret
the decision she made? Was she, as he did over the past five years, thinking
that Robert could have been … should have been their child!
Clarissa trotted wearily to her
cottage. The sun barely peeked over the horizon when she opened her door. She
slept very badly over the past few days. Mainly because she slept in a
different bed every night.
Her desperate way of
keeping Raymond out of hers caused her work to suffer. She growled as she
caught sight of the dark circles under her eyes in the mirror.
As she stood under the
warm spray of the shower, she recalled the scene that prompted her to start
sleeping in any available room in the hotel rather than in her own bed in her
own cottage!
Raymond was clearly
determined to keep his threat of coming for her where ever, whenever. Three
days ago she had just entered her cottage after the little pirates ship
building competition, when she heard Lizelle, the blond always on Raymond’s
arm, shrill, “Yohoo, Raymond darling!” just outside her cottage.
She looked outside and
with a shock met the irritated gaze of Raymond clashing with hers; literally
two meters from her cottage. The blond woman’s high heels clattered on the
pathway towards Ray, his eyes still locked on Clarissa. He was clearly torn on
how to deal with the situation. The blaze in his eyes scorched hers and sent a
message of such heat and desire it nearly singed her to the bone.
“I’ll be back later,”
he mouthed softly at her.
She had breathed a sigh
of relief when he turned around and walked towards the blond woman, took her
arm and led her back towards the hotel. She had closed the door and sagged
back against it.
She knew that she would
not have been able to send him away, if he entered her cottage and if that
happened they would have made love. Just the thought of it caused ripples of
longing to shiver along her body and the heat of her desire, pooled low in her
stomach.
She folded her arms
around her body and realized that one way or another she needed to keep her
sanity, and the only way she would achieve that was to stay away from Raymond.
Thereby ensuring he did not have the opportunity to seduce her again, because
it would not take much effort for him to get her back in his bed!
That was when she
decided to stay away from her cottage, not to be there at night, should he come
around looking for her. Luckily for her there were a few rooms available over
the next week or so until Miguel’s guests started arriving for their party as
some of the guests already started departing with the winding down of the
Pirates Festival.
She soaked in the bath
for a while, then wrapped a fluffy white towel around her body and went to
stand in front of her bedroom window, towel drying her hair. She sighed as she
took in the beautiful beach in front of her.
She heard the front
door open and close and she froze for a moment. Before she got around her bed,
Raymond appeared in the bedroom doorway. She lowered the towel and her hungry
gaze caressed his sweaty body. Clearly he had been jogging.
She gasped as he
unceremoniously pulled his t-shirt up and over his head. She watched it
floating to the chair in the corner. When he pushed his shorts down her eyes
darted up to his, trying to ignore his full arousal rearing upward, strong and
proud.
“Wha … what are you
doing?”
He watched her with
such intensity she felt it down to her toes. He kicked his sneakers off and
the next moment he stood right in front of her. His gaze bored into hers,
deeply, completely, as if there were nothing and no one else on earth.
His hand lifted to pull
the towel away and she frantically clutched it closer to her, stepping back at
the same time.
Relentlessly he
followed, his fiery gaze never leaving hers.
“Ray … stop this … you
have to … no ...!”
Helplessly she watched
the towel flutter to the floor as he effortlessly wrestled it from her grip.
His hands closed around her arms and he pulled her up against his hard body.
His erection scorched her belly with searing fire.
She gasped; his gaze
refused to release hers. “Remember, this is your own fault!” he ground out
just before his lips descended on hers.
He plundered her mouth,
claimed her, branding her relentlessly with his lips and tongue. He drank
deeply from her mouth, his tongue urging hers to mate with his, her mouth to
drink from his. He walked her backwards slowly, his hands burning hot on her
back. He pushed his one leg between hers and lowered her quickly to the bed.
He entered her hard and
deep at the same time her back hit the mattress. So easily, since her body was
wet and ready for him the moment he pulled his shirt off. She gasped and her
nails dug into his back as he filled her to the hilt, slowly rotating inside
her, stretching her and groaned when she tightened her inner muscles around
him.
He straightened his
arms so that their eyes met. Then he started moving inside her. Not as she
expected slow and gentle, but hard, deep and fast. His strong face filled her
vision, so that only he surrounded every aspect of her.
Her eyes fluttered
closed.
“No, open your eyes …
look at me…” She lifted her lids, her passion filled eyes drowning in the heat
of his.
He watched the emotions
battling with each other inside her. He identified each one as it flashed in
her eyes. The helpless desire and heat, the intense pleasure and the widening
of her eyes as he gentled his thrusts and pushed even deeper, rotated again and
at the same time gently swirled his thumb over her swollen clitoris.
He ground his teeth
together, forcing his body to hold his release back, to thrust slow and deep.
He swirled his thumb faster and watched her back arch clear off the bed,
pushing her head into the pillow. He wanted her to find her release this way,
without any other touches or caresses. He wanted her to acknowledge the need
of her body for his. At the same time, he punished himself and had to grind on
his teeth to ignore her luscious aroused breasts jutting invitingly towards
him.
She stopped breathing
and he feverishly plunged fast and deep. He gripped her hips, holding her in
place. The ripples of her climax gripped him so tightly he could hold back no
longer. He pushed down once more and felt his seed spurting from him and with
her climax milking him he threw his head back and gave a shout at the intensity
of it.
Clarissa felt her orgasm
bolt through her so strong and deep it bordered on pain. She heard his shout
and looked up at him. His head was thrown back, his lips clamped together and
the veins strained against his neck as proof of the intensity of his orgasm.
He lowered his head and
their eyes met. His were the color of a black night. He searched her eyes,
then growled fervidly: “Why you? Why only with you?”
He cursed, withdrew and
reared off her. He sat with his hands in his head for a moment, then he got up,
pulled his clothes on with ire radiating from him. At the door he turned
around, his eyes fenced with hers.
“Don’t ever hide from
me, Clarissa. You will not achieve anything by it, apart from making matters
worse for yourself. Never hide from me again! Next time I might not be so
merciful. And be warned, I will be here at ten tonight.”
At her gasp, he swung
around and walked through the door.
“Be here!”
She snapped her gaping mouth shut with
the click of the door closing behind him, amazed at the audacity of the man!
The Princeton Hotel won the most coveted
trophy on the island and every hotel employee beamed. The Pirate Festival’s
hosting trophy was nothing more than a locally handcrafted replica pirate ship
with the winner’s name on a plaque, and no other reward attached to it, but it
was the prestige to be voted the best host hotel on the island that mattered.
Every year the hotels
went out of their way and made every effort to impress the judges in an effort
to beat what their opponents have to offer. The guests and the locals then
have the opportunity to vote who they thought offered the best entertainment,
competitions, etc.
This was the third time
that The Princeton won the award since Clarissa started and everyone around the
table praised Clarissa for all the hard work that once again secured them the
winning title.
She laughed and waved
the praise away. “This is due to all of us pulling equal weight. Every
single staff member worked twice as hard as usual, and I can only thank all of
them for their hard work, dedication and support for this years’ festival. I
believe this year was the best ever, and we can only get better going forward.”
Miguel agreed that it
was the best festival he has ever attended and how proud he was of his team at
the hotel.
“Tomorrow Clarissa and
I are going to think of something to award everyone for all the hard work. I
have also decided that as my final token to everyone to payout a mid-year bonus
in June next year.”
Applause erupted around
them, the senior staff that were present close-by beamed at the additional
bonus prospect and Clarissa knew that before nine the following morning every
employee at the hotel would be aware of it. Then what he said registered.
“What do you mean as
your final token?”
He shifted uncomfortably,
glanced at Raymond and his mother, Cecile, who arrived the day before and
cleared his throat.
“I am not a stripling
youth anymore, and I have decided to lay down the reins, or rather hand them
over. I am passing The Princeton Hotel Group over to Ray.”
The silence around the
table was deafening and Clarissa felt her heart constricting, tightening until
she couldn’t breathe anymore. She looked at Raymond and saw him scowling at
his uncle.
“And when did you make
this startling decision, dear uncle and why now?”
He held his emotions in
check with difficulty; he smelled a rat, or rather, he smelled manipulation!
Miguel shifted again,
took hold of Retha’s hand in his and smiled down at her. The smile she gave
back to him lit the room around them. She was obviously one of the few
ecstatic about the news.
“That was the reason
for the trip here, as well as for holding our anniversary party here. I was
going to announce it then, but I guess my mouth ran away with me.”
“And why have you not
said anything to me about this before?” Raymond demanded in his usual direct
manner.
Cecile tapped him on
his sleeve. “Come now, Raymond. Surely, you always knew you would become the
owner of the Princeton Group. It is your birthright, after all.”
Ray shook her hand off
and with aversion snarled: “Like hell I did, and like hell it was!”
Cecile gasped: “How
dare you talk to me that way!” Her voice rose shrilly, and attracted attention
from those in their close proximity. You could actually see people stretching their
necks to hear. Miguel cleared his voice.
“Maybe now is not the
time to discuss this. I’m sorry Ray; I did intend to talk to you before the
party, but as I said… Let’s not spoil this evening for everyone else, we’ll
talk later.”
Raymond shifted his gaze to Clarissa and
she swallowed with difficulty. What would this mean for her future with the
Princeton group? A slow smirk curved around his mouth, as if the same thought
just occurred to him. He now held her future in his hands!
Next to Raymond, Cecile fumed. Even
though she was ecstatic at Raymond receiving the Princeton Hotels reign, she
was livid with Miguel. Her gaze fell on Clarissa and the hatred flooded her to
the bone. What was he thinking having the party here? He knew she was here! If
not for that little tart, her relationship with Raymond would not have
suffered.
It was since she left
that he withdrew from her, his own mother! She thought at the time if she told
him that Clarissa got the job by sleeping with one Miguel’s’ directors at the
time, things would get better. Instead, it got worse and now they hardly saw
each other. She even had to threaten an invitation out of Miguel to join them.
She knew that Miguel
did this purely because of the woman across the table. He never believed the
story Cecile told Raymond, even when Henry Scott confirmed the tale … at a very
expensive payoff by her of course. The fact that he found out the truth a few
years later when Henry was fired were where his guilt came in, especially as he
continued to withhold the truth from Raymond.
She managed to convince
him that it was for the best at the time. That the fact that Clarissa left
Raymond to pursue a career on nearly the other side of the Continent was proof
that she did not really love Raymond and was only interested in her own career,
clinched it for him. He agreed not to say anything to Raymond, believing that
he was doing the right thing. More so due to them trying to bury the rift in
their past at the time, Miguel wanted to keep Raymond close to him and not
upset him further.
Now, it was clear that the guilt was
riding him. Glancing sideways at Raymond, she noticed the heated look in his
eyes when he looked at Clarissa. She clamped her lips together. One way or the
other, she would keep them apart. He does not belong with her. She was nothing
but an opportunist, using men to achieve her own goals.