Authors: Lynn Burke
Tempered by Her
Evernight Publishing ®
Copyright©
2015 Lynn Burke
ISBN: 978-1-77233-595-8
Cover Artist: Jay
Aheer
Editor: Melissa
Hosack
ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction.
All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.
DEDICATION
For Doris
TEMPERED BY HER
Risso
Family, 4
Lynn Burke
Copyright © 2015
Chapter One
“The fuck, Zane?”
I glanced over my shoulder while tugging my T-shirt down to cover my
abs. My cousin and good friend Theo, in nothing more than boxers covering his
jutting hard-on, hurried down the dim hallway after me. Shoving my hands into
my jeans pockets, I turned and waited for him.
“You all right?” he asked, sweat beading his brow, a waft of sex and
Sasha’s perfume billowing like a cloud around him as he stopped in front of me.
“Yeah, sure.” I shrugged and tried for a nonchalant grin while
transferring my weight from one leg to the other.
Intuitive dick. He stared at me, dark eyes seeming to weigh my words
and shifting stance—same as he’d always done since we were kids. “I don’t just
switch for anyone. Thought you said you needed this.”
“I know.” I ran a hand through my too-long hair and heaved an exhale.
“Sorry. Not
feelin
’ it tonight.”
“Two minutes ago you had Sasha in tears—buzzing on pain and begging for
us—and you up and walk out? Damn it, cuz.” Theo slapped his bare chest. “She doesn’t
want just me.”
I thought of the red hand marks on the subs thighs and ass, the ass I’d
planned on burying into balls-deep while she straddled Theo, but
she
came to mind. Fuckin’ shriveled me
right up. “Can’t do it.”
“I’ve got a couple of little
blue pills if that’s what you need.”
His smirk pissed me off, and I shook my head.
“Come on, man. I’ve been wanting Sasha for months!”
I glanced back toward my favorite play room, one I’d frequented on a
weekly basis since Theo and I became members of the exclusive kink club. Other
doors lined the hall, but no sounds of what most would consider sordid acts
behind them reached us. “What’d you tell her?”
“She’s still blindfolded and kneeling on the bed.”
“Doesn’t know I slipped out?”
“No.”
I clasped Theo’s shoulder. “Tell her I decided to watch instead.”
“She knows you’re no voyeur.”
“So
make
her believe.”
He sucked in one side of his cheek as the seconds ticked passed. “And
when I allow her to remove the blindfold?”
“It wouldn’t be a lie to say I slipped out a few minutes earlier.”
“You’re a selfish prick, you know that?”
His favored nickname didn’t make me grin like usual. “Go enjoy that
sweet little pussy. I’ll catch up with you next week.” I strode away, Theo’s
whispered “bastard” ringing in my ears.
The lights of the lounge had been dimmed, low music from the overhead
speakers helping to create the mood. A quiet night at Chantelle’s, only a dozen
or so people made use of the public area. One sub, a jeweled plug peeking from
between her ass cheeks knelt before her Dom, sucking his cock. The sound of
slapping drew my gaze to the far side of the room where another sub lay across
his master’s lap, hips rising to meet the hand tanning his ass.
Normally the sight stirred my blood, but I turned away and waved at the
club’s owner on my way out.
Although still fall, warm air greeted me as I stepped outside into
Boston’s nightlife. Chatter, music, and laughter rose around me, but I ignored
everyone, intent on the parking garage across the street and my Audi R8. Within
minutes, I downshifted my baby and headed for
Comm
Ave.
I’d never walked away from a scene before—or any chance of having sex.
I craved physical touch. Dominating and inflicting pain and soothing the
lingering sting afterward.
Although my cousin understood, both my brothers claimed I was a sick
bastard. It’s what I needed to be satisfied though. Vanilla had long since
become a yawn-inducing bore.
Vanilla. Like Cole’s secretary, the woman who haunted my dreams and
most of my waking moments. Untouchable, goodie-two-shoes Raquel Hawkins was
everything I wasn’t—and goddamn did I want to corrupt her innocent soul.
My hands ached to brand her round ass. I wanted to clamp and tug on her
plump tits. Drive her out of her fuckin’ mind and make her scream my name like
a shameless whore.
A horn blared.
“Shit.” I swerved back into my lane and tried to still my breathing.
Little secretary in her conservative pencil skirts, button down blouses, and
damn glasses…
Fuck
.
I grasped my stiff cock through my jeans and squeezed to the point of
pain, trying to calm him the fuck down, while filling my mind with the new
logos I’d been working on for Bastian’s store down in Charleston.
Didn’t fuckin’ work. By the time I got to my condo, I couldn’t wait any
longer. Leaning against my closed door, I shoved my jeans off my hips and
yanked on my cock while imagining Raquel’s virgin pussy squeezing the life out
of me. My balls tightened. Cum shot up onto my shirt and coated my hand as I
threw my head back and groaned.
“
Goddamnit
.” I pulled off my shirt and wiped
up the mess, my mind still in full out need-to-fuck-that-ass-now mode.
What I really needed to do was get the girl out of my head, but I had
no clue how. I couldn’t very well fuck my brother’s secretary and break her
heart after I had my fill. No in-house dating, the family business rules
stated. Not that it’d stopped me from topping a mail runner a few years earlier,
but she’d only wanted a good fuck anyway. Hell, even Theo enjoyed the little
strawberry tart a time or two after I tired of her.
Raquel, on the other hand, she’d want the house with a picket fence and
a half-dozen kids. Church every Sunday. Missionary position sex like clockwork
every Friday night—and only on Friday night.
“Fuck that.” I kicked off my shoes and jeans and let them lay where
they landed. No way could I get involved with her.
No fuckin’ way.
Cole told me she came from an ultra-conservative family, but what if she
needed to sow some wild oats of her own?
The idea halted me halfway across my living room, and a grin formed. I
could give her a taste of the good life before she settled down with her
perfect little Christian boy who’d follow along behind her like a puppy on her
heels.
Fuck it.
I would take what I wanted—like always—for as long as I wanted. I was a
selfish prick after all. But before I could persuade her into my bed, I had to
get her to agree to go out with me. I’d asked countless times and got shot down
every single time.
“I’ll hound the ever loving shit out of her,” I said to myself with a
nod, “until she relents just to shut me the hell up.” If that failed, I wasn’t
above stalking to find her hangouts.
A plan formed. Slow and easy, I’d steadily weasel my way into her head
and cotton granny panties, get my fill, and get the hell out.
Chapter Two
I didn’t even get my purse put away on Monday morning before Zane
sauntered into Cole’s office suite, smoldering blue eyes fringed by black
lashes latching onto me. Devouring me. An air of authority surrounded him, and
I fought the need to lower my eyes like a cowering pup.
Heart in my throat, I tried to smile, handbag clutched in front of me.
“Good morning, Mr. Risso.”
“It’s Zane, Raquel.” His gaze slid down my body, backing me against my
desk and hardening my nipples. I glanced downward to escape the intensity in
his eyes. “New blouse?”
I nodded.
“The blue matches your eyes.”
“Thank you,” I managed to say.
“Cole in yet?”
“N-no, sir.” Unable to keep my eyes off him for long, I peeked up at
him through my lashes, taking in the hint of dark shadow that always lined his
square jaw.
His slow smile, sexy as all get-out, appeared. I held my breath as he
moved closer than a hair, but not touching. “Look at me.”
An involuntary shudder rippled through me. His voice was like an erotic
lure, making me want to fall to my knees and submit to his desires. I tipped my
head back to peer into the depths of the eyes I daydreamed about and found
myself leaning toward him as he spoke.
“Go out to dinner with me.” The look of a predator intent on getting
what he wanted brought the apex of my thighs to life.
My legs weakened, and I struggled for breath, averting my gaze to my
purse again. I shook my head—as usual.
“Zane!” Cole’s voice disintegrated the sizzling energy ready to burst
into flames between his brother and me and jerked my head back up.
Zane smirked and slowly backed away, his gaze lingering on my parted
lips. “You’re late for work again, brother.” He chuckled and turned to follow
Cole into his office. “Gwen’s fault?”
Cole grunted his agreement, and Zane followed him through the door. It
clicked shut behind them.
I sagged and pressed a hand against my fluttering chest. That man would
be the death of me. Or, my downfall at least. Guilt flooded through me as it
always did whenever my thoughts lingered on the middle Risso boy. Most women
would have cried sexual harassment, but not me. Oh no. I enjoyed the naughty,
sensual words he whispered when he caught me alone in the office.
Legs shaking, I moved around my desk to settle in for the day.
The boy was bad news. Trouble, my dad had said on more than one
occasion. Gossip among my co-workers painted Zane in a horrible light. He was not
the kind of man I planned on settling down with, not the kind of man a woman would
find trustworthy. Or faithful.
But holy cow, his suggestive tone and gazes heated my blood and haunted
my dreams. More often than I cared to admit, I’d allowed my daydreams free
rein, oftentimes touching myself while buried beneath my blankets at night.
Heat swept through me again, settling on my cheeks and between my
thighs.
Bad, bad news.
I inhaled to my lung’s capacity. “Temptation straight from the pit of
hell,” I mumbled to myself while booting up the computer. Casting a glance at
Cole’s closed office door, I told myself I was above such things.
Before the next breath though, nervous laughter escaped me, and I pursed
my lips.
Yeah, right.
He thought I was a good little girl, pure in action and thought. While
the first was true, I’d secretly read my fair share of raunchy novels. I might
have been unschooled in the physical aspects of sexual acts, but I probably had
more head knowledge than my parents and married sisters combined.
And I couldn’t wait to try out all the information swarming in my mind.
Within the confines of marriage, of course.
Zane Risso pushed all my buttons and made me crave a sexual
relationship worse than chocolate while PMS-
ing
, but
I wouldn’t give in. Ever. I would save myself for my lifelong husband.
But, oh the temptation to flirt with sin.
I chewed on the inside of my lip and glanced at Cole’s office door
again. One little taste. Whet my appetite and get him out of my system. Like
Ritchie’s Slush though, I knew one taste would never be enough.
No.
I returned my attention to the calendar tasks on the computer before
me. No, I wouldn’t. I couldn’t.