A Perfect Storm (20 page)

Tension strained Lucien’s forearms where Sophie held him, but he moaned low and deep too and pushed more of his cock into her mouth. Shouting silently with victory, Sophie bobbed up and down faster on Lucien’s shaft, loving the salty taste of his skin. She worked her head in a twisting motion and then pulled up to lick all around his rim and across his slit, smiling inside when he hissed and pumped out another fat pearl of precum for her. Sophie licked it up and then went down on him deep again, taking as much of his considerable length as she could into her mouth. Lucien bucked under her, making his tip kiss her throat.

Emboldened now, and wanting this moment for herself as much as she wanted it for him, Sophie dragged her lips back up the length of Lucien’s cock and chanced a glance up at his face. Hard, glittering eyes chipped with canary diamonds stared down at her, and a mouth set in a grim line did not smile. Yet he continued to move his hips, seeking a home for his dick, so Sophie knew at least a part of him wanted this badly enough to take control of his body and seek pleasure. From her. And she didn’t want to disappoint him.

Taking a chance that he would not push her away, Sophie let go of Lucien’s arms. She wrapped her hand around his root, took his balls in her other hand, and went down on the upper half of his shaft again. While rolling the weight of his balls on her fingers, Sophie began jerking Lucien off at the base and sucking the hell out of the rest of his cock.

A guttural “Yes” tore—seemingly with a fight—from Lucien’s throat. He threaded his fingers through her hair, but rather than shove her away, he held her to him and fed her more of his length. With every novice skill in her, Sophie sucked in her cheeks, pulled off Lucien with all of her might, and then filled her mouth with him again, this time not stopping when his slit hit her throat. Sophie relaxed and took a bit more, took his cockhead down into her throat, and swallowed.

Instantly, Lucien let loose a hoarse shout, filling the room with the sounds of his undeniable pleasure. Then he jerked his hips right off the chair. Not a moment later, he lost control and shot line after line of seed into Sophie’s mouth. Smoky bitterness coated Sophie’s tongue with each spurt of cum, but she welcomed and eagerly swallowed the unique, harsh taste of Lucien Cabot.

Sophie felt certain Lucien’s cock pulsed in her mouth forever, but eventually he pulled back, and his length slipped free.
Oh my
. She wiped cum from the edge of her lip.
What we just did together.

Just as Sophie had not given Lucien a chance to retreat when she’d dived in to pleasure him, this time Lucien did not give himself even a moment to slump in his seat to savor his release. He stood up quickly but carefully—Sophie saw him make a point to avoid knocking her over—and stuffed his spent penis back into his pants. Every rigid line that created his stunningly harsh yet beautiful face remained in place. He gathered himself back into an impeccable state so completely Sophie would never have believed he’d just had his cock sucked to the point of coming if she didn’t still taste his cum in her mouth as proof that he had.

She slumped, and her heart sank straight into her stomach, as Lucien said, “I think we’ve all had enough play for one night.” He glanced down at her for the briefest second, just enough to show her the cool disdain owning his gaze once more, and then looked to Magnus. “Once she gathers herself, take Miss Emerson back to her room.” Lucien then left without making eye contact or speaking to her again.

Sophie leaped up on automatic to chase after Lucien, but rather than running she stalled in place. She’d never met a man so confusing and maddening as Lucien Cabot. He seemed to revel in everything related to sex yet had no tolerance for anything that might be deemed intimate. He lured her into his world and took great pains to give her pleasure but then rejected reciprocation. His body had wanted that blowjob, and he’d finally let himself sink into accepting it, but his mind had clearly fought the act the whole way. Dropping into the chair, Sophie grimaced as her stomach suddenly churned with sick. Maybe she shouldn’t have pushed him into wanting her mouth on him the way she had. Was what she’d done any less an act of aggression than what a man might do when violating a woman? Sophie dropped deeper into the chair, her mind a jumble, more uncertain of her place in this castle now than ever.

“Don’t become discouraged,” Magnus said, his voice breaking Sophie out of her thoughts. She looked up to find the intimidating bald man dressed once more and pushing the large wooden X against a wall. Still on the mat, Cale lay face down, and Jade tended to the welts on his back, buttocks, and thighs.

Magnus added, “Lucien is angry at himself, not you. Or rather”—Magnus’s rare grin flashed mirth in his pretty eyes—“he’s angrier at himself than he is piqued at you.”

Sophie glanced at the vacated doorway. “I don’t understand him,” she admitted softly.

“You just made him do something he’s never done,” Magnus shared, “and he’s not happy about it.”

Sophie whipped her head around to find Magnus. “You cannot tell me he’s never had an orgasm before. I won’t believe you.”

“He never has in a setting like this.”

What the heck
? With a sigh, Sophie dropped her head in her hand. “Everything you people say to me makes me more confused, not less.”

After he finished putting the room to rights, Magnus came to Sophie and squatted next to where she sat. “Lucien will not like it, but at this point, I find myself caring less about his wishes in certain things, so I’m going to tell you something he would not want you to know. Lucien is a voyeur. From what I know through our friendship, he has been since he was a teenager. He likes to watch people—all kinds of people and pairings—have sex. It arouses him. He likes that it arouses him. He likes even more that he controls that excitement and doesn’t let it get the best of him. He has never once, in the nearly fifteen years I’ve known him, ever become so aroused and so taken by a moment, or by a person, that he let himself reach orgasm while in a setting such as this. Lucien reserves letting himself go—coming—for the privacy of one-on-one interaction. I assume, anyway. I don’t know for certain. I’ve never been with him sexually.” His focus still on her, Magnus snagged Sophie’s shirt off the floor and held it out to her as he finished. “Nobody who works at Ravenstoke has.”

Oh my Lord
. Heat burned straight through Sophie. She’d been so intent on Lucien leaving so coolly and then so entranced with Magnus sharing this private information with her, she hadn’t even realized she was still completely naked. As she scrambled into her shirt, she took a moment to reassess everything Magnus had told her. “So what happened tonight,” she finally said, “is either a very good thing, or a very bad thing. Lucien might shut me out completely now because of what I did.” Sophie dug her fist into the arm of the chair and shook her head. “Darn it. I shouldn’t have pushed him. I sensed that he was fighting the pleasure, but I so wanted him to have a taste of what he’d made me feel, I didn’t let myself think there was a deeper part of him psychologically that would not want that pleasure.”

Magnus unfurled her fist and drew her to stand. After setting her hand in the crook of his elbow, he led her past Jade still taking care of Cale and out of the room. “Don’t let the fact that Lucien walked away fool you. You are getting under his skin in a big way. He needs that.” Glancing down at her on their trek to her room, Magnus added, “More than you can know.”

“But I don’t even know him. Not really.” As soon as Sophie said that, her heart squeezed, rejecting the statement. Instead, she looked up at Magnus, and her stare narrowed. “Why do you want me to push my way into his world like this anyway?”

Deep amethyst stormed in Magnus’s eyes. “Lucien has been sad and angry for far too long. It’s time for it to stop. For whatever reason, I think you can make him care about something other than his pain.” Upon reaching Sophie’s door, Magnus leaned his shoulder against the wall, and pinpointed that bottomless stare on her. “I think, if given a chance, he could come to care about you enough to let go of all the other stuff eating at him.”

Sophie flashed back through all the intense, breathless moments in Lucien’s presence since arriving at Ravenstoke, and she shivered. “I don’t know about that.”

Flattening his lips, Magnus shook his head. “I think you do know. I think you can sense the power you have over him, and I think it scares you. It should. It means he could hurt you as a way to protect himself. He’s capable of it. Yet I ask you to take a chance anyway. I know you’ve only known him a few days, but he’s the kind of man where you know right away if you’re willing to be in it with him for the long haul. I think you’ve already made that decision.” Such confidence resonated in Magnus’s soft tone Sophie couldn’t even make herself shake her head to deny his claims. The man shrugged and then pushed his shoulder away from the wall to stand upright. “It’s up to you to figure out how to pull the trigger and get him to open up to you.”

A nagging little scratching inside Sophie’s head, one that had been with her for the duration of her time on Raven Island, would not let her be free. “I know Lucien lured me to this island for a reason,” she told Magnus, looking him right in the eyes. “I don’t know why he did, but I know in my gut it’s true. Maybe you’re just helping him achieve his goal by saying these things to me.”

“Maybe.” Not even a hint of argument or denial textured Magnus’s words. “Only you can decide if getting to Lucien’s heart is more important to you than whatever his motives might be.” As he stepped away, he added, “How big a risk are you willing to take?”

Sophie grabbed Magnus’s arm before he could get away. “Why won’t you just tell me why I’m here so I can make an educated choice?”

A gentle smile softened the rough edges of Magnus’s face. “As much as a very big piece of me might want to, I cannot break Lucien’s confidence. I won’t betray him in that way to help you.”

Letting him go, Sophie mumbled, “I never should have answered your call that day.”

The man had the nerve to outright laugh at her. “I don’t think you believe that. You want to be here. More, you love it. The choice is yours, though. Good night.” With a modified bow, Magnus retreated and left Sophie alone.

If she’d been eight years old or at all a person with a petulant nature, Sophie would have stomped her foot. As it was, she sighed, scrubbed her face, and let herself into her room.

Unable to overpower her body with sheer will, Sophie walked to the window. Tonight, Lucien had both curtains drawn. He’d blocked her out. Literally.

Grumbling as she moved to the bed, Sophie muttered, “Think, think, think.”

The problem was, in this situation, Sophie wasn’t entirely sure thinking would send her on the path to the right answer. To get through to a man like Lucien, she understood she would have to surrender completely to her feelings. She immediately shivered where she sat.
I don’t know if I can.

With a moan, Sophie covered her eyes and fell back into bed.

Chapter Ten

“Thank you for your fast work, Giles.” Lucien spoke on the phone to one of the investigators he’d hired to track down the history of Raven Island. “I’ll tell Miss Emerson the good news. Good-bye.”

As Lucien ended the call, none of the upbeat tone he’d put in his conversation with Giles Newcastle resonated in his gut. A thudding heaviness sat there, as it had since leaving Sophie in the St. Andrew’s cross room the previous night. He’d spent much of the night berating himself for sitting there and allowing her to put her mouth on him for long enough to make him come.
Who are you kidding, asshole
? Lucien snarled in the privacy of his study.
You didn’t let her do anything. She took, and you could not deny yourself the pleasure of her performing such a carnal, intimate act
. For Lucien, right now, the intimacy he’d craved in that moment put him in far more trouble than the primal element of Sophie’s sweet mouth wrapped around his cock.

She’d let him inside her ass too, for Christ’s sake, an erogenous zone as clearly untried for her as Lucien knew it was for himself. Shit, for just a split second, the honest need to roll over and offer her his hole in return for the trust she’d given had consumed him—and he’d never offered that vulnerability to another soul. Ever.

With a groan, Lucien bolted out of his seat and began prowling the room, eager to find a way to set himself back on the right path. He could not let himself care about Sophie and her naive yet bold ways; if he did, he would never be able to go through with the final series of events he’d already set in motion by inviting her to Raven Island.
Think about Josh
. That damn sickening pang in Lucien’s chest that never went away when his brother popped into his thoughts hit Lucien hard enough to make him stumble.
Remember who put him in that deathbed and that justice has not yet been done.

Lucien looked up, caught the savageness of his reflection in the window, and tore his gaze away. Rarely did he look at himself anymore. His conscience still beat with enough life that guilt constantly ate at him these days—just not enough to put a halt to his plan. Lucien would use the lapse of control he’d experienced last night to his advantage. Magnus had already shared that Lucien’s leaving so abruptly had stirred Sophie’s curiosity even more. Lucien only had to tease and direct that interest, let that simmer into sympathy during the course of the day, and he would have her.

Sophie would come to him, and Lucien would have the material to complete his revenge.

* * * *

Pausing in the hallway to Lucien’s study, Sophie silently psyched herself up to look Lucien in the eyes, be direct with him, and invite him to eat a late lunch with her. Somewhere in the vicinity very near to her heart, Sophie ached to get to know the man better, to be someone he could trust and confide in, even though she couldn’t understand why. As Magnus had so simply stated when walking her to her room last night, Lucien was a man a person decided about very quickly. Somewhere through a sleepless night, wherein Sophie had relived every feathery light or aggressively bold touch Lucien had delivered to her body, she’d made the choice to obliterate the lines of her professionalism and put herself completely into Lucien’s world.
Eventually, hopefully, in his heart
. Deep down, with a sense of purpose and certainty that made her very bones and muscles hurt in a way they never had with any other man, Sophie accepted she wanted to know Lucien’s soul. She wanted him to offer that secret part of himself freely, a thousand times more than his body.