A Touch of Autumn (7 page)

Relief shot through Sinead as the princess nodded her agreement.  Andy helped her to her feet, before taking her mouth in a lingering kiss. Samara swayed when he released her and Andy gave a low laugh.

“Good girl. Now, go to your room and wait for me, I need to fix things with my former mistress.”

Samara turned to do his bidding without protest and Sinead caught a glimpse of a tanned behind as she slipped into the bedroom.

Niall stood up and reached for his loincloth.  Relief was etched on his face.  He fastened his clothing in place and rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand.  “Remind me to give you a raise.”

“On top of the money you owe me already?” Andy laughed.  “We should have more than enough evidence to save Killy by now. I’ll let you see yourselves out.  Don’t wait up.”

He winked and then followed Samara to the bedroom.

Sinead stared in bewilderment after him. “What just happened?”

Niall shook his head and propelled Sinead towards the door. “I just lost a thousand euro bet. The bastard told me earlier that Samara was a sub and I didn’t believe him.”

Sinead was nearly pulled off her feet as Niall hustled her back to their room. What had got into him that he was marching along so fast she was in danger of toppling off her heels? And she could do heels.

No sooner had the door slammed behind them than he whirled around. “Give me the camera.”

She blinked at the tone of his voice. He didn’t sound like the Niall she knew. She unclipped the earrings and handed them over, admiring again the way Niall had managed to disguise a miniature camera as part of the jewelry.

He snatched them out of her hand and switched on the Bluetooth toggle. He opened his laptop and for endless moments he examined it carefully, before taking a relieved breath. “You got it, you clever girl.”

Sinead peered over his shoulder at the pictures. Yes, Samara was very obviously naked and cavorting with two muscular men. The pictures of the princess with Andy were interesting, it was the ones of her with Niall that made her clench her teeth over a jealous rant.

Jealous? What was going on? She couldn’t be falling in love with Niall Moore. She knew he was only there because he was being paid to recover the Fire of Autumn. Despite the way he made her feel, it would be incredibly stupid of her to read anything into it beyond that.

But the churning in her gut when she looked at the photo of Niall caressing Samara told her that she had passed stupid and was heading for complete disaster.

She forced herself to sound casual. “So what now?”

Niall smiled grimly. “Samara will get copies of these under her door, along with a note telling her that if she makes any move against
Killy, her husband will get a full set of these photos. And the best ones will go to the gutter press, so that she’ll be plastered all over the front pages.”

“She’s a lot more famous than
Killy”, Sinead said. “The newspapers will go crazy.”

“And her husband won’t be able to ignore them. That will be the end of her
travelling around Europe alone.”

Niall’s fingers were a blur as he typed in a series of rapid instructions into the laptop. He closed the lid with a snap. Pleased that the job was finally done, he bent his head and kissed her roughly.

Eager to respond, Sinead was startled when he pulled away and said, “Hold that thought.”

Niall headed for the bathroom, tearing off the loincloth as he went. “I need to wash Samara off my skin.” The door of the bathroom slammed behind him.

She stared at the closed door for a moment, stunned. So he hadn’t been happy to play with the kinky princess after all? Her heart lifted. Niall didn’t want Samara. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who was doing something stupid.

She had spent the entire weekend pretending to be a
Domme, but in private, she had the spine of a jellyfish. Sweet little Sinead O’Sullivan didn’t do kinky. In fact, she didn’t do much of anything.  When her friends back in London had teased and called her ‘almost a virgin’ she had laughed along with them, pretending that their words didn’t sting.

But they were right.

Before she met Niall, it had been more than a year since she had taken a lover and that hadn’t turned out very well. Now she was running out of time.  If she didn’t find her sister and get the jewel back soon, she could be in prison by Christmas and it would be years before she got out.

It was their last night at the Chateau and she might not have the courage or the opportunity to do this again.

The sound of the shower running was a counterpart to her tumbling thoughts. The closed door said that Niall wanted privacy. But a tiny voice inside urged her to act out her fantasies.  Tonight, she had the hottest guy on the planet in her bedroom and he had chosen her instead of an exotic princess. 

She had seen Andy in action, and had been stunned by his confidence with Samara and the unerring sense of self-belief that radiated from him.  He had recognised the princess for what she really was and knew exactly what she needed. Was that what it meant to be a Dom for real?

Sinead never made the first move. She didn’t have a lot of experience with men, and what she had was always with the man taking the lead. What would it be like to be the seducer rather than be seduced? To have confidence that her sexual demands would be met, instead of always being afraid of rejection?

There was only one way to find out. Niall could always tell her to go away. He could reject her, but right now, this complex and complicated man wanted her and he was worth the risk.

She took a breath and headed for the bathroom. On the way, she gave a thought to her corset, which she couldn’t take off on her own. Too bad, she’d worry about that later.

The bathroom was white with steam, but she could still see Niall’s magnificent body. The man truly was built like a Viking with a wide chest, strong thighs and an ass that put Andy’s to shame. He was scrubbing hard, but stopped when she opened the door.

“I’ll be out in a while,” he said sharply.

“No need. I’ll join you.” She was surprised at how husky her voice sounded. Now that she was here, her doubts were gone. She could do this.

“No, I…” Niall started to protest, but she wasn’t going to let him give orders.  Tonight, Sinead O’Sullivan was in charge.

“Later.” She moved into the shower, still wearing her corset. She slid her hands up his chest. His skin was pink, and she didn’t think it was just from the heat of the water. “This body belongs to me. You do not have my permission to damage it.”

His narrow-eyed stare was a challenge, but Sinead wasn’t going to back down. She took the
loofah from his hand and tossed it behind her. It was too rough for what she had in mind. Instead, she picked up a large natural sponge and swiped it gently over his shoulders.

Niall’s eyes never left hers, but he allowed her to wash him. She was just as determined as he was to wash the princess off him. “Turn around,” she ordered and smiled when he obeyed her without further protest.

She washed his back, humming in approval at the male perfection of his ass. She abandoned the sponge to smooth her hands over it. His skin was so soft, a contrast to the hard muscle underneath. She carefully avoided the bruises and scrapes on his back.

He tensed under her touch. Time to bring out the big guns. She moved around to face him and wasn’t surprised to see his erection standing tall and proud, and pointing directly at her.

“Pleased to see me?” she teased as she slid her hands along his length slowly. 

He reached for her and she tapped his hand.  “Did I give you permission to touch me?” 

She stroked the velvety skin again, making tiny circles around the tip with her thumb. Niall jerked in response. “Sinead,” he said hoarsely.

She didn’t give him a chance to voice some silly objection. Instead, she slid to her knees in front of him.

“Hmm, I hadn’t realized I was hungry until now,” she said, taking the head of his cock into her mouth. It was hot and wet, smelling faintly of lemon-scented shower gel. She sucked hard, and he reacted with an uncontrolled jerk of his hips.

Sinead released him and gave him her sternest look.  “If you move again, I’ll stop. Is that clear?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed and Sinead fought back a smile. Poor Niall, he didn’t know what to do. She was going to drive him crazy.

Kneeling before him like this, half his size and dainty beside the powerful naked Viking, she looked submissive. But she was drunk on her own power. She could feel him quiver and tremble as she licked and kissed her way along his penis. Her hands on his balls caused his legs to stiffen. He braced himself against the wall of the shower, but even as he shuddered at her ministrations, he sheltered her from the hot spray.

This was a man who would always be responsible. No matter how hard she pushed him, he would not hurt her.

That knowledge gave her the freedom to do whatever she wanted, and what she wanted was to do was drive him out of his mind. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the taste and texture of his penis, the soft skin and the delicate musky
flavour that was so uniquely Niall. She could feel the urgent throb of his pulse on her tongue.

She ran her hands over his tightly clenched thighs, enjoying the brawny strength that was helpless while she worked.

She sucked harder, trying to take more of his penis into her mouth, trying to swallow it whole. An aborted gag put an end to that idea, but she enclosed the head of his cock in her mouth and used her hands to caress the base of it in a smooth twisting motion.

It was working. Niall panted, gasping, and his hand clenched in her hair. Not enough to hurt, just enough to remind her that she wasn’t going to have it all her way. She didn’t care. Sinead sucked again,
savouring the taste of the drop of pre-cum, and luxuriating in his moans.

Oh yeah, Wench one, Viking nil.

She dug her nails into the back of his thighs and sucked harder. He tried to pull back, to control himself, but she wasn’t allowing that. She increased the pressure of her tongue and sucked again, and was rewarded with a series of jerks and a hot flood.

She swallowed the salty liquid, and kept sucking gently, feeling him soften in her mouth.  The wetness between her thighs told its own story. But even more, she felt an incredible sense of connection.  She had done it.  Seduced him.  Taken charge and he had let her. 

Reluctantly, she allowed him to withdraw and looked up at him.

His eyes were silver in the muted light of the bathroom. “Sinead,” he said, his voice ragged.

She shied away from the emotion in his eyes. Later, she would deal with it. When she was not shaking almost as hard as Niall was. She took a breath. “My corset is ruined, you know. I’ll have to be cut out of it.”

Niall turned off the water and wrapped a towel around her. “I’ll take care of that. Then I’ll take care of you.” The hint of threat in his voice made her quiver.

She couldn’t wait.

Niall locked his knees to keep his legs from shaking. He couldn’t believe the way this woman could turn him inside out. When this was all over, he was determined to hold onto her, one way or another. To hell with the secrets she was keeping and the lies she was telling. She was his.

Now to make sure she knew it.

He scrubbed a towel over himself and tucked it around his hips, before he led Sinead into the bedroom and over to the dressing table. He picked up a small pair of scissors, intended for cutting nails, and shrugged. They would cut wet cord just as well.

He turned her so that she could see both of them in the mirror, then took off her towel and proceeded to cut the knotted and tangled cords of her corset. At each snip, it loosened a little more, gradually revealing the wet shift beneath. The fabric had become transparent in the shower, and Niall could see red marks on her skin from the tight laces.

As soon as it was open, Niall dropped the corset on the floor and whipped the sopping shift off, over Sinead’s head. He held her by the hips while he kissed the marks left on her pale skin by the bones of the corset. She wiggled against him, and he smelled her arousal.

“Please Niall,” she said, her voice a throaty gasp.

Good, he wanted her aroused and needy. He loved driving her out of her mind, and after that interlude in the shower, he had a burning desire to remind her who was in charge. She had been having way too much fun playing
Domme.

He turned her around and swooped down on her mouth, kissing her in a masterful display of dominance. He wanted to brand her.

Sinead put her arms around his neck and hung on, allowing her head to fall back so that he could have free access to her mouth. She was warm and pliable and exciting.

He deepened the kiss, continuing until she was breathless.

When he lifted his head, she was trembling in his arms. She opened dazed blue eyes, and managed to form words. “If you don’t fuck me in the next two minutes, I’m going to kill you.”

He didn’t need the words. The smell of hot woman had triggered something primal in him.

Niall picked her up and carried her to the bed. “We’re going to do it on a bed?” she asked. “How vanilla.”

He pretended to ignore the teasing. “Yep, that’s me. Vanilla.”

He settled himself on his side on the bed and tucked her into the curve of his body. He loved feeling her softness against his hardness and seeing the contrast between his tanned skin and her milk paleness. In this position, he had free access to her breasts and her pretty pussy.

Sinead snuggled against him. “This is
cosy.” Then she yelped as he lifted her leg and pulled it back over his hip. Now she was stretched out, totally open to him. “Hey!”

He trailed his hand down her thigh, carefully avoiding her wet core.

She moaned and twisted, trying to get his fingers where she needed them. Niall held her still and continued to torment her. He shifted and kissed her neck, nibbling his way up to her ear to bite it.

“Oh!” She stiffened, and her breath caught. Oh yeah, he had her. Now he could drive her out of her mind.

Time slipped away as Niall tormented Sinead with a carefully calculated touch that skated along her thighs, over her stomach, grazed her breast and neck. For as long as he could, he drove her mad. She twisted and writhed, desperate to have him touch her where she needed it, but she was held open to his will. He ignored her curses and demands that he touch her, and was glad she could not see the smile on his face.