Creed (The Marquette Family Book One) (11 page)

Shada didn’t think before she acted. One minute she stood beside the bed, holding Marisa’s hand. The next she cracked Damen in the jaw, and she almost fell on the floor at the pain.

“Shada!” Creed grabbed her and dragged her into his arms.

Damen didn’t so much as stumble backward. His head snapped away a couple of inches, and he raised a hand to his mouth, eyes wide with shock.

Shada cradled her hand in her lap while trying to get out of Creed’s arms.

“Damn it, stay still and let me look at your hand,” he growled.

“I don’t need your help.” She tried to jerk away, but he wouldn’t be put off. He grabbed her wrist, making the pain worse.

“Move your fingers,” he commanded.

“Back off, Creed. I need to have a conversation with your brother.”

“You’ve said everything with your fists, and you might have broken your hand.”

“Please, I didn’t hit him that hard.”

“Shada?” came a soft call, and they both froze.

Marisa had awakened, and Shada wiggled away from Creed to get to her bedside. She brushed her sister’s hair from her face. “Sis, what happened? Are you okay?”

Marisa gave a sheepish smile. “I think I overdid it.”

“Really?” Shada bit off the sarcasm the best she could. “It’s not
your
fault.”

Before Marisa could defend the bastard she’d gone out with, a doctor walked into the room. “Well, look what we have here, a family of loved ones. That’s always nice, but we have a two visitor limit, and Ms. Cobalt needs to rest.”

Shada stared at Damen. “Is she going to be okay, doctor?”

“I believe so, with rest,” he assured her. “We’ve been informed of her condition, and the best Ms. Cobalt can do at this time is take her prescribed medicines, get plenty of rest, and follow-up with her GP.” He waggled a finger at Marisa. “I’m sure after so long, you’re familiar with how far to take your activities. Just take it easy, and you’ll be fine.”

Shada sighed in relief. “Will she stay the night?”

“She can be moved to a room for the night, but it isn’t necessary. Whatever you prefer. Just make sure she rests at home, at least a few days of very light activity.”

The doctor left with the intention of ordering release papers since Marisa insisted on going home.

Shada gave Creed a pointed look, and he dragged his brother from the room. Shada sat down beside her sister and kissed her cheek.

“What were you thinking?” Shada asked.

Marisa smiled, unrepentant. She seemed so much frailer than usual, but it could have been a figment of Shada’s imagination. Marisa was pale, with little color even in her usually rosy lips. “I had so much fun with Damen.”

“He had you bowling!”

“I didn’t lift any balls.”

“Well, what was the point, then?”

Marisa shrugged. “Just watching him do it for the both of us. He sucks. Bad.”

Despite herself, Shada chuckled, but her fear returned. She bundled Marisa up and let Creed take them both home. When Damen tried to speak to her at their apartment door, she slammed it in his face.

Marisa didn’t complain. In fact, she stayed silent, and Shada knew she was beat. Shada put her to bed with the intention of helping her to shower the next morning. All night, she sat at Marisa’s bedside and watched her in between nodding off herself. Over the next few days, she took off from work to care for her.

Chapter Nine

Shada slammed a pot on the stove and then forgot what the heck she intended to do with it. She stomped to the larder and wrenched the door open, as if that would hurt anyone. The vast store of food lay before her, but for the first time, nothing appealed. She went in anyway and grabbed random items. Putting them on the counter, she added eggs, peppers, and steak. She cracked the eggs into a bowl and crumbled half the shells in as well.

“Damn it!” she screamed and threw the bowl into the sink. Good thing the bowl is made of stainless steel, she thought after the fact. Another try produced the same effect, and the clank of metal to metal did nothing to calm her rage.

“Hey!”

Shada scowled at Creed, not having realized he was there. She had hoped, with it being so late, no one would be around, and she could work out her frustrations alone. “Why are you here?” she demanded.

He strode over to her and removed the tenth egg from her fingers. “I work here, remember? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just leave me alone.”

“I can’t do that.” He stepped closer. Her desire stirred, but it pissed her off, and she retreated. He followed and kissed her lips. A moan hovered in her throat, but she swallowed it. Somehow she managed to resist and turned her head. When she raised a hand to smack his face, he caught her wrist. She tried with the other hand, and he caught that one to jerk her against him. “You’ve done enough.”

“What’s that’s supposed to mean?” She pulled on his hold. “Let me go, Creed.”

“Not until you calm down.”

“Fuck you.”

He released her wrists and grabbed her shoulders to shake her. She fought as hard as she could, thrusting at his chest, beating against it like some lame little damsel from a romance. The more she did—and failed—the more her temper soared. Only exhaustion made her stop fighting him, and she panted, arms aching at her side.

“Better?” he said, backing up.

She said nothing.

He touched her hair, and she spun away to look at the royal mess she had made of the kitchen. Still, she made no move to clean it up just yet. Her emotions were too raw.

“She’s fine, Shada,” he said. “You told me so yourself this morning.”

“I know.”

“She’s been sleeping most of the time for a few days now, and you told me today was the first time she seemed back to normal.”

“Normal.” Her laugh sounded more like a sob. “Everything you’re saying is true. Her doctor even said she’s okay, well, as much as can be expected.”

“Then you need to unwind.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.”

She cut her eyes over at him. “Are you telling me I need a drink?”

He didn’t answer but turned and headed down the hall to his office. She followed, and he let her in and shut the door behind them.

“Creed?”

“I don’t drink.”

“You don’t?” She frowned, trying to recall if during any of the times they had all celebrated together she had seen him with a glass of wine. She couldn’t remember. “Because of your dad?”

He shrugged. “Come here, Shada.”

“Your brothers both drink.”

He stood near his desk and held out his hand. “Now.”

She wandered over to him, and he took her hand and whipped her around until she stumbled. He smacked her ass hard, and she cried out, loving it. The dress she had worn was thrust up to her waist, and he shredded her panties just as he had done before. She stared at them as they fluttered in pieces to the floor. Creed smacked her now-bare ass again, and the sting brought tears to her eyes. He stroked her skin there and squeezed. She leaned on the desk for support.

He dropped to his knees behind her and kissed one cheek. “If you want to calm down, I’ll help you,” he said.

Calm down? He drove her to the brink of an orgasm with a few kisses and a spanking. How was that calming her? Yet his actions had eased a little of the frustration. If they continued, she might find release—emotionally and physically.

“Now you ask me?” she teased. “After you’ve destroyed my panties? I need to bill you for all my clothes.”

“I’ll give you whatever you want.”

She bit her lip. He was serious, the way he looked up at her. She might have been higher than him at that moment, but she sensed his strength and control. Even from that position, he held all the cards.

Shada forced her gaze from his and peered at the window. Heavy curtains kept anyone who might be passing in the alley from seeing in. Out in the restaurant, all lay in silence, now that she’d stopped slamming pots and pans.

“I’m not looking to be any man’s mistress.”

Creed bumped the insides of her legs, and she spread them wider. He ran a hand over her dripping pussy, up past it to her belly, and down again to cup her mound. A pulse started in her core. She swallowed.

“You already belong to me, and we both know it.”

She turned to face him and started to walk away. He stood and caught her around the waist, spun her to face the desk, and cornered her with his large frame. A hand on either side of her hips trapped her even more, and she licked her lips. Her heart raced, and the blood pulsing in her ears made it hard to hear.

Creed reached around and raised her chin with one finger. He kissed her lips, parted them with the tip of his tongue, and dipped inside for an instant. When he drew away, she almost whined in disappointment.

Creed tapped a finger on her mouth. “These lips are mine.” He grazed her pussy with two fingers. “This pussy is mine.” He placed a hand across the front of her hips to protect her from the desk and smacked her ass. She bumped against his arm, whimpered, and grabbed onto him for support. “This ass is mine.”

She said nothing. Emotion bubbled up inside, and her pussy clenched so much with need she couldn’t find words to speak.

“Now, you can say our word, but you damn sure better say it fast, Shada. Because when I open my pants, I’m going to put my dick in you.”

“R-right here?” She never thought he could take her to greater heights than he had the night they’d had sex for the first time.

He threaded his fingers into her pussy and stroked in and out. She was so wet, her juices coated his digits, and she moaned, arching her back and pressing her ass into his crotch.

“Do you want to tell me no, baby?”

How could anyone tell him no? “I…no…”

He pushed his fingers inside her and left them there, his palm flat on her mound. “No is not our word, Shada. What’s our word?”

She forgot.

“Shada?” The crackle of a condom packet sounded in the room. She felt his movements as he raised a hand to tear it open with his teeth. Her pussy pulsed around his fingers, but he didn’t move them. He kept them buried deep inside her, and she couldn’t help thinking about what she would feel next. His cock, all thick and hard, would soon replace his hand. She wanted it bad. She wanted him to spank her some more and, when he fucked her, to pump until her pussy ached.

Dragon
. The word popped into her head. She bit her tongue, refusing to utter the word. Creed’s hand abandoned her, and she could have wept. “No,” she whispered.

The condom snapped into place, and he held her hip with one hand. The other, he used to guide the tip of his shaft to her opening. Shada went up onto her toes and arched until her ass cheeks spread. Creed pierced her moist entrance and groaned. He slid in an inch at a time, driving her crazy.

“All of it,” she begged. “Give it to me, Creed.”

“You’ll get it when I say, not before.”

She pushed back on him, but he pressed her forward, pinning her against the desk. He thrust aside papers and pens, and the rest of the items on his desk tumbled to the floor. With a large hand in the center of her back, he forced her to lie on the wooden surface. Her breasts flattened and her nipples tight, she shut her eyes and waited.

Creed rewarded her for rushing him with a spanking. She curled her fingers around the edge of the desk as an orgasm began to build. The
thwack
of his palm meeting her flesh sent desire higher.

“Creed,” she whispered.

He massaged her ass cheeks and pulled them wide. Gently, his cock wove between her folds, and he sank deep into her pussy. She shook from head to toe. With her ass still stinging from the spanking, Creed began pumping into her. He moved slow and easy at first, but almost right away, he picked up the pace. Her lover knew what they both enjoyed.

“Do you want it faster, baby?” he asked.

“Yes!”

“Do you need my cock?”

“Yes, please,” she begged.

“Raise your knee.”

She placed a hand at her side to brace herself and then raised one knee onto the desk. Creed thrust harder. She screamed in delight. He pounded deeper. Her core muscles contracted, driving her higher and higher. Surely, she couldn’t get any wetter than she already was, and yet her body felt as if it would combust any second. Creed leaned over her and reached with one hand to the opposite side of the desk. He used the leverage to pound harder. She cried out his name. Their bodies slapped together again and again, the noises they made adding to the pleasure. Ecstasy took her mind and made it impossible to think. All she could do was feel him, love how he ravaged her pussy and claimed it as his own.

“Play with your clit,” he ordered and pulled her back a little so she could reach the bud. While he kept up his rhythm, Shada pinched her clit between her thumb and forefinger. She gave it a tug and rubbed over the surface. An orgasm roared through her body. She called out to him. He didn’t slow down but encouraged her to do it again. In between small pauses, during which she was too sensitive to touch, she brought herself to orgasm several times. At last, Creed thrust into her and held himself in to the hilt. He muttered something, and then she felt the pulse. He had come.

After a moment to catch his breath, Creed pulled out. He helped her to rise and drew her into his arms, facing him. Shada welcomed his tongue into her mouth and his strong embrace. “You’re calmer now, aren’t you?”

“I might be,” she joked.

He brushed a hand over her thigh, and she wondered what condition her dress lay in. The last time he had ruined her clothes, she’d gone home in some oversized ones of his. She’d taken her only change of clothes home to wash and had forgotten to bring them back today.

“Who’s here?” came a booming voice down the hall.

Shada and Creed froze. Fear tightened her belly. For some reason, Rene had showed up at the restaurant. Oh hell, she didn’t want him to see her in the state she was in, and there wasn’t a doubt in her mind the office smelled like sex.

Creed held up a finger to her lips and then darted to the door. He locked it and shut off the lights. The office was plunged into total darkness.