Driven Wild (16 page)

While she was at work, trying to distract herself from the worries, he returned home and added extra security measures to the house: extra bolts on the downstairs windows and a brighter porch light overlooking the driveway. When she finished work, instead of Leah walking to the car, Rick came into the foyer and escorted her to the vehicle.

In the evening, they both picked at their food, made small talk, and then Rick would pace about the house, peering out of windows into the dusk. She told him to stop, that it unnerved her to see him so agitated.

Taking her to bed, Rick made intense passionate love to her, making her feel every inch of him inside her and driving out her fears, replacing them with his kisses and tender touches. No spanking or teasing her, he bound his body to hers with nothing more than his limbs and lips.

The heat of his body kept her awake into the night. He refused to let go of her even in his sleep. What distressed her the most were his dreams. The mutterings, the calling out, and the way his lungs wheezed through the night.

Rick was a troubled man.

Chapter Eleven

Could he leave her? Should he? Round and round he batted the idea. He could run, but would they leave her alone if he left her behind? He doubted it. She was a weapon to use against him and without round-the-clock protection, she was vulnerable. The other option was to take him with her. To where?

Leah had suggested going to Malta, to find his mother.

Rick had struggled to hold back his emotions as he finally confessed he hadn’t seen his mother in ten years, and given the infrequency of his visits over the years, he doubted he would recognise her.

“Your dad?”

Again, he had stumbled over his words. “He’s well respected, in a top ministry job. If I turn up, trying to hide from the mob, it would damage his career terribly.”

“But you’re his son!”

“He brought me up, Leah, but we’re not close. He doesn’t owe me anything, nor I him. It’s just the way it is.”

It hadn’t stopped raining since Sunday. Unseasonable weather and it only added to his woes. Their relationship was starting to show the strain. At the end of next week, her driving ban would be lifted. She had no need of him, yet he felt responsible for her continuing safety. The best solution crept into his mind one evening. She would have to go to her mother in Northern Italy until Rick could decide his own fate. Gregor would protect her. He had wealth and influence in his own region.

Leah’s promise to Rick would be put to the test; he was determined that she should do as he would ask. His own promise would be to come back and find her. One day.

Tomorrow, Friday, he would tell her after work. Then on Saturday, he would take her to the airport, put her on a plane to Milan and then run, as far away from her as he could.

* * *

Leah waited in the foyer of Littlewoods. A commercial cathedral, encased in white stone, rivalling the cathedrals erected in the heart of the city—during the war the vast interior spaces had been used to construct barrage balloons, such was its imposing scale. She felt safe at work, protected behind walls and barriers. She watched Rick approach the doors, beckoning her to join him, and together they walked back to the parked car.

Rick said nothing, uncommunicative and tetchy in his manners; he didn’t offer his hand to her and she could see pensive lines drawn on his face. Over the months, she had learnt to read his features and begun to interpret their meaning: he had something on his mind, something new, she suspected.

Once in the car, he deflected any potential questions she might have by immediately asking about her day at work. She was tempted to ask directly what troubled him, but she took his offered bait of a neutral topic and chatted quietly about inconsequential matters. As they ran out of things to say, an uncomfortable silence filled the car. She wondered if they should escape for the weekend. A couple of days in a country hotel, somewhere to talk and plan their future.

He drove cautiously, a slow pace, never too close to the car in front and his eyes on the mirrors constantly. Reaching home, she opened the front door, and Rick brushed by her quickly, checking for intruders, keeping her behind his back. His bodyguard demeanour had been activated since Sunday and it was a side of Rick she hadn’t seen so blatantly displayed. To some extent it comforted her, but it also scared her, knowing he considered the threat to her, to them both, to be exceptionally serious.

Dropping her handbag on the coffee table, she eased out of her raincoat. Heavy showers plagued the summer and signalled a typical decline in the English weather. Rick stopped her as she made to go into the kitchen to make tea. His fingers curled about her upper arm, halting her on the threshold of the door and walking her back into the room.

“We need to talk,” he said quietly.

“Yes, I agree,” she said keenly. Opening her mouth to make her suggestion about a weekend away, he jumped in before she could say another word.

“I want you to go to your mother, in Italy.”

Leah’s mouth hung open; beneath her tightening throat, her heart jumped. Finding her voice, she spoke stridently. “No!”

“Tomorrow, I’m putting you on a plane down to London, then a connecting flight to Milan.” He continued to speak with a calm authority, which did nothing but infuriate the increasingly vexed Leah.

“Absolutely not!”

“Leah, it is for the best…”

“I will not bloody go. You can’t fucking make me!” She stamped her foot down in anger. Seeing his disgruntled reaction, she altered the tone of her voice, lessening the harshness. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Rick’s eyes closed, as if she had caused him great pain. “I can’t come with you, that’s the point. Your mother and Gregor, they can take care of you. Look after you. I can’t any longer, Leah. It’s me that has brought this upon you. Me. I’m the one they’re after; they would follow me. With you gone, I can flee, hide and they will give up. Leave.” His last few words were spoken somewhat lamely, thought Leah, said more out of hope than belief. It didn’t detract from her determination to defy him.

“I am not going, Rick. That’s it. I won’t be parted from you again. Not after everything, not after the last six months. You won’t leave me, you can’t…” Her voice broke, tumbled apart and she heaved, her shoulders shaking as tears cascaded down her cheeks.

“Leah, don’t make this any harder than it is,” said Rick, his eyes shining brightly. “I don’t want to do this—”

“Then don’t. Please, please, don’t leave me again.” Leah reached out, touching a lapel of his jacket; he flinched slightly as if she had hurt him. “I can’t cope without you. I feel safe with you. I managed last time, when you left, because I still had Daddy. Mum, she doesn’t understand me. It doesn’t make any difference to me if I’m here or there, it is you who looks after me.”

“Leah, she’s your mother. Of course she will take care of you.”

Leah shook her head. “We’ve just begun, you and I… it can’t end, not after…” Her voice trailed away. “Please.” She said it one more time, then she tilted her head up to his anguished face, her lips drawn into an offering. Once before, when he had told her of his plan to leave, she had given him a kiss and he had held back, left it incomplete. This time, she prayed he would not hold back or stop.

Rick paused, hovering above her mouth, his breathing audible and rapid. “Leah,” he sighed softly.

His lips practically smashed into her own, no tender planting or delicate puckering, he collided with her and at the same time, pulled her into a tighter embrace. The eager panting on her part came immediately, the frantic need to be close and to feel his flesh and warmth. Leah pulled at the lapel of his jacket, dragging it down off his shoulder, while Rick continued to smother her with kisses.

Firmer hands gripped her; she recognised he was taking control, shifting her body and moving his hands about her. His mouth descended, finding her neck, he sucked hard on her flesh; it would leave a mark. His love bite, something to see in the mirror and touch.

“I can’t stop,” he muttered under his breath.

“Then don’t,” she replied between kisses.

It was a dress of her own creation, lovingly made, and she cared not one bit when he tore it off her. The seams gave, the buttons popped and flew away. Her own hands fumbled with his fly, desperately seeking his bulging cock and only when she had it between her fingers did she calm. She sank to her knees, the remnants of her dress floating down and away, leaving her in her underwear at his feet.

Leah sucked as hard as she could, letting him fill her mouth. Releasing his cock, she gasped for air, curled her tongue about his soft balls, and held them in her mouth. Rick, above and swaying slightly, moaned. His fingers ensnared the strands of her hair. Bunching it up into a makeshift bun, he began to direct her. She lowered her mouth onto him and for the first time, she could take him whole.

Feeling the tip of his cock plunge down her throat, she opened up wide for him and below, her clitoris almost fired off its first orgasm. She didn’t care if she came or not; she wanted him to take his pleasure in her. Her head bobbed up and down, coiling her tongue about his velvety surface.

“Not like this,” he croaked.

Rick lifted Leah’s head off him; snatching her up under the arms, he backed her towards the long sofa, pushing her back down onto it. She watched, silently mesmerised as he stripped naked. His erection sprung out, almost resting against his belly, such was its firmness. Her own remaining clothes he spirited away with a few brisk actions of his strong fingers, the knickers torn away like the dress.

He steadied his hands on either side of her head, smiled at her flushed face, and nudged her legs apart. He didn’t check her readiness, he didn’t need to. She knew she was gushing and open for him. With one firm swoop, he thrust and climbed deep inside her, propelling her a few inches up the sofa. Taking each of her wrists in his hands, he held them above her head and began to rise and fall, dipping his cock back and forth.

She relished the initial slow pace. It would change soon; she knew his preferences. Drawing up her knees, she draped her legs around him, hugging his body closer. Their lips met again, a leisurely kiss as he delved inside her mouth with his tongue, rhythmically intruding in time to the thrusts of his cock.

The speed changed, shifting up a gear; he quickened and began to pound into her, letting go of her mouth so he could focus on his need for air in his lungs. Her hands clutched his buttocks, helping him to slam into her deeper and she didn’t mind the way his cock hit her inner belly. The discomfort she could tolerate, it made her feel alive.

They came together, coordinated by his subtle words of encouragement, “Wait, wait,” and then he commanded her with a growling, “Now!”

They shuddered together, intertwined and sweaty, letting their orgasms linger for as long as possible.

Rick flopped down onto her belly, his weight momentarily crushing her breasts. Aware of the pressure on her, he flipped over, taking her with him, so he lay on his back and Leah rested on top.

She could hear his thumping heartbeats clearly and the wheeze in his lungs.

“I’m not going.”

* * *

Rick cursed under his breath. He had let her seduce him, and he understood why and what she hoped to achieve by letting him take his pleasure in her. Leah, quite naturally, was desperate for him to change his mind. He didn’t doubt the intensity, the passion of their love-making, it never crossed his mind it wasn’t genuine, but it was borne out of that desperation to bind him to her.

A hand wandered down her back and came to a smooth buttock, a familiar piece of her flesh, the first he had ever touched, nearly four years ago. The weight of his palm rested on it, his fingers spread out and he slowly began to squeeze the soft cheek. Leah groaned, shifting a fraction on his chest. Her own fingers curled about his chest hair, anchoring her body to his further.

Rick tightened his grip on her, grasping her until his fingers must have been crushing her flesh.

Leah went rigid on his body, her lustful little moan ended and was replaced with a gasp.

“Are you going to spank me for refusing your request? For being defiant?” she asked slowly, her head still firmly planted on his chest, but her breaths had quickened with his actions. He sensed her anger rising—it was understandable.

Could he spank her? He would have to toss her over his lap, hold her down, lecture her, warn her about the perils, paint a ghastly picture of possible torture, just like the one he had witnessed in Sicily, something to scare her. He would have to spank her hard, many severe smacks to make his point, and it would have to be especially painful to break her resolve.

The more he composed the picture in his mind, the more he knew it was wrong and unfair. Placing her life in danger was entirely his fault. He had embroiled himself with criminals, ignored the warning signs until it was too late, left Sicily abruptly with no clear plan, and returned to Liverpool, bringing with him his past and his foes. None of it was due to Leah, her life, her choices. He had exposed her and left her vulnerable. Spanking her would be unreasonable and he doubted she would give in easily; rather, he fancied she would dig in and hold out, entrenching her defiance. Her tolerance of spanking had grown considerably over the last few weeks.

Rick had to think of another way to convince her. His hand remained fixed on her bottom as he thought.

“No, I’m not going to spank you,” he finally said.

Leah relaxed, but he didn’t let go of his grip on her.

“When I first came to Liverpool, looking for a job, I met your father in his study. A rather imposing room, I recall.”

“Yes, it was,” said Leah quietly.

“I had been appointed by the agency, but your father wanted to check my credentials in person. I stood before his desk, like an errant schoolboy. I actually stood to attention. He reminded me of my dad. Eventually, after a bloody long wait, he looked up at me. I won’t forget what he said.” Rick paused. Nothing he was telling her was a lie. The indelible event was bound to his memory of her father.