Fighting Fate (18 page)

‘That’s much better,’ he said, gripping his cock and stroking it while his other hand petted and pinched her breast.

Grumbling behind the gag, Ivy tried to ask him if he would need her mouth, but he couldn’t decipher her words. When his lips curled with satisfaction she relaxed and let her weight sink into the bed.

‘There’s a lot of shit coming and we don’t know how it’s going to go down,’ he said, dipping to bite her nipple so hard that she squealed at the jolt of torturous pleasure.

Her whole body seemed to be connected by strings. Every fibre of her was connected to another seemingly unconnected point through invisible rods of rubbery steel that conducted the current of his touch like zipping electricity. Each caress made her want to scream out and purr, both at the same time.

‘There’s one thing I’m sure of, one thing that you should worry your little head about while I deal with the rest of the crap going on in our lives.’ She couldn’t ask him what because of the gag, so she waited for him to answer. ‘Every night your bed, and your pussy, are going to be filled by me. I’m going to fuck you every night and every chance I get because you don’t need that spirit of yours to defend yourself anymore, Minx. It’s mine. Every part of you is mine. And that spirit which loves to spar with me and spit out at the world, that belongs to me now too, and I want you to use it. You’re going to use it to think about sex, use it to pleasure yourself on my dick every time I give you the opportunity.’

Again, she tried to grumble, because she wanted to fight and tell him that she didn’t need to be looked after. Ivy wanted to yell that she could be at his side to deal with any shit that might come their way because she didn’t want him to feel like he was out in the world alone; she knew how debilitating that could be. Except with the gag in place, nothing but grunts and mumbles came out. Ivy tried so hard, but all she succeeded in doing was dribbling on herself.

Dax might have taken this in the wrong way because he laughed and bowed again, to lick the saliva trail that ran from the corner of her mouth, then he dipped his mouth to her ear. ‘Does that turn you on, babygirl? Does the idea of dedicating your life to my cock make you drool? Knowing that’s how you feel about it makes your husband very happy, I’m gonna make sure you get constant access.’

Tumbling off her body, he stole a pillow from under her head to prop up his own then bucked up to make himself more comfortable. After that, he scooped up her body and kicked her legs apart with his. She didn’t have a chance to straddle him comfortably, or find her own place, because he rammed her body down onto his while thrusting upward and he plunged into her so deep that her squashed cervix was bruised in the intrusion.

But he kept on going, holding her at a height that gave him maximum offensive impact for his onslaught. He fucked his way up into her, driving faster with each insertion until her legs became so weak that she struggled to match his fervour.

Never had her centre been so sensitive. Webbed with pain and equal all-encompassing pleasure, she almost forgot that the muzzle was over her mouth. She kept calling and squealing each time he stabbed into a new or perceptive spot.

Their eyes met and the chill of those ice blues brought her to a crashing climax. Sucking in a breath so deep that the gag became concave, Ivy managed to huff the syllable of his name. Dax lunged on, prodding further into her repeatedly, desperate to reach his own summit.

He tossed her backwards so that she landed on the bed between his thighs. The unexpected move left Ivy searching for her bearings, she was anchored again when he landed on her and penetrated her with a vigorous plunge. Every inch of him occupied her and when he was all the way inside, he stopped, locking his eyes to hers, he stayed static.

Mumbling, she tried to move, but he locked their pelvises and just stared. ‘I’m gonna fuck you all night.’

She wanted to tell him that he could and that didn’t mean he couldn’t come. The longer he remained where he was, the more she was convinced that he was trying to prevent himself from getting to orgasm. Whether it was a test of stamina or restraint didn’t matter to her, she just wanted him to have the same completion that she had.

‘I’m the last man who will ever be here, inside you, like this. Mine is the last dick that your pussy will ever swallow.’

That possessive reality made her wriggle and she wanted to kiss him, to reassure him while reminding him that her pussy would be the last space that his dick would occupy too. But his hand appeared between them and the undulating motion of his fingers around her clit joined the gentle rocking of his pelvis and her eyes slipped shut.

All coherent thought abandoned her and Dax was all that filled her head, her heart, and her intimate passage. This man had chosen her, married her because he loved her and to protect her from being taken by another.

Knowing that she had hit the jackpot, the pulse of his throbbing dick sent her over the apex of pleasure again and this time he couldn’t resist. Ivy clamped down around him so tight that he was unable to move, and neither of them were able to breathe. The volume of his slick seed pumped into her and she felt every quiver of him as he loaded her with his DNA. Each ounce of fluid was plugged in place by his cock which remained corked in her even after he was no longer stiff, and he had folded himself around her.

But she didn’t move because she didn’t want him to leave her body, or this space. Ivy was exactly where she was meant to be, exactly where she belonged.

They ordered room service, watched some bullshit TV, and had sex again. After that they went down to the casino for a while. Every time Ivy caught a sideways glance at Dax she had to remind herself that he belonged to her because it seemed so unreal.

Anyone on Dax’s trajectory cleared the path so that he could walk in a straight line without interruption. Yet, he was oblivious to the intimidation he exuded. He strode with the same manner he would adopt on an abandoned beach, it made no difference to him that he was actually on a crowded sidewalk or in a mobbed casino. His superiority was more than just a case of height and formidable form. His expression was clear, he didn’t scowl, yet he managed to maintain an intensity that made it impossible for anyone to know what he was thinking.

He existed in a bubble, no one could penetrate it; no one would dare enter the personal space that was restricted behind the invisible barrier. It was as if he had his own transparent security team ensuring no one could touch him. No one except her.

Ivy had been accepted into his bubble and as much as she wasn’t privy to all of the details of his past she knew that this was a rare occurrence. Not that history mattered now, they were married, and she wouldn’t let any other woman into her husband’s inner bubble because she’d make sure that he never needed anyone else.

After a few drinks and some flirting at the bar, they made their way back up to their hotel room. Tomorrow could prove to be a big day if they went back to California, but that was a big “if” because Ivy had already made the decision to take another swing at talking him out of that.

‘Your legs working this time?’ Dax asked while opening their door.

‘What?’ she asked, strutting past him, giving him no choice except to hold the door open for her.

She went all the way into the bedroom which was a grand large room with a massive bed and although it wasn’t exactly a suite, the bathroom was big enough to have a double shower cubicle and a Jacuzzi tub. Dax had offered to take her to the GoldSpring, in fact it was the first place he pulled the car up to when they got into town, but the last thing that she wanted to do was face her old colleagues.

‘Tradition isn’t my thing,’ he said.

‘No white picket fence in our future?’ she asked.

Sitting on the end of the bed to slip off her shoes, Ivy made the decision that she would have to buy more heels if she was going to spend the rest of her life on Dax’s arm. She didn’t like that when they were walking together tonight she couldn’t kiss him or whisper in his ear without first having to tug on his arm like a child looking for the acknowledgement of a parent.

‘Get ready for bed,’ he said, striding past her toward the bathroom.

Leaping to her feet, Ivy knew that now was the time to try and appeal to his better sense. If she left it any later they’d be engaged in the physical and talking would be the last thing he would have interest in. ‘My aunt lives in Florida.’

The peculiar look that crossed his face when he stopped to peer at her told her that Dax wasn’t following her line of thought. ‘So?’

‘So,’ she said, creeping toward him. ‘Maybe we could go and visit her, we could go to the beach and laze in the sun all day.’

‘We’re in the fucking desert now,’ he said and she curled her fingers around his wrists. ‘And I’ve seen you in a bikini enough to last me the rest of my life.’

‘We could find ourselves a topless beach. I could leave the bikini at home,’ she said, but her teasing only made him frown.

‘Why would I want you parading around in front of other guys? If I want to see your tits I snap my fingers.’

‘Oh, it’s not as easy as that,’ she said. ‘You forget that I’m not your captive anymore, there’s no basement to relegate me to. I can be as mouthy as I want.’

Sidling closer, he lowered his face. ‘Didn’t I prove earlier that I control that mouth? I can prove it again right now.’

‘No way,’ she said, her smile slinking upward. ‘I’m wise to you now, big boy. There’s no way you’ll be keeping me quiet again any time soon. Next time you screw me I’m going to scream to high heavens.’

‘Screaming is acceptable, your back talk is not.’

‘You married a woman with opinions,’ she said, elevating herself onto her tiptoes. ‘Opinions that you just love to contradict.’

‘Because they’re wrong,’ he said. ‘You keep your opinions to yourself and spend more time listening to mine.’

‘Why would I do that?’

‘Because mine are the ones you should be spouting. My opinions should be your opinions. A wife should toe the line that the husband orders her to.’

Although he maintained his sincerity, Ivy laughed, because she couldn’t honestly believe that he would think a piece of paper would suddenly make her Miss. Compliant. Bruno hadn’t managed it with physical abuse and imprisonment, so Dax wouldn’t achieve it with marriage.

‘That so?’

‘You are going to be a good wife,’ he said, touching a fingertip to the underside of her chin.

‘So I should meet you at the door with a kiss after a hard day of enforcing? Have your favourite meal cooked and on the table every night?’

‘A blowjob at the door and a good spanking over the dinner table is what I expect you to submit to.’

‘Why would I need a spanking,’ she pouted, hooking two fingers into his jeans belt loops. ‘I might have been a good girl.’

‘Unlikely,’ he replied, walking himself forward and forcing her to walk backwards until he’d barged her all the way to the bed. ‘You’ve already been naughty and we’ve only been back in the room for five minutes.’

‘I have?’

‘I told you to get ready for bed, what does that mean?’

‘I don’t have any jammies,’ she said, squeezing out from the restricted space between him and the bed to cross to the closet which contained the sports bag that he’d retrieved his clean clothes from earlier in the night. ‘I don’t suppose you packed me anything to wear.’

‘Your birthday suit is all you’ll ever need in my bed, Minx, stop that fucking teasing and get over here.’

But she’d already tugged out the sports bag, so she opened it to see if he had indeed packed her any clothes. The item on top broke the spell of seduction and she explored no further. With a rubber band looped around them to keep them together, a large stack of a dozen or so zip ties stared up at her. She took them out of the bag and held them up; this time it was her turn to frown.

‘What’s this?’ she asked, rising from her crouch. ‘Why do you have these?’

‘They’re mine,’ he said as though they held no significance.

‘Why did you bring them? What use do you have for them on our wedding night?’

Having never considered herself an insecure person, this unfamiliar wave of timidity and doubt came with a flourish of nausea.

‘I plan to be prepared,’ he said.

‘For kidnapping other women or—‘

‘None of your business,’ he said. ‘I do what I want and I don’t answer to you.’

‘No, you answer to the man behind the curtain. You have all of this respect for Mauri Stark, but all I see is him sending you out to get your hands dirty. I haven’t seen him do any work at all. He’s taught you to subjugate and—‘

‘What’s Mauri got to do with this?’

‘You feel the need to go back there, to apologise for falling in love with me! I mean how dare you think that—‘

Storming over to her, Dax snatched the zip ties and tossed them onto the bed. ‘We’re going back there, if I have to sling you into the trunk of the car and—‘

‘No! We are not going back to those people. I was dragged to that beach house and held prisoner so that you and your buddy could make me into the perfect wife for… for him. But it didn’t turn out that way, did it? You were my only sanctuary,’ she said, uninvited tears burned her eyes, but she grit her teeth and carried on, determined not to let them fall. ‘I don’t know why you let me in, why you chose to show me mercy when—‘

‘Ah, hell,’ he said, turning his back on her. ‘Don’t get into all that romantic hero bullshit. You were a decent lay who—‘

‘That doesn’t explain this, now,’ she said, moving across the room and around his body so that he had to look her in the face. ‘You married me! You brought me here to marry me for a sole reason: to prevent Trystan from marrying me. You’ve made it impossible for him to do it because my name is already on a piece of paper with yours.’

‘Yeah, I get it, we did the commitment bullshit already, now strip down for me, put on a show.’

Backing up to sit in a corner arm chair, his relaxed pose was one of a man waiting to be entertained, and in a far more intimate way that a standard lap dance. ‘I’m not going back there, Dax,’ Ivy said, unwilling to let the issue go as he wanted her to.

‘I already told you, I’ll go to the mansion and—‘

‘No. I’m not going back to California to watch you turn yourself inside out for them. It’s not worth it.’

‘It’s not worth it for you maybe,’ he said. ‘But after everything I’ve done for you—‘

Tilting her head she let out a whine, ‘Aww, yes, thank you so much for making me strip naked in front of strangers and parade around doing your chores. I especially loved the part where you left me down in that dungeon to rot for days, happily allowing your buddy to grope and ogle me to his heart’s content. Is that what I have to look forward to in my future?’

‘It’s not gonna be like that, babygirl. I’m gonna talk to Mauri and to make him see that—‘

‘I’ve heard this before, Dax,’ she said, shirking her sarcasm. ‘You weren’t man enough to stand up to him then, how can I believe that you will be now? For whatever reason you’re afraid of him—‘

‘I am not afraid!’

‘Whatever, Dax,’ she said, crouching to pick up her shoes. Before she’d stood upright again he was out of his seat and coming toward her.

‘What the fuck do you think you need those for?’

‘I’m going to take a walk,’ she said.

‘No you’re not,’ he said, lashing out to grab her wrist.

Ivy tried to pull away but his strength was far superior. ‘I am not your captive anymore, Dax. You’re going to have to learn that you won’t always know where I am. We won’t always exist in the same space. Let me go, please.’

‘I told you that you’d never be free,’ he snarled and with one yank her body clashed into his.

He got hold of her other wrist and because she knew she couldn’t pull free, she tried to back away. But he followed, carrying on until she fell backwards over the sports bag she’d discarded on the floor.

Dax’s muscles bulged as they contracted to seize her weight, though his act of catching her wasn’t altruistic. He hauled her up and slammed her into the closet, wrenching her upstretched arms so high that the tips of her toes almost didn’t touch the floor.

‘Let me go,’ she whispered, sensing that this was about more than them being physically apart.

‘No,’ he huffed with a sullen edge. ‘You’re mine. You stay. You go where I go.’

‘You can’t truly love me until you trust me, Dax. You have to be able to watch me walk out that door and know that I’ll come back to you.’

‘No.’

‘Do you think that I’m going to run away? I’m not. If I didn’t want to be with you then I wouldn’t have married you.’

‘Vegas is a dangerous place.’

‘Uh-uh,’ she said with a shake of her head, but her shoulders were beginning to burn. ‘That excuse won’t fly with me, I can take care of myself, Dax.’

‘Like you did the last time we were in Vegas together?’

‘I got myself out of there, without help from you or any of your friends… Now let me go.’ Ivy tried to tug down her arms, but she had no chance of freeing herself. The discomfort in her shoulders was building and gashes of searing agony flitted the length of her arms.

‘You’re not walking out that door.’

‘I am.’

This had become a battle of wills, whoever gave in now would struggle to claw back power in enough time to have a say about whether or not they journeyed back to California.

‘You’re gonna stay here, put on a show for me as you strip down, then you’re gonna open your legs for me and spend the rest of the night screaming my name.’

‘Don’t hold your breath,’ she murmured.

Undeterred, and perhaps in an attempt to win the war, he squashed his mouth over hers and probed her mouth with his tongue. The usual frisson of arousal zipped through her bones, but this punishing kiss was one of power, he was trying to exert authority over her and she realised then that she had to break through this conditioned behaviour. He’d been taught to be tough, to be the best, to overpower and crush an opponent, she had to teach him that they were on the same side and that not everyone was his enemy.

The only person he seemed to trust was Mauri and she couldn’t see why at all. Although she had never witnessed them interact, Ivy couldn’t imagine what Mauri Stark had done to deserve such reverence; she had quite the towering idol to compete with.

‘No,’ she said, but when he squatted to wrench her up, her legs twined around his hips.

She told herself that this manoeuvre was to offer relief to her aching arms, but in truth she just wanted to feel the reassuring bulge insisting itself against the yielding flesh of her centre. Giving in to him would be easy, she could let him fuck her here, or let him take her to the bed for a slower joining, but teaching him that she could be distracted by sex set a dangerous precedent, so she tried to push him away, but his grasp remained steadfast.