Fractured Crystal: Sapphires and Submission (32 page)

Her face still looked red and furious
—
and beautiful. He could almost see the light shining from her as she glared at him, full of lust and anger. She pushed her body down, trying to force herself on top of him, but even after all this time he was still too big for her to enter easily. She licked all over her fingers, making them wet with her spittle, and clumsily fumbled beneath her dress, lifting herself up slightly so that she could make herself wetter, daub the head of that huge cock that still lay outside her.

Now she pushed back down again, harder this time. Her face grimaced slightly, pain and discomfort as he started to penetrate her, but her pause was only momentary and then she returned to the task, forcing herself down. At last, the invisible bonds inside her opened up and she slid down onto him, her eyes going wide and her mouth forming a large, silent O as he entered her.

A trembling, shuddering spasm took over her body, and for a few seconds she simply remained there in place, still, getting used to the orgasm that had begun before she even expected it, a climax of fury and rage and resentment. When it had passed, and as he lifted up one hand to her dress, pulling it down so that both her beautiful soft breasts were exposed, she looked down at him with a glare of triumph with her eyes.

Slowly she lifted herself up, then slammed herself down hard on him, making herself how. While he caressed her breast, she placed her hand over his. He could feel her digging her fingers in between his, torturing her flesh, and he squeezed harder, abusing her and making her gasp. She rose and fell, each fall a pounding against his lap, and he could feel his pubis soaking now, being flooded by her as his shaft stretched her to her limits.

Sure now that he knew what she wanted, she left his hand on her breast and, with both sets of nimble fingers, began to claw at his chest, ripping apart his shirt, tugging at buttons and careless as to the effect. When his muscles were exposed, she raked her nails across him, hurting him, making him cry out despite himself. Fuck! He was so hard now, so desperate for her. That she drew blood was fitting, and that made him simply longer. His own grin was vicious, a suitable match for her own expression of fury as she rose up and down on top of him.

When she woke, it was still the early hours of morning. She had felt Daniel stir in the bed and she glanced across to him. He was sitting on the edge of the mattress, and his back was a jagged map of clawed marks, some of them covered in scabs now where the blood was drying. Her own body ached and hurt, with bruises between her thighs. She did not need to look down at her own breasts, pressed beneath her against the stained, soaked sheets to know that they would also be covered in bruises and love bites from where he had attacked her with hands and mouth.

She reached across her fingers towards him. He was just out of reach and she could not find the energy to move closer
—
all of that had been spent in their lovemaking, furious and animalistic. Instead, she clutched the sheets, watching the first glimmerings of light as they played with shadows across his back.

He heard her move and turned, his face largely hidden in the shadows.

“Go back to sleep,” he said softly.

“I will, but not yet,” she replied.

He smiled at this and stood beside the bed. He was magnificent, truly magnificent, his torso hard and muscled, his legs so solid, and that thick, warm piece of him dangling above his soft balls. She wanted him.

He had moved towards the dressing table. She wondered what he was doing and half-raised herself to look at him, seeing at last that he was holding the sapphire necklace in his hands.

“I made a mistake last night, didn’t I?” he said quietly.

“Yes,” she replied. “But it’s alright.”

“Perhaps.” He turned and, with the necklace still in his hands, came back to her. Pulling herself up against the pillows, she took it from him as he handed it to her. She looked at the gemstones, so hard and beautiful, so perfect and symmetrical. Blue like her eyes, even in this light. But she would happily swap all those stones for the imperfections in her lover.

“This is mine, isn’t it.” It was more of a statement than a question. He nodded.

“My possession.” She paused, rolling the stones between her fingers like the beads of a rosary. “I want you to sell it.”

He frowned at this and started to protest but, leaning forward, she placed one finger against his lips and then kissed him, gently.

Pulling back, she let the necklace half rest in his lap, close to his hands as she still held onto it.

“I need somewhere, my own place,” she said, by way of explanation. “This will buy it for me. I’d sell it myself, but I’ve no idea how to go about that. You can help me.”

His frown did not disappear. “I can get you somewhere, you don’t need to do this.”

“I do, Daniel. You’ve bought me too much already but... no more, please, no more. It’s too easy for me to drown in you, to be suffocated by you. You’re... too strong in this world for me. Sell this. It’s mine, and it will get me what I want.”

A look of fear passed through his eyes. “Do you mean to tell me that it’s over?” His voice was incredulous. “You can’t mean that! I love you!”

Again she placed her fingers on his lips. “And I love you. No, I don’t mean that. I just need a room of my own, you must understand. You tell me to create, to paint, you tell me that this is what you want from me, but I can’t do that with you, in your places, your spaces. You’re just too fucking strong, Daniel. I’m going to disappear if we carry on like this. Christ! You’re... you’re so much more than I ever expected, so fucking... God!”

She sat up and took his hands in her own, the necklace clasped by both of them now, but her eyes were on the imperfect gems of his face. “When I met you, I had an albatross hanging around my neck, a burden I didn’t even know existed. When we... when we took each other, it fell away, and I was free again, free to create, free to be myself. But this,” her glance fell to the sapphires in their hands, “this is just another chain. Give me some freedom, Daniel. Please. Give it to me, and I’ll promise I’ll be yours, forever. I’ll do whatever you want, but I need this.”

His eyes were searching her face, looking over her eyes and brow, her hair. At last, he seemed to discover what he wanted and simply nodded, saying nothing.

“Do you understand?” she asked.

He smiled. His lips were warm, generous, and his eyes glowed at her. “Yes,” he said simply. Standing at last, he returned to the dresser and left the necklace hanging from the mirror.

“Don’t worry about that,” he told her as she lay down on her side in the bed, watching him. “I’ll get someone to sort it out. This room of yours, where will it be?”

“I’m not sure yet,” she replied. “Perhaps Baixa or,” she smiled a little shyly. “Alfama. Yes. I’d like to stay here, in the old quarter. I can be myself here, I know it.”

He laughed at this. “Alfama,” he said quietly. “It seems whenever I hear that word I’m destined to leave you, but this time will be different. I promise.”

He reached across the bed, his hand outstretched. She lifted her own hand and clasped his fingers, pulling herself so that he could kiss her deeply. At last, after what seemed both an age and far too brief, he let go.

“I have to go,” he said quietly. “Sleep now.”

“I will,” she replied. But instead she watched him dress himself, and sleep did not finally come until long after he had left the room, when the bright rays of the morning sun were streaming through the windows of the bedroom.

M. J. Lawless

The second part of the Crystal Fragments trilogy.

Jealousy is a dangerous addiction.

After the torrid beginning of their affair, Kris Avelar has achieved a degree of freedom that will allow her not merely to withstand the demands of her lover, Daniel Stone, but also rise up to the challenges that they place upon her body and soul. If he is her demon lover
—
a troubled, wealthy man with his own dark secrets
—
then she is an artist who can transform those secrets into something brilliant, shining and beautiful.

But if Kris is the most perfect lover that Daniel has known since the death of his wife, she is not the first. And so, when she encounters the lawyer, Maria Gosselin, she understands for the first time just how all-consuming her jealousy can be, especially when when Maria makes it clear that she believes there is unfinished business between her and the rich founder of Stone Enterprises.

Seeking at first only to understand more about Daniel’s past, and to uncover the motives behind Maria’s actions, Kris begins to pursue the woman. It comes as a shock to her, then, to discover that her own attraction to this strong, clever rival threatens to overwhelm her own senses
—
and that Maria is more than happy to use this to get everything that she wants, even if it means destroying whatever fragile happiness Kris and Daniel have achieved.

M. J. Lawless

The third and final part of the Crystal Fragments trilogy.

Purity comes in the darkest colours.

At last, Kris Avelar realises that if she is to be all she wants to be in life, then there can be no one else for her other than Daniel Stone. With the demons between them laid to rest, she is at last ready to submit to everything that he wants, and to become the woman that he needs most in the world.

Yet behind their perfect bliss Kris is troubled by suspicions that Daniel has not been completely honest about some of the dealings that he has engaged in, and that while she has found sexual fulfilment with him there remain dark predators on the edges of their lives who are waiting to circle in and destroy everything that they have.

When Daniel is taken away from her, on the run from his own dangerous past, she sets out to find him and to show that while everyone else will turn against him, she is determined never to let him down
—
or let him go. It is at that time that she discovers that her own submission, what she has thought of as a weakness inside her, is actually the source of her greatest strength.