Takeover: A Step-Brother Romance (The Legacy Series Book 1) (23 page)

I wanted her smile.

I wanted her trust.

I wanted her to understand.

I wasn’t an unreasonable man. Selfish, but not a fool. The girl hadn’t believed I would bed her, even after my father abused, terrorized, and humiliated her.

But I never doubted for a second that I would take her. I tied her down and took her virginity. Her first taste of passion, and she struggled against leather wrist cuffs. I spread her legs, but her surrender was as elusive as whatever secrets she hid from me.

Her body complied. Her words admitted her place. But her mind? She was stronger than I anticipated, more beautiful than I imagined, and fiercer than any I’d ever encountered.

And so I held my step-sister down, fucked her like a ravaging animal, and filled her with my every intent to breed her with my child.

Then she slept in my arms.

The daughter of my family’s greatest enemy, ruined and pleasured, clung to the arm I draped over her waist.

The sun had yet to rise. I preferred the darkness, but Sarah’s pale blonde hair acted as the only bright and wholesome revelation in the room. How innocent could one woman be?

I stirred. As much as I longed to remain pressed inside her for the night, I had untied her. I kissed her without the cuffs and held her secure, offering her safety while my mind raged with the conquering, masculine high of chaotic pleasure.

I meant to protect and comfort her. And yet, I kept her still so she wouldn’t spill my seed by escaping the bed.

Just the thought hardened me.

She called me cruel.

I believed her.

She labeled me a demon.

What defense could I give?

She claimed she didn’t trust me.

She lied.

How many times would I be forced to destroy her innocence?

She wiggled. The greatest and worst temptation in my world cuddled against me. During the taking, I’d gripped the mattress instead of her, fearing the severity of my lust. In the predawn darkness, the absolute stillness of secret between night and day, a delicate and fierce woman rested in my grasp. I’d already stolen her once.

Tasted. Claimed. Seeded.

One crime committed, another tempted.

My hand wove over her hip. She sighed. My fingers teased for warmth in the cradle between her legs. Her hips edged closer. I flicked my finger against her clit, reveling in the slickness I left within her.

Sarah mewed.

It was the only sound I craved.

The tip of my finger traced a tiny circle. She panted awake, but my strength pinned her between my chest, hardening cock, and teasing touch. I’d offer her such a reward for just a moment of obedience.

Her hand gripped my wrist. I didn’t let her push me away. Another few circles and she fell limp. Those perfect lips parted once more. She breathed my name. It was the only word that rivaled the simple thrill of her protests.

I nibbled her ear and she rewarded me with a sweet shiver. “Tell me how this feels.”

“Invasive.”

 I chuckled. “It’s soft, Sarah. Warm and wet.”

Her words wavered. “Haven’t you tormented me enough?”

“Never. You enjoy the torment too much.”

Her wetness betrayed her. My cock throbbed for a taste of her. I’d take anything that would ease the rage in me, pacify my need, and silence the demon that demanded another cruel claiming.

But I doubted anything could quell that dark instinct. A raw passion burned my veins and blinded me to everything humane and respectable.

I angled her hips against me. Her words silenced as the head of my cock pushed once more into her tender, inexperienced body. Too weak to deny me and too slick to prevent me, I thrust. The violation shocked her. She tensed, gripping my hands, holding her breath, fluttering with a rabid pulse that tickled against my chest,

I pushed.

She shuddered in a soundless wave of pleasure.

And I had her once again. The tightness fractured me, crumbling away my honor and searing me with the savage determination.

“You will be mine,” I whispered, as if she had any doubt. “From this moment. You belong
only
to me. Your body. Your pleasure.” I tested her, watching as she pawed against the thickness spreading her apart. “Everything you are will be mine.”

Her nails sunk into my arms. “You’ll never have all of me.”

“You can’t fight me.”

“I’m not,” She whispered through threaded gasps. “You’ve captured me. You’ve won all you can. But it was never a fair game, Nicholas.”

“I decide what’s fair.” My teeth pinched against her neck. “And I decide the rules.”

“Not this time.”

“Always. From this moment on.”

I thrust harder. She accepted me. Her chest puffed in excitement. Her perfect breasts, kissed with the delicate raspberry buds, captured in my hand. She whimpered and tightened around me, and the pleasure rolled from the base of my spine. I blinded myself to everything but her. I lusted for her innocence and softness, and I took the petite wisp of her body and every feminine curve that made her irresistible.

And still, the agonizing realization stalked me. No matter how hard I fucked her, how firmly I held her, or how many demands I forced on her, Sarah Atwood was stronger than I expected.

Her submission came naturally, but I’d never break her.

I no longer wanted to break her.

Her panting desperation twisted my control. She arched against me, and I slammed as deeply as my cock would fit.

My orgasm shadowed hers.

I grunted and emptied myself in her, again and again. She squeezed me and came. Her pussy milked my throbbing cock, greedily accepting my seed into her core.

Nothing compared. Years of self-sacrifice and protection to ensure the Bennett line wasn’t tarnished by whatever woman happened across my path, and now? I released inside Sarah, perfect and tantalizing.

It was a shame she didn’t want it.

A crime that I did it.

And a crisis of conscience that I felt no remorse in satisfying my desire.

Her panted breaths ended with a cough. The sound stilled my heart.

I pulled from Sarah before she was ready, and her soft, protesting murmur refueled my passion. I ignored my unrelenting hardness and stood, rifling through the pocket of my suit jacket. Her inhaler tucked safe inside, hidden from her provided she asked politely, sweetly, and obediently for the right to breathe.

My father’s wishes disgusted me. I handed her the inhaler. She hesitantly took the medication.

Sarah said nothing, watching as I collected myself and disguised my evil in the civilized suit and coat. Her cheeks flushed as she tucked the blanket along her body. She acted as though I hadn’t memorized every last inch of her slim form.

“How long do you think you can keep me here, Nicholas?” Her voice softened, heavy with satisfaction. “How long will you hide me away and tie me to beds and take me?”

“Forever.”

“You know that isn’t true.”

“I’ll make it so.”

She bit her lip. “You can’t keep me captive, and you can’t keep me from finding your family’s crimes. This won’t last.”

The only crime my family committed rested within the bed, seeded with my lust. But Sarah was right. It wouldn’t last. Sooner or later she’d understand the truth about her father, the dire circumstance of her position, and how dangerous her life had become.

So I’d keep her tucked away. Hidden from the world. Protected from my family.

Sated with my cock.

“Sarah Atwood, I’ve decided no one else will touch you.”

Her amusement was a bluff of hope. “Darius already decided everything about my fate. I was yours last night. He’ll feed me to Max today. He’ll make Reed take me tomorrow.” Her voice lowered. “Strategic concessions? You had your turn.”

The fury billowed within me, a hot rage of jealousy I had no right to experience for my family’s prisoner. I ground my jaw.

“I’m the heir to the Bennett fortune. This estate. The company. The family—and everything in it—belongs to me. That includes you.” I paused. “Behave yourself, be respectful. Act obedient for once, and I will rectify this.”

“Why?”

The stirring returned. It wouldn’t be controlled, and I’d never explain it. Instinct and logic warred within me, and the animalistic passion mauled every bit of humanity away.

“Because the child you’ll carry will be mine. I’ll have my fortune, my company, and you for my pleasure.”

Now I earned her smile, but the sweetness wasn’t meant for me.

“You are a Bennett. You’ve stolen, beaten, and broken every piece of land, every company, and every person you’ve ever wanted. No one has ever defeated you. No one has ever stopped you.” She had my attention. “Until me.”

“A challenge, Ms. Atwood?”

“You’re no challenge to me.”

“Will you wait here, or should I restrain you again?”

She snuggled in the blankets, matching my need heartbeat for heartbeat. “I’m your captive, trapped in this home. What harm could I possibly do?”

Entirely too much in the opinion of my father.

I said nothing but returned to my room, showered, shaved, and dressed as though I were a successful businessman and not a prowling creature of the night.

Sarah was a problem. Her words and defiance entertained me, but it would enrage my father—and I wouldn’t be able to protect her from his retaliation. He threatened her, promised that my brothers and I would rape and impregnate her, and I saw it in her eyes.

Fear.

My father offered a woman to us, and she became a perverted family secret that would topple the entire Bennett Corporation. When marrying into the Atwoods didn’t secure his fortune, he exploited his step-daughter, a girl he neither loved nor pitied. Provided she breathed—provided she told us when she
couldn’t
breathe—he’d be satisfied. But given the option, Sarah Atwood would be beaten and starved, raped and tortured, stored in the dark and left to conceive in utter misery.

I’d never let it happen.

My father awaited me in his office. Seven o’clock, not a minute late, as he rigorously cropped into my hide as a child. I settled across from his desk. He scowled at his email, but spared a moment to meet my gaze.

Nothing but cruelty existed within his presence. His was a hardness he taught me to mimic, something to replicate and pass on. If we succeeded, the Atwood-Bennett heir would no doubt encompass every lesson, every beating, every brutal warning we endured as children. When to speak. When to act. When to think.

And, above all else, to obey him without question.

“Is it done?” He asked.

I nodded.

His excitement crawled upon my skin. “Did she bleed?”

“She was a virgin.”

“Was she behaved?”

The memory teased me with a warmth forbidden within my father’s office. Despite the fireplace and windows, the room maintained a perpetual frost, as if the poison of our company’s products sliced through those uninitiated to his pestilence.

“She was compliant,” I said. An understatement.

“Unharmed?”

“Of course.”

He snorted. “She won’t respect you if she doesn’t fear you, son.”

“She respects me. She understands just what is anticipated during her stay with us.”

“Good.” His attention returned to the computer. A dismissal. I waited. A long moment passed as I dared to interrupt his work once more. “Yes?”

“She will be mine.”

The monitor clicked off. “Yours?”

“Yes.”

“Go on.”

I folded my hands. “Sarah Atwood is the sole heir to the Atwood fortune. I am the first born Bennett. A child would secure both worlds, both companies, both reputable family names. Should she conceive, the boy would be my successor. Should it not be my own blood?”

“Bennett blood is Bennett blood.”

“Then Max can have the company. Or Reed.” I read his expression. Neither option pleased him. “I am willing to take the girl and do what must be done.”

“Of course you are,” my father nodded. “And if these circumstances were altered,
if
we had more time, I would permit it.”

“There’s plenty of time.”

He snapped his chair upright. “No. Mark Atwood wormed his way into the heart of our investments and stole, bought, and bribed more influence than we ever imagined. Taking the girl, forcing an heir, is of utter importance. Our company is in distress, and Atwood Industries and her wealth must pass to us.”

That I understood. I steeled my expression. “All the more reason to secure her trust. If I tame her, keep her under my control, she may not resist us.”

“She might be complacent, but once she turns twenty-one, she’ll be unstoppable.” He exhaled. “She isn’t just an opportunity to grow our wealth, Nicholas. She will conceive the collateral we need to save our fucking family.”

“All the more reason to keep her for myself. I don’t frighten her, but if she is raped by us all, she’ll never work with us. She’ll turn against the family.”

“She’s already against us, Nicholas. It’s foolish we even let her walk the halls unrestrained.”

“She is helpless here.”

“Perhaps a door will be unlocked or a phone left untended. Perhaps she’ll shatter another window and escape again. She is a
liability
.” He rapped his fingers on the table. “I preferred it when she couldn’t breathe.”

I didn’t. “I can control her.”

“Three men will impregnate a woman faster than one.” He grinned. “You’re a Bennett, my son, but you aren’t Superman.”

“Give me a month.”

“You’re serious?”

“I want the girl. I want the child. I’ll take the risk and build my legacy the way I see fit.”

My father stared through me. I had nothing to hide. No shame in demanding what was rightfully mine. I didn’t fear the moments I spent tangled within Sarah’s embrace. It’d reveal only lust and domination, especially to a man who understood nothing else.

“Will you ensure she behaves?” My father asked.

“Yes.”

“Can you breed her?”

“I’m certain of it.”

“So be it.” He lifted his chin. “But we have very little time before this crashes around us, Nicholas. The investors are nervous. The clock is ticking, and our allies shrink by the moment.”