The Stand Off (15 page)

“No it’s not, not for what I have planned for you.”

Without warning, he grabbed her
by the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. She clutched the wine
bottle tightly when he thrust his tongue into her mouth. The pressure from his
lips and the taste of his mouth were spinning a web around her brain. She could
feel the room float around her as his lips gently assaulted her. She sighed
into his mouth as she began to feel the heat rise within her. He was increasing
the pressure, wanting more of her, and she could not resist. She put her free
hand to his chest with the intention of pushing him back but found that she’d
grabbed the front of his shirt to get closer to him instead. Suddenly, she felt
an overwhelming desire to be very close to him, she wanted every inch of her
body to be touching his. Before she had a chance to think, she began to kiss
him back. It was a
real
reaction to a progressively intense situation;
there was no hesitation and no thought, she felt only a deep primal instinct.
She threw her arms around his neck, forgetting all about the wine bottle in her
hand. She was deep in their frenzied kiss when she heard the bottle smash
against the floor.

She pulled back to see the broken
bottle and the wine soaking into the dusty rug. It was at that moment that
reality came crashing back to her.

“If you don’t stop now, you
will be giving the man your virginity as well as The Music Hall. He’ll have
everything, while you’re left with nothing but regret,”
she warned herself.

She looked back up at the man who
was intent on destroying her dreams and felt a level of inner turmoil that
she’d never experienced before. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs
and pinch the hell out of her legs. She wanted him so fucking bad. “
Why did
it have to be like this?”

It wasn’t fair.

She quickly jumped off the couch,
looking at the broken bottle as she stepped back.

“Careful,” he warned her as he
stood up.

“We should clean it up,” she said
absently.

“Later.”

He stepped over the broken
bottle, grabbed her hand, and led her away from the glass. He towered over her
and she suddenly felt a bit vulnerable. His tall, muscular body and his scent
were playing havoc on her senses. If she didn’t stop this now, there would be
no stopping it later.

“We can’t do this,” her voice was
laced with the truth, and he knew that she did not mean it.

“Why not?” he asked.

He looked at her for a moment;
her beautiful face expressed what she was really feeling. He knew that she
wanted him as much as he wanted her. He also knew by the set of her jaw and the
look in her eye that she was at war with herself again.

“I just can’t.” She turned her
head and closed her eyes.

“You keep saying that but we both
know that you don’t mean it. You need to stop thinking so much and just go with
what you feel.”

“I can’t stop thinking about it
no matter how hard I try. By this time tomorrow, The Music Hall will be gone…
and all that I can think about is having sex with the man who is going to
destroy it,” she explained her dilemma.

“What if there was no building,
no wrecking ball, no property dispute, no deal, and no standoff. What if I’d met
you under normal circumstances? What if… instead of arguments in offices, we’d
gone on dates? Would you still say no?”

She looked at him for a moment,
before she answered, “I wish it could have been like that.”

“Then let’s pretend that it is.”

She wished that she could; she
would love to pretend that everything was normal. She would love nothing more
than to be free to like him with no guilt. She wanted to do what was in her
heart, but her brain wouldn’t allow her to forget. How could she? The music hall
was a huge part of her life. She needed to end this madness before she did
something she would never forgive herself for. He was taking too much from her
already.

“What a cruel twist of fate,”
she
thought.

She’d spent years alone and
wondered if that was just her fate. For years she wondered if she would ever
find someone who could make her feel something… anything. Now she’d found the
elusive prince charming, she’d found the one and only man who could make her
feel the very thing she’d thought was lost to her. Unfortunately, this Prince
Charming rode in on a wrecking ball with a mission to destroy her dreams as
well as capture her heart. She wanted him badly, her whole body was begging for
him, but she could not allow it.

“This ends now, Lux!”
She commanded
herself.

“Okay, I have to put the cuffs
back on you. I mean I don’t have to tie you up or anything, but I do have to
cuff you,” she said in a desperate tone.

“Do you think that cuffing me
will stop the way that you feel?”

“Please,” she pleaded.

“Okay.” He nodded, turned around,
and crossed his wrists behind him.

The moment she wrapped her
fingers around his wrist, he grabbed her hand and spun around to face her. He
quickly over powered her and put her hands behind her back. The moment he
snapped one of the cuffs around her wrist, she shoved him with her free hand
and tried to run. She’d barely made it across the room before he grabbed her by
the back of her shirt and pulled her to him. She slapped at him for a moment
before he seized her other arm and quickly cuffed her wrists behind her back.

“No! You promised!” she yelled.

“Why would you trust the man that
you abducted?” he smirked as he picked her up and carried her to the other
couch. He sat down on the black blanket they’d spread across it earlier and
held her on his lap.

“Un-cuff me right now!” she
yelled as she managed to slide down from his lap and tried to scoot away.

“No,” he pulled her close to him,
resuming the position they were in before she dropped the bottle and her brain
took over.

“You can’t keep me like this;
it’s not right.”

“Says the girl who kept me tied
up all day,” he reminded her.

“I had a reason; I was trying to
prevent you from tearing down the music hall.”

“I want to finish that kiss,” it
was a subtle demand.

“I thought you didn’t like
kissing.”

“I didn’t; but I like kissing
you.”

“No more kissing,” she whispered
back although her mouth was parted and ready for his.

“No?” he lightly kissed her lips,
“I can’t kiss you?”

“No,” she answered as her lips
twitched in anticipation.

“Just one small kiss?” he raised
his brow and lightly kissed her again before pulling back.

“Just one,” she answered as she
leaned into the kiss.

She pushed her lips against his
longer then she’d planned. She could not resist the cushiony feel and wanted to
press harder. Instead, she pulled back and tried to steady her breathing.

“One more,” he whispered as he
leaned his head closer.

She shook her head as if to say
no but instead said, “This is the last one.”

“Okay,” he grinned before he
pressed his lips against hers. He was gentle for a moment, softly urging her to
open up. The moment she parted her lips, he thrust his tongue into her mouth.
He grabbed the back of her head and held her tightly as he deepened the kiss.
He grabbed her waist with his other hand and pulled her closer to him. He
needed to feel her skin so he slid his hand under the bottom of her tank top.
He ran his hand across her belly and then up to cup her breast.

She could feel the heat from his
hand below the fabric of her bra. The material did little to protect her breast
when he slid his fingers across her nipple.

“Wait,” she said in a breathy
voice. She tried to pull away from him, but she was limited with her hands
behind her back. She felt defenseless, but the fear it brought was not from
being immobilized, it was from the stimulation rushing through her body at
rapid speed. She was not prepared for this, but she was no more prepared for
him to stop. “Slow down.”

He could see the uncertainty in
her eyes. She didn’t want him to stop, she was just nervous because she was in
unfamiliar territory.

“You’ve never gone this far?” he
asked as he slid the cup of her bra below her breast.

“No,” she answered, suddenly
feeling like an inexperienced prude. “I’ve never felt the urge.”

“No one’s ever done this,” he
asked as he slid his thumb across her bare nipple.

She gasped deeply and shook her
head before she answered, “Definitely not.”

He slid his hand back down her
belly and then slipped it up her skirt, “What about here?”

“Wait…wait,” she objected. It
felt as if her vaginal lips were opening on their own accord, trying to invite
his fingers in.

“No more waiting.” He grabbed the
back of her head to restart their kiss but she resisted.

She closed her lips to ward off
his invasive tongue and clenched her thighs to stop his intrusive fingers from
traveling further. She tried to turn her head to the side, he wouldn’t allow
it.

He pulled back just enough to
whisper against her lips, “Open up or I’ll bite.”

When she didn’t comply, he
lightly bit her bottom lip as he reached back up and pinched her nipple. The
feeling set off a storm inside of her and she felt her body begin to shake. His
kiss was too powerful to deny and she ultimately opened her mouth to accept
him. She kissed him back, loving the aggressive way he possessed her mouth.

She moaned lightly into his mouth
and the vibration against his tongue mixed with her submissive sound evoked his
lust to a degree he’d never experienced. He pulled his hand from under her
shirt and slid it up her arm. He grabbed both straps of her tank top and slowly
slid them down her shoulders as he continued kissing her. He needed to feel her
skin and he wanted her shirt off immediately. Refusing to take the time to
remove it, he blindly grabbed the neckline and yanked the material until it
ripped down the front. He slid the fabric back from her body and it fell to
gather above her cuffed wrists.

He finally broke there kiss and
pulled back to look at her. Her lips were swelled from the pressure of his kiss
and her eyes were hazed in lust. He slid his fingers under the straps of her
black bra and pulled them down to reveal her breasts.

He groaned at the sight of her
but needed to see more. He grabbed both cups of her bra and roughly yanked them
apart. The thin strap that held the cups together separated like tissue paper
and her breasts bounced as they were freed. He growled in admiration as his
cock jutted towards her.

She suddenly felt very
self-conscious under the scrutiny and tried to twist her body away from his
intense stare.

“Wait! Turn the light off,” she
said with an innocence that made his lust addled mind slow down a notch while
forcing his erection to pump up.

“Why would I do that? I would
make the light brighter if I could. I want to see you completely nude in the
brightest of lights. I want to examine every inch of you and I want to see
every mark on your body.” He ran his hand down the side of her breast as he
bent his head to kiss the center of her chest.

“At least un-cuff my hands.”

He grabbed her in his arms and
rose from the couch. He put her on her feet, grabbed the key off the coffee
table and then turned her around. He unlocked the handcuffs and stood back to
see what she would do. Once her hands were free, she covered her breasts with
her arms and turned to face him. He grabbed her arms and slowly pulled them
down to her sides.

“You should never hide yourself
from me,” he commanded as he pulled her closer.

He bent down to kiss her lips and
was surprised when she slid her arms around his neck. He picked her up and held
her close as he continued to kiss her.

She wrapped her legs around his
waist as she kissed him back. He put his hand under her butt for support as he
carried her over to the inflatable mattress. She could feel every line in his
hand, rubbing against her ass. She began to squirm against it and was rewarded
when he slid the tip of his finger across the slit of her pussy. She moaned
into their kiss as she moved her sex against his skilled fingers.

He hunched down next to the
mattress and then carefully laid her on top of it. He sat on the edge next to
her; his weight flattened the mattress and forced her to slide closer to him.
With one of his hands planted on the side of her head and the other grabbing
her chin, he leaned over her to continue their kiss. He slid his hand from her
chin down her neck to the front of her bare chest.

Caught in the moment, she slid
her hands down the back of his neck. She tried to stretch the neckline wider so
she could feel more of his skin. She felt an urgent need to feel his flesh
against hers. As if reading her mind, he pulled back from her, yanked open the
front of his shirt, pulled it off and tossed it to the floor. He grabbed the
waist of her skirt and began to pull it down.