A Price to Pay Read online

  Sasha had asked him to let go of her and he’d outright ignored her. Let him have a taste of his own fucking medicine and see how he liked it.

  ‘Marcus, calm down.’

  The words were slightly breathless, Nathan was jogging along behind me trying to catch up, but I had no intention of heeding his advice, not when this guy had just been pawing Sasha like she was a piece of meat for his forced pleasure.

  She’d said no, for fuck’s sake.

  I wasn’t usually a violent man, quite the opposite in fact. Most of my close friends would probably describe me as chilled out and laid-back, but at this current moment I was anything but. I felt explosive. I’d calm down once this arsehole had his face painted all over the pavement for daring to touch Sasha when she’d said no.

  I threw the guy onto the carpet in the reception area with a growl and pulled my leg back, ready to kick him, but was suddenly jerked back by a sharp tug on my shoulder. The contact was so hard I nearly tumbled over, and I let out a manic roar when I realised it was Nathan restraining me.

  How fucking dare he? I knew for a fact he would rip the balls off any guy who touched his girl, Stella, inappropriately, so he was a fucking hypocrite to try to stop me.

  Not that Sasha was my girl, I reminded myself sharply, but still.

  ‘Enough,’ Nathan stated in a low tone, flashing a warning glance to his right. Following his gaze, I realised that instead of being hypocritical he was most likely protecting me from getting into trouble, because there was a burly security guard eyeing me suspiciously and seemingly ready to take me down if I so much as sneezed too loudly.

  ‘Marcus.’ Nathan drew my gaze back to his and gave a sharp nod. ‘Get a fucking grip.’

  I was so wound up that I could easily have ignored him and thrown a punch his way – my fist had already balled and was partly raised of its own accord – but the quiet fury burning in his icy blue eyes brought me up short.

  What the fuck was I doing? Was I seriously lining up to punch one of my oldest and closest mates? He hadn’t even raised a hand to stop me, so I could have thrown a punch if I’d wanted, but something in his quiet strength made me stop and drop my hand to my side. I totally got why he was such a good dominant; he had the whole cool, calm, controlled thing down to a tee.

  ‘Fuck. Sorry, Nathan. I lost my head for a minute there.’ I kept my eyes averted in embarrassment. Shaking out my fist, I felt an ache in my knuckles and suspected I might have a few bruises there tomorrow.

  ‘You think kicking the shit out of him will impress her?’ he asked quietly, his tone ladled with scorn.

  Running a hand through my hair, I glanced across at the guy who was still on the floor, but now being restrained by one of the bouncers.

  ‘I didn’t do it for Sasha,’ I murmured, responding automatically.

  ‘Of course you fucking did.’ Nathan scoffed. ‘I see the way you look at her.’

  I frowned and shook my head. ‘He was just a dickhead who needed a lesson in manners,’ I mumbled, wondering if Nathan believed my bullshit any more than I did.

  ‘Let me give you a tip, Marcus. Sure, girls love all the macho protection shit, but watching you gut some guy just because he dared touch her? That would not be a turn-on, that would be fucking frightening.’ Nathan jabbed at my shoulder to make sure I was listening and then continued. ‘And getting arrested for having a brawl isn’t exactly going to impress Sasha, either.’

  I didn’t do it for Sasha. I didn’t. We were incompatible, a complete no-go. I didn’t do it for her. Although no matter how many times I repeated the phrase, I couldn’t quite work out why I’d reacted so violently to the man if it weren’t because of Sasha.

  If he’d been pushing some other girl around would I have wanted to smash his face in?

  No. Probably not.

  Gritting my teeth, I lowered my gaze as the answer played uncomfortably in my mind. I felt antsy and fidgety, my body filled with adrenalin that had nowhere to go now that my human punch bag was no longer an option.

  Nathan spoke with the bouncers and informed them that the guy had been putting pressure on one of the female club goers and I watched with some small level of satisfaction as they dragged the bastard off into a side room for a “talk”. I hoped it included them getting up close and personal with their meaty fists, but who knew.

  ‘You OK now?’ Nathan asked, placing a hand on my shoulder and giving a supportive squeeze. As much as I knew he meant well, I wasn’t in the mood for getting all flowery and discussing my feelings with him, so all he got in reply was a sharp nod.

  Reluctantly I accepted that what I wanted to do most was get back inside and check that Sasha was OK. My brain might understand that we were completely unsuited together, but no matter what I did I couldn’t seem to persuade my body of that fact and I still craved her with an intensity bordering on compulsion.

  Looking back at Nathan, I shook off the hand he had placed on my shoulder before striding back towards the club in search of the girl who I wanted more than my common sense could understand.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Sasha

  It had been at least two minutes since Marcus had dragged the sleazy guy off me and disappeared from the club, and the hand covering my mouth was still firmly in place, although it was now trembling from shock sinking into my system.

  Wow. That had been quite a display. I couldn’t help but assume that Marcus had been watching me a little tonight, then. He might have been pretending to look the other way all evening, but how else would he have known I was in trouble? I didn’t like the fact that he’d had to get in a fight for me, but I was pleased – and very relieved – that he’d decided to step in and protect me because that guy had been a complete dick with a total disregard for personal space.

  Not only had he saved me from making an embarrassing scene fighting the guy off, the fact that Marcus had stepped in must show he felt something for me… mustn’t it?

  Natalia was still nowhere to be seen with our drinks, and I’d been well and truly put off dancing now, so I moved to the side of the dance floor where my jacket was hung over a stool and took a few deep breaths to try to recover my composure.

  A few seconds later, Marcus strode back in, closely followed by Nathan. Marcus paused on the threshold, his shoulders hunched with tension and his eyes scanning the area like a predator on the lookout for its prey. I found my breath stalling in my lungs as his stare moved around the room, and then, as he zeroed in on me, his eyes locked with mine and I felt a jolt of connection.

  He looked lethal somehow, far more wrung out than his usual calm demeanour, and was still panting slightly and frowning.

  Dragging up my manners, I decided not to let his look deter me, and I nodded my thanks, hoping he would understand what I meant, and how much I had appreciated his intervention.

  Nathan leaned in and said something to Marcus before moving to the bar. Marcus began to move my way, his eyes not leaving mine once, and the frown remaining well and truly in place as he stalked ever closer.

  He was moving with such deadly intent that all the hairs on my body rose with awareness, and I found myself unable to do anything other than stand there and stare at him as he approached.

  He stopped just a few feet in front of me and ran his gaze up and down my body as if checking that I was OK after my run-in with the sleaze. I couldn’t find the right words to say, but the connection between us was laying heavily all around me and I found that all I wanted to do in this moment was show him how grateful I was.

  One second, I was staring at his frowning handsomeness, and the next I had thrown myself at him. I’m not even sure it was a conscious decision, but suddenly I was all over him. I’d literally leaped up his body, and somehow, I was now attached; my hands were in his hair, one leg was wrapped around his waist, and my mouth collided with his with such force that our lips would probably bruise.

  Marcus might have been shocked by my sudden attack, but it only took him a split-s
econd to respond, and as his tongue forced its way inside my mouth he walked us backwards into a darker corner where we crashed against a wall as our kiss deepened.

  The impact of hitting the wall took my breath away, but there was no time to focus on my breathlessness because the next second Marcus had removed my hands from his body and pinned them above my head in one of his warm palms. His free hand skimmed across my body, touching and arousing me before coming to rest around my throat.

  I’d never been held by the throat before, and although I felt vulnerable I also instinctively knew I was safe in his arms. His grip was firm, but not hard enough to affect my breathing, and I found it such a predatory position that my arousal shot through the roof and warmth pooled between my legs and wetted my underwear.

  ‘I didn’t do it for you,’ he growled, his grip twitching on my neck and his face still contorted into a frown, and it seemed to me that he was desperately trying to persuade himself he didn’t feel the thing that was so obviously growing between us.

  I had no doubt that Marcus was a chivalrous guy, he would have stepped in to help any woman in distress, but it hadn’t been any woman, it had been me, and the violence of his intervention had spoken volumes. He had done it for me.

  He’d wanted to save me.

  ‘No?’ Raising an eyebrow, I gave a small smile to indicate that I’d seen through his lie and leaned in closer so I could whisper in his ear. ‘I think you did. Thank you.’

  His nostrils flared, as if he didn’t like admitting that his strong reaction had been because of me, but his mouth found mine again anyway, and then his hand was on the move again, skimming across my body and landing on my breast where he gripped hard and began to fondle my nipple through my dress.

  Both my nipples pebbled until they felt impossibly tight and ached for his touch, and I arched my back to force more of his delicious contact.

  As he swapped to my other breast with his hand, our kiss continued; frantic and open-mouthed and breathless and incredible. I wanted to touch him so badly, but just as I went to tug on my trapped wrists he shocked me into stillness by dropping his free hand lower still and digging it up under my skirt. Wasting no time, he pressed inside my knickers and then slid his fingers across my damp skin before circling my moisture around my clit.

  Holy fuck. Talk about getting straight down to it. It was as if the tension between us had suddenly caught up with him and he couldn’t contain himself. I was instantly flooded with more moisture, which he obviously felt, because he smirked and then tugged at the zip of his jeans before leaning back to stare at me with intense eyes.

  ‘Do you want this, Sasha?’ he ground out, his smirk disappearing as he seemed to come to for a second and realise what he was doing. His darker expression was back as he waited for my reply, and even though I’d rarely ever seen him looking this dangerous I couldn’t deny that his show of power was turning me on immensely.

  ‘Yes. Oh God, Marcus, yes.’

  After that it all happened so quickly. As soon as I had given my consent, he tore his cock from within his jeans, adjusted my position in his grip, and thrust his hips forwards, impaling me in one hard thrust that banged me back into the wall with its depth.

  I was wet, but his first thrust still hurt a little as he rammed his sizeable length home and I shrieked his name, the sound only muffled when he clamped his lips over mine again and kissed me as his hips started to jerk back and forth.

  The initial discomfort only lasted a second, and I was now wriggling against each of his thrusts and loving every second of it. Managing to free my mouth from his savage kiss, I gave a tug at my wrists. ‘I want to touch you.’

  The hand that held mine imprisoned flinched for a second as if he were about to give in to my request, but then his grip tightened and my hope faded. ‘No.’

  Leaning forwards, I kissed his jaw and trailed my tongue up towards his ear, hoping to persuade him. ‘Please, Marcus…’

  A sharp jab of his hips pinned me to the wall and stopped me from speaking again, and then he shook his head slowly. ‘No.’

  I wanted to touch him so badly it burned in my system like an obsession, but the potency of the moment hit me and was so pure that I pushed my need away for now. What we were doing felt amazing, so really it didn’t matter if I could touch him or not. I was with him, Marcus Price, the man who had featured in all my recent fantasies, he was fucking me like a man possessed, and it felt incredible.

  I gave a small nod of agreement and we continued to move together, Marcus leading the pace and me attempting to keep up, but with the urgency and eroticism of the moment I knew I wouldn’t last long.

  Even suspecting this, the feeling building in my belly so quickly took me by surprise. As Marcus continued to move within me in deep, hard thrusts, I rolled over into a blissful climax, silencing my cries of pleasure by burying my face in his shoulder and drawing out my orgasm by tightening my leg around his waist and grinding my clit against him.

  Marcus swore softly beside my head, and then I felt his cock expand and hips jerk as he began to come, too, the warmth of his release flooding my insides and bringing it home to me that yes, I really was with Marcus again, and yes, we really were having unprotected sex in the middle of a nightclub.

  How had I not thought about condoms? I was usually so good at remembering, but the tension of the moment had somehow distracted me. Fuck. Thank God I was at least on the pill.

  Forgetting that issue for a moment, I turned my attention back to Marcus who was still buried deeply within me and panting as if he’d just run a marathon. We remained joined like that for several seconds as we both came down from the furiously quick encounter, and then Marcus silently let go of my wrists and slid from within me. Digging in my handbag, I found a tissue. Averting my eyes in embarrassment, I tried to wipe between my legs. I’d had some dodgy encounters in my time, but a bareback quickie in a packed nightclub was certainly a first for me.

  Finally lifting my gaze up to Marcus again, I found him watching me, still with a half frown creasing his brow. As I stared at him, something inside my chest tightened painfully. God. I was really falling for him.

  Me, Sasha Mortimer, the girl who didn’t do relationships, was falling head over heels for a man who wouldn’t let me touch him. I’d never be able to stroke his body, never explore his face with my fingertips, never dig my hands through his hair… Was that the price I’d have to pay to be with him?

  The longer I stared at him, the more panic swirled in my chest at both the mountain of feelings I was developing for this man, and the seemingly impossible situation that surrounded us.

  How the hell could this thing between us ever work out? And how could I bring myself to walk away from him if it didn’t?

  ‘Jesus Christ, Sasha, you could at least attempt to look like you enjoyed it.’

  I was so shocked by his tone that I frowned and looked up at him in surprise. ‘What?’ I had no idea what he was talking about, because aside from our lapse with the condom, that had been incredible.

  ‘I guess it must be a let-down, breaking your famous “never have sex with the same guy twice” rule, huh?’ His lip curled with distaste as he hurriedly pulled his zipper back up with a violent jerk of his hand.

  Suddenly I started to piece together what his words might be referring to; presumably my expression must have looked panicked when I’d been thinking about how badly I was falling for him, and he’d mistaken my look for one of regret. Could that be what he meant? Because if it was, his guess couldn’t be further from the truth. ‘Marcus…’

  But before I could properly explain he stepped back with a shake of his head and turned away, disappearing into the crowd before I could finish my sentence.

  ‘Shit!’ My clothes were scrunched and pulled aside, my thighs were still wet from our encounter, and my breathing was frantic.

  In short, I felt like I’d just been well and truly fucked, and I no doubt looked like it, too. But still, I didn’t exactly want to be
running through the nightclub in this state.

  I sorted out my clothes as best I could so I looked halfway decent, but by the time I dashed to find Marcus he was nowhere to be seen. I pushed through people and peered over dancers, but whichever way I turned there was no sign of him.

  Marcus was gone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Marcus

  I charged out into the balmy evening and let out a roar of frustration as soon as I was a safe distance away from the club. My rage drew the looks of several people around me, but I didn’t give a shit. They could stare all they liked.

  Dragging a hand through my hair, I realised I was trembling all over, and I stopped and tried to shake the adrenalin out of my body. It didn’t help. My nerves felt jagged, and my whole body was jumping with the need to burn off some energy.

  Fuck this shit. I was such an idiot for allowing my obsession with Sasha to draw me back to her time and time again. Even though I knew things between us would never work, I seemed to lose all my common sense when she was near.

  Especially when she was leaping into my arms and grinding herself against me. My eyes fluttered shut as I recalled her heated reaction to me and lust burned in my system again. Christ, I’d have had to be a saintly monk not to have been affected by that little display.

  A low burn of arousal hummed in my veins even now, joined by the heat of a mortified flush running up my neck as I was hit with the painful recollection of just how horrified she’d looked afterwards. It had been one of the best sexual experiences of my life, but clearly from her narrow-eyed grimace Sasha had not shared my enthusiasm.

  Sasha Mortimer, the girl who never fucked the same guy twice, had just had round two with me, and she’d looked utterly dismayed at her slip. Quite apparently for Sasha that hadn’t been the earth-moving experience I’d thought it had.

  Just remembering how beautiful she’d looked afterwards with her flushed cheeks and swollen lips made my cock lurch to a half hard state, and I growled my irritation that my body wouldn’t bow to my brain’s orders to forget about her.