The Darkness Within Him: The Untwisted series Read online

  Dominant, non-spanking Nicholas I really liked: his masculine assertiveness made the muscles in my groin tighten and his desperation to claim me was a heady feeling, making me instantly wet with desire.

  ‘Mine,’ he grumbled against my lips. His free hand roughly pulled my left leg up and dropped it to rest on the counter behind him so it was almost wrapped around him. He tugged at one breast through my T-shirt, causing my nipple to extend below the thin material and a cry of pleasurable pain to escape from my throat.

  Within seconds, he was dragging my skirt up and then, before I had time to catch my breath, Nicholas had pulled his tracksuit bottoms and boxers over his straining erection, tugged my thong aside, and pushed himself inside me with an almost guttural roar. Jeez, talk about no warm-up time; and he hadn’t even bothered to remove any of our clothing!

  ‘Fuck!’ I cried out in surprise, but thankfully not pain, as I dug the heel of my left foot into the edge of the kitchen counter to stabilise myself. Nicholas pounded into me relentlessly and I found the stretched material of my thong rubbing perfectly against my clitoris, an added bonus of not removing my knickers, I thought with a throaty groan of approval.

  God this was good: unexpected, but amazing. My body was fast responding to his demanding rhythm, muscles clenching deep in my core, desire spiralling in my stomach as his strokes brought me closer, closer …

  Suddenly, Nicholas buried himself deep inside me and stopped dead, panting heavily in my ear.

  ‘No!’ I cried out. I was so close! What the hell was he doing?

  ‘Tell me,’ he demanded softly, his breathing hot and ragged against my sensitive lobe as his free hand caressed my cheek with surprising compassion.

  Oh, so that was what this was: punishment sex. Nicholas wouldn’t spank me so he was going to fuck me into submission instead and not let me come unless I told him what he wanted to hear. Well, this was certainly an improvement on a caning session.

  ‘Tell me!’ he demanded again, his voice harsh now, desperate even, and he tugged hard on my earlobe with his teeth making me wince.

  ‘I’m yours, Nicholas. Yours.’ I spoke truthfully into the damp skin of his neck, my own breathing just as hitched as his.

  This declaration from me was apparently all he needed to hear because as soon as I spoke, Nicholas groaned with pleasure and began moving inside me again, slower now, with more deliberate thrusts that had me arching my back up from the cupboard to meet him stroke for stroke until finally my body tensed around his, blinding me with a body-quaking orgasm and making me cry out his name into his shoulder.

  Seconds later, Nicholas emptied himself inside me with a noise somewhere near a growl and finally freed my hands, allowing them to drop limply back to my sides. It was just as well he was pushed against me otherwise I may well have slumped to the ground from the post-orgasmic muscle trembles that were shooting through my legs.

  We stood joined together as we recovered our breath, my face buried in his neck, his damp forehead resting on my hair. Leaving his softening erection inside me, he leant back to look into my face.

  ‘Tell me again, Rebecca … please,’ Nicholas said quietly, an almost bewildered look on his face, as if he didn’t believe my words. How could he be so domineering one second and so vulnerable the next? My heart constricted for the damaged man in front of me, so starved of love as a child that he literally had no idea how important he was to me.

  Raising my hands to his face, I cupped his jaw, rubbing soothing circles across his cheeks, and then smiled up at him. ‘I am all yours, Nicholas, and you are mine,’ I murmured.

  Apparently convinced for now at least, he closed his eyes, rested his forehead on mine, and sighed. ‘Yes. You own me body and soul, Rebecca. I love you.’ A buzzing sensation shot through my chest. I would never tire of hearing Nicholas say those three words. He dropped a kiss on the end of my nose before suddenly frowning and jerking his head back.

  ‘Did I hurt you?’ he asked, concern evident in his tone. ‘I’m sorry if I was too rough …’

  Shaking my head, I stroked his cheek reassuringly again. ‘No … I like it a bit rough sometimes,’ I admitted with a shy smile. I was about to say, ‘When I’m with you,’ to show how much I trusted him, but then remembered that talk of my other lovers had started all this in the first place and I hastily stopped myself. Good catch, I thought with relief.

  ‘Do you now?’ he replied with a raised eyebrow and a cocky grin. ‘That’s just as well, because you seem to be the perfect anger management strategy for me, Becky.’ I noticed he was using my shortened name again. Phew, the tantrum was over.

  ‘Better than using the cane?’ I asked tentatively, and in response, he glowered at me. Damn it, why couldn’t I just keep my big mouth shut?

  ‘Different,’ he muttered finally. ‘I don’t ever want to hurt you, Becky. The canes … They were for a different purpose, a link to my past, I suppose. But that’s all it is now, my past; I don’t need to retain it any more. I still get mad with you sometimes but I see that punishing you in that way would be wrong. I told you I don’t want to do it any more.’ He shook his head. ‘Making love to you, albeit roughly, seemed to be a way for me to vent my frustration but not hurt you.’ His eyes had widened as if he had surprised himself with this realisation.

  I blushed at his admission. Wow, my body was officially an anger management strategy. Not many people could make that claim, could they?

  ‘Why, Rebecca, I do believe you’re blushing,’ he murmured, dropping a chaste kiss on to each of my burning cheeks before taking hold of my chin and tilting it up so I was looking into his eyes. ‘The cane was way too extreme.’ He frowned. ‘But the other stuff can be a good distraction sometimes too,’ he added cryptically.

  ‘Other stuff?’ I asked, wondering what he was referring to. But as his self-confident smile returned to his beautiful lips, I was fairly sure Nicholas was referring to the toys he sometimes liked to use in the bedroom and was just teasing me now. Oh goody, Teasing Nicholas was even better fun than Dominant Nicholas.

  ‘The cuffs and toys are fun but we’ve not used them since getting back together because, to be honest, as long as I’m with you, Becky, I’m happy. I don’t need all that other stuff.’ Wow, he really had made progress. I could see the truth shining in his eyes. He genuinely meant it.

  I chewed on my lip. Something deep inside me was disappointed. There, I’d admitted it, even if not out loud. I had enjoyed using the gentler toys with Nicholas; they’d been new, completely unknown, and downright exciting when combined with his skilled touch in the bedroom.

  Suddenly he laughed and, seeing as his cock was still inside me, I felt it right to my core. ‘Just when I thought your cheeks were as red as they could get you’ve managed to blush even more,’ he observed with narrowed eyes. ‘I think perhaps you liked experimenting with the toys more than you’ll ever admit out loud, Becky,’ he concluded softly as if he’d just read my mind.

  A flicker of his old arrogance returned for a brief second but his tone was peculiar, causing me to meet his gaze. As I did, it was my turn to gasp. Nicholas’ eyes were blazing again, his intention obvious, and no sooner had I registered the excitement in his pupils than I felt him stirring to life inside me again.

  ‘Perhaps I could dig out that box of toys again …’ he murmured teasingly. ‘Wrap your legs around me, Rebecca,’ he ordered, rolling my full name across his tongue while gripping my waist in his strong hands. His tone made me comply immediately, and once I was secure, he proceeded to walk me to the bedroom with us still joined at the waist intimately.

  Nicholas kicked the bedroom door shut behind him and lowered us both to the bed with a hissed breath. ‘Christ, Becky, you’re so fucking wet I almost lost control just walking here,’ he whispered, dropping his forehead onto mine and closing his eyes while he drew in several steadying breaths. He wasn’t the only one who needed to recover. Being carried in his arms while his erection throbbed inside me and rubbed against
me with every step had almost been my undoing. As for going up the stairs, I thought I was going to come on each and every frigging step.

  ‘I’ll be back in a second,’ he murmured, easing himself out of me with reluctance. As he reached the door, he paused, a dark smile forming on his lips as he turned back to me.

  Tugging his dressing gown from the hook on the back of the door, he pulled the long cotton belt free and threw it at me. ‘Undress and then blindfold yourself,’ he instructed thickly, then, without giving me a chance to object, he left the room.

  Blindfold myself? Wow, that was unexpected … but actually kind of hot, I thought with a wicked grin. Was this insanely gorgeous, kinky, sexy man really mine?

  Undressing in record time – if there were Olympic medals for disrobing, believe me, I would have won gold – I tied the strip of fabric around my eyes until everything went dark. Then I lay back and eagerly awaited his return, my body already thrumming with arousal.

  Luckily, in my hugely aroused state I didn’t have to wait long before I heard the bedroom door opening. If the door hadn’t squeaked, I would still have known that Nicholas was back because there was a growl of approval that made me grin uncontrollably.

  ‘God, you are so beautiful, Rebecca.’ His voice was surprisingly close by. He must have crossed the room silently and be standing right next to the bed, leaning over me. I shivered in anticipation.

  Next, I felt the soft caress of his fingers on my wrist, lazily trailing across the sensitive skin over my pulse point in a teasing series of circles. ‘Would you like to be tied up or not?’ Nicholas asked softly.

  Tied up … I’d experienced both sides of that in the past. The intense pleasure brought about from not being able to move while Nicholas stimulated me had definitely given me one of my most powerful orgasms ever, but then on the other hand I still remembered the gut-wrenching, stifling fear of being restrained and unable to escape while he used the cane on me to beat out his fury.

  A shudder escaped me at the memory and my fear must have been evident on my face because I felt the bed dip as he lowered himself down beside me. I felt the softness of his lips descend on mine before he slipped my blindfold up onto my forehead. ‘We can leave that part, Rebecca. You are safe with me, baby, I promise. Do you want me to stop?’

  The obvious concern and love on Nicholas’ face made it clear to me that I had no need to worry; he wouldn’t hurt me. So with a shy smile, I kissed him back and then readjusted the blindfold over my eyes again.

  ‘Tie me up,’ I instructed, raising my arms above my head and hoping the gesture would establish in his heart that I really did trust him again. A small hiss escaped his lips and heated my cheek before he kissed me once more, then set about tying both my wrists and ankles to the four posts of the bed. Once he was done, I was completely spread-eagled and unable to move.

  You’d think I’d be mortified in such an exposing position, wouldn’t you? But I wasn’t. Perhaps it was the knowledge that Nicholas loved me that did it, or just because we knew each other’s body intimately by now, but surprisingly I no longer found this type of position embarrassing and I relaxed back into the mattress, eagerly awaiting his next trick.

  The sound of a match being struck to my right made me turn my head, and the smell of sulphur registered briefly in my nose before a lovely waft of something sweet caught my breath. Orange blossom. Nicholas must have lit an orange blossom candle somewhere nearby and the fact he remembered my favourite scent made my heart tighten in my chest. It wasn’t exactly a common scent for a candle either, so he’d obviously gone out of his way to find it: another point in his favour.

  Even through my blindfold, I could tell when he turned off the main light because everything went even blacker than before. The thought that he was going to make love to me in candlelight, something so classically romantic, made my heart constrict and sent a shot of lust coursing through my body.

  A huge smile broke on my lips as I lay waiting for him to return to the bed; the progress Nicholas had made emotionally in the last few weeks was truly phenomenal, both in the bedroom and out, and I had to keep reminding myself he was new to the whole “romance” thing. Although with the candles, flowers, and general obsession with my happiness it had to be said that he was handling it all like a pro.

  Suddenly, Nicholas’ mouth was on mine. He must have been leaning over the bed because I hadn’t felt him sit down but his lips were so soft and gentle that I found myself craning my neck up for more of his delicious pressure.

  Then his lips were gone and I felt momentarily lost until they began licking and nibbling at the skin of my breast before latching on to one of my nipples, which he sucked into his warm mouth. Being “blind” and teased this way was quite something, making my insides liquefy with pleasure. Nicholas’ other hand began roaming across my skin, touching with feather-light flicks: stomach, thigh, hip. As his fingers found my swollen clitoris, he sucked my nipple right into his mouth harder than before, almost to the point of pain. But oh, what delicious pain it was, so good that I felt it right deep down in my groin.

  ‘Ahhh!’ I cried out, arching my back for more and almost feeling ashamed to enjoy this fine balance of pleasure and pain that he was bestowing on me. Then he released my hardened, sensitive nipple before kissing his way across to the other one to repeat the treatment.

  The blindfold increased my awareness of his touch tenfold, and that soon became almost too much for me to handle. The sensation of Nicholas’ tongue running along the seam of my lips and plundering my mouth while his hands worked simultaneously at my breasts and clitoris was overwhelming and I pulled back, gasping for air and writhing below him like a wild animal.

  Sensing my imminent release, he slowed things down, briefly leaving my side before returning and laying himself alongside me. The feel of his naked body and erection warm and hard against my thigh made me sigh contentedly and turn my head to where I thought his face might be. My aim was right and I felt his lips seek out mine, kissing me lingeringly on the mouth, before something cool pressed against the apex of my thighs.

  ‘I think you might like this,’ he murmured against my mouth, before pushing what felt like a lifelike-shaped vibrator deep into my wet channel in one smooth movement.

  ‘Oh yes,’ I gasped, loving the feel of the vibrator filling me, so alien in its plastic material and yet so familiar in its form, far better than the bullet-style one he’d used on me when we’d first met.

  Hearing a click as he turned it on, I expected it to buzz inside me and gasped in shock as, instead of vibrating, the whole thing circled rhythmically. Wow, this thing was incredible, somehow managing to hit all the right spots with its sweeping motion. A second click followed, and as well as circling, the vibrator began to pulse inside me. Nicholas joined in the fun by grazing his thumb across my clitoris in a teasing series of sweeps.

  ‘Oh God!’ I couldn’t help but call out from the sensory overload. The pleasure from the vibrator combined with Nicholas’ thumb, not to mention his mouth on my breast, was too much for me to handle silently, especially as I couldn’t move. After only a few moments, I exploded in a body-shaking orgasm, screaming his name and writhing below him as much as my restraints allowed.

  The mattress shifted as Nicholas moved around me undoing each of the bonds in turn. He gently kissed each limb before moving to the next. Swallowing, I realised my throat was sore from yelling his name, and as he removed my blindfold I regained my focus and saw him grinning down at me broadly.

  ‘Could you shout my name louder next time? I’m not sure the people in the next street heard you,’ he remarked lightly as my cheeks flamed with shame.

  ‘Sorry,’ I croaked as his lips lowered toward mine invitingly.

  ‘Don’t apologise. I love hearing you scream my name, baby.’ He kissed me lingeringly on my already swollen mouth.

  ‘Now it’s my turn, Becky, but I don’t need any toys. I like to enjoy them sometimes but I like to enjoy you even more,’ he w
hispered against my neck. He positioned himself between my legs and entered me so deliciously slowly that I could feel every single inch sliding inside me until he was buried to the hilt.

  My body was still quivering from the aftershocks of my previous orgasm, not to mention the one in the kitchen. Jeez, I was going to sleep like a log tonight, and be walking a bit funny too, but even through my exhaustion, I felt my body reacting to Nicholas’ tender lovemaking. How could it not? Instinct took over, and as I met him thrust for thrust, he brought me to yet another mind-blowing climax, murmuring my name over and over against my neck and making me feel like the most treasured thing on earth.

  Chapter Nineteen

  That night, we were due at Nathan’s for dinner and I was dreading it. I’d lost count of the amount of times I’d huffed and puffed out my anxiousness in the last few hours. I’d distracted myself from consciously thinking about it for most of the afternoon, but as I settled myself in Nicholas’ plush car I felt my stomach bunch with nerves at the thought of seeing Nathan again. Nicholas would be there with me, but still, Nathan had seemed to be even more intimidating than Nicholas, if that was possible; something I attributed to his overwhelming self-confidence. Probably after meeting him a few times and getting used to his mannerisms, I’d feel more relaxed in his company. Yeah, right.

  The drive to Nathan’s apartment in Canary Wharf took about half an hour. Although I knew Docklands was a thriving business area of London, I’d had no idea that there were also residential areas too. In fact, as we made our way between large, skyscraper offices and converted dock buildings, I was surprised to see a variety of trendy shops, bars, and restaurants lining the streets of the thriving area.

  Mr Burrett dropped us off at the base of a huge apartment block that had to be at least 30 floors high. Blimey. It was all steel and glass, and just as sterile and imposing as the resident we were on our way to visit.

  We entered the lift and I wasn’t really surprised when Nicholas pressed the button for the top and then entered a private code. Well, this was Nathan’s home; if he was anything like his brother, he would have the best apartment in the place, wouldn’t he? The lift came to a stop on the top floor and I saw there was only one doorway off the small landing. Ah, the penthouse, of course, that was obviously why the private code had been needed in the lift.