Chapter Twenty-Six

Kara gasped for the hundredth time as Lucas curved dangerously on the empty road. They’d been driving for only an hour and a half and although horrified at how fast he’d driven, Kara was glad when Lucas slowed before two powerful black gates which automatically opened for their master. She’d finally get away from his over-powering presence and clear her head of these dirty thoughts.
The rain beat down on the roof of the car and created a sense of cosiness which only heightened the heat between them. Kara inched as far away from Luc as she could.
Which wasn’t very far.
His mouth curved in a sardonic smile at her attempts as he drove the car out of the rain and into the large garage.
Grateful for whoever created seat belts, Kara quickly zipped hers off as the car came to an abrupt stop. She pushed open the door and stepped out on shaky knees, but got no further than a step when Luc had come around and closed in on her.
Kara immediately stepped back at the look in his eyes. He’d been darkly closed off since they left the ranch and he still had that scary I’m-about-to-devour-everything look in his eyes. Everything, including her.
She started raising her hand to hold him off, but Lucas roughly grabbed it and shoved it against his chest, holding it there.
“Go ahead, touch me,” he prompted, his tone dark. “You’ve wanted to for the past two hours, haven’t you?”
Kara couldn’t speak. He knew?! How em-ba-ra-ssing.
Her face pinked as she tried to pull her hand out from under his and Lucas finally let it go, stepping back slowly, away from her. Kara carefully controlled her breathing as he stood and studied her for a second.
She didn’t meet his gaze, instead focused on anything on the floor, her shoes and stray leaves included. Her eyes roamed, her body tensing more with each minute of silent staring. Then her gaze rose and landed on Luc’s groin.
Her mouth fell open. Never before in her life had Kara seen one… or the outline of one so up close. Luc stood there seemingly not bothered by her innocent gawking. Her eyes wouldn’t look away and she drank in the size of him.
He was huge.
Luc saw her gulp and hurriedly turn her eyes away, a little too late. His mouth curved coldly, but it still heated Kara to her toes.
When he jerked her against him, she tensed even further, keeping her wide eyed gaze riveted to his neck just below his chin. He was beside himself with desire and fought to control it. But how did she expect him to control himself when she openly looked at his body like that?
“Shocked?” he murmured lazily. “You did this to me… and you will make it better, Kara.”
She fought down the shiver like her life depended on it.
Then he was gone, leaving Kara practically huddled against the car, eyes as wide as a startled African Bushbaby.
She sighed heavily, her eyes closing in grief for the innocence they had just lost. Sure she’d seen plenty girls drunk and naked, but that felt different because they were girls. Lucas was a man. All man.
And she saw the shape of him.
Silently, she turned and followed him through the door open before her.
The passage led up some silent carpeted stairs and then suddenly appeared through an open doorway to a brightly lit kitchen.
Kara stood in the doorway, clutching her heavy canvas bags against her chest, staring at everything.
It was nothing like François and Celeste’s. Although they were rich from the ranch, the farm and the vineyards and fruit yards, their home was just that. Home. It had a warmth that welcomed anybody and Kara knew that first-hand.
Luc’s place screamed at her. She looked at the glossy appliances. A complicated looking stove, something that looked like an electric jug, and a whole lot of other stuff that Kara had really never seen before. The floor shone under the white lights and the dark wood of the cupboard looked like it would tell her the story of a whole forest is she sniffed it.
Kara nodded. Yup. It screamed expensive.
She’d been standing there for five whole minutes, feet together and shoulders drawn, listening to the rain fall outside, because that was the only sound reaching her. Besides, she liked the sound of the rain. It had hushed her to sleep countless times before and had been the gentlest thing she’d ever experienced.
Luc appeared suddenly and Kara stood straighter.
He gave her a puzzled look.
“Any reason why you’re still standing there?” he demanded.
Kara bristled at his tone, but held her own, refusing to be just as rude. Not yet anyway.
“You didn’t invite me in.”
“I didn’t invite you in last time when you stole from me either.”
She flinched, but tightened her grip on the bag straps. Why had he just thrown that back into her face?
“No, you didn’t invite me in. You carried me and threw me around like a bag of worthless crap!”
Lucas frowned darkly and Kara stared back at him, daring him to say something more. He’d provoked her enough for one day and she’d snap on him soon.
He gave her a slow once over then turned and walked away.
“Come in.”
Kara huffed and followed him. Her eyes widened when they walked past some art room, its double doors widely opened. She remembered that room. It was the room he’s interrogated her in. But it had been much emptier then. Like he’d just moved in.
Luc watched her study everything they went past and felt his face harden.
She easily spotted monetary value in things, he saw that and he hated it. She was the daughter of Markos Vilmont, one of the biggest scumbags of all time. She could have run away purely as some daughter rebellion or whatever.
What if she’d been living in absolute luxury with her father? As a result of other people’s suffering.
His jaw hardened and Lucas threw open her bedroom door with more force than intended. She jerked back when the door hit the wall and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
“You know, you don’t have to keep me here if you don’t want me here,” she said coldly. “Let me go and I’ll leave without a backward glance.”
Pushing his hands into his pockets, he nodded his head into the room.
“This is your bedroom.” Pointing to the door after hers, he said, “That one’s mine.”
Kara lifted her chin at his ignoring her statement and decided then and there that her desire for him was gone. Dead and buried!
Except her mind was then filled with thoughts of when he’d be beautifully naked in his bedroom, separated from her by a measly wall.
Oh, crap.
Frustrated, she slipped by him in the space his large frame left in the doorway, ignoring his burning gaze as it followed her.
What was his problem?
She turned to ask him, but the door closed on her and Luc walked away to his own room.
He quickly checked the urge to punch a wall and instead decided to simply take a cold shower. His blood was burning in his veins and Kara was the fire that made it so hot. He didn’t understand this.
He knew now that she was probably just an over-pampered daughter of a scumbag which easily explained her stealing his money and how scared she was of her father, but none of that could diffuse the hunger he had for her.
Lucas pulled his clothing off roughly and dropped it on the floor as he walked into his large bathroom.
He got into the shower, turning it cold until every needle pierced his skin like an icicle. He needed to get this girl that he’d begun to desire and to thirst for too quickly out of his head. Damn it. It happened too fast. One day he was catching her trying to rob his place and the next day, he was shaking with the need to taste her mouth.
Fuck, he wanted to do more than just taste her mouth. Lucas groaned. He wanted to taste her everything. He wanted to suck on her milky breasts until she cried out her need for him. He wanted nip the insides of the silky thighs and curl his tongue up her wet core, tasting the depth of her.
Another groan escaped and Luc glared down at his hard cock, throbbing under a fucking cold shower.
With an irritated scowl, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry himself off.
He was making things worse for himself. The sooner he sorted out this matter, the better. Kara would have to leave, she was putting everybody in danger. She could go back to Rein or USA where she said she was really from. He didn’t care.
He also didn’t care about the unease those thoughts stirred up within him or the fluid that wet his tip for her. Shit, she was driving him insane.
Kara pulled on her second knee-length sock and glanced at the wall for the tenth time. She’d heard the shower and try as she might have, she’d failed to keep the images at bay.
Would he look bigger out of the confines of his pants? Would he fit in her hand?
No, enough!
Her stomach growled and Kara was reminded of a different kind of hunger. A safer hunger.
She hadn’t eaten her dinner! Of course. And now she had to ask Luc for food. Ag, crap.
The large black t-shirt brushed her thigh beneath the hem of her shorts as she got up.
Slowly approaching the door, Kara listened for any sounds. Since she’d heard the shower turn off, the house was silent.
She huffed and crossed her arms as she pointlessly studied the extravagant bedroom he put her in. She snorted. For some, it might be the perfect room, but Kara didn’t like how the heavy bedside lamps shone under the fancy lights.
She eyed the rug at the foot of the bed and wondered how many thousands she’d just stomped on with her feet.
Worrying her top lip with her teeth, Kara nodded at the room. He was rich, alright. Filthy rich.
With a sigh, she sunk onto a padded chair near the bed.
She knew that she vowed to resist his pull, but also secretly admitted that she let herself get drawn and hardly even gathered the strength to resist Lucas. And she really had no damn clue why she did that because they were worlds apart.
He was sports cars, mansions and millions, while she was dusty, poor and from filth. That alone guaranteed no happy ever after. She shrugged. It was okay. Even if she would never be good enough for Lucas she was damn well good enough for herself and that’s all that mattered.
Tired of brooding, she got up and pulled open the bedroom door. She crept down the hallway and approached Luc’s room with mega caution. Not a creak came out of the shiny dark wood beneath her feet and Kara remembered how the floorboards would creak horribly in the hallway when she’d try to sneak out as a little girl.
Her step-father had ears like a bat, of course, and it always ended with him chasing her cackling form all the way into the front yard where she’d finally make her gleeful escape, his threats ringing behind her.
She stood facing Luc’s door and wondered what he’d think of her if he knew what she came from. Would he look down on her as those other children did in high school? Kara wouldn’t be surprised if he did.
She raised her fist to knock and the door swung open.
Luc looked up and saw her, his eyes widening in slight surprise before he slipped his indifferent mask back on. Kara shoved her hands into the front pockets of her shorts.
His eyes followed the actions, drinking in the teasing peak of her bare thigh until it was covered by her shorts and her long socks.
He glared. She was nearly fully covered and yet he was practically drooling from the mouth. For fuck’s sake.
“I’m hungry. You took me away before I could eat so now you have to feed me.”
Lucas stared blankly at her.
“Fine.”
He stepped past her and began walking down the hallway. Kara felt his body charge her with a power she couldn’t name as he brushed past her. It was electrifying and sent her skin tingling.
Ignoring the useless emotions, she followed him into the kitchen that looked like you couldn’t even cook in it without forever damaging some priceless pot.
Lucas walked easily around his kitchen and Kara felt a little joy bloom in her chest as she stood beside a tall stool. Was he really going to cook for her?
She smiled a little. Lucas reached for an apron on a rack and her smile widened, but then his hand brushed past the apron and came back with a telephone firmly held in his grip.
She watched, puzzled as he dialed and brought it to his ear.
“Hello, get me three large cheesy chicken pizzas,” he said. Kara’s puzzlement quickly dissipated and she settled a look on him. Of course. Take out.
“You’re ordering pizza?” she asked before she could stop herself.
Lucas hung up and lifted a brow at her. “Didn’t you say you’re hungry?”
“Yes, but…”
Trailing off, she shook her head, realizing that she didn’t even know what to say to him. Luc studied her with a mocking smile. “Oh, you thought I would cook for you?”
He laughed and Kara crossed her arms tightly.
“I doubt you can even cook so, no!”
Luc stopped laughing and came around the counter.
“Good, because I wasn’t planning on cooking. Especially not for you.”
Kara stifled the gasp. What was the matter with him? She stared up at the dark look in his grey eyes as drew closer until he stood in her personal space.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You’re being an ass!”
Lucas gasped in mock surprise. “Oh, no! I’m being an ass? When was I an ass, Kara? Hm? When I let you get away with stealing money from me? When I found you living on my step-brother’s ranch, putting their lives in danger and still kept quiet about who you are?! When?!”
Kara drew back, her body tense from his outburst. Had he been holding all that against her the whole time? She never knew. He’d made her think…
Kara swallowed her guilt because what he said was true.
“Now,” she finally said weakly. “You’re b-being an ass now…”
Lucas clenched his jaw, hating the anger he felt when he saw the tears fill her eyes. Hating that he felt anything at all for her.
“Good, because maybe you deserve me being an asshole, Kara.”
“Stop.” Her voice was hardly audible as she held down her own anger, her mind focusing on nothing but the words he was throwing at her. Luc’s eyes glittered with an emotion Kara couldn’t place and before she could speak again, he’d grabbed her arm. His fingers pressed tightly into her flesh and Kara resisted the urge to wince.
“You’re just some street thief who no doubt learnt it all her life! You have no right to make me want you, you understand?!”
“Fuck off, Lucas!”
He pressed her closer and gripped her face tightly in one hand. “I said do you understand? You don’t have the power to make me ache like this.”
Luc felt Kara struggle against him, her body writhing in a way that made him press her closer. He wanted to feel it. Wanted to feel every inch of her against him.
“What are you even talking about?” Kara demanded breathlessly, searching desperately for that anger she felt just minutes ago.
Lucas growled. “This.”
Heat. Sweet and wet heat burst through Kara when he wrapped an arm firmly around her and brought his mouth down against her. The kiss was too hard and too hot and it sent Kara’s mind reeling. He was trying to punish her, to scare her, but all she felt was more hunger.
Lucas tilted her head with the hand he kept in her hair, giving himself full access to her sweet mouth. There was something wrong with him, this wasn’t normal behavior. But he’d deal with that later.
Right now, he wanted Kara.
She gasped when Luc’s hand brushed roughly up the inside of her t-shirt to caress the skin of her side as his tongue tasted hers.
She tasted like his favorite intoxication and Luc felt the blood pumping in his veins just like a junkie getting his fix. Kara was his drug.
His mouth trailed down her neck, tasting her and committing the creaminess of her skin to memory.
“You tempt me so hard…” he groaned, hands roaming her body in search for the cure to the pounding ache in him. He knew where to find it and he would.
Kara arched in his arms. Luc’s hands touched her everywhere, but it still wasn’t enough.
Something was missing and her body craved it painfully. His teeth nipped at the side of her breast through the t-shirt and Kara dug her fingers into his back.
She ached everywhere. She needed Luc. She didn’t know what she needed, just that… she needed.
Thunder clapped outside and the sound joined the symphony of their moans and sighs.
With a desperate groan, Lucas swept her up and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist, her eyes widening when she felt him there, pressing hard against her.
Lucas feasted on her mouth and any part of her he could get his mouth on as he carried her back towards his bedroom.
The door was nudged open and in seconds, they fell onto the bed, fingers tearing each other’s clothes off.
Kara’s hair was a flowing river of dark tresses as it spread out on his bed and Luc drank in the sight for a moment. She stared up at him through heavy lidded green eyes, her lips parted and breathing in pants.
When he possessed her mouth again and the taste of her sent Luc growing impossibly harder in his pants, he knew he was done for. She was ruining him.
He loved it.
Kara dragged his shirt up, pulled it off and tossed it away. Her gentle fingers came down on his body then as he kissed her hungrily, caressing his skin and driving him to madness. Luc rose and looked down at her with strained lungs. She was looking at his chest, eyes dazed in appreciation of his hard masculinity.
Kara lifted a finger and traced it over his pecs, grazing his flat nipples. Luc hissed and her gaze came up to his. Her eyes lit up devilishly when she saw his pain and the most seductive giggle rang out of her.
Her laughter got caught in her throat when Lucas dragged off her shirt and black bra, leaving her chest exposed to him. He stared hungrily down at her and Kara trembled and squirmed, telling him how much she wanted him.
Deliberately, he trailed a finger of his own over her breast, torturing her as much as himself. Kara gasped and writhed, wanting desperately to feel him.
“Lucas…”
The sound of his name whispered so lustfully from her lips sent Lucas into a blind frenzy. His mouth parted over her breast and slowly, with painful resistance, he trailed the tip of his hot tongue over the tip of her rosy nipple.
Like an explosion had gone off inside her, Kara bucked. Her hips rising off the bed and then her back arching so high it ached. Luc feasted then, hungrily. Tasting what he’d only wished for before. He put his hands beneath her and lifted her back off the bed, raising her chest to his hungry mouth.
Kara went half insane from the pleasure. There was nothing like it in the world and if asked she would have given that world to stay there with Lucas forever.
He lay heavily between her thighs and with no clue to the torture she put him through, Kara bucked, grinding wildly, needing to ease the ache, to soothe the burn.
Her legs came up around him and with her feet, she shoved his jeans down his body, delighted when he helped her by kicking them off until he was bare before her.
Luc rid Kara off her shorts and panties, leaving the socks on and stared at the beauty of her, draped like priceless silk over his bed. She took his fucking breath away.
Kara’s own breath was stuck somewhere in her lungs. Her eyes wouldn’t look away from him. He was… magnificent.
The size of him scared her, but her core grew wetter, wanting Luc to fill it, to possess her.
Soon the pleasure overrode the fear and Kara grabbed his hand from where he knelt staring at her with a look she’d never seen before.
When he landed on her, he fell between her legs and the collision was explosive, taking both their breaths away.
“Fucking hell, Kara…merde!” he growled when he felt how hot and wet she was. Moaning she only pressed herself against him, her folds easily spreading around his cock.
Lucas groaned, unable to restrain himself. The feeling of her bare wet pussy on his cock was the sweetest torture and if he died at that moment it would be a happy death. Kissing her senseless, he brought himself to her core and filled her.
She screamed.
Luc felt her nails dig into his shoulders and stopped himself, even if his heart was beating like he was about to die. He stroked her face, watching as she gasped up at the ceiling, her eyes the most emerald green he’d ever seen.
“Kara…cherie…are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
She didn’t answer him. She couldn’t speak through the pleasure filling her mind, body and soul.
But when she moaned and moved her hips, he’d gotten his answer.
Her arms tightened around him when he possessed her and filled her to the brim, like she’d never let him go ever again.
Luc worshiped her body, fascinated at how easily she’d brought him to his knees for her, but as she held him that way, he knew she’d have to let go.
He knew he’d make her.
And he hated it.