King's Rule Read online

  I groaned, shutting my eyes as I felt my pussy stretch around him, shivering at the feel of him as he thrust in hard. He was big, hot and I found myself straining against his hands, wanting to move.

  ‘Keep still.’ He held me tighter. ‘And don’t make another sound. We’re in my office, remember?’

  Oh, God, that was right. And the door wasn’t locked.

  Weirdly though, that only made what he was doing to me a thousand times more erotic and I had to bite my lip to stop from crying out as he slid out then thrust back in, hard, deep.

  Another long, slick slide, pulling out then driving in, harder, deeper.

  I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, tasting blood in my mouth as I fought to keep the sounds of raw pleasure inside me.

  It was so good. So unbelievably good. No, better than good. It was a fantasy made real. Relief in its purest form. To finally have him the way I’d always wanted. To be held helplessly in his hands, to be in his power.

  God knew I didn’t deserve it, but then who was I to fight him?

  It was so good I couldn’t stand it.

  He fucked me harder, deeper, slamming me against the edge of the desk, my cheek pressed to the wood, our ragged breathing and his harsh grunts the only sound in the room.

  Normally I couldn’t come from this alone, but apparently his cock had always been the missing ingredient because my orgasm hit, suddenly and out of the blue, so intense I could feel tears prick behind my closed lids and a scream press against my throat.

  And somehow he knew because that was when his free hand came out and covered my mouth. ‘Scream into that,’ he murmured.

  And I did as lights burst behind my eyes and the whole world caved in.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Xander

  I COULD FEEL her perfect little pussy clenching hard around my dick and knew I was done for.

  Hell, I’d been done for the moment she’d grabbed my tie without asking and kissed me.

  Her scream vibrated against my palm, her body convulsing under mine and I let myself go, gripping tight to her slender wrists as I slammed myself deep inside her, driving her against the desk, pleasure cutting me open like a knife and letting all my deepest, darkest desires come spilling out.

  Her looking at me with desperation as her wetness had covered my fingers. Her soft hair in my hand as I’d pulled her head back. Her begging me to fuck her. Her screaming into my palm as I held her hands behind her back, driving us both into oblivion.

  I could feel it begin, the detonation inside me, a grenade going off in my head. She was bent over my desk and I was deep inside her, making her scream, giving her pleasure.

  The way I’d always fantasised about.

  Mine.

  Yes, and she was. Right now, she was no one’s but mine.

  Keeping hold of her wrists with one hand, I slammed the other down on the desk beside her head and used it for leverage to shove myself inside her one last time, the orgasm tearing her name from my throat as it hit, so intense it nearly blinded me.

  I couldn’t move for long moments afterwards, resting bent over her, with my face in the soft cloud of her hair, letting the sweet, subtle scent of it wash over me as I tried to pull myself the hell together.

  And, as I did so, the implications of what I’d done began to seep through me, slow and full of foreboding, like rumours of uncertainty through a booming stock market.

  She’s your stepsister. Who you promised to take care of. Whose father died because of what you did and who you’ve just fucked hard across your desk, holding her hands behind her back after getting her to beg for your cock. In your own goddamn office.

  The warmth of the orgasm began to dissipate, leaving me suddenly cold.

  Jesus. What the fuck had I done?

  All I’d wanted was to point out to her that kissing me had been a really bad idea. But then I’d found her drawing, which had incensed me for some reason, and I’d whipped that book out of her hands and ordered her into my office before I could stop myself.

  And then, once she was there...

  I’d never meant to back her up against the desk.

  I’d certainly never meant to bend her over it.

  But... I’d seen the heat in her eyes as I’d stalked towards her. Seen her cheeks flush and her mouth get all soft and vulnerable.

  She’d looked shocked when I’d told her how much I’d wanted her, that I was going to punish her, yet when I’d put my hands on her she hadn’t pushed me away. Her breath had caught and her pupils had dilated, and there was a definite hint of feminine musk in the air.

  She’d let me touch her, let me put my hand between her legs and feel how wet she was. And she had been wet. So beautifully, unmistakably wet and aroused.

  And then she’d told me about that Christmas and the damn dog.

  I remembered it dimly—some friend of Dad’s and his anxious puppy. I’d been wary of animals after Dad had killed Seven, the stray dog I’d befriended years earlier, but the poor animal had just been scared and I’d calmed it down easily enough. I hadn’t even remembered Poppy being in the room at the time, but clearly she hadn’t forgotten.

  And Christ...as soon as she’d told me what she wanted, everything had crystallised for me because what she wanted I wanted too, and I was powerless to deny her.

  I was powerless to deny us both.

  So I hadn’t fought it.

  I’d made her beg and then I’d bent her over the desk and fucked her.

  From outside the office came the sound of a phone ringing and more realisations came, hitting me hard and fast.

  I was in my office and it was the middle of the day. Had I locked the door? I couldn’t even remember. What if someone had come in?

  What if someone came in now?

  Too bad. You need to take care of her now.

  I didn’t even question the thought.

  Carefully, I pulled out of her and straightened. She shivered and made a soft noise, but I gave the back of her neck a gentle squeeze. ‘Keep still,’ I murmured.

  She settled and at the sight of her obedience the blood began rushing back into my cock.

  Jesus. I’d have thought once would be enough. At least, it had always been enough for me before. Once the itch was scratched it never bothered me again, so it really shouldn’t be bothering me now.

  Trying not to think about that, I dealt with the condom then pulled her underwear back into place and smoothed down her skirt, resisting the urge to trail my fingers over the beautiful bare skin of her thighs.

  ‘You can get up now,’ I said, my voice way more gravelly than it should have been.

  Slowly, she pushed herself up from my desk and turned, and I couldn’t stop the burst of satisfaction that flooded through me as she leaned back against it, as if the sex had wrecked her so completely she couldn’t stand.

  Her eyes had gone from copper to gold, her face deeply flushed.

  She looked so beautiful my heart nearly stopped.

  You’ve made her yours now.

  I turned away suddenly, the intense possessiveness of the thought disturbing me in a way it hadn’t while I was deep inside her. ‘You’re okay?’ I made my way around the desk to my chair. ‘I didn’t hurt you?’

  ‘No, not at all.’ She sounded husky and throaty, her voice feeling like it was wrapping itself around my cock.

  I forced the feeling away as I sat down.

  She turned to face me again and her eyes were shining. ‘Xander, can we—’

  ‘You have a few tasks to finish, I believe?’

  I couldn’t let her think this would continue, that this would happen again. Because it couldn’t. There were too many reasons why it was a bad idea. There was our family connection and then my role in her father’s death. Not to mention the things I wanted to do to her. The things I still wanted
to do to her.

  Wrong. All wrong.

  The flush died out of her face and the shine leached from her eyes. ‘Yeah, I have a few. But I—’

  ‘Then I suggest you go do them.’ I looked sightlessly down at my computer screen.

  I was being cruel and I knew it. But it was the quickest way to get her out of here and away from me.

  The itch was scratched. I didn’t need to scratch it any more.

  There was a silence and I thought for a minute that she’d gone.

  But this was Poppy and naturally she never missed an opportunity to challenge me.

  ‘So that’s it?’ Her hands slapped down on the edge of my desk. ‘You tell me you’ve wanted me for years, get me to admit something I’m personally ashamed of, fuck me across your goddamn desk and then act like nothing happened? Like I’m supposed to go back to my “tasks” like a good girl?’ Her voice shook. ‘You asshole!’

  I was, yes. A complete asshole. But that was the best way—the only way—to handle this. If she thought I was an asshole she’d leave it at that and we’d go back to sniping at each other the way we always did.

  And she’ll never find out just what a real bastard you are.

  I looked up and met her furious gaze. ‘You want to be a good girl? Then finish the tasks I set you.’

  She stared at me a long moment, angry flags of colour staining her exquisitely carved cheekbones. But beneath that anger I could see something else moving in the molten copper of her eyes.

  Hurt.

  You prick.

  I closed myself off from it, shut myself down. The way I did after I found out that Seven, that stray I’d looked after for six months when I’d been ten, had been run over.

  I’d loved that dog and after she’d died I’d discovered white fur on the tyre and blood on the bumper of my father’s car. The first lie I’d discovered. The one he’d told me when I’d asked him for help looking for Seven because I couldn’t find her, and he promised me he’d help me find her. All the while knowing he’d been the one to kill her.

  I’d cried like a baby when I’d found out that Dad had run her over, because he didn’t like me having something that took my focus away from ‘family business’. Even a stray dog.

  It had been a hard lesson, though I’d learned it and learned it well. If you didn’t have anything to care for then it couldn’t be taken from you or used to manipulate you, and that, in the end, was for the best.

  I was the stronger for it, that much I did know, and I wasn’t putting that at risk by claiming something I’d never be able to keep.

  Something like Poppy.

  ‘Did you have another question?’ I asked coldly, hammering another nail in that coffin.

  She shoved herself away from my desk. ‘Nope, guess not.’

  I knew she was trying to be nonchalant, but I could see the vulnerable curve of her bottom lip and the slight quiver in it.

  My chest tightened.

  Goddammit.

  ‘Poppy,’ I began, not really sure of what I was going to say, but she got in first.

  ‘Better get back to those “tasks”.’ She drew the last word out, making it sound as if it tasted like poison. ‘Thanks for the fuck.’

  ‘Poppy,’ I said again.

  But she was already turning around and striding to the door of my office. She pulled it open and walked through and I braced myself for a slam.

  It didn’t come. She shut it gently and somehow that was worse.

  Somehow it felt like she was closing something inside of me at the same time.

  I tried to bury myself in that goddamn spreadsheet for the rest of the afternoon, but I couldn’t concentrate.

  She was just outside my door, sitting in that seat, with her lovely skin and soft hair. With her beautiful body. Doing the tasks I’d set her. Wanting more from me and not getting it.

  I could feel the pull towards her, the urge to go out there and get her to come back inside my office. The urge to order her to take off her clothes and kneel before me, take my cock in her mouth and suck me.

  It would turn her on, get her off.

  It would be what we both wanted.

  Fuck.

  Towards the end of the afternoon, the door of my office abruptly opened and Leon, my middle brother, walked in.

  I was pacing near the meeting table by the window, the printouts spread across it. I’d thought moving from my desk to the table would help my concentration, but apparently not.

  ‘Christ,’ I snapped. ‘Don’t you know how to knock?’

  He gave me a grin and wandered over to one of the chairs near the table, sitting down in a lazy sprawl. ‘Where’s Poppy? Wasn’t she supposed to be working here today?’

  I looked towards the door of my office, though it was closed. ‘She’s not out there?’

  ‘Nope.’ Leon glanced at his watch. ‘Then again, it is six o’clock, so she’s probably gone home.’

  I turned away, moving over to the windows.

  So she’d gone, and without saying goodbye.

  Irrational disappointment joined my ever-present simmering anger, though I didn’t know what I’d expected. I’d been a prick to her, which made her coming in to let me know she was leaving incredibly unlikely.

  ‘She’d better have stayed till five,’ I growled, staring at the view outside.

  There was a silence.

  ‘You seem to be bothered,’ Leon drawled. ‘Anything in particular bothering you? No, wait, I can guess. A million bucks says it’s Poppy.’

  I glowered out of the window. ‘You’ve been talking to Ajax, haven’t you?’

  ‘I don’t need Ajax to tell me when the issue is a woman. Believe me, I know all about that.’

  He probably did. He’d got married not too long ago to a brilliant chemist and had been in a revoltingly good mood ever since.

  ‘Did you want something, Leon? Because I’ve got something important I need to finish up.’

  ‘A word of advice.’

  ‘That I didn’t ask for.’

  ‘Don’t be a dick,’ Leon continued, ignoring me. ‘You two sniping at each other instead of talking is ridiculous.’

  I gritted my teeth. ‘Rich coming from you.’

  ‘I realise that,’ he admitted. ‘But... Vita has helped me see things a bit differently.’

  ‘I have work to do. I don’t need to hear about your personal realisations.’

  Leon laughed, which was unexpected. ‘I’ve been there, Xan, believe me. Right where you are now and it’s hell. But for what it’s worth...’ I could hear him getting to his feet. ‘You should pull out the stick that’s up your ass and go talk to her. Sort this bullshit out once and for all.’

  I said nothing, not even bothering to turn around.

  I didn’t want to talk to her. There were other things I wanted to do instead.

  ‘What did she ever do to you?’ Leon asked after a moment. ‘Or is this all because you want to fuck her? Because Jesus, Xan, you’re not a teenager any more. You’re a goddamn adult and if that’s your issue, you need to deal with it.’

  ‘It’s not that simple,’ I growled. ‘Christ, I wish it was. But it’s not.’

  ‘Then what is the issue?’

  I shut my eyes. No one knew about what I’d done with Poppy’s father’s money, about my role in his downfall. That was the one thing Dad had done for me at least: he’d kept it secret.

  ‘I’m responsible for her father’s death,’ I said at last. ‘And she doesn’t know.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  Poppy

  IT WAS ELEVEN at night and I paced back and forth in my bedroom, as furious with Xander now as I had been two days earlier.

  At the way he’d dismissed me after basically taking me apart over his desk. Looking at me like I was nothing but dirt
under his shoe after I’d confessed the most private, the most embarrassing thoughts I’d had about him. It still made me cringe, that I’d told him I wished he could have calmed and stroked me like that dog. That he’d made me beg him to fuck me and only then had he made me come.

  That I’d come so hard I’d cried.

  It had been the most amazing experience of my life and then he’d dismissed me as if I was nothing.

  Yeah. Nothing you didn’t deserve.

  The guilt I always carried with me whispered in my head, insidious and bitter, but I shoved it away. This had nothing to do with Dad’s death or my role in it.

  No, this was all to do with Xander and the past two days of him ignoring me, striding past me at work as if I didn’t exist. Emailing me lists of tasks and not even bothering to speak to me about them.

  And when I was the one who had to speak to him, he wouldn’t look at me. He kept his attention on his computer screen or out of the window or on his phone. Basically, he looked anywhere else but at me.

  It made my anger a hard, sharp, bright thing that I wanted to cut him with. I wanted to hurt him the way he’d hurt me.

  He’d made me feel like nothing. Less than nothing. Like so many other people had in my life...

  You are nothing.

  ‘Bastard,’ I muttered to the walls of my bedroom, loud enough to drown out that horrible voice in my head. ‘Asshole.’

  I wasn’t going to be able to sleep and I couldn’t even draw in my book, because the prick had kept it. I’d asked him about it the day after he’d had me over his desk and he’d told me he’d give it back once I’d finished working for him. That I couldn’t be trusted not to sketch in it while I was supposed to be doing my job.

  I should have demanded it back, but I was determined to show him how little I cared about him and the way he was treating me, so I’d simply shrugged and hadn’t mentioned it again.

  But that hadn’t stopped the fury from filling my veins.

  I’d never been so angry in all my life.

  Of course pacing around my tiny, shitty bedroom wasn’t going to help, and neither was pretending this didn’t matter. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to let this go until I’d yelled at him face to face.