Give Me All Of You Page 4

  The girl looked up at her, held out a pale, almost translucent looking hand, an impish grin highlighted perfect teeth. “Hi Miss Bronswort, I’m Desiree Thurnbull.”

  The accent was upper crust English, polished and effortless.

  Mina dropped her gaze to the offered hand, grasped it, praying her knees didn’t buckle and drag goldilocks down with her.

  Desiree’s hand was excruciatingly delicate just like the rest of her. Unreasonably stung, Mina released it.

  “Hunter has been telling me all about you,” Desiree gushed, bright eyes trusting.

  With an effort, Mina gathered her wandering wits, refused to glance at Hunter who remained silent in the background. “Has he?” she asked pleasantly.

  “Yes. It’s so empowering, isn’t it, to do what you want without anyone being able to stop you?” Desiree’s soft brown eyes emitted hero worship.

  Mina nodded weakly, her mouth dry with the sense of her own failure.

  Since she’d taken over Bronswort despite all she’d tried, cutting workers hours, streamlining their customer process, nothing had worked. Bronswort was slowing slipping even further downhill.

  “That’s one way to look at it,” She managed.

  Desiree batted her arm playfully, Mina tried not to flinch at the unexpected contact. “Don’t be modest, controlling the men in your life must be such a thrill,” she breathed.

  Confused, Mina forced an empty smile to her lips. She looked away and took a small, noticeable step back. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

  “Mina!” Hunter’s voice shook the leaves on the trees.

  Desiree jerked and shivered, her small mouth forming into an irresistible curve … of excitement?

  Mina couldn’t spare the fuel to figure that out. She glared beyond Desiree at Hunter. “What is it Mr. Roades?” She asked pointedly.

  He sauntered forward, his strides sure. He didn’t answer instead he tore his eyes away from her and looked at Desiree. “I’d love to join your dinner party. Give me a call tomorrow.”

  Desiree twittered like a bird. She turned back to Mina. “I’ll be off now. It was nice meeting you Miss Bronswort.”

  Mina watched her go, the pert small body enticingly outlined by the butter yellow sundress, the hem barely covered her bottom.

  She forcibly ignored Hunter looming like a great oak beside her. Drawing in a shaky breath she set off behind Desiree.

  “Not so fast.” In a blink Hunter was standing in front of her, blocking the path.

  The irrational urge to forcibly and painfully remove him from her sight and her life choked her.

  She gave in to the icy fury pouring through her. Tipping her head back, she planted frigid eyes on him. She squeaked as a hand swept under her bottom and she was swept off her feet.

  She opened her mouth to scream and immediately thought better of it. It would do no good.

  She folded her arms angrily across her chest.

  And waited.

  He stopped beside that same damned mahogany tree, apparently his favorite love nest.

  “Put me down,” she ordered, her gaze straight ahead.

  “Not until you look at me,” Hunter returned reasonably.

  That brought her head snapping around, and she became trapped in the smoldering intensity swirling in his dark blue gaze.

  He exuded languid charm and absolute possessiveness.

  Mina gulped brokenly, moistened suddenly dry lips. His eyes swept down, when he looked up they were twinkling with irreverent amusement.

  Anger flamed her cheeks, she would rather swallow a slimy toad than allow this arrogant, chauvinistic lout to kiss her again. “Are you insane or just plain arrogant?”

  Hunter shrugged. “A little from column A, a lot from column B.”

  Her eyes narrowed scathingly. “I said put me down,” she ordered, “go after your little girlfriend. You may have fooled my father with your lies but I’m not buying any of it.”

  Hunter chuckled, causing his chest to rumble up and down, taking her with it.

  Mina gasped as she collided several times with the stone hard muscles which knotted his broad chest. He was treating her like a toy!

  That’s it! She wouldn’t sit back and wait for him to decide to release her.

  Arms and legs jerked and flailed wildly, her movements crazy and uncoordinated.

  His chest moved up and down rapidly and a blinding fury hit her as she realized that he was laughing at her.

  “Put me down you bastard,” she’d never raised a hand in her life but she slapped his face. Prickly whiskers and a lean cheek absorbed the blow. She winced as the sharp ends of his stubble dug into her palm.

  Horrified by her outburst of violence she stopped and stared wild-eyed at him.

  His dark eyes had gone black, his mouth was a flat, thin line. “I think I’ll take my revenge in this.” His head lunged forward.

  He crushed her mouth with the force of the kiss.

  Tears of mortification sprang to her eyes.

  He was hurting her. She’d not been kissed that often but she shuddered underneath the unmitigated barbarity as his lips ground against hers leaving a path of smarting flesh in its wake.

  She jerked under the pressure of his lips as it went on and on. She pushed against his chest, plucked her mouth away. Sucked in heavy, ragged breaths but there wasn’t enough time to even turn her head before Hunter seized her lips again.

  He was merciless. Punishing her for daring to hit him. For finding him alone with another woman.

  She moaned into his mouth, returned his force with the pain and confusion which writhed inside her. Then without warning it began to change. Everything inside her slowly started to break apart from the feel of his mouth, the hot hardness that was as unrelenting as him.

  She shivered … absorbed it, letting his mouth, the taste and feel of it coax her down into surrender.

  Hunter felt the tension drain out of Mina’s muscles.

  It brought a rush of tenderness into his veins. He softened the kiss and relaxed his lips from being instruments of punishment to ones of pleasure.

  He shivered as she drank the change from him, tension left her limbs and she began to whimper.

  He sighed with pleasure into her mouth. He shouldn’t have tried to punish her rash words with a kiss.

  But he had to admit it was one of the most pleasurable avenues for stopping her from raging.

  He nipped deeply into the soft feast of her juicy bottom lip, her whimpers became louder, a little more broken. Desperate.

  He growled, closed down that part of his brain that demanded more.

  He knew everything there was to know about Mina. Even the first boy she’d kissed.

  He laced his hands around her tiny waist.

  Mina scrapped to the bottom of his core and consistently brought out the dominant, primeval male in him.

  He wanted to claim her, punish her or make love to her until she was too weak to stand or fight back. Only work had ever come close to the high he got from tangling horns with her.

  He was scared to death that he couldn’t be sure what kind of emotions she’d pull from him in any given situation.

  Like now.

  Desiree had been nothing but an innocent diversion. Mina finding them was unfortunate. But he had not stopped her from leaving as a prelude to seduction.

  The mandate was to be patient, bide his time, until she got used to him.

  He groaned as he felt the small tip of her tongue reach out and snatched a taste of his own. He opened and sent a bolder thrust hard against her teeth. She retreated, skittish as ever.

  He drew a hairsbreadth away, his breath rattling in his throat, “Must I beg you for one real kiss?” he grated out.

  She made a frustrated, gurgling sound.

  He opened his eyes and found that hers were closed so tightly her thick, long lashes stood up like spikes from her lids. He bent and brushed a feather-light kiss across them.

  She gasped, her lips p
arted and he waited.

  Waited to make sure that this wasn’t another thoughtless action. That she really wanted him inside her.

  Her lips stayed tantalizingly parted, then her lids fluttered apart.

  A pool of desire opened for him in the tawny depths of her hazel eyes. A harsh groan ripped from his throat. He snapped forward and captured her lips, then plunged immediately downward and caught her tongue.

  He shuddered and staggered back, thankful the thick trunk was there to catch him.

  He feasted on her like a man long deprived of sustenance.

  And he was. There had been nobody since he’d decided he wanted Mina to be his wife. He was blown away by the reward she offered.

  Her taste was incredible, wine, warmth and a softness that made him want to tear off her clothes and take her without any morally restraining standards.

  She was moaning, whimpering and her fingers were digging like talons into his shoulders.

  She shifted, his breath caught in his throat as his body went rigid from the careless brush of her legs against his swollen shaft. He tried to absorb it but couldn’t.

  It happened without thought.

  The sleeves of her dress gave way to his yank. A cream silk bra, which barely covered her dark cherry nipples, popped into view.

  She squeaked, rustled weakly against him. He ignored her, hauled both bra and dress down to her hips.

  She swayed from the force, started striking at his face, her blows were soft and frightened, but his gaze zeroed in on her body which was telling him a different story. The creamy skin around her beautifully full breasts, which would fill his palms leaving just enough over to drive him wild, pebbled as though hit by a sudden cold draft. Her nipples hardened into perky rosettes before his eyes, a potent and aromatic testament of her arousal which no blows could deny.

  He grinned, snatched a tight nipple into his mouth.

  She screamed, and for a moment there was fear that they would be discovered but only for a moment. It was wiped away in the glide of his tongue over her nipple, he sucked it deeper into the roof his mouth, and she collapsed against him, hands latched around his head pinning his mouth to her.

  Not that he needed further encouragement.

  He suckled ravenously, scaling, rolling the turgid nipple into the depths of his mouth. She was delicious, hot flesh and amazing skin. He switched and she cried out at the mere escape of milliseconds which it took him to go from one nipple to the next. Her legs rustled again, caressing him, her back arched.

  Oh my, but she was hot. Sexy, tasty. He sucked her deep into his throat, caressed the underside of her silky breasts with his hard thumbs. She started shivering uncontrollably, her cries went underground, deep into her throat. It felt as if they were both going under and he couldn’t stop himself.

  He just had to have more. And then her legs pinned against his started to part, to wrap around him. He came crashing back down to earth.

  He had to stop.

  The thought caused a sharp physical pain to clench his gut. He couldn’t do this to her, to Hermile, taking her against a tree at her own party where anyone could come across them.

  But he had to have one more taste. He released her nipple, ignored her hoarse cry of distress.

  He tilted his head back, her eyes were still closed, her face flushed and bright. He clasped her face in his palms, and she opened her eyes just as he descended. Swift, hungry stabbings of his tongue into the bruised softness of her mouth nearly threw him back under, body shuddering he summoned the strength to pull away back from her.

  He released her, and she went sliding back down his body, bumping one last time over the wedge in his pants. He sucked in a sharp, delicious breath and remained still.

  She collapsed against him head bowed, he buried his nose into her soft curls, listened to her breath rasp in her throat, until it began to grow in volume. It dawned on him that she was … crying.

  The sound jarred him. Had he embarrassed her, hurt her?

  Desperate, he tipped her chin up, her hazel eyes were brimming with hot tears which slid unremittingly down her flushed cheeks, her swollen lips were pinched together.

  Bitter regret oozed from her narrowed lids, dousing the last remnants of his desire.

  She shuddered violently and he released her. She stumbled, righted her clothing.

  She refused to meet his gaze. “I … I hate you Hunter Roades,” her voice was toneless, then her eyes met his, and there was no further mistaking that her sentiment was true. “I hate you,” she snarled, her voice guttural with feeling.

  Hunter gritted his teeth. He’d had enough of her vile, little tongue.

  He pushed away from the tree, towered over her. “Hate me or not you’ll find that one way or another you’ll be my wife. Until then I hope your hate’s enough to warm your frozen, little heart.”

  Without giving her a chance to move he grasped her hand and she’d learned her lesson from earlier because she didn’t fight him.

  She tossed him a look that could’ve peeled the skin from his bones.

  He smiled bleakly down into her incensed face, and with more effort kept his gaze away from her swollen mouth. “Let’s rejoin your guests, shall we?”

  Chapter five

  Mina floated in the warm, rolling waters and looked back at the glistening shoreline, several yards away.

  She’d bypassed her lunch and had gone swimming. She’d been at it for almost an hour and still she couldn’t let go of the seething anger and confusion which coiled inside her.

  Hunter had made her look like a fool yesterday. And she’d let him. He’d practically announced that they were together. Dragging her like a disobedient child back to her own picnic!

  A multitude of overtly curious eyes had followed them. Hermile had appeared from nowhere, his grin wide enough to split his face.

  All the laps in the world weren’t going to change the debacle that yesterday had turned into.

  Letting out a frustrated sound she headed back to the shore.

  Drying off on the deserted beach, she eyed the shoreline which ran out of sight in both directions.

  Jacobe Aisle was not far away.

  She frowned. The end of the picnic had not brought a conclusion to her misery.

  Hunter had followed her into the kitchen and taken another kiss. This one had been swift and possessive, his tongue had stabbed into her mouth in breathless greed as they’d clung together in front of the pantry. She’d whimpered and remained boneless, caught between the wood and Hunter, the wood had been much more forgiving.

  Now she groaned and buried her face into the moistened towel. She hadn’t been able to summon the will to stop him.

  She cinched her arms around her legs, and fresh, disturbing images began to assault her. Being wrapped around Hunter’s lean, hard waist. His mouth sealed to hers, his body relentlessly pinning hers into the bed. She was certain that he would take more than she wanted to give if they ever became intimate. He wouldn’t stop halfway as her other would-be boyfriends had done, culled by her determination and her father’s power.

  She wouldn’t be able to control him. His big, muscled body and those cold, dark eyes didn’t emit one shred of hesitation.

  She shivered and attempted to push the racy images away, but she failed. Closing her eyes they came alive. She could almost imagine hearing Hunter’s harsh groans, ragged and deep, they went on and on as he drove her higher, raced into her body.

  Discomfited, she snapped her eyes open, they stared wide seeing nothing. Her breath was coming in broken spurts but much worse was the buried pounding between her legs.

  What would it be like to let Hunter have her?

  Would it be simply sex, primal and without thought beyond immediate satiation? Or would it evolve into lovemaking which the strumming of her blood told her that she could both lose and find herself in?

  She squeezed her legs tightly together, the ache retreated deeper but didn’t go away. She couldn’t stop a shiv
er of sweet pleasure which came from the friction. She rocked under the sensation and now she was beginning to yearn for it.

  Yesterday had brought this about. She desired Hunter but hadn’t wanted to. Had fought against it but it had happened.

  Now he knew it.

  Would he use his power to force her to the altar or would he have the courtesy to wait for her to decide?

  Her eyes glittered with customary determination. She wouldn’t wait for him to decide her life.

  Hastily she slipped on shorts and a shirt over her wet bikini.

  Hunter Roades was about to get an unexpected visitor.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Hunter glared daggers at Joseph who lounged beside a cavernous window.

  “Those beams are an inch too thick,” his statement cracked like thunder in the belly of the house, silencing the pounding hammers, drawing all eyes to him and Joseph.

  “Joseph, please explain why the support beams are thicker than specified?”

  “Because that’s the size they’re supposed to be,” Joseph replied unconcerned, splaying his legs apart, hands on his lean hips, defiance leaking from his eyes.

  For a moment Hunter couldn’t believe his ears. Not trusting his voice he stared stupidly at Joseph, who returned his stare with disinterest.

  Hunter’s inner voice screamed at him to remain where he was but he shoved it aside and took a step closer to Joseph.

  He had an extra inch or two on the man, but Joseph stood his ground and there was an unmistakable leap of anticipation in his black eyes. Joseph obviously wanted to prove something but he wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  Hunter reigned in a portion of his fast rising anger. “Joseph, the last time we discussed this issue, I gave clear instructions-”

  Joseph reared back onto the balls of his feet, his eyes narrowed and his broad face contorted with disdain, “yeah … yeah,” Joseph waved dismissively, “but your measurements were wrong, these support beams are exactly the size they’re supposed to be,” he said blandly, his eyes saying much more as he dared Hunter to refute his claim.