Oh shit. She was breathing hard, her palms stinging as much as she was sure his face was right then, and she clenched her fists down at her sides, unable to look away from his rigid profile with his cheek turned away from her.

“I’m not sure how you would feel I deserved that,” he said softly, menacingly while still looking away from her. “But if the truth makes you turn trigger-happy, then by all means, hit me again.”

Alexandra didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t all the time that she felt her age, but she did now. She reminded herself that she didn’t really know that much about men or romance or even sex. Lamar had been her first real boyfriend and if truth be told she’d dated him because she’d been going through one of her ‘nonconformist’ phases where she felt she needed to break off from what she’d believed her father expected of her. She’d just moved out of home, started her Master’s and simply, for the first time, felt like she was coming into her own. And even when it came to money, she’d been somewhat independent thanks to the trust fund her mother’s parents had set up when Alexandra was born.

And yet now for the first time, she’d come in contact with a man so different from what she was used to, a man who drew up the strongest swells of carnal desire within her secret springs and did it without even really trying. And now he was making it sound like something so trope. Sure, there was all that psychological attachment and heightened intimacy bullshit that comes with the bodyguard-client territory, but did he have to spell it out so…so horribly?

“Go on, Alexandra; let your inner hellcat out,” Cane was saying, finally turning so their eyes met and for the first time, she saw the unmistakable flicker of molten green flame that turned his gaze almost liquid. His body was tense, coiled tight and most probably, aroused and dangerous. Alexandra licked on her parched lips and clenched her hands even tighter, her heart slamming against her chest as she stared into his terrifyingly handsome face with those haunting, shadowed angles and planes.

Quelling the urge to succumb to the violent pounding of desire echoing beneath her pores, she drew in a shuddery, bracing breath and looked away from him sharply. “Just take me home, Hutchinson. And once it’s morning, I’m calling my dad. I don’t think I feel safe around you anymore; I’ll be requesting someone else to be my handler if my father still feels so hell bent on keeping one around me. I’m getting you replaced, and this time I mean it.”

She heard Cane’s breath snag, could feel the fury coming off him in waves. She was almost afraid to make eye contact, not wanting to set him off or do anything to propel her hot tears which threatened to fall. Her face was turned firmly to her window as moments later, he started the car and drove them off without another word.

Chapter Ten

Oh, damn it all to hell!

Alexandra rolled out of bed the next morning feeling like she’d been run over by a freight truck. How did one wake up with a hangover if one hadn’t even been drinking the night before?

She’d tossed and turned all night, wrestling with her pillows, covers and even her nightmares as she tried to get over the agony of how last night had gone.

Cane. They’d said some really nasty things to each other but once he drove them home, not another word was exchanged. She’d thought he’d try to talk her out of her decision to ask for another bodyguard, but he didn’t. Alexandra felt hurt but realized that maybe he was just as sick of the whole thing as she was. Maybe? No, make that definitely.

She shoved her hair out of her face as she stretched her aching body. She could hear Cane in the adjoining room, moving about already. She remembered every little thing he’d said yesterday: about her bodyguard crush, and generally about her not even knowing what she wanted because heck, she was a rich brat daddy’s princess spoiled from birth.

Well, to hell with you, Cane Hutchison, Alexandra fumed as she shoved her legs into some running tights. She gathered her hair in a top knot and finished putting on the gear she’d need for a run in the nearby wooded park. She ran most mornings but in the past month she hadn’t been that regular, content mostly to go to the gym. But for the past few weeks since he’d been assigned as her bodyguard, Cane always came along. She’d enjoyed his company even though they rarely talked. But today, she couldn’t even stand to be in the same house with him not to speak of letting him along as her jogging partner slash minder. As far as she was concerned, he was no longer even her bodyguard. She’d officially divested him of his services last night and once she got back in an hour, she’d call her dad to make her stand.

But for now, she needed to clear her head. Run off all the negative energy from last night as well as all the angst that had built up since the cluster bomb her life had become when she got assigned a bodyguard.

For some reason, she found herself tiptoeing out of her room, unwilling to face a confrontation with Cane. If he saw her, he would insist on accompanying her which would be awkward and quite frankly, unwelcome. She still hadn’t forgiven him for talking to her like she wasn’t an adult who knew the difference between a crush and an actual manifestation of feelings for a man who’d made such an intense impact on her.

She stepped noiselessly past his room, pausing long enough to hear sounds that told her he was busy in the shower. Good. He needn’t know she was out on her run. She’d be back soon anyway and besides, now that her father had all but confirmed that Vincent the tycoon thug no longer considered her father a rival, then Alexandra had stopped being a target.

Feeling an almost childish satisfaction in having her way this once, Alexandra smirked as she made her way quietly out of the house, shutting the door just as softly after her.

***

Alexandra had run on that trail countless times.

As she jogged she felt the rush of adrenalin coursing through her. Her sports halter already had the sensation of cool perspiration contacting her skin. It was early morning with the sound of birds in the trees and the gentle glow of the sun breaking through the clear skies. People normally ran in the park each morning but never more than a few at a time since this was a community just outside the main city. This morning though she seemed to be the only one out this early. As always Alexandra enjoyed the tranquility that came from feeling like you were so close to nature.

At first she thought nothing of the van driving toward her, barely registering its light blue color or the shadow of the man driving behind the wheel. Her thoughts were all jumbled up and she didn’t even wonder when the van pulled over to the curb just as she neared.

She watched absent-mindedly and saw the driver, who was wearing a beanie, slam his hands on the steering wheel as if it was the van suddenly choosing to give out. She was still yards away from the vehicle which was parked right where she was soon to jog past. The driver stepped down from the van and walked round to the passenger door.

Alexandra kept a steady pace as she neared the van, her mind already elsewhere. Would Cane have realized by now that she’d left? Hmm. Maybe, like that first time, he was cooking some peace-making breakfast. Or maybe he was hopping mad when he finally discovered she was nowhere in the house. The thought of making Cane angry brought a pleased, twisted smile to her face. That was sure to get his goat, thought Alexandra with satisfaction. He’d hate to be thwarted or defied. For the first time, she was flouting his authority. He’d given her clear instructions from the start never to leave the house alone. Well fuck that, you’re no longer my bodyguard, Mr. Hutchinson. As of last night, your ass was fired, Alexandra thought with bitter triumph.

She barely noticed the driver of the van turn to her as she was racing past the open side of the van where he stood, a piece of cord in his hand. They nodded at each other, in the vague way that strangers sometimes do. Alexandra could barely see his face which was obscured by the beanie, though something seemed very familiar about his dark-skinned jaw. Not giving it a second thought, she jogged by.

But just as her body passed him, from the corner of her eye she saw his arms reach towards her. He lunged his entire body at her, and in an instant she felt his enormous hands gripping her, with one around her midriff and the other sealing over her mouth.

Alexandra was gripped by panic, instantly biting his hand and hearing him yell out ‘you bitch!’ before pulling tighter on her waist and robbing her of breath. She felt her body being dragged back with him into the van and she screamed into the hand gagging her mouth but the sounds were sealed in, useless. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. But her survival instinct was strong and she suddenly thought of a move she learned in the self-defense classes she’d taken in the past. Using the whole of her weight, she propelled herself off her feet and pushed back heavily on her captor with the aim of unbalancing him. She heard him curse angrily under his breath as her sudden move made him almost lose his footing.

But he caught himself quickly, only just managing to keep his hold on her body and mouth. Fuck, he was strong, thought Alexandra with a sinking sensation as his mouth pressed closed to her ear. “You’ll pay for that, slut.”

Alexandra stiffened, alarm bells ringing in her head at the sound of his voice. Oh shit. Oh hell no. Lamar?

She had no chance to dwell on this as suddenly she was yanked, kicking and struggling, off the ground before being swung inside the van. She knew that once she got trapped in there, she was in trouble. She was in trouble right now. Oh God, I should have listened to my dad – listened to Cane. Cane. His face flashed through her mind and she felt another rush of terror. She felt herself hitting the floor of the inside of the van, face down on the thin matting where her abductor dropped her.

She bolted into an erect position at once as she heard him slam the van door shut from the inside. Before she could even blink, his hand shoved hard on her shoulder, slamming her down on her back as he turned to her. 

Alexandra stared into Lamar’s face and saw an expression she’d never expected. For a second she was just in shock, unable to believe this was really happening and yet knowing it wasn’t a game. Oh my God, thought Alexandra helplessly. She recoiled as Lamar moved towards her. Suddenly, he seized her left ankle and his face broke into a frightful leer. Alexandra burst out of her trance and started to scream but he slammed his whole body against hers, effectively killing her scream as he robbed her of oxygen.

Alexandra could barely move or make a sound beneath his massive weight, and she could only watch as he grabbed her flailing arms and efficiently wrestled her wrists into the shackles set halfway up the van wall. Now that her hands were secured above her head, he still held her down bodily while he reached to his left and pulled a knife from a box. Alexandra’s eyes widened in fear as he grabbed the bottom hem of her sports halter which he lifted off her body before slicing it right through the middle. He shredded the top off her, revealing her breasts as he wrapped the rags around her head and over her mouth, gagging her roughly.

Tears of anger and trepidation suddenly pinched Alexandra’s eyes as she stared into Lamar’s hard, grinning face. Her lower body was still trapped beneath his and she could feel a stiffening begin to bulge in his pants as he pressed hard into her belly. Alexandra turned her head away in unstoppable disgust as his eyes roamed over her exposed breasts.

In a flash, he was grabbing her chin and twisting her face back to his. “If you know what’s good for you, bitch, you’d keep looking at me,” he snarled. Now, he had the knife pressed against her throat.

Alexandra’s chest was heaving and she couldn’t seem to keep up a normal breathing rate. Real fear gripped her heart as she felt the blade of the knife, unmistakably sharp and distressing, begin to break into her skin ever so slightly. He cut her, drew blood, and grinned evilly when she began to scream beneath her gag…

***

I don’t feel safe around you anymore.

Damn it to hell, thought Cane as Alexandra’s words from last night slashed through him like a blade. That blasted female knew just want to say to twist him up in knots. Like no other woman ever had.

Growling with self-deprecation and fury, Cane slammed his fist against the tiled wall, resting his forehead against it for a moment as the ice-cold shower pummeled him from the upper and side jets. He’d woken up after another bad night, hard as a rock for her – again. It had been that way since…oh, the first night he’d moved in as her bodyguard. And it had gotten steadily worse so that he was taking several icy showers a day just to dampen his raging hormones that were urging him to cross the line. Take the few steps out of his room and go knocking on her door.

In his fantasies, she’d be waiting eagerly. Those pretty brown eyes beguiling.

“I want you, Cane. And I’ve waited so long. Will you take me now?” she’d ask in her soft, melodic voice with the stirring undertone.

“Take you? Honey, I’m going to fucking own you,” was his raspy, tortured grunt of a reply as he’d sink on his knees at the edge of her bed. It was his fantasy, so she’d be wearing that sexy white bra and panties she’d had on that night they’d gotten soaked in the shower.

She’d tremble deliciously at his words, and at the way he’d grab her ankles firmly and tug her body down till she had her legs hanging on either side of him and off the edge of the bed. Her honey-skinned face would be flushed; beads of sweat coating her smooth temple. Her hair would be a mass of luxuriantly thick curls, just the way he liked them. He’d bend low and fist his fingers in her hair, his thighs nudging hers apart as his lips aimed for her luscious, gasping mouth.

Their first kiss. Fuck; she’d taste so freaking good. She’d open wide for his onslaught and he’ll seize her lips in a ravenous tango of passion. He’d grind his mouth against hers till she moaned in half protest, half-delight at his ferocity. He’d dive in with his tongue and swirl it round the roof of her sweet mouth. She’d moan, and his cock would swell impossibly. Her tongue would suddenly, shyly mesh with his and it would almost be the death of him.

Alexandra.

He shook the fevered fantasy off and tell himself he was a fool. He’d held back this long, stayed true to his honor code and now he wanted to cave?

No.

One day, she’ll thank him, he reminded himself. She’d know that whatever he’d done had been for her own good. She was just twenty-three, mostly sheltered all her life. He was more than ten years older at thirty five; he’d seen too much of bad, and not enough of good in the world. But he still knew right from wrong and his mind told him it would be wrong, at this point, to finally give in to the thirst.

She might hate him now, but maybe he’d get the chance to explain before they parted. He knew that this time, she hadn’t been bluffing about asking her dad to get a replacement. He understood her anger and he was ready to step down and let her get the steam out of her system. She was a woman; she had emotions, insecurities. He’d constantly held back and the feminine side of her felt hurt, maybe undesirable. She’d never forgive him for that but hopefully, she come to respect the choices he’d made as her bodyguard. And heaven help him, they’d better have a good enough guy to replace me, thought Cane. Someone who’d treat her like the angel, precious and sweet, that she was.

But for now, he was prepared to wear the label of hateful beast, the devil himself since that was obviously how she now viewed him.

Cane heaved a sigh, lifting his head off the marble surface of the wall. Suddenly, even through the water rushing around him, Cane caught it. The sound. He frowned, his powerful, trained hearing sharpening as he suddenly heard the soft yet unmistakable click of the front door closing.

It took three seconds for Cane’s brain to register what was happening. Alexandra. She’d left the house.

He didn’t need to wonder if he was wrong. His gut instinct told him it was just the thing she would do, especially after last night.

Oh, fuck no, Cane thought with red-hot fury as he punched a furious fist into the wall, ignoring the pain he didn’t even feel as he grabbed a towel and headed out of the shower, his movements quick as lightning. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

He’d go after her. He’d bring her back, even if he had to drag her by her hair. And then, he’d turn her on his knee and give her such a spanking his whole arm would be throbbing once he was done. As for that juicy tempting bottom of hers…well, needless to say, sitting down on it would be a problem after he’d be finished with her.

“Alexandra!” he yelled, knowing she was probably not going to hear him. But if she had, she’d have been filled with a terrible dread. Because now Cane was mad. Hopping, raise-hell mad. In mere seconds, he was dressed in clothes and shoes and rushing out the front door after her.

Alexandra Duke had never ever really seen his bad side, fumed Cane. His extreme rage mode. Well, now she was going to get a first-hand lesson. Maybe the last one he’d give her before she finally got that replacement bodyguard she wanted.

Before then, he would make sure to give her exactly what she’d been deserving since he’d taken this role. A firm fucking hand, in more ways than one.

Cane knew that after that she’d definitely hate him, but right now he didn’t bloody care. No one tested his authority. Ms. Duke was going to learn the hard way what it meant to finally push a man like Cane Hutchinson to the edge.

***

“Where’s your shining white knight now?” Lamar sneered, his breath hot and clammy on her face as the knife pinched into the shallow nick which had started to bleed. Alexandra felt almost faint with terror.

“Does he get free use of this sexy body, hmm? You let him fuck you don’t you, you slut. He gets to use your gorgeous tits and sweet, hot pussy the way he wants, huh? Cunt!”

There was a sharp, blinding light that seemed to overwhelm her senses, stealing her breath away. Alexandra’s face felt like it was on fire and her right eye socket was throbbing with pain. Her eyes widened in alarm as she saw him rearing to slap her once more.

Alexandra whimpered, straining away as much as she could but she was trapped on the floor, beneath his crippling weight. In moments another harder blow landed on the right side of her face and she began to sob beneath her gag.

“That’s it. Cry, bitch. I’ve been waiting, hoping for a chance to get you, sugar boo,” Lamar continued with deceptive softness, his breathing harsh as he leaned close to her burning face. “Get you back for making a fool of me like you did when you broke up with me. Treated me like trash! Now, I’m going to earn some of that respect I deserve. Your father’s going to have to pay a whole lot of cash to get you back – far more than he’d have spent if you’d just let him finance that deal I told you about all those months ago. Sure, it was just a scam but wouldn’t you have liked that better than being kidnapped, bleeding and helpless at the back of my van?”

Alexandra’s eyes pleaded with him, the sounds behind her gag plaintive. But he merely shook his head, pulling away from her.

“Too late to turn back now. It’s done. I’ll have my revenge and all the money I’ll need to disappear,” he said as he tucked the knife in his belt, straightening to his feet. “Your father will be only too glad to do anything to get you back. Doesn’t mean I’ve made up my mind whether I’d let you go once I get the ransom. I have a mind to renew my acquaintance with this hot body of yours and after that…who knows. I’ll just have to see how I feel about letting you return in one piece – or not. So you better be good to me, sweet cheeks. Be very good,” Lamar added softly, bending to whisper the last few words in her ear before, ignoring her muffled pleas, he said with grim humor, “Hold on tight, baby cakes. We’re going for a ride.”

Chapter Eleven

Cane was letting out a string of curses as he sailed the Audi slowly along the trail Alexandra normally took when she went jogging. He was gripping the wheel so tight his knuckled were white and sharply defined. His eyes scanned the deserted track which led to the park which had a picturesque fence running the length of one end.

There was nothing picturesque about the images going through his mind as he went over the different kinds of torture he had in store for Alexandra.

He did feel a sudden squeeze of worry when he kept on the road and saw no sign of her. She couldn’t have gone that far; he’d known exactly when she’d left by the sound of the front door closing. He’d only been minutes behind, and that was why he took the car, all the better to catch up with her and…

She was gone. He could feel it. She should have been on this trail but she wasn’t. It was a long stretch of road and she couldn’t have made it down so soon to the end where the park stretched out in scenic greenery.

And then he saw it; the blue van. It wouldn’t have caught his attention as it was just one of the few other vehicles parked around. But then suddenly, a man emerged from the back compartment and into the driving seat before starting up the engine.

Something about the man caught Cane’s attention. He’d seen him somewhere before. Even with the beanie covering his head, Cane could make out most parts of his face. And Cane never, ever forgot a face.

It took moments to realize who that was. Lamar; Alexandra’s ex-boyfriend who had made such an ass of himself at Malia’s party just a week ago. What the fuck was he doing here?

Cane was coming in from the opposite direction, and when Lamar looked up, both men’s eyes met in an instant of recognition and surprise. But there was something else in Lamar’s gaze; the dark man’s eyes narrowed to vindictive slits as moments later, he shot the van past Cane.

Cane’s instincts, honed from years in the military and on the job as a protection agent, kicked in and he knew. Alexandra was in that van.

Son of a bitch!

He wouldn’t have time to question his intuition. Lamar was speeding off like hell was after him. Cane had to react fast. His arms twisting sharply, Cane took precious moments spinning the car around. All rational, conscious thought told him not to let that bastard Lamar out of his sight. For the fact that Lamar was here, this early in the morning on the very same road Alexandra took when jogging…it didn’t take rocket science to figure out that Lamar had most definitely kidnapped Alexandra. Especially since she was nowhere to be seen.

Cane saw the van gain speed as the distance between them grew wider, but Cane wasn’t too worried. Let’s see you try to outrun an Audi R8, motherfucker, Cane seethed. There was a squeal of tires as he floored the gas, shooting forward so fast the surroundings became a blur.

***

Alexandra’s mind and heart were racing as she felt the van pick up monstrous speed. She was struggling against her shackles which was useless, as useless as her screams underneath the gag. She could hear Lamar swearing furiously and wondered what had got him so mad. Wasn’t he worried about drawing attention with his crazy speed? Unless…

It seemed almost too much to hope that someone had seen him abduct her and was now on the chase. Lamar was definitely driving like something was after him. Alexandra was thrown to the left and right of the cramped compartment, her body hitting painfully against the objects on the floor. Now she was just as scared of being in a crash, helpless to get out of the wildly swerving car. Was this fool trying to get them killed?

The van zoomed down an endless stretch of road and she guessed they were on the highway on the outer limits of the city. Apart from that, she didn’t know what the heck was going on.

“This son of a bitch ass is mine!” she heard Lamar growl from behind the wheel, and then came noises that sounded like he was rummaging through the glove compartment. Next thing she heard was a gun cocking.

Fuck. The bastard had a gun. Alexandra’s heart plummeted and she moaned against her gag. The van was still moving at a break-neck speed, and she was getting woozy from being tossed about, unable to brace her half-naked body against the impact of the many objects she bumped into. Her legs floundered, looking for something to hook into so she could at least keep still. Nothing. The dim interior of the van told her nothing and at the speed they were moving, all she heard was the squealing tires and Lamar cursing non-stop.

“That bitch-ass man of yours is fixing to get himself fucked up!” Lamar yelled back at her, and all Alexandra could think of was what man? She didn’t have a man. Who was Lamar talking about?

Bang! Alexandra was jolted bodily by something slamming hard into the van from behind. Her scream was muted by the gag, as Lamar swerved, barely able to keep control of the car. He roared something about ‘killing that motherfucker’ and then suddenly, she heard shots ring out from his window. Lamar cursed furiously, not sounding very happy which made Alexandra suspect that whoever he was shooting at, he’d missed.

Her hopes soared again as she realized someone was trying to save her. Had to be. And it took seconds for her to work out who it could be. Lamar had said something about her ‘man’…did he mean Cane?

Oh God, Cane, Alexandra thought with a strangled sob. She could just imagine him racing not far behind, hell-bent on rescuing her. Just wishing it was him was already making her feel better, like she had hope. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. He’d promised. She closed her eyes tight and remembered him saying it was going to be alright.

The impacts from the rear kept coming, like a battering ram. Lamar sent off another shot as soon as he got the van steady, which was becoming difficult with every hit from the following car.

They were fishtailing wildly across the road, before Lamar was able to get the van in control. But the next second, Alexandra could hear the other car accelerating hard before pulling alongside and suddenly slammed into Lamar’s side of the van.

Alexandra felt the van veering and then completely spin around. “Dammit!” Lamar swore, losing control of the van and the next thing, they were careening off the road. The last thing Alexandra was aware of was the sensation of the van tumbling down a short slope before slamming to a shuddering halt in a deep ditch.

***

Cane was outside the Audi the second he pulled to a stop just yards from where the van had swerved off the main road. Its back wheels were partly in the air and spinning wildly, but otherwise it was in one piece, the hood buried in the trench.

Cane’s steps quickened as he saw Lamar yank open the driver’s door and step out groggily, his beanie falling off his shaved head. Their eyes met and Cane’s face creased in a snarl. Lamar wiped at the blood seeping from his forehead and bared his teeth, bracing his feet on the pebbly ground as suddenly Cane advanced and with force, shoved Lamar hard against the smashed side of the van.

Lamar roared, grabbing at Cane’s throat with his fists. Using swift, precise chops of his hands, Cane hacked at Lamar’s face, neck and side. Lamar let out a howl but didn’t let go of Cane’s throat, squeezing harder. Cane’s arms wrapped around Lamar’s waist as he used his full strength to drag Lamar off his feet before crashing the man’s back down on the bodywork of the car, making it shake. Lamar was a big, solid motherfucker but Cane had no problem lifting him again and slamming him back down against the van one more time. Lamar grunted as his fingers slipped from Cane’s neck. Throwing back his arm, Cane soon connected his fist with Lamar’s face. He grabbed Lamar’s collar with his free hand and pushed till they were both rolling on the dirt floor, punching and grunting. Blood spewed from Lamar’s nose as Cane continued slamming his fist into Lamar’s grimacing face again and again.

“I told you want would happen if you ever came near her again,” Cane gritted out, before hauling Lamar back to his feet. The woozy Lamar threw in a weak fist from the side but Cane deflected the blow easily. That was when Cane methodically smashed his foot into Lamar’s calf, making the man scream in agony as he crumpled, the sound of breaking bone unmistakable. Lamar painstakingly rolled away groaning and spitting out blood. Cane advanced, his face a mask of dark, terrible fury.

“You sonofabitch!” Lamar howled, suddenly reaching behind him into his waistband before whipping out a gun which he aimed straight at Cane. Cane didn’t stop in his tracks. He saw Lamar pull the trigger and ducked sharply to the side. He felt the searing sensation of lead whipping through his shoulder, making him grunt. Lamar was staring at him wide-eyed, about to shoot again only to hear the ‘click’ sound that spoke volumes. “Fuck!” Lamar cursed shrilly, just as Cane reached him, making a grab for the gun. There was only a brief struggle before Cane had the gun in his hand, wasting no time in smashing the butt against the side of Lamar’s head, knocking him out cold.

Cane was hardly breathing heavy as he flung the gun away as Lamar’s head rolled to the floor. Cane straightened off his knees and headed straight for the back of the van, and only then did his heart begin to pound erratically with fear. He had no way of knowing if that bastard had hurt Alexandra. And what if she got injured from the crash?

His chest tight, he finally tore the van doors open - and there she was. “Oh, baby,” Cane breathed, his chest constricting. She was blinking from the sudden brightness coming in from the open doors, and he climbed into the van, his hands reaching out first for the rags tied around her mouth. His jaw gritted with fury as he saw her breasts were naked. Controlling the wave of utter rage that threatened to engulf him, he wrapped her with the blanket he found in the corner.

“Cane,” she whimpered, licking on her parched lips as she gazed up at him with wide, relieved eyes that tore into his soul.

“You’re okay now,” he said soothingly. “You’re going to be fine.” He embraced her tightly for a few moments, his face buried in her disheveled hair as he inhaled deeply, garnering strength. Holding her this close made him feel sane again, freed him from the murderous urge that made him want to go back to the unconscious Lamar and pummel him to the ground, till he was nothing more than a bloody pulp.

“I’ll find the keys to those shackles and then we can get you out of here, alright?” he said softly, and her trusting, silent nod cracked at his heart even more. He’d found her; that was all that mattered now. She was safe. And beneath the reprieve he felt, was another, underlying emotion that he didn’t need to ask himself its origin or definition. It was enough that it existed, and thrived. It had blossomed to full life when he’d opened the van doors and seen her there, alive and otherwise unhurt.

Nothing could ever describe the feeling that had overcome him then. It was worth almost as much as all the medals or the many successful missions he’d had in the past. Because if anything had happened to Alexandra, if he had been too late…then Cane knew, without a question, that his own life would have been over.

“Cane…you’re hurt!” he heard Alexandra exclaim as he reluctantly pulled away from her. He glanced at his bleeding shoulder, the red spot spreading over his shirt. For the first time, the throbbing pain registered.

“I’ll be okay,” he told her reassuringly, staring down into her face for a few moments before, without thinking, he sealed his lips over hers.

She gasped against his mouth but didn’t protest, her lips molding to his as he kissed her deeply, almost desperately. She strained against her shackles, moaning into his mouth as he cupped her face in both hands. Cane closed his eyes tight and drank in her sweetness until his head reeled. He’d had to taste her or he’d have gone insane. Knowing she’d been inside that van had killed him almost, as he’d relentlessly come after Lamar. And now here she was, her lips soft and eager against his. It was a passionate kiss but it wasn’t sexual, just soul-binding. If he’d had any doubts about his true feelings for her, they were completely gone now.

However, it didn’t make his heart ache any less. Once more, he withdrew, very slowly, his eyes pinned to hers as he brushed his hand over the side of her face. Her other eye was swollen and purpling, and there was dried blood around the tiny cut on her neck. Cane gritted his teeth tightly thinking how she must have suffered at Lamar’s hands. It was all Cane could do to not go back and finish what he’d started and bash the motherfucker’s head in. Instead, he pressed one more kiss, this time on her forehead, and told her once again that she was safe.

Chapter Twelve

I’m safe.

Alexandra hugged her arms around her and turned away from the windows of her father’s study. It seemed almost impossible to believe that over two months ago, she’d been abducted by her crazy ex-boyfriend who’d wanted to hold her for ransom. He was preparing to face life behind bars but that was the least of Alexandra’s concerns.

She heard her father quickly end his call before rising from his chair and walking up to her. Alexandra tried not to think it was like déjà vu. Merely over two months ago, she’d been called to this very study to receive the announcement that her father had hired her a personal bodyguard.

It felt like a lifetime ago now.

Everything had been a blur after the van doors had opened and Cane had been standing there. She remembered being covered by a blanket, and Cane holding her tight and kissing her, whispering that she was safe. Much later there had been the paramedics and the cops and the statements. But she’d been in too much shock to be of much use to anyone. Once it was decided that she had only a few bruises and cuts, she was seen to and then allowed to go home. Cane had never been far from her side, she remembered that much as well. There’d been a kind of sling on his arm from his shoulder, which she later learnt had been grazed by a bullet. Her relief in knowing that he’d escaped any real danger almost surpassed her own happiness that she was safe. He followed her in back of the police car, his hand tightly wound around hers. She noticed they were headed for her father’s house, and when she turned to him in surprise Cane explained quietly, “Your father was notified about the attempted kidnap and he was worried sick. I assured him he didn’t have to come over, that I’ll see to it that you’re brought home to stay with him for a while.”

Alexandra had frowned in confusion, but he’d simply rubbed soothingly on her hand, and kissed the side of her head. She’d sighed, laid her head against his shoulder, and drifted into an exhausted doze.

It took a day or two after that for her to get over the trauma of what she’d experienced. Now back in her family home, she saw hardly any glimpse of Cane, as her father cancelled all his other work commitments to focus on her. There were nurses, maids and cooks to see to Alexandra’s every need as she recuperated. Malia had also been so marvelous and attentive, coming round the house and even stayed over whenever she could, keeping Alexandra company and brightening her spirits after her ordeal.

“All this time, we were thinking it was someone from your business transactions, while all the while, my getting into danger was my fault,” Alexandra told her father guiltily now, as he came up to where she stood by the window and took her by the shoulders.

Her eyes were misty as she looked up at him. “I’m sorry dad. I should have listened to you. Getting involved with Lamar in the first place was a big mistake.”

“We all make them; and I’m sure somehow, I’m more to blame than you might think,” her father said with a heavy sigh. “I pushed you away with my workaholic lifestyle. I should have been your best friend, your confidante, not someone who just paid your bills or simply wore the label of ‘father’. I was never really there, was I?”

“You’re here now,” Alexandra said softly, giving him an affectionate smile, and the older man nodded gratefully, his smile just as warm even as Alexandra’s heart ached for another person she couldn’t help wishing she could also say was right there with her, but he wasn’t.

The last time she’d seen Cane, he’d been let into her room by the hired nurse over a week ago. It had been her old bedroom when she’d still been living at home, and she couldn’t help beaming when Cane appeared. The sling was gone but she could tell that underneath his impeccable looking dark suit and tie, his shoulder was covered in bandages.

“You look great,” he’d said with a slanted smile once the door closed behind the nurse and they were alone.

“So do you,” she said softly, drinking in the sight of him and wondering how she could still look at him without melting completely to pieces. She did melt, but somewhere deeply hidden from knowing eyes.

He sat on the chair by her bed and then leaned forward, tucking her hair behind her ear. She caught his slight grimace as he used his injured hand which he drew back carefully. Alexandra’s eyes filled with concern.

“Does it hurt?”

He grinned at her worried look, shaking his head. “Only when I forget and move it too quickly. It’ll be fine.”

The air stilled as the moments ticked by in silence. She watched him, he watched her. There was a rueful look on his face that filled her with dread even before he began, “Alexandra…”

“Don’t tell me. With the threat taken care of, I don’t need a personal bodyguard anymore, do I?”

He sighed deeply. “That’s up to your father to decide. But for now, he sees no reason to continue with the security arrangements contracted with the firm I work for. But that’s not what I came to tell you. The thing is…I’m off on another assignment.”

If Alexandra thought her heart couldn’t sink any lower, it did now. “What? But…your injury…”

“It wasn’t much more than a nick,” he told her quietly. “And besides, I’m to act mostly in an advisory role. I’ll be leaving the country in two days.”

Alexandra hated that her lips were trembling. She hated that she felt so weak and helpless. She’d been through a lot when she’d been taken but it didn’t account for her being bed-ridden and weak. But the doctors had advised her to rest after the strain she’d suffered in those harrowing hours. And yet all the drugs and pills must have got her feeling all emotional and vulnerable, which showed in her words as she breathed, “Why are you still mad at me?”

Cane stared at her in stark surprise. “Why on earth would I be mad at you?”

She was breathing hard, holding back the sobs but unable to keep the tears from spilling from her eyes. “For leaving the house on my own. Disobeying your instructions. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been outside alone when Lamar attacked. I almost got myself and you killed and I know you hate me…you fucking hate my guts…”

“Oh my God, Alexandra, I don’t hate you,” he growled, shooting forward and grabbing her face, making her look deeply into his eyes. “How can you even think me capable of that?”

“Then why are you leaving?” she moaned.

A ragged sigh escaped him, and he rested his forehead against hers for a moment. Then he raised his head to look into her eyes. “I don’t hate you,” he repeated clearly, his clear green eyes pinned to hers. “But I can’t…Alexandra, I can’t give you what you want.”

“Why? Because I’m a billionaire’s daughter and you’re a just a bodyguard?” she spat, eyes filled with hurt and pain. She regretted her words immediately and wanted to take them back, but he was nodding.

“You could say that. And now, I have another job to do. So I’m off to do it. That’s who am I, Alexandra. It’s all I am. And I can’t expect you to have to deal with that. But for what it’s worth, I’m happy you’re safe.”

“And I guess I should say thank you now for rescuing me,” she said bitterly, her heart crumpling as he pulled away.

“Your father has already done that, many times. Besides, protecting you was my job, so I really don’t need you or anyone thanking me for doing what I was assigned to do,” he said calmly.

“Still…I appreciate what you did,” she told him softly, her eyes downcast as she clenched her hands on the bed covers.

“I know you do,” he said in a tone just as gentle, and her gaze lifted to find him looking fixedly at her face as if to memorize every feature. Alexandra’s heart pounded and suddenly, she was reminded of Cane’s kiss, and how the earth had shifted when his lips touched hers. It was one sensation that had stuck with her of all the things she’d been through that day.

“You’ll be fine,” Cane suddenly said with a small smile. “You’re graduating in a few weeks, and before you know it you’ll start your dream job designing wedding dresses that look like they came out of a fairytale.”

“Too bad my fairytale couldn’t come true though, huh?” she said with an unsteady smile that didn’t hide her pain. He stared at her for a few moments but before he could say another word, the nurse reappeared and said it was time for Alexandra’s lunch and then a nap. Alexandra wanted to scream at the woman that she wasn’t a fucking invalid, but didn’t want to act that way in front of Cane. Not that it mattered anymore what he thought; she’d probably never see him again.

When he was gone, she could barely get half-way through the lunch served in her room before she waved the dishes away and asked to be left alone. And spent her ‘nap’ crying soundlessly into her pillow as she remembered the sight of Cane walking away without a backward glance.

***

“Alex? Are you okay?”

She blinked away her painful thoughts and saw her father looking quizzically at her. “Sorry. I was miles away.”

“Figures,” he said drily. “But I was asking, don’t you want to know who I just finished speaking with?”

Alexandra tried to dredge up some enthusiasm for the topic. “I’m not sure…would I want to?”

Her father huffed, sending her a knowing look. “It was Noah Preston, from the security firm.” Instantly, Alexandra’s heart started to pound and her fists clenched at her sides as she strove for calm.

“Oh,” was all Alexandra could say in reply.

Donel Duke was now back behind his desk, shuffling through papers as he spoke casually. “Noah’s assisting me with a new security system I’m instituting for my head office, so we’ve been in contact. However he mentioned something that caught my attention. It seems you have shown an interest in a certain member of his staff.”

Alexandra hung her head, telling herself she knew what was coming next. Her father would give her a lecture about getting on with her life, leaving the past behind and forgetting about any silly notions she might be harboring.

Well, no one needed to tell her she was silly, calling Noah up a few days ago to ask about Cane. She’d been desperate, out of her mind. The past two months without seeing him, hearing from him had almost sent her berserk. Had he returned safely from his last assignment? Could he be back in the country? Just thinking that Cane was somewhere on the planet and she couldn’t ever see or hear from him was like a cruel life sentence.

So she’d done the most shameful thing and rang up Cane’s boss.

“It’s great to know you’re okay, Ms. Duke,” Noah Preston had said in a cheerful tone. “What you went through was in no way easy.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Alexandra had replied, though she knew she wasn’t talking about her abduction ordeal. The words of a popular song struck her as she wondered how it was possible trying to live with a broken heart. It was almost like driving with flats. It just didn’t work.

“But I was referred to a psychologist and the visits have helped me handle the whole episode better. I’m perfectly fine now,” she’d lied, right before she’d broken down and finally added hesitantly, “I was wondering…do you have Cane’s phone number? I forgot to ask him the last time we saw.”

Alexandra was mortified that Noah would actually ask why she needed Cane’s number, in which case she’d already decided to say she’d never had the chance to thank him properly.

But Noah didn’t ask, instead after a long sigh he said, “We don’t give personal details of our operatives. But I’d be happy to pass on any message you might want sent across. I can tell you though, that he’s presently working on another job.”

“Oh Okay, that’s nice,” Alexandra had said lamely, before thanking him and quickly hanging up the phone.

If she’d thought her feelings for Cane would die off after he was gone, she was wrong. They’d only shared one kiss, which had been more for comfort than anything sexual. Apart from that, Cane Hutchinson had held on to his moral code to the end. And even beyond. Wasn’t that enough to make her forget him? He obviously wanted nothing to do with her even now that he wasn’t working as her bodyguard. Looked like she’d been right and she wasn’t his type after all.

Alexandra had waited and hoped that he might call, but there was no contact and she guessed that she’d imagined all those intense moments they’d shared. Even though they’d never had sex, there’d been enough heat and power radiating around them whenever they were together. How could he have so easily walked away?

Maybe his view of her as a spoiled little rich girl or worse, as just a job had never really changed. And that hurt so much it almost made her ill.

She did try to put him out of her mind and get on with her life. She graduated successfully from FIT armed with her Masters in fashion and textile studies. Now she had so many options before her. She could either stay in New York or choose any of the other promising fashion houses who’d shown willingness to have her on. Her career could take off as soon as she wanted it and she had her whole life ahead of her? So why was she acting like something was missing?

Alexandra wondered how much her father had guessed, as she forced herself to look up and meet his shrewd gaze.

“Over the past several weeks I’ve watched my little princess struggle with an inner burden,” Donel Duke said quietly, his fingers forming a steeple beneath his chin as he regarded Alexandra thoughtfully. “I was thinking it was just you having a hard time getting over the near-kidnap. So I hired the psychologist, hoping that would help. Only you seem to be getting worse.”

“I’ll be fine, dad,” Alexandra said on a deep sigh, wishing she’d start to believe that lie herself since she said it so often.

“I hope so. I want you to be. Because you seem so sad. The free-spirited daughter I know and love who could be a real pain in the ass sometimes…well, I miss her.”

Alexandra had to smile at that. “I miss her too.”

“So are you going to tell me why you’re so sad?” her father asked, his voice kind and concerned.

“Maybe I’m just bored,” she said, shrugging as she turned away to hide her fidgeting hands. “After the incident, I’ve kept to myself except for my closest friends; I hardly want to go out or even have fun…”

“It’s about him, isn’t it? Cane,” her father shocked her by saying factually.

“You called Noah asking about him,” her father said as if to remind her that he knew.

Okay, so he knew, now what? She shrugged as carelessly as she could. “I just wanted to know. I mean, this guy went through great pains to save my life. He was great to me and I missed him. Big deal.”

“If you say so,” her father said after a pause, and she had to endure a few moments’ scrutiny before he shoved something forward on the desk.

Alexandra frowned curiously as she stepped forward and then looked down at the glossy, colorful written matter. Her head shot up at him. “You bought me a vacation?”

Her father looked at her innocently.

“Like you said, it’s the boredom. Now I’ve had it all figured out. A nice trip away from all this will do you good. After what you went through with that idiot Lamar, I’m insisting you do me this favor. I picked out the perfect location, as you’ll find out in time.”

Alexandra’s head was swimming with confusion as she stared down at the brochure, tickets and other details in her hands. Her father had her in a tight spot, and she didn’t want to worry him further by saying she didn’t want to go. After all, she’d just claimed she was bored. And from the look of all the images of beaches, scenery and culture shown on the travel guides, it did look like a prime spot.

Maybe it was just what she needed. A chance to get over her heartache over Cane. Maybe, just maybe, she’d finally find a way to forget him though she doubted that was ever going to happen. But the vacation, yes; that was worth a try…

Chapter Thirteen

The island of St. Maarten was so beautiful it was almost impossible to choose where to begin her voyage of discovery. She’d come here and found the most outstanding natural environment, the atmosphere so tranquil that it seemed perfect for quiet relaxation and contemplation.

Not that she wasn’t going to have fun. She intended to. The island was small enough to thoroughly investigate in the course of one vacation, and she intended to squeeze in as much sightseeing, shopping and yes, water sports as she could.

Alexandra had taken many luxury vacations before, but there was something about this place. The white sand beaches with the turquoise waters made it feel like she was on the edge of paradise. Now she felt glad that her father had thought of making her swap her hectic urban lifestyle for a couple of weeks in a peaceful and beautiful location.

Alexandra knew Malia would have loved this place; it was just like something out of a romance novel. Alexandra had actually asked her best friend if she’d like to join her there, but Malia regretfully couldn’t take time off work and of course, there was the fact that her boyfriend had just proposed and now Malia was starting to plan her wedding!

Alexandra smiled as she thought of how happy her friend was. Being a plus-size female, Malia had once despaired, while in college, if she’d ever find a man who’d love her for herself. Turned out she’d had no problem at all about that. In her own case, Alexandra with her knockout supermodel figure couldn’t seem to get a decent man to fall in love with her. That was life for you, thought Alexandra with a rueful smirk.

Not that she hadn’t had offers since she’d arrived three days ago. In fact, she’d had to be wresting off the male admirers left and right. She came here for relaxation, not romance.

Yesterday had passed like a dream. She prepared a fabulous breakfast in the well-equipped kitchen, and then later served lunch by the pool. Just before sunset, she walked along her own beach front.

She intended to rent a jeep for transportation just to make sure she enjoyed the rich pleasures of the island. Alexandra was going to experience everything; the trendy exotic foods, the popular local crafts and the duty free shopping. There were gorgeous seaside views in almost all the restaurants, which provided amazingly diverse cuisine from Mediterranean, to Provencal or French.

She got to sail around the island on the open water, taking in the sights and visiting the local attractions. By her fourth day on the island, Alexandra could almost convince herself that she’d at last found a perfect way to completely erase the way her heart ached. But every time she saw a couple in love, or laughing and having fun, she thought of Cane. Why had he never given them a chance?

That morning, she left her luxurious vacation condo with the decision that she was going to try harder today. And that meant finally opening the door of her heart to at least allow someone take a peek. It could be anyone. Any of the gorgeous local men or other vacationers she’d been meeting. She’d try to get an actual date if it killed her. She would stop saying no; this time, she felt she was ready. It was time to stop using loneliness as a cloak, stop making excuses. If she couldn’t have her fairytale love, then maybe she could at least work on finding something more realistic – if not passion, then something to simply warm all those lonely nights.

She was young, she still had her looks – she could at least try to be happy. Forget the feeling of rejection she suffered each time she thought of Cane leaving and staying away without a word. He never cared for her, not really; she had to get over it and move the fuck on. Even if it killed her!

That day, she was in a more relaxed mood, happy to simply kick back and relax on the beach. She picked a quirky, fun restaurant where she could just park herself on the lounge under an umbrella and enjoy being waited on by staff serving appetizers, sandwiches, drinks and tapas.

She wasn’t surprised when she was soon joined by a handsome, bronzed and blue-eyed hunk whom she’d met a few times before on the beach. He’d told her he was a doctor on vacation, and once she’d convinced herself he wasn’t married, Alexandra allowed herself to warm up to him. He was cute, after all.

The truth was, he reminded her a bit of Cane. They both had the same kind of athletic, solid build and chiseled jaw. She missed Cane’s mossy green eyes but she figured she couldn’t do so bad with blue especially when they crinkled so nicely when he smiled. He looked closer to forty though he was fit as hell. Alexandra figured she was acquiring a taste for older white guys, so why not indulge. She allowed him to share her table and they chatted. It didn’t feel bad at all, enjoying the admiring looks and attention of a handsome, like-minded man. She could read the signals and knew he was physically attracted to her. He suggested they try out the highly recommended sunset cruise together. Alexandra couldn’t help but hesitate. A sunset cruise spelled much more romance than she was ready for right then. She told herself she’d much rather party with the handsome doctor. Far more sensible to try out some of the Caribbean nightlife, maybe check out any of the exciting and cosmopolitan clubs and casinos the island had to offer. The doctor, whose name was Liam, seemed eager to comply to her suggestion that they hit the club/casino, and told her he knew a few nice ones they could try.

“Alright; so why don’t you pick me up at eight,” she said with a smile, which he returned as he gallantly bent to kiss her hand.

“I’ll be there on the dot,” he said softly, looking up into her face with his deep baby blues. Alexandra hid a sad sigh as she then watched him walk away. She decided he didn’t really remind her of Cane after all. There was something about the way Cane moved; the sweep of his broad shoulders, the silky brush of his short, dark hair across the back of his head…

That’s it - I’m really fucked, thought Alexandra as she gulped down her drink with a massive lurch in her chest. She was an idiot to agree to that date with Liam. No freaking way she was ready to hang out with any guy, even for fun. Besides, who knew what Liam would expect by the end of the night? She’d certainly been giving him the right signals. She had to find a way to back out of the arranged outing…

Alexandra suddenly blinked. She was sure she was seeing things. The figure she was looking at was still a long distance down the beach but there was no mistaking his physique. He was running up the beach wearing only a pair of white shorts and the way he was headed, he’d run right by the lounger she was reclining on. She sat up with a gasp, her heart pounding so hard she could hear it beating in her eardrums. She saw several other tourists, female as well as male, throw him appreciative glances. Not that she could blame them. The sun-kissed god running up on the beach and heading her way looked like something from the perfect sexual fantasy. She ground her teeth as two women giggled to each other when he ran by, and he sent them a sexy smile which only made them swoon.

Cad! Alexandra thought irreverently as she suddenly snatched up her things and sprang to her feet. She now knew he’d spotted her and it was just moments before he’d be right where she was positioned. Recovering from her paralyzing shock from seeing him, she spun on her heels and stormed off with a head still whirling.

“Alexandra!”

She closed her eyes at the sound of his voice calling her name. She ignored the unmistakable, deep tone and stomped on, over the beautifully swept sand as she made her way in the direction of her beachfront condo.

Just as she got past the sloping ridge that cut a path to her destination, she felt a strong hand grab her wrist gently but firmly. Immediately, Alexandra whirled round to face him, her eyes shooting sparks.

“Alexandra…”

“What the hell do you want?” she spat. Her body was trembling. Dammit! This wasn’t how she’d planned it would go if she saw him again. But she couldn’t think, couldn’t process. He was here. She didn’t know how or why, but he was. Nothing made sense but her anger and pain. Her loneliness and loss of self-pride. And now he was here, looking so gorgeous and tanned, with no sign to show he’d even suffered like she had. Hence, the cad name-calling in her head.

His eyes were skimming her face the way she remembered he liked to do. His grip tightened on her wrist, and for a moment he just stayed like that, as if time was standing still. Until she jerked her hand from his grasp.

“What in damnation are you doing here, Cane?” she asked heatedly, and he drew in a long, deep breath, that little smile she adored playing on his curvy, deliciously full lips. It wasn’t fair. He was just standing there and she was already frothing between her thighs. Just seeing him had tightened every bolt inside her belly and she was virtually gasping like she’d run a freaking marathon.

For the third time, all he said was her name. This time, so softly it sounded like a caress. She shook her head, squeezed her eyes tight to blink back the sudden tears and looked away with a hidden sob. This time when she felt him take her hand, she didn’t snatch it away.

“I don’t want to talk here,” he added huskily, his other hand reaching up to cup her face. “There’s so much to say and I feel like if I don’t get you alone now, I’m going to do something really crazy out here on a public beach. Come on…”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said in a quiet, though very clear, plain voice. Her body was stiff and unresponsive and she was ready to dig her heels in the sand if he tried to make her move anywhere with him. She felt her senses slowly return and she looked up at him with defiant eyes. “And I want you to let me go.”

“Let you go?” he repeated with a half-smile, half-wince. “I’m not sure that’s an option I’m ready to take right now.”

“Why not? You took it quite well three months ago when you calmly walked out of my life. And stayed away without a word,” she gritted out accusingly.

“I was never that far away, Alexandra. I was never really gone,” he told her softly. His eyes were trailing over every inch of her now. She felt that look like a laser beam. Other men ogled her and she never got even a twitch. But when Cane did it...damn. She felt like a pornography poster.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked in an accusing voice that sounding squeaky.

He took his time before finally lifting his eyes above her neck. “Forgive me,” he said in a voice she noted was totally unrepentant. “When protecting you was my job, I never allowed myself the luxury of looking at you the way I wanted to; and when I did, I never let myself fully give in to savoring the beauty of you simply because I was afraid I’d snap out of control; go past the boundaries and break the rules.”

His words made the heat shoot right up between her kneecaps. But she stemmed the steamy pleasure she felt, pursing her secret inner lips before they’d seep further. She didn’t want to want him. She shouldn’t. Ever. “And you hated that, didn’t you, Mr. Perfect? Everything has to be straight and narrow with you. Maybe I wanted you to break the rules. You losing control would have at least shown me that in some degree, I mattered more than your so-called boundaries.”

“I’m not perfect,” he corrected in a calming voice. “Alexandra, I’ll admit to being as fucked up as you can imagine. Yes, I was much too concerned about control. It’s all part of my honor code and I hated how it would feel if I broke it. But most of all, if you must know, I was afraid.”

Now he was messing with her, thought Alexandra as she huffed and flicked her hair over her shoulder. Cane, afraid? A guy like him couldn’t even recognize fear. Fear was afraid of him. But then he grabbed her by the shoulders and she turned to him with a glare that seemed to bounce right off.

“I was afraid, Alexandra,” he repeated firmly as his eyes pinned to hers. “Scared witless that I’d give in to the way I felt about you and then find out I wasn’t really the one for you. That you’d suddenly wake up and realize your feelings were just an infatuation, brought on by your close contact with your bodyguard. Any other woman and I wouldn’t mind. I’d have that fling or whatever we’d have had and then when the job was over or when you got fed up, it wouldn’t matter to me anyway. But I couldn’t risk that with you, Alexandra. And that was where I fucked up. I’m not a risk-taker; and normally that’s good for a man in my line of work. Zero risk means zero casualties or mistakes. Jeopardize nothing, and nothing will be lost. Obviously that mantra doesn’t carry over well when it comes to love between a man and a woman.”

“Obviously,” she retorted with a comical rolling of her eyes. “So let me get this; you held off because you were scared my feelings were fickle? Because you weren’t sure I knew what I was doing, right? You thought I’d hurt you,” she added with a tone less tinged with the sarcasm she’d been using so far.

“Yeah,” he said with a rueful twist to his lips. “I guess that’s the bottom line, in a nutshell. The breathtakingly beautiful and sexy Alexandra Duke, the hottest woman I’d ever seen, could bring me to my knees…so for the first time in my life, I wimped out. I held on to the rules like a life-line. I did my job and swore to keep the professional stance if it killed me. But guess what, sweetie? That didn’t save me.”

Alexandra’s eyes were quizzical as she looked up at him, but she couldn’t speak. She still hadn’t stopped shivering since the words ‘breathtaking and beautiful Alexandra’. He thought she was the hottest woman he’d ever seen? Whoa. The thought warmed her belly, tripped her heart up and made her want to sing. So basically, she was left speechless. A flipping sex god thought she was a sex goddess. She’d need to float down a bit from that first.

Cane smiled tenderly, almost like he could read her mind. Alexandra felt warmth spread over her cheeks and down to her neck, until beads of perspiration formed in the dusky hollow of her cleavage in the white bandeau she wore over her tie-dyed sarong.

“Remember when you asked me…when you wondered if I was ever curious to find out, even just once, how it could be between us?” Cane asked softly, moving so close his body warmth radiated all over her and made her head spin. He smelled so good, as always. Like nothing she could describe; just all male, fresh and inviting. She looked up into those mesmerizing eyes and wanted so much to fall into them – fall into him. But her heart felt wary, even terrified. How could she open the door and get kicked in the chest again?

She could only nod in reply to his question, and he stroked his thumb over her cheeks as he added, “Well, you were right. I was curious; I thought about it every freaking day and night while I was assigned as your bodyguard. Thinking about it, wanting and needing it, only made it worse. And when I left you, I felt like I was ripping out my own soul. I kept wishing I had taken that one kiss, that one night with you in my arms, letting me claim you like a lover should. With you out of the picture, I went so crazy that I was dangerous to have working on a mission. It was like I was slowly losing it and it felt just as it would have done if you had broken my heart, or if it didn’t work out between us. So either way, I was fucked.”

Alexandra drew in a shaky breath, her mind confused, eager to understand yet…cautious to give in. That too-good-to-be-true feeling that she couldn’t shake off. She looked up into his searching eyes and said, “But that doesn’t explain how you’re here, now. How come you just happened to be jogging down the beach, to me?”

Seeing him, identifying his face and that killer body making its way to her from across the pristine beach…it had felt like she’d conjured him just by her aching thoughts. Alexandra felt like she was still in shock from the fact that out of nowhere, her dream man, the one who’d got away…had found his way back to her.

Cane’s smile sobered slightly as he told her, “When I said I was never really gone, I meant it. Sure, I did go on that mission, but in three days I finally convinced myself I couldn’t cope and Noah agreed to let me off the case.”

“But I called him and he told me you were on assignment,” Alexandra blurted out accusatorily.

“Well he was right,” Cane said ruefully. “That assignment was you, rosebud. I came back because I was still worried about you and I wanted to be sure you were okay. So I started to keep watch on you; I followed you to your classes, I was there when you let Malia drag you off to some play or outings with friends, and I generally wanted to be certain that there really was no more threat to you, not from your father’s business rivals or anyone. But it’s become pretty clear now that Vincent really was never the threat; your ex Lamar had been the one who broke in that night at your apartment. But it wasn’t all just a job for me, in case that’s what you’d think. I did it because I couldn’t bear to be far from you, not so soon. I told myself I’ll let you find your heart, maybe meet someone in a normal situation and have a normal relationship. But you never dated and hardly left the house. I was worried about you even as I realized that my feelings were not going to fade away after a while like I thought. Instead, they became so intense I felt ready to face you with the truth.”

“So why didn’t you?” Alexandra choked, so dazed that all this time, Cane had been in the background, watching, looking out for her. “I was dying, Cane. I missed you and sometimes it was a trial to even get out of bed every morning. And you’re telling me you were right there all along?”

He let out a shuddering breath. “I was your bodyguard, Alexandra. And you were the daughter of this mega-billionaire. At first I was worried about what people would say – not about me because I wouldn’t give a shit, but about you. ‘Beautiful young heiress Alexandra Duke falls for or is seduced by her bodyguard’…the tabloids would make a meal of it and cook up the kind of tales that would probably tear your heart to pieces. I was afraid to risk that. I didn’t want anyone thinking you’re the kind who could be taken advantage of, or deceived – like Lamar tried to do.”

Cane’s lips pulled closer and Alexandra caught her breath, thinking he’d go for her lips, but instead he traced the kiss along her jaw line, his breath snagging. “So when I couldn’t take it anymore, I confessed to Noah how I really felt about you. And he told me he’d always suspected, especially when I changed my mind about being taken off your security detail – and of course when I volunteered afterwards to carry out the constant surveillance on you. And then that was when he told me you’d just called, asking about me. Damn…that day I think my heart just stopped and then imploded. I told myself that I couldn’t dare believe that meant anything…I told myself that sure, you’d grown attached to me as your bodyguard; you still felt some gratitude that I’d saved your life…I warned myself off in all these ways and yet, that didn’t stop me from going to see your father at his office and telling him I wanted to be with you.”

“Wait…what?” Alexandra asked in shock, breaking out of her mesmerized daze of listening to his voice as those last words shattered through her brain. “You went to see my dad?”

“I guess you’ll say I’m old fashioned that way,” Cane said with a lop-sided grin. “I said to him, Sir, I’m in love with your daughter and I want to be with her. I told him I just wanted to lay it on the line that it had nothing to do with who you were; this wasn’t about Donel Duke the billionaire’s daughter, but about Alexandra Duke the beautiful, gifted and adorable woman and what she was to me.”

“Oh my God,” Alexandra gasped, mortified yet joyous at the same time. “I’m almost afraid to ask what he said.”

Cane smirked, his cocky grin showing through. “He chuckled and said he’d been wondering when I’d fess up, considering that I’d already undertaken the duty of following his daughter around. You see, of course Noah had to tell your father about me tailing you and making sure you’re alright since Noah handles all his security matters anyway. Well, to cut the long story short, he handed me a few brochures for St. Maarten and told me, ‘go get her’.”

Alexandra still had that ‘Oh God’ embarrassed look on her face. To think that everyone, including Noah and her father had been in on everything and she’d never even suspected, made her face hot.

“So that’s why I’m here. I came to get you, petal,” Cane said softly, making Alexandra’s throat go dry with the melting look in his eyes coupled with his soft endearment. “Now will you let me sweep you off somewhere romantic where we can kiss for hours and possibly, tousle up some sheets?”

His rakish smile was paired with his eyebrows wriggling suggestively in a comical way that was so different from his usual cool demeanor that Alexandra had to guffaw, covering her mouth with a hand to hold in the mirth.

“Hmm, I don’t know about that, Mr. Smooth. I happen to already have a date,” she finally managed to say while twisting her lips coyly.

“You mean the dashing doctor,” Cane surprised her by saying while his expression crossed between a frown and a scoff. “Yeah, I’ve watched him hover around you like a hawk for some time.”

Alexandra rolled her eyes. “Oh my goodness, just how long have you been here keeping me under more surveillance?”

“About three days,” he confessed, his smile rueful. “I love watching you, Alexandra. I could never tire of that but now I want to do it up close, where you can feel my love.” His fingers trailed down her cheek, sliding past her throat to dip into the soft yet firm hollow of her cleavage. Alexandra’s breathing hitched.

“Hold on…are you trying to sweet talk me into standing up the good doctor for some quality time with you?” she mock accused, her eyes thinning to playful slits.

“Hmm…yes,” he replied deeply, his hands falling on her waist and tugging her hard against him. “It’s already been many long, trying months since you walked in from your father’s study and I set eyes on you for the first time, Alexandra. God…you blew me away. It was all I could do not to sink back down in my chair; my legs could hardly keep me standing. You were like walking, talking candy; luscious and tempting me to take a huge bite. You slayed me, baby.”

“I never…wow, I didn’t even suspect,” she breathed, her eyes shining with happiness and disbelief.

“How could you? I was so good at keeping it all in. I daren’t let you see my instant attraction as I thought you’d use it against me. But I’m too far gone to be able to hide anything from you now.”

“So prove it,” she half-teased, gazing up adoringly into his eyes. “Show me you can be a risk taker. Kiss me, Cane Hutchinson.”

Alexandra shivered as something feral and bright shone in his eyes at her words. He didn’t even hesitate. The next second he was crushing her to him, making her breathless as he caught her lips with his, right there on the white sand beach of St. Maarten.

It became more than just a kiss. It was the kiss, the game changer, the bringer of bliss and the promise of things to come. Shot down, Alexandra clutched at Cane’s broad shoulders, her spine almost bent in half as he ate into her like the world would end. There was heat and passion and tongue – slick, sweet and precious tongue mating hard with hers. Oh my sweet lord, thought Alexandra as her inner thighs quivered. If this man put the same detail to sex like he did to kissing then damn…baby girl had hit the jackpot with this one.

Neither of them could breathe steadily by the time they slowly drew apart for much needed air. His eyes were smoky and filled with unrelenting ardor, mirroring her own feminine cravings to be devoured by him as soon as sanely possible. Like, right now. They just needed to find a room.

She giggled helplessly, and his left eyebrow shot up triangle-style. “What? I kiss that bad it makes girls laugh now?”

“Oh no, not that,” she gasped, holding a hand to her belly. She couldn’t explain it…maybe it was just all the improbability of it all – Cane, in love with her, probably as obsessed with her as she was over him…and then them being together, here in the most romantic corner of the world and probably just minutes from ‘consummating’ their newly confessed emotions…It seemed more perfect than perfect itself.

“Mmm, Cane,” she murmured on a deep breath as she threw her arms around his neck and snuggled close, unmindful of the spectacle they could be making to passers-by. “I’m laughing because…it’s either that or crying. I do love you, so much. Too much and I’m ready to take this as far as you lead. You know what they say…many folks climb mountains simply because they’re there. And I…I fell for you simply because you’re you. You were there and everything in my life just fitted in place like the perfect jigsaw puzzle.”

Cane didn’t speak; he didn’t need to especially since she could see the coals of profound admiration in his eyes. He simply took her hand and kissed it with fierce feeling, his eyes closing tight for a few moments.

“So…,” Alexandra teased as she curved her lips in a sultry smile. “I guess I’ll be standing up the doctor tonight after all. Now let’s go tousle up some fine-threaded sheets.” She grabbed his hand playfully to begin leading him away, but he pulled her to a stop, making her turn to look at him questioningly.

“Hey, no rush,” he said with a flash of white, gorgeous teeth. “We’ve waited this long, the red hot sex can wait a little bit more.”

Huh? Says who? Alexandra wanted to ask as she tried to curb the quivering in her secret folds at the mention of ‘red-hot’ sex.

“Okay,” she said, very slowly. “Now what?”

He pinched her chin and gazed down into her face with a smile. “What do you know about deep sea fishing?”

Alexandra’s eyes darted. “Um…about as much as you’ll know about any Lil Wayne rap lyrics,” she replied, smiling cheekily.

Cane laughed deeply. “No, I’m serious. Deep sea fishing, as well as snorkeling, diving and sailing…that’s my thing, rosebud. You asked me once what I did for fun and then and there I thought to myself that the first chance I got, I’d take you on a fishing adventure. As it happens, St. Maarten provides a wide variety of fishing areas as well as some serious sailfish, tuna, wahoo and dolphin and they’re always biting,” he told her with his boyish grin. “I’ve got a charter arranged already with enough bait, ice and fishing tackle to last us the whole day.”

His enthusiasm was catching, and Alexandra couldn’t help grinning back with equal excitement. “And then…we can catch the sunset together?”

“Yes,” Cane said, gazing down into her face like it was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. “The St. Maarten sunset on open water is an incredible vision to behold…much like the woman I’m looking at right now.”

Oh shit, it’s so not fair, Alexandra thought as she fell in love with him all over again. How was it possible, the bottomless way he made her feel? Nothing could measure it or box it in; it was boundless, limitless. And the best part of it all, the unbelievable part, was sensing that he felt exactly the same thing for her…

Chapter Fourteen

Alexandra tossed her bouquet over her shoulder and from the gleeful sound she heard behind her, it seemed like Malia had made a lucky catch.

Once Alexandra had called Malia on the phone to say that Cane had proposed and they were ‘eloping’ and having a beach front destination wedding on St. Maarten, Malia had squealed and warned that they’d better not do anything until she got there. She took the first plane down and within hours of leaving New York was just in time for the ceremony which took place that bright, warm day.

To Alexandra’s amazement, her father had made the trip as well. She’d called him with the news just the night before. “I love him and we’re going to get married, dad. I never really wanted to have a big wedding – but I did dream of a perfect one.”

“And that’s what you’ll have,” her father had said deeply. “You both have my blessings but I fully intend to give my only daughter away, Hutchinson.”

Cane, who’d been right there with her, had assured her father that they wouldn’t want it any other way. So her father had zipped over on his private jet and the wedding took place without a hitch.

Alexandra had been shocked to say the least when Cane proposed. They’d taken an excursion on a boat to one of the nearby bleached coral sands with the unbelievable view all around them…and that was when he kissed her and showed her he wanted to take the biggest risk of all.

“Marry me,” he’d told her simply, gazing into her eyes. “On the beach. Tomorrow.”

Two blinks and a belly-quake later, Alexandra breathed, “Yes.”

And after that she hardly needed to lift a finger as Cane handled all the arrangements. “Leave everything to me, princess,” he’d said with deep warmth and adoration in his eyes as he’d kissed her gratefully once she accepted. “I’ll fix all the details from the license to the location…all you’ll have to do is to say, “I do”.”

And she did. They both did, there on the scenic beach with the most perfect weather backing them up. Friends, family, and well-wishers stood around with moist eyes as they watched Alexandra and Cane exchange vows they’d created themselves.

Now, hours later, her new husband was sweeping her in his arms past the threshold of their marvelous honeymoon beach villa. It sat on the cliff top overlooking Orient Beach with amazing views in every direction.

But for tonight, Alexandra intended to be far too preoccupied to take in the scenery.

Cane hadn’t been joking when he’d said there was no rush in terms of sex. Since that day when he’d run up the beach to meet her, he’d been more focused on wooing her than tumbling her in the sheets. At first Alexandra had been shocked, dismayed and foot-stomping mad at the extended deprivation, but now, with his ring on her finger and their wedding night before them, she was beginning to see the allure of keeping their first time for this special occasion.

The last few days had been spent doing all the fishing, excursions, club-hopping, plus wining and dining two people in-love could squeeze in so many hours. But once the bedroom door shut behind them, Alexandra looked up into Cane’s eyes and the message in the flames was unmistakable.

If she’d been expecting a slow grind with Cane, to work them up into the moment, then boy was she wrong. It was like he could finally let the beast out and whoa…Alexandra was in for a hell of a revelation.

That night, the only thing soft was the music playing on the speakers set in all the rooms and connected to Alexandra’s iPod where – surprise – Cane had filled the playlist with all the hottest Trey Songz’ bed-wetting, panty-dropping tracks ever made.

There were also candles lit all around the spacious, glass-walled bedroom with the lights turned down. The whole ambience gave off a gentle, soothing vibe but from the look of things, Cane never got that memo.

Alexandra gasped with deep-seated arousal as Cane moved from the closed door and grabbed her hips, tugging her upwards off her feet. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his waist as his hands cupped her bottom and his lips captured hers. Her arms went round his neck, her response instantaneous. He gave her an open-mouthed, recklessly sloppy kiss trimmed with heat and sensuality. Shit. Alexandra felt the base give out inside her belly and she could hardly breathe as Cane started to fuck her mouth with his marauding tongue.

Alexandra liked that the rough-edged intensity of the kiss was to set the tone for the rest of the play…

Cane couldn’t seem to have enough of her mouth, and she was helpless to his onslaught, making soft mewling sounds into his mouth as she succumbed to his mastery, his ownage.

Damn, she could have kissed him all freaking night and been happy. Their lips felt meant for each other, and the way her whole body reacted to that long session of frenzied lip-locking told her that the rest of her agreed with what her mouth was feeling right then.

She was breathing really hard when he drew back finally, and she couldn’t hide the vulnerability from her face as she looked into his smoldering green eyes. She wanted him like life itself but she wasn’t all that experienced and she wanted him to get as much pleasure from this as she knew she would.

Cane’s face was just a mask of carnal, masculine intent that should have frightened her in its savagery but it only made her cunt twitch and squish even more.

“You’re so perfect, and you’re mine,” he rasped, suddenly looking dazed. “I’m going to keep reminding myself of that and try to hold back from rampaging through this like you’re going to slip out of my grasp by morning light. You won’t will you, baby? You’ll stay with me?”

“Yes…forever. Just like I promised,” Alexandra told him breathlessly, her full heart cracking and bursting at the same time.

Her fervent reply made him groan deeply, his arms almost crushing in the powerful hold they had around her body. With rapid steps, he walked her over to the bed, depositing her on the exquisitely soft sheets with her legs still wrapped tightly around his lean waist.

About…fucking…time, Alexandra thought as her back hit the giving mattress. Finally; her and Cane, in bed. Together. The sensation of having Cane’s marvelous body atop hers was almost worth the many months and days of waiting for this moment to arrive.

More scorching kisses followed, and now his hands began to roam her body with an almost famished possessiveness. Hungry to touch him too, Alexandra skimmed her fingers over his hair, throat, chest and back. He groaned deeply at the way she caressed him, and she felt happy her touch excited him the way his did her.

And the way he virtually ripped her clothes off her body…Alexandra totally forgot to utter a word of protest that her pretty white designer wear was getting shredded. The man wanted her naked, and being in a horny state of mush herself, she wasn’t about to put up any resistance.

Some things in life were worth waiting for and being made love to by Cane was definitely one of them. Even in his feral passion, he showed his giving, tender side. Even when he’d got her bare-ass naked and was nibbling and sucking his way all over her exposed flesh, he still made her feel like she was made of delicate candy floss.

He spread her body beneath him on the sheets and gazed down at her till she felt warm from her head to her toe nails. Even without the words, she knew what he thought about her body but it felt good to hear him say them out loud in a voice so husky she barely recognized it.

“You’re so beautiful and sexy, Alexandra. More than any woman I’ve been with, ever. Your whole body is like a treasure-hunt roadmap…leading to all kinds of beautiful gems. Diamonds…,” he kissed both nipples one after the other, making her gasp, “…And pearls,” he added, his hand sliding down her belly to strum her swollen, beady clit.

Alexandra’s spine arched off the bed, her inner thighs quivering helplessly. Holy cow. His touch was amazing. There was an instant swelling in her folds as blood rushed into her labia even as it gushed with pleasure juice. She leaned up on her elbows and stared down in dazed arousal at his tanned hand, his skin tone several shades more light colored than hers, disappear between her thighs. Instinctively, she locked her knees on him, squirming as she felt him stroke her slit from the top edge to the bottom. He shook his head and tut-tutted.

“Open them wide for me, kitten. I want to look at all of you,” was Cane’s husky command.

Body trembling with mounting passion, Alexandra plucked up her courage and spread apart her knees, submitting herself to the dangerously exciting skill of her lover’s touch. God; she prayed Cane wouldn’t kill her because she was already fitting to pass out from the indescribable bliss of his fingers massaging the sensitive outer layers of her sex.

His gaze shifted down to the bared little crevice between her parted thighs and her chest heaved at the sight of his eyes going black with lust and awe.

“You know what I’m reminded of when I look at this beautiful pussy?” he asked softly, glancing up at her and smiling wolfishly at her warmed cheeks. His lewd words made her shy and horny at the same time. Hearing Cane talk like that was such a turn on, she was sure she was dripping down to the sheets.

She shook her head mutely, unable to piece together a vocal reply. He leaned forward to whisper against her lips, “Your pussy reminds me of strawberries smothered in thick, dark chocolate, with just a hint of honey trickling forth. You’re going to taste amazing, baby. I just know it.”

Ooh heavens, thought the shuddering Alexandra as his words turned her to jelly from the waist down. He proceeded to press kisses from her lips to her neck, making her squirm as he sucked hard at the inner curve of her shoulder before shifting to her budded nipples. He plucked at the thick nubs with his lips and lashed them with his tongue in turns, all the while caressing her soaked entrance with his knowing fingers. Alexandra bucked and shivered, her brain almost short-circuiting from the sensation of Cane’s mouth pleasuring her breasts. His free hand cupped and squeezed them, his fingers wrapping around each firm, generous swell.

He groaned against her tit, lapping at her aureole and making it crinkle when the cool air touched the tip moistened by his tongue. When he pulled her nipple into his mouth…sweet lord.  She felt like she’d been injected with lightning volts right through her centre. He rolled the nipple around inside his mouth with his tongue, stretching and then biting just so with his teeth till she screamed out his name.

He tapped on her clit at the same time, firm little pats coupled with wide, circular motions that brought out black and white spots behind her eyelids. Something solid yet invisible was pressing her off the edge; she couldn’t say what it was but it was so close she could feel it rising inside her. Just as she made to tumble beneath its force, Cane drew his hand away to rest it on her hip as he lifted his mouth from her tingling breast to gaze down into her bewildered face.

“Do you realize that the best part of having this gift of being here beside you…” he began, his voice hoarse with desire, “Is being able to pleasure you, to know that my touch makes you scream and squelch with juices. I do make you wet, don’t I?” His eyes were dark green blades of sensuality that sliced through her like sharp-edged steel.

“So wet,” Alexandra gasped, her hands grasping his head, fisting the short, silky hairs as she writhed hungrily beneath him. He was still very much clothed, which was enough to make her whimper in deprivation even as she told him, “You just have to open your mouth and your voice, your words drive me to distraction.”

“And there’s so much more,” Cane promised deeply, his fingers kneading into the firm flesh of her upper thigh. “You have no idea what I could make you feel, my love. You have such fire and passion; I can taste it on your skin and it’s like a drug to me. I’m about to unleash something inside you that you’ll crave all your life and I’m going to be the only one who can satisfy that craving.”

“I wouldn’t want it any differently,” Alexandra told him with whispery assurance, her own heart pounding with love and devotion.

“Good…because any man try to lay even a pinkie finger on this luscious body, then he’d better be ready to lose both fucking hands,” Cane growled, pressing one more hard, possessive kiss on her lips and causing a shudder to convulse straight through her. She gasped, her head flung back as he began to snake his body down, down…by the time he’d settled his broad shoulders in between her legs, her head whipped back up again. What came next would have been almost impossible for Alexandra to relate in mere words.

Cane. Burying his face against her sex, sticking out his tongue and giving her one long, up and down, sideways lick…Hot. Damn.

Alexandra almost snapped her spine, curving back in half at the sensation of Cane’s velvety rough tongue flattening over her mound. He used his thumb to gently part her pussy lips before twirling that hot tongue around her engorged clit. Before she could even process the pleasure making her body jolt, Cane wrapped his lips around her clit and gave it a deep, hard suck.

Alexandra’s mouth popped wide open but no sound came out. Every nerve cell both inside and out became fine-tuned to the working of Cane’s tongue and fingers on her pussy. Her thighs jerked, her fingers unclenching from the sheets to grip tightly on his short hair.

Somewhere, somehow, she found her voice and all she could do was breathe his name “Cane, oh Cane…” as he thrilled her to the bone by stimulating her pussy.

“Fuck, baby. You taste better than I even dreamed,” Cane groaned, lifting his head slightly to look up at her and Alexandra fought to keep her eyes open enough to hold his gaze. He reached up a hand to stick his long middle finger into her mouth, and she sucked on it hungrily as he ghosted the thumb of his other hand over her clit.

“Mmmm…,” Alexandra moaned around his thick finger. Oh my God! She thought as he lowered his head back to tongue-fuck her pussy while his thumb massaged her greedy clitoris. It felt like her pussy was under assault the way his lips plucked at her swollen labia before he plunged the two longest fingers of one hand into her sodden snatch.

Alexandra could no longer define the sounds she was making in her throat. His fingers sawed in and out of the shallow walls of her vagina, never going too deep. Not yet. He teased her with those just-beneath-the-surface strokes of his fingers while he pulled on her pussy lips with his lips and teeth, nibbling heartily.

He slipped his finger out of her mouth and Alexandra finally let out a screech of ecstasy. The bliss she felt was like a freak of nature. Nothing should feel this good. This much pleasure almost became pain as Cane ramped it to monstrous intensity. Seizing hold of her clit in his teeth, he finally sunk in those two fingers till they were buried inside to the last knuckle.

“Oooh!” Alexandra squealed, her legs wrapping around his head while she bucked her hips repeatedly into his face. He pinched her nipple with one hand and with the other, proceeded to finger-fuck her vagina to blinding oblivion.

Alexandra was half gasping, half moaning, too lost in her ecstasy she almost forgot to keep breathing. She hadn’t even known there were spots inside her pussy that could feel such bliss. Cane hooked in deep, so deep her womb responded with convulsive jerks. He found that magic spot and wouldn’t let go, his fingers beginning to move in a slapping blur as he pounded them in and out of her pussy.

The hips she had grinding into his face began to move faster and faster. Cane just kept up the tempo, taking multi-tasking to a whole new level as he manipulated her breasts while his tongue and fingers pleasured the whole of her sex from inside and out.

Eventually, Alexandra didn’t even get the opportunity to know she was coming. She simply came. Her body coiled forward off the bed as she let out a scream so shrill it could have easily reached the whistle register. She could feel him lapping at her ravenously and groaning so deep the sounds vibrated around the quivering inner flesh of her thighs. Spasms of immeasurable delight racked her frame, and she went on whimpering and convulsing underneath him, her orgasm lasting a full minute.

He insistently sipped on her spilled cum juice like it was fine wine, his raspy growls of approval making her heart swell with love and gratitude. Her thrashing frame soon slowed to a trembling and then a mild shivering as she eased down from the dizzying heights of her release. She felt a serenity in her deepest soul that she’d never felt before sexually.

Alexandra blinked out of her dazed bliss as Cane finally moved up from her inner thighs to bury his face in her stomach, his breathing ragged as he drew in air deeply. “You don’t know how long I’ve dreamed of doing that,” he told her huskily, planting a kiss on her belly. Alexandra’s body jerked reflexively, her nerve endings still too sensitive from her monumental climax.

Her heart bursting, she drew his head up to give him a long, sweet kiss, making him groan as she sucked on his tongue and infused the taste of her own intoxicating essences into her mouth.

“Cane…that was…” She drew back just enough to whisper against his lips, “Life changing. I’ve never felt an orgasm so powerful before. Thank you.”

He smiled rakishly, his eyes glowing dark with passion as he planted kisses along the side of her neck. “I aim to please. Just tell me what you want sweet kitten and it’s done.”

Her hands pushed at his chest insistently until he raised his head to look at her. “What I want…is for you to take your clothes off. I need to see you, Cane. I want to touch you, taste you. I need to believe that you’re all mine. Every inch of you.”

“I’m definitely all yours, kitten. Believe it,” he told her deeply, straightening up on his knees and sending buttons popping as he rent his shirt like he was Incredible freaking Hulk. One thing for sure; he was incredible, thought Alexandra adoringly. Cane had the body of a Greek god, sculpted and tight with not a pinch of fat.

Those pectorals looked like they’d been carved from granite. He had enough bulk in his shoulders, arms and torso to seem like he could lift a freight truck, without looking like those bodybuilding junkies. All she could do was stare at his tanned, hairless body with the rippling six pack and fantasize how good it would be to lick him all over. Even the battle scars, which weren’t many, didn’t detract from the fact that this golden god had the most beautiful male body she’d ever seen.

Alexandra saw his hands fall to his belt and her breathing kicked up a notch. She let her eyes drift lower and could see an impressive-looking bulge stretching down in a ridge to the middle of his thigh. Her eyes widened till they felt like they could pop out of their sockets. Was that his…?

He seemed to smile at her wide-eyed expression, a sly grin slashing across his face as his hands still on the buckle of his belt. Alexandra swallowed convulsively. Why was he stopping?

“Cane…?” she said quizzically, already twitching in her depths at the prospect of seeing her hunk of a husband in the full flesh. And she did mean full. Damn, dude looked like he was packing a huge hosepipe in those pants! Alexandra’s greedy, just-sated pussy was already beginning to ignite in anticipation of what her eyes were about to feed upon.

But Cane was shaking his head, suddenly lying on his back as he placed lifted his arms to link his hands behind his head. “You want me…you need to come get me,” he said deeply.

Oooh, Alexandra thought, her whole body switching into she-wolf mode at the challenge in his smoky green eyes.

“Oh, I’m coming,” she told him sultrily, as she got on her hands and knees and started to knee walk her way to why he lay stretched out like a golden feast.

His eyes were hooded, staring at her breasts swaying beneath as she crawled closer. “Careful, kitten. You sure you can handle all the goodies I have in store for you?” he teased, all Cocky Cane.

Alexandra merely smiled, but she soon knew what he was talking about. Her hands eagerly reached for his belt buckle, which she got undone along with his trouser fastenings. He lifted his hips to aid her as she pushed his pants and boxers off his hips. By the time she’d tugged his trousers down his knees and he’d kicked them off, she then looked up at his cock and gasped.

Alexandra had always suspected he was huge, but this was...Holy shit. She’d never even dreamed she’d see a dick this big up close. He was fully erect, every massive inch of him, the broad tip of his cock rearing in a curve against his washboard stomach. The shaft was long and tapering to a thick, solid base dusted with his dark, silky curls. Alexandra didn’t even know her mouth was unhinged till she heard his soft chuckle.

“Trust me, love, you have nothing to worry about,” he said tenderly.

Alexandra bit on her bottom lip, blinking eyes which had glassed over while staring at his monster…package. Damn. A good big cock goes a long way, as Malia always used to say. Looked like Alexandra was going to get first hand confirmation of that before her honeymoon night was through.

“Oh, I’m not worried,” Alexandra purred, finally breaking out of her daze and gliding forward on eager hands and knees. His smile deepened even as his eyes blazed in waiting for her next move. Alexandra smiled back, her nerves easing as she realized suddenly, He’s mine. He’s really mine and I can have him anyway I want.

His body. She needed to touch him, she decided. Leaning over him, she gazed deep into his eyes as she flattened her palms on his broad chest. He sucked in a breath and his humorous smile faded until his face was dark with shadows of desire.

Alexandra started by kissing his face; his eyebrows, lids and nose, skimming over his mouth and biting into that deliciously full bottom lip of his. Cane groaned, his body tensing beneath hers as he refrained from touching her, letting her keep the lead. She smiled secretly, her lips sliding over his manly jaw before she nuzzled his neck, inhaling his gorgeous scent. It made her head spin with lust and she shivered, murmuring his name.

Her hands roved from his pecs to his abs, reveling in each sinew which seemed to actually ripple beneath her touch. It felt so damned good to touch him, and she let her fingers graze his nipples, which were so sexy with their tiny hard points. Her breasts brushed over his body as she slid down his frame, and he groaned, arching up into her. Hiding a smirk of delight, she licked at his nipples, making him seize his breath. Moving from one to the other, she lapped and sucked and nibbled, his deep growls of pleasure like music to her ears.

Growing bolder, she found her hands finally inching down those perfect abs to wrap around his cock. She couldn’t help but gasp again, her eyes flying down to discover that even both her hands couldn’t encompass his full length, her fingers unable to meet around his girth.

His cock looked excruciatingly hard, and as she instinctively started to stroke her hands up and down his shaft, he groaned out loud. Her eyes snapped up to meet his, and it was then he held both sides of her head and made her hold his gaze.

“You make me so hard. So much that I already feel like I could explode with just your soft, pretty hands around me. You’ll drive me crazy, Alexandra.”

She licked on her lips, already hungry to taste him there. As she caressed him, she saw beads of precum begin to spill from his bulbous tip, and her pussy just…it resonated in almost psychic response at the sight of his obvious arousal.

“I want to drive you crazy,” she told him softly, pleadingly as she looked up at him again. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen…if you just tell me how.”

“Oh, baby,” he groaned, as Alexandra lowered her head to his rearing staff. She was glad when he then placed his hands over hers which she’d wrapped around his cock. He guided her fingers up and down, with firm little twists on the downward shove. She watched and learned raptly, loving the sensation of his rigid, thick and strong member in her hands. He really was a Man of Steel, thought Alexandra with an awed smile before she suddenly bent her mouth to kiss his purple-tinted cap.

He snatched in a harsh breath of pleasure, and didn’t stop her when she stuck out tongue to lap at the drops still gathering at his tip. His hands fell away but he was willing to guide her in other ways. Lying back down on the pillows, he watched her start to run her tongue along his shaft. Groaning deeply, he told her she was starting off great, which made her feel ten feet tall already.

Looking up, Alexandra stared into his eyes as she closed her lips around his tip and began to suck. 

“Baby! Oh fuck,” Cane groaned, his hands fisting her hair. Alexandra smirked around his cock, increasing her tempo while she cradled his large balls, massaging them with feather light caresses that drove him wild.

“That’s it, baby,” he said on a rasp, cupping her head and guiding her movements as she grew more confident. Alexandra felt lost in her delicious task, not sure she’d ever want to stop. She loved his taste, his texture. She loved that he stretched out her mouth and reached in deep to the back of her throat when he started to jerk his hips up into her lips. She loved the sound of his voice, giving directions when she needed them, making her pussy drizzle when he moaned her name.

He never went silent, whispering his wants, his desires and needs, telling her she was doing so good, that she’d make him erupt too soon if she kept up her sweet torture.

Her head began to move more vigorously on his cock, as a means to assure him that she didn’t intend to let up in the slightest. He let out a feral groan and tightened his grip on her hair. “I’m too close, my love. Damn that feels amazing but I want to finish inside you,” he told her hoarsely before pulling her gently up.

Alexandra moaned in regret as his cock popped out of her mouth, but she was pacified by his hungry kiss sliding over her lips.

His hands massaged her tits as she leaned on her hands over him, their lips dueling in a kiss even fiercer and hotter than the last. He slipped one hand down her concave belly and found her pussy drenched, evidence that she’d loved pleasuring his cock as much as he had getting pleasured.

Cane gripped the sides of her face and drew her back so he could stare deep into her eyes. “I knew you’d be amazing but you ended up surpassing my wildest dreams. I’m going to enjoy making love to you every night for the rest of our lives. And I’m almost on fire to be inside you at last. Alexandra, I need to fuck you now. I can’t wait another second.”

Alexandra’s voice got caught in her throat, which made speaking impossible. But with her eyes and body, she showed him she was ready to be claimed, finally, by his powerfully immense manhood.

He twisted positions, slipping her underneath him and surrounding her with his heat and virility. Alexandra was sure he could feel her trembling, her arms coming around his waist as he positioned himself in between her legs. He linked her ankles around his back and for the first time, brushed his turgid cap against her center.

His hands reached down beneath her ass, cupping the cheeks in his large palms and squeezing. They both groaned, as he gripped tighter on the soft, firm globes while he ground his pelvis against her. This had his cock sliding over her clit and her sopped entrance, and Alexandra had to gasp for air as the pleasure went right through her core.

“So soft…so sexy,” Cane groaned into her ear as he leaned close, nuzzling her neck. “I’m going to sink so deep inside you, right where I belong. And then I’ll fuck you until my strength gives out and until you beg me to fill you up with my cum. You’re going to give me such beautiful babies.”

Nothing else he could have said could have made her any wetter, or hotter. Jesus! Thinking about Cane’s seed spilling deep inside her and then giving her a baby – his baby – was enough to send spasms of ecstasy coursing through her. Whatever he wanted…whatever he asked, her answer was yes. Yes.

She said that one word over and over, like a chant, from the moment he slipped inside her, and through the night as he loved her deep and hard.

In one power-driven stroke, Cane was buried inside her and it was profound.

Alexandra felt her inner walls melt around him, giving in to his dominance, his sensual superpower. Her fingers raked and clawed his back while her pussy throbbed and strained to accommodate every inch of his invasion. So good…it felt so fucking good.

“Look at me, baby,” he said deeply, and her eyes popped open, focusing on his green, gold-flecked gaze. He mesmerized her with his passionate stare as he began to move. Cranking up the pace with every successive thrust…Diving deeper and deeper and making her feel him in every crevice of her sheathe. He used bold, chopping strokes that battered her down into the bed. Alexandra was glad he didn’t hold back. She didn’t want to be treated like a china doll. She needed to feel like he was giving his all, leaving nothing to chance as he rode her to the edge of reason.

Buried inside to the balls, he pushed her passed her boundaries. Went in deeper than any man had ever done before. Each time he slammed into her, he jolted her against the headboard. His eyes still burned into hers, holding her captive just like his cock bound her to him in a mating of souls.

Chapter Fifteen

Cane shuddered in satisfaction hearing Alexandra cry out as he moved within her. Her walls were so tight, juicy and spongy. He had to keep his thrusts measured and deliberate just to stop himself from spurting too soon. Sliding in and out of her with rough, taking thrusts that got her even wetter, he lowered his lips to her ear and whispered her name, called her his beautiful, sexy wife with the body to die for.

His thick words made her shudder, and he kissed her lips lingeringly, drawing on her nectar before edging down to clamp one nipple in his teeth. Alexandra moaned deeply, bucking against him, her walls drawing on him even more snugly. Everything about her felt too damned good – her fat, brown nipple in his mouth, and her pussy, tight and wet, around his cock. Her soft, giving body that he couldn’t help but grope with his hands as he fucked her like he’d only done before in his dreams.

Despite his best efforts to stay in control, he could feel it fast slipping away. She drove him crazy with her sweet body writhing beneath him, her moist heat enveloping his cock as he thrust in and out. With a deep groan, he surged in deeper inside her before flipping her over to straddle him as he settled back on the pillows.

It was time to give her the reins, so to speak. Positioned atop him, she dug her thighs into his sides as she straightened on her knees. Face to face like before, he took pleasure in staring into her beautiful, expressive brown eyes as she instinctively began to ride his cock. Cane gritted his teeth against the sweet agony of having her sexy, youthful body grinding on top of him, her delectable breasts swaying like melons. With a growl of animal lust, he arched his back off the bed and grabbed her whole breast into his mouth, as much as he could fit in. Alexandra’s moan went on and on, the rocking of her hips growing faster. She was bouncing up and down on her knees, giving him the friction he knew would send him quicker off the precipice than he’d expected.

Her face had taken on a dreamy cast, and she was staring at him as if she’d never really seen him before. “Cane…oh God. You’re so deep inside me, deep enough that I can feel you here,” she told him, taking his hand and guiding up against where her kidney had to be. Cane groaned roughly, telling her he could feel how deep she’d taken him in, knew his sweet passionate wife could take him as deep as he wanted to go.

She smiled and said yes, before her expression creased as if she was in pain. She began to spring up and down his cock even faster, angling her ass in such a way that he knew that deep within, he was hitting her g-spot. Cane’s hands gripped tightly on her little waist, his hips slamming up to meet hers as their tango reached tumultuous heights.

“You ready?” he asked softly, staring unwaveringly in her eyes as they met each other thrust for thrust. Damn, he hoped she was ready. A few more minutes of Alexandra riding his cock and he’d be unable to hold back the tide. Already he could feel his balls tightening, gathering up against his shaft which he drilled deeper and deeper into his wife’s clenching cock.

She moaned out loud, “Yes, Cane. I’m ready. Please, fill me up and give me your baby.”

Shit! She’d finished him, thought Cane as he groaned like a beast, her words giving him the cue he needed to completely lift off. His fingers gripped so hard on her hips that they made imprints as he stampeded her into a mutual, mind-blowing orgasm. Their bodies and souls collided, the stars were aligned, and finally, Cane and Alexandra stayed jointed as their meteoric release brought them crashing back to blissful earth.

***

There was a delicious ache spreading all over Alexandra’s body from inside out. She turned to gaze at her husband and couldn’t help thinking, damn! He’d already made the honeymoon night all she’d expected and more. And it wasn’t over yet.

She’d only just caught her breath after that earth-moving climax of just minutes ago. Cane had finally let her slide off him as she’d collapsed unto her back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and waiting for it to stop spinning.

Now, she heard his gentle laugh as he met her stunned gaze, rolling over her so she was pinned underneath him.

Alexandra had to gasp in a breath as she stared into his handsome, adorable face with his moss green eyes gleaming with unspent passion as he gazed down at her. Alexandra felt the unmistakable throb of his manhood swelling against her thigh and her eyes widened. Good heavens me, she thought as her heart quaked deliciously. This man was insatiable! He chuckled at her shocked expression even as he let his thick, burgeoning cock press into her quivering lower belly.

Shivering, her whole body catching fire, Alexandra began to squirm beneath him until he grabbed her wrists and pinned them high over her head. She gasped, feeling helpless as for a moment, he held her body down with his full weight.

“Well, Mrs. Hutchinson…looks like I have you where I want you,” he growled. Alexandra couldn’t express how good it felt when he called her that. She almost wanted to pinch herself to be sure this wasn’t all a dream.

“And it looks like I married a caveman after all,” she murmured, her body undulating beneath his, rubbing her slick cunt against his now thickly erect shaft. She longed to reach between them and grab his solidness but she was delicious trapped, her hands clenching and unclenching beneath the one wrist he had wrapped around it. His free hand reached for a breast, grabbing hold and squeezing possessively and making her gasp as she added huskily, “Not that I’m complaining…”

When it came to Cane and the way he made her feel, Alexandra knew she’d never have any cause to complain. Her man loved her and it showed in his every touch, his kiss that followed. From the bed, to the bathroom and back again, it was like a night of never-ending bliss. Alexandra knew she might not be able to walk out of bed the next morning but she had no doubt that it would all be worth it.

Already her heart was brimming when she thought of what was waiting for them back home once the honeymoon ended. Noah had offered Cane a partnership role in the security firm and Cane was going to take that position which meant he could slow down on the assignments and take on a more consultative function during missions. Alexandra had decided to stay back in New York as well, working for the top designer house where she’d be creating all those dream wedding dresses just like she’d always wanted.

And now, all her wishes were coming true, Alexandra thought, laughing happily as she rolled out of Cane’s reach just as he made to grab for her – again. Good lord! She should have known her man would be much the stud and she fully intended to keep up though she wasn’t going to let him always have things going his way…

“Now I’m going to have to come get you,” Cane said mock gruffly as he lunged for her. Scurrying on her hands and knees, Alexandra just managed to make it to the end of the bed before she felt him grab her ankle and yank her back. Alexandra giggled as she landed on her belly and he dragged her to him, foiling her escape.

He smacked her upturned ass with light force and she squealed, the sound ending in an appreciative ‘hmmm’ as a luscious heat spread from the stinging region.

Cane was quick to pick on her soft moan as he growled, “You liked that, did you, you naughty kitten?” And then he spanked her buttocks again, just a bit harder this time.

“Oooh!” cried Alexandra, her mouth wide and gasping. She was shocked by the sweet thrill of agony she got from feeling Cane’s strong hand spanking her ass.

“That hurt so good…and yes, I am naughty,” she breathed, feeling his palm massage the aching spots lovingly. She could hear Cane’s breathing grow short as she wriggled her rear enticingly, before she turned slightly to look over her shoulder at him to find him grinning with dark, feral intent in his gleaming eyes. Alexandra shivered delightedly, suddenly knowing she was about to be granted Cane’s special brand of discipline…

THE END

***

If you liked this book, you might also enjoy by Dez Burke on AllRomanceEBooks.com:

“Claimed by the Marine”

“Captivated by the Soldier”

“Forbidden Love with the Marine”

“Jamaica Nights”

“Seduced by the Football Player”
 

About the Author

Dez Burke grew up in rural Alabama and spent most summers reading worn copies of her Grandmother's Harlequin Romances. Even as a young girl, she noticed the absence of African American characters. So today, she writes hot, steamy romance books featuring black women and gorgeous men of all races.

Copyright 2013 Dez Burke

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