Heart Recaptured

  Sia’s eyes went abnormally wide. “Shit! And the bruises on her face?”

  Fighting back a wave of anger at Tiff and Jules, I said, “Attacked at the club. Pair of bitches I’d been fucking got jealous and fuckin’ assaulted her. Treated her like motherfuckin’ free pussy.”

  “She isn’t?” Sia asked, watching me closely.

  “No, she fuckin’ ain’t,” I said, my voice, even to me, sounding deadly. “You’ve seen her, she’s fuckin’ beautiful, perfect, she ain’t like those sluts. Nowhere fuckin’ near.”

  “So your man slut ways finally bit you in the ass? And that poor bitch had to suffer for it?”

  Rage made me she red. “Don’t fuckin’ remind, Sia. It took all I had not to rip those sluts apart. They pinned her to the bed and fuckin’ touched her, beat her. I ain’t ever hit a woman in my life, but I almost did tonight. I can’t bear that she got attacked because of me.”

  “And the sluts?”

  “They’ll be dead by now. They fucked with the wrong bitch.”

  Sia nodded slowly, knowing the rules of club life, then dropped back against the wooden countertop. “I can’t… I can’t believe it.”

  Joining her against the countertop, I said, “Yeah, I know. Pretty fuckin’ farfetched, huh? I mean, a fuckin’ cult! My bitch being attacked by jealous club pussy!”

  Sia huffed a laugh in response. “Well, yeah, it is crazy, but that’s not what’s unbelievable, big brother.”

  Furrowing my brows, I asked, “What?”

  She nudged me with her elbow. “I can’t believe the high and mighty Kyler Willis, at age twenty-seven, has fallen in love!”

  Every part of me froze and my mouth dropped. “Fuck off, Sia,” I managed to rasp out. But my heart was thundering in my chest and my palms were sweating.

  Fuck, did I have a fever or some shit?

  Sia began to laugh at me. I checked my head with my hand. She pulled down my arm and rolled her eyes. “Ky,” she said, “you ain’t sick.”

  “No? Then why do I feel like I’m about to drop dead?”

  Sia laughed again, which was really starting to piss me off, and she said, “Because you never wanted an old lady. Our pop wasn’t exactly kind to Momma. You saw that shit and vowed never to have a woman… Then you saw what happened to me.” Sia’s voice hitched at that.

  A pain daggered through my heart at what my baby sister had been through.

  “Si—”

  Sia held up her hand, not wanting me to bring up the past and instead added, “But destiny obviously disagreed.” Sia walked in front of me and put her hand on my bearded cheek. “You have spent years fucking anything that moves, but I’ve never seen you care for a woman. I’ve never seen you look at a woman like you just looked at her. And I don’t blame you, by the way. That girl in there is fucking beautiful, Ky, like drop-dead gorgeous.”

  “I know. She’s incredible,” I said, my eyes staring at the wall like I could see Lilah through the paneling, curled up on the seat next to the fire. “But, Sia, she’s fucked up. Her past, I have no idea how to get her away from it. She’s practically married to Jesus, and she isn’t gonna want a sinner like me.”

  “She came here with you, didn’t she?”

  “Yeah, but what’s that got to do with anything?”

  Sia bent her head round the doorframe, and I followed her gaze. “That girl sitting there in an Amish dress, bruised to fuck from being attacked, who didn’t know what a handshake even was, came with you to a ranch in the boonies, let you put your arm around her, and is sitting in that room, waiting for you to come back out with a drink she didn’t know existed, but she’s trying it because you told her she should.”

  “What you saying?”

  Sia walked over to the fridge, took out a carton of two-percent milk, poured it into a saucepan, and set it to boil. “I’m saying even though I don’t know Lilah, I’m a woman. The last time I trusted a man like that, I was madly in love with him.”

  “Yeah, sugar, and look how that ended,” I said shortly, hating any reminder of that sadistic cunt.

  “But that guy’s not you. You won’t hurt her.”

  I went to argue, but Sia was right. Lilah was the only bitch, bar Sia, that I even gave a shit about.

  That shit spoke volumes.

  Sia smiled at my lack of response and began pouring out the drinks. Handing me two mugs, she said, “And you brought her here to meet me. That’s how I know you love her, trust her implicitly. No one knows about me because of the men who still want me dead. But she was hurt and you didn’t hesitate to bring her here. That tells me everything about how you feel for her, even if you never confess it.”

  Sia walked off into the family room and left me behind. I watched as Sia sat beside Lilah and start talking, all smiles. Lilah blushed in nerves, small grateful smiles ghosting her lips in return.

  Feeling like I took a punch to the solar plexus, I lost my damn breath.

  Damn, Sia… just damn…

  *****

  “You ready to hit the hay?” I asked Lilah as she yawned for the fourth time in the last five minutes. Sia had been shooting the shit with her all night. Lilah didn’t say much in return, but I knew she felt comfortable with my sister after the first few hours. They weren’t too dissimilar, both young and both with fucking awful pasts.

  Both were blonde, beautiful and fucked up by men.

  Lilah blinked up at me and nodded her head. Turning to my sister, she said, “Thank you for the hospitality, Elysia. It has been lovely to meet you.”

  Sia jumped up and threw her arms around Lilah’s neck. Lilah stiffened, her panicked blue eyes seeking out mine, but after a second, she relaxed and awkwardly hugged Sia in return. “Great to meet you too, girl. We’ll hang out some more tomorrow.”

  Lilah moved beside me and I leaned over to kiss Sia’s cheek. “Thank you,” I whispered into her ear, and she pulled back, giving me a meaningful look.

  Taking Lilah’s hand, I led her up the stairs and into the second bedroom. I shut the door and watched Lilah drink in the room—wooden walls, a huge skylight in the ceiling, hardwood flooring, and a large bathroom to the side. And in the middle, a huge California king, every inch covered in Sia’s favorite red plaid.

  “It is beautiful,” Lilah said and turned to me, smiling. “Where are you staying?”

  I walked farther into the room, shedding my cut and throwing it on the red chair in the corner. “In here.”

  “What?” Lilah gasped.

  I swung around. “Only other room in the cabin, sweet cheeks.”

  “It is immoral.”

  “Well, I ain’t sleeping on the fuckin’ wooden floor, so it’s gonna happen.” Lilah’s mouth opened and closed, and I lifted my shirt over my head, adding it to the chair. Lilah’s eyes focused on my chest and torso as I went into the bathroom to clean up.

  When I came out, Lilah was sitting on the edge of the bed, chewing on her lip. I dropped down to kneel in front of her, and her eyes widened as I took her hand.

  “Lilah, I’ll take one side of the bed. You take the other. I won’t touch you if you don’t want to. Okay?”

  She paused for a moment, then reluctantly nodded her head.

  I put my hand on her cheek and said, “I can’t get what those sluts did outta my head. The image of you on that bed, their finger’s on your pussy. It’s fuckin’ making me as possessive as all hell for you, and to be honest, I don’t know how to deal with it.”

  “Ky…” Lilah said in a hushed tone and stroked my hair. “You saved me again. You always seem to save me.” She took a deep breath and said, “If we have to share a bed, then that is what will have to happen.”

  I couldn’t help the smirk that spread on my face. “You that excited by the thought of sleeping next to me, sweet cheeks? Most bitches would be jumping at the chance to get a piece of this cut body!”

  A shy smile spread on her lips and she confessed, “It is not the most terrible thing, I suppose… if you keep your d
istance. It will make me feel safe knowing you are near.”

  Laughing, I stood. “Go get ready for bed, Lilah.”

  While she was in the bathroom, I debated whether to take off my leathers. Thought better of it with my cock hard as granite. She was already nervous about sleeping next to me and my ten-inch boner weren’t gonna make that shit better.

  Lying on the bed, hands behind my head, staring at the ceiling, I heard the door of the bathroom open. I glanced over to Lilah, who was hovering by the door.

  Fuck.

  Me.

  Her hair was down, like down to her ass. And she’d shed her fuckin’ ugly gray dress and was wearing some old-fashioned white nightgown with sleeves, but she may as well have been wearing a leather thong, stiletto heels and nipple tassels, she looked that good.

  And it weren’t doing shit to deflate my boner.

  Tucking her hair behind her ear, she dipped back inside the bathroom, then came out holding a small bowl in her hands. She started walking to my side of the bed. I couldn’t breathe in surprise at how fucking stunning she looked.

  Lilah put the basin on the floor and sat on her knees. I swung my legs off the bed, all confused at what the hell she was doing.

  “Lilah?”

  Her head lifted and she asked, “May I wash your feet?”

  I frowned. “You wanna wash my feet?”

  Her blue eyes grew wider as she nodded. “Yes.”

  Not getting why, but seeing she really wanted to, I said, “Have at it, sweet cheeks.”

  Lilah bowed her head like I’d just given her the world, lifted my left foot, and placed it in the warm water. Lilah’s long, platinum-blond hair touched the floor; it was that long. It was thick, and I was just dying to wrap my hands in it.

  Dipping her hands in the water, Lilah began scooping the water over my feet, massaging the skin, which felt incredible. A low hum came from her mouth as she did it, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away. I realized after a couple of minutes that she was humming the melody of a song.

  She was happy.

  That familiar ache from earlier engulfed my chest and I remembered Sia’s words. I can’t believe the high and mighty Kyler Willis, at age twenty-seven, has fallen in love.

  Lilah lifted my right foot into the bowl and set to wash that too. Fucking shivers ran up my body. I loved sex, loved fucking pussies. I loved licking them, pounding them, fucking fingering them until my arm was drenched with juice, but Lilah humming on the floor, covered head to toe and washing my feet, had to go down as the hottest moment of my life.

  Fucking was easy. It was this intimacy between two people that destroyed your heart so you couldn’t see anything else but the bitch before you, giving you something you never knew you even needed.

  Taking my feet from the bowl, Lilah placed them on the towel she’d brought out of the bathroom, then did something I really didn’t fucking understand.

  Taking the ends of her hair, she began drying my feet. I watched with rapt attention and a shitload of confusion as she mopped up the water from my feet. Then I was really confused after my feet were dry when Lilah bent her head as though praying and began kissing my feet.

  I couldn’t move. Couldn’t seem to breathe.

  What the fuck was happening to me?

  Raking my hands through Lilah’s hair, I groaned. It was as soft as I always knew it would be.

  Lilah’s head lifted, and I took in every part of her bruised face. Fuck, this bitch could be cut up, shaved head, and she’d still be the best woman I’d ever seen. All that good just coming off her in waves.

  Refusing to take my hands from her hair, I asked, “Baby, why you all up in my feet?”

  Blushing, Lilah reached behind her and pulled out a mason jar with some oil in it. She opened the top, and I was hit with her vanilla scent. It was what she must always put on her skin. Dipping her fingers in the oil, she started rubbing it into my feet.

  “Jesus once went to a Pharisee’s house for a meal,” Lilah explained quietly as I began raking my fingers through her hair. “When a woman that lived a sinful life in the village heard Jesus was there, she turned up at his house with a jar of perfume. When she saw Jesus, she was so overcome that she began crying. Her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them away with her long hair. The sinful woman then kissed his feet and anointed his skin with perfume.

  “The Pharisee criticized Jesus and said that if he was truly a prophet, he would know the woman was a sinner and therefore would never let her touch him with her sinful hands.

  “Jesus told the Pharisee the lesson of a moneylender who lent money to two men, one a lot and one a little. Both men could not pay back the money. The moneylender forgave them both and rid them of their debts to him.”

  Lilah stopped rubbing the vanilla into my feet and looked at me. “Who will love the moneylender more?”

  Shrugging, I answered, “The one with the bigger debt.” Lilah beamed a fucking beautiful smile my way.

  “That is correct. Jesus therefore said that the sinful woman had many sins against her, but by forgiving those sins, she would love him more.”

  Lilah smiled and said, “I love that piece of scripture.”

  “Yeah, why?” I asked, my hands still in her hair.

  Lilah closed her eyes and took a deep breath, only to open them again and say, “Because I am a Cursed. I am a sinful woman, an extremely sinful woman, but one day my sins will be forgiven.”

  My hands stilled in her hair, and I had to talk myself down from going crazy. “Then why wash my feet, baby?”

  Lilah rose from her knees and seeing a comb on the table beside the bed, asked, “May I comb your long hair?”

  Fuck. This bitch was gonna kill me. It was the slowest, most painful foreplay.

  “Yeah, do what you want to me, Li.”

  She reached out for the comb and with shaking hands began running it through my hair. I instinctively put my hands on her tiny waist, and Lilah stumbled in shock. Our eyes met, but I weren’t letting go. Lilah seemed to sense this and carried on combing through my hair, her hands like fucking gold on my head.

  Her comb suddenly stilled, and she said, “I washed your feet to gain your forgiveness.”

  Lifting my hand, I took hold of hers and pulled it, and the comb, from my hair, meeting her eyes. “What the fuck do you need to be forgiven for?”

  “Because my curse as a temptress lured those women to me tonight and you had to have them killed. You got blood on your hands. I beg for your forgiveness.”

  Taking the comb from her hands, I threw it across the room and lifted her off the floor, bringing her to the bed, where I threw myself on top of her.

  “Ky!” she breathed in panic, and my hands planted on her face.

  “Get this straight now, baby. I ain’t worthy of giving you forgiveness. I’m a sinner, and I love it. This is my life. Death is just the way we gotta roll as Hangmen. Those cunts deserved to die for touching you. I ain’t even thought about the consequence of that since. That’s how little killing sick, jealous fuckers registers to me.”

  Lilah swallowed and, edging closer, I said, “But you. For you, I’d kill every fucker in the world if they were a threat. Those bitches died because they touched you, Li. I gotta protect you. Gotta keep you safe.”

  A shaky hand met my cheek, and Lilah said, “I do feel safe with you.”

  I looked down at Lilah, her hair around her on the pillow like a damn halo. “Baby,” I rasped, you look like a fuckin’ angel right now. I ain’t seeing any evidence of some evil, sinful woman.”

  Lilah’s hand dropped. “That is the disguise. The devil is beautiful after all.”

  “Then I fuckin’ want the devil, Li… I want you.”

  Silence stretched between us, and Lilah’s eyes dipped. But when she lifted her head again, I could see the hunger there. A finger suddenly ran down my sternum, and a hiss escaped my lips.

  Fuck!

  Lilah stared at me for the longest time before she wet her lips
with her tongue, dropping her gaze to my lips. My cock hardened and her eyes shot up to mine, her cheeks blushing scarlet red.

  Lilah fidgeted in my arms and leaned up, her hand reaching around to grip the back of my neck. “I wish… to kiss you now.”

  My eyebrow lifted in surprise, and Lilah tightened her hold. “I… I have never been kissed before, not since I was a small child and it was forced upon me. And at my home… when I was taken in the Lord’s Sharing by Brother Noah, mouths did not meet. Brother Noah worried I would steal his soul because my soul was dark and impure.”

  My hands fisted and I fought the urge not to lose my shit at that fucked-up statement. My bitch was twenty-four and had never been kissed because of some bullshit, made-up excuse she believed. If I could dig up that bearded fucker and kill him again, I would… repeatedly.

  “I have observed Styx and Mae doing it often.” Her lashes fluttered as she looked up at me again. “It seems… nice… intimate.”

  Stroking a strand of hair from her face, I left my hand on the side of her head and pulled her close, her breath hardening, chest panting. “Ky…” she said, panicked.

  “No talking, baby,” I whispered as my lips closed in on hers. “I’m gonna kiss you now and I’m gonna show you how fuckin’ good it feels. Yeah?”

  I caught Lilah’s sharp intake of breath just as my lips brushed against hers. Her full lips were tight and unmoving at first, but when I ran the tip of my tongue along the seam, a groan ripped from her throat and her hand fisted my hair. As Lilah instinctively opened her mouth, my kiss became firmer and my tongue played against hers, our need growing more desperate. She tasted as sweet as honey that had been dipped in vanilla.

  Fuck, her scent and taste was driving me insane.

  I broke away on a gasp as my cock throbbed and Lilah’s eyes slowly opened. I froze waiting for what she was about to say, then her tongue ran along her bottom lip as she stared at mine and she whispered, “I did not know… It was…”

  I smiled at Lilah as she couldn’t form her words, and her face suddenly became nervous. “What, baby?”