Veiled Innocence

  When her back was to me, I let my gaze wander down to the pink panties covering her ass. I couldn’t wait to feel that lace under my palms, but I wanted her to make me feel again, and what better way to do that than to take all the power.

  Coming up behind her, I noticed she was about to look back at me so I made sure she knew exactly what was about to happen. I wrapped one arm around her naked waist and put my mouth to her ear.

  “You’re going to do everything I tell you to,” I instructed. She let out a soft moan and my cock pulsed. “Nod if you understand.”

  Quickly, Addison nodded.

  “Good girl. When I let go, I want your bra to hit the floor, and then I want your hands on the counter.”

  When I got no response, I felt a thrill skate up my spine. The high I was getting from ordering her around was making me feel alive. “Do you understand?”

  Addison’s body trembled. She was getting off on the orders as much as I was from giving them.

  That was more than fine. I could play that game.

  Releasing her, I took a step back and brought the bottle up to my mouth, taking a swig as she made quick work of the bra. The straps slid down her arms, and when she removed the lacy material and dangled it by her leg, she looked over her shoulder and gave a seductive wink. Instantly, the temperature inside my kitchen hit fever pitch.

  As nonchalantly as possible, I took another drink as her brow rose and she dropped the bra by her feet. Then calm as you please, she bent over and placed her hands on my counter.

  Fuck, nothing had ever been so tempting in all my life.

  Her hair was flowing in tousled waves and her tight ass was angled out toward me, encased in the sexiest, most feminine piece of lace I’d ever seen.

  But this game, this tease was making my blood pump. It was making my cock pound, and it had made me feel. Which is exactly what I wanted.

  “You look untouchable.”

  She glanced back at me, and for the first time since we began, she spoke.

  “I really hope that’s not true.”

  * * *

  Present…

  “Have you dreamed of Daniel lately?”

  The question is so far from what I’m expecting to hear that it stumps me for a second.

  “No.”

  “Hmm.”

  Hating that response, I’m quick to ask, “What does that mean?”

  “What?”

  “The hmm?”

  “Doesn’t mean anything,” Doc says. Then, in his tricky doctor way, he adds, “Should it?”

  Feeling a laugh, an actual laugh, bubble inside me, my mouth twists into a tiny grin. “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, when we first started seeing each other after the accident, you told me you used to dream of him in a field of purple flowers.”

  I remember and can see the field from my dreams just as clearly as if I’m standing there now. The only new piece of this puzzle is the flower. Doc knows what the purple represents to me—death.

  “Your dreams stopped when Grayson arrived. Did you realize that? I noted it right here.” He picks up the journal he’d been writing in. “Second week of school and Addison seems preoccupied. No dreams this week. What’s changed?”

  I don’t know what I’m supposed to say, so I sit quietly, feeling there is more where that came from.

  “The agitated counting, the clock watching—they stopped too. Why, do you think?”

  I knew that when Grayson had been around, the madness seemed to stop, but why was I not hearing it now? Why was the clock on the wall suddenly just a clock on the wall?

  “I don’t know,” I admit.

  “Sure you do. Try me.”

  Shrugging, I offer up the one thing I’d always felt around Grayson. “He made me feel safe.”

  “Safe?”

  “Yes.”

  “But you were always aware you could be caught. That you could get in trouble. Yet, you still felt safe?”

  When he said it like that, it seemed ridiculous, but…“Yes. I always felt safe with him. From the first moment I saw him.”

  “Addy?”

  “Yes?”

  “Do you think that maybe you replaced one obsession for another?”

  “As in?”

  “As in Grayson.”

  God, just his name alone makes the hole inside me feel all-encompassing.

  “Do you think he became your new obsession? One who made you happy?”

  I touch the pen resting beside my leg and remember the way I felt whenever I’d followed him home. The rush I would get when he walked into the classroom and the high I got when his mouth met mine were still there. I’d just buried them beneath the surface.

  “Maybe, yes. But I don’t think I was ever truly happy.”

  “No?” Doc asks, and he seems genuinely surprised at my response.

  “No.”

  “Then what were you?”

  That is easy to answer. “Fascinated.”

  “Ahh...yes. Maybe at first, but what came after the fascination?”

  Looking him right in the eye, I confess. “The forbidden.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Past…

  As I stood with my hands on the counter in front of me, I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of clothes rustling. Grayson was taking off his jeans.

  My nipples beaded tight in the cool air, and the ache between my legs had me close to begging. But he’d been very specific, and until I was told to do otherwise, I wasn’t going to move an inch.

  “Widen your legs,” he instructed, and I heard the liquid in the bottle slosh. “No talking, and no turning around.” He drew a line along my lower back, tracing the edge of my panties, before he added, “You’re just going to do.”

  My breasts rose with every breath I took, and when I remained silent, he placed the bottle on the counter and bent down so his lips hovered beside my cheek.

  “Nod if you agree.”

  Continuing to face forward, I nodded and then shivered as he shifted slightly and licked my shoulder.

  “I won’t hurt you,” he promised. “But right now, I have this need to destroy you.”

  I didn’t quite understand what he meant, but when he moved behind me and his fingers dug into my hips, I decided it didn’t matter. His hard cock pressed between my ass cheeks, and when his fingers curled around the edge of my panties, I couldn’t help the moisture that flooded them.

  I was throbbing with anticipation and he’d barely begun.

  Grayson slid the material down and I could feel him kneel behind my bare legs and ass. When the words “Step out,” met my ears, I immediately obeyed.

  From my view above, I could see him toss the lace aside, and when he straightened, I saw his hard cock jutting forward. He cupped my ass, and I closed my eyes as my pussy began to throb. I couldn’t help the ahh that escaped me as his teeth sunk into my left ass cheek.

  I gripped the counter and pushed back, and as one of his hands moved between my thighs, a whimper emerged in the form of a plea.

  God, I wanted him to touch me. I needed him inside me now.

  He must have understood because two of his fingers began sliding back and forth between my slick juices. Gritting my teeth and trying my hardest not to say a word, I waited until finally it came—my next instruction.

  “Turn around.”

  On shaky legs, I turned until I was facing him, and he got back to his feet. Leaning against the counter, I waited as he looked me over, and I allowed myself the same pleasure.

  Completely naked, Grayson made every schoolgirl fantasy of mine pale in comparison to the reality. He was tall, muscled, and nothing my girlish brain could have dreamed up.

  He was so powerful as he stood there inspecting every inch of my body. His hands curled into tight fists by his strong thighs, and his was cock pointing right at me.

  Stepping forward, Grayson lifted me until I was sitting on the counter. Placing his palms on my thighs, he slowly pushed them apart
as his eyes held mine.

  Without breaking our connection, he reached over to where he’d left the bottle of scotch and picked it up. Bringing it to his lips, he took a long swig of the amber liquid, and when he pulled it away, he ordered, “Lean back.”

  Following orders had never been one of my strong suits, but with the look in his eyes and the sound of his voice making me wetter with every word that came out of his mouth, I couldn’t help but obey. So I leaned back until I was resting on my elbows.

  He flattened his palm between my breasts and dragged it down my body until he reached my bare mound, where he pressed the heel of his hand against me. I arched up, my mouth parting as he again took another drink of scotch.

  “So fucking perfect. You always look and act so fucking perfect—but you’re not, are you?”

  I knew he wasn’t really talking to me, but more admitting to his own delusions. When his heated gaze found mine and he moved down over me, the noise that left my throat was loud and needy and made his lips twist in a way that seemed almost cruel.

  Grayson was battling his own monster right now, and somehow I knew that monster was me. He took hold of my hair, and when he pulled my face to his, I did what I wasn’t supposed to. I spoke.

  “I never said I was perfect. But come on, then. Everyone else has taken a turn at it—destroy me.”

  His eyes narrowed as his hips pushed forward, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, wanting his brand of destruction.

  “Your father already tried,” he whispered, and then in direct contrast to his dark mood, he gently kissed the cut on my mouth. “He tried, and he failed. Even broken, you’re perfect to me. The perfect enigma.”

  His mouth found mine in a scorching kiss that made my knees weak.

  The man holding me was vibrating with need—a need to satiate the turmoil brewing inside of him. The turmoil I’d partially created.

  While Grayson brought peace and calm to my life, I brought worry and chaos to his. I wanted him to use me in any way he needed. I wanted to give back to him what I took—peace.

  He raised his head and shifted away from me as he trailed his fingers down to my ankle. Lifting my leg until my heel was flat on the counter, he stared down between my wide-open thighs. Without another word, he lifted the bottle of scotch and poured it onto my stomach, where it pooled in my navel and then ran down to slide in between my legs.

  Placing the bottle back down, he said, “It’s not illegal if you aren’t drinking it.”

  He didn’t bother mentioning it was illegal for him to be drinking it from me, but I wasn’t going to point that out.

  He leaned down and kissed my navel, sucking the liquid from me as he flicked the little indentation with his tongue. I could feel every intoxicating pulse between my thighs as his sinful tongue licked its way down my stomach and over my mound. I closed my eyes to anticipate his next move.

  He didn’t make me wait long as he touched my clit with the tip of his tongue. Without meaning to, I bit my bruised lip and cried out from the pain.

  I looked down as he looked up, and instead of asking if I was okay, he moved in and did it again. This time he watched as he tongued me.

  I reached out to grasp his hair when I heard a firm no, and just that easily, I was put in my place.

  Then he moved his fingers down and pushed them up inside me, and I moaned in pure ecstasy.

  * * *

  It shouldn’t be fucking possible that she was this thrilling to watch.

  As her breasts thrust forward and her nipples remained hard, she shoved her hips up, trying to get my fingers in deeper.

  Unable to stop myself, I leaned in, and as I pulled my hand away, I sucked her soaked clit between my lips. She tasted like scotch and sex, and I couldn’t get enough.

  Addison’s arousal caused her juices to drip down my fingers, coating my palm even more with every thrust I made inside her. She was so wet it made me want to grab my cock and jerk off until I came. Her eyes never left me, and as I dipped my tongue down to taste her again, she parted her lips and whimpered in a way that made me want to make her scream.

  She had a grip on me so powerful that one glance from her and I would pick up a knife and destroy myself if she asked.

  But she wasn’t asking that of me. Her body was begging me to take it.

  So that’s what I would do.

  Sliding my hand away from her body, I grabbed her ankle and pulled it forward, wrapping it around my waist.

  “Hang on,” I instructed, and as she leaned up and did as I asked, I hoisted her off the counter and her second leg wound its way around my waist.

  I turned, intending to take her to my bedroom, but when she pulled herself up my body and rubbed against my erection, I lost direction and instead, ended up in my dining room.

  I pushed a chair out of my way and laid her down on the table, then stood back to take in my ultimate undoing. With her hair spread across the dark wood, her flushed cheeks and creamy skin stood out in stark contrast, and all I could think was that she was the most delicious thing I’d ever seen.

  Her eyes found mine as she bent her legs so her feet were flat on the wooden surface and then she parted them. She placed her hands behind her head and let a sigh slip free, and that was all I could take.

  Temptation be damned. I’d given in long ago. She was now my very own personal sin.

  I crawled up over her and she speared her fingers through my hair, pulling on it as her legs wrapped around me. There was nothing shy about her, and I knew it was on purpose when she rose up and bit my lip hard enough to draw blood.

  “There, now you have a reason.”

  Grabbing her head, my fingers tightened in her hair.

  “A reason to what?”

  The cunning smile that twisted her lips made me more than aware of exactly which part of the good and evil we were now dealing with.

  She placed her mouth by my ear and whispered, “A reason to make me scream.”

  What? How did she...?

  “You said you wanted to. Now you have a reason. So fuck me, and make me scream.”

  I was losing my fucking mind.

  I didn’t even remember saying that out loud, and as she began to laugh, I felt my sanity snap and shoved my hips forward—entering her with one hard thrust.

  “Stop it,” I demanded as I hovered over her, my breathing harsh.

  Her eyes met mine and she taunted, “Make me.”

  My mouth crashed down on hers, and I knew I had to be hurting her lip because mine was now throbbing as hard as my cock. It felt like the room was spinning as I began to move inside her. Her hands slid down my back as her fingers dug into my skin, and I was convinced she was drawing blood with every rake of her nails.

  Was this what it was like to fall?

  Fall from grace? Fall victim? Or fall in love with Addison?

  I wasn’t sure, but as I continued to move in and out, violating her and every ideal I held true, I knew something was happening to me.

  Placing a palm beside her head, I pushed up and looked down at the cause of my life’s upheaval. As she rolled her hips, she cupped her breasts, and I knew I wasn’t the one doing the corrupting.

  I pushed on her cheek, turning her face away so I no longer had to bear witness to my weakness. I found myself studying the long line of her neck, and for the first time—I felt the urge to really hurt her. To snap her in half.

  Addison had come into my life and was single-handedly ruining it. Wasn’t she?

  I looked over her bruised face and swollen lip, and suddenly, all of the anger I was feeling drained away, and in its place came exactly what my father had predicted—love.

  What the fuck was I doing?

  As she turned her face back to me, I moved to cradle her cheek.

  “Why would I ever want to destroy what’s keeping me alive?” I asked as my mouth found hers and our bodies began to move as one.

  * * *

  My heart was pounding so hard I was certain Grayson
could feel it as his body pressed against my own. With my legs wrapped tightly around him and my fingers clawing his back, I made him as much my prisoner as I was his.

  Grayson’s muscles flexed with every thrust of his hips, and each time he drove into me, I felt as though he was branding my body. His hands found their way into my hair, and as his mouth tasted mine, I reveled in the way he was losing himself.

  For a brief moment, I’d witnessed the anger he’d kept at bay. Even though I knew he’d never hurt me, the second he’d pushed my face away, my heart had fluttered with fear.

  Intoxicating or disturbing?

  I couldn’t decide. But not once did I question what would happen.

  If anything, I almost welcomed the peace I would gain from this man’s hand.

  “What’s happening to me?” His ragged voice broke through my thoughts and then he buried his face into my neck.

  I stroked my hand over the back of his hair when he started to fall apart, and I could have sworn I felt tears on my shoulder. His hips picked up the pace, and as I held onto him, I let him slake his lust, need, and desire inside of me.

  He pounded out a punishing rhythm and when I felt his body tense above me, my own responded—as did my heart.

  Right there on his dining room table, I shattered around the man who had given to me his very being.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Present…

  Today’s session was draining.

  Reliving memories from the past is not something I enjoy. It’s actually the one thing I’ll do anything to avoid under normal circumstances—but nothing about this situation can be called normal.

  Sitting on my temporary bed, I pull the black-and-white photo from the wall and study Psyche.

  Maybe it would have been easier to be taken by the monster in the long run.

  Closing my eyes, I bring the picture to my chest and lie down, thinking of the man who’d given this to me. It’s the first time I have given myself permission to remember. Every other memory has been a rude flash of what everyone is calling wrong.