When I’m with You (Because You Are Mine #2)(46)
Author: Beth Kery

“Kesara?” Lucien prompted. Jax began to walk in the path in the direction of the stables. She heard Kesara’s hooves on the path, following them.

“I’m so sorry,” she began breathlessly. “I didn’t mean to startle him. He bolted out of the stables before I could do anything to stop him. I only wanted to sit on him,” she added lamely when Lucien remained intimidatingly silent behind her.

“You opened the stable doors,” he said, his voice like frozen steel. She felt the tension coiled in his hard muscles as she leaned against him.

The fury.

Her heart quailed and then began to throb in her breast.

“Thank you for saving me,” she said over her shoulder, part of her wishing she could read his expression, part of her glad she couldn’t.

“Lucien?” she queried shakily when he urged Jax to a slow trot and Kesara followed.

“You would do best to be quiet. I’m furious enough as it is.” He placed a hand on her belly and pressed back, forcing her into close contact with his crotch. Her eyes sprang wide when she felt the fullness of his flagrant erection, the heat of him seeming to pour into her body.

Oh no. He was a barely contained explosion.

“If it weren’t for your white jeans, Kesara never would have been able to follow you in the dark. She doesn’t know the trail yet. Jax could have easily broken your neck.”

“I honestly didn’t mean to—”

“I know exactly what you meant—to push both Jax and me into a frenzy, isn’t that right?” he asked in a rough tone near her ear. She shivered uncontrollably against him. “Well you’ve finally pushed hard enough, ma fifille. I’m going to give you precisely what you deserve.”

She felt a long, rigid rod replace his hand on her belly. Dread and excitement pulsed through her when she recognized it was the crop. Well, this is what she’d wanted, wasn’t it?

She must be out of her mind.

He held the crop firmly against her for the entire silent, simmering ride back to the stables, making sure her ass remained pressed tight to his cock . . . a constant, intimidating warning of what was to come.

* * *

When they reached the stables and dismounted, Elise nervously took Kesara’s reins and went to unsaddle her and give her a rubdown.

“Just put a blanket on her,” Lucien said sharply. “We’ll give them a rubdown after.”

After.

She knew after what. She avoided Lucien’s gaze as she led the mare into her large stall.

“Come out here,” he said a moment later.

She spun around in the process of covering Kesara with a blanket, freezing at the sight of him standing next to the closed half door of the stall. He rested one hand on the top of the door. In it, he held a length of leather tether.

She walked toward him slowly, her head held high, holding his stare. She wasn’t afraid, necessarily. How could she be, when she’d been the one to instigate this?

She was almost unbearably excited. Not to mention worried she’d bit off more than she could chew.

He closed Kesara’s door behind her and reached for her. The second before he seized her mouth with his own, her eyes sprang wide. He looked furious and wild with lust. His mouth settled on hers. He kissed her forcefully. Everything vacated her brain for a moment . . . evaporated to mist. There was no way thought could exist at the same moment as Lucien’s hot, demanding possession. He’d kissed her before, but never like this. She felt sexually scorched by him. His hands came up to bracket her jaw. She went up on her toes, pressing her body against him, a willing, eager hostage to his mouth.

She whimpered, but he never broke their torrid kiss as he lifted her. Her legs wrapped around his waist, her hands went to the side of his head, furrowing her fingers through his thick hair and molding it greedily into her palms, inhaling his spicy scent, so hungry, so desperate to absorb every sensation of him.

A moment later, she blinked in disorientation when he set her down. Her gaze fixed on him. Every muscle in his body was rigid. She glanced downward and saw how full things looked behind the front of his jeans.

“That’s just the way you wanted me, isn’t that right?” he asked, his voice low, a menacing taunt. She realized he’d carried her over to a fenced-off pen. She’d seen something similar to it in other stables, where the groom hosed off the horses and the vet did examinations.

“Take off all your clothes,” he said.

“But . . . do I have to?” she asked, glancing around the open area of the stables. His only reply was a fiery what do you think? glance. “What if the groom comes?”

“You should have thought of that before you climbed on Jax and pushed both of us to the brink, shouldn’t you have?” he asked quietly through a tight jaw. “Why the hesitation? You must have known all along I’d do this. But you just had to push, didn’t you. You just had to grab the reins.” She noticed a flicking movement near his knee. Her gaze sprang to his face when she saw he held a crop. It was made of black leather and looked new in comparison to the worn, supple brown leather one he’d used on Kesara earlier. A flicker of anxiety and arousal spiked through her.

“All right,” she said breathlessly, chin up. “But I’m only letting you do it because it sounds kind of interesting.”

He exhaled a puff of air. His eyes looked crazed. “You nearly got yourself killed so that you could have a little sexual titillation?” She jumped at his sharp question. “God, I’m going to wear you out. Take off those clothes.”

She began to undress hastily, draping the garments over the top rail of the fence. Dozens of horses were awake now, following the noise of their intrusion. It was ridiculous, but she felt self-conscious in front of the animals’ gaze. Exposed. And what if the groom did drop in? It was late, true, but not that late.

“Do I have to take off my boots, too?” she asked, examining the stable floor. It was made of smooth cement so it could easily be hosed down and was straw-strewn, but it looked clean.

“Completely naked,” he said. Something about the edge of his voice made her glance up. He was staring at her bare breasts. Her nipples pulled tight. She jumped when he popped the leather slapper of the crop against his leg in an impatient gesture. That, and the dangerous glint in his eyes, made her hurry. A moment later, she stood before him nude. His nostrils were flared when she looked into his face, reminding her a little of Jax in a fury.

“Bend over the fence with your hands on the top rail,” he said. She followed his instructions. Somehow she’d been expecting him to say just that. Expecting it . . . dreading it . . . anticipating it. A jolt of mixed excitement and anxiety went through her when he came up beside her. “Hold this between your thighs while I tie you up.”