Under Pressure [IAD Agency] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Once he was completely inside her silky depth, he held still grinding his hips into her, working his thumb over her clit until he felt the scalding heat of her cream soak his cock and her inner muscles softened in welcome, telling him she was ready.

  He pulled back to look down to where his long, thick cock stretched her open and simply let loose. He started to pound his cock deep, pushing past her cervix with each hard dig. Indescribable pleasure swamped him as he watched his cock disappear into her tight pussy only to come back out with the slick evidence of her desire. Her sexy moans made him want to fuck her faster, harder, and he leaned down to swallow her cries with his mouth.

  She was filled so full it felt as if he touched her womb each time he stretched her body with his impaling flesh. She was slick with her desire, so hot, she was burning him alive. He continued to piston into her body with deep rhythmic thrusts and once again flicked his thumb over the distended bud, making her pussy clench each time he did.

  Bella tore her mouth from his and screamed his name, her body breaking apart, shaking with the force of another climax as she clenched tight around him. Her entire body was pulsing with the force of her orgasm. Her hands left the top of the couch as she fell forward. She would have fallen completely over the side of the sofa, but Jason’s strong hands gripped her hips in his unbreakable grasp, pulling her back up and holding her petite frame in place as he continued to hammer roughly into her from behind, his balls slapping across her clit with each stroke.

  “Again,” he demanded. “Go up again. Come on my cock again, lass. Do it, do it now.”

  He drove every inch of his hard cock into her over and over again until he could feel his balls draw tight against his body, knowing his own release was coming. His fingers worked over her clit, silently demanding that she obey him.

  “I can’t,” she sobbed.

  “Yes you can. Give it to me.”

  “Oh God, I can’t. It’s too much.”

  His voice was harsh, unbending, “Fuck that. It’s not too much. It will never be too much. Give it to me. Come on my cock again. Come for me now.”

  At his harsh command, her pussy clenched his cock as she came, violently shaking. He gave a hoarse shout as he joined her, pulsing out a stream of hot cum into the condom. He continued to jab sharply into her to prolong her pleasure and his until he could no longer move.

  Jason had never felt like this before.

  When he came, it was as though his head was going to explode right off his shoulders with the force of his orgasm. He had demanded things from her, he had wanted to feel her come apart again knowing that he was the cause. No, he had needed it, needed it as much as he needed his own release.

  Shaken to the core, Jason pulled out of Bella’s tight grasp, clenching his teeth against the pleasure, surprised that he was still semihard after the mind-blowing orgasm that he had just experienced. He wanted her still, his cock all but screaming to be back in her hot, wet, clenching flesh. His hair fell into his face, having come undone from the tie he had used to secure it at the nape of his neck. He pushed the dark strands back with one hand as he looked down to her beautiful, flushed face. Her eyes were closed, and her lush lips were parted, gasping for breath. He wanted to see her face screaming her pleasure in his bed all night, every night.

  Fuck, where the hell did that thought come from?

  He needed a moment, had to get away and catch his breath. “Let me go take care of this,” he said gruffly. He pulled off the condom, stuffing his semihard staff back into his pants as he stalked toward a bathroom in the hallway.

  Shit, Bella was a woman who should be taken slowly, loved gently, given sweet love words, but he had just taken her, hard, rough with both of them practically still dressed. He was usually composed, even during sex, never losing control, but tonight with Bella that legendary control had been blown to hell.

  He went into the bathroom, tossed away the used condom, splashed some water on his face, and braced his hands on the side of the sink, looking into the mirror to see the cold bastard staring back at him.

  He admitted he was intrigued by Bella. But where could this go?

  Who the hell was he kidding? He had been attracted to her ever since that first moment he had laid eyes on her. The little vixen had made him lose control as no one did.

  No one.

  It was unnerving, what she made him feel. She was exotically beautiful, a wild, passionate, opinionated little thing and he didn’t know whether he wanted to strangle her, fuck her brains out, or hold her close from moment to moment.

  No one spoke to him the way she did, wouldn’t dare. She made him…feel. He already ached to be buried balls-deep inside her hot little body again.

  He scrubbed a hand over his face. Christ, he had just taken her like an animal with no control. His hold on her would probably leave bruises on her perfect skin, marking her. Somehow the thought that he had marked her made him feel a possessiveness that he had never felt before. Over that he felt disgusted, a wave of searing protectiveness at the mere thought that he had hurt her.

  Christ, what had she done to me?

  He would take this slow. He just needed to work her out of his system, but tonight he wasn’t done with her. He would make up for taking her this first time like a raging beast, for the rest of the night, he thought, chuckling to himself. He would work her out of his system. Jason opened the door and made his way back out to the living room, looking around as all thoughts came to a crashing halt.

  His eyes slowly narrowed as he glanced around the room.

  She was gone.

  * * * *

  As Bella heard the bathroom door close, she felt the full force of what she had just done like a slap in the face. Oh God! She silently cried as the sexual haze was blasted away by full-blown panic.

  She needed to leave, to escape before he came back. Slipping off her heels, she reached down and grabbed them in her hand and she bolted from the room to the front door on bare feet, grabbing her purse from the table in flight. She raced out the door and jammed the button to the elevators heading to the main entrance, consumed with the thought of escape. She jumped into the elevator as it opened and pushed the button to the lobby, trying to hold back a sob.

  Fingers clenching her purse and shoes, she raced through the lobby to the front entrance, just barely noticing the startled security guard half rise from his seat as she bolted past.

  A man was getting out of a cab in front of the building as she came crashing out of the doors. The man held the door open for her as she all but dove into the security of the waiting vehicle.

  So focused on leaving, she hardly noticed the man’s curious glance change to shock as his jaw dropped with surprised recognition as he watched the taxi sped away.

  * * * *

  Opening the door to her apartment silently, Bella threw her keys and purse down on the table in the hallway after setting the alarm. Gasping for air, tremors took over her body. The uncontrollable panic consuming her was making her shake with a force that rattled her teeth together. She stripped the clothes off her body on her way into the bathroom, barely registering that she had no panties on, as she turned the scalding water to full blast.

  Getting in, she let the spray of the water warm her body as the tears were torn from her. Her sobbing body collapsed onto the floor of the shower. Curling into fetal position, she hugged herself tight, feeling as if she wept out her very soul.

  She wanted Jason, had wanted him so much that her body had responded to his slightest touch. She felt ashamed, not at being with him, but at this uncontrollable fear that had taken over after.

  The fear that she had been fighting for a year.

  The fear of letting someone touch her again, fear of needing someone to chase the demons away and make her feel alive again. But she had lived tonight. Jason had forced that dormant part of her to the forefront with the subtlety of a cannon blast. He had made her feel so much in such a short time, she didn’t know what to do with all of
these feelings. All of the emotions she had been trying to hold back came crashing into her in that single moment after the mind-blowing sex had ended. Then he had walked away from her and left her there in a melted puddle of emotions. She felt as if he had fucked her brains out and left her raw and exposed.

  Normal. For that short time she had felt normal again, for the first time in a year, and it scared her to death. Horrified now at the way she had run out on him, she sighed.

  None of this makes any sense.

  Bella turned off the water and dried herself off with an oversized towel. She groaned as she put on her robe, her body deliciously sore from being so thoroughly used. Walking back to the front door, she rechecked the lock on her door and the alarm as was habit.

  Mentally exhausted, she got ready for bed, turned the lights off, and padded over to her bed. She took off her robe and let it slide to the floor as she crawled into bed naked. Overcome by her emotional breakdown, Bella wanted to sleep for a year if possible.

  As she slipped under, silently she prayed, as she did every night, for a deep sleep where nightmares couldn’t reach her.

  Chapter Five

  God, was she glad the day was finally over. Bella rode the elevator up to her suite in the hotel where she worked. She had moved into the hotel suite after she had started working there. It was one of the perks of her job.

  Exhausted from the long day of work, Bella wanted nothing more than a hot shower and sleep. Her sous chef Rick had been struck down and injured in a hit-and-run accident last night, so she was short-staffed and everything needed to be planned and ready for tomorrow night’s upcoming event.

  She loved catering for the weddings and other big events that the hotel hosted, knowing that a large part of why people booked the hotel was for her. Her talent, her food. Nothing gave her such pleasure like watching people enjoy what she created with her own two hands.

  She was nervous for the job tomorrow and worried about Rick. She had taken precious time to visit him in the hospital earlier and now she was ready to relax. She slipped the key card to her room into the slot and entered her room, putting her knife case on the table as she made her way through the sitting room. As any great chef, her personal knives were always with her and she never left them in the kitchen overnight.

  Taking off her chef’s jacket, she threw it on a chair as she walked to the bathroom, wanting to soak in the bathtub to ease her sore body, but decided against it since she had to get some sleep. She had a meeting with the Special Events coordinator early in the morning to finalize the plans for wedding being held that night. A sound from behind her had her spinning around, her eyes going wide with shocked horror as something slammed against the side of her head, and she felt herself fall as the world went black.

  Waking up, Bella’s head pounded with pain as she opened her eyes. A man sat next to her with one of her knives in his hand. Bella’s eyes were wide with a terrible recognition as the steel gleamed in the faint light. She had never seen this man before, but his eyes, those horrible eyes were glazed with insanity. Bella tried to get up, realizing that her hands were bound to the bed. Her scream was muffled by something he had tied over her mouth. Shocked and frightened, Bella fought against her restraints to no avail, struggling to break free of the ties, her wrists burning as she strained for release.

  “Hello, my beautiful little bitch,” he said almost pleasantly, looking down at her, a sick, twisted little smile on his handsome face. He moved the blade in his hand closer to the light, reflecting her own wild eyes back at her. From the moment he spoke, she knew who he was. He was a fan, a man who wrote her letters and called her, praising her talent. Now, she was at his mercy.

  “You didn’t think you could cheat on me and get away with it, did you? You”—he stroked the knife slowly across the skin of her neck over and over, making shallow cuts that had her screaming in pain—“are mine, all mine.”

  Bella could feel her wrists slick with blood as she tried to free herself from the ropes that held her. She couldn’t understand what he was saying. The pain was too intense.

  “You’re a no good, lying, cheating slut. I loved you. How could you do this to me?” What the fuck was he talking about? Terrified, Bella wondered what the hell was going on in his warped, demented mind.

  “You are nothing without me. No one. Oh, Bella, you think you are such a big deal, don’t you? God damn it, you are nothing without me. All those letters I wrote to you, pouring my heart out, and you abused that love! Now you won’t even take my phone calls! I know why, it’s that stupid sous chef of yours. How could you? I loved you!” She shook her head, screaming in pain as he cut her again.

  “Don’t lie to me! Now you will have to pay. It didn’t have to be this way. We were meant to be together, but you threw that away. All that talent, but no one understands you like I do. No one could love you like I do. You should have come to me when I asked. Now I have no choice. You gave me no choice.” She vehemently shook her head, but he just sighed at her response. The silent pleading for him to stop in her eyes was ignored as he continued to speak.

  God, he was crazy!

  He spoke softly as he leaned down. “I took care of your lover last night. Now I have to teach you what happens when you betray me.” She screamed in denial against her restraints. “Why couldn’t you just love me the way I love you? Why did you let him touch you? All those other men, I see the papers. I see what you do. You can’t hide from me. You want to be treated like a whore, because you are, aren’t you? You think you’re too good for me, don’t you, Isabella? We could have been together! We could have had a perfect life together. You should be at home cooking for me, being a good wife, not out whoring yourself!”

  He brought the knife up and sliced deep through the tendons of her right hand. Bella screamed, over and over again, crying against the pain so intense that it was unreal.

  “See if you can cook with your hand all fucked up. Always carting around these stupid knives. You love them so much, bitch. How do you feel about them now? How much will people love you if you can’t cook anymore?”

  Bella tried to kick the knife out of his hand with her feet, but he easily blocked her attempts. Sobbing now, she struggled to breathe. Dropping the knife on the bed, he got up and stood next to the bed. Slowly he began to remove his clothes, watching her struggling form before him as her eyes widened in horrified recognition of what he was going to do. He grabbed her legs and rose up over her to sit on her as her ripped her shirt open.

  “We were supposed to make love the first time on our wedding night, but you left me no choice. I could have loved you forever. Now, you pay!” he screamed as he slapped her across the face again and again. “You want to be treated like a whore, and now you’ll die like one. If I can’t have you, no one will.”

  His right hand came up around her neck, covered with her blood. “I always did like red on you,” he whispered evilly, laughing in her ear as his hand squeezed tighter, cutting off her air. The pain was unbearable, sharp, and so strong she prayed to break away from the reality of what was happening. As his other hand moved down to undo the button on her pants, she was thankful for the blackness that came to claim her.

  * * * *

  Bella jolted awake, woken by the sound of her own screams. Drenched with sweat, she fought to beat the cold, stark terror back from her sleep-weakened mind. It was just a nightmare.

  The same nightmare she had repeatedly for the past year.

  Early morning sunlight streamed past the creamy lace curtains through the window of Bella’s bedroom. Cheerful sounds of autumn from the world outside forced the nightmare back into hiding. Bella’s sobbing breath caught in her throat as she tried to gasp in air. She forced the hands that held the bedding in a death grip to release. Dammit, she was safe, safe in her own bed.

  Breathe, just breathe.

  She had had the nightmare every time she closed her eyes after she had woken up in the hospital after the night Victor Dane had tried to kill
her.

  Bella had tried to respond to fan mail as much as she could, always getting a kick out of the fact that people thought of her as a celebrity. At first, Victor Dane had seemed like a nice, normal man who had sent her letters expressing his interest and appreciation in her craft. She had responded with a polite thank-you letter as she did with most of the letters that she received.

  Bella was a little shocked when Victor continued to write, his letters becoming more insistent that they meet. She had written a letter politely denying his request they meet and kindly telling him that, as flattering as his attention was, his efforts were not welcomed. He had continued sending her gifts and letters, which she continued to ignore until they had stopped. She never gave it a second thought, until he had started to call her. She had reported the calls to the front desk of the hotel, and they had blocked him from reaching her.

  Until that night.

  Over the past few months the dreams haunted her less frequently, for which she was grateful, but they still came. She looked down to her shaking hands, staring at the deep scar on her right hand where Victor had cut her. It had taken her months to regain the use of that hand after the damage he had caused, but she had survived. She had scars on her neck where he had cut her, though these were faint, mostly healed, and now barely visible. Other, deeper scars graced her lower abdomen where Victor had buried the knife, those would always be there. But that was nothing compared to the deepest scar she carried which could not be seen.

  The scar on her soul that was deep inside her.

  She had drifted in and out of consciousness that night, and finally he had left her for dead. Luckily, he had missed most of her vital organs when he had stabbed her, giving her the precious minutes she needed to live. The night manager of the hotel had gone up to Bella’s suite to visit that night. Seeing blood on the door handle, she had keyed in after Bella didn’t answer, sensing something was very wrong. If not for her friend, Bella would have died.