Pardon. Julia Payton
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been because she was terrified. He wanted her back in his embrace, so he did what he did best: he went still and silent, aloof and cold.
They walked inside quietly, and Tib watched her for a breakdown. Sophie gave him a watery smile, but she kept her back straight. He nodded at her strength. Like calm waters she soothed him, but that wasn’t enough for right now. He had to prove himself, too. He went around, his training in force, checking each window, door, the floorboards for traps of any kind. He found nothing incriminating. Tib let her wander the new surroundings, just after he ascertained it was clear of any major danger.
Inside the house, on the left side of the main room was a bedroom with a king sized, four-poster bed set in an alcove, draped with masses of pillows and a thick comforter. Curtains could shut out the rest of the home from the bedroom, which gave the bedroom and the furniture inside a warm and decadent look. He wished he were in a better position to take advantage of the amenities, but the time was not now, maybe not ever.
They stood in the main room. There was a large divan, made for two, which sat on top of a Persian rug, its back resting up against the back wall. Floor to ceiling windows spread up the back wall, while up on the ceiling were skylights covering most of the roof. The kitchen was galley-sized, with stainless steel appliances and potted plants resting on the high windowsill. A bathroom with a full-size soaking tub and a toilet sat tucked in the back corner. There was even a small fireplace.
Yes, luxury. Prestige. Goddamn payoff, is what it was.
He barely looked around, but Sophie did. She examined each detail, running her hands along the countertops and up the walls. Her eyes turned to him, and then she lifted her shoulders in defeat.
Quickly, Tiberius bolted the door behind them and he moved, taking her slight form to his larger one. His body cradled her, making it look like he was embracing her in a lover’s lock. Really, though, he wanted the privacy to speak with her without any monitoring being done. She looked up at him, wide amber-brown eyes settling over his face with expectation.
“I don’t know if we’re being watched or listened to. I don’t think we are, but just for safekeeping, all vitally pertinent conversation must be done like this,” he whispered in her ear, posting a quick kiss to the skin of her throat.
She bowed her head, nodding. Her face nestled into his chest, sinking her fingers into the muscles of his back. She stayed there, her arms about him. He heard her begin to cry softly. Tib gathered her closer, breathing in her scent of sweetly baked things and the ripe tartness of hearth and home. She felt frail in his grasp, ready to break.
“Oh, darling,” he said, his mouth over her earlobe, reassuring her with soft kisses down the column of her neck. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Her voice quivered. “Tiberius… I’m so afraid.”
“I know, darling. But we’ll see it through.”
“What if I can’t rescue my babies from these monsters? What if they’re destroyed by them?”
He wondered the same thing. He couldn’t lie.
He breathed her in. “Then we’ll help them get through.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wet. “You didn’t sign up for any of this terrible mess. I’m so sorry.”
She made it a question, roughly unanswered. His eyes burned into her, and he lightly kissed her sweet, pouty lips.
“I’m not going anywhere, Sophie.”
His voice sounded husky and full of promise. Well, he’d just proclaimed it to her, his intention to keep her. Her eyes sparkled with desire, with trust, with hope. But instead of responding, she lowered her head back down to his chest, inhaling like she wanted to ingest his scent, as well. Her fingers smoothed over his pectorals, traced his nipples through his shirt. He set out a low groan and shifted into her, letting her know how her touch made him want her.
“This place,” she said quietly, “is monstrous. Can we save them? Can we get out alive?”
“Yes.”
He had to convince her. Her fear would leak back to them, and they would use it against her. Sophie was vulnerable, but he didn’t see how he could fix it. In this game, these commune leaders held all the cards.
Most Pure. What the fuck was that, anyway? Tiberius held his temper. For now, his arms fastened around the woman he wanted beyond anything.
He had to have her, to make her his. What a fucking terrible time and place for his dick to respond to her, but Tib’s cock was reacting, and responding more with each breathy sigh she gave, and each shift of her body against his.
“Darling,” he said, his voice rough. “You need to rest.”
“What I need is to be held, sir.”
He gritted his teeth in desire. He needed release. Some of it stemmed from the frustration of not being able to act when he saw the fuckery in the town, to be the soldier and killer he had trained to be. But mostly he needed Sophie. Having her in his arms, so near him for days on end and not taking her, had been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. Now she just wanted to be held? Fuck.
He tried to be a gentleman. But he wasn’t nice, gentle or kind. Tiberius Blackfield had never been a good man, and he fought to be one now. His jaw hurt from the pressure he put on it.
Sophie looked up at him and gave her brilliant smile. “Sir… you’re going to get a headache if you keep grinding your teeth together like that.”
“I fucking like to grind my teeth.”
Her smile widened. His light in the darkness. Irrepressible Sophie.
“Maybe if you kissed me, as we both want, you wouldn’t have to—”
He didn’t let her finish. His mouth crashed down on her surprised lips. Consuming her. Claiming her. She was his. All his. All the sweeter when she turned his kiss around and gave it back to him.
Chapter 3
Tiberius
He would give her one chance. One fucking chance to tell him no.
“Sophie, if you don’t—”
“Master… husband… take me to bed. I need you.”
Tiberius let out a hearty groan. “Fuck, darling. Lift your legs about my waist and don’t let go.”
She giggled with shy anticipation. He didn’t give her the opportunity to listen, for he was already lifting her, his hands palming her ass, spreading her thighs and opening her to him. She let out a gasp when their bodies rubbed intimately.
“Feel that?” he said, his voice heavy with lust. His balls were already clenching up. “I’m going to make you feel so good.”
“I want to hurry. Now, Tiberius. Make it now—”
Her hands ran over his back, and she tried to tug his shirt up and over his head. He ended up with his arms tangled up within the fabric, and she laughed merrily again. He smiled, never before being with a woman who made fucking fun.
“Patience, darling,” he said, unbuttoning her shirt as he laid her down underneath him on the wide divan. His lips found the tender spot under her chin, along her collarbone and down between her breasts. Reaching behind her, he unhooked her bra and tugged it down over her shoulders. Immediately his mouth found a sweet, pert nipple.
“Tiberius—”
Yeah. She was one of those women who could orgasm with her breasts alone. He wouldn’t let her, though. He released her nipple with a loud pop and sat up just long enough to pull off the shirt she’d half-removed, tossing it to the rug below them. His fingers went to the seam of her jeans, and he ran them teasingly along her zipper, down along her inner thigh. She let out a harsh gasp.
“What are you