Bought for Christmas Read online

  Taking a deep breath to calm himself he ordered his beast to stand down, and once he could be reasonably sure that he wouldn’t shift the minute he touched her, he held out his hand.

  “Let me check you haven’t broken anything. Your hand is already swelling. You’ll need to put ice on it at the very least.”

  Emilia continued to glare up at him, but she did give him her hand after a moment’s hesitation. A jolt of recognition went up his arm at the touch of her flesh on his, and Emilia gasped, as though she, too, felt the connection between them. Then again it could have been a gasp of pain, and Hunter examined her fingers as gently as he could.

  Her unmistakable whimper of pain made his guts twist in on themselves, and acting on instinct and the desperate need to taste her, he bent his head, and gently kissed each swollen knuckle in turn.

  Emilia’s pulse sped up under his lips, and she tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t, couldn’t, let her. For once his beast was content, drinking in her scent, her taste, the very perfume of her skin.

  “Wha-what are you doing?” Her breathless question shot straight to his groin, and he tightened his hold on her and smiled.

  “Taking care of what’s mine,” he said, and she rolled her eyes and tugged again. This time he let her go, satisfied that nothing was broken and she would heal.

  “Why did you do this?” she asked and wrapped her arms around her. Hunter would have thought it was a defensive gesture, were it not for the blue tinge to her lips and the way she shivered. Her eyes widened when he took his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.

  “Here, you’ll freeze otherwise. Perhaps we should take this discussion into the warmth.”

  Emilia shook her head with so much force more of her hair came out of her up-do, and Hunter fisted his hands to stop himself from reaching out and tucking her hair behind her ear.

  “I’m not going back in there, until we’ve hashed this out.” She jerked her head back toward the house and blinked away tears. “Besides, I won’t be welcome unless I agree to this crazy stunt of yours.”

  Hunter swore under his breath, and she looked up at him and gave him a watery smile, while putting her arms into the coat sleeves. They hung over her hands, so Hunter stepped up to button his coat up for her.

  “You don’t have to do that.” She whispered the words, but he paid her no heed, and carried on, mentally thanking the designer for the double breasted buttons which meant he had the perfect excuse to linger. His knuckles brushed her erect nipples as he did up the last few buttons, and Emilia gasped. She didn’t pull away however, and it wasn’t fear or disgust he sensed from her, but arousal, and he inhaled deeply to pull her scent into his lungs. The action calmed his bear, but did nothing for his own state of arousal.

  “Why?” she asked again, when he’d finally done up the last button, and leaned back against his car.

  Hunter shrugged his shoulders, all ready to give a flippant reply, but the expression in her eyes as she looked up at him stopped him. The light was fading fast out here, the temperature dropping, and Emilia pulled his coat tighter around herself, as their breaths frosted in front of their faces. As a shifter Hunter didn’t feel the cold like humans did, but without his bear’s fur for protection he, too, started to feel the cold creeping up his legs. He stomped his feet to get the circulation back into them and stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets. It had the added advantage of being able to adjust his dick somewhat.

  The floodlights came on, illuminating the gravel driveway, and he flinched and turned his head instinctively, all too aware that his scars repulsed most, if not all people.

  Emilia gasped, and he expected her to run, to scream at him that she would never agree to this, but instead he sensed her movement. His bear bowed his head in submission at the tentative stroke of her fingertips over his scars. The digits were cold on his hot flesh, and he forced himself to stay still under her gentle exploration.

  Neither one of them spoke a word, the air between them thick with tension as she trailed along the worst of his scars, and followed their path into the neckline of his shirt.

  “Do they hurt?” she asked, and he croaked his answer.

  “No, not usually.”

  “They look as though they should.” She dropped her hand, and Hunter suppressed another groan as she put it on his chest, and left it there. “Do you mind? You’re so warm, and my hands are freezing.”

  Hunter smiled down at her, and shook his head.

  “No, I don’t mind at all.”

  She brought her other hand up, and Hunter growled and pulled her in closer until she was wrapped up in his arms, and his bear smiled his approval.

  Emilia sighed and snuggled in closer, and closing his eyes, he rested his chin on the top of her head, and enjoyed this precious bundle of curves in his arms.

  “We should get you inside. You’re frozen, kitten.”

  She shook her head against his chest.

  “I told you, I’m not going back in there. They as good as sold me to you, for fuck’s sake.” She stiffened and tried to pull away. Hunter tightened his grip on her, and after a moment’s struggle she relented and sank back into his embrace.

  “Leo says you got him drunk, and that you cheated him out of his shares, but you didn’t, did you?”

  “No, kitten, I didn’t. In fact I stepped in and saved that insolent pup from losing everything to a card shark. He was drunk and high on cocaine, not the best combination. I might be an asshole, but I couldn’t let him gamble away everything your father worked so hard for, especially when…” He hesitated, not at all sure how much more she wanted to hear, and Emilia shifted in his arms and pulled away slightly to look up at him.

  She shook her head when he slanted his, and one of her little hands crept up to cup his scarred side.

  “Don’t hide them. They don’t scare me. They never have,” she said and offered him a tentative smile that made his chest feel tight with longing.

  “They should do. I’m the beast. Haven’t you heard?” His humorless laugh echoed around them, and she shook her head.

  “I think you hide behind your scars so no one can come too close.”

  Hunter forgot to breathe at that quiet statement, delivered with absolute conviction, and he took her by the shoulders and pushed her away. It was that or ravish her right there, and show her what a perverted beast he truly was.

  “I’m not a fairytale, Emilia. You can’t make me into the hero here. If I was, I’d have simply delivered your brother home, not cleaned him out myself.”

  Emilia worried her bottom lip with her teeth, and went a little cross-eyed as she concentrated hard. It was the most adorable sight, and meant he grew even harder.

  “So, why are you here, then, giving him an out? I’m not such a catch that you’re doing this just to have your wicked way with me.”

  His bear growled his disapproval at his mate’s low opinion of herself, and for once Hunter was in perfect agreement with him. The fact that she didn’t shy away from him, just went a delightful shade of pink, made him want to simply grab her and have his way with her right now. He couldn’t do that, however. Not until she knew everything there was to know about him and he had somewhere where she couldn’t run away, when he revealed his true self.

  Then, and only then, would he show her not only his bear, but also the other, darker side of him, that made him want to tie her up, and mark her body with his hands, teeth, and claws.

  “I think any man would be lucky to have his wicked way with you, kitten.”

  Her blush deepened, and she shook her head.

  “Only if they want my money, and newsflash, I haven’t got any, other than what I earned myself and I’m damn proud of that.”

  She raised her chin in a defiant gesture, and he grinned.

  “As you should be. Your mama would be proud of you.”

  Tears sprang into Emilia’s eyes, and Hunter cursed himself for all kinds of a fool. Clearly her grief was still raw, as was his ow
n, truth be told. Annalisa had kept in touch with him after the rift between Hunter and her husband. As far as he knew it had been the only time she had gone against her husband’s wishes, as disgusted with his using sub-standard building materials on their latest contract for social housing as Hunter himself had been, when he found out. Hunter wasn’t sure if Emilia knew the particulars. Her father had laid the blame for the disaster that had followed firmly at Hunter’s door.

  He crunched his teeth in remembrance. Too many innocent lives had been lost in that collapse, and it had taken Hunter years to rebuild his reputation.

  It gave him a small amount of satisfaction that Duncan Enterprises had never fully recovered from that, whereas his own business was thriving.

  “I’m not at all sure of that,” Emilia said, forcing his attention back on her. “Mama tasked me with keeping an eye out on Papa and Leo. I haven’t exactly managed to do that. They both have just got worse since she died. I wanted this Christmas to be different. Instead they’re not talking to me, Leo is using more than ever, and I’m about to enter into an agreement to save my father’s ass like some sort of a whore.”

  She screeched when Hunter pounced and slammed her against his car in his frustration.

  “Dammit, woman, don’t ever call yourself that.” He gentled his hold on her when he sensed her sudden leap of fear, and groaned. “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to be so rough, but don’t ever talk about yourself like that. I told them, this is your choice entirely.”

  Emilia kicked him in the shin, and pointedly looked at his hands on her shoulders, until he let her go with a muffled curse.

  “Some fucking choice. If I don’t agree to this, I’m letting everyone down, and you can sugarcoat this any which way you want, but you bought me, so in my eyes that makes me a whore.” She put her hand on his mouth when he opened it to say something, and continued.

  “The worst thing is, all you had to do was ask me out. I would have jumped at the chance to get to know you. Now, this is all sordid and just plain wrong.”

  She shrugged out of his coat and handed it to him.

  “Get your lawyers to draw up some damn contract and I’ll stick to my side of the bargain. Just let me know where you want me.”

  She turned on her heel and marched away from him, head held high, and Hunter felt every ounce the beast he was rumored to be.

  She would never believe him now, if he told her the real reason for this.

  Chapter Three

  The deep rumble of Hunter’s sports car announced his arrival, and Emilia took a deep breath and wiped her clammy hands on the side of her dress. If you could call the itty bitty little thing he’d sent for her to wear a dress. Clinging to every one of her curves, the burgundy designer creation had a deep neckline, low back, and a hemline that ended just above the top of her stockings. As per his instructions she wore the lacy black bra he’d also sent, together with a lacy garter belt and sheer stockings. The unfamiliar heels she wobbled in meant she would at least be able to kiss him without having to stand on tiptoes.

  Now where had that thought come from? Emilia studied herself in the floor length mirror, and frowned. This was a business deal, nothing to get excited about, yet her face was flushed, her nipples hard little beacons clearly outlined against the silk of her dress, and she was breathing so fast she threatened to spill out of her cleavage.

  She had to give it to him. He had got her size just right, and even though she would never in a million years, have chosen this outfit for herself, she liked what she saw in the mirror. The woman that stared back at her looked sophisticated and sexy, rather than slutty.

  The doorbell rang, and Emilia’s insides tightened in need when she heard the deep rumble of his voice carrying up the stairs. Taking another deep breath she picked up her overnight bag. It contained little else but toiletries and a going home outfit, and she groaned as the action shifted the egg he had insisted she wear inside her pussy.

  Emilia clenched around it, and her arousal grew as the thing shifted and rubbed against her g-spot with every step she took.

  Part of the contract had been detailed instructions on how she was to prepare for her weekend, and Emilia shook her head in wonder. It hadn’t come as a total surprise that Hunter was a Dom. She’d guessed that from the way he carried himself, and how one look of his could reduce her to a simpering mess. Emilia had dabbled in the lifestyle at university, so filling out her soft and hard limits should have been easy, were it not for the fact that imagining Hunter’s large hands on her, doing the things he so avidly described in his instructions to her, had her so aroused that she’d had to seek her own relief more than once, before she could complete her task.

  Fortunately he hadn’t added a no self-pleasuring rule to his list, or Emilia might have gone up in flames. Having to insert the increasing size of butt plugs to prepare herself for his taking her anally at some point over her stay with him, had been enough to send her into a frenzy. Experienced as she was, she’d struggled accepting the last size, and she hadn’t been able to help but wonder how big he was. If it was true that the size of a man’s hands gave a good indication of the size of his cock, then lord help her. The man was massive in a bear sort of a way that made her feel oh so small and delicate despite her size and height. At five foot nine she was tall for a woman, yet he still towered over her.

  The medical statement he’d included in his list, confirming that he was free of any diseases, had given her renewed palpitations. His preference was to not use condoms, and she had signed her consent on the dotted line with shaking hands. There was no need for them, not with her contraception shot up to date, but it had been another indication of how meticulously he had planned all this. The man had thought of everything, it seemed.

  There was a timid knock on her door, and then Jenny stuck her head round the corner. Their elderly housekeeper wasn’t privy to the details of their arrangement, and her eyes widened when she took in Emilia’s appearance.

  “Oh my, you look stunning Miss Emilia, and your … erm, date is here.”

  Emilia smiled at her, and Jenny stepped further into the room and took her bag off of her.

  “Are you sure you packed enough for the weekend, Miss? I mean this is awfully light, and with it being Christmas and all…”

  Her words trailed off when Emilia touched her shoulder and nodded.

  “I’m sure. Don’t you worry over me, or Papa or Leo. They will no doubt spend Christmas drunk as skunks, and I’m glad you’ve got your family to go to.” Emilia couldn’t quite keep the bitterness out of her voice, and Jenny pulled her in for an impromptu hug.

  “I’ll be okay, you’ll see. You just enjoy Christmas with your new grandson,” Emilia said.

  Jenny released her, and her whole face lit up as though a candle shone from within.

  “Oh, I will. He’s just the right age now to take it all in, even if we had to tie down the Christmas tree to make sure he can’t pull it on top of himself. To see it all through his eyes is just magical.”

  Emilia smiled and blinked back tears. Here she was about to go out on a wild weekend of sex and debauchery, and her housekeeper was going to have the sort of Christmas Emilia desperately wanted for herself. A husband, children, laughter and joy, just like it used to be in this house when she was growing up, and the man who had bought her for his nefarious ends used to bounce her on her knee until she laughed so much she snorted.

  How things changed and not for the better.

  She shut her eyes and willed her fragile emotions back under control. She wasn’t a child anymore, and if Hunter took her on his knee now it would be either to fuck her or spank her and that thought really shouldn’t make her wetter. This coming weekend had nothing to do with love, and everything to do with getting her rocks off. As long as she remembered that, she would be able to enjoy it for what it was and take those memories back home with her, when she returned to her tiny flat in Toddington, and resumed her work as a community midwife.

 
Just like the day her world had changed forever and she had lost the last of the respect for her father she’d clung onto, Papa stood in the doorway to his study, Leo at his side. Both men scowled at Hunter. Dressed in another of his tailor-made suits, Hunter looked good enough to eat. The heated approval in his amber eyes, as he let his gaze slowly sweep up from the tips of her toes, all the way along her body until he reached her face, meant Emilia had to grab the banister for support. The descent down those stairs seemed an insurmountable obstacle all of a sudden, and Emilia pulled a breath into her oxygen starved lungs when he smiled and inclined his head.

  “You look stunning, kitten.”

  His voice dropped as he spoke, taking on that delicious growl that meant she clamped her thighs together to stop the gush of her juices slipping past her pussy lips. She would die of embarrassment if it became that obvious how much she wanted this. Needed it, even.

  Jenny descended down the stairs before her, and Hunter gestured to the front door.

  “Will you please put that in the boot of my car, Jenny? It’s open.”

  Jenny hurried to comply, and somehow Emilia made it down those stairs in one piece.

  “Make sure you keep to your part of this, girl,” her father said, and Emilia froze on the bottom step. Hunter growled low in his throat, and both her father and brother paled and took several steps back, and threw him worried glances.

  “I’m here, aren’t I?” Emilia forced the words past her parched lips, and bit back the emotion clogging her throat. She would not cry. She would not. Once she did this, she would never have to come back here. Let them both rot in their stink. She had a life to live, and if either one of them had showed the slightest bit of remorse she would have reconsidered that decision, but the opposite had been true. Her father had lamented on it being her duty to help out the family, and she could finally earn her keep. That had stung the most, as though she hadn’t done her best to support them all this time. As though he had ever lifted a finger to help her achieve her dreams. Far from it. When she had refused to marry the suitor he wanted her to in an effort to marry into old money, he had washed his hands off her.