Shades of Trust

Chapter 35-2

The man put a hand on her shoulder, laughing with her.

Before Alistair knew what he was doing, he strode up to them with the liquid grace of a panther and stopped beside them. Neither one had noticed him as they laughed on. He cleared his throat. “I’m not intruding, am I?”

“Alistair!” Sophia jumped and then smiled at him. “No, of course not. This is Judge Albert Ackerman. Albert, this is a friend of mine, Alistair MacCraig.”

“How do you do?” The blond man stretched out his hand to shake Alistair’s.

“Your Honor.” Alistair shook it briefly and discouraging further intimacy, turned to Sophia, grabbing her hand and informing her in an icy voice, “I have ordered that our drinks and cigars be brought to our private garden.”

“Oh.” She looked surprised. “I—”

“Good night, Your Honor.” Alistair bowed his head in a sharp movement to the blond man and lugged Sophia, who waved hastily to her friend and tripped behind Alistair.

“Wait. Wait!” Sophia pulled his hand and stopped when they arrived at the cottage door. She squinted to peruse his expression in the moonless night and took a deep breath when she felt his dark mood.

“What do you think you’re doing?” His voice was low and laden with distrust, and exasperated, mimicked her, “This is a friend of mine.”

“Well, I wasn’t quite sure how to introduce you,” she answered shakily. “I didn’t mean—”

“Boyfriend, date, lover, whatever. Not a friend.” He released the doorknob, leaving the door open, and moved aggressively toward her. “Do you f**k your friends, Sophia?”

“Alistair…” She was thoroughly shocked at his sudden rage.

“I’m in a relationship with you, just as you asked me. But still, I’m a friend?” He put his forearms on the outer wall of the cottage and caged her between his arms and body. His eyes narrowed to thin slits. “What were you two talking about?”

“We were just chatting about a funny case he heard yester—”

Alistair’s large hand shot to her throat and he tightened his fingers around it.

Her eyes became huge with astonishment and her head banged on the wall.

“Do no’ lie,” he warned and tightened the grip, cutting off her air. “I noticed your body language. It was too intimate.”

When her hand wrapped around his wrist, he released her throat, shocked at his violent reaction, and moved his hand up to cup her face.

Sophia felt her own fingers, still wrapped around his wrist, against her jaw. It was almost a tender gesture despite the anger in his eyes. She gasped and coughed lightly, cupping her throat in her other hand. She glared at him. “Are you crazy?” she graveled. “Release me. Now.”

He winced. Since he had met Sophia, he’d been on his best behavior with her and had been unconsciously suppressing his rage at Heather, while also denying himself his normal venting process with disposable women. Seeing Sophia with another man was just too much. He couldn’t go through that sort of pain and betrayal again.

Palming his chest with both hands, she pushed him back, and stepped forward, hissing, “I will talk to whomever I want, whenever I want, about whatever I—”

Alistair grabbed her, one hand gripping her hair and the other sliding down her thigh. He propelled her back until she felt the cold wall against her back through her dress. His hard body aligned with hers forcefully. “I don’t want to see another man’s hands on you. Ever.” He yanked her head back, and hissed through clenched teeth, “Do you understand, Sophia? You don’t want to see me lose control.”

He parted her mouth violently with his tongue and caught her bottom lip with his teeth, biting down.

Sophia shoved her hands in his hair and tugged back trying to free herself from the kiss, but the movement just spurred his lust.

His hand slid over the curve of her back, massaging it with his long fingers. He wasn’t being careful or gentle now.

Alistair lifted her left leg, pulling her thigh around his hip and pressing her between him and the wall. His huge erection imprinted itself on her belly, leaving no room for doubt about his state of arousal.

Her shawl dropped, rustling to the ground.

“You are no’ going to slip through my fingers,” he grunted, his mouth trailing down the column of her neck.

My goodness! “Alistair Connor, stop being paranoid. There is no need,” she avowed in a raw voice. The man is more jealous than Gabriel and Ethan put together. “If I am here with you, I am with you and nobody else.”

He nipped her bare shoulder. “I’ve told you before: I don’t share.”

“Neither do I,” she said, breathless from his bold caresses.

His fingers slid under her dress and up her thigh, teasing the skin encased in black thigh-highs until it reached her frilly lace thong.

“Christ, this is—” His hands seized the thin, delicate embellishment and ripped it apart.

“God, Alistair…” She breathed rapidly. “Have you gone completely insane?”

“Aye, you make me unhinged. In so many ways, I can’t start counting now.” His eyes glinted green flames in the semi-darkness. He held up the torn thong for a second before fisting it in his closed hand. He smiled dangerously before pressing his lips to her ear. “Is this for me?”

She reached up and grasped a fistful of his hair, dragging his head down and hissing fervently on his lips, “For you. Only you. Always you.”

Without warning, Alistair lifted her, pressing her against the cold wall.

“Don’t,” she gasped. “We’re going to get caught.”

“One of these days, I’m going to have my wicked way with you.” He let her glide down his body.

He picked up her shawl and put it around her shoulders. He brought the thong to his nose, inhaling her scent, shoved it in the inner pocket of his jacket, and towed her inside the cottage with sparse movements. “Someday, I’m going to tie you down,” he said with a gruff voice, “and not allow any movements and drive you mad with desire—just like you torture me—until you beg me to fill you and let you come.”

She didn’t think it would be possible for her to become aroused after what had just happened, but she was wrong. Images of herself bound and subject to his every whim sent a bolt of desire into her pelvis.

He locked their room door and pressed her against the silk paneled wall of the sitting room of their suite. His hands ripped away her shawl, flinging it across the room. “I can see you like the idea.”

Oh, yeah, I do. She liked that idea too much, if her body’s reaction was any clue.

“I’m going to f**k you. Here. Against the wall,” he hissed in her ear. He took his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out a condom, shoving it between her teeth, while with his left hand, he unzipped his trousers, shoving them and his boxers lower on his hips. “Open it.”

She clamped her teeth on the foil and he pulled, taking out the condom and sheathing himself.

He gripped her dress and shoved it up, binding it around her waist, then grabbed her buttocks and lifted her easily. The long, thin heels of Sophia’s delicate booties caught the curves of his butt and he groaned, his eyes sizzling her.

Sophia had a hard time organizing her thoughts. She gave up and let them scatter away when he pressed his massive length on her.

Alistair had never been a quiet man when it came to s*x. He owned his sexuality in a raw, dark way. However, he had yet to unleash it completely with Sophia. But the thought of another man having her after she’d been his, snapped his control.

He drove into her in one hard thrust and she closed her eyes tightly, moaning.

“You’re so tight, so hot, you make me harder than I’ve ever been. I can’t wait to come.”

Caught up in the frenzy of his desire, a fire burned hot in Sophia’s veins, her very being a bubbling volcano and she lowered her mouth to his neck, biting him to avoid screaming. Her fingers threaded in his silky soft hair and her nails dug into his scalp. “Make me come.”

He shifted his hold on her butt to free one arm. He shoved a hand between their bodies and pressed his thumb on her c**t. “That’s it,” he seethed through clenched teeth as he slammed deeply into her, over and over, their desire spiking. “Come with me. I’m so close.” He groaned and his erection jerked within her in agreement.

A flash traveled through her spine and her body sizzled with it. She lifted her head and yanked his down to a scorching, primal kiss. Her muscles contracted around him as he pushed deeper and then stopped, pressing her into the wall. With a low scream, she exploded with passion, convulsing in his arms, trembling so hard she was sure she was being torn apart. Her limbs weakened and she tumbled against him as her inner muscles narrowed one last time around his length.

Alistair grunted loudly as lightning speared through his spine and exploded behind his eyes, making him dizzy with the force of his oncoming orgasm.

He heaved and gasped out loud. “Sophia.” His low whisper became a plea of devotion. He repeated her name over and over as he came violently.

“Christ, Sophia.” He kissed her mussed up hair and embraced her tightly against his chest, anxiety burrowing deep in his soul. “You’re mine. Mine, do you understand?”

“Yes. Sublimely Alistair.” She breathed in his scent, a scent unlike anyone else’s in the entire world. “Yours.”

He walked them to the bedroom with careful strides, his trousers still on his hips and laid her down on the bed. He went to the bathroom, flung the condom in the wastepaper basket and shed his clothes quickly, leaving them on the chair there.

When he returned to the room, she was already under the sheets, resting against a mound of white pillows, her raven hair framing her face and upper body.

He walked to a chest of drawers, grabbed a T-shirt and pajama shorts and dressed. When he turned, the troubled look in her eyes caught his attention.

Alistair paused in the middle of the room, uncertain of what to do.

Sophia held out a hand to him, motioning to the empty space next to her. “I deserve your trust.”

He winced when she spoke, her voice raspy, which confirmed his previous brutality. He sat on the edge of the bed, scowling. “Did I hurt you?”

What do you think? Thousands of thoughts went through her mind in a rush. You’re a lawyer, Sophia. You’ve defended women who have been assaulted, battered, and r***d. She shoved a hand in her hair, still studying him. For the first time in her whole life, she began to understand the dilemma of many women in denouncing their companions. It wasn’t that easy to distinguish and decide what was right when so many emotions were involved. What are you going to say to a man who just assaulted you before having wild, absolutely amazing s*x?

“Sophia?” he coaxed, gently.

“It’s okay.” She cleared her throat, trying to get her voice back to normal.

His hand stretched to caress her hair but stopped in midair.

Her hand met his halfway and she entwined her fingers with his, putting their hands on her lap. She looked down from his face to their interlaced hands and up again, staring deeply into his green eyes.

She hooded her eyes when she noticed him studying them. But he had already seen that they were tinged with brown and it made a strange emotion unfurl in his chest.

A knock sounded on the door, startling them and breaking the awkward silence that had descended in the room.

“I’ll answer it,” he whispered, and rose from the bed.

Sophia could hear another male voice. The waiter, probably. She’d completely forgotten about the Armagnac and cigars she had wanted.

She jumped off the bed and took a wrap from the closet. When she heard the door closing, she quietly entered the sitting room.

Alistair stood in the middle of the room, head lowered, running a hand over his nape. His posture echoed his utter dejection. When her soft footsteps reached him, he raised his head slowly to examine her, a concerned look on his face. He motioned to a bottle of Armagnac and a cigar box on the table. “Do you still want to?”

She shook her head.

He stepped slowly in her direction as if afraid of scaring her. “Did I hurt you?”

She tilted her head back to face him, and careful not to hurt her throat anymore, whispered, “Do you want the truth?”

“Aye.” He nodded, halting only when he almost touched her.

“You did,” she answered him ruthlessly. “I’ll probably have your fingers printed all over my throat tomorrow morning, not to mention your hands on my thighs and my ass.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” He flinched at her bluntness. His forehead rested on hers and he caressed her back with slow, circular movements. “I really am. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You were…jealous.”

“You’re right. I was jealous. Not only jealous. Possessive, too. I have issues with trust, Sophia.”

“Ackerman is just a fellow lecturer at Cambridge. And he’s married. He was waiting for his wife to join him.”

“Marriage never stopped anyone from betraying.”

“Well, it’s a determinant for me.” She stared at his turbulent green eyes. “I believe in principles and morals. I’m faithful.”

“And I’m an i***t,” he said, his low, deep voice filled with sadness.

Sophia raised an eyebrow. “Can I agree with you? Or you are going to asphyxiate me again?”

He winced.

She stood on her tiptoes, kissing his lips in forgiveness, saying, “However strange this may be, even after everything, I liked the sex.”

She astonished him. He put his arms around her and she leaned onto his chest. “Is your throat hurting?” he asked, his voice concerned.

Sleep on it, Sophia. Don’t think about it. She nodded and said, “It will get better.”

“Sophia—”

“I don’t want to talk about that right now. Tomorrow.” She rested her forehead on his chest and stifled a yawn on his T-shirt.

“Come.” He picked her up in his arms and she nestled her face in the hollow of his neck. “Let’s sleep.”

“Why are you always carrying me in your arms?”

“You’re light as a feather and I’m strong and…” He squeezed her in his arms and felt her smile against his neck. “I like you where you are.”

“I just missed the stomping,” she teased.

His lips turned up in a small smile as she used his own words against him. And although he felt too downcast to be amused, he tried to keep up with her mood. “Tomorrow morning, I will show you the child sleeping beside you.”