Possession Read online

  He stirred as my fingers stroked his short black hair he kept cropped close to his scalp. Slowly, he opened his eyes and I saw their stunning blue color. Crystal clear even first thing in the morning, they focused on me immediately.

  “Morning. I didn’t mean to wake you up. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s all right. Everything okay?”

  That was why even though I hadn’t told him, I was already falling madly and completely in love with him. No sooner were his eyes open and he wanted to know if I was okay. Not why I’d bothered him or woke him when he still wanted to sleep. Not what I’d do for him. He wanted to know how I was.

  “I’m fine, Kane.”

  A slow smile spread across his lips. “Good.”

  “I love it when you smile. A real smile. The kind you give at work are nice, but when you smile like this I know it’s real.”

  His hand moved up my arm until it came to rest on my shoulder. Just like the first night I slept next to him, he slid his fingertips over the ends of my hair and over the back of my neck as we silently lay there on the floor together. It was a small gesture, but it meant the world to me.

  It showed me I was beautiful in his eyes.

  Squeezing me close to him, he pressed his lips to the top of my head and whispered, “Are you happy, Abbi?”

  I lifted my head off his chest and looked at him. “Why? Aren’t you?”

  His hands pushed my hair from near my eyes and he leaned forward to kiss my forehead. “I asked if you were happy, and you want to know if I am. But you didn’t answer my question.”

  Fear coursed through me as I thought about what to say. I’d heard something like that from every man I’d ever been with. When I didn’t give the right answer, every one of them had become angry with me.

  “I don’t know the right answer, Kane,” I said quietly, avoiding his gaze and worried I’d already upset him.

  “The only right answer is the truth. If you’re not happy, you have to tell me so I can change whatever is making you unhappy, Abbi.”

  “I don’t want you to get angry with me.”

  Gently, he pulled my chin so I had to face him. “Look at me. I’m not going to be angry with you if you’re unhappy. I’m going to figure out how to make you happy, if that’s the case. Are you happy?”

  “Yes. I just worry that I’m going to do something to make you mad at me.”

  “Abbi, no matter how angry I get with you, I would never hit you. Never.”

  I believed him when he said that, but my past told me the different. “I believe you, Kane. I do. It’s just that it always ends up the same with me. Some guy says he cares, and then one day I say something to make him angry and he hits me. They all say they’ll never do it, but then they always do. It must be me. I must be the reason it happens.”

  “Don’t ever think that. You aren’t to blame because someone can’t control themselves.”

  “Then why does it always happen to me? Other women don’t get beat up by their boyfriends. It must be me,” I sobbed.

  He cradled my face in his hands, stroking my cheek with the pad of his thumb. Looking at me with such tenderness in his dark blue eyes, he said, “I don’t know, but I promise you’ll never be hurt by my hands. I’ll leave before I let my demons make me crazy. And if I ever see anyone lay a hand on you, I swear it’s the last thing they’ll ever do.”

  I lay my head on his chest and closed my eyes. As he gently ran his fingers over my nape, I whispered, “Promise me something else, okay?”

  “Anything.”

  “Promise me you’ll never do anything for me that could hurt you. I couldn’t stand you being hurt because of me.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m tough. I can handle a little hurt.”

  Looking up at him, I shook my head. “Please promise me.”

  “Okay, okay. I promise. But you don’t have to worry about me. As long as you’re safe and happy, I’m happy.”

  “Can we do something today?”

  He slid his palms over my back and pulled me close. “I have an idea on how I want to start the day. Other than that, I have a surprise for you.”

  “A surprise? What is it?”

  He smiled. “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.”

  “Then let’s get up so we can go see this surprise!” I said as I moved to stand, eager to see what he’d gotten for me.

  Kane pulled me back down on top of him and nuzzled the spot just under my ear. “Not yet, angel. We haven’t started the day the right way.”

  When he pressed his lips to that spot and whispered his nickname for me in his husky voice, I couldn’t help but practically melt in his arms. He slid his hard cock through my already wet pussy, grazing my clit with the metal barbells pierced through the head and sending waves of need through my body.

  I rolled my hips and felt him nudge his cock up against my opening. Spreading my legs wide, I straddled him and slowly sat down on him, loving the fell of those metal balls gliding over the tender skin inside me. His cock stretched me until I didn’t think I could take any more, but I wanted all of him.

  Kane’s hands sat at my waist guiding me as I rode him. I loved being on top so I could look at his expression as I made him happy. When we were like this—naked and open with nothing standing between us—his eyes ceased to look cold, like they often did, and the passion and need in him became clear as he stared up at me.

  “You look so beautiful like this,” he groaned.

  I stopped for a moment and asked, “Like what?”

  Kane slid his thumb up to my clit and began to draw tiny, slow circles. “On top with me inside you.”

  Tracing the thin line of dark hair that led to his cock, I said, “I love when you say things like that.”

  Arching my back, I heard him say, “Oh yeah?” in that deep voice that never failed to thrill me.

  Leaning forward, I settled my gaze on his beautiful face and nodded. “I love whenever you speak, but especially now.”

  His thumb ceased its movement and Kane pulled me hard down onto his cock, grunting a guttural sound as he pushed his hips off the floor to bury his cock inside me. “Ride me, angel. I want to watch your body give in to me. I want to feel that snug cunt squeeze my cock when you come.”

  I pressed my hands to his hard chest and balanced as our bodies joined and separated over and over, his body marking me as his own with every thrust of his pierced cock. I gave myself to him willingly, wanting more than anything to give him the pleasure he gave me.

  His cock swelled inside me as we raced toward our release, and he sat up and pulled my body to his, pressing me tightly to his chest as my orgasm began. Holding the back of my neck, he said gruffly, “Don’t close your eyes. I want to see them when you come.”

  I obeyed his command and kept focused on him as wave after delicious wave rolled over me. My body surrendered completely, becoming his as each moment passed. His eyes looked deep into mine, into the depths of my soul as he came. In them, I saw need and safety.

  And love.

  I slid into Kane’s Mustang and turned to face him as he started the car. “Will you tell me now what the surprise is?”

  “Not yet. A few minutes more.”

  Pouting, I asked, “Where are we going?”

  “That’s the surprise. Just sit tight and be patient. I don’t have to hold the lock down so you don’t leave, do I?” he asked with tiny grin.

  I blushed at his mention of how I’d behaved that night he took me out of The Carousel Club. Lifting his hand to my lips, I kissed it and quietly said, “I’m sorry I was so awful.”

  He put the car into gear and kissed me on the forehead. “You had every right. I was kidnapping you.”

  “No, you weren’t. You were doing something nice and I acted like a bitch. I’m sorry, Kane.”

  “It’s okay. As long as you don’t still think I’m some kind of Cro-Magnon man,” he joked. “Now close your eyes and wait for your surprise.”

  I shielded
my eyes with my hand and closed them tightly. “I’m so excited! I haven’t gotten a surprise like this since I was a little girl.”

  He drove over the streets of Tampa and joked about how impatient I was until we finally came to a stop. I began to lower my hand, but he grabbed it. “No, not yet. I want you to keep your eyes closed. I’ll come around and get you.”

  I waited for him to open my door, and he took my hand to lead me to my surprise. I heard children playing nearby and was sure I was walking on a sidewalk, but other than that, all I knew was Kane had my hand in his and I trusted him completely.

  “There are three steps, so watch yourself so you don’t fall.”

  Nodding, I squeezed his hand tightly and walked up the stairs onto a surface that made a creaking sound when my foot landed on it. “Can I look yet? Please?”

  “Just a few seconds more.”

  I heard him open what sounded like an old screen door that needed to be oiled and then his hand pressed softly against my lower back to guide me. He stopped our movement and in my ear said, “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

  Lowering my hand, I slowly opened my eyes to see we were in someone’s house. Full of knickknacks, it looked like someone lived there but I didn’t see anyone around. “Whose house is this, Kane?”

  “Mine.”

  I looked up at him in total confusion. “Yours? Then why do you live in those rooms at the club?”

  Kane smiled. “This was my mother’s house. My father bought it for her, but he never lived here with us. This was where I grew up. When my mother died, it came to me, but I never felt right living here alone. I figured now since you’re staying with me, it might be time for me to come back here.”

  “You mean we’re going to be living here?”

  Looking around at the house obviously so full of memories, he said, “Yeah, if you want to.”

  I let go of his hand and walked through the living room to a kitchen at the back of the house. Kane followed and smiled when I squealed, “I love it! It’s so cute!”

  “Good. Then I’ll have all your things brought here and we can start sleeping here tonight.”

  I sensed a hint of sadness in his voice. “Is everything okay? We don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to. I’m fine with your rooms at the club. I like sleeping on the floor. As long as you’re next to me, I don’t care where we are.”

  He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into him. “No, that’s not it. It’s just strange being back here after all this time.”

  “How long has it been since you lived here?”

  Kane seemed to think about it for a minute and answered, “It’s got to be seven or eight years.”

  I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him. “Well, what do you say as a celebration I make us dinner in this wonderful house of yours?”

  “Ours. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, and when you finally make enough money to move to your own place, I’ll close this place up again and move back to my rooms. Unless you decide not to move.”

  I stared up into his gorgeous blue eyes and saw he was sincere. “You barely know me, Kane. Maybe you should wait until I make you angry and we have our first fight before you offer to let me live here with you permanently.”

  “Abbi, I have no idea what will happen tomorrow. I don’t think about the future. Never could. I try not to think about the past. There’s nothing good back there. The present is all I’ve ever been able to focus on, and right now, I can’t think of anyone else in the world I want next to me every morning when I wake up.”

  The idea of the future being so vague scared me. “And I’m all about tomorrow, Kane, because my past and present have been bad for so long. The future’s all I had to hope for.”

  He kissed me softly on the lips and pressed his forehead to mine. “Then it’s settled. I’ll worry about making your present good, and you worry about making my future good, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Come with me. I want to show you the rest of the house.”

  I’d never seen Kane as happy as when he gave me the tour of that house. I couldn’t imagine him having any good memories of the place after hearing about his childhood, but his whole personality seemed lighter just being there. The serious man who’d intimidated me when we’d first met beamed with every room he showed me.

  The change was completely unexpected, but I loved it. I loved him. It was crazy and stupid and I only knew him for just over a month, but I loved him with every ounce of my being.

  And the thought of a time when he and I didn’t live in that little house with its squeaky door and the joyful sound of children playing outside made my heart hurt.

  * * *

  I SAT with Gemma in the dancers’ break room waiting for the night to begin, still nervous since it was only my first week of actually dancing at Club X. The other dancers sat around us, some fixing their costumes while others put on makeup instead of getting ready in the dressing room right next door.

  A few of the dancers sat in the far corner of the room drinking as they did every night. Gemma had told me about them on my first night. They were some of the ones who danced in the rooms without their clothes on, and Gemma thought they had to get drunk just to do the job. All three women had gorgeous bodies—much nicer than any of us who danced with our clothes on—and one in particular, Simone, had the most beautiful violet colored eyes. I didn’t know if they were real or contacts, but they were stunning.

  Leaning over, I whispered to Gemma, “I wonder if they make a lot more than we do.”

  Unsure who I meant, she shook her head. “Who?”

  “Simone and the others who dance naked in the rooms.”

  “I bet they do. They have to handle a lot more than we do. Why do you think they drink?”

  “I guess,” I said quietly, unable to take my eyes off their corner. Was it really so bad that they had to be drunk?

  “I hear Victoria prefers a different kind of way to forget,” Gemma said with a wink.

  “Really? What?”

  She didn’t answer but sniffed to let me know she meant coke. I’d seen a bunch of the dancers at The Carousel do coke on that one night I danced there, but I was surprised to find out Kane allowed that kind of thing at Club X.

  “I guess it’s not that great if you have to do things like that.”

  Gemma nudged me with her elbow. “What do you care about making more money? Now that you’re living with Kane, you have it made. The guy’s a millionaire, not that you’d ever know it, but he is.”

  “Really?”

  “Of course, honey! He’s one of the owners of this place. He, Stefan, and Cassian all own Club X, so if the other two are millionaires, so is he.”

  “I didn’t think about that,” I said quietly.

  Gemma continued to talk about something, but I wasn’t listening anymore. My attention was on Kane who’d just walked into the room wearing jeans and a navy blue T-shirt that showed off his tattoos. He didn’t act like he was a millionaire. He acted like every other guy I’d ever dated. Millionaires dated women who wore designer clothes and shoes that cost more than I made in a week. I wasn’t exactly the type of female a man with money would want to show off to his rich friends.

  He finished his nightly pep talk, and we all began to file out toward our first assignments. Suddenly self-conscious about everything I was and wasn’t, I followed close to Gemma to try to sneak out past him, but he caught me by the arm and pulled me aside.

  “Hey, angel. I’ll be watching you tonight,” he said in a sexy voice.

  I avoided looking at him, instead looking down at my feet. “Cool. Thanks. I better get going.”

  Kane lifted my chin with his finger and looked down at me with hurt in his eyes that made me feel like shit. “What’s wrong? Did something happen with one of the girls?”

  I shook my head. “No. It’s not that.”

  “Then what’s wrong? I told you it’s my job to make your present happy, but I can’t
do that if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

  “You’re a millionaire.”

  “Yeah, I am. A few times over, in fact.”

  “What would you want with someone like me then?”

  “Why would I live in those rooms on the fourth floor? Why would I drive a car older than me? Why would I wear T-shirts and jeans? Having money doesn’t change who I am, Abbi.”

  “I’m sorry. You’re mad at me now. I can tell because you called me by my name.”

  He gave me one of those wonderful smiles I only saw when we were alone. “I’m not mad at you. Don’t think about how much money I have. It obviously doesn’t change who I am. And as for what I’d want with you, it’s exactly what I get from you. You make me happy.”

  “Okay. I just wondered when I found out you had all that money. I’m not what a millionaire would want in a girlfriend, Kane.”

  “You’re what I want in a girlfriend, angel. Now go out there so I can watch the most beautiful woman in the world dance.”

  I hugged him tightly, loving the feel of his strength around me. “I’ll pretend I’m dancing for you.”

  “Good. And later when we go back to the house, I have another surprise for you.”

  Another surprise? I stepped back in shock. “Another one? Let me guess. You got the front door fixed so it doesn’t squeak anymore,” I said with a giggle.

  “No, and no more guessing. Now get out there so I have someone to watch tonight.”

  I danced the best I could, my eyes closed and every moment pretending it was Kane sitting in those rooms watching me. I loved the idea of him standing out at his post at the top of the stairs looking at the monitors for my assignments. It meant so much to me that he liked what I did and I made him proud.

  My rooms were only for solo dancing, likely because Kane had told Samson not to pair me with Rhett or any of the other male dancers. I could handle that. His jealousy made me feel loved and cherished, and I’d never want him to be hurt by anything I did. I didn’t have to dance with anyone else. My dancing was for me and the man I loved.

  The night flew by, and by three a.m. we were back at the house we now called home. He hadn’t mentioned my surprise again, but I knew he wouldn’t forget. Kane never forgot anything. He might not say anything about a problem or comment, but he remembered.