She knew by the narrowing of his eyes that she wasn’t hiding anything from him. For the first time in her life she was faced with someone she couldn’t fool.

“Kimber.” He reached across the fence, his hand cupping her cheek and only then did she feel the slight dampness that had fallen from her eyes to her cheeks.

Her smile fell.

She licked her lips, staring up at him regretfully, aware of the rising emotion that began to fill the air.

“I want too much,” she finally whispered. “As always, I just want too much.”

She turned away from him then and rushed across the barnyard, heading for the house. She couldn’t face him any longer. Couldn’t face the past, the future without him, or the demands suddenly whipping through her. She couldn’t face Jared, or she would never survive the choice she had sworn she would make.

Chapter Fourteen

Jared watched as Kimberly stalked back to the house. He could see the tension in every line of her body, had seen the hopelessness blooming in her gaze. He propped his hands on his hips and shook his head helplessly.

He had learned patience while in the service. Had learned to sit and wait for what he wanted, what he needed. And though waiting on Kimberly went against every possessive instinct he had, he would do it. But that didn’t mean he would watch her suffer.

The sexual tension and anger raging inside her was her own worse enemy. Even with her visits to The Club, she hadn’t yet learned how to control that intensity and anger, or how to relieve it.

A smile crossed his lips as he pulled his cell phone from his belt and hit the speed dial for The Club.

“Let me talk to Ian,” he said quietly when Thom came on the line.

Ian Sinclair was the owner of The Club. The inheritance had merely stroked the fires of the other man’s sexuality. He was the perfect third for what Jared had in mind.

“Jared, you’re slacking.” Ian’s voice was rough, a deep lazy rumble that did nothing to disguise the powerful enemy he could become.

Jared snorted. “Not hardly. But we’ll talk about that later. I need a favor.”

“A favor?” Amusement crept into Ian’s voice. “This sounds interesting.”

“You have no idea,” he sighed. “I need a third.”

Silence filled the line then. It was a well-established rule that Ian did not participate as a third. A first perhaps, the dominance the other man possessed rarely allowed him to take a backseat in anything.

“Why?” he finally asked.

Jared explained the situation briefly, keeping his voice level, his driving need banked. But damn if Ian wouldn’t be perfect to join him on this adventure into Kimberly’s sexuality. He was restrained, perfectly in control, and despite appearances, a compassionate man.

Once again the other man was quiet. Silence stretched between them for long minutes.

“Son of a bitch,” he finally muttered. “Remind me to back whoever’s running against the Senator in the next election.”

“Let’s keep politics out of it,” Jared sighed. “Mother’s backing him so I don’t even want to think about losing here.”

Ian snarled. There was no other way to describe the curse that sizzled across the lines.

“Anal or oral sex is a very poor second to the real thing, Jared,” he sighed.

Jared knew that well. He was walking around with a hard-on that would eventually kill him. No matter how many times he took her ass or her sweet mouth, he knew he would never know real satisfaction until he managed to fuck her hot little pussy.

“It’s her only option right now, Ian,” he growled.

“So let me get this straight,” he sighed. “No vaginal, period. You know, don’t you, that we’re both going to have a case of blue balls from leaving that pretty little cunt untouched.”

Jared grinned. “Yeah, that pretty much describes it. Come on, Ian, you can get your rocks off anytime. This is Kimber we’re talking about. She needs this.”

She was a member of The Club, and a woman, and that gave her a certain standing with Ian. It meant he had personally selected, invited and approved her. He likely knew more about the situation than even Jared did.

“Why did I know this call was coming?” he finally asked Jared with a thick vein of amusement. “How will you get rid of the bodyguards? The bedroom is the wrong place for this, Jared. If you’re going for intensity, you’re going to have to add that extra level of danger for her while keeping her in the security of your home. Otherwise, I would suggest bringing her here to The Club.”

“No. We’ll use the living room here.” Jared shook his head at the alternative. “I have a few of the men from my old team here. We’ll arrange the particulars, you just be here.”

“Blindfold her, it will roughen the edges of her security.” Ian’s voice deepened further, indicative of his interest and arousal. “I’ll be there at ten.”

Jared’s cock jerked in the confinement of his jeans. Ian had forgotten more about stroking a woman’s arousal and submissive instincts than most men would ever consider.

“I’ll have everything ready.” He smiled slowly, envisioning the evening ahead. “See you at ten.”

He disconnected before turning his head to stare back at the house. There was Adams skulking around the house again. Matthews and Danford were watching him with a frown from their positions. That left the fourth man in the house, most likely watching Kimberly.

Bastards. Lowell and Adams were riding his last nerve and if they weren’t careful they would find themselves finishing out this assignment locked in the basement. He paused at the thought. That wasn’t a bad idea, actually. Matthews and Danford he could trust. The other two were the problem.

Yes, the basement was beginning to look better every minute.

Kimberly could feel the tension growing in her. It was worse than before. Like a bone-chilling craving she couldn’t identify and had no hope of fulfilling. Was this how her ancestors felt? Those women who had been restricted from fulfilling the heightened sexuality that tormented her.

A curse they had called it. She poured a cup of fresh coffee as she breathed out roughly, stilling the trembling in her fingers as she carried the cup to the kitchen table. It was worse than a curse.

She stared through the window, watching Jared as he worked around the barns. Lean hipped, muscular. He moved with a grace she had rarely seen in other men, and he mesmerized her.

Why was he different? Why had he been the one to slip under her guard and steal her heart?

She turned away from him, her hands wrapped around the cup as her head lowered, eyes closing.

She wanted so much more now than she had ever dreamed of. Before learning the terms of the Trust, before the betrayal of the exams, she had decided she would never endure the pain her mother had known. Her virginity had been a matter of pride. Her self-respect and her determination to know a life opposite of her mother’s had often been all she’d had to hold on to.

After the shock of the examinations she had fought back in the only way she knew how. Smug, triumphant, she had learned she could have her cake and eat it too. She could assuage the lusts that built within her body and still pass the tri-monthly tests her father demanded.

And that had been enough. Until Jared.

“What now?” she whispered, her gaze returning to the window, to the man. “What do I do now?” Because she knew it was no longer enough, and it never would be again. Now, she wanted it all.

Chapter Fifteen

“Kimber.” Jared’s voice had her breath catching hours later as she walked out of the bathroom, tightening the belt of her robe.

He stood across from her, leaning against the footboard of the bed, his gaze dark, heavy-lidded, his jeans straining at the crotch.

Kimberly stopped in the middle of the room, watching him somberly.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she whispered. “Sometimes I…” She waved her hand, grimacing at her reluctance to explain the turbulent emotions that filled her.

A gentle smile quirked his lips.

“That’s okay,” he said softly. “I’m not upset, but I do think I’ll punish you for it.”

She stared back at him in surprise.

“Excuse me?” Her heart began racing in her chest as she interpreted the dark expression that came over his face.

Now he looked dominant, dangerous. A shocking thrill shook her body, making her tremble in awareness.

“The house is empty and will be for the rest of the night,” he began to explain, his voice deep, throbbing with arousal. “You’ll keep your virginity, Kimberly, but the rest of you belongs to me. Unconditionally. Agreed?”

She swallowed tightly.

“How?” She licked her lips nervously.

He shook his head firmly. “It doesn’t matter how. All I need is your agreement. Unconditional surrender, Kimberly. Can you sacrifice your control for tonight? No matter what happens, no matter what I ask.”

She could feel her body responding to the heat in his eyes, the arousal and demand in his voice. Her clit ached unlike anything she had known in the past. She could feel her vagina moistening, spilling her juices along the folds of flesh beyond.

Her breasts were swelling, her nipples becoming hard and sensitized beneath the silk of her robe.

“All control?” she asked weakly.

She had never dared to attempt such a thing before.

“All control, Kimberly.” He would demand nothing less.

She fought to breathe normally, but the rising excitement made it impossible. Her breasts were rising and falling harshly, the blood pumping fiercely through her veins.

Kimberly pushed her hands deep into the pockets of her robe, staring back at Jared intently. What did he have in mind? He wouldn’t hurt her, he wouldn’t breach her virginity. What was left that she would need to surrender her control?

“No explanations, Kimberly.” He forestalled her request for just that. “Either you trust me or you don’t. There’s no in-between.”

“I trust you.” There was no question of that.

He smiled again, a crooked, tender smile that caused the muscles of her stomach to clench in response.

“Come here.” He held out his hand to her, though there was nothing so weak as a request. It was a demand.

She stepped forward slowly, taking his hand, expecting him to pull her into his arms. She was surprised when he stopped her inches from his chest.

“I’m going to blindfold you,” he said firmly. “You will leave it on, no matter what. Agreed?”

She had never been blindfolded. She had never been stripped of even the security of her sight. She shuddered at the demand but nodded in compliance.

Jared touched her cheek with the pads of his fingers before leaning close to touch her lips with his.

“I’ll blindfold you here, then carry you to another room. Your safe word is sacrifice; by saying it, you’ll sacrifice a pleasure, baby, unlike anything you’ve known yet.”

What could he have planned?

Kimberly nodded jerkily, trembling before him as he picked up the black eye mask from the bed and pulled it over her head. It covered her eyes only, the elastic fitting snugly at the back of her head and blocking all light.

“I’ve never done this, Jared.” She reached for him, her hands gripping his forearm desperately as she became lost in a world of darkness.

“I know, baby,” he whispered. “Just let go. I’ll take care of you.”

She stilled at the small, almost hidden vein of emotion in his voice that she caught then. Despite the arousal, the absolute pleasure, underlying the dominant satisfaction was…sadness?

“I’m going to pick you up,” he told her a second before he swung her in his arms. “You don’t have to do anything yet, Kimber. Just relax.”

Relax? She was blind and becoming paranoid. His voice was making her crazy. What was that emotion, that hint of something in his tone that sent a shaft of pain piercing her heart?