Page 6 of Provocation (Den of Deception #3)

‘No pizza,’ he says sternly. ‘Not until I’ve rubbed some arnica on those bruises, okay? Now, lose the robe and get on your bed.’

My eyes narrow. ‘I’ve had sort of a shitty night,’ I growl. ‘Pizza was going to turn it right around.’

‘Pizza after. Trust me, gorgeous?’

I frown at him. ‘Fine,’ I mutter, letting the robe drop and stepping over it.

I lay on the bed with my feet up by the pillows on my front and prop my head up on my hands to look at them.

Blake gives me a smile. I notice it quickly melts off his face when he turns away, though.

I see him in the mirror, so I know. They’re all upset.

I look down at the covers. I don’t like it when they’re upset because of me.

Blake comes back a minute later with a tube of something in his hand. He flicks his head toward the door meaningfully. ‘We’ll be out in a minute, okay?’

Shade and Mav nod solemnly, their eyes lingering on me as they leave the room.

‘This will minimize the bruising,’ Blake says, squeezing some onto his fingers and approaching.

He sits on the bed. I wrinkle my nose at the antiseptic-y smell, but I let him do what he wants.

Hopefully it’ll make them happier that I’ve been cared for.

There must be a reason they’re always feeding me and getting me presents.

It must make them happy to make me happy.

Maybe I should think of some things to do for them, too.

He leans forward and I know he’s staring at the marks.

‘It wasn’t Shade’s fault,’ I murmur.

‘At least you’re not bleeding,’ Blake sighs, and I feel him begin to cover the unbroken welts. ‘It wasn’t your fault either. You know that, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ I whisper, resting the side of my face on the cover.

I lay still, feeling him work his way from my legs to my ass, gently putting the ointment on me and rubbing it in just a little. It’s only mildly uncomfortable, so I close my eyes and wait for him to be finished.

‘Stay there,’ he murmurs. ‘Let it soak in for a minute.’

I let out a deep sigh. ‘What if they eat all the best slices?’ I mutter.

He chuckles. ‘There are two pizzas and they’re both the same, sweetheart. What are the best slices in this scenario?’

‘Well, I don’t know them until I see them,’ I say, ‘and I won’t see them if they’ve been eaten already.’

He laughs, more loudly this time. ‘You crack me up,’ he says. ‘I’ll go make sure they’re not eating any of the pizzas before you get in there. Then you can have first dibs on the best slices. Does that work?’

‘Yes,’ I say sulkily. ‘Okay.’

‘Stay here,’ he murmurs, giving me a kiss on the shoulder and leaving the room.

He comes back a minute later.

‘Don’t move yet,’ he murmurs, and I jump as I feel his hand move up the inside of my thigh.

‘What are you doing?’ I ask.

‘Turning your shitty night around, beautiful. I’m just as good as pizza.’

I scoff. ‘No, you’re not.’

I feel his knuckle probe between my legs shallowly and he tuts. ‘You’re not ready at all,’ he chastises. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll do something about that. Spread your legs wider for me?’

Intrigued in spite of my impatience, I do as he asks, and I hear him fiddling with something. When I turn my head to look, he hides what’s in his hands.

‘No peeking.’

I purse my lips and turn back around only to hear a low humming sound a second later. He puts it there and I jerk upwards with a yelp.

‘What are you doing?!’

He puts a hand on the small of my back, rubbing in small circles to soothe. ‘Never used one of these before, huh?’

I look back and he lets me see it. It’s a pink, rose-looking thing. ‘What is it?’

‘A suction vibe.’

‘Suction?’ I blink at him and glance at it dubiously. ‘What does it do?’

‘It makes you feel good, gorgeous. Lay back down and relax. You’ll like it. Trust me.’

I take one last look and then turn back around.

‘I do trust you,’ I murmur.

He doesn’t move and the thing in his hand doesn’t touch me. I glance back again to find him staring at me with a blank expression. ‘What?’

He gives me one of those rare, wide grins. ‘Nothing.’

I frown but settle back down and wait. The vibe thing touches me again and I shudder as pulses travel through me, making me whimper into the bed.

‘How does that feel?’ he asks, spreading my pussy lips and seating the thing in deeper.

My response is a garbled string of sounds followed by a ‘don’t stop!’

‘I’m not going to stop unless you want me to,’ he says, ‘In fact…’

I feel something cold against my entrance. ‘What’s that?’

‘Just another little toy I picked up.’

‘It’s not going to suck out my insides, or anything, is it?’ I ask breathlessly, my hips rolling without me meaning them to.

I hear him huff another laugh. ‘No, baby, it’s just your run-of-the-mill dildo. Nothing glitzy.’

‘It’s cold.’

‘It’s glass.’

That doesn’t sound run-of-the-mill to me, but what do I know about sex toys? I add that to my mental list of things to search online.

He eases it into me, and I moan, the feeling of both things at once pushing me to the brink of pleasure faster than ever before.

‘Please,’ I whimper into the covers. ‘Please.’

He slides the dildo into me deeper and the pulses of the vibe increase, making my body shake, and I cry out as I climb higher and higher.

‘Come for me,’ he snarls just as I feel like I’m about to explode, and I scream into the bed as I fall over the cliff, my body enveloped by the strongest orgasm I’ve ever had.

‘Good girl,’ he coos. ‘Want another one?’

‘No,’ I pant. ‘Pizza.’

He sniggers and the dildo’s movements slow.

‘Those were some loud noises, pretty girl,’ he murmurs. ‘Did you enjoy that?’

‘Mmm,’ I acquiesce, out of breath. ‘ Almost as good as pizza.’

He snorts. ‘Lie to yourself if it makes you feel better.’

I hide my smile as the vibe decreases slowly until it stops, and I can practically feel his smug pride.

I’m a veritable puddle on my bed, panting and whimpering still as aftershocks make my legs tremble.

‘Good girl,’ he rumbles again, moving the toys away. I feel him bend down and I squeal as he licks me from my clit to the top of my ass.

‘Where did you get those?’ I ask hesitantly, turning onto my side so that I can see him properly.

‘Bought them,’ he says. ‘There’s a store in Richmond. They have lots of things I want to try.’

‘Like what?’

His grin is low and predatory, but it doesn’t scare me like Joe’s did.

‘Maybe you can come with me next time,’ he says, leaning in to kiss my lips only to dive down to my nipple and wrap his lips around it.

I shudder as his tongue flicks it, but at that moment, my tummy rumbles loudly and he laughs. ‘Come on, my poor starving beauty. Let’s get you some of the good slices of pizza before you literally starve to death.’

I offer him my other nipple with a sound of annoyance.

‘I forgot,’ he grins and does the same thing to the other one to make them equal before he helps me to my feet.

I find that my legs are a little wobbly. He smirks. ‘That good, huh?’

My answering smile is shy. ‘It was very nice.’

He puts Shade’s robe back around my shoulders and I slip my arms into it.

‘Have you found out anything else about the person who’s been watching the cameras?’ I ask as my eyes fall on the piece of Duct tape that’s currently covering the lens of the one in the corner of my room.

He makes a noise of annoyance. ‘No, but I’ve written a program to hopefully undo some of the damage the virus did to the data, so I should have something more soon.’

‘There was something…’ I trail off, second guessing telling him this.

I never want them to know what The Heath really is.

At the beginning it was just embarrassment.

I didn’t want anyone to know the truth, but now…

Blake, Mav, and Shade seem to believe that it was some kind of clinic-come-spa where all we did was sit by a pool and watch Disney movies all day.

I haven’t disabused them of their incorrect notions because I don’t really want to talk about how the past ten years of my life have been.

And I definitely don’t want them to know about the Stinger, and the corrections.

Treating me and the others like that wasn’t right, isn’t right.

I’m seeing that more clearly now, and I think they’ll be horrified if they learn about how it really is.

I’d rather not see pity in their eyes when they look at me.

It would be much like they were tonight, but times a hundred.

I realize I’m rubbing my left leg close to the slightly thickened skin on my calf where the GED used to sit absently and I stop at once.

Blake interlaces our fingers together. ‘What?’

I peer down at our entwined hands and take a breath. ‘Joe Banderville. He said something that made me think he’s seen videos of me. Not from here, but from England.’

‘What was it that he said?’ Blake asks, his tone deceptively calm.

The only reason I know he’s getting upset is because his fingers tighten around mine almost imperceptibly.

I peer up at him.

‘Just something about The Heath that he wouldn’t have known unless he’s seen something,’ I reply vaguely.

‘I just wondered… He said this marriage deal has been in the works for a long time, and he seems to think I’m already his.

Maybe he’s been the one watching. He seems to view me as a possession that he owns, so he might have been keeping eyes on me for a while. ’

Blake nods slowly and I can see he’s trying very hard not to lose it in front of me. ‘I’ll look into him. If he has any secrets at all, I’ll find them.’

‘Blake, look at me.’

The eyes that find mine are wild. Tortured. I think about when he came back late at night covered in blood. He gave me a plausible story, but what if…

‘You don’t get to be angrier than I am,’ I say quietly. ‘You just don’t. Not about this.’

He sighs and closes his eyes, putting his forehead to mine for a moment before giving me a peck on the lips.

‘Okay,’ he whispers against my mouth. ‘Okay. I promise I won’t do anything. Not yet. But their cards are marked, understand?’

I nod. ‘Agreed.’

He draws back and cups my face.

‘Come on. Pizza before you keel over. I’ll bet the guys are about to kill each other they’re so hungry.’