“Simmer down, snip,” Zeke said with an indulgent grin. “We’ve known about Taylor and the role she played before you stepped foot on the island. All I needed was her name to make the connection.” He smiled at Taylor. “And of course, she has the same kind endearing accent as you … under certain situations.”
“I don’t have an accent,” Peyton snarked. Her ears turned red. “Except when I …” Her eyes widened as realization struck. Zeke had been a regular partner in scenes with her and Stone and he would know better than most what she sounded like in the throes of passion and lust. She pierced a sharp look at him. “Just how the hell would you know how Taylor’s sounds … er … then?”
“A gentleman never tells, love.”
“Zeke Sinclair, I’ll cut off your balls if you as much as … as …” Peyton noticed the red tint on Taylor’s cheeks and swallowed the rest of her words.
“I suggest you curb your tongue, Tulip,” Zeke warned as he wrapped his hand around the back of Taylor’s neck. “I know a couple of punishments that would be perfect for a pregnant sub.”
“What?” Taylor gasped. “Pregnant?”
“Yes!” Peyton beamed, suddenly all thought of retribution against Zeke forgotten. “This big lout planted his seed well and good inside my belly.” She went onto her toes and kissed Stone lingeringly. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”
“You’ve always wanted children,” Taylor said with longing in her voice. She’d given all her attention and passion to her job for years. A husband and children had never featured in her future but looking at the happiness and joy shining from Peyton’s eyes, she couldn’t help the yearning that filled her being.
“And now I can finally share it with you. Come, it’s lunchtime and I’m starving.” She gestured at Taylor’s luggage stacked just inside the doorway. “Have them take Taylor’s luggage to the green spare room, honey.”
“No,” Zeke stopped Doms Evans and Michael as they headed upstairs with the suitcases. “Take it to my apartment. She’ll be staying with me.”
“Like hell she will.” Peyton turned on him like a spitting cobra but simmered down at the warning look in Stone’s eyes.
“She’s my sub, Peyton, and therefore she will be living with me.”
“But I …” Taylor bit back the protest as he cast a dark look her way. “I’ve never lived with a man before,” she ended lamely.
“That pleases me more than you’ll ever know, little one.”
Taylor was still basking in the dulcet tones that found resonance deep inside her when he yanked her against him and stared into her eyes. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as his head lowered, his warm breath teased her lips in that split second before their mouths met and he finally kissed her like she’d been hungering for. Passionately, demandingly, and so lustful, all she could do was cling to his shoulders. Every stroke of his tongue demanded her submission, which she offered with a fervent passion that flooded her mind. She was lost to the moment and his touch as he totally blew every one of her circuits.
When he lifted his head, she was a complete mess, boneless, with her body silently yearning for more. He stared into her face. She was beautiful in her passion-drugged state. Breathtaking even. One thought milled through his mind.
Mine.
All mine.
“I promise many firsts with me, Taylor. You and I are meant to be.”
Taylor blinked as his words registered. Every one of them timbered through her and triggered a yearning so profound, it threatened to consume her. It felt right. True and undeniably what she secretly had been dreaming about for many years. She’d never imagined she’d find peace in the acknowledgment of yet unchartered emotions with a complete stranger.
A stranger, Taylor. Do you hear that? Shake out of it or you’re setting yourself up for a big heartache.
One thing she knew about the youngest Sinclair cousin was that he had never committed to a woman before. He was a rogue, a skirt chaser through and through. He’d openly admitted in tabloid interviews that he preferred variety and had no interest in marriage or happy ever after. She stiffened in his arms and her back went as straight as an ironing board. His brows drew together in a scowl.
“Don’t mistake my willingness to become your submissive with anything more, Zeke.” She forced a coquettish grin as she stepped back. “You’re a powerful Dom and triggered the sub inside me to come out and play with the big leagues. There’s no denying you excite the shit out of me. Not to mention the effect you have on my libido.” She skirted around him, all too aware of the anger that now simmered below the surface of his tightly coiled frame. “Meant to be?” She forced a laugh from her lips as she verbalized the biggest lie she’d ever told, “To submit and fuck, yes, but that’s the extent of my involvement with you.”
She lengthened her strides to catch up to Peyton who was waiting for her under a huge arch leading into a medieval dining hall.
“Oh!” she shrieked as she was body slammed against the wall, her curves flattening against its unyielding hardness when Zeke pressed his muscled frame against her back. She whimpered as he fisted a clump of her hair in his hand and yanked her head sideways. Her breath wheezed from her throat as she stared into eyes glowing like burning coals.
“You just made a huge mistake, my pet,” he sneered with his lips drawn back. He looked like Hades had come to the surface to feast on her quivering flesh. “No Dom worth his while would ever ignore such a blatant challenge.”
“It wasn’t a challenge,” she croaked in a whisper.
His voice lowered and cracked with the sound of a whip in her ears. “You sealed your fate, Taylor. Soon, you’ll admit to yourself and to me what I already know.” His lips turned into a smirk. “But not before you pay for publicly belittling our relationship, and believe me, little one, for such a blatant act of disrespect no amount of begging and pleading is going to save your hide and most definitely not your cunt.”
The next moment she stood alone, pressed against the wall, trembling in after effect and doing her darndest not to fall to her knees and cry out the fear he’d unleashed inside her. Not so much for what he’d said but there had been no denying the promise of untold pain, humiliation, and determination in his darkened tone.
Somehow, she feared Zeke intended to extract every ounce of regret from her … publicly. He hadn’t emphasized the word for nothing.
Chapter Seven
“What the devil did you have to go and anger Zeke for, Taylor? He’s the one cousin whose emotions you never play with,” Peyton whispered loudly in her ear.
“No kidding,” she said under her breath as she pushed away from the wall. She was shaking all over while her body felt on fire … probably the terror screaming to be released.
“I think you better tell me exactly what happened between you and Zeke.” Peyton caught her arm and wrestled her alongside her toward the informal seating area in the one corner of the vast room.
“Good lord, it feels like I’m in a Harry Potter movie,” Taylor gushed as she looked around.