This woman was like an infection coursing through me, cooking my brain and body in a raging fever. My prick throbbed. Solid and at the ready, I knew I could take care of myself, jerk myself off and come hard in sixty seconds. Hell, this horny I probably could do it a few times over. My balls ached and I needed the release.
But I knew it wouldn’t help, not really. It would feel all right for a second, a blinding flash when my mind went blank. But then everything would return to me, the hunger, the unquenched thirst, maybe even stronger than before. My cock needed one thing and one thing only and she was asleep in my bed. My hand would only end up making me more frustrated in the end.
Still she slept, unaware of the inferno racing through my blood. Too comfortable in my bed. Trusting the monster.
I swore under my breath. I walked out of the room again, closed the door and paced. What the hell had I gotten myself into? Why was I playing with this kind of fire?
I hadn’t felt this messed up, not in a long time. Not since six years ago. Nothing had changed. Kara might be 24 now, but she was still the same girl. Hot as shit but with hearts and rainbows dancing around her head. Unicorns and fairies and all that Hollywood movie bullshit.
I’d fallen for her hard back then, with all the idiocy of youth. I could still remember how Kara used to make me feel, like I was a king, like the world was my oyster. I’d been 21 and street smart and tough-talking. But inside, that was a different story. She’d fulfilled my fantasies in more ways than one. And I’d let myself start blending the two, allowed myself to enter into the dream of what it would be like with Kara, really be like if she were my woman. I’d felt such blinding happiness that night she’d come down in my cabin, when I’d thought I was so close to calling her my own.
Nothing turned you into a sucker quicker than that. I’d let my guard down and Harlan had sucker punched me good. It had all crumbled like dust, blown away quick and fast and left no trace.
I should have learned my lesson, but Kara did something to me, messed up my brain. Made me start thinking about things I shouldn’t. Yearning for the types of things I never thought about in day-to-day. Home, family. What would it be like to have it all? That was a myth, especially for a man like me. When you tried to reach for that apple, that’s when all hell broke loose. Better to be satisfied with what you had than torturing yourself over what you never would.
Now the world actually was my oyster. Richer than I’d ever dreamed and now Kara had walked back into my life and agreed to give herself to me for a week. I had everything I’d ever yearned for. I should be licking my chops, satisfied as a rich man at a lavish Christmas dinner. But here I was all worked up, unable to sleep, forced out of my apartment, torqued up and pacing, all over some girl? Any second now, I could feel it, I would start dreaming of her and me. I’d start smiling and humming.
I’d hated Harlan at the time. But he was right. He’d been back then, and he was right now. I wasn’t the man for her.
Even now that I had the money, I wasn’t the full package. I was a broken man. I’d never be the picket fence dad fussing over the BBQ with the neighbors and their kids over for Sunday after church. I didn’t play that way. And the way I actually played, real down dirty and nasty? Kara might pretend, but she didn’t play that way either. We were still living in different worlds, her and me. Kara belonged married and tucked away in a snug little cabin, wrapped in sweetness and love, expecting a new baby to make three. And here I was spanking the fuck out of her and planning to do more, much more.
Six years ago I’d done the right thing. I’d cut things off, left her without hope and without a trace. It had been hard. It had torn me up, if I had to be honest about it. But what had got me through was I knew it was the best thing for her.
There was no getting around it, ending it would be the best thing for her this time around, too. I didn’t want to give her up. I wanted to keep her with me, hold her tight. But even now I could tell one week wouldn’t be enough. I was a possessive madman and I’d drag this thing out, beat it into the ground until she was dying to get away from me. I’d ruin her, dragging her into my dark world of submission and domination for pleasure.
And then I knew what would happen. Inevitably, our differences would surface. I’d get frustrated. She’d get hurt. We were cut from different cloths and she might want to make a quilt out of it all, but it wouldn’t work. It would end, slowly, painfully, with massive damage and wreckage. This time around the crash-and-burn would be of epic proportions.
But there was no way it would work between us, not the way she’d want. I wasn’t the Christmas sweater, baseball in the backyard with our kids type of guy. I’d never known my father. My junkie of a mother had passed away two years ago. An overdose, no one there to help her, she’d died alone. I had no brothers or sisters, at least that I knew of. I literally had no family and no experience of it, either. You didn’t grow up like I did and then just flip a switch. You learned things over time, commitment, responsibility, intimacy, the sacrifices parents made to create a stable, loving home. Or you learned the opposite. Once you’d seen all the darkness life could bring, I didn’t see any way over into the light. I simply wasn’t capable of it. I’d gone through the last 27 years a lone wolf. I’d go through however many more stretched out in front of me the exact same way.
Playing games with Kara was too fucking dangerous. I didn’t play with fire. I did controlled burns, when I could see the exact path it would take and knew precisely how and when I could put it out. You had to know when to let the beast out of the cage. I wouldn’t do it anymore, not with Kara. My hard, aching cock? I’d find someone wet, willing and ready to take care of all of my needs. Someone who’d walk away the next morning and I wouldn’t give her a second thought.
I would end this now, terminating our agreement. I would write Kara a check and leave it out on the kitchen island. Later in the morning, by the time she woke up I’d already be out at the office. She’d take her money and run.
Because Kara was only sticking around for my money, anyway. If I didn’t have that, she wouldn’t be here. I’d be a forgotten memory, some ranch hand who got her off one summer.
I was used to women wanting me for my money. It made things simple. They liked the money first and foremost, and they liked my power inside and outside the bedroom. It was enough to keep a steady stream of them coming, literally and figuratively. Somehow with Kara, though, the thought twisted in my guts. It made me feel scooped out a
nd hollow.
Since when did I care about shit like that? My innermost thoughts and feelings? Fuck that. Too much depth dragged you down. Shallow was just fine for me.
The solution was always there, you just had to have the balls to find it. And stick to it once you had. We weren’t going to New York tomorrow. I was ending this bargain.
Six years ago I’d done the right thing. Now, I’d do it again. It would be hard, but I could do it. Hell, people cut off their own limbs and lived to tell the tale. Life was pain.
I’d end this arrangement. I’d give her the money she needed, no strings attached. It had to end with Kara. Because that girl was kryptonite.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading Unleashed: Hot Alpha Romance, Volume 2! I hope you loved it, and stay tuned for the next installment of the story! In New York City Declan and Kara take this arrangement to a whole new level of hotness…
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Keep reading for a sneak peek at the next book in the Declan and Kara story, Unleashed: Hot Alpha Romance, Volume 3. Both volume 3 and the final volume 4 of Unleashed: Hot Alpha Romance are available now for sale or for preorder here. Unleashed: Hot Alpha Romance, Volume 3 will be released February 1st.
Unleashed:
Hot Alpha Romance, Volume 3
New York City. The city that never sleeps. Especially when you’re there as part of a no-holds-barred bargain to serve your master.
Declan
I have her now, right where I want her. Mine, for the week in New York. The ultimate city to play in and the one I’d always wanted to play with.
And now I have the money to give her everything, VIP at the hottest spots in town, waited on hand and foot at the poshest restaurants and spas, lavishing her with jewelry and a custom-made gown for a gala at the Met. I want to surround her with every luxury.