Chapter 14 Sin's Secrets
Serena
I forgot every comeback. I forgot the cage, the photos, everything except the heat of his tongue stroking mine, the way his hand on my throat loosened just enough to let me gasp into his kiss.
I clung to him, my nails digging into his shoulders, kissing him back like I was starving.
When his free hand cupped one breast, his thumb flicking over the peak, then kneading with reverent roughness, I moaned straight into his mouth.
He broke the kiss only to drag his lips down my neck, his teeth grazing my pulse before sinking into my neck.
He was leaving a hickey for all to see. I surrendered to him, gasping shamelessly and rubbing myself against him.
His other hand slid lower, over my stomach, between my thighs, his fingers parting my folds with no preamble.
I bit his lower lip hard. Oh, yes. Copper bloomed on my tongue and I slipped it inside his mouth so he could taste himself.
“You want this, don’t you?” he murmured against my mouth. “Saint’s going to be pissed he’s not joining the party.”
“I want him to be mad,” I breathed.
Sin’s smile turned feral.
Then his entire demeanor shifted. It grew darker, more ruthless.
His hand tightened on my throat again, harder this time, cutting off just enough air to make my head spin.
Black spots danced behind my eyelids. Pleasure and danger twisted together until I couldn’t tell them apart.
“Sin,” I whispered thinly. “Touch me, Sin. Stain me with your touch, your darkness.” This person talking wasn't me. It couldn't be me.
“You're asking for hell, Serena.” He sank one thick finger inside me without warning, stretching, filling, curling.
The thrust started slow… then turned brutal. Ruthless. Punishing. Each stroke dragged against my core so hard that it felt like I was going to heaven.
“You walked into my room without permission,” he said huskily. “You figured out the passkey yourself. Do you have any fucking idea how turned on I am right now?”
“I don’t care,” I gasped, my hips rocking against his hand despite myself.
“You will now.”
He added a second finger, then began to finger me like there was gold inside my pussy he wanted to explore.
Movements from the room caused him to stop. Sin immediately let go of me, his chest rising and falling quickly, his eyes trained on my lips as if he couldn't get enough of them.
“I'll be back. Stay here.” He whispered before turning to investigate the source of the noise.
It was Lara's voice I heard, loud and clear as day.
“You used that commoners’ name as your passkey?" The venom in her voice was unmistakable.
Shit.
I had to get out of this place before Lara saw me. I snatched a black towel off the rack, wrapped it around myself like armor, and slipped out of the shower cubicle on bare, silent feet.
I didn’t go toward the door. Ah. That'd be crazy.
I went for the windows, the floor-to-ceiling glass.
One latch undone was undone, and I muttered a silent ‘thank-you’ as I pushed it open.
The ledge was narrow, maybe ten inches wide, but now was not the time to calculate risks.
The morning breeze tugged at the towel, and I prayed inwardly it wouldn't rip it off me.
I moved before it was too late. My back was pressed flat to the cold stone wall, and my toes curled over the edge. I sidestepped along the ledge until I was out of sight of the bedroom windows.
One slip was all it would take and it'd be a different story. I would fall with a splat. And I'd be naked. No way would that be me.
I remained where I was, calculating my next move.
Lara's voice floated out.
“Your aunt told me something was going on between you and that piss-poor riffraff and I had to see it for myself. You have a whole room dedicated to her? Pictures you took of her in her transparent nightie? I can’t believe you right now.”
“The last time I checked, I ended things between us. You’re not supposed to be in this house. Or my life. Have you no fucking shame?” Sin asked her.
“I’m the only one who truly understands the darkness inside you.” Lara’s voice cracked with something ugly. If I wanted to take wild guesses, I would call it possession, jealousy, and hurt.
She continued. “I’m the only one who can stomach your cravings. Does she know you like pain during sex? Does Saint know you’re fucking around with his fiancée?”
I sucked in a sharp breath. Thank God for the breeze, it drowned out the sound.
Pain during sex. Sin was a sadist and Lara was a masochist? Interesting.
I pressed my back harder against the wall, the wind whipping my wet hair. Lara and Sin hadn’t just been a casual arrangement. She was a means to an end, a channel through which Sin could express his sinful desires and cravings.
I’d never seen that side of him. But I hadn't even spent more than a few days here.
“That is not your business,” Sin said in a dry voice reserved for paint commercials.
“Aunt Vivian was right. The girl’s a temptress. She’s here to sow seeds of—”
“Enough.”
“I will not let her destroy this family on my watch.”
“Who gave you that responsibility? Your role at my side is over. I’m asking nicely—leave.” Sin's voice hadn't risen one bit since the conversation.
“Our arrangement isn’t over. We still have months.”
“I wired your account. You’re richer than most models right now. What more do you want?”
“I want you.” Lara stated.
“Lara. Get. Out. Of. My. Room.”
“Fine.” Her voice dropped to a hiss. “But I will tell the whole world you exist. I’ll expose the monster you truly are. You think you can hide forever? That the Rivers name can keep burying the second heir like he’s a dirty secret?”
I inhaled sharply, my brain spinning many webs at once. Why were the Rivers family hiding the other twin heir? What dark secret was Lara hinting at?
“Your threats are empty, Lara. Even my dogs know that.”
“You used me for your dark pleasures, I let you cut me up, I let you defile me in ways even the devil has never thought of. You’ll regret messing with me.”
“Looking forward to it.”
The second Sin said “Looking forward to it” in that dead-calm, devil-may-care tone, I knew the conversation was done.
Lara’s heels clicked away like retreating gunfire, the bedroom door slamming hard enough to rattle the frame.
The fact that I heard it all the way from here made me wonder if she'd taken drugs just to pull that move.
Sin would check the bathroom for me, I knew. I would dig for his secrets later.
I moved quickly. I swung my legs out over the void, my toes finding the next narrow ledge like they’d done it a thousand times.
My fingers clawed into the rough stone, the breeze tearing at the towel, trying to rip it clean off.
“Please, towel, be still.” I whispered.
I grit my teeth and made the last jump onto the next ledge, and with one hoist that made my knees buckle, my upper body cleared the sill.
I tumbled inside the room, landing in a crouch on polished hardwood, the towel slipping off one shoulder, my wet hair slapping my back.
It was a study room. Bookshelves lined the walls , the smell of leather bindings and jacket covers overshadowing everything else.
“Welcome.” The elderly voice nearly stopped my heart.
Mrs. Hale stood in the doorway, her arms folded like she’d been waiting for me to fall through the window all morning.