Love...and Love Intensely Ch. 02

There was a look that could almost be construed as hurt in James’ eyes, Emma thought warily, as he stood and stared at them for a moment longer. She brushed the thought quickly away though, surprised at herself for feeling even an inkling of guilt, and watched waiting for the rage that she knew simmered in the depths of his eyes, then bit her lip, as he turned and strode abruptly away once again.

She must not feel guilty, Emma told herself, finding her way to a chair and sinking down heavily. She did not belong to him, and it was not as if she had asked Kit to kiss her. He’d been drunk, after all. And besides, who was he to say who she could kiss and who couldn’t? She had the right to kiss anyone she wanted!

“Emma,” Luc’s voice brought her back to the present. He was holding her drink in his hand. “Sorry I took so long. I just met Julianna...” he grinned, and the look in his eyes was rueful. “You understand why it took so long for me to extract myself.” Emma understood perfectly - Julianna had, after all, been angling after Luc for what must have been a decade. Ever since she’d turned thirteen, in fact, but as far as Emma knew, Luc had never felt anything for her but brotherly love. With ten years between them, it wasn’t that surprising.

But both Kit and James are ten years older than you, a small, niggling voice in the back of her mind reminded her. And god knew, what she felt for James was certainly not brotherly...

What she felt for James. With a stab of fear, Emma thought back to all the times he’d touched her, kissed her, coupled with her. He’d been her first, though she hadn’t known it, and after him, there had been no others. She was no fool. She knew that what she had experienced with him had been unusual - she’d certainly never experienced with anyone else. Not even Kit, she realised, feeling something cold in her stomach, and she believed she’d been in love with him. What if James was the only one who could feel that way? She had to know.

“Luc?” Emma said suddenly. “Would you kiss me, please?”

Luc was silent for so long, that Emma believed she must have utterly disgusted him and that she’d ruined their friendship forever. She opened her mouth to apologise, but Luc spoke before she could do so.

“I would certainly oblige,” he said carefully, “But may I ask why the sudden request?”

“It - I just - I just need to reassure myself on something, that’s all. Please Luc, just this once. I swear its nothing. And you really don’t need to -”

Before she could finish however, Luc had grinned, and was kissing her.

It was pleasant, comforting, but that was all it was. She knew that Luc wasn’t attracted to her, and she wasn’t to him, and that in essence made their kiss one that was merely companionably pleasant - his lips caressed hers, but nothing else. After a moment, he broke away and raised his eyebrows. “Your doubts have been quelled, I hope?” he asked, amused.

“No,” Emma said, rather deflated.

“Perhaps I should try again, then?”

Before Emma could answer however, a voice said icily from the shadows, “I wouldn’t, if I were you, Luc. Not if you want to leave this place with your manhood intact.”

There was an utter silence from all sides. Finally, Luc spoke, “Is there perhaps something you need to tell me, Emma?”

“Yes, Emma,” James agreed. “Do tell.”

“There’s nothing to tell,” Emma said shakily. “Nothing at all.”

“Oh but there is,” James said silkily, stepping into the light and wrapping a possessive arm around her, drawing her slowly, but steadily towards him, into the curve of his body. “I think that there is.”

Luc stood for a moment, frowning, then a small smile curved his lips. “Is this what I think it is, Em?”

“No!” Emma said fervently, fighting to extract herself from James’ grip. He simply tightened his hold on her. “Its not what you think!”

“What I think,” Luc said with a sly look in his eye, “Is that you’ve been having a lover’s spat, and I just happened to be a handy escape route. Its all right, Em - I don’t mind in the least!”

“We have not been having a lovers spat! We’re not lovers!”

“Oh?” James retorted. “Then what do you call this?” His mouth was against hers again, hard and demanding, and cursing herself violently Emma found herself once again responding to his lips, his tongue, his teeth. She was gasping and breathless when he let her go at last, raising an eyebrow at Luc. “I hope that quells your doubts, Luc,” he murmured.

“Perfectly,” Luc agreed cheerfully and sauntered off, leaving Emma stranded once again, her last hope of escape having quite happily deserted her.

“And now, my dear,” James breathed, staring into her eyes, a look of mingled anger and heat simmering in his, “I shall deal with you.”

With two quick steps he had her backed up against the stone wall of the house, out of sight, unless someone decided to walk straight out onto the balcony and look around.

“What -” Her words were cut off with his mouth, settling over hers, as he ravaged and plundered. His hands moved to her bodice, and with a quick, jerking motion, ripped it in half. The rest of it slid to the ground, and quite suddenly she was left standing in her bra and underwear, James’ hard, male body pressed up against her.

“You’re mine, Emma,” James breathed against her mouth, unclipping her bra easily. “No matter what. Nothing can change that.” A quick rip, a tearing sound and her underwear was gone, too.

“No,” Emma said desperately, her hands fisting against his chest. “No, please, James...”

To her surprise, he didn’t ignore her, but took her hands and laced her fingers with his. He moved them against the wall and stared intently at her, at the soft, vulnerable look in her eyes and the way she trembled against him. “Why, Emma?” he asked softly, and she could hear his voice shake slightly. “Why did you kiss them?”

“I didn’t,” Emma said, half truthfully. “Kit kissed me.” There was a look of hope in his eyes.

“And Luc?”

“I asked him to kiss me.”

He deflated. “Why?”

“Because Kit’s kisses did nothing for me.”

He stared at her blankly. She continued helplessly, “I needed to see if it was like that for me with everyone, or...”

James was suddenly looking at her with new intensity. “Or what?”

“Or - or if -”

“Or if mine were the only kisses you craved, is that right, Emma? Or if my touch was the only one that turned you on? Or if my body was the only one that could satisfy you?” She was silent, her face flushed, turned away from him. “Well, is it?”

When she didn’t reply, he tilted her face and brushed a kiss against her mouth. “Emma?”

“Yes,” she said, frustrated and angry. “Yes, damn you!”

“Oh, my love,” James murmured, and kissed her.

His lips trailed down her throat, his tongue flicking out to taste her and he shuddered in pleasure. “Delicious,” he groaned. She whimpered when his mouth enveloped her nipples, his teeth grazing, his tongue laving at her. He suckled at her and she moaned, arching at him, and he sucked harder, driven into a frenzy at her abandon. He was marking her, and felt triumphant in the fact. He would brand her any way he could, any way that would proclaim that she was his, and his alone.

“Are you wet?” he queried, rubbing his body sensuously against her. “I think you’re dripping, my dear. I think you’re just about to come...”

“Oh god,” she breathed, dazed.

He let her go for a moment to fumble with the zip of his trousers, releasing the thick shaft that was his manhood, lifted her in his arms against the wall and suddenly he was inside her, impaling her with his hard, throbbing length.

“James!” she shrieked with the sensation of having him, full, deep, and embedded firmly inside her. “No!” Her protest felt fake to even her own ears.

“Oh, yes,” he growled, grabbing her hips and shoving her down on him again. She moaned, clutching at him. “No screaming this time,” he warned, moving her up and down on him. “You’ll be heard.”

No screaming? Emma thought dazedly. Impossible. He plunged inside her again and she clamped her mouth around his neck, biting to keep the scream inside. He moaned in pleasure, his fingers digging into her as he thrust inside her again, deeper, harder than before.

“You’re mine,” he declared, pulling her down on him. “Mine, do you hear? You belong to me. Say it.”

“I -”

“Say it, Emma.”

But she just shook her head helplessly and he growled in frustration, forcing himself up inside her, forcing her to take more of him, determined to make her accept him with her body, if not with her mind. She cried out, wrapping her legs around him, aware that whilst she was vulnerable and naked, he was almost fully clothed, powerful, impervious to weakness. As if the thought set off a trigger inside her, she spasmed around him, clenching around him, clinging tightly to his neck, sinking her teeth into him once again.

He shuddered, groaning and thrusting jerkily into her one last time, and she felt the hot flood of his seed filling her body as he stood immobile for a moment, recovering from the aftermath. She clung to him, breathing hard, feeling an incredible sensation of being small, and weak and helpless...and completely taken.

He’d taken her, Emma thought, when he finally withdrew from her body and set her on the ground. She fumbled for her bra, put in on, her mind dazed and confused. He’d taken her, completely and irrevocably, and somehow in the meantime, she had - or at least her body had - accepted that. She pulled the dress up, realising the futileness of the act as she saw that it had been ripped down the middle.

“Here,” James said softly, shrugging out of his evening jacket and wrapping it almost tenderly around her. She felt her eyes stinging with tears. She felt so lost, so confused - and it enraged her. She hated feeling helpless. Her eyes fell on her tormentor and clouded once again...who was this man, this man she had always felt she knew and yet had never really known?

“We’d better go inside,” James said when she made no move to leave, merely stood there with his jacket buttoned up around her, the scrap of ripped material that had once been her panties clutched in her hand. “They’ll miss us.”

She stuffed the material into a pocket as he took her arm, and, gently, ushered her inside.