Ian snorted. Dane wasn’t the only one hiding his head in the sand if she truly believed that.

“Marguerita, you should tell Dane exactly what she’s up to and have him drag her ass home,” he sighed wearily, watching the clock tick away a mere minute.

“It would be much easier to send her home if you do not want her,” Marguerita laughed, a lilting sound that had him grimacing at the knowing tone.

“I don’t have the strength,” he finally whispered. “I’m about to make the most incredible mistake of my life, and I think I’m going to blame you for it. You’re an evil woman.”

“Ahh, so Dane tells me often.” She didn’t sound in the least apologetic. “Please give Courtney my love. Care for her, Ian. A young woman’s adventures should always be made with one understanding of her tender heart. This I trust you in.”

She disconnected, leaving Ian drifting in a sea of desire so intense it cut into his loins, and a confusion so thick it threatened to smother him. It bothered him that Marguerita had known his lust for Courtney during those first years. Seventeen, prone to hug and touch and rub against him like a little cat. He had fucked her maid raw the week he had stayed there. Several years later, it had been worse. He could still remember awakening, reaching for her, locked in dreams so erotic they were torture.

Snarling silently, he punched in another number, waiting impatiently for the phone to connect.

“Khalid.” The bastard answered the phone on the fifth ring, his voice lazy, filled with sensuality.

“Bring her home. Now.” If he had to go looking for her, he might well get them all arrested.

“I see.” Khalid’s voice was a low, deep growl. “I will take care of this.”

Ian disconnected before moving to the living room to wait. Leaning back on the couch, he loosened his pants, pulling his engorged cock free and grimacing as his fingers tightened on the torturously hard flesh.

He stared down at the ruddy flesh, the thick, violently colored crest as it swelled and pulsed within his grip. He was a large man, and he well knew it. Courtney was small, the shape of her legs, the curve of her rear, the contours of her shapely little cunt beneath her clothing assured him that her sweet little tunnel would be tight, snug.

He groaned at the thought of it, stroking his desperate flesh as his eyes closed in such need it was nearly pain. He would show her tonight the needs that tormented him. He wouldn’t begin easy. He wouldn’t allow her to dismiss the knowledge she already had.

There was something about watching a woman, holding her as another touched her, watching the agonized pleasure that transformed her features, that he could never explain to himself. Their screams of need, eyes wild, body glistening with perspiration as they fought to understand the different sensations two men could bring them. Or watching another touch her as he fucked her. Able to lose himself in the feel of a tight pussy or ass and knowing that the other male would pleasure her as she needed to reach the highest peaks of ecstasy.

Driving her crazy.

His fingers stroked over his cock, imagining her lips surrounding him, sucking him deep as she tried to scream around the thick stalk because even as she pleasured, she was being pleasured.

He was different. All the members of the Club were different. It was a difference Ian had fought for years, one he had agonized over and finally accepted. Either something was missing within him, or something was much too strong. Because the thought of holding her to him, his cock buried deep inside her as Khalid touched her, tweaked her hard nipples or filled her as well, had pre-come spilling from his dick and lubricating his fingers as his thighs tightened, his hips arching to his hand.

Her mouth. He wanted her mouth wrapped around the head of his erection, sucking it hot and deep as her slender fingers stroked the shaft. He would bury his hands in her hair, feel her screams vibrating on his cock as Khalid prepared her for further play.

He clenched his teeth, tightening his fingers on the bulging head as he imagined holding her open, fitting himself between the soft folds of flesh between her thighs and filling her. Slow. He would push in so slow, holding her still as she fought to accept him, the satin tissue of her pussy gripping him, straining to stretch around his width.

He would take her first. He would fill her, fuck her until she screamed in climax and begged for mercy before he would allow another to have her. First, she would belong to him. He would mark every sweet inch of her body with his touch and make certain she always remembered who she belonged to. Make certain it was imprinted into her very soul, that she was his first.

His.

He erupted. A hoarse groan filled the room as his release jetted from his cock, shuddered through his body and left him gasping for breath at the very thought of her accepting him, screaming his name. Silky streams of semen filled his hand, splattered onto his shirt but did nothing to lessen his hunger. Only Courtney could ease that pain, and tonight, she would sate it, or he would end up fucking her to death in the attempt.

Chapter Four

Courtney knew when Khalid hung up the phone in the middle of dinner that it had been Ian on the other end. Khalid didn’t inform her of that fact, he did no more than resume eating his meal, as charming and wicked as ever. Regaling her of the years he spent in his father’s land, and many of the adventures he found there. As well as the harem his father had gifted him.

He was an interesting companion and reminded her much of Sebastian. Courtney imagined Khalid and Sebastian would be the best of friends should they ever meet.

“Are you finished?” he asked as she pushed her plate away, having barely touched the excellently prepared salmon she had ordered. It wasn’t food she was hungry for.

“I believe I am,” she sighed as she finished the wine and watched him curiously. “That was Ian on the phone, was it not?”

His lips quirked as his black eyes met hers ruefully.

“He sounds a bit more intense than I’ve ever known him to be. He of course demanded your return. Now, I believe he said.”

The self-satisfied smile that curved his lips assured her that he was enjoying the thought of defying his friend.

Forcibly, she restrained a cry of glee. So perhaps it wasn’t so mature, but the excitement radiating through her now was tremendous.

Khalid leaned back in his seat, lifting his wineglass to sip at it casually as he watched her.

“You aren’t demanding that we return,” he stated the obvious.

“Not because it isn’t what I prefer,” she assured him with a wide smile. “I’d run straight to his arms if I thought it would accomplish my goal.”

“And your goal is?” His brows lifted in inquiry.

She tilted her head, dropping the amusement she had adopted for the evening and allowing the determination she could feel in her soul to reflect on her face. She could feel it building in her day by day, the assurance that she was indeed right. That she had chosen wisely, and that the battle she had set for herself would end in success.

“I want his heart,” she finally said softly. “As you said earlier, I love him.”

He blinked once. She had a feeling few people could surprise Khalid, but it appeared she had done so. The cynical, handsome son of a prince was staring at her as though she had suddenly morphed into an alien being.

“Interesting.” He leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table as he watched her. “You are, of course, aware that Ian believes he has no heart. How do you capture what a man believes he does not possess?”

She was aware of the sad curve of her own lips at the thought of Ian and the heart he believed he did not have. There was a haunted light in Ian’s eyes, a dark, almost hidden shadow of pain that she wanted nothing more than to wipe away. As naïve as she knew it sounded, she wanted to fill his life with light, with love. She wanted to see that special gleam in his gaze, such as her father had with her mother. That smile, secretive, almost bemused, that graced his lips each time her mother was near. She wanted that for Ian.

“You help him find it. One step at a time.” She could only pray that the steps she was making were the correct ones. She could only follow her heart and her woman’s intuition and hope she wasn’t making any drastic mistakes.

“And you think you can change him because of this love of yours?” He was looking at her with equal parts pity and amusement. “Reform him so to speak?”

“Not hardly.” Some men should be placed in pens and taken out for breeding purposes only, she thought. They had no understanding of women, or of how adaptable their love truly was. “Love doesn’t seek to change what already is, Khalid. It seeks only to be a part of it. Thankfully for Ian, I look forward to being a part of the life he lives and the sexuality that is a part of him. I don’t seek to change him.”

Once again, his gaze became confused, as though he couldn’t quite figure out what she was talking about.

“You’ll see,” she assured him with a smile. “I will succeed, Khalid. I’ve known since I was a child that I belonged to Ian. I just have to convince him of this now.” She rose to her feet to stare down at him questioningly. “Shall we go?”

He shook his head, but followed suit. “Of course.” He moved around the table, his hand settling in the small of her back as he led her from the restaurant to the waiting limo.

Courtney could feel the blood pounding through her body as they rode back to Ian’s estate. He would realize of course, how she was manipulating the situation. Ian was no fool. Just as he would realize that once she knew how to push him, she wouldn’t let up. It was a dangerous game she was playing, and she was well aware of it. Ian was a man, full grown and in his prime. She was but an amateur and she knew that well. But, a very determined amateur, she assured herself with a flare of satisfaction.

“That smile is frightening, Courtney,” Khalid mused with a chuckle as he led her to the waiting limo. “I believe I may well decide to feel quite sorry for my good friend Ian, rather than the little chick I feared he would devour. In this case, I believe the chick has teeth and the wolf may well be rendered helpless.”

The thought of succeeding in her goal was nearly as arousing as the thought of Ian awaiting her, demanding her return.

She could feel her breasts, swollen and sensitive as they pressed against the fabric of her top, her nipples rasping against the material and sending sharp, heated sparks of longing shooting through her nerve endings, straight to her engorged clit. And that small mass of nerves was demanding relief. A relief she had never known, never found on her own, just as she had failed with Sebastian.

“I want him with every cell of my body, Khalid,” she whispered longingly. “I’ve wanted him like this since I was little more than a child. Before I ever knew what sexual heat could be, or how intense it could become, I have felt this for Ian.”

His hooded gaze raked over her breasts as he sat in the seat across from her, his dark gaze hot and filled with lust.

“I’ve shared women with Ian before, little chick. He won’t go easy on you.” She heard the warning in his voice.

“It isn’t easy I wish,” she breathed hungrily, shifting on the leather, her thighs tightening at the thought that soon, very, very soon she would face Ian once again. Perhaps a hungrier Ian. One who had given up the battle to keep her from his bed.

Khalid’s expression became more sensual, heavy with desire as his eyes glittered with intent, though he said nothing more. She could see his thoughts though, the lust that built slowly during the drive, the erection that thickened beneath his pants.

She drew in a slow, deep breath as the limo pulled in front of the steps that led to the house. She waited patiently until the chauffeur opened the door, helping her from the backseat as Khalid followed.

Her heart was racing in her chest, her juices collecting between her thighs and slickening the swollen folds of her pussy as the butler opened the door. Warmth spilled from the house as they stepped inside, sexual tension immediately whipping around them as Ian stepped from the receiving room to the side.