8. Bree

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The linebetween reality and dream is blurring as kisses are planted along my throat. They feel so good. I want to melt.

My eyes flutter open to Declan, his mouth soft against my skin.

"What the hell are you doing?" There is no real fire in my voice and I don't move away from him.

I should. I should even want to. My head is screaming at me to move away, but I can't seem to make myself.

"It can't always be screaming and hate sex, Bree. I want to show you how much I can make you feel. It doesn't always have to be angry."

"With you, it does," I argue, but I tilt my head back to give him more access.

Argh. My body is a traitor, just like I said last night.

He traces his fingers along my bare shoulders, and when I turn to look at him, his eyes are dark with lust.

It's still dark out, so it must be in the wee hours of the morning.

"How much did you have to drink at dinner?" I ask, and Declan chuckles.

"Not much." He trails his fingers down my abdomen, now, and I start to tremble. "Now. Will you let me show you how good I can make you feel?"

I look up at him, still worrying my bottom lip between my teeth, and he thumbs it out of my mouth.

I shouldn't be doing this. I should fight him off, tell him to leave.

"Thought you didn't force yourself on women."

Declan freezes.

"If you don't want this, I'll go right now." He removes his trailing fingers from my stomach.

I miss his touch instantly.

"I do want it. And I might be damning myself, but I want you."

His eyes burn through mine. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." I nod, and my voice lowers. "Please, don't stop."

It's just... a distraction.

What else am I supposed to do stuck in this room all the time?

Looking into my eyes, Declan trails his hands lower, to my thighs, slipping down the negligée I'd picked out earlier. The silk against my skin feels so good, I couldn't pass it up.

Some part of me had thought this might happen again, even wanted it. I just didn't want to admit it to myself.

He bunches the negligée around my hips, sliding his fingers slowly under the fabric over each hip, tugging my panties down to my ankles.

Then he lifts my right leg, kissing along my calf as he slips the panties off me.

Instead of lowering my leg back to the bed, though, he loops it around his shoulder, and then my left leg around his other shoulder, settling between my thighs.

Oh god, Is he going to?—

"Ah!" I cry out as he presses his face against my sex, sliding two fingers into my entrance and finding me slick.

He murmurs something against my inner thigh, kissing it and making me feel lightheaded. He licks it, pumping his fingers in and out of me, sucking and probably leaving a mark.

I'm trembling all over, wanting more, wanting him to latch around my clit, but he doesn't, instead licking around it, touching every part but it.

I whimper.

"What's wrong, princess?" He lifts his head slightly.

"You're teasing me," I accuse, but my voice comes out shaky.

"Not teasing," he says. "Just working you up. I want you to be sensitive when I sink myself inside of you."

"I'm already so sensitive."

He laughs softly, his breath hot against my sex.

"You are. You're lovely."

Lovely? That's not a term I'd ever expected him to use.

He finally starts to lap at my clit, and I rush near the edge of my orgasm as he keeps pumping his fingers in and out, curling them up just like I need.

"I'm going to come," I breathe out, and then he finally latches his lips around my clit, working the flat of his tongue against it.

I cry out, putting my hands in his thick hair and pulling slightly, and Declan moans against me, the vibration just making my orgasm last longer.

I open my eyes as I come down, and he licks his lips slowly, moving his hands up to my hips.

"I left marks on you," he says, almost mournfully, and then he moves his lips there, kissing and touching the sore spots as if in apology.

I tilt my neck up, needing his mouth on me there. "On my neck, too."

He chuckles. "Those I meant to leave, princess. Want everyone who sees you to know you belong to me."

"I don't belong to you," I rasp out, but he still has his fingers inside of me, pumping slowly as he kisses my hips, my stomach, eventually my throat.

I'm going to come again, and soon, but then Declan slips his fingers out of me.

I whine, "Wait." I'm breathing hard.

"Poor baby," he croons. "Can't think of anything but coming on my fingers?"

He's right, but I don't want to say it. Instead, I shut my mouth, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

"Maybe one more," he teases, and then he rams three fingers into me, making me arch my back and close my eyes, seeing spots of light beneath my closed lids. I'm catapulted into my second orgasm, bucking my hips and crying out Declan's name.

"Look at you," he murmurs. "You look so pretty when you come."

He strokes my hair with one hand as he slowly pulls his fingers out of me, and I whimper at the loss, feeling empty.

"Don't worry, princess." His tone is low. "We're just getting ready for the main event."

Declan pushes down his boxer briefs, freeing his thick, long length, and covers me with his body. My mouth is all-but watering as I look down at him, and I impatiently wrap a hand around him, guiding him into me.

Declan hisses in a breath, chuckling as he rolls his hips, thrusting deeper into me.

I gasp in a breath, already so sensitive from my other orgasms.

"God, I'm going to come so soon," I whisper, and Declan grits his teeth, thrusting into me in a steady rhythm.

"Me, too." His voice is strained. "Watching you like that... it drove me crazy."

"Yeah?" I ask breathlessly, rolling my hips up to meet his thrusts.

"Yeah," he says. "You don't know how beautiful you are."

It feels good, being praised by him, and my body is alight with pleasure.

It's only a few more thrusts before I come again, nearly screaming and digging my nails into his shoulders.

Declan gasps and moans, pumping into me deeply before pulsing and spilling inside me.

He kisses along the side of my face as we pant and try to catch our breath. It's oddly sweet, and part of me wants to push him away.

He's not as bad as I thought. Maybe he's not such a bad man, but I'm still a prisoner here. He is still the enemy.

Even if I don't mind, and maybe even want, the sex between us, I don't want to be here. I don't want to be married to him. I want to be free to make my own choices.

When Declan pulls out of me, I assume he'll go straight for the shower, but he doesn't, plopping down next to me, staring up at the ceiling.

I tremble, cold, and next thing I know, he's pulling up the covers around me to tuck me in.

"Maybe we should talk," he murmurs, close to my ear, kissing my temple.

I stiffen. "Talk about what?"

Declan shrugs. "I don't know. Get to know each other. Not like either of us wanted this, but we're stuck, aren't we?"

"Stuck." My tone's flat. "I guess. What do you want to know?"

"You don't have siblings, right?"

"I have a brother, Rory... But he's been estranged for years now. Could hardly wait until he was eighteen to leave the family business behind. So, it was me and my dad after my mother left, and my dad never wanted anyone else."

Declan snorts.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I ask, angry.

"I've just heard otherwise, that's all. I've heard he gets around that strip club he owns."

"Well, those are just stupid rumors." I'm sure my father hasn't been completely celibate ever since my mother left, but I don't think that he's been with anyone long term.

"Maybe." Declan shrugs. "There's a lot of those floating around this community."

"Wiseguys gossip like a bunch of old hens."

Declan barks out a laugh. "They kind of do. Especially the older ones."

"Like your father?"

"And yours." He glances over at me. His eyes really are remarkable, darker blue in the moonlight.

I nod. That's fair enough. "What about you? Did you always get along with your siblings?"

Declan laughs out loud. "God, no. Gray and I used to fight like cats and dogs. And Lara, she used to try and dress me up like one of her little dolls, before Paige was born."

I grin, looking over at him. "God, I'd love to see that."

He groans. "Don't tell Da, he'll bring out the photo albums." He pauses while I laugh, and then continues. "Did you ever get lonely without your brother there?"

"Nah. I had friends. Besides, I kind of liked being the only one around. I love my brother, but as the oldest, he was sometimes under the impression he could boss me around. Spoiler alert, no one can."

"Spoiled." He grins.

I giggle, and then close my mouth, realizing that I'm acting like a schoolgirl with a crush.

What is wrong with me? I need to focus on what's important–trying to get out of here.

But... making friends with Declan may be just the way to grease the wheels enough. Maybe, if he thinks I'm into him or something, he'll lower his guard.

Against my better judgment, I'm already halfway to friends with Paige and Lara. So why not try?

"Your mother?" I murmur, and Declan's face shutters, his emotions unreadable.

"I don't talk about my mother."

I nod. "I don't like to talk about mine, either."

He glances at me but doesn't say anything.

I'm losing steam here. I need to get him back on the friendly side. Mentioning his mother was obviously a mistake.

I flip over on the bed, looking at Declan with a devious smile.

He raises an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

I shrug. "Nothing."

I slide my hand under the covers, slowly wrapping it around his cock.

He draws in a sharp breath. "Doesn't feel like nothing, princess."

"You showed me how good you can make me feel," I murmur against his neck. "Let me do the same for you."

I slowly pump up and down his length, and he thickens and plumps in my hand, his breath growing shorter.

Then I slide under the covers, spreading his thighs and licking across his testicles before taking him into my mouth.

I do gag a little when I take him further in, but that only seems to make him pulse more on my tongue.

He lets out a low groan, almost a growl, putting his hands in my hair.

I think he's going to push, but instead he just tugs, guiding me in the rhythm that he wants.

I suck in, hollowing my cheeks, and Declan lets out a string of curses that seem to be in Gaelic.

"Jesus, fuck, Bree," he moans. "If you keep that up, I'm going to come."

I scratch my fingernails down his thighs to encourage him, loving how heavy he feels in my mouth, and then he explodes, sending come down my throat.

I keep pumping him with my hand and swallow every drop before pulling back up and grinning at him.

"Where did you learn to do that?" he asks.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I smirk, and he grabs me around the waist, pulling me down on top of him and kissing me passionately.

He slides back down my body, making me come a fourth and fifth time with his hands and his mouth before sliding back into me.

Daylight is fading already before he's done with me, and I'm sore and exhausted enough to cuddle up to him, my head on his chest.

I slip into sleep before I even know what's happening.

I wake up in the middle of the night, after a dream about my mother, a few days before she left, and there are tears on my cheeks.

I walk downstairs to get a glass of water, and Lara is up, sitting with a cup of hot tea.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asks, and I nod, pouring myself a glass of filtered water and sitting across from her.

"What about you?"

"Lifelong insomniac." She gives me a wry smile.

I smile back, and with her, it's not forced.

If I'm honest with myself, I haven't been forcing smiles with any of the Burkes, not even Declan. Am I developing Stockholm syndrome or something?

I sit there across from Lara, trying to figure out what it is I'm feeling, and finally, she cocks her head, looking at me.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"I don't know if you want to hear them," I mumble.

"I promise you that I do."

I sigh. "I'm just thinking that it's not so bad here."

She smiles. "I thought you might feel that way." She pauses. "And you're feeling worried because you don't hate it here?"

"Actually, yes." I sip my water. "I spent so much time at the beginning thinking of ways out..." I trail off, not wanting to give away that I'm still thinking about it. Except now, it's different being here somehow.

"But now you don't want to go?"

"It's not that I don't want to. It's that... being here is just not as bad as I'd thought."

"Because we don't feed you bread and water?" she teases. "Or keep you in a room with just a bucket?"

"Something like that." I chuckle.

"Paige and I tried to tell you that Declan isn't such a bad guy."

"He's not, but he still drives me crazy."

She laughs out loud, and the sound echoes in the large kitchen. "That'll never change."

We chat for a bit longer before I head back up to the bedroom. When I slide back into bed with Declan, he instantly rolls toward me, putting his arms around me.

I feel warm and safe and almost like home.

This is supposed to be my enemy. I can't feel like this. What the hell is wrong with me?