Theirs to Ransom Read online

  “So this Travis, he has the whole state under his thumb now?”

  “No!” Sophia had been quiet throughout dinner, but as soon as Leo started prodding about the state of things in Texas, her eyes had flashed with fire. “No, my father and the rebels are fighting back. They’ll have taken San Antonio by now and have a whole Army. It’s only a matter of time before we defeat him. We just need more men.”

  She looked around the table, her chin notching up ever so slightly. “Which is why we came here. With the New Mexico reinforcements, we’ll be able to crush Travis once and for all.”

  She spoke so passionately. She’d had the looked of a spooked rabbit ever since the Raffle results but she was all avenging angel now.

  She was obviously terrified but this cause of hers was important enough to risk her life for.

  Jagger tilted his head at her.

  Had she really been so sheltered in that town of hers where her father had ruled? How could anyone have that kind of dedication to an ideal? In this day and age and in this post-Fall world?

  She’d learn soon enough how foolish she was. That fire in her eyes would die out. The only question was how quickly. Jagger had dispatches about Arnold Travis. It was men like him with ruthless ambition who got ahead in this life.

  Men like Jagger himself.

  There was a twinge in Jagger’s chest, a foreign tug. He frowned. Remorse? He wasn’t a man who felt shame or guilt.

  Even knowing that he’d be the one to make the fire in his new wife’s bright eyes flame out forever.

  He shoved his chair back from the table abruptly and threw his cloth napkin on top of his plate. He’d eaten every morsel and soaked up every ounce of dripping gravy with the bread.

  The only point to life was avoiding pain and experiencing pleasure to the fullest. And there was a ripe young woman to be enjoyed and by God or the devil, he was going to enjoy her.

  “I think it’s time for bed.”

  Sophia’s wide, startled eyes shot to him. They were a virgin’s eyes, innocent and afraid. It was probably wrong that the thought stirred his cock, but then again, Jagger had given up on right and wrong a long time ago.

  Leo stood up without question and like always, Mario followed his brother’s lead.

  Sophia nodded rapidly and pushed her chair back like she was steeling herself for the firing squad.

  Finnigan’s head snapped back and forth as his eyes darted around the room. What, was he looking for a weapon to defend his maiden love? If Sophia was an ill-fated innocent, Jagger didn’t even know what to think of her companion.

  Because Jagger suspected by the wary, suspicious way the man watched them that he wasn’t as unfamiliar with the way the world really worked. So why had he ever let Sophia venture from her safe cocoon? Granted it sounded like they’d already been uprooted from their little town but from what they’d said, she’d been safely ensconced in a cave somewhere near San Antonio. Did the man believe in the rebellion so vehemently that he was willing to sacrifice not only his own life, but hers as well?

  Not that any of it fucking mattered.

  None of it ever did.

  So Jagger decided to put it all out of his mind.

  There were pleasures to be had. That was all that did matter. Feeling good now, before the now was snatched away.

  “This way.” Jagger smiled and held out a hand for Sophia.

  She looked up at him uncertainly but it didn’t stop her from quickly heading the direction he indicated. Finnigan followed on her heels.

  Jagger held out an arm for Sophia and after a moment’s hesitation, she took it. Jagger’s cock stiffened even further at the mere contact of his skin with hers.

  He’d forgotten how goddamned soft women were. He was only too happy to lead her down the hallway to the largest office that he’d converted into his sleeping quarters. He’d brought in all the amenities. A huge king-sized bed with the finest linens, two couches and a wall where he’d installed floor to ceiling shelves that he filled with books for his own personal library.

  A fan twirled on the ceiling—a waste of the limited amount of power the solar panels on the roof produced, but Jagger had decided impressing their out of town bride might go a long way toward keeping her docile. This was all part of the image they were projecting. At least that was why Jagger had prepared it all this way—the extravagant meal, the electricity displays, the copious amounts of ice in the water he’d had served all during dinner along with the homemade whiskey.

  The way Sophia’s mouth was dropped open, Jagger thought he’d succeeded. He wasn’t sure if it was shock on her face, though, or horror at his gauche displays of wealth. But then he shook his head. He’d never met a female who wasn’t dazzled by wealth and status. No doubt this one was the same underneath and this façade was just another part of her façade. Maybe she did know something of the world after all. Maybe he was the one being played by this innocence act.

  All right, little girl. Time to see what she was made of.

  Her breath hitched when he shoved the door open, probably a little more vehemently than was necessary.

  But he’d wanted her ever since he’d heard her breathy voice over the line almost five days ago and pretended to be the Governor of Santa Fe, enticing her to come to him.

  It was an easy enough lie. He’d picked up the sat phone for cheap in Hell’s Hollow a couple weeks ago from a fella that apparently used to be the Trade Secretary to the former President. The man was on the run after President Goddard was assassinated and desperate for coin, so Jagger got it for almost nothing. It was a lark to call the numbers programmed on it. They were all labeled nice and neat so he knew who he was calling and had prepared a little script for each.

  Sophia Wolford was the only one who fell for the trap, with her soft voice and little sighs that made him hard from hundreds of miles away.

  Then when he’d laid eyes on her, fucking Christ, he’d about lost his seat on his horse. He thought for sure his fantasies had been delusions and that some stout and zealous middle-aged woman would show up, if she showed at all.

  Instead it was this tiny wisp of a girl, all dark enticing eyes and curves that would tempt the most chaste of men.

  While Jagger had never pretended to be chaste, women were few and far between out here in New Mexico. Even when he’d found a willing one, always for a pretty penny, none had been as fresh or sweet-looking as this woman.

  So he didn’t waste any time in leading her to the bed and then climbing on top of her.

  If he thought she’d sounded breathy before, it was nothing to her little startled gasps now as he nudged her legs open with his knee and dropped his head to kiss down her neck.

  “Wait,” Finnigan said from somewhere behind them. “You can’t just—”

  “Leo,” Jagger growled before continuing his path kissing down her neck. She was flushed and her chest heaved. Christ, his cock was fucking steel and he’d only just begun. Still, he didn’t want to pace himself. He needed to touch her. Needed his fucking mouth on her.

  He grabbed the front of her sundress and ripped it apart. Sophia gave a little screech of surprise, her ample breasts heaving in a sweet lace pink bra.

  “Sophia!” Finnigan shouted. “Get the fuck off me! Sophia, I won’t let that bastard hurt you. Son of a bitch, let go of—”

  “Finn.” Sophia struggled underneath Jagger and he let out a growl of frustration, finally swinging his head around to look at the bastard that Leo and his brother were restraining near the door. Finn was fighting like an animal to get to the bed and ‘rescue’ Sophia.

  “Finn, stop it,” she said, her voice only trembling a little. “I’m fine. This is my wedding night. Stop making trouble.”

  Then she laid back down underneath Jagger, taking a deep breath like she was steadying herself. She also closed her eyes and her hands fisted as if she was preparing herself to be violated.

  Jagger ground his teeth. That wouldn’t do.

  He took a bre
ath himself and dropped his forehead to her chest. Okay, so the innocence thing wasn’t an act. Somehow, she was actually a damn virgin.

  When he glanced back up at her, her eyes were still clenched shut.

  Shit. He’d been out in this fucking desert too damn long. Had he really forgotten what it used to be like? He tried to think back but the memories were so vague about the dance between a man and a woman.

  Jagger was going to take a lot from Sophia, but he wouldn’t take this. Not her first time. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do his damndest to see if he couldn’t get her willing to give it.

  He went up on his knees so he wasn’t crushing her and then leaned down. He ran just the tip of his tongue down her plump breast, circling her nipple through the thin lace of her bra.

  She gasped and he didn’t think it was only in surprise. There was pleasure in the sound, too. Jagger smiled as he teased his tongue back and forth, flicking her nipple before drawing the slip of lace down and sucking her dusky pink nub into his mouth.

  The sharp little cry of pleasure was all the permission he needed to continue. He palmed her other breast as he continued suckling. Fuck, was there anything more perfect in the world than a woman’s breasts. He rubbed his thumb back and forth across the nipple of the other breast and she squirmed beneath him. She shifted, her legs slightly opening so that the knee he had between them slid further up between her thighs.

  That’s right, he wanted to croon. That’s right. Let me in.

  Because he was wrong. There was another part of a woman’s body even more perfect than her breasts.

  And suddenly he couldn’t wait to fucking taste it.

  He let go of her breast with a suckering pop and then crawled down her body. He had her skirt flipped up before he thought she quite grasped what he was doing.

  She had on pink lacy little panties that matched the bra and he about died. He wanted to rip them off but stopped himself, settling for just pulling them down. Sophia lifted up to help him get them off. Good girl. Good, good girl.

  But he’d held himself back all he could.

  He shoved her thighs open wide, bracing them apart with his forearms and then he leaned down and licked up the world’s sweetest fucking slit.

  Jesus fucking Christ she smelled so good. He never ate the whores out. Their saggy cunts were just depressing. Good enough to use for an afternoon but nothing you wanted to look too closely at.

  But Sophia’s? Jesus, Sophia’s cunt was firm and fresh and glistening with her arousal and—

  He dived in with his entire face, burying himself in her and lapping up her sweetness. He shoved his tongue as far inside her as he could. Even by that, he could feel how tight she was. Jesus fuck, she’d grip his cock so hard. Even the thought all but had him coming on the fucking spot.

  No. Fuck. He wouldn’t waste this gift. He would relish every goddamned fucking second of this night with her. And if he wanted another, he’d have to ease her into this. She was tight and he was big and if he wanted her to give him access to the sweet eden of her body again, he’d have to take this carefully.

  So he tongued up to her little clit that was already swelling and teased gently with his tongue as he lifted a finger and gently massaged all around her opening.

  Her breasts arched upwards as the sweetest little noises came out of her throat. Fuck but she was responsive. That was another thing you didn’t get with whores. Some of them would make a show of coming but they were too hardened to feel much of anything. Half of them were so fucking high the whole time they’d lost the ability to feel anything but craving for their next high.

  But Sophia, Jesus Christ, every time he swirled his tongue around her clit, she all but bounced off the bed.

  How often did she touch herself? he wondered. Did she stick fingers up inside of herself? Fuck, the thought of that almost did him in and had his teeth near clenching, which was a problem, because he was still sucking on her clit.

  But she cried out, a more ecstatic noise than ever at what must have been a somewhat painful bite.

  No fucking way.

  Did she—

  Could she really like—?

  He reached up and pinched one of her nipples. Hard.

  Her hands balled in the blanket and she screeched as she came, thrusting her hips up into Jagger’s face.

  Aw fuck, aw fuck. He had to have her. He had to fucking have this woman right the fuck now.

  He climbed up her body, freeing his cock from his jeans as he went. He shoved them down his ass.

  When his cock nestled into her wetness, he about passed the fuck out.

  He looked into her wild, startled eyes and smiled.

  He’d be the first to ever have her. This moment was one goddamned thing life could never take away from him.

  “Relax,” he whispered, dropping down to his elbows on either side of her head so all she could see was him. “Let me in.”

  She closed her eyes again but she didn’t go tense.

  He kissed her eyelid as he started pushing inside, breeching her most sacred place.

  She sucked in a breath and her eyes looked everywhere, like she was confused by all the new sensations assaulting her, but he just whispered, “Shhh, shhhh, I got you, honey.” He kissed across to her other eyelid, then down her cheeks. “I got you.”

  The tip of him was in when he felt her barrier.

  He kissed the very edge of her mouth. “I got you, honey. Hold onto me. I got you.”

  And then he slowly but inexorably, thrust his hips forward.

  She cried out in pain but she didn’t grab at the blanket again or try to shove him off. Instead she threw her arms around his neck and held on so tight that for a second, Jagger couldn’t breathe.

  She wasn’t squeezing the breath out of him or anything. It was just the fact that she was clinging to him while he was— While he was— He was a stranger to her and she’d opened up to him like a flower, accepting him in, and now embracing him with every part of her body—

  With an animal growl he shoved in the rest of the way.

  She let out a small scream of pain.

  “Sophia!” Finn shouted again but she just shook her head and bit out through gritted teeth, “I’m fine. Stay back.”

  Jagger immediately hated himself. He’d fucking hurt her. But she only clung to him tighter, her legs coming up to wrap around his waist.

  He couldn’t understand— How could she—?

  He tried to say something, maybe something comforting but nothing would come. His throat was too tight or clogged or some shit.

  He bowed his head into the crook between her neck and her shoulder, completely still, his cock buried to the hilt inside her. Move. His entire body screamed at him to fucking move. To pull out and then shove back in. To push past all that delicious resistance and take and take and fucking take her.

  She was his wife. It was his right.

  But he couldn’t hurt the sweet, shaking creature clinging to him anymore than he already had. At the same time, he couldn’t pull away from her, either.

  A better man would. But Jagger was not a better man and he never would be. He’d never wished he was, though, more than in this moment.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered, startling the shit out of him. “You can… you know. It doesn’t hurt as much now.”

  He lifted his head from her shoulder and was surprised to see her eyes open. His throat was still too tight to speak but she must have read the question on his face because her eyes softened and then dropped furtively to his lips.

  “Can I… I’ve always wanted to try…” Awkwardly, she lifted her head up from the pillow, her lips coming toward his.

  Jesus Christ. She’d never been kissed. He’d shoved his cock inside her and she’d never even been kissed.

  The thought should have made him disgusted with himself. And it did. But it also made him hard as fucking stone again.

  He dropped his head, his lips crashing against hers.

  It
wasn’t an elegant first kiss and probably not the kind she’d fantasized about in her girlish dreams.

  He took her hungrily, quickly thrusting his tongue in between the seam of her lips to connect with hers.

  The second he did, it was like when he’d first latched onto her nipple. She shuddered around him and he’d been wrong earlier. He hadn’t been all the way inside her because her body loosened with her arousal and let him in another half inch.

  He growled into her mouth and slowly pulled his cock out of the sweetest, tightest pussy on God’s green earth and then pushed, just as slowly, back in.

  He didn’t miss her wince but if she wasn’t asking to stop, then neither was he.

  He reached down between their bodies, determined for her to feel as fucking amazing as he did.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he whispered between kisses. “The most beautiful woman I’ve ever fucking seen.”

  Her brow scrunched. “I’m sure that’s not true,” she murmured.

  He stopped and looked at her incredulously, hand pausing on its way to her sex and briefly lifting to her face. He pushed back her hair and cupped her cheeks.

  “Sophia, I mean it. You’re beautiful. A fucking goddess. Having you here, with me,” he thrust his hips, “fucking beneath me, I can barely believe it’s happening.”

  It wasn’t even a lie.

  Sophia was nothing he’d expected. None of this was—

  He swooped down to kiss her again before he could look too closely at any of the rest of what he was feeling or thinking.

  The reality of the outside world would be waiting for them tomorrow morning.

  But tonight there was only Sophia’s body.

  Only the pleasure he’d wring out of her.

  Over and over and over again if he had his way. He’d bring her to orgasm and teach her to enjoy sex. It would be an even exchange of pleasure. He wouldn’t owe her anything come tomorrow morning.

  He dropped his hand back down between them, his seeking fingers quickly finding her sweet little bud.

  It took several minutes to have her breathy and gasping again. She got there just in time, too, because the way she was milking his cock, he couldn’t have lasted much longer.