Tiana (Starkis Family #3) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  About the Author

  Other Books by Cheryl Douglas

  Coming Soon…

  Tiana

  Book Three in the Starkis Family Series

  Cheryl Douglas

  Copyright © by Cheryl Douglas

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, including photocopying, graphic, electronic, mechanical, taping, recording, sharing, or by any information retrieval system without the express written permission of the author and / or publisher. Exceptions include brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Persons, places and other entities represented in this book are deemed to be fictitious. They are not intended to represent actual places or entities currently or previously in existence or any person living or dead. This work is the product of the author’s imagination.

  Any and all inquiries to the author of this book should be directed to: [email protected]

  Tiana © 2015 Cheryl Douglas

  Tiana

  Tiana Starkis was used to over-protective and over-bearing men. Her brothers and father assumed they knew what was best for her. But they didn’t know what or who she really wanted. Blake. And she could never tell them. Because if she did, there would be hell to pay.

  Blake Kessler was the guy mother’s warned their daughter’s about. He understood why his best friends told him to stay the hell away from their little sister, Tiana. She was sweet and innocent. Too innocent for him. But one night changed all that and there was no going back for Blake. Tiana was his now. Which meant he had to go to war… with Tiana’s family.

  Prologue

  Tiana

  FIVE YEARS EARLIER

  “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this, how long I’ve wanted you,” Blake whispered.

  His eyes were dark, predatory, as he stripped off my dress. I’d never felt sexier or more alive than I did with him. I knew it was wrong—he was my older brother’s best friend and business partner, and my overprotective father’s nemesis—but he’d always been my deepest and darkest fantasy.

  He was intimidating and powerful and had probably crossed lines I didn’t even know existed, but he was the only man I’d ever thought about giving my virginity to. I’d waited a long time. I was supposed to wait for marriage, according to my strict upbringing, but I’d never forgive myself if I entered a safe, predictable marriage and never got to experience the exhilaration of being with someone like Blake.

  “Don’t be afraid,” he whispered, drawing his lips down my bare shoulder. “I would never hurt you.”

  “I know. I’m not scared.”

  Blake had a reputation as a dominant man, both in and out of the bedroom, but I trusted him implicitly, not only because I’d known him for years, but because I got a rare glimpse at the kind and gentle man he revealed to few. But the tremble that swept through me when he released my bra must have betrayed me, because he abandoned my carefully chosen black silk lingerie and kissed me deeply instead of undressing me.

  I didn’t want him to stop, or to start having second thoughts about corrupting a girl who was so innocent. If we only had one night together, I wanted to prove to him that I could handle anything. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pressed my near-naked body to his, gliding my bare breasts across his chest.

  He growled and gripped my hips, pressing my stomach into his erection. “You see what you do to me? You make me crazy, girl.” He kissed my neck.

  I loved that I could turn on a man who had his choice of lingerie models on rotation. It gave me confidence in my power and my sexuality, something I’d always tried to repress for fear of judgment and recrimination. I wasn’t supposed to be sexy or sensual. I was supposed to be a nice girl, my behavior beyond reproach.

  My older brothers could behave badly and make tongues wag in the media, but I wasn’t allowed to step out of line. Until tonight. Tonight I was giving myself permission not only to step out of line but to erase the line altogether. For the next few hours, there were no rules. No right or wrong, good or bad. I didn’t care that Blake had made an enemy of my wealthy and formidable father. I didn’t care that my lover had probably taken numerous beautiful women to bed over the past month. Tonight he was mine. And I was his… to do anything and everything he wanted to with.

  I wanted him to show me pleasure, to push me out of my comfort zone, to challenge me, and to refuse to allow me to retreat. I wanted him to turn me into a sensual, alluring lover with the confidence to satisfy any man.

  “Tell me what you want me to do to you,” he whispered, slipping his hand beneath my silk panties to knead my bottom. “I want to hear you say it.”

  A man had never asked me to talk dirty before. I wasn’t even sure I knew how. I’d probably sound ridiculous and embarrass us both, maybe even put an end to our impromptu evening of seduction.

  “Don’t be afraid,” he murmured. “You can say anything to me, beautiful.”

  He always called me beautiful. I loved it, though I wasn’t naïve enough to believe it made me special. He probably called all of his women beautiful.

  “I want you to show me how to do this,” I said, licking my plump lips. “I want you to show me how to please a man.”

  He looked deep into my eyes, as though he were trying to read my mind, as he laid my hand over his hammering heart. I never would have imagined I could make his heart beat like that. I’d assumed I was the only one who was nervous and excited.

  “Why?” He watched with fascination as my full breasts expanded with every breath I took. “Why do you want me to show you how to please a man?”

  God, I couldn’t believe he was going to make me say it. How embarrassing. “Because I need to know.”

  “Why?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

  I was mortified. Couldn’t he see how humiliating this was for me? “Because I…” I lowered my head, fixing my gaze on his muscular chest. “I want to be a good wife someday. I want to know what men like, what they need.”

  “What?”

  The steely edge in his voice made my head snap up, but as soon as I spotted the warning in his dark eyes, I wanted to retreat. He was angry. With me? “I said I want—”

  “I heard what you said. You want me to show you how to make love so you can please another man?”

  I didn’t know why he seemed so outraged. I thought he’d be happy that I’d come to him for help instead of succumbing to the advances of one of the guys at my college. Stepping back, I said, “If you don’t want to do this, I understand. We don’t have to—”

  He grabbed the back of my head, fisting his hand in my hair as he punished my mouth with a kiss that made me gush.

  He swallowed, dropping his hands to his sides as though he was trying to regain control. “We’re doing this. Take the rest off.” He gestured to the panties I still wore and the bra hanging off my arms. “Slowly. Keep your eyes on me.”

  I did as he asked, realizing how erotic it could be to submit to a man’s demands for the purpose of pleasure. I’d spent my whole life rallying against controlling men who belie
ved they knew what was best for me, but I trusted that behind these walls, Blake did know what was best for me. He knew what would give me pleasure and transform me from an inexperienced girl into a woman ready to tackle the next phase of her life.

  His eyes raked over me slowly, taking in every inch of my body. “God, the things I want to do to you, Ti.”

  I shuddered when he looked at me as though he wanted to devour me. It wasn’t the first time. I’d seen the unrestrained hunger in his eyes when he caught me lounging in a string bikini by my brother’s pool. That was why I’d had the nerve to proposition him tonight at the bar—I knew he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

  My girlfriends and I had been there to celebrate my twenty-first birthday, but the only present I’d wanted to unwrap was him. When I told him that, he groaned and hustled me out of the bar before I’d had my second drink. When I asked for one more drink when we got his place, he said he wanted to make sure I was stone-cold sober. No regrets in the morning.

  “What do you want to do to me?” I asked, widening my stance as I felt a power unlike anything I’d ever felt sweep through me. I’d spent most of my life dressing modestly to please my parents, but standing in front of Blake, I saw the truth in his eyes. He thought I was sexy, desirable even. Seeing myself through his eyes made me want to feel like this all the time.

  “Everything.” He closed his eyes briefly. “I want to do everything with you… for you… to you. I want to please you. I want you to please me.” His dark gaze was hooded, his fists clenched. “I want to own you, beautiful.”

  He wanted to own me? A part of me rallied against that statement, but another deeper, darker, repressed part applauded. “What does that mean, you want to own me?”

  He smirked. “Your body? Mine. Your pleasure? Mine. Your love? Mine. All mine.”

  Love? Who said anything about love? I wasn’t in love with Blake. Was I?

  Before I could question his sanity, he stripped off his shirt, leaving me tongue-tied. Oh. My. God. It occurred to me that my first experience with a man should be with someone less… intimidating. The guy was built like an athlete with the aura of a mafia boss.

  “That also means I’m yours for the taking.” He stepped out of his jeans and revealed black boxer briefs. He guided my hand over his erection. “Anything you want to do to me, beautiful.”

  I wondered if anyone had ever passed out during sex. Knowing my luck, I’d be the first. “I don’t know what”—I bit my lip as I snuck a peek at my imprisoned hand—“you want me to do.”

  “I want you to touch me.”

  I was pretty sure I would start hyperventilating any second.

  “You’re going to realize your power tonight, Ti.”

  I wasn’t sure what that meant or whether I even wanted to know. “I am?”

  “You’re going to understand what it means to bring a man to his knees.” Tracing my full lips with his fingertips, he whispered, “You’re going to feel power thrum through these gorgeous lips when you have me right where you want me, when you know I’m at your mercy and would do anything, literally anything, you asked of me as long as you promised not to stop.”

  Uh. Uh oh. Was this a good time to tell him I’d never done that before? Or much else, for that matter. He knew I’d done some kissing, even a little heavy petting, but nothing like what he was suggesting. But wasn’t that why I’d come to him tonight? Because I wanted to be fearless. Because I wanted him to guide me into a world I’d only heard and read about.

  “Now?” I asked, reaching for his boxers.

  He tipped his head back as his hands covered mine. “You’re going to kill me. You do know that, don’t you?”

  I wasn’t sure what I’d done wrong. “You don’t want me to—”

  “I do, believe me, I do.” He smiled as he skimmed my cheek with his index finger. “More than I’ve wanted anything in a long, long time.”

  “Oh.” That admission made me blush. “Okay.”

  “Do you know how adorable you are?”

  Wrinkling my nose, I thought that that was the last word I wanted him to use to describe me. People had been calling me that all my life. I assumed it had something to do with my big brown eyes and long eyelashes, or small, straight teeth, or maybe it was my deep dimples. Whatever it was, I hated the characterization.

  “I don’t want to be adorable,” I said defiantly. “I want to be sexy.” I boldly placed his hand on my breast before engaging his thumb to swirl around the taut peak just the way I wanted it to. “Don’t you think I’m sexy, Blake?”

  “I think you’re just about the sexiest woman I’ve ever known.”

  Hearing that made me melt, even though I knew he was just stroking my ego to help me relax. “Show me. Please. Show me how sexy you think I am. Make me feel sexy tonight.”

  He dropped to his knees. Our height difference allowed him a definitive advantage as he drew lazy circles around my breast with his tongue. I thought I’d gotten used to the incredible sensation until he dragged the tender flesh into his mouth and sucked, making my knees buckle.

  “It’s okay.” Guiding my hands to his shoulders, he said, “Brace yourself, sweetheart. This is just the beginning. We’ve got a long night ahead of us, and I’m just getting started.”

  Oh my. I felt the need to fan myself, but I didn’t dare let him know how anxious I was. I raked my fingernails through his short black hair, prompting him to deepen the pull until I moaned, leaning into him for more. “Yes.”

  When he penetrated me with one finger followed by another, I was embarrassed when I screamed. Actually screamed. Thankfully he lived in a huge house surrounded by acres and acres of land, so he could have killed me and no one would have heard me scream. That thought sent a tremor of another kind through me, but I knew I had nothing to fear with Blake. He wasn’t a stranger. He was a… friend? No. I’d never let a friend do this to me.

  I wanted to whimper or cry or shout, or something. Especially when he added his tongue to the mix between my legs. I was convinced I would never survive this night if things got any more intense. I couldn’t handle it. I’d die. Right there on the spot.

  “Put your hands behind your back,” he murmured before licking the inside of my thigh. “Now.”

  I did as he instructed, and the limitations made me want to squirm even more.

  “Stop moving,” he said, digging his hands into my hips. “Or I’ll have to tie you up.”

  Tie me up? He was kidding, wasn’t he? He wouldn’t really do that, would he? Oh God, what if…

  “What’s wrong?” He stood, taking my hands as he guided me to the bed. “You tensed up on me. You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

  I was too ashamed to look at him. I was certain every other woman he’d been with enjoyed his particular brand of play, but I was painfully inexperienced, unlike all of his other lovers.

  “Ti.” He gripped my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “We don’t have to do this now. I’m not going anywhere, you know. When you’re ready—”

  “I’m ready now,” I said, grabbing his wrist. It was now or never. I was going back to college next week, then I was off to Europe to get my graduate degree. I had no idea when our paths would cross again.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  His voice was so gentle, so soft, and it reminded me that I was being ridiculous. He was Blake. He would never do anything to hurt me. “I just don’t want to disappoint you. I’m not like your other girlfriends.” Biting my lip, I broke eye contact. “I don’t think I can do the things they do.”

  “Oh, baby.” He pulled me into his arms, making tears well in my eyes as my shame grew.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “You’re sorry?” He stroked my hair, followed by my cheek, when he pulled back to look me in the eye. “Honey, dozens of guys in that bar tonight would have sold their cars to go home with you, and you chose me. Me.” He smiled. “Made me feel ten feet tall, walkin’ out of there with you.�
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  Even though Blake came from old money and had an Ivy League degree, every once in a while that Texas twang slipped into his gravelly voice, and I felt an intense rush every single time. It reminded me that we came from two very different worlds, but every once in a while, I caught myself wondering what it would be like to be a part of his world.

  “We won’t do anything that makes you uncomfortable, I promise. This night is about you gettin’ what you want, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  He edged me back on the huge bed, placing a hand on my stomach when I sank into the down pillows. “The only thing that matters to me tonight is making you feel good.” His eyes were dark, intense. “I may not be your last lover, but I can goddamn well promise you I’ll be your best.”

  I had no doubt he would be. That was what scared me. I’d been to the company he and my brother owned, and I’d heard the stories the models told about him. He was a skilled lover, the kind that ruined a woman for other men. He cared more about his partner than himself, and apparently that was pretty rare… and addictive.

  “Tell me what feels good,” he whispered, flicking his tongue inside the shell of my ear. “Don’t be shy. I want to know what you need, what you want, what makes you feel good, what makes you uneasy.”

  If he took this much time with all of his lovers, I could see why he was so sought after. I didn’t have to be experienced to know this kind of attentiveness wasn’t the norm. According to my friends, most guys cared more about getting off themselves than making sure their partner was satisfied. I glanced at the iron headboard and thought he’d probably chosen it for function more than design.

  “I’m sorry I made that comment about tying you up,” he said, gliding his hand over my ribs. “You know I wouldn’t do that.”

  “You wouldn’t?” I couldn’t deny I was surprised. I’d heard that was how he rolled.

  “This is your first time.” He smiled. “You’re not ready for that.”