Third a Kiss: Goddess Isles, #3

By Pepper Winters

From New York Times Bestseller, Pepper Winters, comes the third book in Goddess Isles

 

A USA TODAY BESTSELLING DARK ROMANCE SERIES!

 

"There was hate once. Hate born from dangerous attraction and fate's cruel design.

There was love once. Love destined to kill us if we didn't surrender to our war."

 

Eleanor Grace suffers an awful affliction. She's falling for a man who doesn't deserve her affection or her forgiveness. But there is no cure, so she does something reckless, stupid—she throws safety to the sea and leaps into danger.

 

Sully Sinclair suffers the same affliction. He's falling for a goddess who will never earn his trust or his heart if he can help it. However, he wasn't prepared for the lengths she'd go. How far she'd push to either stop such a bond or kill them both trying.

 

An elixir given to a monster.

A goddess running for her life.

An ending neither of them can survive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pepper Winters
• Release date: Apr 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393385233

Book preview

Prologue

MY LIFE HAD BEEN a series of calculated, risk-tabulated endeavours.

My brother had taught me that.

From my first memory, I’d known spontaneity would get me killed. Laugh, and I might get punched. Speak, and I might get kicked. Drop my guard and forget, and I would almost certainly be punished.

That lesson stayed with me throughout childhood, growing from self-preservation into utmost law. It didn’t just engrain itself on my psyche; it grabbed a brand, stuck it in a fire, and seared into my every cell.

I didn’t do reckless. I didn’t do impulsive. Every step in my life had been premeditated, planned, and controlled.

Until one night, when I’d had a dream about a place called Euphoria. Where a mortal man could fuck any female he wanted. Sky, sea, fiction, or fact. Any illusion, any fantasy, a place where rules bowed to your desires, gravity kneeled to your wishes, and life was no longer full of monsters but magic.

And in that dream, I shared this new Zion with a girl. A girl with long hair the colour of rich coffee. A girl with leggy length, a strong soul, and magnificent quicksilver eyes. A girl who begged me to touch her, lick her, worship her.

And for the first time since I was born, I did something spontaneous, impetuous, and oh, so fucking dangerous.

I took her.

I let myself sink into the dream. I fell for a figment of my imagination and fucked a goddess I would never be able to find.

When I woke up, I mourned the loss of such a dream. I spent a week wishing I could return to such a place, to find such a creature, to be happy.

But such a place didn’t exist. Such a girl didn’t exist. And that denial of everything that I wanted became a driving force to twist the impossible. Thanks to the scientific gifts I’d learned through methodical education and instinctual evolution, I created an elixir. I conjured Euphoria. I brought forth a new dimension...all thanks to a dream.

But no matter how skilled I was at pulling myth from reality, I couldn’t fabricate the dream-girl who’d stolen my heart.

The goddess I wanted more than anything. The girl who would forever condemn me to loneliness because no one would ever compare.

Euphoria was real, but I wanted nothing to do with it because I wouldn’t settle for a fucking lie. I wouldn’t code a fantasy or change the face of another to indulge in because if I did—if I allowed myself the illusion that she was real—I’d turn my back on reality to stay with her.

I’d turn my back on all the souls I’d helped save. All the souls who relied on me. All the souls who came before me and my goddamn loneliness.

So, I allowed others to play in my elixir-explicit playground.

I clung to the lessons my brother taught me.

I stayed iron-fisted, guarded, and restrained.

Until the night I dreamed of her again.

A silver-eyed enchantress who haunted me.

And I typed an email sending out a half-conscious, sleep-hazed request.

Find me a girl with long dark hair, alabaster skin, and silver gaze.

I forgot about such a request until I earned a reply months later.

We found her. $500,000 and she’s yours.

And I did the second most impulsive thing of my life.

I bought her.

I welcomed her.

I wanted her.

The minute she stepped foot on my paradise, I knew I’d fucked up. I hadn’t believed such a creature existed. I stupidly thought no human girl could compare.

But Eleanor Grace was the one who was incomparable. Instead of ethereal silver eyes, her grey ones were equally bewitching. Instead of glowing skin and the faint halo in my dream, her honesty and spirit were what drugged me.

I’d gambled with fate and lost. I’d asked for something I could never survive. And she’d been delivered straight from my fantasies and directly into my nightmares.

Thanks to her, spontaneity became a disease I couldn’t escape. Rash choices, hasty conclusions, careless decisions. Each one was her fault. Each one broke me a little more. Each one destroyed my sanity.

But then she went and committed the worst thing of all.

She fed me elixir.

She shattered my premeditation. She annihilated my careful control.

She made me fucking wild.

And then, she ran.

A girl I’d dreamed about, thought about, kept on a pedestal inside my mind for years, drove me into the dirt where beasts belonged.

And. Then. She. Fucking. Ran.

So...I gave up trying to control myself.

I welcomed the pain of chaos.

...I chased.

Chapter One

––––––––

MY BARE FEET SANK into soft sand as I bolted from Sully’s office.

My dress flared out around my legs, fawn glitter and champagne gems all winking in the sunlight. The heavy material made me trip as I careened around a corner and ran as fast as I could.

Grabbing handfuls of the train, I threw myself into a gallop.

Most of me didn’t want to run.

This wasn’t my plan.

I’d fed Sully his elixir, purely to force him into admitting that what we felt toward each other wasn’t normal. This sparkling chemistry? This heart-haunting bond? I had to believe it was worth fighting for, despite our diabolical beginning. I had to trust that I hadn’t lost my mind by falling for a man who traded cash for my life.

There’s more to him than that.

I know there is.

My breath came in erratic spurts.

My legs slowed.

I don’t want to run.

I’d only done so because of the way he’d begged me. At the absolute carnage on his face. The undeniable terror that he felt.

But...

I stopped on the path, turning around to face the way I’d come. My footprints had scattered sand onto the purple orchids bordering the lane, my dress suffocating my straining ribcage with its beaded jewels and organza.

If I ran...then all of this would be for nothing.

Sully would ride through the elixir just as I had that first day. He’d use himself until he could think straight...or he’ll use another.

And then, when he was back to being more man than monster, he’d restart negotiations with Roy Slater to sell me.

No.

I let go of my dress. It puddled around my feet, blending into the sand so it looked as if I’d morphed from the beach itself and been given breath thanks to the thousands of jewels imbedding me.

I have to go back.

Goosebumps ran over my spine as a snarl sounded. A snarl echoing with pure lust.

I shivered.

I’d been elixir’s prisoner three times now. I’d become familiar with the insidious takeover. The rush of lust followed by the stupid belief that you could control the effects. The pain when you accepted you couldn’t. The need when you broke with that first release. The shame at your horny inhibitions. The sickness at your traitorous body. Until finally...the perfect peace when you let go. When you said yes instead of no. When your body joined with another’s and found everything that it’d been looking for.

He’s in pain.

I shook my head; a frangipani flower fell from the strands and floated to the ground.

He’s in pain because of me.

He’d done this to me. Therefore, he deserved it.

He was about to sell me. Therefore, I had every right.

He told me to run to keep me safe. Therefore, I...I have to go back.

He’d told me to run for my benefit, not his. I’d offered myself. He’d refused. He’d proven something fundamental in that moment.

He cares.

He cared if he hurt me. He’d care if he killed me. He cared too much...that’s why he was going to sell me.

That thought was brighter than lightning.

Was that true?

Could he feel the depth that I did? Could he be battling everything I was?

If that was true, then running would destroy our single chance at honesty.

This was my only opportunity to make Sully see. To make both of us admit we couldn’t keep doing this.

Whatever we were, whatever we felt...it ends...today.

And maybe, just maybe, if we survived each other, it could be a beginning and not the ending he’d chosen. We could talk. We could just...be.

Bracing myself, I gathered up my dress and stepped back the way I’d come. I wouldn’t back down from this. I would suffer the consequences and the climaxes. I wouldn’t punish him the way he’d punished me.

I’d give him what he needed.

I’ll give him me.

Jinx.

A dark, deadly growl. A snap of a snarl.

My head swooped up. My eyes caught his as he slammed to a stop, blocking the path. His suit hung in tatters. His blazer had been thrown off behind him. His shirt flayed open, torn buttons hanging off broken threads, his belt slinging haphazardly from belt loops, his fly unzipped, and feet bare from his normal pristine shoes.

For the first time since I’d arrived, Sully Sinclair glistened with sweat. His cold-blooded persona had succumbed to the island heat, dousing his skin in moisture.

My heart threw itself into torment, racing, and smoking, growing its own pair of legs and begging to run. I massaged my chest where it kicked and coughed, doing my best to stay calm.

I’d done this.

I’d applied makeup and dressed in a gown and stared at my reflection, knowing I was sacrificing myself to a ruthless, rabid beast.

Yet committing to an idea and then coming face to face with the ramifications were very different things.

Sully took a step toward me.

A single step.

Slowly.

Ever so slowly.

As if still fighting the vapid manic urges. Get to your villa. Lock your fucking door.

I licked my lips at the brokenness of him, the filthy greed and feverish longing. You came after me.

He shook his head, squeezing his eyes closed as another wave of lust buckled his body. When he opened his gaze again, the blue glowed otherworldly, sickly, dementedly. No. I’m— He groaned. I’m trying to get to my villa before... His fists clenched. I can’t be close to— He raised his gaze, snarling, "Go! What the fuck are you waiting for? I told you to run. So run!"

I’m done running. I spread my hands. I was coming back...for you.

He buckled over, wedging one hand into his belly and another on his cock. Fuck you and your broken self-preservation. With a growl, he stood up straight. His hand never left his cock, though, throttling it with white knuckles. This is my last warning. I’ve fought as long as I can. I’m seconds away from giving in, and you’re still goddamn here. He stumbled as he pumped himself, coaxing a release. Knowing he couldn’t stop it, he chose to chase it instead. Run away, Eleanor. Get as far away from me as you can because— He groaned again, low and hungry as his belly clenched. If you don’t, I will tear you limb from motherfucking limb. I will crawl inside your body. I will fuck you until you scream.

Elixir must live in his voice because my body liquefied instead of froze.

I wore no underwear beneath my gown.

I knew better than to place an obstruction between us, so I felt the unquenchable desire squeezing my core, releasing a bead of need, wetness slipping down my inner thigh.

I tried to speak—to tell him I was strong enough—but air had turned thin and useless.

Sully took another step toward me, his face blacker than midnight. "Why won’t you run? Are you that stupid to think you want me? To think you want this? He jerked his cock, wincing in pain. You think I’ll be gentle? That I won’t fucking bite you, throttle you, bruise you, and then come all over your goddamn face? He tripped sideways, groaning like a dying bear. Stand there another second, Jinx, and my fingers will be so far in your cunt you’ll gag on them. You’ll be on your goddamn knees while I use every hole you have. You’ll beg me to stop, and I’ll just keep going. His hips thrust into his hand, reaching a pinnacle. His jaw clenched, and his skin lost its island glow, etching with sickly white. One last chance. One last fucking chance. His teeth bared with every violence he drowned under. Stay and I won’t be responsible for what I do. I gave you a warning. I told you to run. I’m crippling beneath urges to do such bad, bad things to you. His head tipped down, shadowing his eyes with brows tugged low and vicious. Please don’t make me hurt you because I will. I’ll find pleasure while you’ll only find pain. I promise you if you don’t fucking run, I’m giving up. His nostrils flared. Right here. I will fuck you right here, and I don’t fucking care who sees."

His lust had stripped him of humanity, revealing the true animal inside.

He wasn’t a gentle creature beneath those immaculate suits. He wasn’t sweet and endearing like the parrot he adored.

He was one word.

Honest.

Viciously, hellishly honest.

And it made me wet, made me breathless, made me want.

Sully, I— I raised my hand as to save him, to drag him from the darkness and be his saviour, but my silly little ego that convinced me I could control this situation shattered the second Sully moved.

Shutters slammed over his eyes; a mask slipped over his face. A disguise made up of poisonous passion. He ripped off his shirt and threw it to the sand. His belt hissed through the loops and joined it. And then Sully cricked his neck, crouched into a pounce, and smiled. Fuck, I’m going to enjoy this.

My heart leapt into my throat, filling with prey-drive, drowning my system in vulnerability and fear. Turned out, decisions and irrational choices held no sway when raw instinct kicked in.

And instinct said I was in danger.

Terrible, terrible danger.

Sully exploded from his panther-crouch, running toward me as hungrily and as mercilessly as any predator.

And my body hijacked my mind. My hands snatched my dress, I feigned to the side, and I ran.

Oh, my God, I ran.

I didn’t know I could be so swift, leaving my hair like a flag fluttering behind me.

Sully laughed.

He laughed.

And I ran harder.

Chills shot over my body. My stomach fisted with true terror. The pounding of his feet behind me made me embrace my inner gazelle, and I bolted.

I couldn’t look behind me.

Couldn’t bear to see a man who’d reached the end of his limit chasing me. Not chasing me for fun or flirty play. But chasing me with only one purpose. A purpose that would ensure I would never be the same. He was a man who I’d drugged and deleted everything inside him apart from the need to fornicate.

It wasn’t Sully chasing me.

It was a monster.

I ran and ran.

But I wasn’t fast enough.

The heavy thuds of his long strides drew closer, closer.

The jittery panic of trying to flee but knowing I’d already lost swamped me. The sand was too thick. The air too humid. My dress too tight.

No, no—

Violent arms wrapped around me, jerking me to a stop. His teeth were on my throat a second later, sinking deep, his tongue licking my sweat, my horror.

I wriggled and squirmed as he dragged me against his heaving body. He felt taller, stronger, bigger—a man in his sexual prime.

His hands fisted my breasts, one on each swell, pinching my nipples and kneading the weight with savage fingers. His mouth never unglued from my throat, his breath scalding my skin from his nostrils, his hips rocking, always rocking, undulating us together.

With a snarl, he swept one hand to my throat, and the other dived between my legs. The dress refused his possessive grab, the material straining tight.

Grunting something I couldn’t understand, he grabbed my chin, snaking his fingers to cup my cheeks and jerking my head to the side. The second he had me prisoner, his mouth smashed onto mine. He kissed me all while holding me from behind. His tongue plunged into my mouth, diving deep, making my legs buckle.

Stars burst behind my eyes as he sucked on my tongue.

Firecrackers exploded as he forced my mouth open wider and kissed me until I drowned.

I’d never been kissed like this.

Kissed as if we had only one purpose on this planet. No rules, no shame, just heat and the undeniable need to fuck.

He held nothing back this time.

He poured everything he was down my throat, making me gag on his hunger.

Even when he’d yanked me from the bath and kissed me before giving me to a guest, even when he’d kissed me on Serigala, he hadn’t allowed me to feel this. To feel what he did. To witness how dark his desires had burrowed.

This kiss had no boundaries or confines.

This kiss was just teeth and tongue and spit.

I moaned as his hand on my chin kept me completely at his mercy, kissing me stupid, dragging forth a stampede of creatures. Not just butterflies, not just fireflies or moths with their papery, tickly wings.

Sully made my body become an arc. A broken, shipwrecked arc rapidly filling with teeth and fang, claw and venom, twisting and clenching with so many different beasts. My stomach was a riot with hoofed and horned prey, my heart torn to pieces by carnivores.

A loud rip tore through the heavy humidity.

The tightness of my dress fell away as Sully clawed at the expensive gown, inserting his hand into the split he’d made, grabbing my pussy with trembling, greedy fingers.

He grunted as he discovered how wet I was, how my thighs were coated in lust for him, how this entire chase and hunt and conquest had made me naturally starving for him.

I didn’t need elixir.

I didn’t need safety or Scott or sanity.

I needed him.

His unshackled desire allowed me to be honest too.

I’d never felt this way about anyone, ever. Misplaced, definitely. Moronic, undoubtedly. But utterly inescapable.

Two fingers speared inside me.

Oh, fuck— I cried out into his kiss, consumed by his touch around me, within me, upon me.

My voice triggered something in him, and he thrust his touch deeper into me, his kiss turned feral, and he hauled me from the sand so I hung completely at his mercy in his control. He held my weight with one arm around my waist while his other hand remained buried between my thighs.

An orgasm bubbled in my blood, already gathering pressure to pop. He marched us forward, tripping and stumbling, his tongue lashing mine with every step, his thumb digging into my clit.

Shade fell over us, the sun blocked by the palm tree he pressed me into. The rough bark scraped my chest, making the gemstones of my gown dig deeper into my flesh. He let me go, dropping me to the sand and ending our nefarious kiss.

With a fist planted between my shoulder blades, he kept me prone against the palm tree. Ants crawled over the bark, investigating my sudden intrusion. The fronds above bristled and whispered in the muggy breeze. And I quaked with understanding that this was where Sully would take me for the first time.

He’d reached his limit.

We had no walls for privacy, no bed for protection, not even a fantasy granted by Euphoria.

All we had was uncontainable desire and the open island around us.

The rustle of clothing sounded as he shoved his trousers and boxer-briefs off. I dared to look over my shoulder, drinking in the majestic sweeps of his chiselled chest, the flexing muscles of his arms, the impressive erection between hardened thighs.

He truly was dazzling.

A spectacular Viking who’d not only stolen my life but my heart and soul too.

He noticed me staring, standing unhinged in his nakedness.

Our eyes snagged, grey-fire to blue-fire.

And his hand snaked out to grab a fistful of my hair. He shuddered as my strands cascaded over his wrist. I shivered as he pulled tight, activating another wash of instinct of predator and prey.

Stepping into me, he pushed my cheek back against the tree.

The fact that he didn’t talk to me made everything so much more intense. I wasn’t a person to him right now; I was merely a vessel to spend his need.

With one hand buried in my hair, his free one fell to my pussy again, finding the hole he’d made in my gown, fingering me, spreading my desire. My hips arched, my body burned. He kept me trapped against the palm tree even as he stepped into me until his heat wedged entirely behind me.

His nudity burned through the jewels on my dress.

I mewled and spread my legs.

With a primitive roar, he ripped at the hole he’d made, grunting in triumph as the dress tore and tore. It cut into me as he yanked harder, destroying the train, ruining the tightness, making the beautiful gown hang off my hips in tatters.

The second he’d ripped enough to expose my naked ass, he kicked my legs farther apart, fisted my hair until my eyes watered, and then he mounted.

There was no foreplay.

No whispered sonnets.

No promises of forever.

Just him and me and a brutal, primordial thrust.

I screamed as his hard length pierced my body, plunging as deep as he could go.

He filled me so deep, so quick, tears spilled in ecstasy.

My cheek bruised and scraped against the palm tree as he drove into me. A single thrust that made us both grunt like animals.

I had never been so full, so wanted, so consumed.

He withdrew until his tip hovered at my entrance. A shuddery breath away from disengaging. He paused in torture, punishing both of us until a haggard groan spilled from his lips and he drove back inside.

Over and over.

Thrust.

Thrust.

Thrust.

He fucked