He slid a hand down my back, guiding me to lean on the side of the boat. My breasts pressed against the damp wood, my bare ass in the air. I knew he was enjoying the sight of me, turned on and submissive before him.
I gasped when his hand came down hard on my bottom, the sound of the smack echoing through the air. It hurt for a moment, and then it felt like a wild pleasure rippling through me. He hit me again, pleasure arcing through me at the smack. Gods, I liked this? I was so turned on that every time he hit me I could feel my nipples tightening more to sensitive points, my sex clenching.
He smacked my bottom again, and again, until I was sure my skin had gone pink. Each time, I gasped with pleasure. He had complete control over me, and he knew it.
Now, his hand was moving lower when he smacked me.
When he struck me between my legs, I moaned with pleasure—a wild sound that came from some ancient, animal part of my brain.
“Please,” I whispered, not even sure what I was asking for. I ached for him, and I didn’t care what the consequences were anymore.
The hand on my back slid up to grab my hair. His other moved down to my inner thighs. His painfully light touch was pure torture—a worse punishment than anything else. I needed him to slide in and out of me, filling me.
Instead, he stroked slow circles on my upper thighs. My legs widened. I moved my hips, trying to demand more from him. I knew he could see exactly how turned on I was.
Writhing with need, I craved satiation.
At last, he reached the apex of my thighs—but he was still touching me lightly. Slowly, he brushed his finger over my sex. My hips bucked. I’d do anything for release. I no longer cared that I hated him, or that I’d vowed to kill him.
“Please,” I said again.
“I told you, Aenor,” he purred. “You despise me, but I told you I’d make you’d beg for it, didn’t I?”
Fill me, Salem.
“Aenor…” His voice sent a fresh rush of molten desire pounding through my body. “You’re mine now. Tell me what you want.”
I needed him to fill me now so desperately that I couldn’t even form the words. I moaned, ravenous with animal desire. Slowly, he slid a finger into me, and I clenched around him. He pulsed it in and out, and I moved back against his hand.
No. No.
None of this was happening. Was it?
None of this was actually happening.
The burning. The screams. The drum.
I could hear the drum now. If I gave in to him, everything burned.
As I let Salem fuck me, the sea began to boil, seawater evaporating into reddening skies. Fire seared the landscape on a distant island, trees blazing like torches.
This wasn’t happening.
This wasn’t real.
22
Salem
I stared across the boat at Aenor. Her blue eyes seemed to glaze over, her mouth open. She gaped dumbly at the ocean water like she’d been lulled into a magical stupor. I thought, perhaps, she might even be drooling. Something had just struck her dumb, but I had no idea what it was. She’d just stopped speaking mid-conversation.
Was she hallucinating?
She really didn’t look quite herself right now.
“Aenor?” I said.
The breeze lifted her hair in front of her face, and she didn’t move a hand to swat it away. Her ceramic mug of coffee slid out of her fingertips, smashing on the floor of the boat. She didn’t react a bit. I could only hear that her heart was racing. Her cheeks had gone flushed.
What in the gods’ names was she thinking about?
“Aenor!” I said again.
Her gaze snapped to me. She was alert now, and she licked her lips. Her cheeks had gone pink. She actually looked like she desired me, and my heart sped up.
I knew that look well, but I hadn’t expected to see it from her. She crossed her legs tight, like she was trying to resist while she stared at me. Gods, the look in her eyes should have made me delighted, but it felt like ice shattering in my heart. No matter what, she couldn’t look at me like that forever. It wouldn’t last.
She rose from her seat and crossed the rocking boat to me. “I’m feeling a little cold.”
Her gaze roamed down my body, then up again to my face, eyes half-lidded with desire.
Gods, she was perfect.
She trailed one fingertip down her chest, like she was tracing a raindrop down her body. She wanted me, and that was all I needed to know. Already, I was hard.
I grabbed her by the waist, pulling her into my lap, and she didn’t resist. I swept my gaze over her curvy body, already imagining ripping her clothes off her. I wanted to kiss her between her legs until she moaned my name.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, but she wasn’t pulling away.
She gave in to me as I pulled her closer and kissed her throat. Her neck arched as I swirled my tongue over it.
Ever so slightly, her knees were opening a little in an invitation. I wanted her naked, now, spread before me like a prize, but I wasn’t going to rush it. I was going to take my time with her.
I kissed her neck more deeply. Slowly, I stroked my hand up her inner thigh. I brushed lazy circles, higher and higher, coaxing her legs open wider. She was quickly losing the battle with any resistance she might have. She was mine.
When I gently stroked my knuckles over the front of her silky knickers, she took a deep, trembling breath. I could feel her arousal even now, hot and wet beneath the silk.
I pulled my hand away, and she gasped like she was shocked. “Salem,” she whispered, a blush on her cheeks.
“Yes?” I murmured. Let’s hear you say what you want.
Staring into my eyes, she started unbuttoning her shirt, until her plump breasts were exposed before me. I kissed them, gently, then took her nipple in my mouth, sucking on it. My tongue swirled as I tasted her.
She writhed in my lap, head back with ecstasy. When I glanced up at her face, I found her rosy lips parted with desire. The sunlight bathed her skin in gold, so beautiful that it was like a knife in my heart.
I slid my hand under her skirt, brushing my knuckles against her heat again.
Slowly, I pulled her panties down, dragging them down her legs, off her ankles.
She spread her legs wider, her skirt riding up until I could see all of her. Her desire for me was apparent. Hot little minx.
I’d draw out her excitement as long as I could. Then I’d fuck her until she forgot her own name.
I stroked my fingertips between her legs again, almost groaning at her slickness. She went wild with desire, her breasts brushing against me. She shifted against my hard length. I slid a finger into her.
“What do you want, Aenor?” I whispered low in her ear. “Say it.”
I already knew what she really needed. She needed me to spread her legs and fuck her tight little hole until—
She shifted, straddling me, eyes blazing with fury.
She definitely did not look turned on anymore. Though, admittedly, I still was.
I was so intent on the sudden rage in her face that I nearly didn’t see the piece of sea glass she’d pressed against my chest—sharp as a blade. It was the same perfect blue as her eyes. “I want you dead, my soulmate. And I’m the only one who can kill you.”
“What are you doing?”
Where had the bloody sea glass come from? What was going on?