When he finally tore his mouth from mine, I sagged, breathless and drunk on his power over me. Despite the way my body melted, he had me pinned so tightly that I barely moved an inch.
He ground his thigh against my sex, drawing a strangled cry from my chest; equal parts pleasure and pain. My liquid desire wet his jeans, and a cruelly triumphant smile sharpened his stony features.
“You might be a liar, but your body isn’t. All this time, you’ve wanted me every bit as much as I’ve wanted you. But you’ve denied me, tormented me. You strung me along, punishing me for holding you captive.”
Another merciless press of his thigh blocked my protest, drowning it in a harsh shout.
“I’ll teach you what real punishment is. You will suffer and shatter in my hands. And I will force you to love every second of it. You have no power over me. You are mine.”
Yes, I’m yours. I pressed my lips together, barely containing the words. He wasn’t ready to hear them. Not yet.
The icy armor that’d served as a barrier between us had begun to melt. His ruthless assault on my senses continued, but his vicious heat grew stronger with each of my tormented cries. Fierce, verdant green light began to flicker through the hard gleam in his eyes. Raúl was coming back to me slowly, even if it was the most beastly, ruthless version of the man I loved.
I welcomed him with open arms. I accepted all of him. I wanted all of him, even this dark, dangerous part.
Especially this dark, dangerous part. It called to the darkness in me, and for the first time, I didn’t resist their joining. I surrendered on a sigh, not only to him, but to myself. I was done doubting my judgment. I was done denying what was between us. I embraced the most frightening, thrilling parts of myself, just as I embraced his.
Nothing bad could come of it, because Raúl was everything good in my world: my savior, my protector.
I wanted him. I wanted us.
Suddenly, he grabbed my waist and shifted back. Before I could fall, he threw me over his shoulder. He carried me towards the bed; a hungry beast dragging his prize to his lair.
The stomach-drop fear at falling burst into a giddy shout when my back hit the soft mattress. Raúl didn’t seem to share my slightly drunken mental state. His granite face was carved in forbidding lines as he grabbed my wrists and pulled them above my head. He held them there in one hand while his other reached into the nightstand drawer.
Light glinted off silver handcuffs, and my heart squeezed at the hard flash in his eyes. He bared his teeth in defiance as he closed the metal restraints around my wrists, locking me in the debilitating cuffs that the cops had threatened to use on him. He’d feared that they would take him from the safety of his home. He’d feared that they would lock him away, where he’d never be able to touch me again.
“Raúl…” His name hitched in my throat as I felt his pain knifing in my own chest.
His eyes hardened to jade again, and he fixed me with a scowl. He didn’t want my soft concern. He wasn’t ready to accept it.
He pulled away from me, leaving me bound in place with the cuffs looped around one of his unyielding iron bedposts.
Despite my aching heart, desire coiled low in my belly as I watched him remove his clothes with sharp, angry jerks of his powerful limbs. When he was fully naked, he towered over me; my angry, dark, wounded god. He tipped his chin back, studying my helpless body at his leisure. Heat flared beneath my flesh, leaving fiery trails of lust beneath his blazing gaze.
By the time his weight settled over me, I was burning up, desperate for his touch. Pain or pleasure, I’d welcome whatever he chose to give me. Every inch of my skin crackled and danced, and I doubted I’d be capable of telling the difference between agony and ecstasy.
The bruising squeeze of his huge hands on my breasts triggered an answering, aching throb between my legs. His fingers closed around my nipples, pinching and tugging on the sensitive buds as his teeth sank into the soft flesh where my neck met my shoulder. Sharp pain bloomed into bliss, becoming transcendent. The endorphins and adrenaline flooding my body rushed through my mind, sending me flying high. He was the only solid thing tethering me to reality: his cruelly possessive hands; his immense strength; his earthy, grounding scent.
I tried to reach for him, not knowing if I wanted to push him away and escape the pain, or if I wanted to pull him closer, urging more of this sweet torment. The unyielding handcuffs clattered against the iron bedpost and bit into my delicate wrists, adding a new ache to the overwhelming assault on my senses.
His corded muscles flexed, pressing into my flesh as he brutally claimed every vulnerable inch of my body. His cock was hard against me, but he didn’t drive into my sex to use me for his own sadistic pleasure. He was handling me mercilessly, making me suffer, just as he’d promised. But this wasn’t a violation. He was staking his claim over me, branding me with his ruthless touch. He was ensuring that I would always know who I belonged to, and he would always know that I belonged to him.
His angry, frustrated growls dropped to the low, primally satisfied hum that indicated his pleasure with me. As I submitted to his torment with wild abandon, the barrier of rage he’d slammed between us dropped away. He felt my surrender in a deeper, more innate part of his brain than my words could reach, and his anguish was soothed by my eager acceptance of his harsh claim.
He pulled back slightly, so his blazing eyes could capture mine. His jaw remained locked in a forbidding scowl, promising that he wasn’t finished with his retribution.
I shivered beneath his intense, hungry stare. The cool air that teased over my heated flesh made my skin tingle and spark.
The crack of his huge hand against my sensitive inner thigh drew a shriek from my chest, and the fierce sting consumed my senses. He spanked me again, a twin hit on my opposite thigh.
I cried out and tried to close my legs, but his weight settled between my legs, forcing me wide open.
A strangled shout caught in my throat when he lifted his hand a third time, but I released my tension on a relieved sob when he simply settled his palm over the burning imprint he’d made on my flesh. The weight of his hand pressed the heat deeper, until it flared at my core in a fresh wash of desire.
“You’re mine, Marisol.” His fingers flexed on the fierce promise, sealing the irrevocable oath with a fresh bite of bruising pain. “All mine.”
Another sob shuddered from my lips, a sound of cathartic relief. Pure joy soared through my aching, lust-addled body. I blinked hard to clear away my tears, so I could capture him in my earnest stare. He had me bound beneath him, punished and hot and utterly helpless. But my next word could break this strong, savage beast of a man. Even though I was in shackles, he was far more vulnerable than me in this moment.
“I’m yours,” I swore. I ached to reach for him, to tenderly touch his face so he could feel my love. But he had me cuffed in place to protect himself, not to threaten me. I accepted the shackles, because he needed me bound to feel safe.
I swallowed against the rasp in my throat, which had been strained by my harsh cries while I reveled in his torment. “I’m yours, Raúl. I don’t want to leave you. I will never leave you. Never.”
His luminous eyes glowed verdant green, and his scowl finally eased. The sexy scar I loved so much dipped into his soft, sensual lips, which parted in wonder. He stared down at me with the awe-struck expression that always melted my insides, and my heart swelled at his renewed reverence.