“You want me to hit you out of anger, so you can push me away.” He touched her chin, lifting it. “You want me to cheat on you, so you can blame me when you run.” He lowered his hand. “I won’t do it, Rylee. I’ll grab your throat in the heat of passion because it burns you up. I’ll beat your ass because it makes you wetter than sin. But I will never cheat on you, nor will I ever hurt you out of anger.”
“You hurt me when you fucked me in the desert.”
“Weak argument. We were both raging. With hunger.”
Buzzing ignited in her ears. She shook her head, unable to escape the thrashing of her pulse. “I don’t trust you.”
“You’re too scared to try.”
“I’m old enough to be your mother. A hard pass.”
“That was a lie. A bullshit attempt to chip away your confidence. There’s no excuse for it. I was in the wrong. You know all my secrets, and I felt cornered, embarrassed by my mistakes. You had the advantage. You still do. You have the power to destroy me.”
“I do not!” She drove her fist against his stone-hard chest. “See? You don’t even move!” Another punch. “You chained me in the desert.” Punch, slap, punch. “You strangled me until I passed out, left me with no water, and starved me for days.” She pounded her knuckles in a fit of fury, her eyes hot with tears. “I can’t forgive you. I won’t. What kind of woman falls in love with a sadistic bastard?”
He stopped the barrage of her fists with a bear-hug, lifted her off her feet, and brought her down on her back on the bed.
“A sadistic woman, that’s who.” He lay atop her, trapping her hands and hovering his face an inch from hers. “And this bastard loves you.”
She felt a cracking, rupturing sensation around her heart, and all at once, something burst, letting in air and warmth and terrible possibilities.
“No.” She was breaking open, falling apart. “Stop playing with me, Tommy. If you’re going to hurt me, just do it. Get it over with!”
He kissed her. Open mouth. Sweep of tongue. Gentle strokes, slipping along the inside of her lower lip. It hurt. Not like a fist. It hurt like hunger pangs. It was a helpless, gnawing, painful need way down deep inside.
Delving deeper, he roamed the caverns of her mouth with a skill that electrified. Her knees turned to water. Her arms went slack between them, and currents of insidious heat flooded her breasts, prickling the peaks.
He kissed her with tenderness, his hands flowing over her body with devotion, drawing pleasure beneath her skin, making her hungry, needy for more. He tasted of warmth and something rich and masculine and loyal. He tasted like her fantasies.
Never, never, had she been touched or kissed with such sublime adoration. His tongue moved in her mouth with agonizing respect as his fingers traced her breasts with reverence. His cock lay hard and thick against her belly, leaking from the tip but not stabbing. Not taking.
She could battle his cruelty with fists. She could fight his ruthlessness with hateful words. She could sink her teeth into his stone-cold rage.
But she couldn’t attack his affection with violence. She couldn’t hit him when he kissed like this. When he kissed her like he well and truly loved her. She wasn’t that hard-hearted.
But she wasn’t naive, either.
He would grow bored. Whatever this infatuation was, it wouldn’t last. He would miss the excitement of the chase.
His mouth trailed down her neck and suckled her breasts. The pressure of his lips, the swirl of his tongue, it was too perfect, too familiar, as though she’d spent her entire life in his arms.
His hand, strong and long-fingered, slid between her legs, tracing the shape of lower lips and rousing sensitive nerve endings. She throbbed, and his mouth nuzzled her quivering belly. Liquid heat flooded her pussy, and he continued to explore, tease, and slowly dismantle her kiss by kiss.
She wasn’t stopping this. She couldn’t. He was too talented, and she wanted it too much.
“This is just sex.” She twisted her fingers in his thick hair.
“This is our bodies following the demands of our hearts.”
“I bet that line gets you laid every time.”
“My heart”—he sank a finger inside her—“never felt a damn thing during sex. Until you.”
“That’s a lie. Everyone’s heart pounds when they fuck.”
“My heart pounds when you walk into the room.”
“You’re deranged.”
“No, merely in love. With you.” He nipped her inner thigh. “Hurry up and love me back so we can do this without fighting.”
“You can’t love me, Tommy. I’m too broken.”
“If you’re broken, I’m broken. Christ, you look good enough to eat.”
With his shoulders wedged between her legs, he stared at her cunt. Then he caressed her, stroking wickedly and stealing back, gentle around her opening and firm thrusts straight through the center.
Her eyes rolled back in her head, her entire body shaking with the need to come.
“You’re not thinking through this.” She gasped, clenching around his curling fingers. “You love women.”
“I love you.”
“You love pussy.”
“Yours, no question.”
“Do you love my pussy enough for it to be the only one you touch for the rest of your life?”
“Yes.” He met her eyes. “I’m one-hundred-percent devoted to the stunning artwork between your legs and the beautiful stubbornness between your ears. So much so that I will answer these infuriating questions honestly every time they arise for the rest of our lives.”
He buried his face in her cunt, scattering her thoughts on the tide of her gasps. The heat of his breaths was heaven, his lips firm, the voracious strokes of his tongue exceeding her desires and filling her with more.
Blazing light spread beneath her skin, stirring and shimmering and lifting her higher, higher, higher. Just as she reached the brink of climax, he pulled back. His heat, his kiss, all touch was gone.
“Tell me you need me.” He stared at her, his mouth glistening, waiting.
Stunned, she stared back. Confusion crashed into realization and simmered into outrage.
He was trying to control her through orgasm denial? Kissing her with an agenda? Toying with her to get what he wanted?
Fuck him. She refused to surrender like a doormat. She also knew she would never win this fight. He had the stamina and willpower of a superhuman machine.
No more games. She was done.
Done with the manipulation and the cheating and the emotional pain.
“I don’t need you.” She reached between her legs to get herself off.
He watched her hand but didn’t smack it away. His body tensed, but he didn’t overpower her with his strength. Didn’t try to dominate her in his Draconian way. Something flashed across his expression. Disappointment? Frustration? But he didn’t leave.
Instead, he lowered his head and placed his mouth against her hand. His tongue joined her fingers. His fists gripped her thighs, holding her open, and before she could process the unexpected turn of events, he pushed her, hard and fast, through an unstoppable climax.
Rippling waves of pleasure poured through her, trembling her limbs, her moan of completion one of barely contained victory.