“You know what comes next,” he says with all the authority in the world, without any doubt that I’ll do what I am supposed to do.
My borrowed dress slides off one shoulder as I bring my gaze to his shoes, and I set my hands to the ground on either side, and I try to remember that he whipped himself rather than whipping me. That Hildebrand was standing outside listening all that time. I wonder if he’s hard beneath his robe at the thought of me having my ass whipped. I feel disgust at the man.
I lift my gaze once more to Jericho before lowering my head, bringing my lips to his shoe.
“Words,” he mutters.
“Dominus et Deus. My lord and my god,” I say so quietly I’m not sure either of them hear it and I remain as I am, head bowed, tears falling, and wait.
Hildebrand and his men leave. When they’re gone, Jericho’s hand wraps around my upper arm and he pulls me to my feet. My breast is exposed where the dress had already slid from my shoulder and my panties which were at my knees slide to my feet.
He looks down at my breast, tugs the dress up but is careful to leave it open at the back. He then walks me to the door.
“Wait,” I say, glancing back my panties on the floor.
“You won’t be needing those,” he says and pulls me to the door. He bends to pick up my shoes but proceeds to walk me barefoot through the chapel then out into the courtyard where all sound seems to stop at the sight of us.
I wonder what I look like. Not a bride happily emerging from her own wedding. No. I feel how my hair has come out of its tight style only realizing now why Leontine was so specific about how it needed to be off my neck and back. I wonder what they make of the makeup streaking my face. As Jericho moves me through the crowd that parts for us, I can hear the gasps as we pass when they see the ink on my back that leaves no doubt as to what I am.
His.
29
Jericho
I need to fuck this woman. I need to do it now.
Dex drives us home. I step out of the car, lifting her and carrying her into the house. Once inside I set her down and drop her shoes to the floor. I turn her to me as she adjusts the dress to keep it up. With the button undone it wants to slide to her waist, as it is designed.
I wrap one arm around her lower back and tug her to me while with the other I free the confines of her hair, weaving my fingers into it and tugging her head back to kiss her mouth.
She presses her hands to my chest, making a sound before I swallow it, her mouth open to me, her tongue warm. I grind my cock against her belly, hard against soft, and lift her. I’m aware of the tattoo that runs the length of her spine, so I haul her over my shoulder to carry her to my bed. Once in my room, I lock the door and set her on her feet.
Isabelle stumbles backward two steps.
I watch her as I unbutton my shirt and drag it off. Her gaze shifts to my chest, my shoulders. I stalk toward her, and she looks around for her escape.
There is none.
Pushing my hand into the neck of the dress I tug, tearing it enough that the silk slips to the floor. She’s naked beneath. I look her over, take in the small, rounded breasts, nipples puckered, see the slit of her shaved sex.
I walk to the bed, pull the covers off to expose the pristine white sheets all the better to collect her virgin blood. Tucked beneath the mattress are the restraints I draw out, ready to use.
“Come here,” I tell her.
Her eyes are on those leather restraints on the four corners of the bed and with a wary glance, she walks toward me.
“Kneel in the middle of the bed facing the headboard.”
“Jericho—”
“Do as I say.”
She hesitates, then climbs up. I don’t help her. I just watch. And once she’s there, I take the wrist closest to me, stretch it to the first restraint and bind her, leaving her to rest on her elbow as she waits for me to bind the other wrist.
I move behind her to look at her on her knees, arms spread wide, and I draw the first ankle restraint toward the middle of the bed and bind one ankle, then the other, stretching her legs wide but keeping her on her knees.
“Head down and keep your ass up.”
She cranes her neck to look back at me.
“Do it, Isabelle.”
Her face burns red, and she turns away before raising her ass high, back deeply arched, knees spread wide by the restraints so all of her is on display.
It’s lewd. Filthy. And before my eyes her pussy begins to glisten and leak down the inside of one thigh.
I’m tempted to take a seat and watch, just watch but I’m so fucking hard I can barely control myself.
“Stay just like that,” I tell her. Standing behind her to strip off the rest of my clothes before closing my hands around her thighs and bringing my nose to her.
She gasps as I draw in a deep inhale, taking in her scent, then lick her pussy to ass and back.
Isabelle whimpers and I settle on my knees behind her, looking at my mark on her arched back, the single tail of the twin serpents disappearing inside the crease of her ass. And fuck it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I should extend it to her asshole, I think. Maybe I will yet.
“You want this,” I tell her, dipping two fingers of one hand inside her before sliding them to her clit.
“No, I…”
I lean over her, touch my cheek to hers and listen to her intake of breath as I twirl my fingers around the hard, swollen nub.
“No?” I ask.
She closes her eyes. She doesn’t want to want this. Doesn’t want to want me.
“Do you want to come?” I run my fingers over her clit.
She moans, and a moment later, nods.
“Say it. Tell me.”
“Please.”
“Please what?” I straighten, slide my cock through her folds. “Please what, Isabelle?”
“Please…. I want…”
I keep two fingers on her clit and slip my cock to her entrance. It’s tight and I watch her tense as I begin to stretch her to accommodate me.
“Too much,” she starts, drawing away, but my fingers are on her clit again and she stills, arching her back deeper.
“Say it,” I demand, my voice hoarse with the need to thrust into virgin territory. To bleed her.
“Make me come!” she cries out and I reward her, turning my fingers over her clit and sliding my cock deeper. When I hear her choked intake of breath and feel her walls pulse around me, I dig the fingers of one hand into her hip and splay her wide. I drive into her, tearing through her barrier, relishing her cry when I do it, feeling the warm gush of blood as I bury myself to the hilt. I savor the tight feel of her as I close my thumb over her asshole and draw back, looking down at her as I do, as I see red staining my cock, her thighs, dropping to my sheets.
I drive in again and again, hearing her pants as I take her, as she buries her face in the sheets and comes around me again, walls pulsing.
My release is thunderous, racking my body, calling an animal sound from my chest and throat as I spill my seed inside her. The knowledge that she’s mine now, all mine, only mine more heady than I anticipate. So much more than I imagined.
When I draw out and she collapses beneath me, blood and come spill from her. The white sheets no longer pristine but stained with her virgin blood, the evidence of our raw, primal lust. And all I can think is one word. One word over and over again. The only one that makes any sense.