“Do you want to know what your cock feels like to me? It feels like you’re tearing me wide open. Like you’re digging a spot only you’ll ever fit again.” I hum as he ups his tempo, driving harder into me. “It feels like retribution. Like a takeover. You’re so hard inside of me—nothing compares, Talent. Nothing, no one, ever … only you.”
My stomach winds up like a twisted chain, turning, and turning, and turning until the pressure is too much and it snaps.
And so do I.
Euphoria is better in color.
It’s ultra-bright like I’ve climbed a flight of stairs directly to the center of the sun. Talent’s eyes aren’t just gray, but they’re flecked with blue, green, and lavender. My skin burns crimson not pink under their stare, and it’s not opaque when my eyes fall closed and my head tilts back. Behind my eyelids is a kaleidoscope of brilliant streaks, lurid hues, and vibrant splashes that portray a picture of what I expect forever looks like.
Hopeful.
I wake up to a world where I don’t feel alone for the first time ever.
There’s no way to know the time. Talent’s bedroom is as dark now as it was when I arrived and the sun was up. An hour could have passed since I fell asleep, two hours, five—a week. For a person who lives her life in one-hour increments, I find myself unconcerned by the passing seconds.
Talent sleeps with his back to me, and as naked as I am. A thin white sheet lazily covers his body from the waist down, and a mischievous smile crawls across my face as I gently pull it away. The steady rise and fall of his shoulders stops and his next breath comes out as a soft chuckle.
“I’m not going to lie,” Talent says in a sleepy voice.
He turns onto his back, and the hummingbird in my chest bursts into flames and is reborn a fucking vulture. I’ve seen thousands of naked bodies in my life, but there’s never been a single cock I’ve craved.
Until now.
He woke up hard, and he’s unashamed.
Talent doesn’t have one reason to be.
“Lie about what?” I ask, swallowing. My cheeks burn, and I’m grateful we’re in the dark.
“I was afraid you’d leave when I was sleeping.” Talent turns his head to look at me with hooded eyes and messy hair. I tuck my hands under my head and try to keep my focus on his face and not his impressive manhood. “I almost tied you to the bed.”
Laughing out loud, I squeeze my thighs together under the sheet to relieve some of the longing I feel. “Kidnapping is punishable by law, Ridge.”
My nipples harden, and I curl my toes. The luxury sheets tucked around my body feel like sandpaper compared to the memory of Talent caressing my skin with his hands, his mouth, his strength. There will be bruises on the insides of my thighs from his size and power. I look forward to wearing his marks on my skin like a badge of honor.
I can’t wait to press my fingers into the bruises and relive how they got there in the first place.
I’ll ask for more until I can play the bruises on my skin like a piano.
Grab me harder. Kiss me harder. Fuck me harder.
Let my clients see what’s been done to my body and realize that, though they touch me and despite how much money or gifts they throw at me, they’ll never get close enough to mark me the same way.
There isn’t a lot I can give Talent that he doesn’t already have, but he can have this small part of me.
“If you did run away, it would only have been a head start,” Talent says. The playful smirk on his lips turns provocative, and I let out a slow breath as the pressure between my legs sprawls. “I’ll chase you, Lydia. I’ll always find you, and if I can’t, I know people who can.”
Romance is for the kids who didn’t grow up watching their mom dance under a red light at a strip club. It’s not for those of us whose only example of passion was determined by how many dollar bills were thrown on stage. When you lost your virginity to a predatory bouncer, and when your mother’s boyfriend licked his lips whenever he laid eyes on you, or when your only example of sex until now was deliberate and paid in full—romance isn’t applicable.
I won’t know what to do with roses and sweet nothings. But tell me you’re going to tie me to a bed to keep me from running away … well, now I understand.
“Don’t underestimate my ability to disappear, Talent,” I say only half-teasingly. “I’ve managed to outrun more than a lawyer in my life.”
A shadow darkens Talent’s eyes, and he pulls me and the sheets closer to roll on top of me. His weight intensifies the simmering need under my skin, and I dig my fingertips into his forearms to keep from turning to ash and ember. He shoves the sheet away and palms my pussy, dropping his forehead to mine.
“Are you so willing to leave when I can make you feel like this?” he asks, circling his fingers over my clit.
I’m hot enough to melt.
Wet enough to overflow.
Desperate enough for relief to let this go unchecked.
Almost.
Flicking Talent’s bottom lip with my tongue, I tease him with a kiss until he submits and bends into me. I capture Talent’s lip where his smirk meets his cheeks and bite down while waiting for the taste of copper to touch my palate.
And then I bite harder.
He groans in pain, but his dick hardens against my thigh.
I release his mouth and wipe a trickle of blood from my lip, licking it off the top of my hand. Before Talent assesses the damage to his beautiful mouth, I push him onto his back and straddle his waist. His cock slips between my folds, and I circle my hips to feel every inch slide against me.
“If I wanted to disappear,” I say, dragging my nails down his chest. “You wouldn’t have had the chance to tie me to the bed, Talent. I can leave this room right now and you’d never see me again if I didn’t want you to.”
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” He grabs my hips and tries to coax me over his erection, but I resist. “Lydia, you don’t have a clue—”
I take his cock in my hand and use my arousal to work him up and down at an agonizing pace. Playing with him excites me, so instead of easing him inside my body or reassuring the poor prince that I won’t be leaving until he sends me away, I press my chest against his and lick the small wound at the corner of his mouth. Then we kiss with the taste of blood in our mouths.
“Don’t,” Talent whispers against my kiss. “Don’t go anywhere without me.”
Searching his expression for a trace of deceit, I only find faith.
And I’m a believer.
“Okay,” I say. My heart double beats in agreement, and I kiss Talent as softly as I know how.
Guiding him inside of me feels like arriving home after a long time away. He fills me all the way up, and I can feel every part of him, every ripple, every vein. My body stretches and moves to adjust to his size, and slowly, to draw out the joy of him sliding out of me and back in, I move my hips forward and back.
He blinks slowly, and his long lashes cast shadows across the highest points of his cheeks. Thick eyebrows furrow, forming creases between his dark and deep stare. Talent presses his lips together before they part and don’t really close again. It makes me want to latch on to the cut I inflicted at the corner of his mouth and revel in his essence, because it’s so fucking pure.