“The last thing you said on the subject wasn’t exactly nice.”
There was a long pause of silence that threatened to swallow me whole. Ryland continued to touch me, stroking my back and kissing my neck. And despite my need for his assurances, my body was melting beneath his hands. He knew it too, this power he held over me.
He needed only to touch me to remind me. Or to look at me with the lust that ran thick through his blood. One word uttered in the warmth of his voice, and I was irrevocably his. He owned me, and he knew it. Did it ever matter what his feelings were? I was doomed to love him regardless.
“I can’t tell you the things you want to hear,” he said finally. “I could give you a thousand pretty words, but they wouldn’t change anything. I’m not your hero. I’m not the man you want me to be, and someday soon, you’ll understand that. You will loathe me, and I won’t blame you. But even then, I doubt I’ll be able to let you go. Our feelings are irrelevant, and that’s the truth. But the fact that I want you so much should tell you how I feel about you, baby girl. I waited five years for you.”
My eyes were glassy, and I hated it. Hated that he always managed to make me feel like this was a hopeless situation. Like everything was a riddle to him.
“What do you mean you waited five years?” I croaked.
His fingers traced the line of my collarbone, dipping beneath the silky material of my dress and allowing it to fall off the slope of my shoulder. It hung precariously by the stiffened peak of my nipple, and Ryland skimmed it with his thumb as he spoke.
“I wanted you to have a chance to experience life,” he said. “Life before me.”
“You make it sound like you’re ruining my life,” I joked.
He didn’t laugh.
He traced along the opposite collarbone, pushing the material off the other slope of my shoulder. Again, the material sagged until it caught on my nipple, allowing the swells of my breasts to be seen with each heavy breath.
“You have the most beautiful skin,” he murmured against me. “A perfect canvas, just like you said that first day in my office.”
As if to prove his point, he dragged his teeth down my neck, sucking and nipping at me until I was clutching his hair in my hands. “You tease me with every blush, every smile, every innocent look on your face.”
His hand slipped inside the top of my dress, playing with my erect nipples before he gave up and pulled the material down around my waist.
“Someone might come in here,” I whimpered.
“So let them.” He captured my nipple between his teeth and flicked it with his tongue. “Let them see me fucking the most beautiful woman on the planet. It would be my pleasure to make every man in here covet what belongs to me.”
His words drenched me, and he knew it. He slipped his other hand beneath my dress, coaxing his way up my thigh with strong, warm fingers. When they slid beneath my lace thong, he had to peel the fabric away from my skin.
He stuffed me full of his fingers with a groan as he continued to milk my breast with his mouth.
“I’m going to make you come so hard you scream,” he threatened.
I clutched at his neck, not wanting to believe the conviction in his voice. But when he adjusted my pelvis and crooked his fingers, he hit the same sweet spot he knew I couldn’t resist. He slammed his fingers in and out of me roughly, the sounds of wet slapping noises echoing off the walls of the room.
I was too aroused to be embarrassed, and I bit into his shoulder to keep the noises at bay while I jerked in his arms.
“That’s it, baby girl,” he praised me. “Come hard for me. Fucking drench me.”
His words shocked and excited me, and I wanted to give him what he asked for. I didn’t even know if my body was capable of such a thing, but Ryland did.
He thrust his fingers in and out in a rhythm perfectly synchronized to induce my loss of self-control. The burn that resided in my belly zipped its way down through my core and into the deep muscles of my womb. When that release exploded out of me, it did so with a gush of wetness.
The intensity of it blindsided me, and I couldn’t even open my eyes until the ringing in my ears had subsided. Somewhere in the depths of my madness, I was certain I’d screamed, just as he promised.
When I came back down, I saw that Ryland had his cock in his fist, stroking it roughly while he watched me. His hand still glistened from my arousal, and a blush spread across my cheeks that made him growl.
He gave me a savage kiss before flipping me onto my knees. He peeled my hands out from beneath me and curled them around the back of the lounge.
“Don’t move,” he ordered, gripping my hips as he adjusted himself behind me.
He smeared my arousal over his cock and glided it against my folds, teasing the swollen flesh as he eased just the head of himself inside.
“How is it possible?” he groaned. “How do you get so wet for a monster like me?”
“You’re not a monster,” I protested, my knuckles white as I waited for what I needed. For him to fill me. Complete me.
He buried himself inside of me in one deep stroke, and I let out a soft mew as I tried to hold still.
“Oh but I am,” he growled, gripping a handful of my hair in his hand and tugging on it. “I want to hurt you. I want to do all sorts of depraved things to you, Brighton. Simply because I can.”
He was trying to push me away again. But I wasn’t going to let him.
“I like the depraved things you do to me,” I whispered. “I like the way you fuck me.”
“Good,” he snarled. “Because right now, I’m going to fuck you like I hate you.”
I whimpered as he slammed into me, nearly making my body crumple upon the impact.
“Harder,” I challenged.
Ryland grunted and pulled my arms behind my back. He gripped me by the chin as every thrust reverberated through my entire body. His hand threaded through my hair, twisting my neck until his mouth could claim mine.
“Is that hard enough for you?” he nipped at my lip.
“More…” I insisted. “Do every dark thing you say you want to,” I implored. “I want to give it all to you.”
His cock pulsed inside of me at my words, and his hands tugged on each of my nipples in response.
“Anything I want?” he questioned.
“Yes!”
“So if I were to walk out there and bring another woman in here…”
I jerked away from him and slapped him across the face as hard as I could.
“Fuck you!” I spat. “Fuck you, Ryland!”
He pulled me back into his arms with a hungry smile. “That’s what I want,” he soothed me with a kiss. “That possession, that fire. Knowing you would never share me with anyone else gets me harder than you could ever imagine, Brighton.”
As if to prove his point, he wrapped my hand around his cock, allowing me to feel the weight of his arousal. I stroked him several times over, even though I was still pissed about his little comment.
“Don’t ever say anything like that again,” I warned. “I won’t share you, Ryland, so if you ever get even the faintest idea…”
His lips smashed against mine desperately. He lifted me up in his arms like a limp ragdoll and threw my legs over his forearms, entering me in one thrust. My body nearly folded in half as he proceeded to fuck me.
“I don’t want anybody else but you,” he grunted. “Nobody else but you, Brighton.”
As the sentence left his mouth, he exploded inside of me, milking his release out over the course of several deep thrusts.
He set me back down on the couch, handing me some napkins to clean myself before he attended to himself. I did so quickly before trying to right the mess that was now my expensive dress. Ryland helped, smoothing the material back up over my breasts with a relaxed expression on his face.
I leaned forward and took a sip of my champagne while I finger combed my hair back into place.
“Are you upset with me?” he leaned back against the sofa and watched me carefully.
I turned towards him and shook my head. It probably wasn’t as convincing as I’d hoped. I didn’t like the spark of jealousy I felt when I thought about him wanting anyone else, but I couldn’t control it either.
“Come here,” he ordered.
I obeyed him without question. It was becoming a habit.
Once I was close enough, he pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me. “I like to push you. To see the darkness that’s inside of you too.”
“I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” I admitted. “It confuses me sometimes.”
“Because you shouldn’t feel this way about me,” he supplied.
I shrugged because it was the truth. I shouldn’t feel this way about him. Based on the secrets that founded this bond, I feared it would all come toppling down around me any day now. Just as he kept trying to tell me.
“If it makes you feel any better,” he replied, “I never intended to feel anything about you either, Brighton.”
“So it was only about the agreement to you.” My voice was heavy with defeat.
“Five years ago, yes. But not now. Not since the first time I slid inside of you, claiming you as my own. I think about it all the time. About that moment.”
“You do?” I looked up at him in surprise.