Page 125 of Drowning in Darkness

“I don’t do soft, sweetheart.”

I wrap my hands around his neck. “I don’t want soft.”

He shakes his head and leans closer, letting his breath whisper over my lips. “You have no idea what you’re asking for.”

I snake my legs around his waist and tug him closer, fitting our bodies together. “I do. I want you to pull my hair. I want your teeth on my neck while my nails claw your back.” I nip his ear and kiss along his jaw. “I want it dirty and rough. I want to be consumed so that my only thoughts consist of more, harder, faster. I want you to steal my breath and make me scream your name.” I cup his cheeks and hold his gaze. “I want you.”

For a terrifying heartbeat, I think he’s going to shut down and use barbed words to push me away. And this time, I’d let him. There’s only so much chasing I can do before I look weak and desperate, and only so many times I’m willing to forgive him.

He rises, towering over me like an avenging god. My heart sinks in my chest. Then the buttons from his stolen shirt go flying across the bedroom as he tears it open. His gaze grows darker, hooded, making my breath catch. His throat bobs as he takes his fill of my naked body. I wrestle with the need to cover myself. It’s instinctual when someone is tracing your every dip and curve with their gaze.

“James?” I whisper, needing to know what he’s thinking.

His eyes fly to mine. “You’re sure?” I nod, heart in my throat. “I need you to use your words, sweetheart. If you have even the slightest doubt, or if you need to stop at any point, no matter what we’re doing, we will.”

“I understand,” I mutter as I wiggle to try to free myself of his shirt. He collars my throat with his hand, stilling me.

“Don’t move,” he instructs.

I bite my lip and try to relax into the bed. My pleasure is now in his hands. I adore it, already wet for him.

He leans down, closing the gap to give me the sweetest kiss I’ve ever known. It’s soft, a reassurance of feelings left unspoken, and a reminder that no matter what happens next, he reveres me.

It’s intoxicating.

The kiss deepens, turning heated, demanding, and everything in my already oversensitive body starts buzzing in anticipation.

Teeth tug on lips, scrape against throats, fingers pinch nipples, and he presses his thigh between my legs to give me a taste of the friction I crave, which only serves to ramp up my need, not help it abate.

We’re a tangle of limbs, and I’m lost in the scent of him, the way his pulse jumps when our bodies touch, and the way he keeps muttering my name like a prayer and a curse combined.

His lips consume mine again, and beyond my closed lids, I hear the sound of metal tinkling. Just as I open my eyes, James leans back and seizes my wrists. He holds up the belt with a wicked smirk etched into his handsome face. “This,” he growls, pinning my hands to the headboard as he weaves the belt around my wrists with expert precision, “is how you bind someone with a belt.”

I stare at him in awe. He’s certainly better at this than I am.

His kisses tease and warm my skin, reaching lower and lower until he’s kneeling between my legs. “Don’t move, sweetheart.” James grips my panties, fisting the thin fabric straps at my hips. “You answer me when I ask a question, and you nod if you can’t speak. Understood?”

“Yes.”

He tears the underwear off me. I yelp, the quick burn on my skin delectable. My eyes widen when he throws my legs over his shoulder.

“What do you want me to do?” James looks up at me with dark eyes, sinful and blazing.

“Touch me.” I swallow any lingering nerves. “Use your mouth on me to make me come.”

“If you want to come…” His breath brushes over my skin, and he drags his fingers over my seam, making me squirm even as I fight against it. I’m so damn wet. “Then you need to scream my name.”

James devours me like a man possessed. He slides his fingers into my pussy, two of them filling me, and his lips clamp down on my clit, sucking hard. I go from zero to sixty, ready to come within seconds. My legs squeeze around his head, and James stops, chuckling at my frustrated whine.

“You want more? That pussy wants my mouth? Then keep your legs wide for me.”

I force them open again, desperate for him to get back to work. Before he does, James locks eyes with me, and a silent moment passes between us. He’s making sure I’m okay, and I nod once, tiny and quick.

“Please,” I plead. “I’m so close.”

His mouth is on me again, fingers gliding home inside my pussy. I clench around him, eyes rolling back. It’s so good, made perfect by who’s doing it to me. “James… please.” Every nerve is on fire. I want—no, need—to explode. “Harder, yes. Please, so much harder…”

He growls into me, then sits back, his fingers reaching deeper and curling upward. It’s primal and fast, the way his fingers rock me right up to the edge before I shatter. “James!” He doesn’t stop, ensuring he draws every last shred of pleasure from me. All while I can’t move, my hands locked in place over my head.