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Ithought you had to go to work,” I gasped, the words practically clawing their way out of my throat. They were raw and full of my desperation. I had absolutely no composure, and I just didn’t care.

My palms were pressed flat against the glass door in the shower. Steam curled through the air in thick ribbons, swallowing up the room until it was nothing more than a blur. For as hot as the water was, its temperature had nothing to do with why I was burning up head-to-toe.

It had everything to do with Rhodes’ teeth in my neck and his hand on my dick.

The muscles in my neck and shoulder ached from every hard bite he’d given me, each one throbbing more than the previous one. The pain only heightened the pleasure as he lazily stroked me. The slide of his wet palm over my dick was so slow it bordered on torture. I felt every ridge of his fingers as they dragged over my crown, coaxing fresh precum out of me with each pass.

I was teetering on the edge, suspended between right there and not being allowed to fall. My whole body was so wound up and thrumming with a tension that started in my balls and spiraled around my spine. My dick throbbed in his palm, and I was ready to combust, doing everything I could to make sure I didn’t.

His free hand splayed across my abs, holding me in place and holding me up. My muscles tensed and quivered as my control clashed with his temptation. Behind me, the hard length of his cock pressed against my ass. He’d been hard just as long as I had, but his patience far outweighed mine.

The pressure of his teeth vanished, sending another sensation cascading through my body. A shudder rolled through me, and I groaned, my forehead thunking against the glass.

“I know exactly how long I have in the shower before I have to get out to get ready,” Rhodes said. That didn’t surprise me. I’d seen his perfectly blocked-out calendars with every hour accounted for. Nothing was left to chance with him.

“Is it now?” I asked a little too hopefully. If he had to leave, that meant we were getting closer to him letting me come.

“We’ve got a while.”

“Please,” I whimpered. The word escaped me before I could stop it, and I felt his chest rumble with laughter against my back.

“All you have to do is say the word, and I’ll stop,” Rhodes murmured as he kissed his way up my neck, his lips brushing softly over his bites. His teeth dragged over my earlobe, and I shuddered once more. “Say the word, little wolf, and I’ll let you come.”

The word: tater tot.

Okay, technically, two words.

We were apparently playing the world’s horniest game of chicken, where he edged me to tears to see how long until I’d give in and say my safe word. Except, I was a masochist—a fact I was fully comfortable embracing, even if I didn’t understand why. For all my begging and desperation, I liked the edging and the pain. I craved being pushed right there over and over with no hope of release. It drove me crazy, and I liked it.

And he wasn’t doing anything I didn’t enjoy. In fact, he was doing all the things I thoroughly enjoyed.

My hips pushed back into him, pressing harder against the thick line of his cock. I felt it twitch, and for a moment, his fingers tightened around me. Before I could chase the added friction, his hold loosened, and he slipped back into that maddeningly lazy rhythm. Even still, the edge rushed up on me once more. It built in my core, coiling hot around my spine and spilling into my balls. I fought it as my thighs trembled. I was so close—too close—and I knew if he stroked me one more time, I’d come all over his hand and lose the game.

And he knew it too. I felt the curve of his smile against my skin and heard him chuckle with amusement.

His hand stilled at the base of my cock, his thumb pressing hard against the underside where my vein pulsed wildly. He held me right there, letting the intensity build and crest without any relief. The sound I made wasn’t human, a broken sound torn out from my chest, as my hips bucked against his grip, desperate for something more from him.

“Not yet,” Rhodes said against the shell of my ear. “You don’t get to come until you’ve earned it.”

And to earn it, I had to outlast him. At least I thrived in a challenging environment.

His teeth found the curve of my shoulder, and he bit down hard. I groaned loudly as the spike of pain almost instantly tangled with the pleasure coiling through me. He held the bite, his teeth sinking deep into my muscle, while his thumb continued to apply pressure at the base of my dick. The combination was agonizing, both building me up and holding me back. My legs shook with the effort to stay standing, and my breath came out in broken gasps. I was nothing but uncontrollable need and want, and I loved it—loved the surrender of it as he worked my body in ways I couldn’t begin to fathom.

“I still have at least twenty minutes before I have to walk out of the house, Theo,” Rhodes said. “Just say the word.”

“No,” I let out weakly, though I was so close to caving and letting him fuck me senseless. What did I care if he bragged about it for the next week? At least I’d get to come, which made it worth it.

His hand began to move again, and I didn’t recognize the sound I made. It was raw and ugly as relief surged through every fiber of my being. He dragged his palm up my length, over my slick crown, and back down to the base at a rate that should’ve been criminal. My hips rolled into his grip, meeting each stroke to chase the one thing he kept pulling out of my reach. His other hand grabbed one hip and forced me to hold still.

“Please,” I whispered again, the word barely audible over the water. “Rhodes, please…”

“Please, what?” His hand never stopped as he questioned me. “Please let you come? Or please don’t stop?”

Both?

Probably both.

Definitely both.