All my fear and rage went into that swing. But it wasn’t enough. Devlin seized my wrist before I could make contact and slammed my arm down, knocking the one weapon I had out of my grasp.
“I told you to make it count.” He tsked.
I looked up at him and tried to think of something to say. A witty remark or insult that would make him back off, but it was becoming evidently clear he wasn’t going to stop this time. That should scare me more than it did.
Don’t get me wrong, I was scared. How could I not be? Devlin was hovering over me with my arm pinned above my head. He was barely touching me, but it felt like he was everywhere. The problem was, I didn’t know if my body was shivering out of fear or something else. Something that had my stomach flipping.
For a second, when his eyes lazily roamed down my side, I forgot what was happening. Then he spoke.
“Are you done fighting?”
That snapped me back into action. I swung my free arm and kicked my legs. This time, my strikes did make contact. My palm slapped off the side of Devlin’s face while my knee jabbed into his thigh. Did any of that do any good? No.
One grab of my hip was all it took for Devlin to flip me over. He grabbed the back of my neck with one hand, pressing my face into the blanket, then cracked the other palm across my ass.
I think I screamed.
My mind didn’t have time to register the pain burning my flesh before the next strike came. And his onslaught didn’t end there. Devlin rained down a fury of blows on one cheek and then the other that had me sucking back tears in loud choking gulps.
By the time he finally stopped, my entire body was covered in a fine film of sweat, and my ass felt like it was on fire. I had my face smashed so far into the blanket that I could practically taste fabric every time I choked down a mouthful of air, but I didn’t dare move. It was safer if I didn’t.
“I’ll ask you again,” Devlin growled, making me jerk away. “Are you done fighting?”
There was no way I was about to relieve that experience, so I did the only smart thing I could and responded with a small nod.
I whimpered when Devlin’s hand smoothed over the back of my head.
“Look at me,Bréagán.”
He was testing me. I knew that. Every fiber of my being itched to tell him off, but I was so pathetically grateful that he didn’t hit me again that I obeyed and slowly turned my head.
Devlin reached out and swept his thumb over my cheek, wiping away some of the wet streaks staining my face. “Do you have no idea how sexy you are right now?”
Was he crazy? My hair was stuck to my forehead, my eyes felt puffy and were probably red, and my entire body was shaking. Sexy was hardly the word I would use for the look I had going on right now. Full-on ugly-crying would’ve been an improvement. So why was Devlin staring at me like I was his next meal?
Oh right, he was a sick fuck who got off on hurting others. Almost forgot about that.
“I bet your ass is nice and red.” His eyes shifted to follow his hand as he gave my ass a hard squeeze.
My skin screamed from the rough touch, and it took everything in me to stop my hand from swinging out in retaliation. I couldn’t stop the whine from bubbling up my throat, though.
“Let’s find out, shall we?” It was the only warning I got before my boxers were yanked down my legs.
Instinct made my feet kick out. That action ended the instant I felt his tongue lave a warm, wet trail over my tender flesh.
That was followed by a deeply growled, “Fuck.”
All the heat searing my backside morphed into a pool of need that flowed down my thighs. The last thing I wanted Devlin to know was how his touch affected me. So I wriggled and squished my legs together. I should’ve known that wouldn’t work. If anything, it had the opposite effect as what I intended.
Devlin wrapped his fingers around my hips and lifted them off the bed. I thought maybe he was going to flip me over. It would’ve been better than what happened. Because the second his tongue slid through my folds, my mind checked out.
Even if I wanted to fight, I couldn’t. All I could do was ball up the blankets in my fists and moan as Devlin growled and continued to feast. He pulled on me, lifting my torso off the bed so I had to steady myself with my arms.
It was an uncomfortable position, and one that I didn’t care about when his mouth clamped down around my clit. I didn’t care about anything after that. Not the fingers digging into my hips, or that I hated the man doing it. I just wanted more. I needed it more than I needed my next breath.
“Oh god,” I moaned and clawed my fingers into the mattress. “I hate you so much right now.”
“The feeling’s mutual.” Devlin groaned, then sunk his teeth into my thigh.
