The loss of his thumb leaves me oddly hollow, but he’s quick to recapture my mouth with a kiss. But I need more. Much more. Every part of me is needy, empty, and wanting. It’s like nothing I’ve experienced, and when he tears his lips from mine and instructs me to “hold on tight,” I follow his instructions as he stands, carrying me toward the stairs with me locked around his waist.
Up we go, with Rhys heading toward my bedroom. He alternates between watching where he’s going and placing sweet, little kisses on my nose, forehead, cheeks, and lips.
“We don’t have to do this,” I reluctantly remind him. “You’re not obligated to have sex with me. It’s not part of our deal.”
His grip on me tightens as we reach the top landing. “You don’t strike me as a stupid woman, Charlotte.”
“I try not to be,” I say with a little laugh.
Let’s ignore the years I stayed married to a cheating asshole, shall we?
“Then don’t say stupid things.”
“Fine.” I give him a quick kiss. “I was just trying to be nice, anyway. I want this to happen.”
“Make no mistake, I’m going to fuck you.” His promise shoots a delicious chill down my spine. “And I’m going to keep fucking you as many times as possible until I’m sent back to the void.” He talks as he walks, stopping when we reach my bedroom door. “Any objections, now’s the time to voice them. You won’t get another chance.”
I roll my lips between my teeth and shake my head. Then, “Nope, not a single one.”
“Damn right you don’t.” He strides inside the room and literally tosses me on the bed. I release a squealing laugh as he turns on the lamp on the bedside table. When he sees me shimmy to the edge of the bed, I think he assumes I might try to run. “Stay,” he snaps. “And don’t you dare take off those clothes. You’re mine to unwrap.”
Like a gift.
But he’s mine too, and when Rhys nears the bed, I hop onto my feet. “No fair. I’m the only one shirtless.”
I remove Rhys’s shirt, purposely skating my palms over the eight-pack abs. His body is magnificent, and when I finally reveal the glorious ink tattooed across his sun-kissed flesh, I trace my fingers along the gray-and-black skulls. “You’re beautiful,” I breathe.
Rhys wraps his arms around me. “You better like what you see.” He kisses the top of my head. “You made it.”
“No, all I did was pick a few things. It’s like you said before. I may have Frankensteined you to get you here, but everything else, the things that actually matter… The rest is you, Rhys.” I rest my chin on his chest and look up at his face. “I’m glad you’re here.”
I barely get those last words out before Rhys swoops me up and slams his mouth over mine in a punishing kiss. He uses his powerful body to move me backward until the backs of my legs hit the bed. I tumble onto the mattress and quickly pop up on my elbows. Rhys follows, climbing on top of me. With trembling hands, I explore his chest, marveling at the play ofmuscles beneath his taut and decorated flesh. Relishing the power caged inside him.
Rhys braces his weight on one arm, and I gasp when he cuffs my throat, restricting my air just enough to send a frisson of fear slithering through me. This is the part when I’m supposed to be all,oooohh, a hand necklace!But guess what? In real life, with Rhys…
Not gonna lie, it’s a bit scary.
And I kinda like it—a lot.
“You may have brought me here, but who owns whom?” Rhys’s growled demand comes with another squeeze around my throat. “Say it, Charlotte. Admit that while I’m here, you’re mine.” He lowers his head to lick the seam of my lips. “And I’m yours.”
“Fine,” I rasp out, desperate for air. “Sure. I’m yours.”
He eases his hold, and I take a deep gulp of air. He grinds his length against me, letting me feel every achingly hard inch of him before he crawls down my body. “Lift your hips.” I do as he demands as he shimmies my sweatpants over my ass and down my legs. When he traces a single finger along the waistband of my white lace panties, I press the back of my head against the pillow and squeeze my eyes shut. “No, I want them open. I want you watching me.”
Fuuuck.
My eyes spring open, and my gaze locks on his. “I’m embarrassed,” I admit.
“Of what? You’re with me.”
Oh, God, there’s that lovely little flutter again. “I’ve been with one man, and he, um, he…”Jesus, Charlotte, spit it out. “We weren’t… Um… He wasn’t fond of my body. Actually, he hated everything about me.”
Rhys keeps glancing from my face to my pussy, barely covered by the thin scrap of lace-covered cotton. When I’m done with my mortifying admission, he kisses my abdomen, right on the sensitive spot below my navel. “I’m not your ex, Charlotte.” He brushes his lips a teeny bit lower. “And I’ll tell you a secret.” A third kiss, this one much lower. So low, he dips the band of my panties to press his lips against my fevered flesh, and I swear to God, I forget to breathe. “I’ve never done this at all, so what a pair we make.”
I bolt upright and actually feel my jaw drop. “Sex?” I blurt out. “You never had sex?”
But of course he hasn’t, and when he lifts that single brow, I flop back on the mattress. His baritone washes over me when he says, “Sex is difficult to do when you lack a body, no?”
