Well, at least if I detached now, I wouldn’t get involved with the Black Reapers once more. At least breaking it off after today would ensure I’d go home to Phoenix, away from the madness of the Reapers, away from the heartache of Vegas. I’d have to start my career back at the small stakes, but I could do so knowing I’d tried the bigger picture, and it wasn’t for me, and?—
I got to my door when the door to Cassius’ room opened behind me.
I turned around and saw Cassius standing there, with two buttons undone from the top of his shirt. His eyes locked on mine, and there was a haunting strength to them I had never seen before. These were not just the eyes of power, the eyes of curiosity, the eyes of dominance.
These were the eyes of lustful desire.
“Cassius…” I said, barely able to get the words out. “I… I’m…”
I never got to see where the sentence went. Because before I could even speak a verb, Cassius had taken me, pressed me against the wall, and kissed me.
And just like that—just like fucking that—I was no longer thinking about the detaching. I was no longer thinking about what might be, for good or for bad. I was no longer thinking, period.
I was just acting.
I grabbed Cassius' shirt and pulled him in even closer to me, as close as we could possibly fucking get. The moment laid bare what I had probably known from the start but had never admitted to myself, not even subconsciously. I wanted, no, IneededCassius Vale to be mine again. Deny it all I want, make all the excuses and justifications I might, I needed Cassius.
And damnit, he needed me too.
He picked me up and pulled me into his bedroom. It was not a graceful movement to the bed; it involved some false steps, some stumbles, some putting me down to pick me back up. I did not care. We never stopped kissing, and if we did, we were moving as quickly as we could to kiss once more. Years and years apart meant we could no longer spend moment after moment apart.
When we fell onto the bed, he started kissing and biting my ears and then my neck. “Fuck, Cassius,” I moaned loudly. This,I realized, was a good reason to be alone. I didn’t have to mute myself. I didn’t have to wonder if someone else would overhear and drop a line on a website. It was just us.
I could be fully me, fully loud, and so could Cassius.
But I hardly had time to contemplate that, because Cassius hadn’t stopped at my neck. He hadn’t even stopped at my breasts as he’d pulled my shirt and bra off, kissing and cupping them. He was now on my stomach, but he wasn’t stopping there.
And while I had known the instant I saw him in the doorway upstairs that he was going to fuck me, it hadn’t felt so real until this very moment. His hands were around my jeans, unbuttoning them and yanking them down. I lifted my hips up and kicked my legs up, letting my jeans and underwear go. I was bottomless, exposed to Cassius for the first time in over a decade.
“Get the rest of your clothes off,” he growled. “Now.”
I sat up and hurried to do so. He still had his clothes on, a sight much displeasing to me, but Cassius seemed to relish this dichotomy. He was still in control, it seemed, even when all seemed like rip-roaring passion. He smiled at my naked body, shamelessly looking it up and down.
“I have waited a very long time for this moment, Sarah,” he said. “Stand up.”
I did as he commanded. He ran his hands over my body, pressing and giving erotic rubs and massages. From my arms, to my thighs, to the inside of my thighs, to… just a glance over down there, just enough to draw a shiver, but not so long for the climb to orgasm to begin. Cassius snickered, pulled me in for a kiss, and then pushed me back onto the bed.
“From now until I come,” he said, “you are mine. You will do as I say, and you will not question it. I am Cassius Vale. I know how to give you what you want better than you could ever say, and you will let me do as I please.”
He did not ask me whether I understood. I understood enough. I simply tossed my head back and closed my eyes as Cassius kneeled at the side of the bed and began kissing the inside of my thighs.
The first sensation was like an overwhelming rush of warmth that shut down any ability to communicate beyond simple moans. Hot. Electric. A rush of euphoria. How could I explain the inexplicable? It wasn’t just the physical act; it was because it was Cassius Vale down there. Anyone else?—
“Oh!”
I didn’t know exactly what he did, but he pinned my hips down with his arms, sucked on my clit, and seemed to bring it to the brink of release far faster than I had even thought possible.
So, of course, he let it go and let me sit with the near-hit.
“You like that?” he said.
I nodded. I was already sweating, my hair a hot mess, my body alternating between blush red and pale white.
“We haven’t even gotten started yet.”
Christ,I barely had time to think before he went right back down on me. Through it all, his eyes bore up at me, staring at me, as if daring me to get lost in that powerful gaze of his. Those eyes—they were the same that he’d made when he first looked at me. Truly, he’d been imagining this moment the entire time, even if not overtly. It had always been at the back of his mind.
It might have been easy to chalk it up, but…
