His next words came in a low growl. “You make me want to ruin you even as I spend every waking moment ensuring your entire existence remains untouched and unmarred by anyone but me.” He nipped her ear. “Listen to how you pant for me.”
Truthfully, she was finding it hard to breathe. Tension stretched through her body, ravenous.
Augustus gripped her hips and raised her until she was hovering over his lap. Trembling with need. Holding her like a punishment. Or a promise.
His eyes glinted with his banked desire. “Don’t move,i psychi mou.”
Beneath her, he kicked off his boots and worked his pants down. Pulled his shirt off. All the while, he held her gaze. Fearless.
Finally, he sat naked beneath her with her skirts draping his thighs. He held his erection up for her, stroking in long, slow pulls. His other hand pushed into her hair and brought her mouth closer. “What is it you want?” he asked.
A dangerous question. Right now, she wanted it all. She wanted to feel him and taste him all at once. She needed to be inside his skin until their souls came together. She longed to wreck him the same way he did her.
“Ruin me, Augustus.”
A sound that was part groan, part growl left him. “Gods, woman, I’m hanging by a thread.”
Selene placed her hand over his, guiding his erection toward her center. “Then let me cut you free.”
Augustus thrust into her with demand and unleashed all restraint. He fisted her hair and opened her neck for his mouth and tongue and teeth. Mapping his territory, conquering what was his. Bold. Dangerous.Careless.
Selene let him with every sigh, every breathless whimper. She wanted to be caught in his undertow of desire. It was the only place she felt trulyalive.
The world shifted, and Augustus flipped her onto her back. He splayed her beneath his large body, hovering, pulling her dress off one shoulder and freeing her breast. His tongue flicked across her nipple.
“Do you feel that?” he whispered, climbing her body, scraping her skin with his coarse whiskers. “Do you feel how you tremble for me? Every quake…mine. Every broken moan clawing from your chest…mine.” Augustus kissed her, plunging into her mouth, taking her tongue and breath. “Mine,” he finished.
Selene fisted his hair and met his ravenous gaze. “Yours.”
Then, he was pushing into her again, and his kiss ventured just as deep. Just as ruthless. The orgasm built like a storm tide inside her, and when it hit, it shattered her into light. Her cry filled the cabin, half-worship, half-wreckage.
Augustus met every surge of her body with his unrelenting thrusts, kissing her neck, laving her collarbone. By the time he was there to meet her eyes, the haze cleared and revealed a wicked gleam staring down at her.
A ripple passed through him. The kind of shift a sea captain made before changing course.
He blindly reached toward a nearby table. “You asked me to ruin you, Selene.”
A flash of silver caught her eye.
Augustus rose to his knees, his thick erection still seated within her, and a blade in his hand. He twirled it, lantern light sparking off the shining silver.
He held her gaze. “I’m going to rip you open until all that’s left is a woman whoknowsshe’s worshipped.”
Selene’s heart quickened. Not from fear. Not from distrust. Nothing but reverence sparked in his eyes.
Augustus fisted the low neck of her chiton and kissed the steel of the blade, then twirled the knife over her breastbone. He slid the flat of the blade down her neckline, slow and deliberate, until the steel heated against her skin.
A shiver bloomed across her body, and her breath caught.
His gaze lowered to her breast. “I hope you’re not attached to this particular dress.”
He didn’t wait for her response and dragged the blade through the silk fabric. This wasn’t him taking her apart. He was unwrapping her like a relic. Like something sacred he’d die to protect.
The steel reached the net of cords belting her waist, and he paused for only a heartbeat. Then, one by one, the knife cut through each winding cord and sprang aside.
Once those were gone, Augustus tossed the weapon aside. He gathered what remained of her dress and ripped the silk until she lay naked.
Augustus examined his handiwork. “That’s better.”
