Then his touch was gone, and I choked on a moan of protest. The fire lashed me again.
I wasn’t sure how long he toyed with me, driving me to the brink of release before yanking me back from the edge. Tears spilled over my heated cheeks, and Luca’s face blurred into something meaningless. All that existed were the conflicting sensations of Dante’s belt and his wickedly skillful hands. He murmured soft words of encouragement as he indulged in his cruel game, telling me how beautiful I was and how much I pleased him.
Pain.
Pleasure.
Pain.
They melded into one, until my body floated and my mind blanked.
“Come for me, little bird. Come for your master.”
He barely had to brush my clit, and my back bowed from the force of my orgasm. A primal, animal wail echoed around us, and I didn’t recognize that the sound tore from my own chest. It was smothered when Dante’s lips crashed down on mine. He stimulated my g-spot, wringing more ecstasy from me as his tongue plundered my mouth. Nothing existed in the world except for his hands on my body and his ferocious kiss. He swept away all thoughts—even thoughts of Luca.
Especially thoughts of him.
This was an act of savage domination, a display of ownership for my husband’s benefit.
My release went on and on, until my legs shook and I saw stars. Dante’s corded arms wrapped around me, holding me upright as he continued to ravage me.
He didn’t stop until I wept for mercy, so overstimulated that all I could do was babble for reprieve.
He shushed me gently and freed my wrists from the silky binding before he sank to the floor, settling me over his lap so he could cradle me close to his chest. He was breathing hard, and his cock pressed into my stinging bottom, but he made no attempt to fuck me. Instead, his kiss turned languorous, indulging in my complete submission to his will. There were no thoughts of fighting him, no glimmer of resistance as I accepted his kiss, clinging to the act of tenderness after so much suffering.
He bushed his lips over my cheeks, tasting my tears.
“I have something for you, darling,” he murmured, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small, black velvet box.
I blinked at it, clearing my watery vision even though my mind still wasn’t working. I stared numbly when he opened the box to reveal the delicate, heart-shaped padlock. An ornate D had been engraved into the rose gold.
The matching, thick gold chain slithered like a snake as he lifted it from the box. It was cold against my heated skin when he looped it around the back of my neck. He hooked the padlock between the final links at either end of the chain. The click of the lock engaging made my heart stutter.
He traced the outline of the padlock with his fingertips, and my skin tingled beneath the tender touch.
“Now everyone will know that you’re mine,” he declared, voice warm with triumph and masculine satisfaction.
His lips brushed mine again, and I retreated deeper into the blankness of my quiet mind. I didn’t want to think. I couldn’t contemplate the fact that he’d essentially locked a collar around my neck like I truly was his pet, his property.
Dante thought that I was his. He thought that he was my master.
I couldn’t let it be true.
Chapter 6
Luca
The heart shaped padlock glittered at the hollow of her throat, the pretty trinket a nauseating sight. My stomach churned in the aftermath of the harrowing scene. If I’d eaten anything today, I would’ve vomited.
Her screams had knifed through me, carving furrows deep in my soul. I’d never forget the horror of watching helplessly as the bastard tormented my wife.
And I’d done nothing. I’d said nothing.
Even now, my hands were fused to the wall at my back, trapped in place by Dante’s cruel order, his threat to torture my friends if I defied him. All I could do was watch while he kissed my wife as though he had every right.
She was quiet in his arms, her eyes closed as her mouth shaped to his.
Was she thinking about me instead?
