I toe my bedroom door open to find him talking on the phone. He’s talking about the Den, some money he’s won, and I hear my name dropped a couple of times. He must be on the phone with Monies. I make a mental note to find out if Cipher made a bet on me tonight. If he did, I want half the proceeds.
I knock the thought away for now and focus on the task at hand. My skin is flushed, sweat cooling along my stomach, every inch of me humming with righteous fury. He’s turned away with all that muscle bunched and gleaming in the firelight. I know I should run. It would be the smart thing to do. True. But the urge to make him hurt a little, to let him see what he’s missing, is too sharp to resist.
I eye his guns, but if I take one of them in hand, I might actually use it on the asshole.
Nah. I don’t want to dig a hole tonight.
I have one chance to remind him that no matter how much he thinks he owns me, I’m nobody’s to keep.
And I take it.
6
HARLOW
With only a few long strides, I’m down the hall. The second I hit the boundary line to my small living room, I leap, catching him off guard.
Ahhh…but Cipher moves faster.
“What the…”
His phone tumbles to the carpet with a thud and I release a war cry that would make the gods of all creations beam with pride.
Cipher isn’t as impressed. The fucker–my new nickname for him apparently–catches me mid-air, his arms like steel bands around me.
“Someone has been naughty.”
“Put me down, you fucker!” I snap my teeth at his nose, ear and anything else I can reach.
He just chuckles and carries me back to the bed with a wicked, rough laugh. The mattress groans beneath our weight, sheets twisted and already damp from the mess we made earlier. The air between us is electric, thick with the smell of sweat, sex,and scorched wood from the fire. It’s a cocktail of everything dangerous I crave and everything I should resist.
He falls over me, arms braced on either side of my head, his eyes go molten and wild. His cock slips between my thighs, thick and hot. He drags the thick, veined length through my juices, wetting us both.
He growls with appreciation before he purrs, “Already wet for me, baby.”
“Fuck you!”
All I’d have to do is roll my hips to take him in again. I don’t. Not yet.
I twist, trying to scuttle away, but Cipher isn’t having it. He grabs my ankles, drags me down until my spine arches and he takes what he preserves as an offering and devours my breasts. He works one tip and then the other, torturing me beyond pleasure.
He breaks away and I’m suddenly pinned under his stare. My pulse skitters, heat washing through my body as he flips me to my belly, then pulls me up so I’m on my knees, back arched, face pressed to the pillow. His callused hands glide over the ink of my phoenix and he pauses briefly to trace the lines of the bird. One of its wings curls over my right shoulder while the other graces the tops of my left ass cheek.
He lingers there a moment longer before his touch finds my hips. His burning touch sinks into the tender flesh of my ass. Come morning I’ll have more bruising but I can’t seem to care right now. His touch turns possessive and hungry as he holds me right where he wants me.
I try to scurry up the bed again, to where I don’t know.
“Trying to run, hellcat?” His voice is a gravel-drag across my nerves, low and dangerous.
I huff, breathless. “I’m nobody’s captive.”
He laughs, the sound hot against the shell of my ear when he falls over me and presses the length of his cock between my ass cheeks. “You’re right. You’re mine. And only mine. That’s not the same thing.”
His chest is hot and solid against my back. The rough stubble of his jaw grazes my shoulder, making me shudder. I push back against him, grinding my ass into his cock, loving the feral, animal sound he makes in his throat.
“Reach back and put your hands on your ass,” he growls, voice ragged with command. “Show me everything. Don’t hide from me.”
It’s instinct, the way I obey. I reach back, hands spreading my cheeks, exposing every vulnerable, throbbing inch to his gaze. I can’t see his face, but I feel his obsession, the sharp bite of his stare burning along my skin.
