I forced out the whisper, unable to meet his conceited expression, which I knew would be waiting beside me.“Please, Sir.”Steeling myself, I turned to meet his gaze.“I know it’s not up to me, but I’m so fucking horny.”
“And you’re so fucking delightful when you’re horny.”Reaching for my face, he stroked my cheek.“And I want to keep you this way.”
“Please.”
Scarcely even mouthing the word, my focus fell to the wooden post between my blanched knuckles as his fingers moved to my right breast.Stripped and exposed, there was no part of me he couldn’t help himself to, and I groaned as he cradled the tissue, his fingers tugging at my vulnerable nipple as if to reinforce the point.
He makes the rules.
“I’ll be good.”The needless vow escaped unthinkingly.Of courseI’d be good.I’d probably have agreed to call him Master of the Universe if I thought it would mean him consenting to my climax.“I’ll do anything, Sir.”
“Yes, you will.”His tone was matter-of-fact.“You’ll do as you’re told whether I let you come or not.”
Taking my bud between his thumb and forefinger, he pinched until I gasped.
“Are we clear?”His voice sounded distant somehow, as though it was coming from another part of the house, although that couldn’t be right.I could still sense his digits at my nipples, tormenting and exciting me in equal measure.
“Yes, Sir.”
I would do anything he told me, not only because I was desperate for the pleasure I knew he’d bring, but because I wanted to obey him.Aside from the distressed ashes from which it had risen, the most fucked up part of our union had been discovering just how much I enjoyed my compliance whenhedemanded it.
Damn him.I pulled in air, my focus on surviving the next moment, then the next, and the next.My entire world had been reduced to the wet, wanton vessel he’d created.Damn him, and damn me, too.
Why couldn’t I have rejected his illicit power play in favor of more conventional romance?Why did I long for his authority and my subjugation?
What difference does it make?
I swallowed back the pain as, releasing my bud, he slapped at the side of my breast.Reveling in the feeling of the strike, I leaned into the pain.
If I’d rejected his need to dominate me at the beginning and not allowed myself to enjoy the submission, then he might never have taken a shine to me at all.I’d still have been stuck in Gamma block under the vile Commander Mitchell’s jurisdiction, and one day soon, the man I had fallen for would have been given orders to cull me.
Surely, that would have been the worst outcome of all.
“You’ll suffer for me until I say so.”His voice was softer, or maybe that was only how my tortured mind interpreted it.“Do you understand?”
Suffer?
The word pinballed around my overwrought body.
I’d suffered hideous penances at Fortorus and watched others endure far worse, and in the wake of those dreadful events, I’d assumed I’d never know joy or hedonism again.Hell, there had been moments so bleak that I doubted humanity still existed, let alone love and lust.That was untilhehad come along, the commander general, and in the frenzy of our love affair, he’d changed everything.
Lifting my head, I compelled my gaze to find his, my breathing coming hard and fast when our eyes collided, and what I saw there anchored me.
He was everything.So much temptation, joy, and frustration wrapped in the most devastating package.There was so much power in his handsome pair of hands, the power to pluck me to safety, to free me, to suspend me in whatever clouded purgatory state I was currently freefalling in, and one day, when he decided it was time, the power to pleasure.
Harper retained all the power in the world.
“Yes, Sir.”I hardly recognized the sound of my voice anymore, unsure if the throaty, needy tone meeting my ears was truly mine.“I understand.”
All I wanted was to come, but my hope of that high was fading, drowned out by the ballooning ache in my lower back.If he wasn’t going to release me from my prison of denial, then I might as well accept it as best I could and fast-forward to whichever outcome saw his climax instead.
“You suffer so beautifully, Caroline.”Releasing my breast, he skimmed a hand over my cooling shoulder and along my back.“You’re so very easy to adore.”
I bit back on the snarky retort threatening to rise at his so-called praise.If I was so adorable, then he needed to let me come, but there was nothing to be gained by telling him so, especially when we both knew the truth—I had no idea how I’d have been able to survive without the crushing weight of his authority.
Whoever I’d been before I’d been rounded up and brought to heel, that woman was long gone.
“Thank you, Sir.”My gaze shifted between my hands, and I wondered how long I could hold onto the wood before my fingers cramped.
