"Yes, I fucking can," I repeat, ripping her panties at the crotch. They're soaked through, her arousal evident.
She draws in a breath to yell at me again, but I don't give her the chance. I drop to my knees by the side of the bed,pull her to the edge, and put my mouth on her the way we both know she wants.
Her taste is a miracle I don't deserve, but goddamn, it's mine anyway. She nearly bends in half trying to escape the intensity of my mouth on her.
I don't let her.
I hold her thighs open, forcing her to take everything I give her.
She comes apart in seconds, moaning my name. Her body is always ready for me, always so honest, even when her mouth is full of lies about how much she doesn't want this.
I don't let her finish.
The second she starts to crest, I pull back, leaving her hovering on the edge, shaking and furious.
"You asshole!" she yells, kicking at my chest.
I barely feel it when her heel connects with my sternum. "You aren't leaving me. Not now, not ever."
She tries to twist away, but I just drag her hips back to the edge and start again, slower this time, dragging it out until she's incoherent, her whole body trembling. My name is a curse on her lips.
Again, I pull away right when she's at the brink.
She sobs, all rage and frustration and need, and I love her so much in this moment, it's almost unbearable. I don't care if it's too soon or if I'm not supposed to want this. Fuck the rules. Fuck everything but her.
I think I fell the moment she looked up at me from the floor of Stu's, with her hands on my cock and her cheeks blazing red. I was certain of how I felt when we were standing in the middle of the encampment last night, with her smiling at me like there was nowhere else in the world she'd rather be than right there, surrounded by battered tents and the people this city forgot.
"You're cruel," she rasps, trying to crawl away. I flip her onto her stomach, pin her arms behind her back with one hand, and lean over her, my mouth at her ear.
"I'd do anything to keep you," I growl. "Anything."
She goes very still, her whole body tensing beneath me as she registers the sincerity in my tone.
I drag my cock out of my pants, pressing it up against her, but I don't let her have it. Not yet.
She writhes, desperate for it, but I keep her right where I want her.
"I'm not a one-night stand," I say, my voice a gritty rasp. "I'm not a fucking mistake. You're not getting rid of me that easily, Serena."
She moans, her face buried in her pillow. "Please."
"Say you'll come to work for me."
She shakes her head, but it's weak, uncertain.
"Say it."
She makes a sound, muffled and desperate.
I push into her in one deep stroke. She screams, her body arching off the bed. I almost lose it right then, but I grit my teeth and hold on.
I fuck her slow, brutal, not letting her come until she's trembling and begging, sobbing my name.
"You're the most important thing in my life," I breathe in her ear. "You hear me? You're everything. I won't let you run because you're afraid."
She goes still beneath me, her breath stalling.
I let up, just enough for her to turn and look at me over her shoulder.
