My fingers skim the delicate curve of Abella’s neck before drifting to her beating pulse. I press against that space, wanting to inflict, even for a moment, a fraction of what I feel when I look at her.
Her eyes flutter open and settle on the balaclava obscuring my face. One glimpse into those pale green irises sends blood rushing to my traitorous cock.
She’s soft and drowsy—blinking through the fog of the sleeping pill she took earlier. A flicker of uncertainty ghosts across her face as she lingers between consciousness and a dreamlike state, wondering if her eyes deceive her. When she reaches out to touch me, my grip on her airway tightens.
“Is this real enough for you?”
One second stretches into the next as she holds my gaze. Her breaths are shallow, but even. She doesn’t try to pull away. She doesn’t beg or cry. What she does is far worse.
She surrenders.
The beat of her heart slows to a crawl as her eyes move over my silhouette. So full of trust. So fucking deceptive.
The tender give of her flesh beneath my brutal fingers feeds the darkness inside me. It thirsts for more. It demands all of her.
I hate her for it.
I’ve tried to stay away, but I can’t. For months, I’ve collected the intimate details of her life. I know the way she breathes when she sleeps, and how her hair slides over her pillow like silk. I know her fears, her fantasies, and the way she looks when she’s left alone with her thoughts.
As she submits to me now, I also know that I was right when I told her she would crave this.
The edge of terror and uncertainty gets her off. Convenient, given that I want to punish her until the end of fucking time.
“Was it worth it?” I murmur, brushing the hair back from her face.
Tears hover on the edges of her eyes as she blinks rapidly, trying to dispel them. She doesn’t answer me, and it only fuels my anger.
“Tell me to stop.” I press deeper into her throat.
She gives me the tiniest shake of her head, and I glare down at her. I’m half-tempted to lecture her about letting masked men choke her to the point of unconsciousness, but I prove my point by releasing her instead.
She coughs and sputters on a ragged breath, a tear finally spilling free and rolling down her cheek. I catch it with my thumb and press it to her lips, my blood heating as they part for me. Her tongue lashes against my rough skin, and she pulls me deeper, tasting me.
The wet sound of her mouth reverberates through my cock, and my irritation dispels in a primal haze of hunger.
I drag my thumb free of her lips and peel the covers away from her body, revealing a white nightgown that hugs every curve. Her nipples spear the delicate fabric as a full-body tremor moves through her.
The little liar is aching for it.
She lets out a startled yelp as I tug her upright and pivot her body, tossing her back down so she’s horizontal across thebed. I grab her by the ankle and drag her closer until her ass is hovering on the edge of the mattress. Then I drape both her arms above her head, pinning her there with my grip as I lean over her.
“Don’t move.”
She nods, chest heaving as I release her wrists and slide my calloused hand into her nightgown to grope her breast. A tortured whimper falls from her parted mouth as she arches into me, warmth blazing beneath her skin.
With a yank, I pull down the top of her nightgown, exposing her obscenely generous tits. A breath hisses through my teeth as I palm them, gripping and squeezing with a roughness that rips another moan from her chest.
They’re maddeningly perfect. The kind of soft I want to sink my teeth into and never let go. I’ve had six long years to plot my revenge, and in that time, I’ve imagined the countless ways I would fuck her, torture her, and mark her—starting with the most sensitive places on her body.
I adjust the balaclava, exposing my mouth as I dip my head to lick her nipple. At the first lash of my tongue, she gasps, her spine bowing off the bed.
“You like that,cara?” The words blow across her skin, sending another shiver through her.
“Yes,” she breathes.
Tension stretches through her body as my mouth latches onto her nipple, biting down, then sucking slow and deep as she trembles beneath me. I test her limits, pushing them until she cries out, and I release her tender flesh with a growl.
Warmth blooms around her nipple, leaving a deep violet imprint of my mark on her. A dark, throbbing satisfaction beats against my chest.
