Victor withdrew his cock, and his fingers resumed their torment of Olivia’s clit. His seed began to drip from her puckered opening, which made him want to take her again.
“Now,” he commanded, circling her pearl. “Come for me now, with my seed running down your thighs.”
Olivia’s body trembled as she immediately cried out, her climax crashing through her. She moaned a series of unintelligible words as she rocked against his hand.
“That’s a good girl,” Victor praised, and she sagged down onto the bed. “Now thank your Daddy.”
“Thank you, Daddy.” She sounded as if she were on the verge of tears.
The satisfaction in that single phrase and the sincere emotion in her words did things to him. And as much as he hated to part from her for even a moment, he forced himself to move to thewash basin to claim a clean cloth, dampening it with the cool water.
When he returned to her, he carefully cleaned her. Victor wiped away the oil and fluids, and used the cool cloth to soothe her sensitive opening. After he’d tended to her, he tossed the cloth aside and pulled her to him, finally allowing himself to hold her in his arms.
Once she settled against his chest, she began to sob. It was like a hundred knives had been stabbed directly into his heart. He held her tighter and kissed the top of her head.
“What is it, little one?”
“I know I shouldn’t have kept Reynolds’ letter from you. I just didn’t want to risk losing what we have.”
Victor knew that fear well. It was the same fear that had sent him into a rage and led him to follow her. It was all from the fear that she might leave him. Fear that she might prefer another’s touch to his own. Fear that the marriage they had formed might prove as fragile as the arrangements that had brought them together.
The realization unsettled him profoundly. He had built his adult life on control, on the ability to command and be obeyed. But there was something more between him and Olivia. And it scared him almost as much as the thought of losing her.
“You are mine,” he finally replied. “And nothing shall ever change that. I won’t allow it.”
He couldn’t summon the words for the depth of feeling churning inside him. Or the willingness to speak them if he could.
She was his to protect, his to cherish, his to guide through the complexities of their arrangement. But he wasn’t certain he’d ever find the strength to offer her his heart.
Olivia seemingly accepted his response as she nuzzled into his chest and clung to him.
That would do at present. The words that remained unspoken would just remain that way. Possibly forever. But one thing was clear . .. he was spoiling his little one, and that would have to change.
Chapter Seven
Olivia
Seven days. It had been seven days of exquisite torment since the encounter with Reynolds.
Her husband hadn’t allowed her to find satisfaction, and the denial was sure to drive her mad. Her body had become a battlefield where the desire to cross over the edge and her husband’s withholding waged an endless war. And she was losing what remained of her composure.
Since the confrontation with Reynolds, Victor had been different. Each night since that day, he claimed her body in increasingly demanding ways. Binding her, using her, filling her cunt with his seed—sometimes twice in the same night—and drawing her to the precipice of the most intense feeling, only to deny her pleas to finish. All the while saying that she’d become too spoiled.
A notion she wasn’t certain she agreed with, given what torture she lived with each day.
“Is this to your satisfaction, Your Grace?” Martha asked, adjusting the final pin in Olivia’s hair, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Thank you, Martha. That will be all for now.”
The maid’s eyes met hers briefly in the mirror, a flicker of concern appeared before she departed.
Olivia rose from the dressing table, wincing at the delicious soreness between her thighs. Last night was particularly intense. Victor fucked her against the wall of his study, beside the painting that had brought them together. He had her wrists bound and her mouth gagged so she couldn’t even beg. Her body’s response had been immediate and overwhelming. Yet, she was left ultimately unsatisfied.
The whole business with Reynolds had awakened a darker side of Victor. Things had been better than expected between them before, almost loving, and then it had all changed. His possession of her body had taken on an almost desperate edge, even if he continued to punish her.
And God help her, she craved it. Even as she suffered through each denial, each careful edge of pleasure without completion, she found herself surrendering more completely to his will. It wasn’t just that she craved his touch, but she craved just him. Having him near. The way he cared for her and tended to her, even without an orgasm. There were moments she saw something in his eyes ...
A knock sounded at the door.
