“Ember.” The word is a warning and promise wrapped in satin.
I follow instructions. He gazes at my pussy hungrily. Inhales a sharp breath that comes fluttering out as a low groan, and leans down. Presses his nose to my core.Inhales my scent.
We both moan at the same time.
He clasps my thighs, flattening them on the bed, and nuzzles the crease where my thigh meets my center. “Fuck, I could get high on your scent.” He presses a featherlight kiss to my clit. “And your taste. I get high on everything about you, and I have for much longer thanI’d admit to either of us.”
His mouth latches to my pussy, sucking one of my lower lips into his mouth and gently nipping at it. I tug at the bindings, arching, and let out a shocked cry when he scrapes the nail of his thumb down my clit. “I said I’d hold you down,” he says, words partially muted. “I didn’t sayhowI’d do it, Flame.”
His tongue spears inside of me so suddenly I nearly lose my mind entirely. His hands clamp down on my thighs again, nails digging into my soft skin, and the bridge of his nose rubs against my clit. He’s not shy about the act—he doesn’t mind the wetness that smears his entire face. In fact, it seems toinvigorate him.
Watching him, between my thighs, seeming to getoffon my taste singlehandedly has to be the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I release a loud, resounding moan when his lips find my clit and work it between them, occasionally stopping to run his tongue up and down it. A cry is caught in my throat as my orgasm peaks, and just then, hebites my clit.
Iscream, so loud and hoarse it almost hurts as he sucks away the sting and slams three fingers inside of me, scissoring them to stretch me out. I bury my face in my arm and scream again, writhing like a fish out of water, panting, on the verge of begging him to ease up.
I don’t need to. As soon as my orgasm ebbs, I realize his patience has reached an end. He rears back, flips me to my front, and pulls my ass in the air—a position that seems to be a favorite of his.
“I know you said you haven’t been fucked, but how many men have touched this pussy?” he demands, cupping me possessively. It sounds like he’s really asking,how many men am I going to kill?
Regardless, the answer is the same. I whisper it into the bedsheets because it’s embarrassing. “None.”
He freezes. His fingers go lax. Then, he twirls a rope of my hair over his fist and uses it as a handle to turn my head sideways. “Say that again.”
I shake my head, trying to bury it in the bedsheets again.
“No defiance.” He gives my ass a spank to punctuate his point. “Repeat that, Ember.”
“None!” I snap.
There’s a long, long pause that follows my admission. I almost wish I could see his face so I could read his expression, but at the same time, I’m happy I can’t. It’d be too much.
“None?” he breathes. “Not… not anyone? Nothim?”
I shake my head, a wave of misery tightening my muscles. “No. He used a knife handle to break my hymen but didn’t want to fuck me until marriage—and after I killed several of his men who tried to rape me, he had them stop, as well. It was a game to him at first, I think. How far would I go to protect my virtue? He’d tell his guys to try—at first, Ibarelyfought them off… and then I got very good at protecting myself. He didn’t want to lose the manpower anymore, so he stopped them. Some still tried.” I pause. “They’re extremely dead now.”
Max pauses as he digests this information, one morsel at a time. His grip on me loosens.
“That’s over,” he finally says. “Everything that’s happened is in the past. You’re mine now. This body? Mine. This pussy?” he squeezes me again, and a moan gets caught in my throat. “Mine.” His hand lodges beneath me, sliding under my ribcage until it’s resting over my heart. “And this is soon to be mine, too. Brace yourself, Flame.”
I shut my eyes tight, trying to sort through the countless sensations he’s inspiring. Tension. Need. Blazing lust, so intense and all-encompassing it threatens to swallow me whole. Gratitude. And I think, maybe, even the seeds of affection.
“I need to look in your eyes for this,” he says, and then I’m once again on my back, gazing up at him. He stares down at me, ownership stamped into every gorgeous line of his face, and swallows thickly. He’s beautiful. He’s magnificent. He… saved me, and to top it off, he earned me.
I arch my back, presenting myself to him. A sly grin overtakes his features, and he watches me with deepening interest and need. His hands, still slick with my wetness, cup my breasts. His fingers circle my areolas—so gently it makes me shiver with need, and that’s when a devious smirk slants his lips.
He reaches down, scoops wetness from my slit, andpaints my nipple with it. Then, he lowers his head and sucks it off, all while holding my gaze.
I nearly come on the spot.
“Max,” I gasp. “Fuck—Max—Sir, please!”
“Patience,” he chides, eyes dancing with laughter. He works his way down my body, licking and nipping my skin as he goes, marking me as his.
And I am his. He earned me fair and square, and in this moment, I feel no urge to fight him or run away. I almostwantto be his.
Three fingers circle my clit, slowly, and deliberately. He watches every shiver that courses through me, every twitch that ripples my skin, and smiles with amusement. “You’re a good girl at heart, you know that?”
His hand pulls away—I barely have a chance to part my lips in protest before it comes down on my pussy with a sharpcrack. A cry is torn out of me as a delicious stinging pain ignites, setting me on fire.
