He was everything I wanted on damned steroids.
Most women would call me crazy, and maybe they’d be right, but Pagan had made me feel more in one week than anyone else had in a lifetime, and I was hooked.
My mind kept flashing back to that alley, not helped by aching thighs that still tingled with the bruises Pagan’s fingers had left behind. My ass stung, the skin still raw from his spanking, but it didn’t erase the memory of my climax. I’d never come like that before, and it had left a heaviness in my body, but somehow, my mind was oddly light.
I heard a click at the bathroom door, and my eyes lifted to see Pagan walk in, holding a glass of wine.
“Brought you this,” he said, his deep raspy voice unusually soft. “Thought it may help warm you up.”
“I’m warm now,” I assured him.
He let out a quiet snort. “Thought you were fuckin’ hypothermic when I carried you up here.”
By the time we pulled up outside my apartment, I shivered so much I couldn’t walk. I was cold for sure, but I think a part of how my body responded was a reaction to the way he’d touched me.
I’d had a weird couple of days, and I guessed getting publicly finger-blasted by an outlaw biker (who the night before hadstabbed a knife through a man’s hand just because he touched me) was my tipping point.
“You feel better now?” he asked.
My eyes caught his, and I nodded.
His gaze roamed lazily over my face. “Could you eat?”
That was when I picked up the smell of food, something I wasn’t used to because I usually ate out. I loved cooking, but it seemed pointless to bother for one person.
He jerked a thumb in the direction of my kitchen. “I stopped at Whole Foods earlier ’cause I was gonna cook for us. Got Wiki to track your ass down, and he tapped into your cell. I thought you’d be here waitin’ for me.”
“I didn’t hear from you, and you didn’t show, so I assumed you’d changed your mind,” I admitted.
His lip curled slightly. “And you thought it’d be smart to put your mouth on another dude? Revenge much?”
“It wasn’t like that,” I protested. “I was telling Kieran how much I missed my dad, and he made me feel better. It was reactionary and probably looked way worse than it was?—”
“Don’t fuckin’ say his name to me,Dubheasa.” He sucked air in through his nose and released it slowly. “I’ve only just calmed my shit. Don’t make me pop off again.” He perched his ass on the side of the tub and rested his free hand on my nape, lifting the wine glass to my mouth, and ordered, “Drink.”
I took a sip, savoring the mellow taste as the wine hit the back of my throat. My eyes never left Pagan’s as I relished the way the weight of his palm at the base of my skull felt so grounding. It was weird because he wasn’t gentle by any means, but something in the way his fingers rested on my skin felt comforting.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked.
He held the glass back to my mouth, waiting for me to take another sip before asking, “Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”
“You spanked my ass raw in an alley, and now you’re feeding me wine. Forgive me if I’m being slow, Pagan, but my head’s about to explode with trying to keep up with all your mood swings.”
He flashed his straight white teeth. “You’ve got me wrong, baby.”
My eyebrows pulled together. “How?”
He reached up to place the wine on the shelf by the sink and turned back to me. “The alley scene happened because it had to. I walked inside that bar, saw you kissin’ another guy, and I needed to deal with it. Then you mouthed off, so I needed to deal with that, too. If you eventually become my ol’ lady, you’ll need to behave a certain way in front of my men, so it’s better we get the lessons out of the way early. But know this, baby: my intent isn’t to hurt you; it’s to worship you. After today, there’ll be no question in your mind of who you belong to. You don’t touch other men.You don’t even look at another man. Got it?”
I jutted my chin out defiantly. “Does that go for you, too?”
“Yeah,” he replied without hesitation.
“It’s a deal-breaker for me, Pagan,” I went on. “If you’re touching me, and I’m touching you, we don’t touch anybody else.”
“Deal,” he responded, again with no hesitation. “Now, I’m gonna ask you a question, and I want the truth. Why are you still a virgin?”
I felt my cheeks heat, but I gave him my honesty. “I always wanted to save myself for my husband. I know it’s old-fashioned, but I want to give my husband everything.”
