I feel another wicked grin stretch across my face. “I thought you’d say that,” I say casually, my hand drifting slowly up her thigh. “But we have all night.”
I kiss my way back down the length of her neck, lazily. I stop when I reach her breast and close my mouth around her peaking nipple, biting just enough to make her jolt.
She’ll beg; she just doesn’t know it yet.
“Fuck this,” she grits out between clenched teeth. “You’re a sadistic bastard.” We’ve been at this for what feels like hours but could just as easily have been minutes.
I glance up at her. “What I said before still stands. If you want me to stop, just say it.”
“Chinga tu madre,” is all she offers in return.
Her breathing is ragged now. Her eyes stay closed as she lies across the island, a thin layer of sweat making her golden skin glisten in the candlelight's glow.
“Fuck, Arden. You can insult me all you want if it sounds like that.”
My hand slides between her thighs again. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve done this tonight. I tease two fingers around her entrance before slowly slipping them inside and curving them against her.
My tongue glides over the sensitive skin near her hipbone, and I feel her body arch. “You really are a stubborn little thing, aren’t you?” I feel the corners of my mouth lift and twist into a feral grin.
I slowly taste her, sucking her clit into my mouth while my fingers slide in and out of her lazily. It doesn’t take long before her hips are arching into me, chasing the very thing she still refuses to ask for.
I pull away. Standing over her for what feels like the hundredth time tonight, my finger traces the delicate curve of her jaw. My hand slides to her chin, turning her face to meet mine. “Open for me.”
Surprisingly, she obeys, opening her mouth for me. Her blue eyes stay pinned to mine as I press my fingers, coated in the salt and heat of her own body, into it.
She seals her lips, and I feel the slide of her tongue as I pull my fingers back.
That single act is enough to push me over the edge. I groan as my cock strains against my zipper. But this isn’t about me. It’s always been about her.
“Just wanted you to know how delicious you are. I could stay here until sunrise.”
She holds my gaze, one last flicker of defiance in her eyes before the fight drains out of her all at once.
Her head tilts back, exposing the line of her throat, and her lips part.
And then… soft, broken, and furious.
“Please,” she breathes.
I pause, waiting for more.
“Please, what?” I ask.
She pushes herself up on her elbows; her knuckles white against the stone countertop as she anchors herself. Her chest heaves with a sharp inhale, her gaze searching mine with a desperation she can’t deny.
“Please let me come, Locke.”
My smile widens. “Anything for you, Arden. All you had to do was ask.”
She lets out a groan. “You’re insufferable!”
Then, her eyes flutter shut in a silent, heavy admission of defeat. I move one hand down to grip the soft heat of her thigh and drop my mouth back to where she’s soaked and aching for me.
She moans as if I’ve shattered something deep inside of her as her body finally finds release. Her back arches against me, and her fingers tangle in my hair as her thighs tremble against my shoulders.
The sound of it, the raw, broken edges of her voice, feeds a hunger in me I didn’t even know was there. A flush of heat spreads from the base of my throat, and my cock presses harder against my zipper. I ignore it, admiring her instead.
Exhaustion has finally won. As she lies across the island, a single tear escapes her eye, tracking a slow, silver line down her temple and disappearing into her hair. It’s the first thing she hasn’t tried to hide from me. The mask hasn’t just slipped; it’s shattered.
