I drop my arms and prepare for a fight. I tug on the strand of magic which would zap my ass out of here and I’m met with nothing. Well shit. I can’t escape from this place without him, but that doesn’t mean I will lie willingly in his bed. “I expect and understand your anger, but that doesn’t mean you get to treat me like shit.”
He shakes his head. The next second, my back is plastered to the bed, and he’s an immovable force over me. “I won’t treat you like shit, but you have to be punished for your epically bad decision making.”
He moves his lips towards mine. I twist my head to the side. “I saved you, and you don’t get to taste my love again until you apologize for how you treated me.”
“I had to be sure,” he whispers. “You are impossible, but as always, you defy the laws of the universe and present me with an enigma I can’t resist.”
I turn my head back to look him straight in the eyes. “I understand the anger and even the stabbing; but after you kissed me, you should have known. I expected better, I deserve better. You think it has been an easy journey returning from Heaven? That it was a simple decision to give up the things I had in order to get back to you?”
“You killed yourself. That’s an unforgivable act.”
I tilt my head. “I sacrificed myself to save those I love, to offer humanity a chance. To avoid being used against you. There’s a difference.”
He grips my jaw and forces me to hold still. “I don’t need a little girl to save me.”
I snort a laugh. “Clearly you did. Without me, the world would have lost you. Then what chance would we have? I know who you are, and within seconds, the universe would have registered your absence and moved to compensate. Did you ever think about the consequences of you dying?”
“There’s a contingency plan,” he states, not surprised I know who he is. I’d figured it out from the god family tree Zee had set up. “And it was not your decision to make.” He leans down and skims his nose over his bite mark; a shiver rolls through my body. He doesn’t miss it. “You are mine. No matter where you go, I will find you.”
“I’m done running and hiding. So bring it on, but you are still going to have to beg for my forgiveness.”
His mouth trails up my jaw and to my lips. I slam them together and glare at him as he brushes his over mine. His tongue snakes out and tries to coax them open. It takes everything I have not to give into his seductive demand and just let him devour me, but it’s the last defense I have. He releases my jaw and I twist my head to the side, removing the temptation. If I give in to him now, he will use sex to make up for his actions. I’m all for angry make up sex, but apologies must come first.
His hands skim down my arms then he grips my wrists and throws them above my head. Cool leather wraps around one wrist, then the next before they are pulled taut. I glance up, then back at him, his wicked grin doing more to me than his hands. I arch an eyebrow. “Seriously, this is your MO? Tie a girl up to stop her running from your bed?” He snaps his fingers and Ruelle’s “Follow Me” floods the room.
He leans his forehead against mine, his gold eyes flaring as he stares at me. “I have spent every day since you died wishing you were in my arms. Needing to hear your smart mouth. Praying for one more night to lose myself in your body. I have never felt more connected, more passionate, and more humble than when I am inside you.” He looks away, then back at me and my heart breaks at the vulnerable lost look in his eyes. This powerful man has been made a little human by his feelings for me. It’s not an apology in the strictest sense, perhaps he pre-dates apologies. Maybe they were only invented a few thousand years ago?
I give a slow nod. “Okay,” I breathe and relax against my restraints. He needs this intimacy and this control to help him through. I took all of that away and he’s struggling to put himself back together. “But for the record, I’m still mad at you.”
He slides a knife from one of his pockets. “Wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“Like a true boy scout,” I say as my heart races. He arches an eyebrow, takes the bottom of my tank and slices it up the center. His eyes devour each inch of exposed flesh. He hooks the knife under my bra and it breaks apart.
“So fucking beautiful,” he mutters, his fingers caressing the valley of my breasts, his thumbs stroking the underside. My eyelids flutter closed and I stuff the moan climbing up my throat as a red hot flush of lust and adrenaline flows like lava through my veins.
“You know your emotions are heightened as a goddess?” he asks.
My eyes flick open, not sure where he is going with this. “Yes.”
“Love, anger, attraction, lust…”
“Your point?” I ask as he slides down my body and pulls my shoes off.
“Every feeling, Natia.” My eyes widen. “And now you’re stronger, you can take so much more.” He unbuttons my pants and peels them down my legs. “Do you remember when I withheld your orgasm?”
“I remember you trying,” I mutter.
“Keep that fire in your heart, Natia, you are going to need it.”
His mouth trails a blazing path up my leg. I throw my head back against the pillow and grit my teeth to stop the moan breaking free. His hot breath against the thin scrap of silk covering my sex makes me suck in a breath.
“Apologies are best said with lots and lots of orgasms. Not withholding them, asshole.”
“What happened to roses and chocolates? And who said anything about withholding your orgasm?”
My head flies forward. “You did.”
He runs a finger under my panties, brushing my clit and finding the telling wetness between my legs.
