“No, I haven’t made my point. Not yet.”
There’s more? My eyes sting as tears threaten to fall. He won’t stop until he’s destroyed me. “Please,” I whisper.
He gathers both of my wrists into one of his large hands, freeing the other to grip my chin. “Open your eyes, Daphne.” It’s the use of my real name that shocks me into compliance. I expect to be met with the visceral hatred I can hear in the words he’s just spoken. But they are soft, full of longing and heat.
“What do you want from me?” I murmur.
“Everything,” he says without hesitation.
“Why, when you have the perfect woman waiting for you?”
“Perfect perhaps, but not perfect for me.” His thumb traces my bottom lip, tugging until it presses against my teeth. “I need a woman who will challenge me and call me out on my shit. She needs to ground me in reality, not pander to my superiority complex. My perfect woman upends my world and stirs up themost delicious chaos. She doesn’t shy away from the darkness in my soul. She makes fire sting my veins. She makes me want to crawl on my knees to have just a moment of her attention.” A dark image of Hart crawling toward me makes my thighs clench. “She doesn’t conform to the rules. She tears them up and resets the narrative to her expectations. She creates wonder and makes me excited to rise at dawn to find out what calamities she has in store for me. She will never be Felicity, and that is what makes her perfect.”
My heart struggles to soar, recognizing me as that woman, but my mind reminds me that Hart hates me. Right?
“I am not perfect. I’m the opposite.” It’s true, and I’m okay with it. I have never tried to conform. It is utterly unappealing to me, and I would fail.
“You think you are anything less than perfect? I just about lost my mind watching Nash push you over the edge. I had to restrain myself from taking everything I wanted from your body.”
“I wish you wouldn’t.”
His throat bobs as he swallows, and he releases my wrists. He takes a step back. “Okay, I’ll leave you in peace.”
My brain scrambles to understand what he means. Oh, no, he thinks I rejected him. I grab his hand. “No, Hart. I mean, I wish you wouldn’t restrain yourself.”
His nostrils flare. “Turn around, Daphne.”
Anticipation tightens my skin as I spin to give him my back. He scoops my wild hair over my shoulder and releases the corset laces, tugging them loose. His lips trail over my shoulder as he pulls the sleeves free from my arms. The dress whispers against my skin as it slumps to the floor in a heap of fabric.
His knuckles graze my spine. “Put your hands on the wall, and don’t move,” he instructs. I comply, eager to find out his intentions. I’m his perfect, and I need to remind myself to stopthe self-conscious thoughts about my body not being enough for him.
He chuckles. “How long can I look forward to this compliance?”
I twist my head to glance at him over my shoulder. “A turn at most, so use it wisely.”
He licks his lips as he shrugs off his shirt and toes off his boots.Breeches too please, Idols.Hart shakes his head.
“No talk of Idols. Mine is the only name you need to say in prayer tonight.”
I need to watch what I’m saying in my mind out loud. Stupid brain needs to keep it inside.
Hart sinks to his knees behind me and places a soft kiss on both of my ass cheeks before tugging down the matching red panties to join my dress on the floor.
He encourages my legs wider apart and blows a breath over my sensitive flesh. Tingles of pleasure skitter down my legs, and my forehead presses against the cool wall. The contrast to my flushed flesh is welcome.
“Your scent is like a damn drug. It makes me think of silk and fur in the dark,” he grumbles. He puts a hand on the base of my spine, dipping it toward the wall, bringing my ass out. The position opens me up even further to his touch.
The moment his tongue touches my most intimate flesh, I moan. He feasts on me like he’s been starving for my taste, and only a few tempos later, I’m on the edge of an orgasm.
“Beg me to come, Daphne,” he snarls. He wants my complete surrender, because I already have his.
“Please let me come.” His teeth clamp down on my swollen, sensitive flesh and I suck in a breath.
He releases me. “Do better.”
Growling, I spin to face him, grab his hair, and guide him between my legs, directing his intimate kisses where I need themthe most. His eyes dance in the dark, satisfied as he makes me feral with need for him.
“Make me come,” I snap.
