“But that’s what I want,” he said, withdrawing. “I want you to be all mine. And I’d be so good at pleasing you, and making you happy. And all you need to do—is tell me yes.”
Fear wound through her, and so did something else; it was hot and feverish. This was the most dangerous game they had ever played, and its potential to destroy enthralled her.
“I d-don’t know how to give you what you’re asking,” she protested, hating that she was naked and on display like this, when she already felt so exposed. “I—I don’t knowhowto love someone. It’s like I’m broken. If I told you I loved you, it m-might be a lie.”
“Then lie to me.” He thrust again, bruising her ribs. “It’s not like I’m asking for your soul.”
But you are.
Jay squeezed her eyes shut, unable to look at him. He didn’t seem to like that. He pinched one of her nipples, and the stimulation made her groan. “Please . . . don’t make me.”
“Do it,” he said, each word falling like a stone. “Or I’ll show that picture around the office and everyone will know what you’re like when you take off your prim little office clothes.”
Oh god.Her head spun, leaving her dizzied by the rush. It was so familiar, so addictive, that she felt lost in it. She missed the bitterness in his voice, and with her eyes shut tight, she didn’t see the way he was looking at her. All she could think was,he wouldn’t really do it, but also, how cruel that he would threaten to, especially now.I should hate him, she thought, and not for the first time.
“You wouldn’t do that,” she cried. “I’d hate you.”
“Say it, Jay,” he said. “I won’t ask again.”
The weight of him, the heat, the salty citrus of his skin—she couldn’t bear it. Her desire for him was like a knife twisting in her belly, as lethal as it was inevitable.
They had both grown up and yet still, she could deny him nothing.
She craved the knife.
“I love you, Daddy. I’m sorry I was bad.”
The sound he made—Jay shuddered as the seeping heat of his pre-come spilled over her collarbones and down her throat. That was why he’d pushed her hair back, she realized. So he wouldn’t get it in her hair. “Fuck,” he said hoarsely. “Yes.”
The slick head of his cock pressed against her parted, trembling lips as he fell forward again.
“Say it again.” She could see the strain in his arms, the tendons popping out along his wrists. His eyelashes were a dark sweep against his swarthy cheekbones, and through the narrowed slits, his pupils were so large that his irises were nearly black. “With your mouth on me.”
“I love you,” she choked, struggling to speak around him as he finished in her mouth. The control must have cost him dearly. She had to shut her eyes again, unable to look at him any longer. It was like staring down a blaze from across the dark hallway of her soul.
Her stepbrother. Her demon prince.
The man she couldn’t let herself love.
“I love you,” she said again, sobbing the words. “I’m sorry, Daddy. Please. I’msorry.”
His sigh came from somewhere deep in his chest and he thumbed some of the tears from her damp cheek with an absentaffection that pounded through her body like a stake in the heart.
“I know, little bird,” he said, his voice rough and hoarse. “I am, too.”
Chapter Eight
???????
I love you.
Three simple words. He had forgotten how good they felt to hear, coming from someone who meant everything. Someone who knew all of your sins and accepted them—and you—anyway.
Nicholas sighed and worked his shoulders. Her bed was ridiculously small. He’d spent most of the night with his back against the wall, keeping his legs bent so they wouldn’t dangle off the edge of her twin. Jay was curled against him, with her face buried in the crook of his arm. Her hair was spilling over her shoulder, brushing his nose. It still smelled like her shampoo.
Her cat was balled up behind his knees, its purring the only sound in the room.
Can you love me, Jay?He wondered, broodingly.Or is that why you can never bring yourself to look me in the eyes when we fuck?
