The realization hit her like a slap, and so did this strange rush of power when she saw the desperation in his face as she got to her knees.
I can make him do what I want.
It was an ugly thought—her mother’s thought—and she winced from it, peeling her top off and unhooking her bra. “I want to stay,” she repeated. “You love me, don’t you?”
She felt Nicholas start beneath her, his eyes taking in her body. And then with an almost mocking gesture, he crossed his arms and tugged off his own shirt. “I can’t get you out of my fucking mind.”
When he fisted her hair, she felt an answering clench in her lower belly as her eyes swept over his lean and powerful build. He pushed up with his hips and the exquisite pressure between her legs, and the eagerness of his rough, biting kisses made her moan into his mouth.
“That’s why I was willing to pay so much to watch you come,” he whispered.
That should have terrified her. But she was so tired, and her resistance was no match for his desire. It had pulverized into fine dust. He pushed her hair back and kissed her jaw, his fingersspanning over her face, her throat, and she wondered if he would at least be gracious in victory.
Or if he would just consume her whole.
Nicholas growled when he felt her sag towards him. Then his lips seized hers again and there was something desperate about his kissing, an aggression that nearly felt anxious. She wondered if he’d ever kissed any other woman like this. And if so, whether any of them had ever suspected that they were trying to free a man who wanted to sink deeper into his obsession like a stone plunging into a dark sea.
“Open your eyes.” He breathed in harshly against her skin, every point of contact between them like a heated star in a fracturing constellation. “Look at me.”
“I can’t close my eyes?”
“If we’re going to do it with the lights off, I want to know you’re there with me.” Forehead resting against hers, he breathed, “I feel like I’m always chasing you through the dark.”
Jay felt her body flush from hot to cold and back, as if her nerve endings were breaking.
“Why won’t you look at me? Is it because it hurts?” She felt him run a hand down her spine, tender and possessive and so, so familiar. “Do you want me to be gentle?”
“No.”
The harshness of her voice made him blink at last.
“I don’t want that.” Jay looked away from his penetrative stare, clutching at her bare arm. “I don’t want gentle. I told you. I like it . . . when you’re rough with me.”
His hand closed over the back of her neck and he pulled her in for a possessive kiss that had her shifting in his lap. His eyes went to her face, seeking confirmation.
“Rougher,” she whispered.
Nicholas relaxed his fingers, tracing along to the front of her throat. She wasn’t expecting him to yank her forward by her necklace. The chain bit into the back of her neck and her eyes flew open as his mouth fiercely covered hers. He put his hand on her back to keep her pressed against him, even as the force of his kissing drove her backwards.
“Oh god,” she said, struggling to catch her breath. “Nick—”
She reached for him and he brought her hand up behind her back.
“Beg for it.” He bent his head to kiss his way down her ribs until she hissed. “Tell me you want it.”
“I do.” She choked on the words. “I want it. I wantyou. Just you.Please.”
He let go of the necklace, letting it swing back against her collarbone. And now his free hand was touching her everywhere, and his surprisingly callused hands painted her in swirls of fire with each caress, causing her desire to unwind like a molten cord in the pit of her belly.
“You’re so beautiful.”
Touch me, thought Jay.
“Daddy’s little bird.”
A desperate sound escaped her as his hand slid down her hip.
“Did you have a good time today?”
