His teeth clench while he processes my request. Either he’s bracing to let me down easy, or he’s wondering how to get it done without triggering my trauma. Either way, he’s staring into the distance, his chest rising and falling in steady rhythm.
“I don’t want the last memory I have of—”
“Shh,” he tuts, sitting up. “I’ll fuck that memory right out of your pretty head if that’s what you need.”
I give him a small smile, leaning in for a quick peck.
It doesn’t end there...
He catches my lips with his, slipping his tongue inside my mouth, one hand cinching my nape to hold me in place. I love when he does this. I love every ounce of the possessiveness he pours into his kiss. And I love when he’s like this...so territorial and dominating. He forces me to submit and take what he offers. There’s something undeniably freeing about surrendering control, even if my control is tiny in comparison to his.
He moves away with an arrogant smirk because he knows I’ll move with him, starved for more. Drunk and high on his taste, addicted to the feelings he evokes, and the safe cocoon he weaves around me.
I climb onto his lap, my hands cupping his face, thumbs brushing the soft skin under his eyes while he fills his hands with my hips, drawing me closer.
“Good girl,” he whispers, skimming his lips along my jaw and lower. “Such a good fucking girl when you obey.”
I whimper, tangling my fingers in his hair. My back bows when he dips his head to suck my nipple. Grazing his teeth along the peak, he sucks harder, toying with the other breast.
“Remember the rules, Hailey. Use your safe word if you want to stop.”
A nod is all he gets. I’m lost in the moment, focused solely on the heat of his touch.
He takes his time, driving me crazy, like he wants to clear my head until there’s nothing there but him and the orgasm he can give me. Like he wants me to barely register anything aside from him, his lips, his hands, and the gravelly sound of his voice.
It works. I’m aware of him hauling me into his arms, but I’m more focused on his lips sketching lines along my neck and sucking a soft spot to make a hickey than the fact he’s carrying me across the room.
I’m more focused on his heavy breaths and guttural grunts, than him pushing me against the bathroom wall.
The water starts running, the noise like a distant soundtrack to the fire burning within me. He inches away, his dark eyes roving me from head to toe.
“So fucking beautiful,” he grunts, tiptoeing his fingers through the valley between my breasts, the other hand holding my chin. He slides his thumb into my lips, challenging me to suck while his other hand reaches my clit.
I didn’t think Carter touching me in the shower would trigger me—but I was wrong.
Darius hijacks my mind out of nowhere. The sleazy look in his eyes, his calloused hand between my legs, the other pinning my wrists above my head...
My mind riots and the next sound leaving my lips is far from a breathless moan.
“No, Hailey,” Carter grits out, his tone firm, his forehead dropping onto mine. “Don’t go back there. Look at me.”
I force my eyes open, staring into the abyss of his dark irises. The longer I study the adoration and determination painting his face, the more my fear subsides into calm.
“That’s it, focus on me and how good you feel.” He steps closer, my candy-hard nipples brushing against his sternum with every erratic breath.
He takes my lips in a slow, erotic kiss, and slips his hand lower, circling my entrance with two fingers.
And Darius steals me again.
I go rigid, bracing for the intrusion, reality mixing with the past and threatening to collapse around me.
“Hailey,” Carter emphasizes, his forehead returning to mine. “It’s me. It’s me touching you. I won’t hurt you.”
“I know, I just... I’m okay, please don’t stop.”
“Eyes on me.” He crowds me further and I crane my neck to meet his gaze. “Whose are you, pretty girl?” he asks, dipping two fingers inside me.
A moan flies past my lips, broken at the end by a whimper when the past momentarily invades the present. I grip Carter’s biceps, holding on for dear life, and focus on the red lines tattooed across his chest.
