Embarrassment washes over me like I have never known, deflating my orgasm like a vented hot air balloon, and suddenly all I want to do is escape.
“Come for me, baby.” He continues to lick me, but I grab his hair.
“No. Stop. Let go. Stop.” I fight to jerk my legs out of his iron tight hold.
Kayne releases me, thankfully, with a worried expression.
“Ellie?” He tries to touch me, but all I want to do is disappear. I bolt up and retreat into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. Such a fucking idiot! I asked his permission!
I kick away my dress that is now pooling at my feet and turn on the shower, wanting to scrub the last five minutes away. I step into the freezing cold spray and bury my face in my hands.
“Ellie?” Kayne bangs on the door as I slowly die of mortification. “Ellie, please let me in.” I can’t tell the frame of mind he’s in over the running water. On some level, I’m afraid he’s mad and will want to punish me. On another, I know that’s ludicrous given the conversation we had last night. My head is just too screwed up to think straight, and it’s all thanks to Kayne.
“Ellie!” He bangs on the door harder, and I jump.
“Can you just give me a minute?” I snap.
This reunion is going spectacularly. For the first time, I strongly believe I made the wrong decision coming here. Maybe I wasn’t ready. Maybe I’ll never be ready. Maybe I’ll always believe I’m nothing more than just a slave.
Just as I turn under the showerhead to wet my hair, I catch Kayne climbing through the window.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask as he drops his pants, shrugs out of his stained shirt and steps into the shower with me.
“Your minute is up.” He stalks forward and pins me against tiled wall.
“Kayne,” I protest not meeting his eyes.
“Ellie.” He grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. “Let’s get a few things straight. First, no more running from me. That shit’s over. You’ve had over a year to come to terms with everything. I’m done waiting. You run, and I’ll come after you.”
I stare into his eyes silently, my chest heaving, water dotting my face as the stream ricochets off his body. Part of me wants to fight him, to tell him to fuck off, and the other wants to melt into his arms and submit. It’s a constant tug-of-war battling inside me.
“Second,” his voice turns velvety soft, “if you want to ask my permission to come, be my guest. It makes me fucking hard as a rock.” He pushes his erection against my belly.
“I don’t want to ask your permission. I never want you to control me again.” But even as I say the words, I know they’re only partly true. Kayne’s dominance is what makes him so seductive, what draws me to him like a dancing flame, and that’s exactly the problem—one tiny touch and I get burned.
“I’ll never do anything you don’t want me to do, but I’m not going to let you walk all over me, either. I want to be with you, Ellie, however I can have you,” he repeats his words from last night. The same ones that won me over. One simple sentence that sealed my fate.
I take a deep breath and pull myself together. I want to be here, with him.
“I just hate that I’m conditioned,” I tell him honestly.
Kayne smirks and cups my face in his hand. “Well, we’ll just have to recondition you.” He closes his mouth over mine, flicking his tongue against my teeth. “Starting now.” He embraces me more urgently, pressing his big body flush against mine. There are so many promises in that kiss; it’s like a swear, an oath, an affirmation.
“How do you want me to make you come? Do you want me to lick or fuck an orgasm out of you?”
My worried thoughts become nothing but a haze as he manipulates my mind with his profane words.
“Ellie, tell me,” he urges gently, sucking my earlobe into his mouth.
I search for my voice, finding it behind the searing need shooting through my system. “Both?” I struggle to answer.
I feel Kayne smirk against my cheek. “That’s my girl.” He doesn’t waste a second kissing his way down my body until he’s settled on his knees. “Hang on, baby.” That’s my only warning as he hooks his arms under my thighs and hoists me right off the ground.
“Oh!” I steady myself with one hand against the wall as Kayne buries his face between my legs and licks until I’m writhing and moaning, fisting his hair, and squaring off with the orgasm that eluded me just a short while ago. “Oh God, oh God.” My voice pitches as I slump in his arms, my climax grabbing hold and yanking me down into a spiraling black abyss.
I come around cocooned in Kayne’s arms, the warm spray of the shower tickling my skin and the even hotter caress of his lips traveling down my neck.
“Welcome back.”
