Her grip tightens, nails biting even through the fabric. She doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t blink.
“Mine,” she growls now, twisting her wrist justenough to make me hiss. “You’re mine. They can’t touch you like that. No one can.”
“Well done, Trouble. That’s today's lesson.”
Her mouth fights mine back, biting. She sucks my bottom lip into her teeth, breaking the skin until I taste copper, chanting the word like a curse, like a vow.
“Mine. Mine. Mine.”
Mia’s still murmuring it into my mouth when her hand drops from my face back to my wrist, pressing my fingers harder against her clit, panting.
“Make me come,” she demands. “Right here. Now.” Her other palm moving faster along my length.
I rip my mouth from hers, press our foreheads together, and hear her breath heave. But my fingers stay exactly where they are, inside and steady, not giving her what she’s begging for.
I pin her harder to the door, one hand on her throat, the other between her legs. Fingers moving just enough to keep her trembling, not enough to give her relief.
“Say it,” I rasp against her ear. “Tell me what you really want. Where you wish you were standing when we go back out there.”
Her nails now dig into my arms, breath ragged. “Preston?—”
“No.” I tap her clit, once and hard. “Use your words, Trouble.”
Her jaw tightens, but her body betrays her, hips tilting, chasing friction. “I wish…” She swallows hard, every syllable fighting its way out. “I wish I could go out there… with you. Be by your side. Holding your hand.”
My grip on her throat tightens—not a choke, just pressure, a reminder. I inch back to watch her. “Again.”
Her lashes flutter. “I want to stand next to you,” she breathes. “I want everyone to know that you’re mine. And I’m yours.” The last word snaps, all snarl and heat.
The sound that leaves me isn’t a laugh. It’s darker, hungrier. My forehead drops back to hers. “That’s it,” I whisper. “That’s all I needed to hear.”
“Then fuck me,” she pleads, voice splintering. “Now. Please.”
I still my hand, slick fingers hovering over her clit, so close it hurts both of us. “No.” My thumb drags once, a deliberate slow circle, a reminder of who’s in charge. “You don’t get what you want until I can have what I want.” I kiss her forehead. “Fair is fair.”
Her eyes flare, outrage breaking into disbelief. “No?”
I let my teeth graze her jaw, dragging down her neck, slow enough to make her shiver. “You think I forgot how you’ve been denying me?” My restraint frays with every word. My fingers hover at the edge of mercy. “Out there, I had to stand politely while their hands crawled over me. Pretend it didn’t make me want to grab you, pull your body against mine, and let every single one of them know I’m taken. Let them know that I have a woman in my bed every night—the most incredible, kind, gorgeous woman I’ve ever known. The only one my cock gets hard for. The only one who makes me whole. The only one who makes me happy.”
My fingers start moving again before I even register it, circling harder, faster, until her hips rock and she’s saying my name under her breath, over and over.
“The one I’m in love with,” I rasp against her cheek.
Her eyes snap open, wide and stunned, head flying back. “What?”
She reaches for my hand, but I’m faster, catching her wrist midair and pinning it above her head against the wall. She gasps, but doesn’t fight me. Her other hand stays limp at her side.
Maybe she’s stunned.
Maybe she’s savoring every second.
Her breath stutters. But I can feel the pulse between her legs, frantic against my fingers.
“And since I can’t have what I want…” I ease my touch back, leaving her clit aching, pussy clenching around nothing. “… you don’t get what you want either. You don’t walk out of here with my cum dripping down your thighs, Trouble. You don’t get the wetness of each step, reminding you who claimed you. If I can’t walk out there with your hand in mine, you can’t havethateither.”
She whimpers, wrecked and furious all at once, thighs trembling in front of me.
“Well, actually, youaregetting something you wanted…” I let it linger, unfinished.
