Page 116 of Two Sides of Sin

I flicked the dim vanity light on, practically collapsing onto the toilet with a deep, dramatic sigh of relief.

As I sat there in the quiet of the bathroom, staring at the dark tile floor, a wide smile spread across my face. My heart did a tiny, frantic flutter against my ribs.

Julian.

I brought my hands up to my face, letting out a soft, breathy laugh into my palms. My mind was reeling from the earth-shattering intensity of what had just happened between us. We had spent months talking through a screen and ink on paper, but If I actually added up the hours we had spent in the same room, it was less than a few days.

By all normal logic, this was moving way too fast. I should have felt hesitant. But the second his mouth had touched mine, all logic had evaporated. The connection between us didn’t feel new, it felt deeply tethered. It felt like two severed wires finally sparking back together.

Flushing the toilet and moving over to the marble sink, I turned the warm water on, pumping some expensive smelling soap into my hands, and that was when the physical aftermath of the night really hit me. As I shifted my weight, a deep, heavy ache pulled tight across my lower stomach and between my thighs.

I winced slightly, but my smile only widened into something wicked and flushed.

It had been a very long time since I had been intimate with anyone, let alone a man built like Julian he was… well, he was a giant—Everywhere.

He was significantly bigger than anyone I had ever been with before.

I certainly wasn’t complaining.

Rinsing the suds from my hands, staring at my flushed face in the mirror, I noticed my lips were visibly swollen and bruised red from his kisses, and that my hair was a wild, tangled mess.

Just the thought of his hands gripping my hips and his lust filled eyes staring into my soul as he drove inside me, sent a fresh rush of need through me. The lingering sensation of his thickness stretching me out was so vivid, so clear, that a soft gasp escaped my lips.

I squeezed my thighs tightly together, my knees trembling under the sudden weight of the memory.

I grabbed a towel and dried off my hands, my pulse suddenly racing at my spiralling thoughts. I wanted to get back to the living room, crawl right back under that blanket and wake him up with my mouth.

I rubbed the lingering sleep from my eyes, letting out a tired sigh as I walked back down the dark hallway.

As I rounded the corner into the open-concept kitchen, I stopped, my breath catching in my throat.

A massive silhouette was standing in the shadows right next to the marble island counter.

“Julian,” I breathed, pressing a hand to my chest as my racing heart gave a sudden, startled leap. “God, you scared me.”

He was just standing there in the dark, his broad shoulders blocking out the ambient moonlight, radiating a heavy, suffocating energy that felt completely different from the warm, protective heat of the man I had left on the lounge.

The silence between us was heavy.

Slowly, he lifted his hand. In the gloom, I watched the pale silhouette of a single finger curl towards me in a slow beckon. My heart hammered, a warning flare of "run" lighting up my brain, yet my feet moved forward. One step. Then another. I was being pulled into his orbit by a gravity I didn't understand, walking straight into a shadow that felt like it was waiting to swallow me whole.

But my mind, still flushed and intoxicated by our first time together, didn’t register the warning signs. I just assumed the cold mountain air had woken him up, too.

A playful smile touched my lips as I walked across the dark kitchen, the cool floor smooth beneath my feet. As I reached him, I stepped directly into his space, rising up on my tiptoes, raising my hands to wrap them around his neck and pull his mouth down to mine.

With an aggressive speed, his hands shot out in the dark and intercepted me, his cold fingers clamping down around both of my wrists like steel traps.

Before I could even gasp, he spun me around. The edge of the marble island bit into my stomach as he bent me forcefully over the counter, pinning my torso flat against the cold surface.

I barely had time to brace myself before he hauled my arms up behind my back. The sharp, mechanical clink of metal echoed in the quiet room as he yanked his heavy leather belt free from his pants with a single, brutal snap. He wrapped the thick leather tight around my wrists, binding them together behind my spine until the constraints bit into my skin, locking me completely at his mercy before he even touched me.

I leaned my weight into the island, expecting the familiar, heavy warmth of the man who promised to protect me. My head lolled to the side and tried to catch my breath as I caught sight of the groceries we’d just set down earlier—the mundane remains of our escape still scattered across the counter.

His hand came up, palm flat and heavy over my mouth, stifling the soft sound of his name I’d been about to whisper. I tried to speak into his palm, but the words were muffled, lost against the force of his grip. I frowned, confused by the sudden silence, until I watched his other hand reach out.

He grabbed a cucumber from the groceries—green, thick, and fucking terrifying. My eyes widened in the dim light of the kitchen. I heard the faint, slick sound of him spitting on it, a noise so nefarious it made a shiver of unease race down my spine.

Before I could process his actions, he bunched the fabric of my shirt up to my shoulder blades, exposing my bare skin to the freezing draft. He hooked his fingers into the lace, tearing my panties down to my ankles. His heavy knees forcing my thighs apart, a dense wedge of bone and muscle anchoring me to the counter, rendering me helpless.