Page 132 of Silk and Sirens

And he was all mine.

Swinging my leg over his hips, I straddled him quickly. His hands came up to rest on my thighs beneath the T-shirt, thumbs stroking gently over my skin as he looked up at me with dark hunger and something softer underneath.

“Aeris,” he murmured, voice rough. “You were just⁠—”

“Don’t worry, I’m not that fragile.” I leaned down, pressing my lips gently against his, dragging my nails down his arms until I came to his hands on my thighs. Lifting them, I raised them above his head. “Hold the headboard.”

Caden continued to watch me with that intense, burning gaze, but he obeyed. His fingers curled around the metal bars, the movement flexing and defining the powerful muscles in his arms and chest.

“Good boy,” I joked, and he finally smirked beneath me. But there was worry there, in the way his eyes kept dragging across my face, hesitation at the bruises and cuts.

Good thing I was an expert at turning my trauma into sex.

Taking a moment, I simply took him in: the strong lines of his body, the scars that mapped his violent life, and the way his cock was already thickening for me.

For once, I was entirely in control. And he was letting me have it.

“Take it off,” he demanded, glaring at the T-shirt like he could make it burst into flames.

Slowly, deliberately, I peeled the fabric up my body. I took my time with it too, enjoying the way Caden’s patience frayed a little more with every inch of skin revealed. There was something intoxicating about having this strong, powerful man flat on his back, forced to wait. Forced to want. Completely at my mercy for once, and I liked that far more than I should have. Liked knowing he wanted me badly enough for him to go against his own nature.

It was like each inch of skin I revealed made me feel more in control of my own body.

More powerful.

More alive.

Caden’s hands flexed, clearly fighting the urge to rip the shirt off me himself. His eyes devouring every new sliver of exposed skin with raw hunger.

“You going to come on my cock, Tempest?” he rumbled beneath me once I was finally naked.

“Maybe.” I rocked my hips slowly, dragging my wet heat along his thick length. Caden’s jaw was clenched so tightly I could see the muscle jumping, but he kept his hands on the headboard, letting me set the pace. “Or maybe I’ll just tease you for hours. Edge you until …”

Caden bucked his hips, and I fell forward, catching my palms on his chest.

I laughed, actual joy erupting from me at his impatience. The metal squeaked beneath his fingers, his cock heavy between my legs, and I was having fun. But then he pressed his cock against me, and that laugh turned into a moan because he managed to brush his head against my clit.

“That’s it,” he growled as I reached between us to position him. “Sit on my cock.”

Need pulsed low in my belly, overpowering the aches and pains, nulling the cut on my thigh that tugged and pulled beneath the clean bandage.

I held myself as tall as I could and slowly sank down onto him. The stretch was intense, bordering on too much, but I kept going, savouring every thick inch as he filled me completely. Wanting it to hurt a little, to keep me in this moment.

Caden’s entire body tensed as if he was forcing himself back. Forcing himself to give me this.

“Fuck,” he groaned, the single word shooting effervescence through my bloodstream. “You’re perfect.”

I finally managed to seat myself fully, taking every thick, heavy inch of him until I was stretched to my limit. My head fell back with a broken moan as I paused there, just savouring the intense, burning stretch and the overwhelming feeling of being completely filled.

It was as if he had some dark, primal power over my body. The only man who had ever made me want him. Some feminine, instinctual part of me was helplessly drawn to his strength and darkness, to the dangerous way he looked at me like I was his.

But the rational part of me, the survivor and the strategist, screamed that this had to be a trick, that I should poison him before he could hurt me.

“Look at you,” he rasped beneath me, forcing me back into the moment. “So fucking beautiful taking my cock.”

I rocked my hips slowly, taking him deeper, chasing the sharp, addictive pleasure that only he seemed to give. Because no matter how loudly my mind screamed to run … my body clearly didn’t care.

Bracing my hands on his chest, I began moving faster. Chasing the orgasm that was already teetering on the edge. Caden’s eyes were locked on where we were joined, dark with hunger as he watched me ride him like my own personal sex toy.