“What does it do?” I ask, this time biting my lip on purpose.
Everything seems to shift. His eyes darken, and his head tilts in a predatory way.
Oh. Shit.
He shrugs off his suit jacket and tosses it over the velvet bench at the foot of the bed. His eyes never leave mine as he unbuttons the cuffs on his midnight black shirt and rolls his sleeves up to the elbows—exposing his veined forearms. His tattoos seem to pulse like molten ink beneath his skin. I clench my thighs even tighter at the sight of him. I can feel myself practically panting as I watch him.
He steps forward and grips my chin, forcing me to look up at him, “Daisy,” he says, his voice like thunder restrained. “I’m trying. Gods help me, I’m trying to be a better man for you. But if you keep looking at me like that…” his hand tightens ever so slightly. “I won’t be able to hold back.”
I should stop. Be logical about this. He’s an ass. A demonic ass who has been nothing but a bastard to me. But is that going to stop me? Of course it isn’t.
So instead of telling him to shove it, I whisper, “What happens if you don’t?”
His eyes flutter closed for a second, like he’s holding himself together. The tension rolls off him in waves, and I can feel each one crash into me violently as I continue to clench my thighs together to alleviate the growing pressure between them.
“Daisy, sweetheart,” he grits out, “I can smell your arousal.”
“You can WHAT?” I shriek, slapping a hand over my mouth in pure horror.
He chuckles darkly, and the sound skitters down my spine, igniting goosebumps all over my skin. His eyes open again, and the man I’d come to know is gone. What’s looking at me now is something primal. Feral. Something crying to be unleashed.
“I’m giving you one chance,” he says, his voice like silk. “Tell me to get the fuck out of this room. But if you don’t, Daisy… I won’t hold back. Not tonight.”
I try to form a logical thought. But all I can focus on is the way he’s looking at me.
“Why would I tell you to leave?” I ask, breathless.
“Because, little flower,” he says, stepping even closer into me, his voice pure sin. “I want to put you on your knees. I want your mouth around me. I want you trembling and begging, and I don’t have it in me to be soft tonight. If that’s what you need, I’m not your man. Not tonight.”
He leans in, his forehead against mine, his voice trembling with restraint. “But I promise you, when I’m done, you’ll look at me like I hung the stars.”
My mouth is dry. My body is not. I can feel how badly I want him. And I hate it. Hate that I want someone who’s been such an asshole. Hate that I ache for him like he hasn’t broken me over and over.
I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t have the experience. But I know what I want. And right now, I want him. This.
“Stop overthinking,” he says sharply. “You don’t need to worry, I’ll be in full control.”
His hand is still on my chin, and my body is burning under his touch. Every nerve is on high alert.
He stares down at me, deadly serious. “Tell me to leave. Or give me permission.”
I should tell him to go. I really should. But my body is a traitor, so instead, I lean forward and press a soft, hesitant kiss to his lips.
He growls, deep and guttural. The next thing I know, I’m in his arms, my legs around his waist, his mouth on mine like he’s starving. My back presses into the soft silk of the bed as he sets me down with my legs still wrapped tightly around his waist. He doesn’t break the kiss—not even for breath.
I moan into his mouth, which earns me a feral growl against my lips in response.
“Fuck, Daisy,” he groans, “you have no idea what you do to me.”
His hands skim up my sides, barely gentle. I can tell he’s trying to hold on to that tiny bit of restraint. I can feel it in the way he breathes, in the way he trembles, his muscles twitching beneath my touch.
“I’m barely holding on here,” he breathes.
“Then don’t,” I whisper, my voice trembling. “Don’t hold back.”
He pulls back just enough to look at me. Those pitch-black eyes wild, his jaw clenched, his chest rising and falling with sharp, hungry breaths.
“I could ruin you,” he says softly. “I could destroy you, little flower. Mark you so deeply you’ll never recover.”
