She lowers her face close to mine, eyes glinting in the firelight. “MaybeIneed to punishyou.”
I laugh. “Oh, you think so?”
“Someoneneeds to teach you a lesson. And since I’m the only one here at the moment, logic dictates I—Draegan!”
I’ve got us flipped around in a blink, her body imprisoned beneath mine, wrists trapped in my clawed grip and pinned above her head.
Lips brushing the shell of her ear, I whisper darkly, “I wouldverymuch like to see you try.”
“You might be stronger than me,” she protests, “but I’ve got… other methods.”
“Is that so?”
She gives me a smug smile. “Failsafemethods.”
“Ha! More like tricks.That’swhat you’ve got. A bag of tricks.”
“Sure. Guess it’s a good thing you’re too clever to fall for them, huh?” She parts her thighs and arches her hips, circling once, twice, the heat of her body radiating across my cock.
Fuck, I’m hard for her again, more than ready to claim her, to bury myself, to lose my damn mind in the feel of her, but after all the obscene, red-hot debauchery we just indulged in, something is suddenly holding me a back.
And all it once, it feels so immense, so insurmountable, I’m afraid to even name it, for fear the words themselves would crush the very breath from my lungs.
I just claimed her on this very bed like a wild, mindless animal in heat.
I’ve taken her on my desk. I’ve taken her against the wall. I’ve fucked her hot little mouth while the others watched, and I’ve commanded her pleasure in ways that continue to fill my every fantasy—waking and sleeping both.
But this… I’ve never taken her this way. Never felt the soft, wet heat of her body envelop me as I stared deep into her eyes, into the place where all the secrets die in the light of a raw, painful truth neither of us can hide.
Not anymore.
And bloodyhell, the moment feels too close now, too intimate. Too much like the real thing.
The one thing I so badly want… but haven’t dared to let myself have.
Haven’t dared to hope that it could even be possible.
Because it isn’t.
I close my eyes, desperate for a reprieve from her gaze, but it doesn’t work. I can feel her watching me. Waiting. Giving me the space to open up to her, as she always does, even after all the terrible things I’ve done and said.
“Draegan,” she whispers, her warm breath caressing my lips, and that’s it.
I’m done.
Done running. Done pretending she hasn’t completely, utterly, irrevocably changed me.
“Tell me,” she whispers, and I release her wrists and roll onto my side, finally meeting her gaze again.
A soft, genuine smile graces her lips. “It’s just us, Drae. You and me.”
I nod. She’s right—itisjust us. Tucked away in this remote cabin in the Wintermoon wilderness, marooned by a storm, oblivious to the rest of the known world. Here, there’s no more room for games and taunts. No more walls or excuses to hide behind.
All we’ve got left is this immense truth, a confession for which I’m not even sure the words exist.
But I have to try.
I trace the shape of her face with my fingertips.
