Page 49 of No Darker Temptation

“Just water!” I tell the waiter who comes running to my side. “Don’t worry about it. I’m such a klutz.”

I grab my purse and beeline straight for the doorway by the bar, where a long hall leads to the bathrooms. As soon as I barrel into the women’s restroom, a set of footsteps follows me inside. Alejandro flips the lock on the swinging door behind him.

I drop my purse on the counter and he advances, three predatory steps forward, and I back up against the door behind me. There are three stalls, each of them more like a private room because the sides are completely sealed and only an inch or two at the top and bottom are visible. Heart pounding, I take another step backward and bump into the hand dryer. It goes off and I jump and the momentary reaction is all the time he needs to close the distance between us.

It isn’t a kiss that he gives me. It’s a branding.

And God, I have never been so possessed in my entire life.

I’m practically clawing at him. We’re fighting each other for dominance, hands tearing at clothes, hips thrusting, me with one leg around his waist and him taking possession of my mouth with every hungry, passionate, near volatile stroke of the tongue. He devours me in a kiss I feel all over my body, teeth nipping at my bottom lip until he draws blood then laps it up with his tongue. I moan against him and slide a hand between us, frantically unbuckling his belt, when he pushes us into one of the bathrooms stalls and locks the door.

I kiss him back with equal fervor and desperation, digging my nails into his neck, leaving scratches I know will last for days and he thrusts against me harder, slamming me against the stall door. And I think this must be the line between love and obsession—the need to possess, own, claim, brand. When he walks out of here everyone’s going to see those marks on his neck and know who he belongs to and what he lets me do to him, even with a crowded party just a few feet away.

It's so wrong but I can’t stop myself. Everything about him is decadent; temptation dipped in sin. I want to take the plunge and follow him into the abyss, into this life I know I could never leave, full of danger and chaos and him. He makes me want to come undone at the seams and rearrange myself into something ruinous.

I used to be afraid of his world corrupting me but he is the corruption, not what exists around us. There is no darker temptation than him.

He's carving a path of hot, harsh kisses down my neck and across my breasts when he growls, “You should’ve gone upstairs to the apartment.”

“This was closer.” I pant. “And I didn’t want to humiliate myself by walking across the room.”

He falls to his knees in front of me, frantically pushing aside my dress where it parts, and he throws one leg over his shoulder, kissing the inside of my thigh. He finds the edge of my underwear and gathers the side in his fist and yanks. The sting of torn fabric against my hips makes me hiss but the sound dissolves into a moan the moment his tongue dips inside of me. He feasts on me like a starving man, taking my other leg and putting it over his shoulder, holding me in place as his tongue plunges inside me before gliding along my wet folds and caressing my clit.

Tears gather in my eyes and my fingers knot in his hair. If he wasn’t holding me up I think I’d collapse flat on my ass. “Alex⁠—”

“Ride,” he orders. “Now.”

I don’t have anything to hold onto to do that. There’s just the top of the stall door so I reach behind it with one hand and hold on, praying the flimsy slab of wood holds on long enough for me to climax. When his tongue enters me again, I move my hips in tandem, keeping a tight grip on his hair as I push against him, eagerly seeking the pleasure only he can give me.

“Fucking delicious,” he groans against me. “The sweetest pussy I ever tasted…and it’s all mine.”

His teeth clamp down on my clit, fingers spearing inside of me, and I come so hard I think they can hear me screaming outside. Tears stream down my face and he keeps sucking, thrusting, and I finish a second time. He licks me clean and lets go of both of my legs. Gravity almost sends me straight through the floor.

“Turn around.”

I do as he says and he pins me against the door, face flush up against the cool wood. I feel his breath against the back of my neck, his erection pressing against the small of my back, and suddenly the diamonds around my throat tighten. He tugs it from behind and the sting of the jewel’s sharp edges digging into my sensitive skin teeters the line between painful and sinfully good.

“When we get home I’m going to fuck you with just this necklace on. And your slutty little stockings too.” Hand between my legs, he delivers a slap to my sex and I whimper. “Now tell me what you want.”

My vision blurs around the edges. “You…I want you.”

“Be a little more specific, baby. I’m standing right here.”

“Alex…” I push my hips against his, craving release. “Please.”

“Do you want me here?” His tip presses against my entrance. “Use your words.”

“Yes, yes! Fuck, Alex,” I try pushing away from the door but he applies pressure against my neck and keeps me in place. Another resounding slap against my clit and now I’m sobbing. “Please…I need you inside me.”

“Are you going to take all of it like a good girl? Every inch in that tight, sweet pussy of yours?”

I nod frantically and he rams inside me, the sudden intrusion almost more painful than pleasurable. My walls clench around him and he must feel the tension because his hand comes around to stroke my wet sex with gentle fingers.

He fills me so completely I rarely take all of him at once—I feel him in the pit of my stomach but he also stretches me wide, testing how much I’m capable of. He hooks an arm under my knee and lifts my leg at an angle that gives him the access he craves because he rams into me like a mad man. So much so that I lose my balance and he has to hold me up, both my heels falling off in the process.

“Alejandro.” I gasp for air. “I can’t—I can’t, it’s too much⁠—”

I’m burning, sizzling, tingling, absolutely splitting in half from the inside out. He keeps fucking me like this and I’m going to explode into pieces.