Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 103712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
“Always thinking.” His hands slid down to her throat, not squeezing, just resting. Possessing. “When Stone pushes you, it’s because he needs your submission. When Hunter takes you, he’ll demand your surrender. But when I touch you?”
Her pulse hammered against his palms. “What do you need?”
“Your trust.” He leaned down, lips brushing her ear. “Complete. Absolute. The kind that lets you close your eyes and know I’ll catch you. The kind that lets you say yes without knowing what you’re agreeing to.”
“That’s terrifying.”
“Yes.” He pulled back to meet her gaze. “It should be. I’m just as broken as the rest of them. But we all fracture in different ways.” His smile was slow, wicked, nothing like the gentle giant facade he wore so well. His hands tightened just slightly on her throat, enough that her eyes widened and her breath quickened.
“I’m broken too,” she confessed.
“No, you’re only bruised. A woman who doesn’t know her own limits yet. But I can enlighten you.” His lips traced her throat, settling on her hammering pulse. “And I’m going to. Slowly. Carefully. Until you understand exactly what your body can do.”
He lifted her hand and gently kissed her palm. Only then did it occur to her that she wasn’t prying him off of her. She’d kept her hands exactly where he commanded her to put them.
Ash traced his tongue over the fading welts marking her palms. “Did it hurt?”
“Not really.”
“But you thought it would, didn’t you?”
“At first. Honestly, the anticipation was worse than the strike.”
“See? It’s a mind game that manifests in physical play.” He reached between their bodies and unsnapped the top button of his jeans, pulling the zipper down slowly until the heated weight of his engorged cock rested heavily on her body. “Like now. You’re wondering why I just did that. Is he going to fuck me? Force me to suck his cock like Stone did? Will he shove it in my ass now that I’ve been so beautifully broken in? I’m sure those and a hundred other questions are running through your head, printessa.”
Heat bloomed beneath her skin as a flutter of anxiety tickled her chest.
“Quiet your mind.” Ash’s command cut through her spiraling thoughts. “Whatever you’re thinking, chase it away.” He leaned close and whispered in her ear so only she could hear. “He’s probably in his office right now, hard as stone and sick with regret, wondering the same things you are. Let’s let him worry for a while.”
He drew back and winked at her with a conspirator’s smile, playing good cop to Stone’s bad cop. She wanted to play with him, if only to make Stone pay for abandoning her and threatening to brand her.
“You’re intrigued by the thought.” Ash grinned.
“Maybe a little.”
“You want to make Stone pay?”
She shrugged, afraid to show how deeply he’d upset her. “Who cares about Stone?”
Ash arched a brow. “Careful. He can hear you.”
“Good.”
“Feisty little rabbit. Let’s see how fierce you really are. It’s time to come apart.”
“Wha—” He kissed her, harder and more demanding than before.
“Such a sexy mouth.” He delved deeper, taking, stealing, forcing her to meet him stroke for stroke. Then his fingers knotted in her hair and tugged, exposing her neck. “Hair like spun gold.”
His mouth closed over her throat, sucking hard enough to leave a mark. He cupped her breast, massaging as he dragged his thumb over the turgid tip.
“Such beautiful ivory skin. So easily marked.” He trailed his mouth higher and sucked again, pulling back with a pop to admire his work. “Already showing traces of my desire for you.”
He scooted lower, and captured her nipple in his mouth, teasing the tip with gentle nibbles and fast flicks of his tongue. But like before, his touch turned more intense the longer he played.
“Ah!”
“Yes,” he purred, “Let my brothers hear you, printessa.” He returned to sucking, hard and concentrated over the tender tips of her nipples. She shifted and squirmed, but that only edged him on.
“Please, Ash…” she begged, needing him to stop or do something.
He sat back on his thighs, pinning her at the hips under his weight. The swollen head of his cock peeked from his open jeans, pointing at her accusingly as pre-come glistened from the slit. Then he caught her nipples between his thumb and forefinger and she screamed.
He smiled like a sadist, waiting for it to sink in that screaming got her nowhere. When she quieted, panting and glaring up at him, he flashed his teeth with amusement.
“Now, you’re learning. Breathe through it. Breathe into the pain. Any second now, you’ll feel a wash of pleasure.”
As if conjured by his words, a flush bloomed from her chest, creeping through her blood as her eyelids lowered. Her breathing steadied as the pain subsided, replaced by a euphoric wash of pleasure.
“Now, take your hand and make me come. When I do, I’ll let you go.”