My head tossed back as I writhed, wanting him to strike faster. To fuck me. Love me. Claim me.

“Does it feel good?”

“Yes,” I whimpered. “Better than good. It feels...” My eyes closed as I threw myself into a maze of complexities. My body had brought me to this place, but my thoughts took over. They made this more than sex. More than love. They made this transcendent.

Jethro struck me quicker—like tiny breaths—working his way all over my body.

“Please.” I thrashed. “Take me. I need you inside me.”

“Why? Why do you need me inside you?”

Why?

There were so many reasons why. One fell from my lips before I could think. “Because I can’t handle the intensity anymore!”

Jethro sighed heavily, wrenching my eyes open. “Now you know…now you know how it feels to live with my curse.” He struck me particularly hard. “There is no stopping for me. No reprieve. It’s one piercing thing after another.”

The agony in his voice sent me higher; I strained for a release. “That’s awful. So awful.” I couldn’t handle the poignant need to explode another second. “But please, Jethro. I need you.”

“Quiet.” He struck my clit again. “I love feeling what you feel. I love having no barrier between us.”

Shit!

I almost came. My core clenched; sparks detonated in my blood. I never expected something like this could unravel me so quickly.

I was lost.

Drifting on an ocean of everything.

“God, you’re wet.” Jethro dragged the tip of the whip through my folds.

I moaned.

He consumed me. His body was supple and noble—every muscle proudly ridged. Something had melted inside him. He was no longer ice but magma. No longer snow but sunshine.

I wanted to grab him. Hug him. Fuck him.

My thoughts became a froth of temper. “Take me, Jethro. Fuck me, Kite. I can’t do this any longer.”

I didn’t think he’d obey, but without a word, he threw the whip across the room and climbed on the bed. Straddling me, he fisted his cock and bent to kiss me. “You want me to end your misery. If I do, can you end mine?”

He didn’t give me a chance to reply. His mouth crashed on mine, and we turned savage. Biting, licking, tasting. His hand clutched my hair, pulling hard, forcing my mouth to open and take whatever he gave.

His hot thighs imprisoned my hips, twitching as he worked his cock.

The kiss ended. He collapsed on top of me.

I moaned at the comfort of having him touch me after so many teasing strikes.

“God, Nila, you’re incredible.” His lips covered mine again, feeding me his voice. “I want to make you come. I want to come inside you over and fucking over again.”

His hips slotted between mine. His fingers dove inside me, testing my wetness. Then I screamed as he filled me with one wicked impale.

There was no pain. No bruising. Only the most majestic completion imaginable.

I couldn’t hold on. I wanted to grip his strong shoulders for balance. I wanted to wrap my legs around him for connection.

He thrust deeper, slipping through my wet heat. In some mystical way, this felt like an ending to everything he’d been and the beginning of everything we’d become.

A beginning he was finally strong enough to face.

It’s exquisite.

It’s raw.

It’s debasing

and

mind-blowing

and

real.

I gritted my teeth, riding the tsunami of pleasure. Jethro took hostage of every thought and dream I’d ever had, making it his.

My body hummed with possession. Every part of me was ravaged, disconnected, unable to concentrate on anything but the way he thrust and took.

I cried out, biting his shoulder as every cell tightened, quickened.

“Come. I need you to come,” Jethro panted in my ear.

I’d never been commanded to do something outside of my control. I never believed I could do something as miraculous as come with only a few words. But his cock stretched and filled. His lower belly rubbed and stroked my clit and every part of me combusted.

My body obeyed him utterly. I let go, spindling into the sharpest, quickest orgasm I’d ever had.

“Fuck, Nila.” Jethro pinned me to the mattress, taking me faster. His guttural groan wrapped around my body, replacing it with unlimited pleasure. “Goddammit, you feel good.” His face buried in my hair; his heart beat a war drum against mine.

I wanted to cradle him—give him safe harbour to come undone and find himself in this new world we’d conjured.

Thrust after thrust. We were stripped totally bare.

Jethro never stopped. His arms curled around the top of my head, keeping me in place. The ropes around my ankles jerked with every rock, bruising me.

I dissolved into his embrace. I was exhausted and spent. Aftershocks of my orgasm continued to squeeze my pussy.

Jethro suddenly reached toward his bedside and pulled a knife from the drawer. I tensed as he sliced the binds around my wrists and pulled my torso up with him. He sat on his knees, still inside me. Twisting around, he sawed the sash around my ankles, freeing me.

Throwing the blade to the carpet, he cushioned me in his lap. “Wrap your legs around me. I’ve got you.” His arms cradled my spine, creating a basket of muscle. I melted into him, bouncing with every thrust.

His large hand captured my nape, pressing me firmly, keeping my body pinned close and his cock deep inside.

With a savage rock, he groaned, “I’m going to ride you. And then I’m going to come.”

I nodded, every part of me drained. I’d never been so used, so abused, so sleepy.

His lips found mine, pouring energy down my throat as he drove deeper and deeper. Straddling his lap gave him complete control. His cock hit the top of me again and again.

His kiss turned demanding. His hands roved up my back and around my sides to palm my breasts. His dextrous fingers tweaked my nipples, tugging in time with his thrusts.

I moaned, biting his throat as I fell into him.

“You have the most incredible body.” His hands swooped to my back again, moulding me tight against him. “You’re so damn wet. I fit inside you. You take me completely.” Wonder dripped in his voice, sheer joy at finding me and me finding him.

“Hold onto me. I need to take you hard and fast.” He grabbed my hips, hoisting me higher on his lap. He looked at me.

I gasped at the molten love evident in his gaze. Tears prickled my eyes.

He loves me.

He’d said it. Whispered it. Cursed it. But now he’d shown me: he unequivocally loved me.

He smiled softly. “You sense what I’m feeling, don’t you?”

I shook my head. “I don’t sense, I know. It’s not a feeling but the truth in your eyes.”

His fingers dug into my hips, pressing me down, giving me nowhere to hide. “You should know you’re it for me, Nila. There’s no turning back from this. I’m on your side until the end.” He surged upright, filling me endlessly deep. His hand disappeared into my hair, wrapping the long black strands around his wrist, holding me firm. “I love you.”

The burn in my scalp scorched my body.

To be so adored but controlled.

To be so loved but dominated.

The combination was the best aphrodisiac in the world.

He slammed into me, bouncing me in his embrace. My arms wrapped around him as we glued ourselves together, holding on and riding each other fast.

My muscles burned, my legs wobbled, and my scalp yelped in pain, and through it all, another orgasm brewed.

Shit, I can’t come again.

I’d collapse.

I’d never come twice so quickly. I wouldn’t survive—I knew it as surely as I knew my heart was one beat away from exploding.

Jethro kept riding, kept fucking. And my body kept responding, gathering tighter and stronger, wanting to release and snap me into paradise.

“I’m yours, Nila. All fucking yours.” Jethro’s lips skated over my jaw.

I became nothing but lust and spirals and mindless passion. The ache in my womb increased, throbbing with the familiar agonising urge to let go.

His harsh breathing filled my ears.

My body detonated again.

I cried out as I clenched with delirium.

I didn’t think I had the power to combust so spectacularly. I feared I’d splinter into teeny, tiny pieces and flutter away in the breeze.

“Christ, yes. Take me.” He thrust hard and deep, following me. His teeth latched onto my shoulder as we rode waves of bliss. Spurt after spurt, he filled me, coming apart in my arms.

Minutes passed where all I could think about was liquid. Liquid and wetness and heat. We clung to each other until my muscles started to seize and cramp, and a chill turned my sweat into goosebumps.

I never wanted to let him go.

Jethro slowly pulled out, laying me gently on the bed. Our ragged breathing matched as he pulled me into him, spooning me, protecting me.

If I could move, I’d cuddle him back but I had nothing left. I was drained beyond all comprehension.

“Thank you.” Jethro kissed my hair. “Thank you for letting me in.” His arms squeezed tighter, giving me gratitude in both actions and words.