My brain reels at his tone. Guttural. Broken. Teasing aside, this is far beyond sex. Too far.
“Vadim—”
He nips, rendering me silent. “Say it. I deserve you. I… I am owed you. No one can take you from me. Not him. Not God. No one.”
“Vadim, listen—”
A scream rips away any other coherent words I might say. My spine arches off the bed as ecstasy explodes through my body. Buzzing. Persistent vibration…
The toy is electric, and he’s just turned it on.
“Stay with me,” he urges, his tone radiating authority. “Stay with me, beautiful. Look at me.”
My eyes stream, throat rasping as I meet his gaze. He looks so open in this moment. So raw—and the intensity building within me only strengthens. A brutal orgasm is looming, one so devastating I almost fear it.
“I will have you,” Vadim swears. He withdraws the toy, setting it aside, and I moan wordlessly as he settles over me, his cock throbbing against my inner thigh. “I will keep you. I will own you. Say that you’re mine.”
He thrusts in so deep I think I lose consciousness. When my senses return, I’m gasping, dizzy and dazed, clawing at the sheets as he slams inside of me.
I cry out his name as my body convulses over and over. He’s steel, pulsating against my inner walls. And yet, as stern as ever, his voice drips into my ear, murmured like a prayer. “Come for me, beautiful. So wet. So perfect. Tell me you need this. You need me.”
I comply in whimpers and groans, too far gone to speak logically. As he moves, I lose track of time and space. Of how many times I come.
It’s pleasure beyond any physical understanding. I’m drugged, overwhelmed, drowning in him. But even in my dazed, broken brain, I take note of when he groans, his throat cording, hands grasping my hips.
He throws his head back, groaning my name as his release floods me in fiery waves.
And I know that my attempts at putting distance between us were pathetic, pitiful lies. Much like our very first meeting, I was never in control.
Not really.
He’s always had an alternate plan, one I suspect I’m barely aware of even now. All I can do is surrender to the chaos and try to swim against the current.
Or drown.
“You are mine,” he declares, collapsing against me. “And I will take what I am owed...”
Chapter Seven
“Did I hurt you?” Vadim asks, his voice a low rasp.
I’m in his arms, too weak to move. At some point, he must have released me from the manacles because my arms are free, trembling at my sides. With what little strength I can muster, I shake my head and rest my cheek against his shoulder.
“No,” I tell him as he strokes my back with so much gentleness it leaves me reeling. “No, you didn’t hurt me.”
“I’m sorry,” he adds, brushing his lips across my damp forehead. He doesn’t say for what. For sexual torture? For pushing my fragile boundaries to their limits? For a part of his plan, I’m woefully unaware of?
“I do want you,” I croak, letting my eyes shut as exhaustion barrels through me, mixed with guilt and regret. All of it creates a tumult so vast, the only way through it is to just talk. “I do. I’m just afraid. I don’t want to disappoint you or be disappointed. I’ve been through too damn much… I can’t be disappointed.”
He laughs so deeply that I force myself to open my eyes merely to see his face. He’s eyeing the ceiling, his lips contorted into a tired grin.
“I’ve never had a relationship, so perhaps that fear isn’t entirely misplaced…”
“Never?” I can’t hide my skepticism. I’m practically in a coma after a bout of ruthless, vicious sex. Does he really expect me to believe that no other woman has experienced this with him?
No, I realize with growing awe. He doesn’t care either way, because it’s the truth. A rare hint of vulnerability shapes his expression, betraying just how uneasy he is at opening up to me. Which further reinforces the gravity of the fact that he’s doing so at all.
“What did you call me?” he wonders, grimacing at the memory. “Mean? I call it prudent. Most people don’t seek more from me than what they want in the moment. What they can gain. My brother sees me as a burden. To Ena, I am a partner. Even Milton sees me as a scared little boy he’s sworn to protect. As for women? I’ve never experienced more than sex.”
“Their loss,” I rasp, letting my face fall against his chest, utterly spent. But a part of me bristles at his boasts. Someone like him—so used to using manipulation as a tool—might see those relationships in such stark terms. But a partnership without true concern doesn’t result in someone stocking the fridge of their employer just to ensure they eat. And Milton… I saw how he intervened between him and his brother. Someone who didn’t care wouldn’t do that. Could a man be so blind as to the genuine love of those around him? Woe to any woman who dared to broach the topic. “I think I should be pleased to be the recipient of your pent-up lust,” I add, changing the subject to safer waters.
“Thirty-one years of it,” he declares, sliding his hand down my back. “Why shouldn’t I demand more? I am tired of waiting for my turn.”
His turn?
“You make me explore things I never thought possible,” he adds with a subtle hint of inflection that makes me quiver. “I will break you down… I can be persistent when it comes to that which I desire. You have been warned.”
Does he truly mean that? My aching body shivers at the possibilities. I could cry at the potential, and yet my toes still curl, ravenous for more.
“I love being with you,” I confess, lulled by the thrum
