His skin is fire beneath me as he strides further into the room, my heart skipping a beat when he lifts one of his hands to grab my chin. Pulling me close, his head tilts, and for one gut-turning second, with eyes focused solely on my lips, I think he’s going to kiss me.
He doesn’t.
Fingers close around my neck, and he’s suddenly pushing me back. Terror all but consumes me as water makes contact with my skin. Before I can even see where it’s come from, I am completely submerged underwater.
It takes me a moment to realize that Milton is forcing me down in a tub of some sort I didn’t see when I first entered this room. Water pours down my ears and up my nose. My lungs burn for the breath I didn’t get to take. The fucker stole it before I even hit the water when I thought he was going to kiss me. Like he knew it would.
I thrash out, slapping and hitting him to let go, but he holds me down. That’s when real panic kicks in, and I slam my hands into him harder. What I’m hitting, I don’t know. What I do know is that he isn’t letting go. Oh, God.
A frenzy of bubbles spurts from my mouth as I scream. Bad idea. More water rushes in. I’m running out of time. My body is going to be forced to give in. I can feel it.
Maybe I should give in. Finally, die. I can think of worse ways to go. I can be with my baby. I wouldn’t have to deal with this exhausting fight any longer. Just let go. Right now.
But then, they win. All the people who set out to ruin me—they all win.
Stop being a victim.
In a last futile attempt, I let my body sag until my back hits the bottom of the tub. Like this, Milton’s arm is fully extended down into the water. Dropping my chin and pushing my face forward, I bite down into his arm. Hard.
Blood pools in my mouth as he yanks his arm away, the momentum working in my favor as it drags me up to the surface. Finally, finding purchase with my feet, I break through, coughing and gulping for air.
Blinking water from my eyes, Milton goes to grab me again when something in me takes over. Lashing out with a scream, my hand swipes across his face, leaving red scratches on his cheek. Enough to stun him. I’m knee-deep in a stone bath of water, belonging to what I can only describe as an altar.
“No!” I yell when hands capture my arms.
“No?” he demands, grabbing my face and forcing me to look at him. Blood trickles from the claw marks I left on his skin and the bite on his arm.
“Why did you do that?” I choke on my tears. “Why the fuck are you trying to kill me?”
“Because now you know what it feels like to have someone you care about, someone you would do anything for, try to fucking kill you.” His words paralyze me, like I’ve just been slapped. “Now we’re even.”
My hand connects with the side of his face, and he growls out. Pulling me into him, his lips crash against mine. He kisses me so hard, so bruising, it hurts.
But God, am I instantly consumed by him. The feel of his lips. The taste of him. I’m so dizzy from lack of oxygen my limbs are too exhausted to fight him off. And with the way he’s kissing me…I’m not sure I even want to.
I can’t help but moan into his mouth as he wraps his arms around my waist and draws me out of the tub. Slamming me up against one of the columns nearby, he cups my breasts, thumbs stroking against my hardened nipples. Oh shit. The sensation has me groaning louder into his mouth and shuddering from his touch.
Lifting me again, he kisses me harder, grinding his cock between my legs, the fabric of his boxers the only thing between us. He breaks the kiss then, breath shaky as the air hits my lips. I’m in shock, and I think for a moment, he is too. He wasn’t meant to kiss me.
Lifting my hand, he catches my wrist before I can touch him, eyes warily searching my face. “Let me touch you,” I whisper.
“No.” His voice is hoarse. “We’re not doing this—”
“Then why allow me to come in here?”
He glares at me, though I’m not sure his anger is directed at me. More himself. “Humoring you.”
“Bullshit, Milton.”
Letting go of my wrist, he pushes my legs apart. Fighting is useless, especially as he inserts two fingers inside my pussy. My world spins, and I moan as he presses his mouth into my ear. “Maybe I do want you…maybe I always have.”
“Fuck you. You hated the job Blake gave you.” I cry out when he goes even deeper at the mention of Blake’s name. “You didn’t want to look after me—I was just a burden to you!”
“Still are.” He plants me hard against the wall of the column, and I struggle to pay attention to anything other than how his fingers feel inside me. Even with the stone cutting into my spine. Even when he tried to kill me. I’m so achingly wet, needing to find some form of release from this torture he’s inflicted on me.
“We can’t—” he says, taking his fingers out of me; I whimper in protest.
“No, p-please.” I tighten my legs around him, close to tears. “Stop doing this to me.”
He gives me a quizzical look. “Doing what?”
“Torturing me.” Tears trickle down my face; I’m unable to believe the next words coming out of my mouth. “I want you.”
“Fuck sake.” He falls into me, lips slamming against mine again. I kiss him back, running my tongue against his lips, the same time reaching
