Page 46 of Burn Like An Angel

This isn’t control.

This is trust.

When his grasp loosens completely, I grab his wrist, encouraging him to do it again. Xander’s eyes blow wide. I finally get it. I know what he needs. And right now, I want him to hurt me. I want to give him the pain he needs to inflict.

“You want me like this?” he murmurs, eyelids falling to half-mast.

I nod, my chest searing.

“I’m not a good person, Ripley. I’ve hurt a lot of people. You included. Why are you still begging for more?”

Controlling my breath, he holds me in suspense until spots appear in my vision. I blink rapidly, unable to form words. The overwhelming pain of being choked feels good in the sickest way possible.

Xander releases me, allowing a short breath. “Well?”

“B-Because… I want y-you.”

“How could you possibly want this?” he spits in disgust.

His choking hand caught between us, I lean in to press our foreheads together. “Because I’ll always be safe with a villain on my side.”

The molten determination that’s replaced his icy stare steals my voice. I can handle cold Xander. Calculating Xander. Obsessed Xander. But angry, emotional, fuckingpossessiveXander?

He’s a different beast entirely.

A beast I’m longing to tame.

“I’ll be your villain if that’s what you want.”

I nod in total compliance.

“No one is going to lay another finger on you,” he promises menacingly. “Not if they want to keep that finger attached.”

His expanding pupils are bleeding into his irises, spelling imminent attack. Xander’s unfettered attention is an intense force, one that once terrified me. Now it feels fucking magnetic.

He’s a powerful riptide holding me captive, repeatedly dunking me beneath the ocean waves, filling my lungs and nose until I’m reliant on his mercy to suck in a single breath.

Abruptly releasing my throat, Xander drops to his knees in front of me. He lifts my oversized tee to seize my waistband. I don’t protest as he wriggles my leggings down over my hips and thighs.

Neither of us speaks. Not as he takes his pocketknife to my panties’ elastic. Nor as the sliced cotton hits the bedroom floor. And not when his head lowers between my thighs.

His mouth travels from my hip to my public bone, planting wet kisses. I shove my fingers into his hair, fisting the strands tight. His teeth scrape against my sensitive inner thigh, teasing me.

“Xan… please.”

“Hush.”

My knees are practically knocking together with each second he fails to offer me relief. I’m lightheaded and trembling, the warring sensations inside me too much to hold.

“Be still,” he demands.

His mouth descends exactly where I want it, his tongue licking the seam of my pussy. I hold back a shudder, terrified he’ll stop if I move an inch. His tongue slides over me before he sucks my clit between his teeth.

“Oh God!” I moan.

Lavishing attention on my sensitive bud, he feasts on my core like a starving man shown a three-course buffet. I buck into his face, silently pleading for more as electric tension coils inside me.

Xander halts, glancing up at me. “I told you to stay still.”

---