Page 16 of Deviant

I broke away before I lost myself in her devious kiss. “Don’t fucking move.” I kept my eyes on hers as I bent and freed her from the shackle. The metal barely clanked on the floor before she took off. I grabbed her by the ankle, and her forward momentum brought her to the floor with a brutal thud. As her shrieks pierced my ears, I escaped the thrashing of her unrestrained leg by an inch. With a rough yank on her ankle, I dragged her closer, her body sliding across the hardwood with little effort despite the way she fought me.

“Let me go!”

Crawling over her, I pinned her lower body to the floor with my thighs and forced her hands to the hardwood on either side of her face, our fingers interlocked. “Yesterday wasn’t enough? You want to play again?”

“Fuck you.” The scorching fire in her gaze rushed through my veins. I found anger in her eyes, but underneath that, her diatribe singed with literal meaning.

“Are you wet, baby?” I pushed against her pelvis, all too aware of how her skirt had gathered around her hips during our fight. “Cause I’m happy to oblige.”

“Fuck you, Rafe.”

A quiver took hold of her lower lip, and she pulled it between her teeth. Then she blinked, her lashes fluttering as fast as a butterfly’s wings, as if holding back the burn of liquid pain.

“Don’t you dare hold back your tears.”

“Don’t you dare chain me to the bed again. Nothere.”

“That’s exactly why I did it. And you know what?” I lowered my face until our foreheads touched. “I’ll do it as long as it takes. Tonight. Tomorrow. The day after.”

A quick shutter of her eyes forced the tears out. I watched them slide down her cheeks, entranced for a few moments before I licked up the salt of her despair, of the baggage she couldn’t let go.

“And I willalwayscome back, baby. Just like I did this morning.”

“That’s what you said last time.” Her accusing tone pummeled me square in the chest.

“That’s the thing about second chances.” I closed my eyes and ran my nose alongside hers, breathing her in. “We don’t have to make the same mistakes again.”

“No more chains.”

“I can’t promise that.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Shit, Alex.” I inched back and met her eyes. “How can I not chain you up? That’s like asking me not to fuck you.”

A quick breath puffed off her lips. “So this isn’t just about punishing me…or getting me to deal with the nightmares?”

“No. This is about me being a fucked up bastard for wanting to chain you to the damn bed. And baby?” I let go of her hands and rose to a kneeling position, settling between her thighs. “I want you naked.” Reaching behind me, I clamped my hand around her ankle, a proxy for the shackle I was tempted to put back on later. “Take off your top.”

Tucking her lower lip between her teeth, she raked her fingers down her ribs and grabbed the hem. As the green tank that matched her eyes exposed her tits, a breeze came through the hole in the window, disrupting the curtains in its wake. Her nipples formed two hardened peaks.

I traced the lines I’d left behind on those mounds yesterday, my fingers gliding over creamy skin marred by the pink remnants of pain. She pulled the tank over her head and flung it across the room.

“Hands above your head.”

She stretched her arms out, gaze never wavering from mine as I tugged the elastic waistband of her skirt down the sexiest legs I’d ever seen. Swimming had strengthened them.

“I’m fucking starved.” I was talking about more than food, but my stomach grumbled, demanding attention. “You must be hungry too.”

“Famished,” she said, licking her lips as she fucked me with her eyes.

“Food before fucking.” I rose to my feet and reached a hand out to her. “But first…” I brought her to the dresser and pulled a drawer open, hoping she hadn’t tossed out what I was looking for.

The clothespins I’d left there over a year ago still waited, their harsh clamps begging to tighten around Alex’s nipples.

“Put your hands behind your head.”

She laced her fingers at the back of her head, her mouth forming an irritable curve. “What am I being punished for this time?”