Page 23 of Owned

That beast, that monster, was tired of pretending to be a man. Tired of maintaining the facade of the laid-back easy-going playboy, who gave everyone their every sexual fantasy while never thinking of his own.

She wanted me, I could see it in her eyes. She’d been turned on watching me fuck Tina in Arcadia, and judging by that blush and her dilated pupils she was turned on now. The monster inside me knew that. It wanted to take her desire and turn it into devotion, adoration, obsession. It wanted to make her desperate for me and me alone, and I couldn’t resist it.

There was no one else in the bathroom, no one to see and no one to judge, and even though I should have let her go, I didn’t. Instead, I watched as her eyes widened further, heard the breath catch in her throat.

We stared at each other for one long moment, the air in the tiny confines of the bathroom becoming denser, electric almost.

Rowan blinked. “W-What are you doing?”

I should have released her and stepped away then, because there was no reason for me to be so close. But the monster in me was rattling the bars of its cage. It wanted the truth from her and it wasn’t going to let her go until he got it.

“The truth,” I said. “Let’s have it, kid.”

“What truth?” She’d stiffened but made no attempt to pull away.

“About why you keep sniping at me and why you keep blushing every time I’m near you.” My grip tightened a little, watching small violet sparks leap in her eyes. It was turning her on being held like this, that was obvious. “It’s not because you don’t like me, is it?”

“Don’t be r-ridiculous.” Her gaze dipped to my mouth and back up again, a betrayal she didn’t seem to be aware of. “I don’t like you, that’s the whole point. I never have. I’ve?—”

That slight stammer and the way she looked at me sent a raw kick of heat to my gut, made the beast growl with pleasure, and I didn’t think. I slid my thumb over her mouth, feeling the give of her lips as I silenced her.

“That’s not the truth,” I murmured. “And we both know it.”

Her eyes widened even further, the little sparks in them becoming flames, and I stared back, the soft, cushiony warmth of her mouth under my thumb.

She was beautiful, but beauty wasn’t special. I could get that anywhere, so I wasn’t sure why now the deep violet of her gaze held me as surely as I held her. Or why the spill of her dark hair seemed to catch the light, turning it into a glossy streak of inky satin. Why I was so aware of the generous curves of her breasts pressing against her plain white shirt, and the graceful swell of her hips and thighs in her plain black skirt.

She’s young, innocent, and she wants you. How can you resist her?

No, that was the monster talking, that wasn’t me. I’d never touch a younger woman, never. That would be treading in my father’s territory far too much for comfort. He liked young women, and he liked manipulating them with sex and power, because that’s what a young woman wanted, he said. That’s what they were desperate for, he said. Use both, he said, and they’ll do anything you want. ‘You’ve got the looks. You’ve got the knack, just like me. You’ll have them eating out of your hand, boy….’

Again, I should have some distance between us, but her skin was like silk and the way she looked at me, shock giving way to a mounting fury and desire, was intoxicating.

She’d always fought me, right from the first. She’d been suspicious, wary, and rightly so. To me back then, she’d only been a kid, and I’d felt sorry for her. Sorry that she’d had to grow up too fast. Sorry that she felt so responsible for her own mother.

But it struck me forcibly now that she wasn’t that kid anymore.

She was a woman, strong and in control, yet I could see the heat and desperation behind the fury in her eyes. That fury was a smokescreen, hiding the real truth that she couldn’t bring herself to say.

She wanted me and she didn’t know what to do with that. She didn’t know how to say it, still less ask for what she wanted.

You could show her how. You could make her say it.

“Tell me,” I ordered, fully in the grip of the beast as I slid my thumb away from her pretty mouth. “Say the words out loud so we can both hear them.”

The sparks in her eyes glittered and abruptly she jerked her chin out of my hand. “No,” she snapped. “And whatever it is that you’re doing, you can stop.”

The words pierced me like an arrow, the monster inside me flexing. That ‘no’ was a challenge to it and I reacted without thought, reaching out once more to take her jaw in my hand, at the same time stepping forward and forcing her inexorably back and up against the vanity.

Her breath escaped in a gasp, her lips a perfect O of surprise. The curves of her hips and thighs were pressed to mine, fuck, she felt good. Soft. Warm. So very sweet.

“S-Stop.” She was breathing fast and I could smell the delicate, musky scent of feminine desire. Her body knew what it wanted, even if her head didn’t.

She’ll beg for you so perfectly.

She would, oh yes, she would. In the back of my brain, an alarm bell was ringing, but I wasn’t paying attention. There was power in this, in her desire for me, and it was intoxicating.

“You really want me to?” I eased my thumb along the line of her jaw, stroking her, watching the heat in her gaze spark and flare in response. “I don’t think you do, beauty. I think you want me to keep going.”

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