Page 85 of Beautiful Exile

I only had a second to curse mentally before he flipped me onto my back. I hit the mat with a smack but rolled away before he could pin me. I was on my feet in a flash, circling away to regain my balance.

“Nice try, Vicious,” he goaded.

My eyes narrowed. “You’re like some Zen giant. It’s annoying.”

“Good,” Linc shot back. “Maybe it’ll annoy you enough to let go.”

I saw it then. The way his moves were designed to make me snap. To release everything that was pent up inside me. And thatdiduncork the anger.

I moved without him expecting it, grabbing his wrist and twisting it behind his back. He bowed as he made a sound of protest. I expected him to fold, but he didn’t. He pulled some sort of spin move, extricating himself from the hold and leveling a kick to my side.

Pain flared. Not bad but present, and it stoked the embers I’d buried beneath the coals of trying to hold it all together. I moved quicker this time, and with more power. My body tilted, hitting Linc in the shoulder with a roundhouse kick. I would’ve gone for the face if we’d had mouthguards and headgear.

Then again, that face was way too pretty to damage.

Linc stumbled back a few steps but quickly rallied. And thenwe truly began our dance. Back and forth. We were almost evenly matched but in ways completely unique to ourselves.

Sweat beaded and glided down my spine. My muscles strained in their search for more. More of what? I wasn’t sure. More contact. More pain. More release.

That moment of distraction was my undoing. Linc moved in with a single-leg takedown, and my back hit the mat with enough force to steal the air from my lungs. This time, I wasn’t quick enough to escape.

Linc was on top of me in the blink of an eye, his big body straddling my hips as he pinned my hands above my head. I bucked and writhed, but it was no use.

I knew my grappling game was weak. If my opponent got me on the mat, that was always my downfall. But I couldn’t find it in me to give up now or let him win.

“Tap out,” Linc growled, his face hovering over me.

“No,” I snarled.

His eyes flared, surprise making a home there.

“It’s not enough,” I admitted. “I need more.” I needed to fight until my muscles gave out. Until I was starved for breath. Until I could finally forget about the events of the day.

Linc’s gaze searched mine. “Tell me what you need.”

I tried in vain to unseat him, twisting my hips and bucking against him. It was no use. “I don’t know!” The words were half yell, frustration, anger, and fear stewing inside.

And then Linc’s mouth was on mine.

Everything about it was domination, the promise that he was in control when it felt like everything in my life was spinning wildly out of it. His weight pinning me. His hands holding my wrists. His tongue invading.

I moaned into his mouth, but then I sparked alive, ready to duel. Fighting for that dominance. Feeling the power spark to life inside me.

Linc stole his mouth from mine, his lips trailing across my jaw to hover at my ear. “Tell me what you want, Vicious. Tell me youwant me to make you come. That you want me to shatter your body so it’ll never be the same.”

I shuddered under him, the promise of his words digging in. My nipples tightened, beading beneath the light cotton of my bra.

“Fuck,” Linc swore. “I can feel those perfect nipples. Wonder if they’re the same berry pink as those lips I’ve been dreaming about wrapped around my?—”

I bucked with everything in me, rolling so I was the one straddling him, even though he still gripped my wrists. And then I felt it, his hard length pressed against the apex of my thighs, making a home against my core. My body moved on instinct, rocking against him. I couldn’t help it. A moan slipped free.

Linc’s eyes flashed, the green brighter in the sea of gold. “What are you going to do now?”

A dare laced his words—a challenge I was more than ready to meet. My hips rocked again, and Linc swore.

“Pure sin on a fight mat,” he growled.

I grinned down at him. “Is that so?” But my words cut off as Linc’s hips angled up, hitting me right between the legs. The friction and pressure were almost too much. A whimper slipped free, and it was all Linc needed.

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