Page 9 of Only For Your Touch
“What do you want me to say? That it doesn’t? You bring attention and possibly a crowd that we don’t need.” His cold, matter-of-fact tone felt like a jab to the chest. “You can’t change who you are.”
“I’m Corrine,” she said, a surge of desperation rushing through her. Regardless of who her father had been revealed to be, she was the same person—her own person. Yes, she was a daughter, but she was also a sports fanatic, a best friend, a woman who hungered for more out of life than preparing big family dinners and being somebody’s wife and mother. She was a woman who not only wanted to live but had a right to be free of predestined boxes and condemnation. She feared people would forget that…fearedshewould forget. So she pushed off the wall, closing the space between her and Sasha, not stopping until the toes of her boots nudged his shoes. She tilted her head back and met that glacial stare. Lowered her voice, ordering, “Say it.”
Something dark, fierce, and breath-snatching flared in his wolf eyes. Something a wiser person would’ve heeded and backed away from. But it didn’t frighten her; it razed her inhibitions to the ground. Emboldened her. Empowered her. Even when his jaw clenched and a tiny muscle ticked along the sharp line like a warning, she stood her ground, held his gaze.
“Corrine,” he growled, sending shivers tumbling head over ass down her spine. Triumph and satisfaction weaved through her veins. This must be what a lion tamer experienced when one of those great cats obeyed him. Like he’d harnessed a power and strength that could turn on him and ravage him at any second. But for the moment, the predator—the hunter—was hers to control.
And this beautiful, wild, dangerous wolf was hers.
“Be careful,lisichka,” he softly cautioned, as if reading her mind.
But the warning only goaded her. Swaying forward, she brushed against him—Christ, was all that…? Moisture fled from her mouth as lust twisted in her sex.
“You want me,” she said, repeating the caress, harder this time, telling him with her body that she already knew the answer. She shifted closer, allowing her breasts to touch him, and biting back a whimper at the contact. Her nipples tightened just short of the point of pain, and the flesh between her legs spasmed, hungry to be filled.Now or never. Closing her eyes, because newfound courage only went so far, she rose on her tiptoes and grazed his chin with her lips. “This is your fault,” she whispered. “Before I walked in here last night, sex was something I could take or leave. It was okay, not a big deal. Then you interfered and turned it into something I can’t stop thinking of. Something I’m so hungry for, I ache. You tied me up, put your hands on me, inside me. Put your mouth on my nipples, sucked me.” She paused, squeezed her eyes shut tighter. “Fucked me,” she continued, her voice a hoarse rendition of itself. “You did more with your fingers, brought me more pleasure, left me aching and throbbing even hours later, than any other man has with his cock. I’ve never screamed during sex. Ever. But you made me. Over and over.” A shudder rippled through her, and she clutched the band of his slacks like a lifeline. “Don’t you want to see if you can make me scream again?”
Her harsh pants reverberated in the small room like mini blasts. God, she’d turned herself on—or up. She’d ratcheted the dial on her need from greedy to ravenous.
“Open those gorgeous eyes,” Sasha rasped. “Look at me when you say things guaranteed to get my dick in your mouth.”
She complied—unablenotto—and damn, why didn’t second-degree burns cover her skin from the unholy flames lighting his eyes? More than ever, he reminded her of the Russian animal renowned for bringing down its quarry with stealth and speed. Except, she wasn’t running. She wanted, needed, to be taken down.
“You don’t even know what you’re asking for.” He cupped the back of her neck, keeping her on her toes, his awe-inspiring strength supporting her. For a second, doubt slithered through her. Did she know what she asked for, inviting him to unleash all that power on her? “Do you make a habit of offering yourself to men you know nothing about? You have no idea what I’m capable of. Where I would lead you. What I would do to this pretty body. Last night, I tied you up. Tonight, maybe I would push you to your knees, fuck those beautiful breasts and make you suck my cock at the end of every stroke. Or maybe I’ll eat you while you swallow me… Maybe I would let people watch while you took me. That’s the kind of sex I have, Corrine. Are you ready for that?”
“I’ve heard…” She paused, hesitant to flip on Tara. “Rumors. About a separate club upstairs. I’m not afraid. As long as it’s you.”
“You don’t know me,” he ground out the reminder.
“I trust you.” At his growl, she shook her head—well, shook it as best as she could, considering he still gripped her neck. “I do. I can’t really explain why, but I do. Possibly because you’re trying to convince me to walk away from this club, from you, when any other man would’ve probably had me stripped and spread wide already.” She huffed out a breath and dropped her gaze from his, settling on his chin. “Then again, it could be because I believed the way you made me feel was a myth. Like the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot…masked vigilantes dressed like bats.”
Inside, she cringed. Even now, he could make her babble nonsense. But she’d meant every word. No man had ever made her feel that if she didn’t have her hands on him in zero-point-five seconds, she would lose her mind as well as her panties. Until he’d uttered those filthy words in her ear and wrapped his belt around her wrists, she hadn’t even been aware she could burn.
Several moments passed, the only sound the throbbing of heavy bass seeping into the room from the club. The silence, especially after her confession, grated over her skin like fingernails against her emotional chalkboard.
“Batman isn’t a myth,” he pointed out in that logical way he had.
“He’s make-believe,” she countered.
“If I let you stay, you follow my rules,” he stated, and the lightning-fast switch in subject had her mentally hurrying to catch up. “You’re my guest, and you’re safe, but if I tell you to jump, you do it. Don’t even stop to ask how high. And this remains a secret. However you came here tonight, find another way. No one can know you’re here. Not your friends, not the press, and definitely not your family. The moment anyone does, this ends. Understand?”
“Yes,” she breathed, triumph rushing through her with the strength of a flash flood. Triumph and relief. She was okay with his terms—more than okay. This thing had “temporary” stamped all over it, with an expiration date penciled in right under it. With everything happening in her life, all she had room for was “temporary.”
“All right.” He released her, his hand stroking down her spine before dropping away. “One last thing then.”
His mouth slammed down over hers.
Shock encased her in its icy grip, and for a second, she couldn’t do anything but gasp. But her lack of response didn’t deter him. He thrust his tongue between her parted lips and without the least bit of hesitation—as if this were their hundredth kiss instead of the first—tangled his with hers.
God, heat. Suchheat.
It melted her paralysis, and with a groan,shemelted. Opening her mouth wider, she met him stroke for stroke, lick for lick, pull for pull. Wet, hungry, and raw. A clash of tongues, lips, teeth, and moans. It was more battle than dance—a battle for dominance, for submission. He cocked his head to the side, delved deeper inside, demanding she hold nothing back from him. She didn’t. Couldn’t. And she commanded the same from him.Jesus. Not only did he stir an unprecedented lust in her but a wildness that she hadn’t known existed. A feminine strength she hadn’t realized she wanted.
Power that was addictive.
Sasha lifted his head, and his hooded gaze was damn near slumberous, his damp lips kiss-swollen. Because of her.
Wow.
“Follow me,” he said, and the hard inflection made a shiver of anticipation ripple through her. Anticipation and just a bit of trepidation.
Because as she trailed behind him out of the office, she once again questioned if she knew what she doing…
And the answer was a resounding no.
