Page 12 of Little Death
His strokes are slow now, but sure. His body is granite beneath and around me, immovable and unfeeling aside from where he stokes me to life. The way he masters me is thought-melting. Rationality? Who’s she?
As much as I want to fight against him, the swell of a devastating orgasm unfurls low in my belly, coaxed to life by his fingers, the thrill of getting caught, and his absolute command over my body. Our mouths hover a breath away from each other, all my protests imprisoned in my chest. For one crazed moment, all I can think about is closing the distance and kissing him. How is he about to make me come, and I’ve never kissed him?
That realization is followed closely by the deep, irrefutable knowledge that there’s a terrifying possibility I’d let him do a whole lot worse. Including all the filthy suggestions he planted in my brain. I’d get on my knees for him. I’d let him bend me over this table with everyone watching.
Because he’s taking me in like I’m the only woman in the room. Like making me come is his sole mission in life. And being the object of his obsession is the most powerful aphrodisiac I have ever known.
I’ve never wanted or craved having a man speak to me the way Aiden has, but maybe I like it because it’s him saying it. Because he’s powerful. Dangerous. And all of that lethal focus is captivated by me. Those silver eyes gleam in the low outdoor lighting, rapt. By my gasps and twitches. My rolling hips. His fist clamps on my thigh to yank me wider, and I shudder, feeling surrounded by him, consumed by him.
“You don’t want to like it, but you do, don’t you?” he murmurs, his accent thick and almost unintelligible, rough with gravel and as breathless as I feel. “Do you think you’ve learned your lesson about what happens to little girls who wander where they’re not supposed to? Do you think I should take pity on you and let you go?”
I keen an inaudible sound into the place between his head and shoulder where I bury my face. “Yes” is the only word I remember to say.
At the sound of my voice, Aiden adds a third finger, stuffing me so full that I can barely breathe. “You should know better than to think I’ll show you any sort of mercy. I have you for the rest of the night, and this is only the beginning. You’re going to be my perfect little slut and come all over my fingers, or make sure everyone can see what a bad girl you are for me. Come for me now, slut, or I’ll?—”
I don’t get to hear what sick, depraved consequence he’s going to dream up for me next, because my body reacts like it belongs to him, and I come, muscles contracting around his fingers, clamping down so hard he can barely move them inside me. It takes a great deal of his considerable strength to continue driving his fingers inside as the hot, thick wave of my orgasm fights against him. The powerful bunching of his muscles, the groan of his satisfaction, and the threat of his determination drag out its intensity, leaving me wrung out and deliciously spent in his lap.
Whatever he says next in the aftermath is lost in the ringing of my ears, and the only remaining sensation is the hollowness inside me when he removes his fingers. I have enough awareness to take it in as he licks each one clean like he’s tasting a Michelin-starred dessert. He moves me as if I weigh nothing until I’m cradled sideways against his chest. I rest there, trying to get my heart rate under control, trying to understand how thoroughly tonight has gone off the rails and what I could have done differently to prevent it.
Aiden’s hand grips one of my knees, his thumb stroking back and forth, and I stare at it, wondering if he notices what he’s doing. Around us, the band is in full swing, the partygoers still completely oblivious. Most of the guests writhe together on the dance floor, faces sweaty and flushed.
When I glance up to check, his eyes are already on me. I open my mouth to speak and am furious that I hesitate, causing him to grin, white teeth flashing in the shadows.
“Learning so well, aren’t we? You can talk now. What is it?”
The only reason I don’t tear his head off at the patronizing response is because I’m too blissed out from what was possibly the best orgasm I’ve ever had. “You’ve made your point. You don’t have to do it again. I’ve already told you I will not say anything. If you let me go, I’ll promise whatever you need to ensure I won’t say a word about what I saw.”
His thumb continues its soothing path back and forth across my knee. “See how sweet you are after your punishment? How do you behave? Imagine how you’ll feel after a night of it? After I make you come dozens of times. By the time the sun rises, I’ll have had you screaming for so long you’ll be begging to tell me what you’re doing here. That’s when we’ll be done. When I know the thought of my face will make you hesitate before coming back. I don’t trust a damn word out of your mouth, but I can trust that.”
Already, the tendrils of apprehension snake through my resolve, clouding my certainty and polluting my judgment. I don’t want to come back here, and the night’s only just started.
Then I think about my mother and the potential clues she might have left behind. Would I have come back again to see if there was something else I might have missed?
I don’t need to ask myself the question twice, because despite everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t hesitate.
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.
Even if it meant putting myself in Aiden’s path again.
The question comes out before I can rip it back. “What went on between you two? Why would you kill him?” Curiosity killed this foolish cat. Isn’t that how I wound up in this predicament in the first place?
He takes a long beat to answer. One that’s filled with the kind of scrutiny I’m coming to ascribe to being the object of his intense focus. Something I hadn’t wanted to be, until now.
“You really don’t have any clue who I am, do you?” He seems almost surprised. And amused? I try to put space between us to study his expression more, but his arm tightens.
“Only what I could find on the internet after you…” I nearly choke, remembering I can’t give him any clue about who I am. “Announced the casino’s grand opening.”
“Interesting,” he says, drawing out the word.
“I assume you will not answer.”
“I—” he begins, and then a familiar voice drowns him out.
“I should have known you couldn’t leave the little bird alone.”
“I thought you left,” Aiden says flatly as he lifts me to my feet, holding a hand to my hip to keep me steady as my gelatinous knees threaten to collapse beneath me. I wrap the strap of my purse over my shoulder, despite the fuzziness clouding my brain. There’s no way I’m leaving this goddamn house without it, no matter what hell he puts me through.
The nameless man studies me with deep blue eyes that see too much, burn too bright. I almost want to hold my hands out in front of my face to keep him from peering too close. Letting him study my face and draw conclusions about what Aiden just did to me. Thankfully, my mask blocks him from seeing too much, and his attention swings back to Aiden. A breath stutters from my lips, my lungs screaming from holding it for so long. “It’s a good thing I didn’t. I thought you said you had a handle on this and didn’t need any help.”
