“No need to draw it out.” Before I can react, she reaches up and tugs the straps off her shoulders, knocking my hand out of the way. She works the thin fabric down her full breasts and wide hips and lets it drop to the floor. It leaves her standing before me in only a pair of blue cotton panties.
For a moment, I simply stare. It feels a little like we’re playing a game of chicken, just the two of us. If she thinks she can brazen her way through this, she’s got another think coming. I take a step back and drink in the sight of her. I’m aware of Eli going stock-still in the chair to the side of us, but my attention is solely on Harlow.
Fuck, she’s sexy. Nice tits, soft stomach, a hint of muscle definition in her legs and arms, pert little ass.
She huffs out a breath. “Stop looking, and let’s get this over with.”
“You got somewhere to be?”
She glares. “I prefer to rip off bandages all at once, rather than taking my time.”
That surprises a rough laugh out of me. “You wound me.”
“I’m sure you’ll survive.”
“Mmm.” I close the distance between us, stopping just short of pressing against her, and take her chin. “You going to close your eyes and bear it? Do your duty and get this nasty business over with like a good little martyr?”
She arches a perfectly shaped brow, but I can see the way she shakes a little. “I agreed to consummate the handfasting. I didn’t agree to enjoy it.”
Eli curses, but we both ignore him.
I lean in, shifting until my lips nearly brush her ear. “Oh, you’re going to enjoy it.”
“Unlikely.”
Fuck, but I think I like her. She’s got some steel in that spine, and it’s appealing in a way I didn’t expect. I thought I might have to get creative to bring her around, but this is just another battle. I’ve been fighting my entire fucking life. Harlow doesn’t stand a chance of resisting.
I turn my face and press a slow kiss to her neck. My mouth hurts like a motherfucker, but it’s irrelevant. I’ve experienced worse, and I will again. “You’re furious, aren’t you, sweetheart? You were going to do the right thing, and then he went and tried to make you break your word. Fucker didn’t learn his lesson, either. He’d tell you to knee me in the balls and run right now if he wasn’t too busy choking on his own tongue out of pure fury.”
“Stop it.”
I drag my mouth up her neck. Fuck, her skin is soft. “Take it out on me. I can handle it.” I take her hips in a light grip. “Just like I bet you can handle anything I give you.”
“You are such a bastard,” she whispers.
“Not according to my mother.” She’s been gone fifteen years, taken by cancer. That loss barely stings anymore. Some days I wonder if it wasn’t a blessing that she didn’t live long enough to see us lose everything. Other days, I suspect Eli’s father never would have made the move he did if she were still among the living. She tempered Bauer Paine in a way I never could, and when she died, he lost what little humanity he had remaining.
Dark thoughts. Not the time or place for those.
I lift my head and look down at her. “You want to lie back and think of England? Go for it.” I motion to the bed.
For the first time, Harlow looks a little uncertain. But she finally sets her jaw and nods. “Sure.” She skims off her panties, and fuck if my mouth doesn’t water at the sight of her ass as she walks to the bed and crawls onto it.
I glance at Eli. He looks like a man staring death in the face. Good. “How many times do you think I can make her come before I finish?”
He flinches. “You’re such an asshole.”
Guilty, but that’s never stopped me from taking what I want. It’s not my fault he makes it so fucking easy. The Eli I remember used to have his shit together. He wasn’t walking around with an open spot in his armor big enough to drive a truck through. Harlow is a pressure point that he can’t seem to help reacting to, and I’m going to take great joy in smashing that button over and over again.
I just didn’t expect to enjoy the method of vengeance so much.
I stalk to the nightstand and pull out a string of condoms and toss them onto the bed next to where Harlow has positioned herself. She stares. “We only need to do it once.”
“Let’s keep our options open.” I snag her ankle and tow her around so that she’s lying perpendicular on the mattress. The better to maximize Eli’s view. “Spread your legs.”