This sobers me enough to ask, “Why me?”
The way he swipes his tongue over his bottom lip, as if he’s preparing to taste me, scorches my veins. He moves in closer, his mouth brushing my ear as he says, “You’re so fucking tempting.”
My eyes close. The feel of his lips grazing me, the gruff whisper of his voice, his words…I’m through. There’s no fight left.
“Your face tonight,” he says, and I open my eyes. “Someone hurt you, didn’t they?”
I avert my gaze as shame gathers within.
“Look at me,” he commands.
I do. I stare right back into him. “No more than usual. I’m used to it.”
“And yet you suffer it so beautifully.” He does taste me then. His mouth seals over mine in the gentlest of kisses. His soft lips just brushing mine, sampling. But I feel the restraint there, holding him back from taking my mouth in a brutal kiss meant to wound, to punish.
As he pulls away, his gaze flits over my face. “The humility you endure, as if it’s your own brand of sin, is an erotic aphrodisiac to my monster,” he says, forcefully tugging my underwear aside, his fingers finding me within the same second. I gasp in a breath past the onslaught of arousal. “And I am tortured, Alexis. That monster has to claim you if I ever hope to be sated. Even then…I’m not sure it will be enough.”
His hand moves to my hair, yanking my head back as his mouth takes my neck. His teeth nip and brand, my skin an open canvas to be marked by him.
“I will take, but I’ll also give,” he says. “Whatever you desire, I’ll give you.”
Within a pocket of my mind, a sane voice whispers this is wrong. This man is terrifying—more terrifying than any cliff. I know nothing of him; he’s just a shadow, a powerful figure in my professional life. Whatever he’s greedily taking from me will never be returned. Only the roar of my blood as it careens against my arteries in a raging inferno shouts louder.
I’m not giving up; I’m giving in. I’m ready.
I plunge over the cliff. Leaping and falling all at once.
And then: “Yes.”
The word passes my lips as effortlessly as he sinks inside me, claiming my body as his.
I don’t want to struggle. I don’t want to fight the inevitable. I’m exhausted from swimming against the tide. I no longer want to be the awkward, strange girl that enforces some ridiculous, self-serving belief she doesn’t long to be touched. Only because it means embarrassment, ridicule. Estrangement. When a man realizes there’s nothing beneath my surface, all those are soon to follow.
If this man wants to feast off my humility, he can devour it whole.
“Oh, Alexis,” he whispers against my lips. “I’m going to debase you in the most lovely way.”
4
Scorn
Chase
Alexis Wilde is a temptress.
Those pouty, downturned lips. Those sullen, bottomless eyes always glistening on the verge of tears. That vexing body—that she has no idea is so goddamn sexy. She taunts me daily. Daring me to break my rules.
And finally, I have succumb to my temptress.
My hand fists in her silky dark hair as I tower over her, devouring the sight of what I’ve craved for too long. “Grab the desk,” I command her.
The tantalizing column of her slim throat bobs, enticing me. The urge to feel my cock meet the back of it irresistible. A hint of defiance shimmers in the green pools of her eyes, just a flicker, before she submits.
I step aside as she assumes her position, transitioning into it gracefully. As I move around her, letting my hand caress the delicate dip of her lower back, admiring her spread legs, the sexy shape of her ass…I tremble with anticipation and have to rip my hand away.
“Stay just like that,” I encourage, then move to the center of the room and take a seat in my leather chair. “Spread your legs wider.”
She does, more compliant now, giving me a perfect view.