He dragged his cock out again and then set a brutal pace. He fucked her like a jackhammer, using her body with ruthless precision. He controlled the movement by tightening his hands on her hips and forcing her body to accept his dick.
He was just about to let out a roar and fill her with his cum when it happened again. It was a flash of Kaja. This was how the Second had taken her, though he’d had a friend hold her down by the neck while another had forced her legs apart. She’d gritted her teeth and endured as the Second had used her. It was all Kaja knew. It was why she’d gotten into this position. Kaja didn’t understand that there was more than one way to make love. She only knew how to be raped.
Dante fell back, tears coating his eyes and making the world seem like a watery mess. What was he doing? He was treating Kaja like a possession, not something precious and valuable. He was behaving as all the men who Kaja had known before had behaved. She was his wife. Her blood was in his body. She was worth more than this.
“Did I displease you?” Kaja asked. She was on her knees, her arms covering her breasts. She’d turned in on herself. He could see that now. Her face went blank when she retreated.
No. She hadn’t displeased him in the least, but he couldn’t say the same for himself. The urge to walk away was right there like a knot in his chest that wouldn’t let him breathe. He didn’t want to feel this way. He didn’t want to be responsible for her. He wanted to be the man he’d always been before—the good-time guy. He wanted to party and fuck pretty women and send them on their way. He didn’t want to have his heart ripped out every time Kaja turned those gorgeous eyes on him. He didn’t fucking want to care.
“I should leave then.” Kaja’s eyes turned down, but not before he caught the sheen of unshed tears. “I will find a place to sleep, but I won’t go far.”
She would curl up and cry and wonder how she’d failed him. Dante knew exactly what she would do. He could tell her it wasn’t her fault, but she wouldn’t believe it. She would only believe it if he showed her.
He couldn’t let her leave. “Kaja, I’m not done.”
She bit at her bottom lip. “But you pushed me away. Perhaps if you told me what I did wrong, I could learn how to please you.”
He reached out and pulled her close. Only when her arms went around him did he relax again. He’d fucked up, but he could fix it. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Kaj. I just didn’t want to make love that way. I want to see your pretty face when you come for me.”
“But the mating…” she began.
He shook his head and forced her to look him in the eyes. “No mating. Mating is for assholes who want to use you and give you nothing in return. Put that word out of your mind.” He let his hands roam as he eased her onto her back and got between her legs. He covered her body with his. Yes, this was what he’d missed. He was wrapped in her softness. “We’re going to make love, you and I. We’re going to fuck, but in the sweetest way possible. Do you understand?”
“No, but I already like it. I like being close to you.” Her legs moved against his hips. She was already accepting him in a way she hadn’t before. She hadn’t moved when he’d mounted her from behind. Now she was participating. Her hands ran down his back to the muscles of his ass.
“And I like your hands on me. Oh, touch me everywhere, Kaj. I want to feel you all around me.” He was right there again, with his cock at her pussy, but this time she was the one who pulled him inside. Her hands gripped his ass, and she spread her legs.
“I like this making love, Dante,” she said. “I like this so much more.”
So did he. She was with him this time. He took over, thrusting in gently and pulling out, simply enjoying the feel of being inside her. He let his head drift to her neck. He could hear the soothing sound of her heart racing and feel her warmth surrounding him. He fucked his wife for the longest time. She came over and over, her mouth opening and crying out his name as her legs tightened around him. Five times she shuddered and came beneath him before her arms fell away.
“Dante, I can’t.” Her head had fallen back, and though she begged for mercy, there was a smile on her face.
“One more, Kaj. I just want one more, and then we can be done. For now.” He didn’t want her to get it into her head that she would be allowed more than a night’s rest. He intended to be inside her again before she fully awoke the next morning. He intended to fuck her until she forgot there had ever been a man there before him.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
But she could. Dante pushed himself up and ground his pelvis against her clit as he fucked his cock as deeply into her as he could go, and she lit up around him.
Then it was finally his turn. He let go, and the pleasure made his body jerk as he came.
Another feeling flowed through him. Utter satisfaction. He was satisfied because he was complete in that moment. And then he realized the feeling wasn’t his. It was Kaja’s. Her heart, her sweet, brave, loyal heart was at peace for the first time as he came inside her. She held him, clinging to him. So much of her pleasure came from pleasing him.
Dante shuddered one last time and let himself fall on her. Her breath came out in a happy sigh, and she squeezed her arms around him.
He should roll off her. Some voice deep inside him told him to run, but it was a distant thing now. There was another voice that told him to revel in her. She was his, but this voice didn’t tell him to take her because she belonged to him. This voice urged him to take care of her, to cling to her as she was clinging to him, because they belonged to each other.
After the longest time, he rose to his feet. They needed to bed down for the night. Kaja didn’t protest when he lifted her into his arms and cradled her to his chest. Her arms drifted around his neck.
When he took her into the water this time, she didn’t flinch. She simply trusted him.
Dante knew he was in way, way over his head, and there might not be any way out.
Chapter Eleven
Chalen Palgrave felt his blood pressure rise as he attempted to process the words his employee was saying. It had been a rude awakening from a sound sleep. “What exactly are you trying to say to me, Roan?”
Roan’s expression never changed. His face was utterly blank. From what Chalen could tell, th