Just because of the way he kisses me.
Because he doesn’t just kiss. He owns.
Every inch of me is ready to yield. Ready to bend to his will.
And he knows. He loves every way he can make my body bend. The control he has over me is a kick to him—a complete and utter loss of inhibitions—and that’s what he wants. I realize now it’s all I’ve ever desired … to relinquish my soul and feel like I belong.
Like my heart matters so much someone would kill for it.
Die for it.
Just like he would.
Fuck.
“I want you dripping wet, bunny,” he says, and I writhe up against him. “I will never, ever stop claiming what I want from you,” he groans in my ear. “Do you understand what that means?”
I nod in delirium from his hands still swiveling across my clit, and the ice cube firmly lodged inside me.
“Just like I told you before … I want your submission.”
“Yes,” I mewl.
His hand curls around my throat. “Now tell me again what you told me two days ago. After our fall.”
My lips part, air squeezing out, as the memory sends me into a panic.
“Relax,” he commands, shoving his finger up my pussy, reminding me I’m here, right now, with him. Safe.
“Say it, say the words you know I want to hear, Jill, and you’re mine. Forever.”
“I love you,” I whisper.
It’s the only thing that he’s always wanted.
The only thing he could never steal.
The one thing I had left to offer.
That day, I gave it to him freely, willingly, knowing what it would cost me.
I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
He grins against my neck, the feel of his teeth against my skin exhilarating. “Good … because I’m not going to stop giving you a goddamn earth-shattering orgasm every single day for the rest of your life for as long as we both fucking live. Understand?”
Oh, God.
I nod a couple of times as he presses his thumb against my clit.
“Good girl …”
His hand leaves my panties, leaving me hungry for more, and he moves away again.
“Wait there.”
I still haven’t opened my eyes, simply because he hasn’t told me to, but man, is it hard when he’s being so coy.
Suddenly, his breath hits my mouth, his hands—no, something metallic—clasps around my neck.
I gasp, my fingers instinctively moving up to touch it.
“You chucked my ring away,” he says.
“I-I’m sorry,” I mutter, feeling the guilt wash over me again.
“This new collar means more than that ring ever will,” he murmurs. “I love you. And I want you to remember that when I fuck your brains out and call you a slut.”
Fuck.
That made my pussy throb.
I nod even though I’m anxious from the thought of having another collar around my neck, an object of control to keep me from escaping. From having a choice.
He presses a soft but smoking-hot kiss at the left side of my lip. Then he grabs my hand and places something inside. “Open your eyes.”
When I do so, they instantly widen. He pushed a key into my hand.
“I’m keeping this,” he says, clutching the one that has a bunny emblem on it. The one that belongs to the collar I can’t stop touching. There’s a bunny engraved in the metal too, and the sides are embellished with fluffy pink feathers.
He circles around me again, wrapping his arm around me as he slides aside my hair to whisper in my ear. “The key in your hand is yours.”
“What does it open?” I ask.
“Everything inside this house,” he says, planting an indulging kiss beneath the collar. “I’m giving you what you wanted more than anything,” he whispers. “Freedom.”
I almost drop the key right there and then.
He’s giving me freedom?
True freedom to go wherever I want?
“For how long?”
“Forever.”
I swallow. Hard.
“I’m not going to tell you to stay. I want you to choose, Jill,” he whispers, sliding his hand down over my sweatpants, covering my pussy like it was always his to begin with. And I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t true. “Even though you belong to me, bunny.” He pauses, the sound of his breaths near my ear making me hyperaware of my own arousal. “But know that I will never, ever stop chasing you.”
“Never?” I mutter. The thought of him stalking me, watching me, is somehow a turn-on rather than a scare.
And it makes me wonder what he’d do if I did.
“Never,” he reiterates, a wicked smile forming on his face. One I recognize all too well.
One I crave more than anything.
He groans like an animal when he adds, “Now run, little bunny … run.”
Fuck. Me.
Chapter 36
Luca
* * *
When she starts running, the sound of her pounding heart sets my whole body aflame.
All I can focus on is that giddy grin on her face as she shoves the key into the lock and opens the front door, ready to burst out. But I’m equally ready for the chase.