“I’m not lying, Noah.”
I ignored her. “Gentle or rough?”
“Rough.”
My pulse started to race. “Silk or rope?”
“Rope.”
My cock hardened. “Pain or pleasure?”
She bit her bottom lip, toying with a strand of hair between her fingers. “That’s a trick question.”
“How so?” I eyed her curiously.
“To me it’s both the same thing.”
“Since when?”
“Since last night.”
I stopped fucking breathing, my body rigid and muscles tense. There was a hunger in her eyes. I recognized it because I felt it too. It was gnawing away at my bones, piece by piece, driving me fucking crazy. No matter how hard my thoughts were, I couldn’t drown out the sound of my blood humming for this woman, her sinfully delicious lips practically begging me to kiss them raw. To bite that bottom lip of hers and have the metallic taste of her blood coat my tongue. God, the frenzy that would follow would be unstoppable, and nothing would tame it until we’ve both had our fill. Sated and thoroughly fucked. But my moral compass kept wanting to lead me in a different direction, away from her. She was still young, easily manipulated and seduced by the prospect of love. I knew she was lying when she chose lust over love. Question was, would I pretend to accept her answer as the truth and do what I wanted to—have my fill of her? Or would I call bullshit and walk away?
Without taking my eyes off her, I reached for my glass and emptied it with one large swig, pressing my lips together as I swallowed. “Last night didn’t even come close to how bad it can get.”
“I don’t care.”
“It’s a slippery slope, Sienna. Once you get a taste of it, nothing else will ever compare. Your little vanilla boyfriend will never satisfy you again.”
“He already couldn’t satisfy me, and I never knew why.” She licked her lips. “Until last night.”
I swallowed hard; my insides coiled tight. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that this morning when I saw these,” she lifted her shirt, showing me the bruises on her waist, “I liked it, Noah. I loved it; the thought that you did this.”
“Jesus Christ.” I stood and stomped to the other side of the patio, needing fucking air, and God knew, I couldn’t breathe when this woman was too close. With my hands on my hips, I paced, my thoughts in chaos. “You think I liked hurting you?”
“Yes,” she answered, her voice dripping with confidence. “I think you did like it.”
I stilled.
“You liked hurting me as much as I liked being hurt by you.”
I scoffed and looked away. This was insanity, and I didn’t know how it fucking happened. I went from a man who had nothing more to lose, a man who drifted aimlessly—hiding—to a man who got tied up in barbed wire by a redhead whose lips tasted of sin and darkness. A woman who had the power and the means to feed the beast I was so sure I had tamed a long damn time ago.
No.
I’ve been down this road before, and it led me down a path that ended with me losing everything I held dear.
No. No. No.
“You don’t know me, Sienna. You don’t know what I’m capable of doing.”
“And you don’t know what I’m capable of handling.”
She took a step closer, but I inched back, silently telling her to keep a distance. Brushing her fingers through her hair, I watched as red curls fell down her shoulders.
“Why are you pushing this?” I pulled my lips in a thin line, my fingers digging into my waist. “Why can’t you just walk away? Forget that anything happened?”