The pure masculinity that oozed from him—the fierceness in his stance, the power in his hold even though I knew I could break it if I tried hard enough—sparked an uncontrollable, insatiable flare of desire that couldn’t be suppressed. His mouth had come so close to mine, and all at once I could think of nothing but closing that distance.
My brain short-circuited—that’s the only way I can explain it. I lunged, not to break free but to steal a kiss.
My mouth met Talon’s roughly. He froze, his grip loosening in shock, his lips surprisingly soft but unmoving beneath mine. Panic flashed through the flood of my desire. Had I wrongly assumed there’d been interest on his side?
Just as I started to pull back, embarrassment flushing my cheeks, Talon shoved his body more solidly against mine and kissed me back hard.
His grip on my pinned wrists tightened, but somehow that only made the kiss more delicious. I groaned against his lips, and he all but devoured me. His tongue swept into my mouth, his teeth grazing my lips, all the muscular planes of his body pressing up against me. The power radiating from him brought me to my metaphorical knees.
As he kissed me again, our mouths crashing together even more violently, I brought my own tongue out to play. I’d never known how thrilling it would be to spar like this instead. His hips rocked into me, a hard bulge brushing my lower belly, and every nerve in my body clanged with need.
His lips moved to my neck, nipping and licking and claiming every inch of skin. Abruptly, he released my wrists, grasping my thighs instead. He pushed me up the wall just high enough so that the hard length of him could settle against my sex.
Oh my fucking God. The friction of it drove me wild, making me want to claw at him until I’d torn off all the layers of clothes between me and him, until he could be plunging right inside me.
What had gotten into me?
The thought had only just flitted through my head when the ravaging of my neck transformed into kisses that were almost tender. An image flashed through my mind—teasing words in a sweet voice, gentle caresses, never letting up, never stopping no matter how much I tried to wrench myself away—
I stiffened, transported out of the moment and back to that other time and place I wished I could forget.
I closed my eyes tightly, trying to ground myself back in the present. It’d felt so good a second ago. But I couldn’t get back to that place where this intimacy felt like a gift rather than an assault, not when Talon had gone soft on me.
Maybe that was crazy, but I already knew I wasn’t a normal woman. My body needed what it needed.
I flung both boxing gloves to the ground alongside his and gripped his shirt with a clenched fist, yanking on it until he raised his head to meet my eyes. The lust hazing the icy blue irises had me soaking my panties. But I had to make this clear, or we couldn’t go any farther. And holy fuck did I want to find out how far this could go.
“I’m not a porcelain doll,” I said, low and determined. “So don’t treat me like I’m one. Give me everything you’ve fucking got. Make it war, not love.”
Something flickered in his gaze. Then he reached a hand behind me and wrapped it around my ponytail, pulling my head back and exposing my throat to him. He bit hard on the side of my throat, and I gasped, a slight moan escaping my lips.
Yes, that was what worked. I felt my entire body melt at the gesture. This was nothing like the asshole who’d violated me with false sweetness before. This was something totally different—different and fucking amazing.
Talon shoved his free hand down my pants, palming my pussy, and a jolt of blissful heat rushed through me. My breaths fractured into panting.
“How rough do you want it?” he said into my ear, tugging back on my ponytail with more force.
I let out a strangled sound as his finger flicked over the sensitive spot between my thighs. One touch set off a quiver of pleasure that took my breath away completely. Was this what sex was supposed to feel like? What it normally felt like for most people? If so, how the hell did they manage to do anything else?
“I want you to make me scream,” I whispered, and slammed my mouth into his once more.
Talon’s next move nearly accomplished my request in one go. He plunged two fingers into me, still stroking the place right at the core of me that made me squirm and whimper with need. The place that had been too long deprived of a touch other than my own. The way he touched me there—the roughly oscillating motions he made combined with the crush of his lips against mine—flooded me with so much giddy heat I could barely think.
I broke away from his lips long enough to rip my shirt off over my head, leaving only my sports bra. Talon dove in to leave tingling bites up and down my neck, finally dipping his head to the exposed hollow of my cleavage as his fingers kept pumping in and out of me. I writhed against the wall, desperate to reach some point I couldn’t even explain. One of my hands dropped to that tempting bulge behind the fabric of his pants.
Talon jerked back with a muttered curse. He withdrew his hand from my own pants and lifted his fingers slick with the proof of my hunger. Holding my gaze, he licked my arousal off him, and I just about went up in flames.
The smile that pulled to his face was pure, unadulterated masculine assurance. A heady tremor rippled through me even with him barely touching me.
He took a step back. “Don’t move,” he ordered.
I had absolutely no desire to be anywhere but here. Where the hell was he going, though?
He all but hurtled out of the room and barreled back in mere seconds later with a foil wrapper in his hand. Understanding clicked in my head. Of course. I hadn’t even thought—
But why would I? I’d never gotten this close to any man except the one who’d taken what I hadn’t wanted to give. And besides, Noelle had brought me to get a birth control implant inserted into my arm years ago, after that incident—one of the most effective ones, if she was to be believed. Just in case.
It didn’t protect against everything, though. Who knew how many women Talon had been with before me? I didn’t bother to mention my own version of protection as he prowled toward me. Every thought but the act we were about to commit fled my mind.