He leans forward and into the soft light of the estate’s nightlights weaving through the curtains. I hold my breath when the light catches the blue shades in his eyes—sparkling sapphires looking right at me.
“First, all I wanted was a wife with no strings attached.” He lifts the glass to his mouth, his throat bobbing as he swallows. “Then I wanted your virginity, and as soon as I tore through your innocence, I wanted your every wicked desire. And that still wasn’t enough. It still isn’t.”
“Alexius—”
“Then I wanted you bound to me forever, so I got you pregnant. Locked you in a room.” His elbows are on his knees, dark hair draping down the side of his face. “My greed almost destroyed us.”
“You did not destroy us.”
“I said almost.” His voice is a low timbre of power, vibrating to every bone in my body.
The moisture on my skin starts to burn, and the heat becomes too much, so I kick the sheets down to my feet before pulling my fingers through my hair, smoothing the tresses over my shoulder.
I bite my lip. “What else do you need from me?”
He leans his head to the side, leveling me with his fiery stare, twirling the glass between his fingers. “Too much.”
“That’s not up to you to decide,” I murmur, my body starting to buzz with a mix of adrenaline and need. I’m so hungry for his touch, his kiss, his possession, it’s slowly building, growing strong enough to give me the courage and confidence I need to show him that I know what I want.
I lean back against the headboard, pull up my knees, and let the silk of my nightgown slip down my thighs. His gaze drops to my legs for a moment, then locks with mine again.
I trace a finger along my collarbone. “Maybe that’s been your problem all along. You don’t give me the chance to make my own decisions.”
“Because I like to get what I want.”
“And you think my choices would go against what it is you want?”
“I’m not the kind of man who leaves anything to chance.”
“And I don’t like my choices being taken from me.” My finger traces along the strap of my nightgown, my nail gliding along my flesh. “Perhaps we need to find mutual ground. Some place where you’re in control, and I have the freedom to choose for myself.”
My back arches as I trail a finger over the swell of my breast, my nipple hardening against the soft silk. His blue irises turn to steel, his eyes an iridescence of hunger as he studies me.
He places his glass down and stands, his frame impossibly large within the darkness as he stalks closer, his features striking as he moves deeper into the light, a king clothed in authority who has me chained to him and bathed in magnetism that will always keep me captive. He stops by the end of the bed, and I finally reach out, switching on the dim light. “What are you proposing?”
“When it comes to our lives together, being husband and wife, I get the freedom to have my own opinion, make my own decisions.” I reach between my legs, spreading my knees apart, and a flame erupts in my core when he looks at where I touch myself, slipping my hand inside my panties. “But when it comes to our most wicked desires, you control everything. You’re the dictator, and I am merely your filthy…little…slut.”
He spreads his arms wide, gripping the posts of the bed. “Are you wet?”
“Yes.” I drag a finger through my slit, bucking my hips. “Very.”
“Take off your panties.”
“Is that a yes?” I challenge. “Do we have a deal?”
He slays me with a stare that turns my insides into liquid fire, and my breathing becomes labored. “Take off your panties, stray.”
I obey, biting my lower lip and slipping my underwear over my thighs and down my legs, making a show of it as I drop it on top of the sheets. He lifts a brow when I close my legs, purposefully denying him what he wants to see.
His nostrils flare, and he takes my panties, bunching them up in his palm, bringing them up to his nose and inhaling deep. He closes his eyes, and I watch him savor the scent of my arousal, and I can feel the wetness start to coat my inner thighs.
“The smell of your pussy makes me want to hunt you, eat you, fucking devour you.” His top lip curls in a snarl as he tosses the panties on the floor. “Turn around and get on your knees.”
My chest tightens, my lungs unable to pull the air in deep enough as I turn my back toward him. I can feel his eyes on me. It’s a white-hot flame on the back of my neck. My hair bounces off my shoulders as I pull the dress over my head, and I glance halfway over my shoulder at him, watching him unbutton his shirt. “Do we have a deal?”
“Lay down on your stomach.”
“Do we have a deal?”