And when Gavin finally gave his pet permission to finish and helped him lie down, then cared for the wounds gracing his back by healing them with his blood, I wanted that too.
The tenderness.
The devotion.
His love.
“You little fool,” I breathed. “This is not your world. Gavin knows it. You’ll never be enough to make him truly happy.”
I’d gotten so swept up by what the men were doing that I hadn’t realized Gavin was no longer on the screen. Heart in my throat, I righted my skirt and fled his room, certain of two things.
I was in love with the idea of my husband, and he would never love me.
ChapterEight
GAVIN
Icouldn’t force Roslyn from my mind no matter how bloody hard I tried. Even in the shower, as I scrubbed my skin raw, thoughts of her assaulted me. The scent of her cunt on my fingers, the taste of her on my tongue, had driven me mad. No one had ever consumed me like this.
Even after finding release, I was still on edge because it hadn’t been enough. Simply a pale imitation of what I truly wanted.
But what was worse, the salt in the wound, was my session with Daniel. He deserved more than what he got tonight. He’d been loyal to me for years and allowed us to share something we both needed without the complication of romantic entanglement. Tonight I couldn’t even do him the honor of being fully present in the scene with him. All my thoughts were ofher.It was her body I marked. Hers I claimed. And when I fucked my fist, all I saw was the way she fell apart under my fingers.
Fuck.
My goddamned cock swelled under the towel I’d wrapped around my hips. She was a problem I needed to solve. But how? I couldn’t possibly introduce her to this life. Not when my instinct to bond with her, to ensure she could never leave me, to protect her with every cell in my body, screamed at me and my penchant for pain reared its head. I couldn’t have both. She was too innocent to mark, but if I bonded with her, there was no way I’d ever be able to choose another partner to await me on their knees. I’d be as much a slave to her as she would be to me. No one else would suffice, and my honor—I almost laughed at the thought of being honorable—wouldn’t allow me to stray from her.
The only reason I was able to fumble my way through the scene with Daniel was that she and I hadn’t taken that last step irrevocably tying us to one another. Once a bond was in place, there’d be no one else for me.
Part of me feared that might already be true.
I could still smell her, even now. Her arousal was potent. Sweet. As though she was here, waiting for me.
Excitement and apprehension coiled tight in my gut. Was she here? Had my little bride let herself into my room while I was washing off the evidence of my depravity?
“I smell you, petal. Where are you?”
Fuck. The heady scent of her cunt made my head spin, my length twitching in response. But she was nowhere in the room. Not waiting in my bed. Nor standing at the door. And yet... the scent of her was unmistakably present.
She wasn’t here now... but she had been.
Shit.
My eyes went immediately to the laptop still open on my desk. What had she seen?
But more to the point, what had my little princessdone?
“You liked it,” I whispered.
Christ, the things that did to me.
“You want me to pluck you, don’t you, petal?”
If she’d let me, I’d take that pretty flower of hers and slowly bruise it until she gave me what I needed. Her complete submission. She’d open for me, blooming beautifully, and eventually I’d be able to do anything...everything.
A tendril of fear wormed its way into my mind.
Don’t you remember what happens to delicate things in your hands? You kill them. You leave them broken. Just like you did with Danika.