Chapter 48
PLOT TWIST: I DIDN’T EXPECT HIS REACTION TO INCLUDE BENDING ME OVER HIS DESK. #HOLYHOTNESS
DAKOTA
“You thought you weren’t perfect?” Axel’s voice cracked through the silence, raw and disbelieving. His anger radiated from him in waves. Not at me. Never at me. At the cruel voice in my head that had whispered lies for so long.
“I …”
He didn’t wait for me to finish before he pushed off the doorframe with barely contained fury. The muscles in his jaw clenched. Released. Clenched again.
But he didn’t come to me. Not yet. Instead, he yanked the full-length mirror from its standing position in the corner, propped it against the wall behind the desk so harshly, the glass rattled in its frame.
Only then did he reach down, his large hands gripping my arms, pulling me to standing, and as he did, his touch burned through my skin, leaving trails of heat in its wake.
“You were horrible to yourself.” The words came out rough, broken. He looked at me the way he’d look at anyone who dared hurt me. Except the enemy this time was my own reflection. “How could you not see how perfect you are?”
His hands found the hem of my tank top. The fabric whispered against my skin as he pulled it over my head.
Cool air kissed my bare shoulders. He repeated the motion with my sweats, then my panties, each piece of clothing falling away like old insecurities.
Until I stood naked. Exposed. Vulnerable in a way that had nothing to do with lacking clothes.
“Look at yourself.”
I swallowed hard and looked at the woman in the mirror. At the shirtless man behind her, his chest covered in intricate black ink that seemed to move with each breath. A phoenix wrapped around his ribs. Thorns and roses climbed his shoulder. All of it flexing with barely controlled need.
“This throat …” Still standing behind me, Axel drew his fingertips up my neck.
The touch was featherlight, tender. My pulse jumped beneath his fingers.
“I’ve watched you throw your head back when you laugh.
Watched it flush pink when you’re shy.” His breath warmed my ear.
“This collarbone.” His fingers traced its delicate line.
“I’ve imagined kissing it a thousand times. ”
Goose bumps erupted across my skin and every nerve ending sparked to life, hungry for more.
His hand moved lower, cupping my breast. “These are perfect. The way they fit in my palms. The way your nipples harden just from my breath on your neck.”
As if to prove his point, he exhaled slowly against my shoulder. My body responded instantly.
He squeezed my nipple between his fingers inciting a sharp pleasure-pain that made me gasp.
“How dare you not see them as perfect?”
His palm flattened against my stomach, the heat of it searing. “This stomach.” His voice caught, just barely, and his fingers spread wider against my skin. The words that came next were quieter. “Beautiful. Perfect.”
But he didn’t move his hand. Not yet. His thumb traced a small, unconscious circle just below my navel, where a baby would grow if I ever became pregnant, and when I looked up at him, something flickered in his eyes.
A question he wasn’t ready to ask, maybe wasn’t even aware of yet.
The moment stretched between us, heavy with unspoken possibility.
Then he blinked, and his hand continued its journey while the ghost of that touch lingered, along with everything he hadn’t said.
But coherent thought scattered as his hand traveled lower. His eyes never left mine in the mirror, dark and intense, as his fingers slipped between my folds. I was already wet. Already aching.
“Lift your leg.” The command rumbled through his chest, where it pressed against my back. “Put your foot on the chair.”
I obeyed, placing my foot on the chair to my right. The position left me completely exposed. Vulnerable. Open.
“Look how perfect and pink and glistening you are.” His fingers traced my entrance slowly. Torturously. “Look at how wet you get for me. How your body knows exactly what it wants.”
I’d never examined myself like this. Never had the courage. But through Axel’s eyes, I saw something different. Something beautiful. The shame I’d carried for so long began to crack and fall away.
He pushed two fingers inside me. Slowly. Letting me feel every inch. My thigh quivered, and heat coiled tight in my belly, spreading outward like wildfire.
“Look at how you take me, Sunshine.” His voice was pure gravel now. Pure need. “So tight. So warm. Like you were made for me.”
He pushed deeper, curling his fingers to hit that spot that made stars explode behind my eyes. With his free hand, he cupped my breast, thumb circling my nipple, while his lips found my shoulder, his teeth grazing my skin between kisses.
“Say it,” he commanded, pumping his fingers faster. “Say you’re perfect.”
My head fell back against his shoulder and my legs shook.
He stopped moving. Bit down on my shoulder hard enough to sting. “Say. It.” He grabbed my chin with his free hand, forcing my gaze back to the mirror. “Watch yourself when you say it.”
“I’m perfect,” I whispered.
His eyes narrowed. “Not good enough, Sunshine.”
He withdrew his fingers. My body clenched around nothing, aching with loss. But suddenly, he was on his knees in front of me. His mouth replaced his fingers, tongue circling that bundle of nerves before sucking hard.
I gasped., and when my hips bucked forward, he gripped my thighs, spreading them wider. From this angle, turned slightly toward the mirror, I could watch everything. His dark hair between my legs. The flex of his shoulders. His tongue disappearing inside me.
“Watch me make you come,” he ordered against my flesh. The vibration of his words sent shock waves through me. “See what I see. How beautiful your face is when you shatter.”
His tongue was relentless. Circling, flicking, sucking. My hands found his hair, thick and soft between my fingers, and when I tugged hard, he groaned against me, the sound traveling through my core.
He looked up, locked eyes with me, and thrust his tongue deep inside. In and out. Faster. Harder. The coil in my stomach wound tighter, my thighs trembled, and my breath came in short gasps.
Just as I reached the edge, he pulled back and stood in one fluid motion.
Before I could process the ache of having been so close, he spun me around and pushed my chest down against the desk. The wood was cool against my flushed skin. He kicked my legs wider apart, and I heard the rustle of fabric as his pants hit the floor.
“You look at that mirror. Now.”
I turned my face to the right. Saw us both reflected there. Me, bent over like an offering. Him, standing behind me like a conquering god. The phoenix on his ribs seemed to spread its wings as he breathed, and his erection stood proud and thick, the head glistening.
“I’ve been tested.” He rubbed himself along my entrance, the sensation making me whimper. “Haven’t been with anyone since. Tell me you’re on birth control.”
“I am.”
“Tell me you’re perfect.”
I hesitated.
His palm connected with my ass, the slap echoing through the room.
I yelped, but heat bloomed where he’d struck.
“Try that again, Sunshine.” His palm soothed the stinging skin, circular motions that made me push back against him.
“I’m perfect.”
Another slap. Harder. The pain melted into pleasure that made me moan.
“More convincing,” he demanded.
“I’m. Perfect.”
Slap. My skin burned deliciously.
“Louder.”
“I’m perfect!” The words rang out clear and strong.
Bending over, he kissed my tender skin. “Good girl. Now give me your wrists.”
He gathered them behind my back, pinning them with one large hand while he used the other to guide himself to my entrance. “Watch the mirror, Sunshine. Watch yourself swallow me.”
He breached my entrance slightly, making me exhale a sharp breath of air.
Reading my face carefully, putting my needs ahead of his own, Axel waited, letting my body adjust before he pushed in inch by careful inch, and as he sank deeper, his eyes never left mine until finally, with one last controlled thrust, he was all the way inside.
My body stretched around him, the fullness even better than I’d expected—perfect and overwhelming and exactly right.
“You feel incredible, Sunshine.” Axel gave my body a few more seconds to adjust to him. “Like you were made for me.”
I’d never felt so complete.
“You’re so tight.” His voice shook with restraint. “Look at how wet you are. See how I glisten when I pull out?”
He withdrew slightly, and I could see him coated with my arousal before he pushed back in. Deeper this time. The fullness was overwhelming, a mixture of perfect pain and perfect pleasure.
“You made me wait for this.” He pulled out.
Slammed back in hard enough to make the desk creak.
“Wore that yoga outfit. Do you know what you looked like? Bent over in downward dog?” Thrust. “I wanted to take you right there on the mat.” Thrust. “Make you scream my name in front of everyone. Teach you a lesson for teasing me.”
“So, teach me,” I moaned, pushing back to meet him.
His muscles tightened. In the mirror, I watched the roses on his shoulder ripple. “Oh, Sunshine. I’m going to claim every inch of your body. Going to make you come so many times, you forget your own name. Only remember mine.”
“And I’ll claim every inch of yours,” I promised.
Something wild flashed in his eyes, and he released my wrists to grip my hips with both hands. He found his rhythm with deep, powerful strokes that hit that perfect spot every time, the sound of skin against skin filling the room, mixing with our gasps and moans.
“Why do you call me Sunshine?” I wondered breathlessly.
“Because my whole life was one dark storm,” he explained between thrusts. “Until you came in like a beacon of light. My own personal sunshine.”
I moaned when he slammed even harder into me.
“That’s it, Sunshine. You take me. All of me. Every inch.” His abs clenched and released with each thrust, while sweat made his skin gleam. “Watch in the mirror as you come around me. Watch how beautiful you are when you let go.”
I watched. Watched him take me. Watched my face flush and contort with pleasure. Watched my body accept him over and over all while the coil wound impossibly tight and my inner walls began to flutter.
“Axel!” His name tore from my throat as I shattered. Wave after wave of pleasure crashed through me.
He worked me through it, extending the orgasm until I thought I might die from the intensity. Only then did he let himself go, slamming deep with a growl that seemed to come from his soul. I felt him pulse inside me. Felt his release fill me with warmth.
After, he stayed buried inside me for a moment. Both of us breathing hard. Then he kissed my spine tenderly. Each vertebra. A trail of worship.
“Say it again.” Softer this time. Gentle.
“I’m perfect.”
“You’re perfect, Sunshine. Every inch. Every curve. Every part you see as a flaw is part of your story. And I love your story.” He withdrew slowly, both of us hissing at the sensitivity. “If you ever talk bad about yourself again, I’ll make your ass even redder.”
I smiled. Somehow, it didn’t surprise me that Axel would protect me from any bully. Even if that bully was me.
“Stay.” He vanished for a moment, returning with a warm washcloth. The terry cloth was soft against my sensitive flesh as he cleaned me with impossible gentleness.
“I’m not done with you,” he warned, already beginning to harden again. “Are you too sore for round two?”
Truth was, I was a little sore. But the good kind. The kind that made me want more.
“My turn,” I said, taking the washcloth from him. I ran it along his length, cleaning away our combined release. He groaned as I stroked him, and he grew harder with each pass.
“Now you watch.” I dropped to my knees. “Watch how perfect this looks.”
I took him in my mouth, tasting both of us.
Axel’s head fell back, and a groan rumbled from deep in his chest.
I pulled off with a pop. “I said, watch.”
His lips quirked up with a flash of that cocky smile I loved. But like a good boy, he obeyed, and his eyes fixed on where my mouth wrapped around him.
“Now hold the back of my head,” I instructed. “Use my mouth. Show me how you’ve imagined it.”
The tendons in his neck went taut as he fisted my hair. I relaxed my jaw as he pushed deeper, until he hit the back of my throat and I gagged slightly.
“Relax, baby. Breathe through your nose.”
I nodded, taking a deep breath. He tried again, and this time, he went slow, patient, until, finally, my nose pressed against his pelvis. Until he filled my mouth and throat completely.
“Sunshine. Do. Not. Move.”
He began to thrust. Shallow at first, then deeper. Finding his rhythm as he watched from above. Watched in the mirror from the side—our eyes locked in the reflection.
“You’re so beautiful like this.” His voice was wrecked. “On your knees for me. Taking me so well. Do you know how many times I’ve pictured this? Jerked off, thinking about your pretty mouth?”
He moved faster. Deeper. His grip in my hair tightened just enough to sting perfectly.
“I’m getting close.” His thrusts grew erratic. “Do you want me to pull out?”
I shook my head, hollowed my cheeks, and sucked harder.
“Fuck!” He shouted.
I swallowed everything he gave me. Licked him clean as he trembled above me.
He pulled out gently, then hauled me to my feet, and Cupped my face in both hands.
“You’re mine.” He declared.
“I’m yours.”
“Forever, Sunshine. This wasn’t just sex. You know that, right? This was me claiming you. Showing you what you are to me.”
I nodded, tears pricking my eyes. Happy tears.
“Good. Now let’s get you in bed. Because round three is going to be slow. I’m going to worship every inch I was too impatient to properly appreciate.”
As he led me to the bedroom, I caught sight of us in the mirror one more time. Flushed. Satisfied. His arm around my waist.
Perfect.