Chapter 52
WHEN YOUR EX SHOWS UP AND YOUR FAKE FIANCé IS INSIDE OF YOU. #OMGHISREACTION
DAKOTA
Axel’s thumb circled that sensitive bundle of nerves between my thighs as he stared right into my eyes, his other hand cupping my breast.
“You know how gorgeous you are, Sunshine?”
Making love to him on my couch, with me straddling him, wasn’t the plan. The plan had been simple: come here, grab the last of my belongings, and move them into his penthouse. Close this chapter of my life for good.
But we couldn’t seem to keep our hands off each other.
We’d made love everywhere in his penthouse.
And I mean, everywhere. His kitchen counter.
The dining room table. The shower. His office desk.
Virtually every surface had been claimed by our desperate need for each other.
So, when we came here to retrieve my things, I guess I should’ve seen this coming.
No pun intended.
I grabbed his tattooed shoulders and leaned down, nipping his bottom lip with my teeth. Hard enough to make him growl.
He responded by delivering a sharp slap to my ass, making me yelp at the delicious bite of pain, chased by pure pleasure.
“Every day,” he growled, jerking his hips up to thrust deeply into me hard, fast, and claiming. “I need you every single day of my life, Sunshine.”
“That sounds a lot like a proposal, Mr. Pierce.” I slammed my hips down on him this time, reveling in this push and pull we had going, this intoxicating exchange of control.
“I miss my ring on your finger,” he admitted with another devastating thrust, pinching my nipple between his fingers just hard enough to make me gasp.
“It was just a loaner,” I reminded him.
“Still, I liked seeing it on you; I want everyone to know you’re mine.”
Mine. The word echoed through every chamber of my heart, planting seeds that took immediate root. Growing vines through my chest and spreading throughout my entire body.
Making the wave building inside me rise even higher.
“I’m yours,” I assured him breathlessly. “Always.”
A sudden, sharp knock made me jerk to a stop.
“Dakota?” a familiar voice called from the other side of my front door.
Mathew. My ex. You’d think the man who’d once broken my heart would have better things to do than keep trying to contact me. But evidently, when his texts and calls went unanswered, he resorted to showing up here.
Disappointment flooded my system as I stilled, staring down at Axel. We’d been so close to sharing another earth-shattering climax, only to have it interrupted by the last person I wanted to deal with.
“I should—”
Axel’s large hand clamped over my mouth, cutting off my words. His eyes blazed with something primal and possessive as he shook his head in a silent command. We are not stopping.
I nipped at his finger, earning a wicked smirk as he slowly drew his hand away.
“He’s right on the other side of that door,” I whispered, nodding toward the entrance that was mere fifteen feet from where Axel was buried deep inside me.
Arching one dark eyebrow, Axel thrust his hips up in one sharp, claiming motion. Burying himself so deep, I saw stars.
I sucked in a ragged breath, my nails digging into his shoulders.
Then I glared at him. Axel was playing dirty, and he knew it.
“Dakota?” Mathew knocked again, more insistently this time. “I saw your car in the parking lot.”
Thrust.
Axel cocked his head with that irritatingly sexy arrogance I’d come to crave, returning his thumb to circle that bundle of nerves with devastating precision.
“I know you’re home. Please open the door. We need to talk.”
Thrust. Deeper this time.
It took me several seconds to find my voice, what with his thumb working magic and him sinking impossibly deeper into me with each movement. “He’s not going to go away,” I managed to whisper.
Thrust.
Gasp.
Axel continued those maddening circles, instantly reclaiming the climax exactly where it had left off: right on the precipice of falling over the edge. My body throbbed around him, drawing him deeper, claiming him as thoroughly as he was claiming me.
When his lips found my nipple and sucked hard, I gave up fighting this. My fingers threaded through his dark hair as our bodies moved together in perfect rhythm, climbing higher and higher toward oblivion.
“Dakota, please.” Mathew’s voice grew desperate through the door.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. Here was the man who’d left me while I was currently being worshipped by a man who was everything Mathew could never be. Stronger. More passionate. More devoted to my pleasure than his own.
Thrust.
Axel pinched my nipple so hard, I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out.
“You’re terrible,” I whimpered, trying desperately to hold back my approaching climax. “I don’t want him to hear—”
Axel clamped his hand over my mouth again, his eyes burning with possessive fire, as if to say, You will come, Sunshine.
Thrust. He rocked his hips up to meet my pace, and all the while, those intense eyes watched my face for the telltale signs that I was about to tip over the edge.
“Dakota, please!” Mathew pounded harder on the door.
But I barely heard his begging. Because I was too busy crashing, shattering completely with a moan that would’ve made a saint blush.
The problem? Axel pulled his hand away at the last possible second, letting my cry of ecstasy echo through the entire apartment.
When we were both spent, trembling from the intensity of our releases, I glared down at him through my postorgasmic haze.
“You did that on purpose,” I accused.
Axel didn’t look even slightly guilty. Instead, he cupped my breast with tender possession. “You’re mine, Sunshine. And I want him to know exactly what he lost.”
His explanation should have angered me. Should have made me feel used or embarrassed. But it didn’t. His proclamation was primal, raw, claiming what was his for all the world, including my pathetic ex, to hear.
And, dear Lord, did that turn me on.
“Dakota?” Mathew’s voice had changed, uncertainty creeping in. The pounding had stopped. “Are you … are you okay in there?”
Axel’s nostrils flared with irritation, but there was satisfaction gleaming in his dark eyes.
“Stay here,” I commanded, slipping off him and reaching for my clothes, tossing his onto his crotch to cover him. “Don’t you dare move.”
As I hastily dressed, I caught sight of myself in the mirror across the room. Hair mussed. Lips swollen. Skin flushed with satisfaction, with a sheen of sweat. I looked like a woman who’d been thoroughly ravaged.
I had a choice: Spend several minutes cleaning myself up, pretending I hadn’t just been gloriously taken by the man I loved. Hide the truth, or just be me. Unfiltered and unapologetic.
As if reading my mind, Axel’s voice was low as he said, “Let him see exactly what he gave up. Let him realize that while he was out there playing games, you found a man who worships you.”
Okay, that’s not what I meant; I didn’t want to hurt Mathew.
“Dakota?” Mathew barked.
I opened the door.
Mathew’s face shifted through a symphony of emotions: relief, surprise, then slow, dawning realization. His gaze swept over the flush painting my cheeks, the dewiness at the base of my throat, my thoroughly mussed hair.
Any lingering doubt about what he’d interrupted evaporated when hurt flashed across his features, followed immediately by something darker.
For a split second, I almost felt bad for him. Almost. But watching him take in my satisfied glow, seeing the exact moment he realized another man had just claimed me completely?
God, it felt empowering after Mathew had tried to emotionally cut me off at the knees.
“Mathew.” I kept my voice steady. “Did you need something?”
He pushed the hurt aside and swallowed hard, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. “I wanted to apologize. And I thought …” His voice trailed off as his eyes tracked over my appearance again. “I really thought this whole engagement thing was just for show. For the cameras.”
“There’s no need—”
“But you’re really with him.” It wasn’t a question. The realization seemed to hit him like a hammer to his chest. “This is real.”
I felt a flicker of something. Pity maybe? “Mathew—”
“Dakota, I love you.” His attention dropped to my bare ring finger, and hope flickered desperately in his eyes. “I made a mistake. The biggest mistake of my life.”
“We’ve been over this,” I said, this time not hiding my irritation. “It’s over. I love Axel.”
The words came out easier than I’d expected. Clear. Definitive. Real. I loved Axel.
He studied my face, searching for any crack in my resolve. When he found none, his jaw ticced.
“First the live stream.” His voice went flat and cold. “Now this.”
Wait, what? Why did he care about the live stream? Something niggled in my mind, something I couldn’t place.
“I moved halfway around the world for you.”
“You also called me worthless,” I reminded him.
“Just give me one chance. Let me prove—”
“He called you worthless?” Axel materialized beside me like an avenging angel. Shirtless, his tattooed torso still glistening with a fine sheen of sweat from our lovemaking. Every inch of him radiated dangerous masculinity and absolute possession.
The contrast was devastating. Mathew in his perfectly pressed business casual, and Axel, raw, powerful, unapologetically male, with the satisfied air of a man who’d just thoroughly claimed his woman.
Mathew’s body almost vibrated with disbelief as he took in Axel’s state of undress. “I’m talking to her, not you.”
Axel took an aggressive step closer to him.
“You called her worthless?” Holy shit. Axel’s voice was like a razer, sharp and cutting. Ominously dripping with warning.
“Couples argue,” Mathew retorted.
When I put my hand on Axel’s shoulder, he spared me a quick glance, then snapped his attention to my ex.
“Only reason you still have an unbroken nose is because I promised Dakota I would try to control my rage. Do yourself a favor and leave before I lose that battle.”
Mathew stared at Axel’s arm around me, then narrowed his eyes. “I thought you loved me, Dakota.”
“You’re really going to play the victim card now?” Axel’s eyebrows rose in disbelief. “If you want to blame someone, blame yourself. You walked away from the best thing that ever happened to you. Your loss became my greatest gift.”
“Axel—”
Mathew shoved Axel hard enough to dislodge his arm from my shoulder.
Big mistake.
Axel moved like lightning, pinning Mathew against the outside wall with a muscled forearm pressed to his throat. Every tattoo on his torso seemed to come alive as his muscles flexed and coiled with power.
“Axel!”
“You ever show up at her door uninvited again, and we’re going to have a very different conversation,” Axel said, his voice deadly calm. “Dakota told you no. That means no. Accept that it’s over and move on.”
For a moment, I thought Mathew might actually apologize. But I knew how his mind worked, how his father’s bullying had twisted him into someone who saw every challenge as a threat to his masculinity.
When Axel released him with a look of disgust, Mathew straightened his rumpled shirt, his gaze bouncing between Axel and me with something cold and calculating.
“You made the wrong choice, Dakota,” he said quietly, his tone sending an unexpected chill down my spine.
Then he turned and walked away.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said once he was gone.
“You don’t deserve to have to keep telling him that it’s over.”
True. I hated that things had to end this way with Mathew, but at least there was no way he’d misunderstand this anymore. At least now, he knew it was truly over.
And he’d move on …