Chapter 21 #2
His hand fists in my hair, tugging just enough to tilt my head back, exposing my throat to his mouth. He bites, soft at first, then harder when I moan, his other hand sliding down, fingers tracing over my slick skin until he finds the heat between my thighs.
I gasp, grabbing at his shoulders for balance as his thumb strokes lazy, torturous circles. My knees threaten to give out but he’s holding me there, caging me in with his body, his mouth, his control.
“You’re shaking,” he murmurs against my skin, lips brushing the shell of my ear. “Already, bee? And I’ve barely even touched you.”
“Y-you’re touching me,” I manage, my voice cracking, breathless.
He chuckles darkly, the sound low and intimate. “Not the way I want to. Not yet.”
The rhythm of his fingers deepens, building in steady, unrelenting waves, each stroke designed to push me higher while keeping me grounded in him. My nails dig into his arms, leaving crescents in his skin, but he doesn’t flinch.
“Eyes on me,” he commands, his voice a deep growl above the rush of the water.
It takes effort, but I force my eyes open, meeting his gaze. He’s watching me like a storm gathering, intensity crackling in every line of his face.
“That’s it,” he says, his voice softening into something rougher, deeper. “Let me see you fall apart, bee. Let me take you there.”
And God help me, I do. The heat coils tight in my core, spiraling faster and faster until it crashes through me, leaving me trembling, clinging to him as the water beats down like a drum.
But Swag doesn’t stop. His hand braces against the tile beside my head, caging me in completely as he leans down, lips at my ear.
“This is mine,” he growls, his palm flat over my racing heart. “You. Every fucking part of you.”
And in this moment, I believe him.
“Say it,” he rasps, voice rough and low. “Say you’re mine.”
I shake my head, defiant even as my body betrays me, arching closer. “I didn’t agree to that.”
A slow, dangerous smile curves his lips. “That’s the thing about claiming, little bee. I don’t need your permission.”
Before I can reply, he closes the space between us, his mouth crashing onto mine in a kiss so raw, so deep, I forget what I was about to argue. His hand fists in my wet hair, tugging my head back just enough for his teeth to graze my lower lip before he sucks it into his mouth.
I moan, and his answering growl vibrates against my skin, sending shivers down my spine despite the heat of the shower.
“You’ve been running,” he says against my lips, his breath hot, harsh. “Fighting me. Pushing at every damn boundary I set…”
I grip his shoulders, my nails digging into his slick skin. “Maybe I like testing you.”
“Oh, bee,” he murmurs darkly, his hand sliding lower, cupping the curve of my ass, hauling me flush against him. “Keep testing me. I’ll show you exactly where that gets you.”
And then he lifts me. I gasp, wrapping my legs around his waist as my back presses hard against the cool tile. His strength surrounds me, holds me, cages me, and something deep in my chest tightens.
“You feel that?” he growls, grinding against me, his forehead resting against mine, sweat and water mingling on his skin. “That’s what happens when you make me wait. When you make me think about every smartass thing you say instead of fucking you the way I want.”
“Swag—” My voice breaks on his name, and his answering groan is ragged, feral.
“Say my name again,” he demands, his hips pressing tighter.
“Swag,” I whisper, breathless.
“Louder.”
“Swag!”
He kisses me again, deep and rough, until I’m dizzy, lost, until every thought beyond him dissolves into the pounding water and the desperate way our bodies fit together. And then he pulls back, just enough to look into my eyes, his expression sharp, serious, unyielding.
“From this moment on, bee, there’s no halfway with me. No maybe. No running. You’re mine, whether you’re ready to admit it or not.”
The moment I don’t push him away, everything shifts.
Swag’s mouth crashes back onto mine, his kiss demanding, consuming, stealing every thought I have until there’s nothing left but him and the relentless beat of my heart. His hands grip my thighs tighter, pinning me against the cold tile, his strength a wall I can’t fight against anymore.
The pounding water slicks our skin, heat and steam wrapping around us, but he burns hotter than all of it.
His lips ghost along my jaw, my throat, until I feel his teeth scrape over the sensitive spot beneath my ear. “You are mine, Jo-Leigh. You just don’t wanna admit it yet.”
I want to argue. I want to tell him no. But when his hand slides between us, cupping me, claiming me in a way words never could, my protest dies in a sharp gasp.
“Swag—”
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs, dragging his tongue along the pulse hammering at my neck before sucking it between his lips. His fingers press firmer, teasing me, pushing just enough to make my knees tremble around his waist. “You trust me?”
I swallow hard, my nails digging into his shoulders as I nod. “Y-Yeah…”
“Good,” he breathes, his tone dark and reverent all at once. “Then let me show you what happens when you stop fighting me.”
And then he does.
Slow at first — unbearably slow — his movements deliberate, dragging me into the rhythm of his control until there’s nothing but the wet slide of his fingers, the relentless press of his body, and the raw, aching sounds tumbling from my throat that I don’t even recognize as mine.
“You’re gonna come for me, little bee,” he whispers, his lips brushing mine, his breath ragged, harsh. “Right here. With me holding you. With me inside your head, your body… every fucking part of you.”
I cling to him like I’m drowning, and maybe I am, because by the time the tension breaks and I shatter against him, I’m lost.
When I finally come down, he doesn’t let me go. Doesn’t loosen his grip. He presses his forehead to mine, breathing me in like he needs the air inside my lungs to survive.
“You’re mine,” he says again, softer this time.
Deadly sure.
But is he mine?
That’s the question I want to ask.