Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Henry
Ariana’s moans filled the room, echoing off the walls like a prayer and a curse.
Her body gripped mine like a vise, her heat drawing me deeper until I was completely lost inside her.
I couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. Every nerve in my body sang with the sensation of her wrapped around me, slick and trembling, as if her body had been made for mine.
She felt like fucking heaven.
Not just the way her walls clenched around me. Not just the way her breath ghosted over my skin, or the desperate little whimpers that slipped past her lips and drove me mad.
It was the way she held on to me — arms curled around my neck, thighs locked around my hips — like I was the only thing anchoring her to this world. Like she needed me.
I pulled back, slowly dragging out of her before driving back in with measured control, each roll of my hips a battle between reverence and ruin. My fingers traced the scars along her stomach, and guilt surged like wildfire through my chest.
I should’ve seen the signs. Should have known what she’d been enduring in silence. She told me at the gala she wasn’t living. That she was simply surviving. It wasn’t the last time she said those words to me, either. She’d repeated them.
And I’d ignored her. Every. Single Time.
I let my hatred twist her into something she wasn’t. Let it blind me to the truth right in front of me.
Now that I knew what Victor had been doing to his wife, I’d make sure he never touched her again. Never breathed in her direction without suffering for it. I’d make him regret every bruise, every scar. Tenfold.
“Henry,” Ariana’s voice pulled me back to the present, the stab of her nails digging into my back dragging a groan from me.
As much as I wanted to let go of every ounce of restraint and fuck her so hard she’d never forget me, I didn’t want to do anything she wasn’t ready for. Anything that might bring forth memories of Victor.
“More,” she begged, her voice filled with desperation. “Please, Henry. I need more of you. Need you to fuck me.”
I clenched my jaw, trying to keep control. “I am fucking you, princess.”
She vehemently shook her head. “You’re having sex with me. That’s not what I want. I don’t want you to be careful with me. I want you to shatter me. I want to feel everything. Every ounce of you.” She curved toward me, taking my earlobe between her teeth. “Let me have all of you.”
Whatever restraint I’d managed to hold on to snapped clean in two as her plea echoed around me.
Like an animal unleashed, I slammed into her with a ferocity that surprised even myself, burying my face in the crook of her neck and inhaling her scent. My teeth grazed her skin before I gently nipped at her pulse point.
“Harder,” she whispered.
“I’m more than ten years older than you,” I panted, pulling back to meet her heated gaze. “This is as hard as I can fuck you.”
“And it’s incredible.” She smiled that wicked, beautiful smile I was fast becoming addicted to. “But that’s not what I’m talking about. Your teeth. I want you to bite me harder. Mark me. Claim me as yours.”
Fuck .
I didn’t think it was possible, but I got even harder inside her.
“Are you sure?” I asked, not wanting to do anything to hurt her, even if she was asking me to.
“I need this, Henry.” Her hands cupped my jaw, eyes searching mine.
“Let me reclaim what he tried to steal from me. I’ve never been able to experience the kind of sex they write about in romance books.
The kind that makes your soul feel like it’s on fire.
That’s what I want. I want to feel pleasure and pain and everything in between. ”
“Those romance novels set a pretty high bar.” I blew out a small laugh. “Not sure I can live up to those standards.”
She leaned in, her teeth grazing my bottom lip before she whispered, “I have complete faith in you.” She lowered herself back onto the mattress, legs open, arms over her head. “Now fuck me, Mr. Fontaine.”
I didn’t hesitate. I thrust into her harder and deeper as I clamped my teeth on her neck. She yelped, digging her nails into my back again. But I didn’t retreat. And she didn’t beg me to stop. If anything, she encouraged me to fuck her deeper. Bite her harder.
So I did, grabbing her wrists and pinning them over her head as I drove into her like a man obsessed. I watched her face, waiting for hesitation. Fear. Anything. But what I saw was fire. Challenge. Want.
She met every thrust, breathless, unrelenting. Her eyes burned. Her body arched. Every inch of her called to me, begged for more.
She wasn’t breaking.
She was thriving.
If this was how she reclaimed her independence, I’d help her burn down every trace of the man who stole so much from her.
When I started this, all I wanted was revenge. Wanted Victor to know what it felt like to lose the one person who was his whole damn world.
I still wanted that. But I wouldn't be satisfied until he was forced to endure the same torment he’d inflicted on Ariana.
“I’m close,” I gritted out, my rhythm faltering for half a second.
“Then let go,” she murmured, wrapping her legs around me and pulling me closer.
“Not until you do.”
Her expression flickered. “I’ve never come during sex,” she admitted, breath catching. “I’m not sure I can.”
“You can.” I released one of her wrists, trailing my hand down her torso and between her thighs. “I know you can.”
Shifting, I hooked her legs over my shoulders and leaned forward again, the new angle dragging a strangled cry from her lips. I brought my thumb to her clit, circling gently, then harder, in time with every thrust.
It only took a matter of seconds before her walls contracted, her entire body tightening.
“Henry!” she cried out, shaking violently as another orgasm tore through her.
“Fuck yes,” I exhaled, driving into her with more intensity as she continued to spasm around me.
Almost instantly, that familiar sensation washed over me. I pulled out just in time, groaning her name as I spilled onto her stomach, my body jerking with the force of my climax.
When I had nothing left, I collapsed beside her, my lungs heaving, sweat cooling on my skin. For a long moment, neither of us moved. We simply stared up at the ceiling while we attempted to get our breathing under control.
Eventually, I forced myself up, even though my legs didn’t want to work, and limped into the bathroom. When I returned with a towel, she reached for it, but I shook my head.
“Let me do this for you.”
She nodded, her stare trained on me as I ran the cloth over her stomach and between her legs.
“You okay?” I asked when I was done.
“How many times do I have to tell you?” she huffed. “I’m not made of glass, Henry.”
“I know. I just… I want to make sure you don’t regret it.”
With hunger in her eyes, she sat up and climbed on top of me, straddling my hips.
“The only thing I regret,” she began, her voice husky, “is not doing this sooner.”
Her heat brushed against my cock and I twitched in response, despite my body’s protest for rest. As much as I wanted nothing more than to bury myself inside of her and never leave, I needed a few minutes.
But there were plenty of other ways to entertain ourselves.
“Then we should make up for lost time.” In one swift move, I flipped her onto her back and pushed her legs wide.
“What are you doing?” she asked with a husky laugh as I settled between her thighs once more.
“What I said we should do.” I smirked up at her. “Making up for lost time.”
Then I buried my face between her legs and made her come again.