Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Dante
It’s close to midnight when I finally get home. Ulysses did a bad job of stitching up the cut on my arm.
I showered and changed at the condo, but the cut is bleeding again. I can feel the wetness seeping through my shirt under my jacket.
Not wanting to wake up Tatiana or Noah, I don’t switch on the lights. I only use the floor lights, which someone—probably Emily—left on in the hallway, to find my way to the study.
Once I’ve closed the door, I flick on the light and head for the dry bar. I’m pouring myself four fingers of scotch when the door opens and Tatiana enters, wearing a shimmery white nightdress.
Her nipples that poke against the silk draw my gaze.
Standing there barefoot with her golden hair tumbling in waves over her shoulders and those green, haunted eyes, she looks so damn innocent.
So breakable. So fucking beautiful. But not mine.
She said the words I wanted to hear when I stuffed her full of my cock.
I’m tempted to pretend the lie is true. It would’ve been so much easier if I could’ve believed it.
But I’ve never lied to myself. And still, knowing she couldn’t possibly mean what she’d said, I enjoyed the farce. I loved the roleplay.
She pads over and stops in front of me. “You’re late.”
I gulp down a swallow of my drink. “I had business to take care of.”
She takes the glass from me, turns it to where my lips have touched the rim, and takes a sip from the exact same spot.
I take her in—her unusual green eyes and the slim body beneath all that innocent white. When I decided to make her mine, I thought binding her to me in name and in blood would be enough. I thought I could live with her hatred.
I was wrong.
“You could’ve called,” she says in a soft tone.
I shrug out of my jacket and fold it over the back of a chair. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
Her eyes flare when her gaze lands on my arm. “You’re hurt.”
I cast a glance at my shoulder. Blood has soaked the white shirt. I start to unbutton it. “It’s nothing.”
She puts the drink aside and comes closer, studying the wound as I peel out of the shirt. “That’s not nothing.”
“It’s just a nick.”
She looks at me with pale cheeks. “Knife?”
I nod.
“Dante.” Placing a hand on my bicep, she implores me with that mesmerizing, expressive green gaze. “You have to be careful.”
I chuckle. “He caught me off guard. Don’t worry. He’s a lot worse off than me.”
“Did you disinfect it?”
“Ulysses drenched it with a bottle of saline water. Does that count?”
She slaps my chest. “Don’t joke. This is serious.”
“I hardly feel it.”
She frowns. “You don’t have other scars. How can you be used to that kind of pain?”
“Not scars like that, but I’ve had broken bones and bruises.”
“I’m going to forbid you from getting into fights.”
I cup her face, staring down at her beautiful features. “Worrying about me again?”
“You have no idea,” she chastises.
I press a chaste kiss on her lips. “Don’t.” My voice is hoarse from holding back when I want so much more than a peck and a pretty lie. “It’s late. I didn’t mean to wake you. You should go back to bed.”
She goes on tiptoes and defies me by kissing me back with meaning. Her tongue teases my lips and shatters my self-control. I take what she offers, parting her lips with mine and exploring the soft, warm depths of her mouth.
I shouldn’t take what she gives when she doesn’t know what she’s giving. The Tatiana I found in Denver wouldn’t want this. A better man would’ve stopped her. But I’m not a good man. And for all my famed control, I’m too weak to resist her.
Grabbing the tight globes of her ass, I yank her against me and return her kiss without keeping myself in check.
The coppery taste in my mouth tells me I cut her lip with my teeth, but it’s all I can do not to lose my mind as I knead her ass in one hand and fist the other in the long, silky locks of her hair, holding her in the unbreakable vise of my arms as I bend her backward and plunder her mouth.
She moans into the kiss, urging me on. I’m so hard it’s painful.
I only break the kiss so that I can look at her stunning face.
God knows, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.
The woman staring back at me, giving herself to me so freely, is the woman from my past. Yet somewhere inside her broken mind hides the woman who hates me.
When that woman finds her way back to her memories, which one of them will win?
Will the old Tatiana making these new memories forgive me, or will she hate me even more?
The truth is I want both of them. I wanted her when she loved me, I wanted her when she hated me, and I want her now. I want all of her. Everything.
Her warm breath feathers over my chest. “Dante.”
My name on her lips is a question. What the fuck are we doing?
It’s a plea. I’m not sure if she’s asking me to still the fire raging between us the only way I can, but she’s definitely not asking me to stop.
The Tatiana I found in Denver would’ve asked me to fuck her ass, to make it hurt.
She liked the pain. Maybe it burned away her guilt for letting her family’s killer touch her.
The Tatiana of now is stuck in the past, knowing only the soft side I reserved for her.
This is a dangerous game.
Too dangerous.
The stakes are getting too high. I can’t give her up, but I can’t rest until I’ve found the necklace. Kent was right. I’ve been slacking in my search, turning my attention to keeping Tatiana safe. I’m losing focus.
“Dante,” she says again, uncertainty slipping into her tone.
Dangerous.
But part of her has never been enough. It has to be everything.
Slowly, I release her. “Go to my desk and bend over it.”
Her lips part in surprise or maybe in shock. As far as she can recall, I’ve never taken her like that, bent over my desk like a naughty girl who needed to be punished with my hand and cock.
Despite her reaction, curiosity sparks in her eyes. “Why?”
My tone is even, my mind made up. “I’m going to spank your ass. Do you think you’ll like it?”
She gasps.
My smile is hungry, predatory. “It’s been a while since we’ve been kinky.”
“Is it going to hurt?”
“Maybe.”
Uncertainty moves across her features. She’s debating whether she’ll like it or not, but I can already tell her the answer. In the end, her curiosity must win out, because she walks to my desk and bends over, presenting her ass.
Anticipation fires through my veins. It’s not her submission that turns me on. It’s her trust.
My voice is rough. “Lift up your nightdress.”
She bunches the fabric in her fists, and, looking over her shoulder at me, pulls it up to her waist.
I take up a position behind her. “Grip the edge of the desk. You’ll want to hold on.”
Her hands tremble slightly as she stretches her arms over the desktop and grips the edge on the other side.
When I slip my fingers into the elastic of her silk panties and pull them down to expose her ass and pussy, her cheeks turn red. She faces forward quickly, hiding her reaction from me.
I study her pale, flawless skin. She clenches her thighs, but she can’t hide her nakedness. The rosy lips of her cunt already glisten with arousal. But I want her soaking wet.
She jerks when I stroke a hand over her left globe, getting a feel of how perfectly her round cheek fits in my palm. When I caress the other globe, goosebumps run over her skin. I trace her slit with a finger, gathering her wetness, and then I bring it up the crack of her ass.
She hollows her back when I circle her dark hole, which she gave to me just as she gave me her virgin pussy. Her chest moves more rapidly with her breaths. I breach that tight hole with a single digit, splitting her open with just the tip.
She cries out but she doesn’t move.
Good girl.
Keeping my finger inside her, I take aim. Her upper body lifts off the desk when my palm connects with her right cheek. My handprint blooms red over her perfect skin. I keep my strength carefully in check, heating her ass more than hurting her, but I know she feels the sting.
Left cheek.
She sucks in a breath.
I twist my finger, taking her deeper.
Left cheek, right cheek.
She cries out and clenches her ass.
Drawing the thumb of my free hand between her legs, I test her slit. She’s even wetter.
“Good girl.”
Timing my pace, I tan her ass with a steady rhythm.
With every slap of my palm that reverberates on her cheeks, I sink my finger a little deeper.
She tries to hold back, to stifle her sounds, but by the time her ass is glowing red and my finger is buried up to the knuckle, she’s moaning and grinding her hips against the desk.
“What’s the verdict, darling?” I lean over her and kiss her shoulder. “Do you like it or hate it?”
She shivers.
I press a whisper on her ear. “Shall we stop?”
She replies quickly. “N-no.”
“Do you want more?”
“Yes,” she whimpers.
“How much?”
She turns her head and meets my gaze squarely. “Everything.”
And there she is, the stranger I had to get to know all over again, a stranger who was nevertheless mine to claim.
Her skin will be sensitive. I give her a few more light taps, synchronizing each with the pumping of my finger until she moves her hips to my rhythm and her arousal is dripping down her thighs.
I gather more of her wetness and penetrate her back entrance with two fingers, stretching her with care. At the same time, I unzip and take out my ramrod-hard cock.
She mewls when I thrust into her pussy, slamming my groin against her ass that’s painted red with my handprints.
“C-condom,” she stutters as I pick up my pace.
My tone is clipped. “We won’t need one.”
She must register my meaning, because her inner walls clamp down on my cock and my finger, trapping them inside her body.
She doesn’t argue, though. Her knuckles turn white where she grips the desk. “I’m going to—” She gasps. “Oh, God.”
That’s right. Her orgasm tears through her body, milking my cock and almost making me shoot my load inside her. I rub my groin against her clit, wrenching every ounce of pleasure I can from her.
Almost too late, I rip out my dick. While her body is supple and her muscles soft from her climax, I replace my fingers with my cock. I lock my hands on her hips, holding her in place as I stretch her with the crest and then, inch by inch, let her take the rest.
I’m not going to last. She’s too damn tight. Too hot.
She lets out a low moan as I move with shallow pumps, claiming her ass.
As predicted, I come within seconds, filling her dark hole with my cum.
The pleasure that racks me is blinding. My vision goes out of focus.
I want to pull out because her ass may hurt and my seed on her sensitive flesh may burn, but when I move to do so, she reaches behind her and grabs my wrist, holding on to me as she pushes out her ass and locks me inside her.
If I could’ve come again so soon, I would’ve. But I’ve taken enough from her for one night. I’ve taken things she gave to me as a different woman, and the lines between them are getting blurry.
I bend over her, covering her back with my chest, and kiss her neck.
When I’ve given her enough time to catch her breath, I pull out.
Unable to help myself, I spread her ass between my palms and pin her hips to the desk so I can watch my cum leak down her crack.
There’s something extremely satisfying about seeing my mark on her in such a primitive way.
She turns her face and watches me, and I let her. I let her see what she does to me.
Fuck, I’m hard again. I want to take her cunt as well as her mouth, but instead, I help her to her feet.
Her legs are shaky. I turn her to face me and crash my mouth on hers, kissing her as if she’s not two different women but the only one.
She winces when I finally let her breathe.
“Sore?”
She bites her lip and nods with a shy smile.
Picking her up into my arms, I carry her through the dimly lit house to my bathroom and wash her in the shower.
Once I’ve dried her body and hair, I dress her in a clean nightdress and lead her to the bed.
After bandaging my wound, I lie down with her in my arms, breathing in her clean, feminine scent as I hold her against me, and for the first time in years, I sleep like the dead…
until a bloodcurdling scream rips me from that weightless black pit.