49. Strike
Strike
Strike explained the plan in detail once he and Millie returned to Stal’s Cornish home.
The victim Hugo stabbed still hadn’t woken, but the tests suggested he might soon. Three days would help, if someone else didn’t get to him first.
“I’m surprised you can share the plan when you’re struggling.”
“What do you mean?” But he knew. He was doing everything he could to stop shaking and revealing the swells of rage he was drowning under. The drive should have helped, but each thought brought another wave, leaving him on the edge of destroying everything around him.
Everything but her.
“You’re fisting your hands, and the muscles in your forearms are throbbing. You need to fight something. You can’t stop pacing.”
Strike froze. “I’m fine.”
Millie closed her eyes and shook her head.
The way she’d wanted to touch him after he’d fucked up Finshaw made it worse.
He couldn’t manage who he was around her. He strode toward the front door, desperate to isolate himself.
“Do you think they’ll leave us alone for three days?” she asked, stopping him.
“Yes. I learnt when I was Randolph’s bodyguard that he’s scared of press intrusion. We need to be cautious, but we have a little freedom,” he replied between gritted teeth.
Adrenaline made his body feel too big for his skin.
His entire being pulsed.
First, that prick in the pub touched Millie, and then Finshaw dragged her away. If Bear hadn’t joined him, he’d have beaten the bastard to death.
He couldn’t protect Millie. He wanted to possess her and prevent anyone from getting near her. She said she loved him, and then he’d nearly lost her.
The more she seized his heart, the more his darkness needed out.
Sex might let it out, but the needs in his fantasies were intense.
Even now, he was scared to show that side for fear of ruining everything when they were still so early into their rekindling.
His pulse was rapid, and he curled his hands into fists. He wanted to kill the pub dickhead and Finshaw, but not as much as he wished Hugo and Randolph dead. Exercise had helped before.
It was all he had.
Millie touched his shoulder. “Strike, talk to me.”
“I can’t.” He jerked away.
He witnessed her face fall in the reflection of the glass door.
He’d hurt her again.
“I’m going to do a security check and have a session in the gym.”
“No,” she lashed out. “You can’t run away from this. Explain what’s happening in your head.”
“I need to be away from you, from everything.”
Half an hour later, he was in the gym.
It didn’t matter how heavy the weights were or how many muscle-tearing reps he did, he couldn’t clear the anger, the panic at what could have happened to her.
“Fuck,” Millie whispered.
He locked eyes with her.
She leaned against the doorway, staring at him as he hung from a chin-up bar.
She followed a drop of sweat as it ran down his bare chest to where his gym shorts rested precariously on his hips. Her summer dress clung to her.
Blood roared in his ears as his temperature rose. One of the straps slipped down, and he felt the need to ambush her and shred her dress.
He gripped the bar and pulled himself up, his muscles rippling with each drag of his body.
She licked her lips slowly. Fire blistered her gaze and seared him in its wake.
His skin glistened from pushing his body to the extreme. His abs tightened every time he pulled himself to the bar. It was his turn to perform for her, though he couldn’t have her without breaking everything they already had.
“You like what you see?” he asked breathlessly.
She dragged her eyes down his body again, eye-fucking every part of him. “You’re exceptional, beautiful, sexy as hell, and the most caring person I’ve met. But you still won’t show me all of you.”
“You’d never want anything to do with me again if I did.”
She stepped closer. “How many times do I have to tell you I want every part of you? I need it.”
“I’m not the man you first fell in love with.
When Finshaw dragged you away, I wanted to end him.
I nearly choked him to death in front of you.
It was only Bear pulling me off him that stopped me from killing him.
I crushed his knee and broke ribs. I’m a monster, and I’d do it again. That I can’t protect you terrifies me.”
He jumped down and moved to the bench. He lay on it, his legs apart, his feet firmly on the floor, muscles shaking. He reached for the barbell, attempting to centre himself as he removed it from the rack.
“This is your way of getting control?”
“Yes.” His jaw tightened as he lifted the barbell high, biceps contracting.
“And how’s that working for you? Because you’re as angry as you were nearly an hour ago. If you want to control something, control me!”
“No,” he snapped.
She stepped closer as he rested the barbell on the bar. She straddled his lap and grabbed his chin tightly. He closed his eyes.
“Look at me. You don’t get to run away anymore. You’ve made me promises and suggested a future. If we’re to have one, I need to see all of you. Show me the man you hide from everyone else. Control me.”
He stared at her, his body taut. “What if we can’t come back from it because you hate what you see?”
“And what if it’s everything I’ve always wanted? You developed these fantasies after reading the books I love. What if I have the same ones for the same reasons? We have a safe word.”
He let out a strangled sound.
“Do you want me to beg, Strike?”
She got on her knees. He stood and loomed above her. His restraint frayed as her big brown eyes locked on his. “Dominate me. Please.”
He swallowed slowly. Her family treated her like she couldn’t make her own decisions. She wanted agency, and yet he was still protecting her and didn’t believe she knew her own needs. “Are you sure? Really sure?
She nodded, sucking her lips into her mouth.
“What are your limits?” he grunted.
“I don’t know. From what I’ve read, I’m okay with hair pulling, spanking, and being tied up, but no choking,” she stuttered.
“Perfect. Stay here.” He turned back when he reached the doorway. “Don’t move from that spot until I tell you.”
Was he going to do this? Heat coiled in his belly as he strode to his room. His hands shook as he grabbed a couple of items. He never believed he’d be able to do this with someone, especially not the woman of his dreams.
He sucked in air when he returned to the gym. She was still there. On her knees. Waiting for him. “Obedience. That’s what I need from you.”
He tucked a pillow under her knees.
His finger stroked her shoulders. When he wrapped his fist around her ponytail and yanked it, she hissed but didn’t complain.
“Good girl.”
He sat behind her, brushing kisses against her skin while slowly unzipping her dress. The material pooled around her waist. He scratched his nails lightly down the expanse of her back, smiling when her muscles tightened.
“How’s that level of pain?” he whispered in her ear.
“Not enough,” she said shyly.
“I don’t want you scared—well, not the bad kind. I want the fear that makes adrenaline heighten your arousal. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“And what’s the safe word, Sunset?”
“Caged.”
“There she is.” He wrapped her hair around his fist again and pulled so he had access to her throat. With his other hand, he twisted and squeezed her nipples. Her soft cry spurred him on as he kissed her throat and pinched her pert buds. “Are you wet?”
“Yes.”
“Show me. Slide your fingers in your knickers.” She followed his instructions. He twisted her to face him.
With a dry throat, he gripped her wrist and held her glistening fingers to his mouth. The pure, good girl image he’d forced upon her was stripped away with each suck.
“Fucking perfect. Don’t move.”
He bit her nipple as he pressed his hand between her thighs.
Her lace knickers caught on his knuckles, reminding him of the cuts he wore from beating the man who’d tried to attack her. He countered the memory of violence by teasing her clit, playing with her as she ground her pelvis against his palm, pupils dilated and moans escaping her lips.
Millie’s dainty fingers curled around his shoulders as he sped up. Suddenly, he pulled away. “Naughty girl. I told you not to move.”
“Sorry.”
“Hands behind your back.”
Her eyebrows quirked, but she did as he requested. Metal upon metal sounded from his hand as he turned her and grabbed the handcuffs from his pocket. “Maybe this will show you that you don’t move until I say.”
He secured the cuffs around her wrists.
At the click of the metal, she moaned.
He stood in front of her and pulled down his shorts. His chuckle reached the depths of his clenching belly when her eyes grew.
“Open that pretty mouth of yours.” Her soft lips opened, shining from the shaky way she’d swiped her tongue across them. “Wider. I know you’ve imagined my dick hitting the back of your throat. Show me what you’ve fantasised.”
He tracked the movement of her throat, tugging on his cock as she opened her lips wider and leaned forward.
At her tortured whimper, he eased his cock into her wet, hot mouth.
“Made for me,” he growled.
At her hooded stare, lust consumed him. The tension that owned his body eased as she bobbed in front of him, taking him deeper.
“So fucking beautiful.”
She blushed at his words, and his dick twitched. His jaw hardened as he studied each bounce of her tits.
Tendrils of hair framed her face, and he couldn’t resist wrapping his hand around her hair again.
She moaned around his dick, the vibration causing his spine to stiffen.
She pulled her mouth away with a pop and whispered, “Tell me I’m perfect again.”
“You’re everything. Complete perfection.”
Heat filled his chest when she licked the pre-cum off the head of his cock, her eyelashes fluttering.
“You’re such a needy girl and perfectly mine. You take me just how I like it.” His control cracked. “I would burn the world down just to have your lips around my dick again. I’d kill every fucker to see you smile around it.”
She engulfed him, making out with his dick like it was her last meal. The handcuffs jangled with each push forward.