Chapter 28
ANNIE
I ran through the fog, my heart pounding. Cipher’s tux jacket hung heavy on my shoulders, the fabric carrying his scent.
The full skirt of my evening gown clung to my legs with each step, a beautiful trap threatening to send me sprawling across the sand. I gathered fistfuls of fabric, bunching it at my thighs to free my stride.
I couldn’t see anything. The fog had swallowed the world whole, leaving nothing but ghostly white emptiness.
The ocean roared somewhere to my right, the rhythmic crash of waves against the shore my only orientation.
The city must have been to my left, but its sounds were drowned by the water’s constant thunder.
A shadow moved through the fog, there, then gone.
He was stalking me. Playing with me.
He could end this chase whenever he wanted. With his abilities, I might as well have been running in slow motion with a spotlight on my head. But he was drawing it out, letting me feel the thrill of the hunt.
Another flicker of movement to my left. I pivoted and sprinted in the opposite direction, my feet digging into the damp sand. My heart hammered so hard I wondered if he could hear it, if he was tracking me by the sound of my pulse rather than my footsteps.
There was a whisper of movement, the subtle displacement of fog. Then his body collided with mine, a solid wall of muscle and heat slamming into me from behind. We tumbled forward, his arms wrapping around my waist as he twisted mid-fall, taking the impact on his back with a grunt.
Sand exploded around us and my breath left in a rush as we landed, his body cushioning mine. For a heartbeat, we were still, his chest rising and falling against my back, his breath hot against my neck.
Then I was fighting, twisting in his grip, elbowing backward. My fist connected with something solid, his shoulder, maybe his jaw. He hissed but didn’t release me.
“Enough,” he growled, flipping me beneath him.
I bucked against him, sand grinding into my bare shoulders where his jacket had slipped. His weight pinned me, thighs bracketing mine, one hand capturing both my wrists above my head.
“I caught you, Sparks. Fair and square.”
“Nothing’s fair with you,” I spat back, still struggling.
His free hand moved to his throat, loosening his tie. The slide of silk against fabric sent a shiver through me.
I redoubled my efforts, thrashing beneath him with renewed fury. My knee jerked upward, nearly connecting with his groin before he shifted his weight to block me.
“Get off me,” I snarled, baring my teeth.
Cipher laughed, the sound dark and rich in the fog-muffled night. “Not a chance.”
I twisted my wrists in his grip, feeling the strength in his fingers.
“What’s wrong? The big bad Trueborn can’t handle a little resistance?” I taunted, watching his eyes narrow.
“That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble,” he warned.
“Your cock seems to like my mouth just fine.”
I wrenched one hand free and reached between us, grabbing him through his pants. He was hard, straining against the fabric. A hiss escaped through his teeth as I stroked him.
“See? You’re not as complicated as you pretend to be,” I said, squeezing him. “Just a man with basic needs.”
Cipher’s hand shot down, capturing my wrist in a grip that bordered on painful. “Basic?” He laughed. “Nothing about what I want to do to you is basic, Annie.”
I opened my mouth to fire back another taunt when something caught his attention. His eyes fixed on my hand in his grip.
The engagement ring. The gaudy diamond glinted even in the dim light, obscenely large and ostentatious against my skin. For all our fighting and making up, we hadn’t discussed the part that had come between us originally.
Cipher’s eyes locked on the ring, his expression darkening. The playfulness vanished, replaced by something cold and analytical. He captured my hand, turning it as he examined the ring.
“This is wrong in every conceivable way,” he said, voice flat. “The band is 18-karat white gold, too soft for someone as active as you. The setting is a six-prong cathedral that would catch on everything you touch.”
I blinked, startled by the technical assessment. His thumb traced the edge of the diamond.
“The stone is 7.7 carats, at least four carats too large for your hand proportion. It’s a D-color diamond with VVS1 clarity, flawless to the point of being soulless.
” He rotated my hand, studying the ring from different angles.
“The cut is round brilliant and, while pretty, is the most generic, unimaginative choice possible.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. I hadn’t expected this detailed critique.
“The height of the setting would make it constantly snag on your clothes and scratch your face when you sleep.” His eyes narrowed. “It’s a showpiece, not a ring meant to be worn by a woman who actually uses her hands.”
“I didn’t realize you were such a jewelry expert,” I managed.
“You should have platinum, not gold and a setting that sits lower on your finger. Something you could wear in a fight without it becoming a liability.”
The thought he’d considered what would suit me made my cheeks burn.
“The stone should be no larger than 2.5 carats, proportional to your hand. Maybe sapphire instead of diamond. Something with character, with depth.” His voice lowered. “Something that doesn’t scream ‘look at me’ but reveals its complexity only to those who take the time to truly see it.”
“This ring isn’t you, Annie. It’s what they think you should be—showy, decorative.” Cipher’s fingers closed around the ring. “It’s a collar, not a promise.”
He slid the ring from my finger. The weight of it, both physical and symbolic, lifted from my hand. Cipher didn’t even look as he tossed it into the fog, the diamond disappearing.
“There,” he said simply. “Much better.”
Slowly, his lips curved into a smile. The game was back on.
“Time to surrender, Annie.”
I twisted beneath him, bucking my hips. His grip loosened just enough for me to wrench my other hand free and shove hard against his chest.
“I’m not surrendering to anyone,” I hissed, rolling away and scrambling to my feet.
Cipher rose and the fog swirled around his tall frame, making him look like something otherworldly emerging from the blankness.
“Keep telling yourself that, Sparks.” His smile was all predator. “We both know how this ends.”
I backed away, my feet sinking into the damp sand. “Pretty confident for someone who just lost his grip.”
“I let you go.” He advanced, matching my retreat step for step. “Just like I’m letting you fight.”
“Bullshit.”
“You think I can’t take what I want? I could pin you down right now and you couldn’t stop me.”
“Try it.”
His eyes darkened at the challenge. “Don’t tempt me.”
I lunged at him suddenly, feinting left before running in the opposite direction. He caught my wrist this time, twisting until I was forced to my knees.
“I’m going to fuck you right here in the sand.”
“In your dreams,” I snarled, even as heat flooded between my thighs.
I swept my leg out, catching his ankle. He stumbled, deliberately I know, but it gave me the opening to tackle him. We crashed to the sand, my body straddling his.
For one triumphant moment, I thought he’d let me have the upper hand. Then his hips thrust upward, grinding his hardness against me, and I gasped.
“Feel that?” he growled. “That’s what fighting with you does to me.”
I leaned down until our faces were inches apart. “Then why are you still talking instead of using it?”
Something snapped in his expression. His hand tangled in my hair, yanking my head back to expose my throat. His other arm wrapped around my waist, flipping our positions.
Sand pressed against my back as his weight settled between my thighs.
“Surrender,” he whispered against my neck.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him closer. “Make me.”
“Keep fighting if you want,” he said. “It just makes this more fun.”
Before I could respond, he was binding my wrists with his tie, the silk sliding cool and tight against my skin.
The moment my bound wrists were free of his grip, I looped them over his head, pulling him down to me. His surprised laugh vibrated against my lips as I captured his mouth with mine.
“There she is,” he murmured against my lips. “My Annie.”
He found the hem of my gown and yanked it upward until the chilly air kissed my thighs. I wrapped my legs around his waist, drawing him closer, feeling the hard press of him against my center.
“Not yours,” I gasped, even as my body arched into his.
“Liar.” His mouth descended to my neck.
I moaned as his lips traveled lower, finding the swell of my breasts where they were spilling from my bodice. His tongue traced the edge of the fabric, teasing but not crossing that final boundary.
Then his teeth grazed the flesh just above the silk. I arched into him as he bit down. The sharp nip made me moan and he immediately soothed the sting with a wet, open-mouthed kiss.
His fingers hooked the stiff neckline of my gown and yanked downward. My breasts felt heavy, the peaks instantly tightening in the cold, but Cipher didn’t leave me exposed for long.
His mouth closed over one peak and he sucked hard.
His hand came up to weigh my other breast, his thumb rolling over the tight flesh as his tongue worked the other in his mouth.
I tangled my fingers into his hair as best I could with my tied hands and pressed him closer.
He scraped his teeth over me and my hips jerked against his waist. He switched sides, transferring that hot, wet attention, consuming me exactly the way I needed him to.
Cipher pulled back, his eyes nearly black in the darkness. He settled my bodice back over my breasts and lifted my wrists from around his neck before he helped me to my feet. Sand clung to my skin, to the ruined silk of my gown.
“Run,” he commanded, his voice rough with desire.
My legs trembled beneath me, unsteady from his touch and the lingering adrenaline. I stared at him, confused.