Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 67211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
“Honestly?” my voice comes out on a shaky whisper. “I forgot what we were talking about.” And I have. Staring into those eyes that once loved me, I forgive him. It’s a baptism by fire. I’ve been thrown into this pit and scourged clean of what plagued me. My love of Noah has never left me; I loved him then and I love him now. It’s myself that I blamed, under the guise of blaming him. But here, stripped down and exposed, I’m once more the girl who loved him. I can’t remember what we were talking about. I can’t remember why I was angry at him. And when he bends down and touches his lips to mine, I forget my own name.
Our breath mingles, my body rises, and I wrap my hands around the strong column of his neck while he holds me. The world around me darkens as I submerge fully into him. I’m drowning but not afraid, for this little death slays the last of my fears. With his mouth on mine, I’m his again. Maybe I never stopped being his. He kisses me with the tenderness and desperation of a long-lost lover. I’m breathless, boneless, and utterly his. When he pulls his mouth off mine I whisper a tortured, “Noah.”
“Chandra,” he whispers back, turning to lay me gently on the bed. “We can’t do this.”
“Why not?” I ask him, angry and desperate, but when I meet his eyes, I don’t see the tortured man I expect, but instead that look of firm decision I’m so familiar with.
He takes my hand and squeezes. “I want to take you right now. I want to make love to you until you can’t remember your own name and fuck you until you scream mine.”
“Then do it,” I say, already knowing my plea will fall on deaf ears. Once he’s made up his mind, there’s no turning back.
“Not now,” he says. A muscle in his jaw twitches. “You’re not in your right frame of mind. I’d be taking advantage.”
Who is he to say what frame of mind I’m in? Like a silly, spoiled child, I grab the pillow off the bed and whip it at him, but he catches it before it hits him and places it back on the bed.
“Enough, Chandra.” He raises one finger in warning. “You behave yourself.”
I bite my lip. Throwing a tantrum never got me my way with him and it won’t now. Anyway, I’m better than that.
“Mad,” I whisper. He isn’t even touching me, but I need to safeword. It’s too late, though. He’s already ended the scene, and I’m just grappling for control he won’t give me.
“Good girl.” He tugs a lock of my hair and despite my frustration, I smile a little. I still like being his good girl. “Get yourself dressed, and I’ll take you home.”
He walks out of the room. It isn’t until he’s gone that I notice my clothes lie next to the bed, neatly folded and ready for me to wear. He must have brought them in while I was sleeping. I dress with trembling fingers. Dressing feels like a failure somehow, like I didn’t pass the test. Was there a test?
Even though I don’t want this to end, I wonder if he has a point. I folded like a house of cards when he kicked the kink level up a notch. Maybe I do need to be eased into this. I’m still not exactly sure what happened here.
He called this scene to an end. Or did I?
But this isn’t over.
Chapter Ten
Axle
While she dresses, I make one more round through Verge, making sure that everything’s secured. I considered staying here, but it’s time to get her home, and I want to be sure she gets there safely.
The real reason I’m making one last visit through the club is because I need to get a handle on myself, and I can’t be near her right now. I’m so fucking hard it hurts to walk, but it’s more than that. I’m an addict in withdrawal who can’t be satisfied until I give into my craving. But not like this. Not when she’s stripped and bared and drunk on submission. I need to know when I take her again that she’s fully consenting and not under duress.
It felt good to play with her. To have her at my mercy. Chandra’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, it makes my cock throb just thinking about how it felt inflicting pain on her willing body. The cuffs and flogger were good in their own right, but I liked when I actually touched her. My mouth is branded with the taste of her skin, my senses filled with the scent of her arousal. I slam the door to the breakroom harder than necessary, take out my phone, and dial Tobias.