He crashed against me, his lips finding mine and sucking them into his mouth. I was helpless, overcome by desire. I could barely feel my legs, my knees like Jell-O, threatening to give out if I let him kiss me like that for much longer.

His hand found its way behind my back, toying with the hem of my sweater, pulling it down and then slipping his fingers under the fabric until they met my hot skin, touching every single spot he'd touched all those years ago. Shivers traveled down my spine as he grabbed my ass with his free hand, hoisting me up. My back was against the wall, but my pussy was firmly pressed against the hardness in his trousers I'd admired only an hour ago when he walked into the room.

God, has it really only been an hour? I asked myself, self-conscious. This man was truly fatal for me. A mere hour in his company and I was a wreck, needy for him, desperate for his feverish touch. It seemed like we were both ailed by the same fever, however, his hand leaving my back and greedily burying itself between my legs.

My skirt was riding up, exposing inch after inch of my lacy red panties, soaked through the front. He touched me there and looked into my eyes with a smirk when his fingers came away wet.

"Still such a little whore. I fucking knew you'd never forget this."

"Fuck you," I growled at him. "You don't know anything. I hate you."

"You hate me?" he whispered in my ear, his fingers forcefully pushing my panties to the side. 

I was exposed, my pussy dripping at the feeling of cool air on it. My breath caught in my throat as I struggled to breathe.

"Tell me," he demanded. "Tell me how much you hate me, tesoro."

The old nickname still worked like a charm, and I grew weaker at the sound of it. I wanted to submit to him, to let him have every inch, every hole, every kiss, everything I had left to give. The desire was overpowering, but the thought of what I'd come to do was making me at least try and think with a straight head.

"Ryker, stop," I breathed. "We need to talk about someone."

"Unless it's you and me, I don't currently give a shit," he growled as he nibbled my skin.

"Please, Ryker," I begged. "I just need to tell you about A… As—fuck! Oh God!"

His fingers had found their way into my pussy. While his thumb toyed with my clit, he thrust into me with the other four fingers on his right hand.

My pent-up tension dissolved into nothing as my crumpled in the first orgasm I'd had since the last time with him. He'd had every single one of my orgasms. He owned me, and I was tired of fighting it.

"Look at you, tesoro. Do you always come apart so easily?"

Before I could answer, he'd wrapped my legs around his waist and made me hold on to his shoulders as he pulled me away from the wall. I gasped as he carried me up the beautiful staircase in the front hall, down a gorgeous marble hallway, and into an intricately designed bedroom. A large painting hung over the bed, one that looked too striking to be just a street artist, but I didn't know a thing about art, so I swallowed the remarks on the tip of my tongue as he sat me down on the bed.

"I've waited so long for this," he murmured, and my cheeks flushed as I felt his gaze on me. "I want to watch you strip, Ginger. I'm going to examine every inch of your body. I want to know all the ways you've changed since I last saw you."

I stared up at him with wide eyes before he rounded the bed like a predator going in for the kill.

Except I was a willing victim. I wanted him to have me. To rip my clothes open with his claws and feast on my body, which had belonged to him since the moment he first held me in his arms.

"You're going to strip for me," he told me. "And I'm just going to sit the fuck back and watch you, tesoro."

He helped me up, and I tried to straighten my skirt and the fluffy sweater I was wearing that kept riding up, exposing tender inches of skin begging to be touched. 

"Don't be shy, Ginger," he growled. "I'm going to see every inch of you in a second."

He put on music with a remote on the nightstand, then sat in a plush velvet armchair by the bay window. He'd opened the curtains a few moments earlier, and I felt brazen in front of the window, knowing what I was going to do. Anyone could peek inside, see what I was doing. How bad I was being. But for once I didn't care.

"Strip," he ordered in a low, throaty voice, and I touched my stomach tentatively.

He made me feel self-conscious and like the most beautiful woman in the world at the same time. The peculiar mix of anxiety and the overwhelming need to please him forced me to start lifting the hem of my sweater, teasing him with a glance of my pale skin underneath. 

He sat with his legs spread open, his elbows on the armrest of the chair, his eyes never leaving mine. 

I started swaying in rhythm with the music, moving the fabric higher and higher. His eyes were on mine, though I could tell how tempted he was to look lower. But he seemed to be enjoying this tease, judging by the swollen bulge in his trousers. My mouth watered at the sight of it.

I pulled my sweater off, my body shaking under his thunderous gaze. Now I was just wearing the red tartan miniskirt and a set of black-and-red lingerie. I was just grateful it matched.

"Fucking show me more," he grunted, and I reached for my skirt, slipping it over the curve of my ass and letting it pool around my feet.

Ryker inhaled sharply, his eyes following every move as I turned around in front of him. I hooked my fingers under the sides of my thong, then bent over in front of him, feeling more brazen than ever before. He made my inner slut come out and play, and I couldn't get enough of the wildness, of the inhibitions I was letting go of so easily that night.

"What do you want first?" I purred over the gentle sound of the music. "Tits… or ass?"

He growled out loud, his actions so primitive I half expected him to jump me any second.

I didn't wait for him to answer, toying with the straps of my bra before lowering them slowly. The cups were semi-sheer, with embroidered red roses on the black mesh fabric. I finally removed the bra, my tits bouncing just a little as the fabric landed on the floor.

Then I reached for my thong again, turning around and enticing him as I played with the thin strips of fabric. But Ryker wasn't having it.

With a single move, he was on me, hands everywhere, his mouth seeking mine and kissing me deeper than ever. He reached for my thong, ripping it off in one single motion that made me yelp in surprise. He merely laughed at my response.

"Don't you remember what I'm like, tesoro?" he asked gently between demanding kisses. "I'm fucking rough when I need something."

And God, how I needed it too.

I lived for the way his fingers dug into my skin, teasing me closer to another orgasm as he outlined the shape of my wet pussy lips. I was dripping for him, more than ready to let go of it all and let him have me. 

He raised his fingers to our lips and we both sucked on them, our eyes daring one another to go further as we tasted my wetness.

"Such a filthy little girl, aren't you?" he asked.

I blushed at those words, at the memories forcing their way into my mind and reminding me of what had been all those years ago. What he'd made me call him. How I'd succumbed to every word, every forbidden touch, everything he did to me, making me into a mess that would follow him anywhere blindly.

This was what Ryker Marino turned me into.

This was what I was afraid of.

I started to shake in his arms, gentle trembling taking over my body and making me avert my gaze from his. I didn't want him to see my weakness; it was too embarrassing, painfully so. I wanted to keep up appearances, be the put-together, classy woman I'd grown up to be. Ryker had changed so much, from his once jet-black hair to the worry lines, yet he was still handsome as hell—or rather, the devil. I wanted to show him I'd overcome things too, that I wasn't just the naive little girl he'd known from Kain and Ophelia. I was a grown woman, and I wasn't afraid of showing it.

I tried so hard to stop the shaking, but in a mere few moments, he knew. His arms closed around me, enveloping me in a hug I'd been craving for the past seven years.

"Don't be afraid, tesoro," he said, his tone gentler than I'd heard it before. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I know," I whispered, yet my heart pounded in fear as he tipped my chin back.

I wasn't afraid he would hurt me physically. It was the emotional pain that crippled me, bringing back memories of long, lonely years without him.

I'd condemned myself to spend the rest of my life alone, convincing myself I deserved it, even if that wasn't necessarily the case. But here was the opportunity to see what could have been. The man who'd wanted me, and whom I'd pushed so far away that I'd spent the better part of a decade without him. It hurt. It hurt because I knew I'd made a mistake.

"Do you still…?" I started, my sentence unfinished as I looked up at him, eyes wide and wondering.

I didn't need to say it. We both knew what I'd wanted to know. Now it was time for the truth to come out.

"I do," he said in his deep, booming voice, and my heart soared at the thought of it.

That this painfully handsome, incredible man desired me above everyone else. That he wanted me, little Ginger Adley, who was permanently in the shadow of her beautiful sisters. I'd grown up as an ugly duckling, but he made me feel like a graceful swan.

His fingers cupped my pussy, and I exhaled at the feeling of them, so warm and inviting yet not reaching inside me once. I was tempted to beg him, but I wanted to keep at least some of my dignity. But the way he held me was so proprietorial, like I'd never belonged to anybody but him.

And if I was being truthful with myself, I hadn't.

I'd been the property of Ryker Marino, The Emperor, since the day I met him.

"Do you?" he returned, and my anxious heart skipped a beat.

"I do," I replied without hesitation.

There was no point in hiding the obvious. My mouth might lie, but my body never could.

"Good," he growled in response. "You're sure you want to do this?"

I did hesitate that time, until his fingers gently spread my pussy open, his pointer finger rubbing my clit so gently, yet still sending sparks through my whole body.

"Sure." I nodded. "Oh God yes, I'm sure."