Harsh raindrops pelted over the windshield in angry thumps. Cynthia couldn’t believe how hard it was raining by the time they got back to the house. In no time at all, the skies had opened up and let loose. The sound of thunder crackling, and lightning in the distance made her shiver. She wasn’t a fan of storms.
“Tell me why you left?” Brock broke the silence.
“Are we on this again?” There was no way in hell she was talking about the reasons she left ten years ago.
“Yes.”
“Let it go.”
“Not a chance, love.”
Every time he called her love, her stomach flip-flopped and a warm feeling spread inside her.
“I told you I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You knew how I felt,” he said, voice rough.
She glanced at his face and saw his eyes blaze red. Uh-oh. She waited until he stopped the SUV completely before hopping out into the heavy rain. Took less than a minute for her clothes to soak and cling to her skin for dear life. She ran for the door, shoving a shaky hand into her crossbody bag, searching for the key. Water poured down from the heavens in thick blankets, and she wondered if this was a sign she was in over her head with James. By the time she found her keys, she heard the door from his side slam closed. Rushing in without a single glance over her shoulder, she tried to head for her room, but was stopped.
He wrapped a hand around her arm and tugged her until her back hit the door he’d just closed and his wet body plastered to hers.
Air froze in her lungs. She opened her mouth to tell him to move. To get out of the way, but somehow the only thing that came out was a soft whimper. “James…”
Booming thunder sounded at the same time his lips came crashing down on hers. He kissed her fully. As if he wanted to devour her lips and consume her. Driving his tongue into the recesses of her mouth, he held her captive. Every move he made only added gasoline to the raging fire in her blood. Then those hands she knew better than her own were on her. Touching. Branding. Bringing out the feelings of belonging to him she’d tried to fight. But it was useless. This man—this hybrid, was the only one who made her feel…anything.
Material tore as he tugged on her pants, but she didn’t care. It had always been like this with them. Wild. Untamed. So hot it pulverized her brain cells. She tore her mouth from his and glanced into his jet-black eyes. He licked his lips, and her pussy quivered.
“Brock”
“No,” he ordered. “No more fighting this. No more fighting me. No more fighting us.”
She inhaled, watching his claws extend to caress her collar bone and down to the V-line of her T-shirt. Those claws slid through the shirt like a sharp knife on soft butter. Within a heartbeat, she was panting, and her breasts were bared to him. It was hard to control the urge to attack him when her body clamored to be possessed by him. To be his again and again. Now. Right now.
The claws continued their downward path until she was fully naked and tatters of what were once her clothes floated to her ankles.
She watched his nose flare, and her throat went dry.
“This is new,” his rumble increased her already raging heart rate.
She didn’t need to glance down to know he referred to her thigh-high tattoo. She’d always wanted one. One day after she’d left him, she’d gone and done it. A beautiful intricate lace design circled her thigh with a wolf in the center of a heart.
“I always wanted one,” she breathed.
“It’s beautiful. Perfect. Just like the rest of you.”
“James…”
“I’ve missed you.” The words were a hushed growl. Yet, there was so much passion in them. So much emotion. “I’ve wanted to be with you, in you, every night for the past ten years.”
The wall around her heart took a beating with that statement. She’d wanted to be with him too. And while she knew this wouldn’t last—it couldn’t—she’d take this night. No matter what she believed, she knew, deep down, she belonged to him. Always would.
He struck fast, latching on to a nipple and sucked. Dear God, that felt so amazing. She couldn’t hold the loud moan from escaping her throat. Nor could she keep her fingers from threading through his short hair and gripping the strands tight. He grunted and sucked harder. Her pussy moistened more until her arousal crawled down her thighs in a hot wet trail.
He squeezed one breast while sucking the other, but he didn’t stop there. No. The amazing torture continued. He slid a hand down her body and managed to make his way between her legs. With a gentle flick, he rubbed a finger between her slick pussy folds.
“Oh, good lord!”
He bit and she groaned. Then he flicked his tongue back and forth on her nipple at the same time he put pressure on her clit, rubbing the pleasure center in quick circular motions.
The speed and intensity of her orgasm caught her by surprise. She screamed loud, hanging on to him as her body vibrated with the wave of pleasure rushing through her. The floor shook, and she knew things were only going to get better from there.
Her legs shook, ready to give out under her. There was no time to hesitate. He lifted her body as if she weighed next to nothing. As if she weren’t a big curvy girl who had more than a few extra pounds on her. His arm muscles bunched while he held her up against the door. She curled her legs around his waist and locked her feet behind him.
He slid into her in a single powerful thrust. Deep. So deep she felt his cock stretch her pussy muscles taut.
“Oh!” The gasp tore from her throat at the same time he pulled back and plunged in.
He kissed her lips, her jaw, her neck, licking repeatedly at the bend connecting her neck and throat.
“Cyn,” he growled.
“James. God. James, I missed you so much,” she panted out between thrusts. Lord how amazing it felt to have him sliding in and out of her, heating her insides with his own body.
“Not. Letting. You. Go,” he snarled.
That wasn’t his choice to make. Now wasn’t the time to debate it, though. Her body sizzled with the onslaught of pleasure from each punishing drive.
“James…”
“Tell me you’re mine, Cyn.”
God, yes. She was always going to be his.
“Say the words, love.”
Her chest compressed. Liquid fire flooded her veins. She clung to him, gripping his slick shoulders tight. He bit his palms bit into her ass cheeks and squeezed.
“I…”
Another moan tore from her throat when he increased speed. He slammed his rock-hard cock into her. Again and again. She opened willingly. Taking everything he wanted to give. Each sound his body made slamming against her, every groan and growl he let out with each lick by her neck became an instant memory. All of it. She wouldn’t ever forget it. They would be what would carry her forth later.
“Tell me,” he ordered.
His teeth grazed the thudding pulse at the base of her neck. “If you don’t tell me you’re mine, I’ll stop fucking you here and now.”
What? No! Instead of answering him, she yanked on his hair until he met her gaze. His eyes were glowing red with a rim of black. Both his beasts sat just below the surface. It was dangerous and hot as hell.
Their lips meshed in a hot, tongue-tangling kiss. Oh how the man kissed, combining his thrusts into her mouth with the ones into her sex. He swept into her mouth and owned her. He kicked down every one of the flimsy barriers around her heart and proceeded to claim her in one fell swoop.
He thrust harder. Harder still, and slipped a hand between their slick bodies, down to her pussy, and pressed on her pleasure nub. Goose bumps broke over her skin. Her blood scorched her veins. The tension in her core broke, shattering into a million fragments of lights behind her lids.
She screamed into their kiss. Her pussy gripped tight at his cock, contracting against his driving shaft. Pleasure cascaded through each of her limbs. She tore her mouth away from him, gasping air into her burning lungs. She rode the hedonistic wave of desire until she could catch her breath.
“Fuck!” he snarled, pulling away from her.
With her mind still reeling from the unbelievable orgasm, she was caught off guard when he pulled from inside her and took a handful of steps to drape her over one of the large arms to her new sofa. She lay there, still shuddering with the force of her release. He leaned over her, and instinct drove her movements. She pressed her ass up, looking for his stiff erection. He spread her legs and pushed his way into her again.
“James, please…” She wasn’t sure what she was asking for, but him being all hard and thick in her pussy without moving, wasn’t right. It wasn’t enough.
“Say you’re mine.”
His voice floated across her neck, heating every pore it touched.
He propelled back, almost pulling fully out, and then pressed in again—slowly. Too slowly.
“Don’t stop,” she panted, nails curling into one of the flowery sofa cushions.
He pressed kisses over the back of her shoulder, licking the area in circles. She didn’t know that was an erogenous zone, but it had to be. Her body started to shiver with each swipe of his tongue. Tension mounted at her core.
“I’m not moving until you say you’re mine.”
“Fuckin’ hell!” She growled, frustrated at his lack of movement. “Yes! I’m yours. I’ll always be yours and nobody else’s. You and only you own me. Heart, body, and soul. Are you happy now.” She wiggled her ass. “Now, fuck me alread—”
He drove into her so fast she lost her breath. She clawed at the cushion, until he pulled her hands behind her and held her still.
“You are mine,” he growled. “Mine to taste.” He licked her shoulder again. “Mine to take,” he snarled thrusting harder and faster.
She mewled. Oxygen pounded hard in her ears. It was almost impossible to hear him over the beats of her heart.
“Mine to own,” he said roughly.
Tension scorched her muscles and held them in a choke hold. The sound of skin slapping, her moans, and his growls reverberated around the house. If they’d had neighbors nearby, everyone would know what they were doing.
“Mine to mate,” he whispered by her ear.
Her body lost its fight against the knot winding inside her. She screamed into the cushions, riding the pleasure wave again while he plunged hard into her sex. He struck then. He bit into the back of her shoulder with his teeth just as her contractions clasped him in their unyielding hold. His cock pulsed inside her, filling her with his seed.
Mini-orgasms rocked her core. And he continued coming. Not that she cared. She loved the feel of him. Loved that he wanted to be with her. In her.
It took long moments to get her brain into working order before she realized her shoulder hurt. He’d bitten her hard. They’d had love bites before, but damn. This was new. Oh well, sex bruises were good bruises. That’s what she liked to think. Not that she’d had any sex since James, so that was probably why she felt like her bones had liquefied.
She wasn’t sure if she’d died and gone to heaven or what, but her body was out of commission. There was no moving her. Even her lungs wanted some help. The soft brush of Brock’s tongue on her shoulder reminded her of his animal side.
“Am I bleeding?” she asked, the words sounding awkward coming out of her super dry throat.
“A little. I was too rough with you.” His voice was dark, almost upset.
She groaned, and he moved off her and helped her stand. She tried to peek over her shoulder, but couldn’t see anything. “Don’t worry about it. I know you didn’t mean to hurt me."
At the first step she tried to take, her legs wobbled, and she almost fell on her very naked ass.
Brock picked her up in his arms with so much tenderness she couldn’t help but smile. “Didn’t your realtor say something about a hot tub?”
She grinned. “She did! What did you have in mind?”
“I’m taking you to relax.”
“Oh,” she didn’t want to sound upset about his nice gesture. She had been sexually deprived for ten years of Brock and his orgasm-inducing cock. A girl had priorities. A soak was not one of them when her sex drive was once again in action and begging for some use.
“And then to bed, where you’ll tell me you’re mine again,” he rubbed his nose by her ear.
“If we must,” she sighed and curled her arms around his neck, hugging tightly to him. “What’s in it for me, though?”
He met her gaze with his dark sensual one. “I’ve been without you for too long,” he glanced down at her lips and kissed her softly. “I want to taste every inch of you until I can feel your pussy quivering when you come over my mouth.”
She blinked. Well, fuck. Hell yes!
“That’s not all. Then I’m going to fuck you until your knees give out again, and I fill you with my cum.”
Scene after scene of the raggedy doll swam across her vision.
“She should have listened. She didn’t listen. And now…now she’s never going to do it again. I’ll teach her.”
Who? The doll lay in a dark corner, as if hidden from the world.
“I’ll teach her to do what’s right.”
She couldn’t make out more than those distant words. The voice was distorted. Darkness surrounded her. A thick, heavy blanket of fear and pain clawed at her throat. It was hard to breathe. Hard to think. Her vocal cords wouldn’t work. She was stuck in the nightmare. The darkness grew overpowering with its evil. Almost ready to take over her, calling out for her to join it. To be a part of its destructive path.
Everything shifted in a heartbeat. The same heartbeat that thundered so loud in her chest. She saw a river. Something floated slowly in it. Like a giant log or something else. Grass crunched under feet with each step closer to the water. The sound of the rushing water helped guide her. Everything was so foggy.
Anxiety spread through her, almost paralyzing her in place. She kept blinking, hoping to get the view into focus to no avail. She blinked. Her breath froze in her chest. The scene changed again. Water surrounded her now. No longer by the edge, she was smack in the middle of the river, water lapping at her sides. The thing floating was a body. And she couldn’t make out the face, but she did see a tattoo clearly. It was a purple rose the size of a quarter.
Then she was gone.
Cynthia’s phone ringing jerked her out of her dream. She gasped, sitting up in a rush.
James’ arm tightened around her waist. “Are you okay, love?”
She smiled into the darkness. Though thick with sleep, she heard the concern in his question.
“I’m okay. I just need to take this call,” she said and tried to reach over him for the cell on the bedside table.
He turned on the lamp by the bed and passed her the cell phone.
“Cyn?” Tonya.
“I’m here. Tonight was a little better than normal.”
“Tell me. What did you see?”
Their routine. Cyn closed her eyes and went through the details of her dream with her friend.
“This is the second time you’ve dreamed of the doll.”
“I know,” she murmured, aware that Brock sat next to her, rubbing a hand up and down her back without saying a word.
“It is very significant. What about the girl? Is it your cousin?”
“No, I don’t know who she was or why I dreamed of her.” She leaned into Brock’s touch. The heat from his body called her closer, to bask in his strength and have no fear.
“Remember, your dreams are special. You can’t force them,” Tonya said. “You have to let them tell you the story.”
She breathed. “I know. I’ll relax.”
“Alright. Have a good night, dear.”
“You too, Tonya.”
She leaned further into Brock’s embrace, curling into his arms and rubbing her leg up and down his.
“Nightmare?”
“Vision. A pretty clear one as opposed to my usual, but it freaked me out a little.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you,” he promised, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.
A smile tugged at her lips and joy at her heart. Brock would never let anything happen to her, and he didn’t even need to say the words for her to know that. Maybe it was time she started rethinking the idea of being his boss. Leaving him once was hard. But leaving him again, that would kill her from the inside.