Ryland took me to a private club that was all the rage in the financial district. The entire place was decked out in rich black leather and deep shades of crimson. It screamed of exclusivity. One foot in the door and I could practically smell the money rolling off of these suits.

The club was cordoned off into separate areas that included a cigar bar and a curtained area called the dark room. I didn’t even want to guess what was behind that one and was grateful when Ryland led me straight past it.

Every pair of eyes in the room fell on us as we walked by, and my skin burned under the weight of their shrewd appraisals. Curt nods were given by other men I assumed were business associates. But it was the women that I noticed. While Ryland’s place in society was always present in the back of my mind, it was easy to forget when he was with me. But here now, in this room where women looked at him as though he were a piece of meat, I couldn’t forget. They blushed from head to toe if Ryland even deigned to smile at them as we walked by.

My body grew tight, and I wanted to ask him why he’d ever brought me to such a place. It was clear not only to me but to everyone else in here I didn’t belong.

“All of their eyes are on you,” he remarked.

I met the inappropriate gaze of several women as they sized him up and tightened my grip on his hand. Suddenly I found myself feeling very possessive of him.

Ryland’s eyes danced with amusement as he leaned down to whisper in my ear.

“I like it when you’re greedy.”

I shot him a glare, and he led me to a podium in the back, where a woman with a classy black pant suit greeted us. At least she had the decency not to stare.

“Mr. Bennett, Miss Valentine, how lovely of you to join us this evening. I have a private room for you right this way.”

I arched a brow at Ryland as we followed behind her, hand in hand. She led us to a private lounge area that was completely enclosed in red velvet curtains.

She held them open as Ryland thanked her, pulling me inside along with him.

“I’ve set up the bar as per your request,” she finished off pleasantly. “Is there anything else I can get you, sir?”

“No, thank you,” He replied. “Just see that we’re not disturbed for the rest of the evening.”

She smiled and bowed out. “As you wish.”

Once the curtain closed, soft mood lighting and a sense of calm enveloped me. I settled onto the chaise against the wall, allowing my eyes to wander over the room while Ryland removed his jacket and tie.

Laid out on the table was an impressive spread of appetizers and desserts, complete with a chilled bottle of champagne. And even though we’d already eaten dinner, I couldn’t stop eyeing the chocolate confections that were temptingly within reach.

“You brought me here to have a private room with me?” I asked. “Doesn’t make much sense.”

“Doesn’t it?” He took a seat beside me and uncorked the champagne like a pro. “I wanted to take you out, but I also wanted to have some privacy. This seemed like a good compromise.”

I chewed on my lip as he poured each of us a glass of champagne. It was a nice gesture, but it was still out of character. And being the woman that I was, I couldn’t accept it without asking the nagging question that lingered in my mind.

“But why did you want to bring me here?” I emphasized.

His fingers flirted with the stem of his glass, distracting me for a moment. “What do you mean?”

“It’s a little over the top,” I said quietly. “It seems like a big romantic gesture. Something a man would do for his girlfriend, not his… well, whatever we are.”

He leaned back and stretched his arm across the chaise to tease the skin along my neck. “You are my girlfriend.”

“Am I?” I asked in confusion. “Because I don’t think we’ve ever established that.”

“It was implied,” he argued. “When I say that you belong to me Brighton, it isn’t for show.”

“It was implied we had an agreement,” I said. “Not a relationship.”

Ryland frowned as he sat back and mulled over my words. “I can see how you might think that. But in my mind, there has never been any question.”

“Well, there has to be a question,” I persisted. “You never even asked me, Ryland. You assuming doesn’t make it so. You haven’t even told me how you feel about me.”

Ryland leaned forward and tugged me into his lap. “Is that what this is about? You want to know how I feel about you?”

I shrugged like it didn’t really matter. We both knew that it did, though.

“The last thing you said on the subject wasn’t exactly nice.”

There was a long pause of silence that threatened to swallow me whole. Ryland continued to touch me, stroking my back and kissing my neck. And despite my need for his assurances, my body was melting beneath his hands. He knew it too, this power he held over me.

He needed only to touch me to remind me. Or to look at me with the lust that ran thick through his blood. One word uttered in the warmth of his voice, and I was irrevocably his. He owned me, and he knew it. Did it ever matter what his feelings were? I was doomed to love him regardless.

“I can’t tell you the things you want to hear,” he said finally. “I could give you a thousand pretty words, but they wouldn’t change anything. I’m not your hero. I’m not the man you want me to be, and someday soon, you’ll understand that. You will loathe me, and I won’t blame you. But even then, I doubt I’ll be able to let you go. Our feelings are irrelevant, and that’s the truth. But the fact that I want you so much should tell you how I feel about you, baby girl. I waited five years for you.”

My eyes were glassy, and I hated it. Hated that he always managed to make me feel like this was a hopeless situation. Like everything was a riddle to him.

“What do you mean you waited five years?” I croaked. 

His fingers traced the line of my collarbone, dipping beneath the silky material of my dress and allowing it to fall off the slope of my shoulder. It hung precariously by the stiffened peak of my nipple, and Ryland skimmed it with his thumb as he spoke.

“I wanted you to have a chance to experience life,” he said. “Life before me.”

“You make it sound like you’re ruining my life,” I joked.

He didn’t laugh.

He traced along the opposite collarbone, pushing the material off the other slope of my shoulder. Again, the material sagged until it caught on my nipple, allowing the swells of my breasts to be seen with each heavy breath.

“You have the most beautiful skin,” he murmured against me. “A perfect canvas, just like you said that first day in my office.”

As if to prove his point, he dragged his teeth down my neck, sucking and nipping at me until I was clutching his hair in my hands. “You tease me with every blush, every smile, every innocent look on your face.”

His hand slipped inside the top of my dress, playing with my erect nipples before he gave up and pulled the material down around my waist.

“Someone might come in here,” I whimpered.

“So let them.” He captured my nipple between his teeth and flicked it with his tongue. “Let them see me fucking the most beautiful woman on the planet. It would be my pleasure to make every man in here covet what belongs to me.”

His words drenched me, and he knew it. He slipped his other hand beneath my dress, coaxing his way up my thigh with strong, warm fingers. When they slid beneath my lace thong, he had to peel the fabric away from my skin.

He stuffed me full of his fingers with a groan as he continued to milk my breast with his mouth.

“I’m going to make you come so hard you scream,” he threatened.

I clutched at his neck, not wanting to believe the conviction in his voice. But when he adjusted my pelvis and crooked his fingers, he hit the same sweet spot he knew I couldn’t resist. He slammed his fingers in and out of me roughly, the sounds of wet slapping noises echoing off the walls of the room.

I was too aroused to be embarrassed, and I bit into his shoulder to keep the noises at bay while I jerked in his arms.

“That’s it, baby girl,” he praised me. “Come hard for me. Fucking drench me.”

His words shocked and excited me, and I wanted to give him what he asked for. I didn’t even know if my body was capable of such a thing, but Ryland did.

He thrust his fingers in and out in a rhythm perfectly synchronized to induce my loss of self-control. The burn that resided in my belly zipped its way down through my core and into the deep muscles of my womb. When that release exploded out of me, it did so with a gush of wetness.

The intensity of it blindsided me, and I couldn’t even open my eyes until the ringing in my ears had subsided. Somewhere in the depths of my madness, I was certain I’d screamed, just as he promised.

When I came back down, I saw that Ryland had his cock in his fist, stroking it roughly while he watched me. His hand still glistened from my arousal, and a blush spread across my cheeks that made him growl.

He gave me a savage kiss before flipping me onto my knees. He peeled my hands out from beneath me and curled them around the back of the lounge.

“Don’t move,” he ordered, gripping my hips as he adjusted himself behind me.

He smeared my arousal over his cock and glided it against my folds, teasing the swollen flesh as he eased just the head of himself inside.

“How is it possible?” he groaned. “How do you get so wet for a monster like me?”

“You’re not a monster,” I protested, my knuckles white as I waited for what I needed. For him to fill me. Complete me. 

He buried himself inside of me in one deep stroke, and I let out a soft mew as I tried to hold still.

“Oh but I am,” he growled, gripping a handful of my hair in his hand and tugging on it. “I want to hurt you. I want to do all sorts of depraved things to you, Brighton. Simply because I can.”

He was trying to push me away again. But I wasn’t going to let him.

“I like the depraved things you do to me,” I whispered. “I like the way you fuck me.”

“Good,” he snarled. “Because right now, I’m going to fuck you like I hate you.”

I whimpered as he slammed into me, nearly making my body crumple upon the impact.

“Harder,” I challenged.

Ryland grunted and pulled my arms behind my back. He gripped me by the chin as every thrust reverberated through my entire body. His hand threaded through my hair, twisting my neck until his mouth could claim mine.

“Is that hard enough for you?” he nipped at my lip.

“More…” I insisted. “Do every dark thing you say you want to,” I implored. “I want to give it all to you.”

His cock pulsed inside of me at my words and his hands tugged on each of my nipples in response.

“Anything I want?” he questioned.

“Yes!”

“So if I were to walk out there and bring another woman in here…”

I jerked away from him and slapped him across the face as hard as I could.

“Fuck you!” I spat. “Fuck you, Ryland!”

He pulled me back into his arms with a hungry smile. “That’s what I want,” he soothed me with a kiss. “That possession, that fire. Knowing you would never share me with anyone else gets me harder than you could ever imagine, Brighton.”

As if to prove his point, he wrapped my hand around his cock, allowing me to feel the weight of his arousal. I stroked him several times over, even though I was still pissed about his little comment.

“Don’t ever say anything like that again,” I warned. “I won’t share you, Ryland, so if you ever get even the faintest idea…”

His lips smashed into mine desperately. He lifted me up in his arms like a limp ragdoll and threw my legs over his forearms, entering me in one thrust. My body nearly folded in half as he proceeded to fuck me.

“I don’t want anybody else but you,” he grunted. “Nobody else but you, Brighton.”

As the sentence left his mouth, he exploded inside of me, milking his release out over the course of several deep thrusts.

He set me back down on the couch, handing me some napkins to clean myself before he attended to himself. I did so quickly before trying to right the mess that was now my expensive dress. Ryland helped, smoothing the material back up over my breasts with a relaxed expression on his face.

I leaned forward and took a sip of my champagne while I finger combed my hair back into place.

“Are you upset with me?” he leaned back against the sofa and watched me carefully.

I turned towards him and shook my head. It probably wasn’t as convincing as I’d hoped. I didn’t like the spark of jealousy I felt when I thought about him wanting anyone else, but I couldn’t control it either.

“Come here,” he ordered.

I obeyed him without question. It was becoming a habit.

Once I was close enough, he pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me. “I like to push you. To see the darkness that’s inside of you too.”

“I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” I admitted. “It confuses me sometimes.”

“Because you shouldn’t feel this way about me,” he supplied.

I shrugged because it was the truth. I shouldn’t feel this way about him. Based on the secrets that founded this bond, I feared it would all come toppling down around me any day now. Just as he kept trying to tell me.

“If it makes you feel any better,” he replied, “I never intended to feel anything about you either, Brighton.”

“So it was only about the agreement to you.” My voice was heavy with defeat.

“Five years ago, yes. But not now. Not since the first time I slid inside of you, claiming you as my own. I think about it all the time. About that moment.”

“You do?” I looked up at him in surprise.

“Of course,” he continued. “When you’re not with me, and I’m left to my own devices, what else am I supposed to do? When you told me you wished it was me…. God, I’ve rubbed myself raw replaying that moment in my mind.”

“You think of me when you pleasure yourself?” I asked.

“Of course I do.” He shot me an impish look. “I think about the way your perfect tits fit into the palms of my hands or the way your hair spills down your back when I’m fucking you from behind. How tight your ass was the first time I took you there. The marks I left on your back, I think about those all the time, baby girl. All. The. Fucking. Time.”

His voice grew more excited as he spoke, and my heart did a little flip in my chest.

“What do you think about?” he asked. 

I tried to look away, but he turned my chin back towards him.

“Sometimes, I think about the first time you… went down on me. I never thought I would enjoy something like that, it felt so strange…”

A smug grin tugged at his lips, and he kissed me again as his fingers trailed down my cheek. “I love your innocence.”

“So you’ve said,” I retorted.

“Are you hungry?”

I smiled. “I am now.”

“Good. Because I have a craving for something sweet.”