With a quick kiss to my sweaty shoulder blades, Sully withdrew and stood. Bending, he collected me from the river’s edge and spun me into his arms.

We stood like that for a minute.

Just being.

Gathered in a hug that allowed our hearts to connect as violently as our bodies had.

Winding my arms around his waist, I pressed my cheek to his chest, feeling the rightness of my world. The sense of belonging and soul-deep contentment of our unshakeable bond.

Slowly, Sully kissed the top of my head and pushed me away a little. “Well, as far as appetisers go, that wasn’t bad.”

I grinned. “That was the hors d’oeuvres, huh? What’s for the main meal?”

His eyes flashed with cunning sex appeal. “Oh, I have an idea.”

“You do, do you?”

“I definitely do.” Taking my hand, he tugged me into the jungle. “Come along. I’ll show you.”

Chapter Ten

“YOU PROGRAMMED THIS?”

Eleanor gawked at the treehouse as she climbed the final rung up the rope ladder and stepped foot into the bamboo creation.

The skin around her hips was bruised from my fingers. Her nipples still pebbled. Her lips red from my kisses. Naked, apart from the anklets and necklaces, with leaves and flower petals twined in her hair, she looked every bit a figment of this fantasy as the cyphered palms, wildlife, and sunshine.

Thank God, she wasn’t.

Thank everything holy that she was real. Because if she wasn’t...I would never want to live in the real world again. I would live here, in this VR perfection, where I could keep her forever.

Running her fingers along the carved banister and entering the two-story treehouse, she whistled under her breath. “I have no idea how much coding is needed for these fantasies, but this is impressive, Sully.”

I followed her, equally as undressed and not caring that my cock hung heavy with want, hidden by a piece of braided flax. “It’s easy once you know what you’re doing.”

“Have you visited this place before?” She eyed up the mattress beneath a mosquito net, similar to the one we had at home in Indonesia. The bedroom was simple with bamboo slatted walls, huge open-air windows with no glass, exposed rafters, and a roof made of palm leaves.

A sitting area carved from banyan wood and teak waited by the bed, angled to see the stars through the canopy. Simple, uncluttered, and natural. I could live here permanently.

“No. I’ve never visited,” I said, catching her gaze as she looked above to the single ladder leading to the mezzanine level above.

“How do you know if you’ve got the code right? What happens if you’d programmed a floor that was paper-thin or trees that were poisonous?”

I shrugged. “Codes are simple. They’re just ones and zeros. As long as you follow basic parameters, not much can go wrong.”

“Yet you create myth out of reality.” She grinned, her hair loose and tangled and oh, so fucking tempting. “I’m impressed.”

I smiled, slow and sultry. “How impressed?”

Her grin switched to a smirk of invitation. “Very. I can show you...if you want?”

“I’m going to take you up on that offer. Soon.” I stalked toward her, crowding her toward the ladder leading up to the next level. “But for now, up.”

She blinked, looking over her shoulder. “Up there?”

I nodded.

“What’s up there?” she asked, her voice low and hypnotising.

My cock jerked under my loincloth, and I struggled not to take her right here, right now. I could. There was no reason I should wait. But I had a surprise, and I wanted to deliver it before I had her again.

“You’ll see.” I put my hands on her delicate shoulders and spun her to face the ladder. Smacking her bare ass, I commanded, “Climb.”

She muttered something under her breath. Something belligerent that fired my lust and had me crowding her against the ladder.

She gasped as I dropped my hand between her legs and fingered her from behind. “Care to repeat what you just said?”

She moaned as I slipped one finger inside. Wet and hot and greedy.

Biting her bottom lip, she shook her head, her eyes closed and forehead furrowed with need.

I inserted another finger, stretching her. Ensuring my cock bobbed and the hunger to thrust inside her amplified. “Tell me and I might let you come.”

Air exploded from her lungs as I drove up, catching her clit. Her legs buckled. I caught her, holding her at my mercy.

“I said you’re so bossy.”

“And the other part...”

“If you heard me, why do I have to repeat it?”

I withdrew only to drive my fingers upward again, making her pant and squirm. “Because you ought to know such things come with consequences.”

“What consequences?” She gasped as I fingered her faster, driving her into madness.

“So many fucking consequences.” I kissed her throat, unsheathing my teeth to bite right over her artery. My teeth tingled to puncture her skin. My instincts more primitive than restrained at that moment. “Repeat what you said, Jinx. And I might show you my surprise.”

Her hips rocked backward, bumping into my throbbing erection. “Your surprise being your cock?”

I bit her harder, rubbing myself against the seam of her ass. “I’ll give you my cock in a way you haven’t experienced before.”

She shivered. “Show me.”

“Do what I commanded first.” I pulled my fingers free, spreading her wet desire over her belly as I stroked my way to her heavy breasts. Her necklaces clinked as I shoved them aside and pinched her nipples. “Do it.”

She groaned as I touched her, wobbling in my hold. “I said you’re bossy and controlling...and still act as if you own me when really...I own you.”

“Did you pay half a million dollars for me?” I kissed along her throat, inhaling her wicked scent of orchids and whatever perfumed body wash the Hawks stocked in their showers.

“No. And besides, I now own every penny you have, so technically that money is mine and I am priceless.”

“That might be, but did you kidnap and hold me hostage?”

“Yes. Hell, yes,” she moaned as I squeezed her breasts. One in each hand, claiming her for my own. “You might’ve paid money to steal me, Sully, but the moment we met, it was me who stole you.”

“And you think that gives you power over me?” I rocked my hips into her, faster and harder, driving myself to an orgasm just from pure friction.

“Definitely.” She gasped as I kicked her legs apart. Screw the surprise. She needed reminding who was in charge.

Who owned who?

I did.

I owned every part of her because I couldn’t survive if I didn’t.

It didn’t matter that every word she moaned was right.

She owned me.

She’d corrupted me the second she’d landed on my shores.

“You might regret saying that, Jinx.” I grabbed the base of my cock and shoved away the loincloth, lining up with her pussy. “I might need to give you a lesson in ownership.”

“And prove my point?” She looked over her shoulder at me. “That you belong to me? That I can make you kneel with just a word or beg at my feet with just a touch?”