Page 21 of Damon

The heat is steamy, baking the tiles beneath my feet, the kind of heat that makes your skin hum before you’ve even started to burn. I stretch out, feeling the sun soak into my legs, my arms, the tops of my thighs. My sunglasses slide down my nose and I nudge them back up with one lazy finger.

The bikini top starts to feel too tight, too confining, like a layer I don’t need anymore.

I untie the strings at my back and let the top fall, draping it beside me on the lounger. The sun kisses my bare breasts, and for a second, I allow myself to enjoy it.

I told myself I came out here for fresh air. To feel like a person again.

But there’s another part of me that wants to see what happens if I stop being so obedient.

He said wait for him.

I didn’t.

I smile to myself. Damon likes control. That much is obvious. He wants me to behave, to follow his rules.

But what happens when I stop playing the good girl?

Maybe I want him to come outside and see me like this. Maybe I want to poke the bear. Only a little. Just enough to watch the mask crack.

Because if I’m going to be trapped here, I might as well learn which buttons make him break.

Minutes later, a shadow falls over me, blocking the sun. I open my eyes, squinting up. Damon stands over me, his expression like thunder, a dark silhouette against the bright sky. He doesn't say a word, just stares down, his gaze raking over my bare breasts, my bikini bottoms, the way my skin is gleaming with a light sheen of sweat and tanning oil.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

I lower my sunglasses and smile up at him. "Getting some sun."

He moves fast. One second I'm still stretched out on the lounge chair, the next his hand is in my hair, yanking my head back, forcing my gaze up to his furious dark eyes. The exposed skin of my chest tingles in the open air.

“You’re practically naked for anyone to see.”

“I’m trying to get a tan.”

“You’re being a goddamn tease.”

I lick my lips, tasting the salt from my skin. “Is it working?”

His grip tightens in my hair, pulling, not quite painful, but enough to make me aware of his immense strength.

“You have no idea, do you?” he snarls. “You think this is a game? That you can prance around here, tits hanging out, and there are no consequences? When anyone could be watching?”

"Maybe I like the consequences."

He hauls me up from the lounge chair in one swift motion, slamming my back against the nearby stone pillar that supports the pergola. The rough stone digs into my skin, but I barely feel it. His body presses into mine, his thigh draggingbetween my legs, pressing right against the heat of me through the flimsy bikini fabric.

“Is this what you want, Viviana?” he snarls, his eyes burning into mine. “You want to be used? Ruined?”

A gasp catches in my throat. “By you? Yeah. I think I do.”

“Fuck.”

His mouth crashes into mine in a filthy possession. His hand dives into my bikini bottoms without warning, cupping me hard, right there, out in the open.

I gasp, breaking the kiss. “Damon—”

“Shut up. You begged for this.”

Two fingers slide roughly into my pussy.