Page 196 of Modern Romance December 2025 1-4

Or maybe he wasn’t combating it, he thought as he moved lower, using the hand that wasn’t wrapped around her wrist to cup one breast. He held it up so he could bend his head, and get a taste of it. He took his time, and liked it when she shifted beneath him, her head thrashing back and forth on the bed.

“Jovi…Please…”

“I like it when you beg,” he told her, his mouth against her skin. And when he felt her tremble, he wondered. What would it take to make her come simply from this?

He let go of her wrists and moved so he could cup both of her breasts at once. Then he bent his head to suck the nipple nearest to him deep into his mouth, while at the same time, he pinched the other one.

For a moment, she went stiff, and still. Then in the next, she made a high-pitched, keening sort of sound, and dug her heels into the mattress, lifting herself up.

But he didn’t take advantage of that. Not yet. He rolled one nipple with his tongue and the other with his fingers, lazily. Slowly.

He played with her, and when her breath got short and choppy, he let go, switching his mouth and hands.

Then he started all over again.

And to his delight, she squeezed her thighs together and she rocked herself, arching her back higher and higher into his mouth and into his hand. Her own hands dug deep into his hair, gripping him hard, and all of it was the same driving, melting wildfire.

Until, when he pinched her just hard enough and let his teeth scrape her other nipple, Rux exploded.

He held her as she bucked and shook. And while she was distracted, he sat her up, stripping her of that pajama top and tossing it aside. He did the same with the pajama bottoms, and discovered several things at once.

First, she was even more beautiful than he had imagined. Second, he was able to tell this at a glance, because she apparently slept commando.

And best of all, he could see how ready she was as she lay there in total abandon, pink glistening.

He took his time removing his own clothes, until he was in nothing save his boxer briefs.

When he stretched out beside her again, her eyes were fluttering, and she had her arms tossed up overhead.

“I’ve never…” she managed to pant out.

“Is that the first time you’ve come?” Jovi asked, fascinated by the way the thought of that made his cock even harder.

“Of course not,” she said, on a breathy sort of laugh. She rubbed her hands over her face and then looked at him, hitting him with all that deep gray. “But it was the first time I wasn’t alone.”

Once again, he felt that fundamental, animal need to take her apart in any way he could. To watch her shiver and shake while she lost herself. To be the reason she gave up control of her body and surrendered herself entirely to him.

So this time, he moved to the headboard, leaned back against it, and then pulled her into his arms with her back flush to his front. He tipped her head back so she was resting against his chest and her mouth was tipped up in his direction.

Because he had designs on that mouth.

“Show me,” he told her, his voice as dark as the windowless room all around them. Darker.

He felt her jolt. Her eyes went wide, but he could see the heat in them as they connected with his. He could feel it work into him, too.

“Show you?” Rux asked.

“Make yourself come,” he told her, and didn’t pretend it wasn’t a flat-out order. “Now.”

And he knew something else when she didn’t get flustered. When all she did was sigh a little bit and melt against him.

He knew something about both of them. Something he’d understood about himself for a long while, but then, he had never truly experimented with power dynamics like this before. He knew that the women he’d been with hadn’t been faking, but that didn’t mean that they liked this particular dynamic. They liked his power. They liked his danger. They liked the fact that they could brag that they’d had sex with Antonio’s favorite weapon.

He had never begrudged any of that, because he didn’t care about them.

But Rux was something completely different. He could feel the truth of it in the dreamy way she slid her hands down her body, as if this was the most peaceful moment she’d ever had in her life.

Under his command. Her body surrounded by his. Carrying out his order.