Page 52 of The Ecstasy of Sin (Brutal Brotherhood #1)

His soapy hands move over my skin, massaging as he washes me with a tenderness that still doesn’t feel real.

How can a man capable of such extreme violence also be so gentle?

“That’s crazy. And probably expensive. There’s no way I can pay yo—” His sudsy hand lifts and presses over my mouth. I shut my lips instantly, not wanting the taste of soap on my tongue.

“You belong to me. If I want to bring the best neurologist in the country here to treat you, I will.”

Then he pauses, visibly annoyed with himself. “Shit,” he mutters, realizing his hand is still covered in soap. He pulls back and rinses it behind him, then carefully washes the outside of my lips where he touched me. “I’m sorry, baby.”

My mouth stays closed as he tends to me .

“Okay. I… thank you,” I say quietly. I’m going to have to start accepting these things, and stop punishing myself for not earning what he gives so freely.

“You’re welcome,” he murmurs. “She’ll be able to use the small state-of-the-art medical facility I had built into the basement of our new home. There’s a CT scanner being delivered tonight.”

I freeze.

My heart kicks into a panicked rhythm, like a caged animal trapped behind my ribs. Confused, desperate, and cornered. “E—Excuse me?”

He hums, almost amused. “Ah. Right. I guess I forgot to mention… I bought us a new home.”

I say nothing. The words are caught in my throat. My chest aches, and I think I’m having a heart attack. “You… forgot. You… bought.” I stammer, and for once it’s not because of the migraine.

He responds, his voice calm and even, like he’s discussing the damn weather. “It should be ready for us to move in tomorrow night. Ryker’s crew and some other contract hires have been working day and night to finish all the renovations.”

A weight presses down on my chest. My lungs collapse with an exhale, and then I’m gasping, frantic, shallow breaths to match the wild pounding of my heart.

“Hey,” Dominic says firmly, lifting me as water sloshes over the sides of the oversized tub. He shifts me effortlessly, straddling me across his lap so I’m facing him. “Take a deep breath. You’re safe. ”

One of his hands settles over my heart—broad, warm, and steady—while the other strokes slow lines up and down my back. His eyes lock onto mine, grounding me with sheer force of will.

“This is too much,” I choke out between gasps. “You can’t do all this. It’s… it’s too expensive. A CT machine? Are you insane? I can’t—I can’t do this.”

Dominic’s gaze darkens, the green of his irises swallowed by something innately terrifying. His cock hardens beneath me, thick and heavy between my thighs, and his voice drops low. “I thought we were past this, little lamb, but it seems you need a harder lesson.”

I’m shaking as he reaches back and pulls the drain plug. The water begins to whirl away, but he doesn’t let me go. He turns the faucet, then presses a button on the wall, redirecting the stream to the handheld shower wand.

He stands up carefully, lifting me with him, and rinses us both off in silence.

My breathing’s so erratic now, I’ve become a little dizzy, swaying on my feet. He catches me instantly, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my shivering body.

His hands steady me. “Do you trust me, Wren? Do you trust that you’re safe with me? That I’d never do anything to hurt you?”

I do. Trust isn’t the problem here. He’s killed for me, held me when I was broken, and fed me when I was starving. I’ve never once felt unsafe in his arms .

But going from homeless and penniless… to this pampered, protected woman who hasn’t earned any of the extravagance being given? That is what’s killing me.

Still, I nod.

“Good,” he murmurs. “Remember that. Because what happens next might not feel that way at first.”

My eyes widen as he lifts me again, water dripping from his skin, and steps out of the tub with me cradled in his arms. He sets me down long enough to towel us both off, and then lifts me again and heads for the bedroom.

“Dominic…” I whisper, my voice sounding so fragile. My heart is thundering from the burst of anxiety.

He says nothing as he lowers me onto the bed. I watch as he ushers Hunter out with a quiet command, and shuts the door behind him.

He turns back to me, and my eyes go wide as he moves to the bedside table and opens the drawer, pulling out two sets of handcuffs.

“Dominic,” I breathe, panic crawling up my spine.

I start to scoot backward, putting space between us, but he follows me. He crawls over the bed like a predator, until my back is pressed against the headboard and he is looming over me.

“I love you, Wren,” he says, his voice thick with something dark and unrecognizable.

He reaches beside me, slipping his hand between the mattress and the headboard.

My eyes track his every movement. “I love you the way the devil loves hell. The way he fell from grace and built his own kingdom in darkness and sin… a home for the fallen angels he loves more than himself. ”

He pulls a chain free, and my heart nearly gallops out of my chest. Before I can even try to haul myself from the bed and run, he’s secured one end of the handcuffs to my left wrist, attaching the other end to the chain.

My vision blurs with tears as I look up at him, searching for mercy I know I won’t find. “Please,” I whisper.

He ignores me as he reaches around to the other side of the bed, retrieving a second chain, and securing my other wrist just as easily. I don’t fight him because there’s no point.

“I love you, Wren. My lost little lamb,” He whispers against my mouth, my lips trembling from the weight of his confession. “My heaven, my peace, my only source of release.”

Tears slip free, trailing down my cheeks and flowing freely. He kisses them as they fall, his lips brushing away the pain he doesn’t allow me to carry alone.

“I’ve killed for you. I will die for you. I will fucking move mountains with my bare hands to give you everything you deserve, everything the world denied you when they made you feel like you were nothing.”

I’m speechless. And then he kisses me, slow and impossibly tender. A featherlight touch of his lips against mine.

The contrast is staggering. He’s chained me to his bed like I’m his unwilling captive, and yet he still kisses me like I’m his most prized possession.

He leans back and parts my thighs, dragging me down toward him. I drop down to my back, my body yielding to his.

He stares down at me, his dark hair spilling over his forehead and shadowing his beautiful eyes .

“You will take everything I give you.” He spits into his hand, then rubs his cock from base to tip. “You may not have control, but you do have power.” He leans closer, his eyes blazing. “You have power over me, and you are not nothing. You are everything .”

My heart feels like it’s splitting wide open, only to be stitched back together with his words.

He shifts backward, lowering between my thighs, and spits on my pussy. The feel of his spit, hot and obscene, makes my back arch. My breath hitches as the slick warmth drips down from my clit.

He rises, then positions the flushed head of his cock at my entrance. I’m not ready. He knows I’m not wet enough.

“You belong to me, little lamb.” He says every word through clenched teeth, madness in his eyes.

I cry out as he presses in, forcing my body to stretch, to open for him. The bite of pain rips a hiss from my mouth, but he doesn’t stop. His spit is enough to ease the way, but barely.

I writhe beneath him as he sinks deeper, my pussy forced to take him. My body tries to retreat, to escape the burn, but I can’t.

One of his arms locks around my waist, holding me down, while the other grips my jaw, dragging my gaze to his.

“You. Are. Mine,” he growls, his voice rough and low. “Say it.”

I bite my lip, the words trembling on the edge of my tongue, but I can’t speak. I can barely breathe.

He drops his head to my throat, and bites down. His teeth sink into my skin, marking me with a sharp, possessive sting .

And then he slams the rest of the way inside of me.

I gasp, because I’m wet now, so turned on by his claiming. My back arches, and his body presses down against mine, overwhelming me. He’s massive: all solid muscle and dark intent.

Everything about him is an exercise in restraint, because Dominic could break me. He could end my life in an instant, and there would be nothing I could do to stop him.

Instead, he chooses to love me. With his body and with his pitch-black heart. With the madness clawing at the edges of his soul. He may be the devil, but he’s mine and I’m his… and my body knows it.

“That’s it,” he groans, lifting up to brace himself on his forearms. “Such a good girl… taking my cock all the way inside you. Even when you’re crying, and scared, and still desperate to hold onto whatever independence you think you’ve got left.”

My eyes burn, my breathing ragged. The chains are loose enough that I can lift up just enough to steal his mouth in a kiss… and then bite down on his lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

He groans, his cock jerking deep inside me, and the metallic tang of his blood spills across my tongue.

“Fuck, yes. Take me inside of you,” he moans, crushing his mouth to mine in a kiss so vicious it reminds me of the monster more than the man. He devours me, tongue clashing with mine, dominating me in every way he possibly can.

When he finally releases me from his all-consuming kiss, I look up into his eyes and find all that lunacy on full display .

“I can’t just take, and use, and give nothing in return,” I whisper, trying to make my voice strong, to anchor myself in conviction. But the wild, consuming lust has me in a vice grip.

“You will,” he groans, his voice low and gravelly, his pupils blown wide from the lust burning between us. “You’ll take everything I fucking give you.” He pulls back, almost fully withdrawing, then slams back into me.

I cry out, but the sound melts into a moan, my thighs trembling around him.