Page 115 of The Oath We Give

“Don’t put me in a position where I have to show you how merciless I can be,” he says darkly, leaning back into the chair behind me.

I stare at him through the mirror, his feet spread wide. His impossibly strong thighs are open and inviting in his black slacks.

Don’t ogle his thighs, Coraline. You’re angry.

“I can’t even begin to explain how much you’re overreacting. He’s harmless.”

Pulling my earrings off, I quickly avert my gaze as I set them on the dresser next to me. The material of my dress scratches my lower back.

“I don’t care if he’s a goddamn saint. No one touches my wife.” Silas’s voice is gruff, almost like he’s just behind me, right in my ear.

Chills prick my arms as I turn to stare at him in his man-spread position. I cross my arms defiantly, ready to open my mouth and deliver another snarky comment, but find myself distracted.

He slips the tie from his neck and is currently winding the slick black material around his toned hand, squeezing it tightly. A violent shiver races down my spine.

“He gets close again?” He pauses, making eye contact with me. “I put a bullet in him with the gun I used to fuck your cunt with.”

My stomach knots with pleasure, feeling the dampness on my panties at his words, remembering the pleasure Silas can bring my body when I let him.

“Is this what happens?” I swallow around the desire in my throat. “When you get jealous, you go on a killing spree.”

And because we are alone, because it’s just us and I always get a different version of Silas in the shadows, he smirks, tilting one side of his mouth, showing me his arrogance.

“I’m not jealous, Hex.” There is a chuckle in his voice, dark and demanding. “I know what that uptight pussy of yours tastes like, and it’s my cock that you crave. I’m protective over what’s mine. Don’t confuse the two.”

“I—”

“Don’t fucking deny it,” he snaps, shaking his head a bit. “Don’t make yourself a liar.”

I press my back into the dresser, feeling like I need the support. My body feels like it’s giving out, but my voice remains strong, trying to keep up the image that I don’t want him.

“Fuck you.”

Silas carefully starts to undo the top few buttons of his shirt, exposing the golden-brown skin beneath, making my thighs rub together beneath my dress.

“You could, if you’d let yourself. Submitting to me sexually doesn’t make you weak, Coraline.” He watches me, fucking me with his eyes. I wonder if he can see my heart beating with that intense gaze. “You want to run the show out there? I’ll lay the ground for you to walk on. In here? Let your mind go, and let me make you feel good, baby. Give me control, and I’ll show you how good letting go of it feels.”

Control.

Give up control.

Why would I, when I’d just got a semblance of it back? Why would I give it all up for a fucking guy?

Because you trust him.

An annoying little voice in my brain echoes the thought. My nipples tighten beneath my clothes as if my body wants to second the notion my brain put forward.

Lust is a traitor.

“And if I want to stop? If I get lost in my head and can’t stay in the moment with you?”

Fear tries to take the edge over my desire, telling me that I can’t have a sex life. Not a healthy one where I can live in the moment with my partner. Fear tells me I’ll always be haunted by Stephen’s hands.

“Then you say red, and it all stops.”

“That easy?” I scoff in disbelief, always so easy. Like when he says it, that’s law.

“That’s the only easy part about fucking me, Coraline.” His eyes burn in the darkness with lust, like he’s dying for me to say yes, to give in. “But yes, that easy. You will always be safe with me, even from me.”