Page 8

8

ANASTASIA

I t’s adrenaline, the thrill of the kill, the excitement of getting an answer—no matter how small—and the pure, animalistic surge of primal nature.

That’s all it is.

That’s what I tell myself while my lips are locked with Erik’s and my hands are tearing at his clothes while pushing him back toward the table laden with torture tools.

My focus narrows to him and only him, and he doesn’t fight it.

His hands clutch at my waist with the same desperation while dragging his shirt from his muscular torso and dropping it somewhere on the ground out of sight.

Our lips lock together, and when Erik’s tongue dares to slip into my mouth, I bite down hard.

He jerks back with a yelp as we hit the table.

There’s a momentary pause where we stare into one another’s eyes and share the same air.

“Well?” I gasp, glancing down at his golden, muscular torso.

“What are you waiting for?”

He has a tattoo on his chest, one I’ve never seen before.

At a glance, it looks like an anchor designed to be an hourglass with sand pouring through an indentation in the middle.

It rests on a bed of roses, and the splash of color is unexpected.

There’s also a band tattoo on his right arm just below his elbow, and the ink surprises me.

Erik didn’t strike me as the kind of man to get inked up, but it just makes him infinitely hotter in my eyes.

I want him.

My entire body aches like a bruise in the seconds that pass, and I wait for him to decide whether making a move is worth it.

My heart pounds, my head spins from my panting, and my core tightens as I graze my nails down his gorgeous abs.

Then Erik rips my T-shirt from my body and kisses me so hard that I see stars.

His strong, rough hands stroke up my bare back and caress my ribcage.

One strong arm wraps around my waist and pulls me tight against his body while his other hand gropes my breast through my lace bra.

This time when he shoves his tongue into my mouth, I grant him access and allow him to explore as I drag my nails up his bare arms to his shoulders.

His pulse races under my palm when I cup the side of his neck, but before I can reach the thick strands of his hair, Erik suddenly pulls away and flips us around.

He shoves me against the table, and I toss my head to the left, sending my hair down over one shoulder.

With my neck now free, Erik’s mouth latches onto the back of my neck and he grinds his hips forward into my ass, showing off just how quickly he grew hard from kissing me.

I gasp, bracing myself against the table with one hand.

His rough palms glide over my waist and caress around to my stomach.

Then both sweep up to grab my breasts.

He uses this grip to pull me back against his chest as his lips weave a path of open-mouthed kisses around to my jaw.

I turn my head to greet him, and he devours me in a kiss as frantic as my own racing heartbeat.

I shouldn’t do this.

I shouldn’t give in.

And yet in this moment, it’s the only thing in the world I want.

To be touched and gripped, caressed and stroked and fucked like I’m something of worth.

The blood smearing between us doesn’t appear to faze Erik, and it’s an afterthought in my mind when I fight with my belt and jeans to shove them down.

The fabric clings to my skin, leaving streaks of pink and red as I shove them down and then jerk my hips back into Erik.

“Hurry up,” I gasp, breaking the kiss.

“Unless you’re too chicken.”

Erik growls against the shell of my ear, and a sea of goosebumps rises across my back, sweeping down my arms as an explosion of tingling delight rushes through my gut.

Oh, my God.

Before I can say anything else, he shoves me down onto the table with enough force to send the torture instruments jumping and scattering across the wood.

Some even skip a few inches and clatter to the floor while Erik shoves his pants low enough to free his cock from his clothing.

My panties are dragged to the side over the swell of my ass.

My lips part, ready to taunt Erik further, but just as I start to speak, he presses the head of his cock against my pussy and plants one hand firmly between my shoulder blades, keeping me down.

“Not chicken,” he growls in a voice that rumbles deeply through his chest.

“Just making you wait because I can.”

“You—fuck!” My insult melts into a loud gasp as his thick cock presses through my wet lips and slides deep inside me.

The stretch is so sudden that it’s almost painful, but I drink up the sensation as arousal courses through me like my very blood has ignited.

I’m so turned on that my clit aches in time to my racing heartbeat.

I dig my fingers into the wood as Erik thrusts his hips once, twice, and then fully sheaths himself inside me on the third thrust.

“Holy shit,” I gasp, struggling to breathe around such a full sensation.

It feels like he’s so deep inside me that if I’m not careful, he’ll be bumping into my lungs on the next thrust.

I toss my head back and forth as my body adjusts to the size and length of his cock, and his restraining hand between my shoulders becomes a caressing comfort as he waits for me to adjust.

“Too much?” he asks, and there’s a note of caring in his tone that I hate.

“Just shut up and fuck me,” I gasp, pushing away that hint of affection.

I don’t need caring.

I need sex.

Raw, animalistic, hungry sex that leaves me feeling sated and desired.

Erik obliges.

His hand returns to my shoulders and he withdraws his cock, sending a spiral of aching want through my core.

I clench down and adjust my stance, then he thrusts back in and my heart leaps into my throat.

Bliss washes over me.

My blood turns to lava and heat flushes over my skin.

I writhe against the table, desperate to escape the sensation, but since I can’t, it only amplifies the hungry noise rumbling in the back of my mind.

The wooden table is too rough, the stink of blood is suffocating, and Erik’s hand on my back burns like a brand.

It’s perfect.

He pins me down and fucks me rapidly with short, hard thrusts.

It’s impressive how much power he fucks with when his thrusts are so shallow.

I drink it up like a parched woman, hungry for more and more.

His hand moves from my shoulders to my hair and he grips a fistful to hold onto.

His other hand moves from my hip to the table beside me, so I grasp onto his arm and dig my nails into the soft flesh of his wrist.

Erik grunts, and each of his pants is laced with notes of subtle moans of pleasure.

I’m less subtle.

My mouth hangs open.

I gasp and moan loudly, rocking my hips back in time to his thrusts and clenching down around his pounding cock as often as I’m able.

Sweat coats my body in a sheet, and the sensitivity of my body rises as each thrust drags me closer and closer to orgasm.

I’m desperate.

Hungry.

Nothing has ever tasted this good before.

Nothing else matters except Erik’s cock.

Then he drapes himself over me.

The heat from his bare chest burns against the skin of my back.

His weight is comforting, which is oddly painful to the loneliness in my soul.

He presses his lips to my bare shoulder and kisses along the line of my bra strap, then he uses the grip on my hair to turn my head and force our lips together.

We kiss hungrily, a clash of teeth and tongues battling for dominance, and my heart soars so high that I’m downright dizzy.

He fucks me harder, pounding me into the table so the edge of the wood cuts into and numbs my hips.

It’s everything I crave and yet more at the same time.

I can’t speak.

I can’t think.

I’m driven purely by desire, and just as I’m certain my heart will burst right out of my chest, I come with a long cry.

Pleasure cascades through me, rippling through every flexing muscle and sending me right over into a powerful orgasm.

For a long moment, I’m simply suspended.

Erik’s hips stutter, and he comes inside me with a breathy moan, repeatedly kissing my neck.

My legs tremble like they’re about to shake apart and weakness pulls through my muscles.

It’s amazing.

He is amazing.

“ Fuck .”

It takes us ten minutes to pull ourselves apart, dress, and head outside without speaking a word to each other.

It’s hard to think about what to even say, and my head swims between satisfied desire and confusion over what I learned from my attacker.

The late evening sun beats down with an uncomfortable warmth as we approach the array of cars waiting for us.

Erik’s security team, who followed us from the building site, all rest against their respective vehicles.

As Erik instructs them to clean up the mess inside, I dig my phone out of my bloodied jeans and quickly message Faina about the name Sunray.

She replies instantly with confirmation that she will also look into it.

Erik opens the door to my car, and our eyes meet.

There’s a softness that shouldn’t be there, and I can’t tell if it’s new or if I’m just noticing it.

“Anastasia, should we—” he begins, but I quickly hold up a hand.

“No,” I say, quickly rebuilding the walls destroyed by adrenaline and lust.

“That was a moment of weakness and will not happen again. Understand?”

Erik’s expression doesn’t change.

“Understood.”

I’m not clear whether I’m telling him or myself, but as I slide into the car and my core pulls with the memory of his cock, my mind is set.

That cannot happen again.

Ever.