Beyond Control

chapter Sixteen



Most nights, Dallas would have been happy to collapse in a pile on his bed. Six people might have made for close quarters, but he'd slept in closer.

Tonight, he didn't even want Jas and Noelle around.

None of them seemed to mind. Lex was still trembling in his arms when Jasper rounded up the others and herded them out the door, undoubtedly to continue the party--or expand it.

Dallas's party was warm and pliant. Wobbly limbed, too, which was something he could relate to. Pride alone got him to his feet with Lex cradled to his chest, and the need to see to her carried him across the room. After laying her on the bed, he took a few moments to strip the leather cuffs from her wrists and ankles, rubbing softly at the red marks left from her struggles.

Her eyes remained shut, but a slow smile curved her lips. "You're petting me again."

Satisfied that she wasn't injured, Dallas kicked free of his pants and joined her on the bed. "I like petting you. Get used to it."

"Not a complaint." She rubbed one bare leg over his. "Just saying."

She was sated and relaxed, which was quickly becoming his favorite look on her. Her sleepy smile wasn't meant to charm or soothe him. It wasn't a mask. This was Lex, stripped of all that bullshit she'd learned in Two. Not trying to be anyone's fantasy.

It made her his.

He kissed the inside of her wrist. "You mind that I broke up the party?"

"Did you?" Her lashes finally fluttered up as she opened her eyes. "I'm half-conscious. They'll have more fun without me."

"I doubt that." He looped an arm around her waist and hauled her back until she was snuggled soft and warm against his chest. "But I'm done sharing you."

"For now, or forever?"

The game they were playing was too high stakes for lies, even little ones. "I don't know. For tonight, at least."

"I'd do it," she said quietly. "For you."

Those were the words he'd never expected to hear. Or maybe he had, but only wrenched from her, a grudging trade for some ambiguous promise he'd never been able to figure out. "You'd give it all up? Even Noelle?"

"I don't want to. Not because I have to have sex with her or anyone else, but..." Lex turned her head toward him, leaving him staring at her profile. "It makes me feel like you don't trust me. Like you think it means you mean less, or that I won't come back to you."

Of course she'd come back to him. That possibility never bothered him as much as the reasons she'd leave to begin with. The implication that he wasn't enough.

Easy to think. Admitting it out loud--shit. The thought alone made him cringe, so he shifted the conversation to something less embarrassing. "It's not about trust, but yeah. I get jealous. And not just over sex, love. I got jealous as hell when Gideon started running his mouth like you two have some big secret."

She exhaled a short laugh. "Only because of his cousin. Mad's been helping me funnel money into some of the other sectors, a little aid for people who need it."

Not the answer he'd been expecting. "Why don't I know about this?"

"Because of how I get the money."

In the earliest days--days when she was new to the gang and he was still wondering if she was a trap Cerys had set for him--he'd kept an eye on her. Followed her.

Watched her steal a whole lot of shit.

In the beginning, he'd thought it was about security. She had no reason to trust him, and anyone who'd come off the streets in Sector Three was liable to hoard anything they could get their hands on. Time had passed and Lex had taken ink, and the bouts of thievery had come to an end.

Or maybe they hadn't. He'd stopped watching so closely after she'd quietly paid off Cerys. That was another secret he wasn't supposed to know about, but it had been the turning point. The proof she wasn't a trap--or, if she was, that the endgame was so subtle and convoluted he'd never uncover it by shadowing her.

So he'd stopped, and he'd assumed she'd given up climbing through third-story windows in search of valuable items. After all, he gave her any f*cking thing she wanted.

The silence had stretched out uncomfortably, so Dallas shifted Lex in his arms until she was facing him. "You steal." Not quite a question.

She held his gaze unflinchingly. "Yes."

"From where?"

"Three, mostly. But I've been into Five and Six a few times."

Emotion churned in his gut, and he honestly didn't know if it was anger or fear. Three was bad enough, but at least he knew she could handle herself against lowlifes and thugs. Five, on the other hand...

He curled his hand around the back of her neck. "Do you know what Fleming does to pretty women who cross him?"

Her lips pressed together in a tense line. "I'm not stupid, Dallas. I know what I'm doing."

As if that made it okay. "Then what the hell could be worth risking your foolish f*cking neck?"

"I want to help." Her voice dropped, low and almost ashamed. "Most people don't get as lucky as I did."

Christ. He lifted her chin to force her to look at him. "Did you think I wouldn't let you?"

"No. But I didn't want you to feel like you needed to take over and do it for me, either."

He didn't know what was worse--that she assumed he would, or that he was half-convinced he wouldn't. It was the first lesson he'd learned growing up, the one that had always seemed to weigh heaviest on his mother's shoulders. You picked your people, and you held them close. You didn't have to go out of your way to hurt anyone else, but you couldn't save them all, either. It had been true on a tiny ranch in Texas, and it was true in the sectors surrounding Eden.

Lex had always given him too much f*cking credit--and it always made him want to try harder, to be worthy of it. "You do help. Jesus, Lex. You've changed the lives of every woman in this f*cking sector."

Her brows drew together in a frown, and she reached up to rub her thumbs over his cheeks. "But is it enough? I don't know anymore."

"We're about to change a few lives in Three, too. That's a quarter of the sectors, love. It's a lot."

Mollified, she pressed her forehead to his chin. "I swore Mad to secrecy. Dr. Jordan, too."

Doc didn't wear his ink, so he owed him no loyalty--nothing beyond what any man in Four showed him out of sheer practicality, anyway. But Mad... Dallas sighed as he sank his fingers into Lex's hair. He knew what Mad's defense would be, as if he'd already heard it. What, O'Kane? You want her out there without backup?

Dallas doubted she even knew how deep Mad's scars ran, but those old wounds made it easy for Dallas to understand his motivations. Mad had suffered the backlash that came from standing too close to power. He knew all the ways an enemy could use a hostage as leverage--and that the truest loyalty to any leader meant protecting them from the hard choices that followed.

Didn't mean Dallas wouldn't scream at him. But for now, he pressed a kiss to Lex's forehead. "They're big boys. Not your responsibility."

Her fingers brushed her throat, where her collar usually lay. "That's not exactly true anymore."

No, it wasn't. "Is that a weight you wanna carry, Lexie? You of all people know the state my shoulders are in most nights."

"Yeah, I do. Which is why I'd have to be a selfish ass to stick you with all the work."

He touched her collarbone, tracing his finger over the skin he planned to mark. Thick black ink, a design fit for a queen. The queen. "Do you trust me?"

Her eyes locked with his--for once, clear and unguarded. "Yes."

Finally.

His blood pumped fire through his veins as he splayed his fingers across her chest, his thumb canted toward one shoulder and his pinky brushing the other. She looked deceptively delicate in moments like this, small under his hand, but there was nothing fragile about the heart beating under his palm.

And it belonged to him. "Ink," he said, the word edged with all his desire. "O'Kane for life."

"For life," she echoed, covering his hand with hers.

He couldn't stop his feral grin, the triumph and satisfaction. "All of you."

"Mmm." She arched an eyebrow. "What's that look for?"

The fire in his veins settled as a burning heat in his gut, stoked higher by the mental image of Lex wearing his ink. Lex, his.

He lifted his hand to trace her lips and let his imagination run wild. She was soft and sweet, her defenses swept away. How much hotter would it be now, f*cking her when she was already open and trusting? When he could show her that he didn't need an orgy to overwhelm her senses, to claim every goddamn part of her?

Still smiling, he edged one finger between her lips. "Maybe I'm not done with you for the night."

Lex closed her eyes and bit him. "I won't be able to walk tomorrow, and neither will you. You realize that, right?"

The world could survive the day without them. Bracing his thumb against her jaw, he pushed his finger deeper, savoring the sharp scrape of teeth almost as much as the quick heat of her tongue. "If you can walk before sundown, it means I didn't get the job done."

She shivered and licked his fingertip with a moan.

He couldn't stop himself from pumping his finger in and out, fascinated by the way her lips looked wrapped around any part of him. "Tonight, you're mine to play with. This mouth..." He added another finger, pushed them both in to the second knuckle. "Mine to kiss, mine to defile."

Her eyes lit up at the word, amusement and lust in equal measure. The back of her hand brushed his stomach, and she walked her fingers slowly up to scratch her nails across his chest.

Oh yeah, she liked that. Liked it even more when he withdrew his fingers, slapped her cheek in teasing warning, and smoothed his hand down her throat.

He smacked her breast next, and the firm flesh swayed enticingly. Made his dick ache, too, and his next words sounded rough. "I could play with these tits for hours. Sucking, pinching..." He tweaked her nipple just to watch her jerk. "Making them bounce."

Her skin flushed, and her breathing quickened. "Yours to play with. Whatever you want."

Three simple words, but the layers in them. A man could go dizzy trying to untangle the subtle shifts in power. He owned her the same way he owned them all, as a benevolent dictator who enforced his ownership lightly. Someone who didn't understand would think her submission solidified that claim, would think she'd yanked her own collar tight and handed him a leash.

Blind fools. Submission snapped the leash. Here she was, flushed at the sudden freedom, and he was the one weighed down by the responsibilities that came with her gift. He was the one who had to walk that razor-thin line, knowing one misstep could cut them both.

Trust went both ways, a fact that held him in its grasp as he smacked her other breast hard enough to feel the sting of impact in his fingers. He had to trust that her moan of pleasure was honest, that she wouldn't hold back or hide discomfort. All it would take was one lie on her part to turn him into a monster.

Especially when her fantasy was being taken by one.

Lex shuddered through a soft sigh and framed his face with gentle hands. "You don't have to. Not if it's too much."

Of course she saw. Of course she understood, which was why it would never be too much. Growling, he caught her face, his thumb and fingers digging in to her cheeks just enough to serve as a quiet warning. "Are you going to be a good girl?"

Her answer was quiet, serious. "You know me better than that."

He knew she fought back, but sometimes it was hard to tell how much was a struggle to hold on to her defenses, and how much was a silent plea for him to fulfill a need she could barely articulate.

Maybe she couldn't articulate it, but he understood it. Leaning closer, he licked her lips. "Tell me you'll be good tonight."

She stilled and then moved, sliding her inner thigh up the outside of his leg. "I'll be good. Only for you."

He rewarded her with a rough whack on the hip before rolling away, his mind already stumbling over what part of her to claim first. With a few clever toys and a little patience, he could reduce her to limp, trembling bliss.

"On your knees," he ordered as he moved to the open cabinet. A fortune in tools of debauchery lined the shelves, a mix of custom pieces and pre-Flare relics, things meant to bind, to penetrate, to cause pleasure and pain.

He bypassed the whips and floggers, uninterested in striking her with anything but his bare hands. Pain wasn't Lex's trigger, for all that he'd seen her transported by the hazy rush of it. She thrived on sensation, on roughness that stemmed from too much desire, from the feeling of being overwhelmed.

That made his selection easy. When Dallas retrieved the items and turned back to the bed, Lex was kneeling near the end of it, facing him.

Waiting.

God, she was striking. Beautiful, from her disheveled hair straight down to her perfect toes. Sleek, but not soft. She had the strength of a dancer, toned muscles under dangerous curves, and sometimes it was hard not to just stare at her.

But staring wasn't enough tonight. He dropped the toys to the bed and traced the luscious line of her thigh before curling his fingers to cup her p-ssy. "Ready to get back to that talk about the things that belong to me, love?"

Her head fell back, and she clutched his arms with trembling hands. "Yes."

He delved between her outer lips and bit back a groan at how wet she was. Wet and hot, even more so when he thrust his finger deep inside her. Not only for the pleasure of hearing her moan, but for the satisfaction of feeling her muscles clench with arousal when he lifted his other hand to lightly slap her face again. "Open your knees, Lexie. Keep 'em spread wide, so I can play with this p-ssy however I want."

She shifted on the bed, her knees parting, hips tilting toward his touch. So obedient, so eager, and the naked trust in her eyes was as delicious as the way she squirmed, like she couldn't not ride his hand.

Edging closer, Dallas dragged her head back, forcing her to stare up into his eyes as he f*cked her lazily with that one finger. "Good girl. You do everything I tell you, and I'll let you decide where I f*ck you. And how hard."

Her eyes flashed, dark and hungry. "Surprise me," she rasped.

Possessive heat skated under his skin. This was the part of her he never wanted to share. The others could line up and beg for the privilege of pleasuring their queen, as long as no one else saw Alexa, stripped bare and willing to do anything to please him.

His secret pleasure. His gift. And goddamn, was he ready to play with her.

He didn't bother with orders, not when they'd both get off on the alternative. Locking rough hands around her waist, he lifted her bodily and flipped her, sprawling her face down across the mattress as he smacked her ass. "Up on your knees."

Her hands clenched in the bedspread, but she arched her back and obeyed.

Anticipation wouldn't hurt her, so he stayed silent as he retrieved the heavy silver plug. It was wicked, blunt at the tip and sharply flared, with a green jewel flashing from the flat, circular base. Not the sort of adornment you tried with someone inexperienced, but the complete set with their differently colored gems were among Lex's favorite toys.

He took his time with the lube, slicking it over the cool silver before spilling it onto Lex's ass without a word of warning. She hissed in a breath and wiggled under the stream of clear, viscous liquid.

"You know what's coming, don't you?" He massaged the lube into her ass with one hand while he used the other to tease the plug between her p-ssy lips to rub against her *.

"Mm-hmm." A lazy answer, at odds with the way her legs trembled.

He could get her off like this, but it would be quick and fleeting, the kind of pleasure that melted through you and vanished, forgotten. This wasn't any other night. This was the night she'd agreed to take his ink, to belong to him.

Patience would reward them both. At least, that's how he justified it to his aching cock when he placed the tip of the plug against her ass and watched her shudder as the slight pressure stimulated all those tiny nerves. "Hands back here," he ordered, his voice hoarsely menacing even to his own ears. "Hold yourself open so I can watch your greedy little ass take anything I put in it."

She slid her hands over her thighs, slowly stroking her way up to the swell of her ass. Her nails dug into her skin as she spread her cheeks and pushed back toward the plug in his hand.

Eager. She was always so damn eager, but it had never shredded his self-control like this. The possessiveness throbbing in his veins was barely human. He wanted to rasp darker words. Cruder words, just to see how far she'd let him go, how completely she'd play this game.

All the way. He knew the answer even as he pushed the plug deeper. Her tight little a*shole tensed at the invasion, but he soothed it by working the toy in a careful circle, gently stretching her as his other hand centered on her *. "Are you scared of me?"

She turned her head, her brow furrowed, and pressed her cheek to the bed. "Not even close, honey."

He worked his fingers faster, dragging a moan from her as her ass finally yielded to the mix of pleasure and pressure. The plug slipped in, and the jewel nestled tight between her ass cheeks. He couldn't stop himself from slapping her hip just to watch her clench. "You're never afraid of me. No matter how much I demand from you. No matter how crazy I get."

Her gaze locked with his as a shudder took her. "I'll always want more of you, Declan."

His final prize from the cabinet lay a few feet from her knee, and he caught the end loop with one finger and lifted it to dangle in front of her. Three smooth, silver balls dangled from the thin silicone casing that connected them, each swaying in odd counterpoint to the smaller round weight trapped inside.

They were large enough that two would have teased her plenty, even without the plug, and she knew it. So he let them dangle there as he stroked her * too lightly to do anything but keep her on edge. "I want you to take all three of them."

Lex groaned, long and low. "Please."

"That's my girl." He gave her * one final slap, unable to resist the sound she made or the way her hips jerked. She was so wet he probably didn't need more lube, but he used it anyway before pushing the first ball into her p-ssy. Dark satisfaction filled him as he watched her body take it, as he watched her writhe and listened to her moan. As he gently pushed the second into place.

He could do anything to her, anything, and she'd let him. Maybe even love it, as long as it got him off. It was ridiculous. It was humbling.

It was the hottest f*cking realization of his life.

He stroked her trembling thighs and slid the final ball into place, pushing it deep with one finger and shuddering as she cried out. "My dirty, perfect girl. So good."

She shifted her hips, just a little, and stopped short with a strangled cry. "F*ck."

"That's the idea, love." He gave her one last soothing stroke and circled the bed to stand opposite her. A vast expanse of mattress separated them, at least five feet, but it gave him a lovely view of her flushed face and wild hair and her ass still in the air.

Beautiful. Beautiful, and his. Wetting his lips, he finally gave himself permission to curl a hand around his aching cock and stroke it. "Tell me how you feel."

She watched his hand, her own tongue darting out to lick her lower lip, as if she could taste him already. "I feel full," she whispered as she started across the space between them on her hands and knees. "Every time I move, something shifts inside me. Like when Jas and Noelle were f*cking me with their fingers."

"You liked that, did you? Are you the one putting all those ideas in her head?" He licked his palm and gripped his shaft again, already imagining himself between Lex's lips. Soon, so soon. "Jasper f*cking your p-ssy and me taking your ass? Or was it the other way around?"

"Does it matter?" She arched her back, bending her upper body low to the bed with another sharp inhalation.

Not really, but watching her like this made it clear that something else did. There was no hesitation in her body now, no self-consciousness. He shouldn't have demanded her submission in front of the people she helped lead. No wonder he'd been viciously jealous, and protective on top of it. This sweet vulnerability was his, not to be shared or showed off, but to be savored in privacy.

He'd show her what mattered. "Crawl to me."

Lex smiled slowly. "Or what?"

He braced both hands on the mattress. "Or I'll drag you over here and spank your ass until you're so wrung out from all the orgasms that you can't do anything but whimper while I f*ck you."

That got her going. She bit her lip and eased across the bed. "Where could you possibly f*ck me? I'm all filled up."

Breathless, gleeful words, and he laughed as he reached out to free her lower lip from the sharp edge of her teeth, only to replace the pressure with his thumb. "You will be," he agreed, making his voice as low and dangerous as hers was light and innocent. "You'll be so full when I'm f*cking this sweet mouth."

"There's nothing you can't give me." Acknowledgment. Confession. "I figured that out a long time ago."

"Nothing I won't give you." He took his time wrapping the wild strands of her hair around his hands, letting her savor the slow slide from gentle to brutal as his grip tightened and he tilted her head up. "Tonight was the last time. I'll never ask for submission in front of anyone else again. You're my queen. They can crawl on their hands and knees and beg for the chance to f*ck you, and we'll decide if they deserve the honor. But no one else sees you like this. This is just for me."

Her eyes sparked, warm and inviting. "Dallas..."

He knew that look. She wanted his cock, and he wanted to give it to her. Was dying to give it to her, as rough and uncontrolled as even she could hope for. "Open your mouth."

Lex curled her fingers around the edge of the bed, wiggled her ass one more time, and parted her lips. He gave himself a few blissful seconds to admire her, from her hungry eyes and flushed cheeks to the swollen lushness of her lips and the pink flash of her tongue. Visual overload, but not half as stirring as the way she tugged against his grip in her hair, straining toward him.

So he gave her what she wanted, pressing into the heat of her mouth with a low groan. Heaven, especially when she wasted no time in teasing her tongue over the sensitive spot under the crown of his cock. But he only gave her a moment before dragging her head back. "Do you want to make me come?"

No hesitation. "Yes. I want all of you."

Another thrust. Deeper this time, taunting her with a hint of force, the first warning of his unraveling control. "If it's too much, slap my hip three times. Understood?"

She hummed around him and lifted a hand to his hip, but only to stroke the backs of her fingers lightly over his skin. It was permission and a plea rolled in one, so he did the only thing he could.

He let go.

Clutching her hair in his fists, he fixed her head in place and pushed deep with a satisfied groan, finally letting himself focus on the rough rasp of her tongue and the heat of her mouth. "Suck me. Show me how grateful you are to be so very, very full."

Her eyes drifted shut. Her free hand closed around the base of his cock, squeezing and stroking, but she didn't move her mouth, not beyond the gentle flutter of her tongue. Not that he'd have let her if she tried, but the fact that she didn't twisted lust around him, driving his hips forward until he bumped the back of her throat.

She wanted to be used, and he wanted to defile her--two needs that clicked together like puzzle pieces, turning unacceptable urges into something beautiful. A communion between outsiders, a moment of damn near spiritual understanding. Forget the hollow pomp and circumstance of Eden, this moment, feeling Lex's body vibrate with pleasure as he f*cked her throat--this was a religious experience.

Blasphemous, maybe, to compare a higher power to the delicious depravity of choking a woman with his cock.

Dallas didn't give a f*ck.

"Put your hands back on the bed," he growled, pulling back far enough to let her gasp in a breath. "And open your eyes. Look at me."

She obeyed, dropping her hands to twist into the bedspread. Her eyes were almost black now--stormy, burning with lust and affection and something that was more than either. More than both.

Holding her gaze, he pushed between her lips, pushed until she struggled to swallow him, pushed until her lips stretched wide around the base of his shaft and everything was tight, luscious heat and the sizzling knowledge that this wild, dangerous creature trusted him with her body, trusted him to take his pleasure but still leave her sated.

Too good. He wouldn't last long, but he didn't need to. He might not be twenty anymore, but the plans he had for her would have him hard enough to f*ck her one more time before the night was over. This was for both of them, one moment of fractured self-control, so he tightened his grip and let himself revel in it.

Let himself f*ck that perfect, willing mouth.

He pulled back to let her take another breath, but Lex leaned in, chasing him with a rough, hoarse moan. "Greedy bitch," he murmured affectionately as he thrust deep again, in and out, over and over, clutching the back of her head to hold her in place and dragging her back by the hair, just to enjoy the way she strained for his cock, begging with everything but words.

She couldn't use them, so he found enough for both of them. Fond and filthy, coarse compliments and lewd promises. He didn't have to think, only had to hold her gaze as each rough thrust brought him closer and closer, and the obscenities spilled, unbidden, from his lips. "That's right, take it all. Take my dick until you f*cking choke on it and beg for more. You want more, don't you? Want me to come in your mouth?"

She managed one short whimper and a quick, frantic nod. He indulged himself with one last moment enjoying the hot depths of her throat before hauling her head back and transferring his grip to the slender column of her throat. "Use your hands," he commanded, squeezing tight enough to give her a taste of danger without cutting off her breath. "Jerk me off on your tongue."

"F*cking hell." Lex wrapped both hands around him, end to end, and twisted lightly. The barest tease, but it dragged a groan out of him, all the same. His shaft was slick from her mouth, slick enough for her to switch to one fist and pump it smoothly over him, base to tip and back again.

That was all it took. The tight clasp of her hand and the sight of her parted lips, her ready tongue. When pleasure tightened at the base of his spine and rolled outward, he gave in to it, growling with each stroke until the sight of his semen spilling across her tongue forced her name from him in a tortured moan.

She milked his cock with a shudder, lapping at him between swallows. Dallas watched her, buzzing on the afterglow, and she was the most magnificent thing he'd ever seen. "You're perfect," he said roughly, stroking his thumb along her throat as it worked under his palm. "You don't have to try to be my f*cking fantasy. Everything you are is perfect."

With a wordless moan, she leaned in and pressed her cheek to his stomach. "I needed this tonight. So much."

"I'll take care of all your needs," he promised, smoothing her hair into place. It caught on his fingers, and he took the time to work through the tangles left behind by his clutching fists. Just a few moments of quiet stroking while her breath fell hot on his skin, and he knew she must be wondering if the game was over.

He hoped it never was.

Dallas coaxed her head back, smiling down at her. He traced his fingertips over her lips and then seized her chin in a rough grip. He slid onto the bed, forcing her upright as he crowded her space. With her knees splayed wide, it was easy to loom over her, and he reached down to slap her p-ssy. "You've got a lot of needs, don't you, love? Desperate, aching needs."

"Oh, God." She grabbed his shoulders, her nails scoring his skin.

Sweet pain, and it'd be even better when those nails were digging into his scalp. Twisting, he spilled her to the bed on her back, with her head near the edge and her hair trailing over the side. Her tits swayed temptingly, but he had only one goal in mind as he swept both hands down her body to shove her slick thighs wide. "Christ, Lex, I've never seen you this wet. You sure you haven't come?"

"Not yet." The sudden movement had rocked her, though, leaving her eyes glazed and her chest heaving.

"Then I'll have to fix that." Simple enough, but he took his time, sitting back on his heels before tugging her closer. With her lower back on his knees and her legs splayed on either side of his, she was spread before him like a banquet. A helpless, trembling feast, and he loved the way she shuddered as she watched him lick his own thumb.

Her reaction when he swept it over her * was immediate, electric. Her hips bucked, and she ground out a fierce curse. "Motherf*cker."

Laughing hoarsely, he pinned her in place with one hand spread across her abdomen and flicked his thumb over her * again. Watching her writhe would have him hard in minutes, but he'd counted on that. Nothing sent blood rushing to his cock like the noises Lex made when she was close to coming.

Her eyes rolled back, and he swatted her hip. "Look at me. Look at me, Lex."

"I can't." Her head hit the bed, and she twisted under his hand.

Lunging upward, he pinned her hair to the mattress and loomed over her, his shaft settling so sweet in the cleft of her p-ssy. "Look at me," he commanded a second time, holding her gaze as he ground against her. "You look at me while you're coming."

Desperate noises escaped her with every harsh, staccato breath. She shook beneath him, her body molding to his as her skin heated to burning--and beyond. Her fingers slipped into his hair, gripping and releasing in time with the rough rhythm of her rocking hips.

But her eyes were what held him captive. Dark, unfocused, lids drooping with the force of her climax only to snap open with the next shudder, as if pleasure had taken hold of her body and she was lost somewhere beyond obedience, beyond thought.

It could only be better if he was actually inside her.

The bottle of lube sat discarded a few feet from her head. Reaching for it slid the length of his dick over her *, and he thrilled at her choked, hungry noises. By the time he closed his hand around the bottle, she was twisting through another peak, reduced to whimpers and clutching fingers, oblivious to his intentions as he freed his hair from her grip and drew himself upright.

She was still panting when he caught the jeweled end of the plug and gave it a gentle tug. "Stay with me, Lex."

She twitched as the plug eased free of her body. "Christ, Dallas--"

Lube, plenty of it, sliding over her ass and covering his cock. He pumped his fist over his erection. "You know what I want. Pull those legs up and open for me."

Lex wrapped her hands behind her knees and eased them back, her gaze riveted to his hand around his dick. He stroked again, slowly, just to taunt her, then gripped his shaft and guided the head over her p-ssy and lower, pressing against her ass. So tight, even slippery with lubrication and prepared for him.

"How does it feel, love?" he ground out, driving a moan from them both as he eased the crown of his erection past the ring of muscle and into her body. "How does it feel to have my cock in your ass? You've had it everywhere else tonight."

She sighed, a long exhalation that turned into his name. "Don't stop."

He didn't. Hell, he couldn't, not with her so f*cking tight around his dick, clenching eagerly and pulling him deeper. Release had done its work on her muscles, melting away tension so that it seemed like no time at all before he was balls-deep and shivering at the sensation of being inside her while those damn clever toys rocked in her p-ssy with every jerk of her hips.

No wonder she was trembling so hard she could barely hold her legs up.

His own hands were none too steady, but he fought through the throbbing pleasure and the need to move. He replaced her hands with his own, spreading his fingers wide across her thighs before pushing her knees toward her chest.

He answered her guttural whimper with a soothing rumble. "Just like this, love. Full and tight and nothing you can do but close your eyes and take it. You want to take it, don't you?"

"All of you," she whispered, her voice thick with pleasure. "Every goddamn inch."

His laughter sounded as jagged as his control as he eased back and slid home again. "You've already got every goddamn inch, you greedy bitch." He pushed her knees closer to her chest and thrust harder, knowing the sort of pleasurable chaos it would set off in her p-ssy. "Nothing's enough for you, is it?"

"Me?" She moved beneath him, arching to meet his thrusts. "One thing. That's all I want."

She didn't have to say it. The answer bloomed in every touch, every movement, it took root in her voice and grew with her cries. You, you, you.

All she wanted was him.

So he gave her exactly that, with rough thrusts that sent her flying into release. He gave her himself, stripped of control, focused on nothing but f*cking them both into a blind stupor, riding the maddening rhythm of her body as it spasmed and contracted with climaxes that came closer and harder and reduced her to breathless sobbing. There was nothing to do but close his eyes and let her drag him down into sweet, filthy oblivion, her screams echoing in his ears.

The world grayed around the edges as he came, and it took forever for the shuddering aftershocks to stop, buried as he was inside her, her hips twitching helplessly with every breath. Clenching his jaw, he slipped out of her and lowered her legs.

He'd never seen her so debauched. Her skin was flushed and damp, her eyes still clenched tight, and she moaned as he eased her hips to the bed. "Lex, honey? Can you open your eyes?"

"Yeah." But she didn't, just lay there, sweaty and panting.

He didn't have that luxury, not while she needed tending. Moving carefully, he caught the loop at the end of the string of balls and pulled the first one free, but all the gentleness in the world couldn't stop her hoarse cry or the jerk of her hips.

Murmuring soothing noises, Dallas settled himself between her thighs and pressed a soft kiss to her *. "You're all right." He eased the second sphere out of her. "I've got you."

She laughed and covered her face with her hands. "No, you don't. I can't stop spinning."

He dropped another kiss, this time to her inner thigh. "Nothing wrong with spinning." One final tug and another full-body shudder from Lex, and he tossed the toy aside. "I'll catch you, love. I'll always catch you."

"Will you?" She traced his jaw. "Even when you're spinning with me?"

"Especially then." Because that was the sweetest thing, the truth no one seemed to understand unless they lived it. Responsibility wasn't an unpleasant duty he tolerated just to get to the good parts. It was the good part, the essential one. It was the feeling of satisfaction and smug pride that grew with every moment she sprawled boneless, trusting him to care for her.

Physical pleasure was a f*cking beautiful thing, but it was fleeting. The thrill of having her curl trustingly against his chest as he lifted her from the bed would linger.

Maybe even forever.