My arms lashed forward, crushing her to me as my lips crashed against hers.
She moaned as I dragged her closer, her on her knees before me, the couch digging into her belly as I dragged her harder between my legs.
This kiss was wilder than the last. And she knew why. She knew my self-control had broken before and only a quick patch up of glue remained. I had precisely three seconds to kiss her before I had to break away.
One second, I kissed her deep and loving.
Second second, I kissed her rough and condemning.
Third second, I kissed her savage and begging.
Then I pulled away and pushed her away at the same time.
I managed to do it.
I kept my promise.
I pinched my eyes closed so I wouldn’t see the red wetness of her mouth or the flushed desire on her skin. I kept them shut so I wouldn’t lock onto everything I wanted and say fuck off to the consequences.
Even without vision, it didn’t stop her breath from hitting my ears with rampant need or her voice wobbling with lust. “Please, El...don’t stop.”
I swallowed a tattered groan. “Don’t ask me that, little mouse.”
Her small hands landed on my thighs, wrenching every sinful craze to the surface. “Please, El...” Her fingers slid up the silkiness of my tux trousers, not teasing or slowing as she cupped my erection and squeezed the twin aches of agony beneath it. “I’m telling you not to stop.”
My fingers latched brutally around her hand. I meant to shove her away. I meant to chide her and stand up. I meant to end this.
Instead, I pressed her hand harder against me, making me hiss with how goddamn good it felt.
She rocked against me, her fingers fluttering with maddening intoxication.
My eyes flared wide, my jaw clenched tight, the first wave of release rippled up my length. “Stop, Pim.” Even as I gave the command, I kept her hand locked against my cock, digging her touch deeper into me, finding punishment and pleasure.
“You stop.” She panted. “Stop fighting this. Us.” Her voice filled with bite. “Stop fighting me.”
I was so damn close to giving in. To letting her tear down my zipper and doing whatever she damn well pleased with me. But I loved her. Couldn’t she see that? She’d transformed from a girl I barely knew to a girl I’d do anything for. She was just as much family to me as my own flesh and blood, and I had a history of hurting my family.
Killing my family.
Fuck.
Tearing her grip away, I buckled over at the clawing emptiness inside. The lacerating lust shredding me apart. “Get away from me, Pim. We need to leave. Right now.”
I struggled to stand. The room swam. My head pounded.
And still, Pim rested on her knees before me looking like the perfect sacrifice. Lips parted, cheeks flushed, eyes begging.
She undid me—life, love, and sanity.
“I’m not leaving. Not until you kiss me again.” With liquid beauty, she rose from the carpet, removed her mask, and let it dangle from her fingertips. Seeing her face for the first time tonight, seeing how beautiful she was, how innocent but so worldly, was the last nail in my self-control coffin.
She needed to know.
One last warning.
She needed to understand what would happen if she did this.
Ripping off my own mask, I threw it on the floor. “You’re pushing me too hard, Pimlico.”
“I’m not pushing you hard enough.” Letting go of her mask, she rested a hand on my chest. “If I was, I’d be beneath you right now, and you’d be inside me.”
I shuddered, gritting my teeth against the image. “And I’d hurt you when I couldn’t stop. So you stop. Before I can’t—”
“Can’t what? Fight anymore? Deny me anymore?” Her lips whispered over mine, her small frame balancing on her tiptoes, guiding me into temptation. “Give in, Elder.” Leaning close, she murmured in my ear, “I’ve never said these words to anyone. I never thought I would. But then you went and fell in love with me, and I fell in love with you, and you made it possible for me to say them.” She swallowed before licking my earlobe with her tongue.
I convulsed. I almost came.
“All of this is because of you and me and the undeniable need to be together; I can say such things because you brought me back to life and therefore you have to honour them.”
My ears burned to hear the things she could say now but couldn’t say before. I positively died to hear them.
But she paused, panting against my cheek. Denying me at the worst possible time.
I shouldn’t buy into her tricks, but I was too far gone. Too lust drowned. “What things...”
She kissed my cheek. Her fingernails dug into my chest. She inhaled quick and confident and with a commanding whisper utterly annihilated me. “Fuck me, Elder Prest. Be a man and fuck me.”
And that was the end.
There was no more fighting.
No more negotiation.
No more right or wrong.
I lost.
Obsession won.
She won.
My body moved of its own accord, freed from the prison I’d put myself under. My hands latched around her waist, my fingers digging into her ribcage. “You just had to keep pushing, didn’t you?”
A flicker of worry crossed her face before rebellion replaced it. “Yes.”
I crushed her to me, wrapping her tight in my embrace, claiming her mouth with savage cruelty.
I kissed her possessively, brutally, quickly, callously.
I kissed her in gratefulness for shoving me past decency.
I kissed her in rage for proving I had no control.
“Fuck me, Elder.” Her lips moved under mine, whimpering as my arms banded tighter. “Please, fuck me. I need you to fuck me.”
“Oh, Pim...” Tearing her away, I turned and threw her on the couch behind me. “You never should have said such things.”
Standing over her, cock hard, heart fast, mind a mess, I growled. “I’ll fuck you. I’ll fuck you until you can’t stand to be fucked anymore.
“And then I’ll fuck you again. And again. Because there’s no earthly way I can stop now.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Pimlico
HE FELL ON me.
That was the only way to describe it.
He stopped fighting.
He tumbled.
He trampled me between desire and cushions and tore my legs apart beneath my dress to wedge his hard heat between them.
And then he kissed me.
And it was different from all the other kisses in the world.
Different to how he kissed me in Monte Carlo. Different to how he kissed me on the Phantom.
Different good.
Different bad.
Just different.
His lips were hot. His tongue wet. His teeth hard. His breath fast. His taste downright addicting.
I’d instigated this. I’d finally been the one to demand sex, not the other way around, and the thrill inside quickly faded for paralyzing passion.
I’d told him to fuck me.
I’d used crude language to shatter his final restraint.
And I was glad.
I was ecstatic beneath him.
I was joyous pinned below.
There was no fear of what would happen or thoughts about my healing. I would fuck Elder as surely as he would fuck me.
This was mutual, not one sided.
I wasn’t afraid.
I’m not afraid.
I was breathless as he kissed me deeper.