“I can’t tell you that.” His hand cupped my cheek, his thumb running along my bottom lip. “I can’t tell you I don’t love you because that’s not true. It’s never been true.” He tipped forward, kissing me so, so soft. “I love you, Elle. I’m obsessed with you, consumed by you. You make me crazy and not necessarily in good ways. But I can’t lie to you anymore. I love you. So fucking much it kills me.”
My smile was sunshine and hot days as I kissed him back. “Then trust that. Trust that I love you, too. Trust that whatever happens, we’ll fight it together. Turn off that voice inside you that’s trying to screw everything up. Just trust like you’ve told me to do so many times before.”
He nuzzled into my neck. “You’re bossy as well as nosy.”
I laughed softly. “You bring out the worst in me.”
His eyes filled with intensity. “Yet you bring out the best in me.”
“Guess that means we’re perfect for each other.” My lip trembled, happiness overflowing.
Penn frowned, kissing me gently. “Suddenly, you don’t look convinced.”
“I am convinced. Completely. I’m just—” More truth bubbled, and I blurted, “I’m so afraid of losing you. That I’m the reason why you’re in here, and I don’t know if I have the power to get you out.”
“Hey...” He captured my cheeks with both hands, holding me tight. “You have power over me. That’s all you ever need.”
“Does that mean I can command you to spend the night with me, and you have to obey?”
A sly grin transformed him from serious to player. “Are you asking me to fuck you, Ms. Charlston?”
I nodded. “Again and again, Mr. Everett. Multiple times. Will you?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Penn
I’D TRIED TO do the right thing.
I really fucking had.
The thought of having Elle in this place turned me right off, but kissing her blueberry-glossed lips and knowing she had nothing on underneath her skirt scrambled with my right and wrong.
My brain had had its chance at ending this.
Our fight had had its opportunity to push her away.
Our connection hadn’t ended, and she hadn’t gone.
That left only one thing to do.
“When it comes to you, Elle, I’ll do whatever you damn well want.” I kissed her softly, keeping my desires in check this time.
I couldn’t believe how quickly I’d pounced on her before. I’d been a fucking animal. She’d arranged this for us. The least I could do was make it good for her rather than a three-second humping against the wall.
“How long do we have?” I murmured as her hands slid around my waist, gripping me close.
My tongue massaged hers. My heart thundered as she moaned. “Twelve hours.”
“Really?” I could do so much to her in that amount of time. It would be the longest we’d ever spent together consecutively. Which, in the scheme of how many months we’d been ‘dating,’ was an embarrassment.
She pulled away, looking up. Eyes shining, lips bruised, skin flushed. The tank she wore showed the lacy indentations of her bra, revealing the pinpricks of her nipples, encasing her tiny waist in cotton just begging me to rip it off her.
My throat burned. “Christ, you’re so beautiful.”
She shook her head. “You’re the beautiful one. Do you know that’s what made me say yes that night? I thought you were so pretty. I couldn’t say no.”
“So you only agreed to sleep with me because of how pretty I am?” I kissed my way down her throat, adoring the way she shivered.
“I said yes because even then I think my heart knew. You reminded me of him. You put your hands in your pockets like him. You had demons like him.”
I didn’t doubt her. She could’ve cut off her long blonde hair, got piercings, indulged in tattoos, and put on weight, and I would still have recognized her.
It was one of those serendipitous things that couldn’t be explained.
Our kiss turned into a conversation on its own, rolling like waves on a beach, sometimes deep, sometimes shallow, always rippling with power.
Pushing my fingers through her hair, I breathed, “Know what I want to do more than anything?”
“What?” Her head tipped back as I tugged the yellow-gold strands.
“For the next twelve hours, I want to be inside you for as long as possible. I really, really need to fuck you, Elle. Who knows? Perhaps for the entire twelve hours, I’ll take you every way I can.”
She shuddered, her arms tightening around my waist. “Do it. I miss having you inside me.”
Electricity flowed from her to me, dragging me closer to the edge I’d almost fallen off before.
“If I let go...I don’t know how controlled I’ll be.” My confession floated in the subspace we’d created, the soft protective bubble where no one could find us.
She smiled beneath my kiss. “I love the sound of that.”
I clung tight to the rest of my self-control, desperate to ask a few more questions. Learn a bit more about her. Imprint her further on my soul. But all I could think about was sex. I’d study her body tonight...but it wouldn’t be intellectual it would be entirely sexual.
“I’m going to take away all your control. I’ll fuck you the way I want to fuck you. I’ll look after you while I ruin you. I’ll protect you while I hurt you—just like I promised that first night. I’ll take everything you have to give. We play rough. We love hard. We live every fucking fantasy.” I traced my hands up and down her spine, caressing her while forcing myself to stay gentle. “You came here tonight to sleep with me. Well, you’re at my mercy. Locked in a room with a convict. Completely helpless.”
Fuck, I was turning myself on. My balls drew upward, hard as marble. My cock twitched, dying to put what I’d said into practice.
“You’re mine, Elle. No more secrets. No more lies. You fuck me knowing entirely what you’re getting into.”
She squirmed as if both aroused and scared, but her eyes glittered with lust so bright she incinerated me. “Penn...”
Cupping her breast, I squeezing her softness. Memories that she’d been a virgin before I’d taken her almost made me snap. Knowing she’d only had me inside her and only ever would turned me on so much I almost climaxed as her hand cupped my cock.
She moaned again as I pinched her nipple. “Do you want that?”
Her head rolled back. “Yes. Very much.”
“Yes to me possessing you?”
“Yes.”
“What do you say?” The precipice was there. I was about to fall. “Answer me.”
“Please, Penn. Possess me. Do whatever you want. I’m yours.”
“Fuck.” My mouth sealed over hers, preventing any more talking and setting fire to the rocket fuel that’d replaced our blood.
She leaped into my arms. Her teeth nipped my lower lip; her tongue fought mine for dominance.
She tried to win. But she never would.
She was mine, and I’d spend all night teaching her that with fucking pleasure.
Fisting her hair, I yanked her head back. My message about who was in charge was undeniable as her throat arched.
She groaned long and low as I bit her neck, tossing her onto the bed. She bounced on the mattress, her legs parting and skirt hoisting up her thighs.
A flash of nakedness bewitched me. I couldn’t control myself anymore.
Hunger surged.
I climbed over her, yanking at the tight tank. In one rip, I tore it over her head. Her pretty white bra stopped me from seeing what I wanted.