train barreling through a tunnel at a hundred and twenty miles per hour.
I wasn’t sure what happened next. My face was pressed into the pillows, Natalie was beneath me, her silky hair brushing my cheeks. And there was a faint buzzing somewhere close, along with the weirdest vibrations echoing through my lower body.
“You were right,” she whispered near my ear. “You didn’t need that at all.”
Memories whipped through me, along with another dose of guilt when I realized what I’d just done. “Cazzo.”
I rolled off her back, but she turned into me before I could push her away and pulled me close.
“Let me go.”
“Not on your life.”
Fuck. Fuck! I’d just proved to both of us I was exactly like the animals who ran my fucking House.
I reached for the leg she’d just hooked over my hip. “I don’t want to hurt you worse, Natalie. Let me go.”
“Do I look like I’m hurt, Luc?”
I faltered because... she didn’t sound hurt.
“Look at me,” she said again. “And tell me if I’m hurt.”
My gaze slowly slid her direction. In the candlelight, I saw her hair was rumpled, her naked body holding me still covered in a thin sheen of sweat, but her features were relaxed. And her eyes... They had that euphoric glaze to them I recognized well, the kind of glaze that told me she’d just had one whopper of an orgasm.
I had no fucking clue what had just happened. “I...”
She pushed up on her elbows and pressed her lips to mine. “I missed that.” Wrapping one arm around my neck, she pulled me down so I was on top of her. “I really missed that.”
I let her drag me into a warm, wet, toe-curling kiss, but my brain was still mush. And when she rolled me to my side, grinned like the Cheshire Cat, and reached between us to tug the cock ring free, I let her, still trying to figure out why she wasn’t upset and why part of me felt so good when another part was whispering I shouldn’t.
The buzzing shut off, then Natalie pressed her gorgeous, naked body against mine and perched on her elbow as she grinned at me. “You look confused, bello.”
When she called me handsome, I absolutely melted. It was a stupid reaction to an innocent term of endearment, but I couldn’t stop it.
“I don’t...” I looked up at her, loving the way she was gazing down at me as she picked at the dried wax on my chest, wanting only to get closer to her when she should be pushing me away. “Why aren’t you upset?”
“Why would I be upset?” she asked with a laugh.
I lifted my arm where the fuzzy pink cuff was still locked around my wrist, the chain dangling. “Because I fucking lost it and attacked you.”
Her smile widened, and she leaned down and kissed me. “You lost it because you wanted me. And you didn’t attack me.”
“I threw you on the bed and...” My throat closed, the words dying on my tongue with the reality of the way I’d forced myself on her.
“Luc, look at me.” Her finger tugged my chin up, drawing my eyes to hers. “I wanted that. I wanted you to lose control and take me.”
“Why?” I whispered. “Why would you want that? No one should want that.”
She slid down so her head was on the pillow next to mine, our faces close together, and skimmed her fingertips across my jaw. “Because I love it when you want me so much you can’t control yourself. It makes me feel wanted. Special. Yours.”
My heart thumped hard against my chest, and I lifted my hand to her arm, needing to touch her. Needing to understand even more because everything was suddenly jumbled in my head. “I do want you. I always want you. I just... I don’t understa—”
“You needed that.” This time, when she looked at me, there was so much honesty and truth in her eyes, it brought everything else to a standstill. “You needed to let go like that and see that nothing bad would happen when you did. And I needed to feel safe. Which is exactly how you made me feel.”
“Safe?” That made no sense at all.
“Yeah.” Her lips curled in the sweetest, most special way. “You make me feel safe when you’re in domineering, alpha-male mode. Women are taught that we’re supposed to be these tough, independent creatures who don’t need anyone else to survive. And I believed that for a long time. Then