until more tears spilled free. “Won’t happen again. No space. No time. No leniency. No holding back.”
That should’ve been terrifying, but instead, it sent a surge of relief and joy through me. I didn’t give a damn if it made me needy or codependent, I wanted it. All of it.
All of him.
Releasing me, Maximo pressed his hand under me to cup my pussy. He curved his body over mine and curled his other hand around my throat. His hard cock pressed against my inflamed skin, making it burn. Making me burn. “And if you think I didn’t wrap myself around you like this every night after you fell asleep, you’re out of your mind. Can’t sleep without you in my arms.”
God, I’d been so stupid.
Keeping his possessive hold on me, Maximo straightened us to stand with my back pressed to his front. He pushed my shorts and panties the rest of the way off before turning us toward the wall of blank monitors. “I watched you. All the damn time.”
My pulse went wild as my brain short-circuited.
Is he saying…
Even though he must’ve felt my thumping pulse, he continued, not holding anything back—just like he’d promised. “Camera in your sitting room. Had one in your bedroom until I didn’t have the willpower to keep it turned off.” Grazing his lips and teeth against my neck in a too light tease, he raised his head to my ear to whisper, “Want to know when that was?”
No.
I needed to know.
“I had it disconnected the morning after I watched you slide your hand between your legs. Seeing you touch yourself while you were wearing my sweats? It made me come harder than I ever had before. What were you thinking about?”
If I was wearing his sweats at the time, then it was the first time I’d thought of him while I’d touched myself. The night he’d carried me from the couch to my bed.
Licking my suddenly dry lips, I lied, “I don’t remember.”
His tattooed fingers around my throat gave a small squeeze. “You’ve already lied enough, Juliet. Do you want more punishment?”
A moan forced its way out. Seeing our reflection in the blank monitors was almost as exhilarating as feeling his hand around my throat.
“What were you thinking about?” he repeated.
“You,” I admitted on a soft breath.
He groaned his approval, sliding a finger through my wetness. “Good. Because every time I stroked my dick, I thought of you.”
Arousal shot through me and I tilted my hips, wanting him to touch me more, but his fingers only teased.
“Don’t ever think,” he continued, “even for one damn second, that I don’t want you. I’ve always wanted you, even when I shouldn’t have. All of you. Everything. Every piece of you.”
Like only Maximo could, he overwhelmed me with his size, his touch, his obscenely sweet words.
I couldn’t take any more. “Maximo—”
“Hush. You had your time to talk, now it’s time to listen.” Turning me to face him, he cupped my head with both hands, tilting it back. “Been obsessed with you since I saw you in that dump. The more time I spent with you,” he jerked his head toward the monitors, “or watching you, the more that obsession grew. The more I needed you. I could never have better than you because there is no better.”
It was too much. More than my brain and my body and my heart could take. “Maximo—”
“I said hush. Do you know why I started calling you little dove?”
I shook my head.
His cock jerked against my stomach. “Because I knew I was going to keep you in my cage. Even back then, I knew I’d never let you go.”
And then he took my mouth, his kiss just as hungry as mine. His tongue speared in, demanding and greedy and hot.
Lifting me, he broke the kiss and began walking. Unable to keep my mouth off him, I kissed and nipped his jaw. When I bit down on his neck, wanting to mark him like he did me, he froze. I wondered if he’d just fuck me on the hallway floor, but after a brief pause, his long strides sped up.
My ass had barely hit the bed with a stinging ache when he had my shirt and bra off. I lifted onto my knees but didn’t have time to undress him. He beat me to it, throwing his clothes off to land with mine before taking me down onto my back. His body covered mine, his hips between my spread thighs and his