to show any restraint.
I boldly wrapped my legs around him and sank my teeth into his lower lip.
His control snapped. He snarled into my mouth and slammed into me, driving deep and hard. He began to take me without finesse, and I met each of his wild, harsh thrusts. He hit the sensitive spot inside me over and over again, sending me flying impossibly higher.
I cried out, and my core contracted around him as my orgasm rushed through me with blinding force. He kissed me harder, his tongue claiming my mouth in the same way his cock claimed my pussy.
My orgasm triggered his, and he snarled his pleasure as his cock jerked inside me. He’d taken me, marked me as his. The knowledge kept me floating in ecstasy, even as I came down from my high. Little aftershocks of pleasure crackled through my system, and he remained firmly seated inside me, as though he couldn’t bear to be parted from me, either.
He grasped my hips and rolled, positioning my body so I was draped over him. I rested my cheek on his sculpted chest, breathing him in as I lingered in bliss. He resumed praising me, murmuring about how beautiful and perfect I was. The residual physical pleasure and the joy elicited by his reverent words cocooned me in a warm glow. I relaxed into him, and his sweet endearments lulled me to sleep.
Chapter Seven
Joseph
I should’ve left half an hour ago, but I lingered in Ashlyn’s bedroom while she took a shower. When she’d woken up in my arms this morning, she’d told me I was welcome to stay—her wide eyes had practically begged me to stay—and my half-hearted insistence that I should get going had died on my tongue.
I’d slept at her place again after our explosive sex last night. Part of my mind knew that my long-denied hunger for her had deepened into obsession. I shouldn’t be so attached to her this quickly.
And on some level, I knew it wasn’t right that I was allowing myself to surrender to her allure. Ashlyn was every bit as sweet and innocent as I’d imagined. Her infatuation with me was obvious—if she weren’t infatuated, she would’ve run scared from my shockingly intense behavior. She was either too young or too inexperienced to understand that chemistry like ours could be dangerous. All-consuming. Reckless.
I didn’t have the excuse of youth or inexperience. I’d never felt a connection this strong with any woman, but I should’ve recognized that things were happening far too fast. I couldn’t think through my decisions rationally when I was drunk on her touch and affection. I’d always thrived on control, but with Ashlyn, I had none.
Last night, she’d given me just a taste of what it would be like to have her submit to my darkest desires, and it’d been the hottest experience of my life. She’d surrendered to me, but somehow, I’d lost all control even as I mastered her body. I’d lost myself in her, forgetting all the reasons I should proceed with caution.
I’d forgotten about my fucked-up past, my violent family, and my brutal enemies. And in the morning light, it was far too easy to shrug off any thoughts about the darkness I was running from.
Worrying about the mafia was all but impossible while tucked beneath the warmth of Ashlyn’s plush, pale pink duvet. Her ivory bedroom walls were sprinkled with small silver stars, and pastel-hued décor enhanced the soft, dreamlike quality of my surroundings.
This could be my world now. I could live a life filled with lazy mornings and Ashlyn’s sweet, warm presence at my side.
I’d never again have innocent blood on my hands.
I allowed myself to sink into the fantasy, fully embracing this existence where I belonged in Ashlyn’s bed. Where she belonged to me.
Chapter Eight
Ashlyn
I was an idiot. Because I was pretty sure I was falling in love, and that wasn’t something I would’ve thought possible. Certainly not so fast. I’d spent every free moment with Joseph over the last two weeks, and while I still didn’t know him well, I couldn’t help falling for him. I wasn’t accustomed to anyone truly caring about me, and before meeting him, I’d found it difficult to trust people.
With Joseph, I couldn’t hold anything back. Not my body and not my heart. We spent most of our time together in bed, but I knew our connection was more than simple physical lust. When he captured me in his crystalline blue stare, there was something worshipful