tore as I put my hands on her, ripping away the tissue-fine silk of her gown, exposing golden skin. She didn’t stop me, her own hands struggling with the jacket of my tux, then giving up to find the buttons on my shirt, jerking at them in a frenzy.
But she wasn’t in charge of this now. I was.
With one last rip, I got rid of the remains of her gown, taking her underwear with it. Then when she was naked, I flipped her over onto her stomach and pulled her hands behind her back. She gasped, struggling against my hold. ‘Let me see you,’ she said thickly. ‘I want to touch you.’
‘No.’ I used my weight to keep her pinned, holding her hands at the base of her spine. ‘I told you that you weren’t in charge.’
‘What are you going to do?’
She didn’t sound afraid in the least, only curious.
‘This,’ I growled and grabbed at a length of the green fabric, tying it around her wrists to keep them where they were.
‘Oh...’ The word sighed out of her in a moan, her naked body soft and hot beneath mine.
Now her hands were tied, I put mine on the floor on either side of her head, grinding my aching cock against the soft curves of her bare arse. ‘And then,’ I snarled, hungry and feral, ‘I’m going to fuck you hard the way I told you I would.’
She moaned, shuddering, her hips rising to meet mine, pushing herself back against me like the little warrior she was.
And something inside me growled in deep satisfaction.
Of course she’d meet me in this. She wasn’t weak and she wasn’t a coward. And she enjoyed the fight as much as I did.
My hands were shaking as I got my trousers undone and it took longer than I would have liked to get the condom on, too, but then it was done and I put one hand beneath her, my palm on her stomach, raising her so she was perfectly positioned to take my cock.
Then I flexed my hips, rubbing the head of my dick through the slick folds of her delicious little pussy, the friction making me growl in pleasure.
She shuddered again, bucking her hips against mine, urging me on. ‘Ash, please...’ she panted.
I’d never managed to resist that throaty plea and I didn’t now, pushing hard and deep inside her. But then I had to pause, the tight clasp and the slick heat blanking my brain entirely. The pleasure was unbelievable and for a good few seconds I simply couldn’t move. I hadn’t been this close to coming prematurely since I’d been an overenthusiastic teenager.
She was trembling beneath me, her breathing wild and uncontrolled. ‘Oh...’ she moaned, her back flexing and arching as she tried to take me deeper. ‘Oh, God...’
Fuck. No. She wasn’t going to take control of me that easily. Not tonight. Not after fucking Dumont had taken my victory from me.
I shoved her hips down flat to the floor, letting my weight slowly rest on her so she was pinned. Then I gave her a couple of shallow thrusts, which was a little of what she wanted, but not everything.
She gave another moan. ‘Ash...please...’
I gripped her bound wrists, teasing her with a few more shallow thrusts, while I kept my other hand on one hip to stop her bucking up. She cried out in frustration but I ignored her, teasing myself as much as her with her heat and slickness.
Pleasure licked up my spine, twining with my rage to become something more intense, something stronger.
I snarled like an animal and pulled her up on her knees, thrusting hard into her, driving myself into her as deep as I could get. She was panting now, the feel of her beneath me mesmerising, the slap of her flesh against mine more arousing than any aphrodisiac.
I looked down at her writhing body trying to keep pace and then managing it, synchronising with me, her panting breaths matching the sound of my own. Then we were surging together, neither one of us trying to get the upper hand this time, but moving with one another, perfectly aligned, perfectly in time.
Travelling together to the same destination.
The edge of my anger became less raw, less ragged, and something powerful tightened in my chest. She’d come after me, she hadn’t let me frighten her away. No, she’d simply wrapped her arms around my neck and given herself to me as if I weren’t a bitter, angry man. As if I were more than that.
And for a moment I wanted to believe her. I wanted to be something more, something other than myself. The kid my dad hadn’t wanted. The teenager who’d broken my mother’s trust.
The man who’d burned a deep friendship on the altar of his pride.
I didn’t want to be any of those things.
I wanted to be someone who was worthy of the trust she’d placed in me and who could bring her pleasure.
So I curled my body over hers, thrusting deeper, reaching around to cup the softness of her tits, pinching her nipples, increasing the speed and rhythm. She began to shudder, writhing up against me, twisting around, her hungry mouth trying to find mine. So I let go of her breasts and grabbed her hair in one fist, tugging her head around so she could kiss me.
Her mouth was hungry and desperate, and I kissed her back hard, reaching down with my free hand, sliding down across the trembling plane of her stomach to the slick flesh of her pussy. Her clit was swollen and hard and she cried out as I stroked lightly over it, her whole body trembling in response.
‘Oh, Ash... I need you...please...please...’
All my aggression and anger fell away, all my focus on her and what she needed.
I rumbled my appreciation of her, stroking her clit in time with my thrusts, fighting the unbearable pleasure that was pulling at me, determined that she was going to come before I did. And sure enough, another touch and one deep thrust, and she gave a high, thin scream as the orgasm hit, the convulsion of her pussy around my cock unmistakable, releasing something feral inside me.
As she trembled and gasped beneath me, I unleashed myself, thrusting wildly and hard, driving myself inside her, until the climax hit me, too, like a bomb going off in the confines of my body, blasting me with pleasure so intense I couldn’t do anything but roar as lights burst behind my eyes.
It took a long time for me to come back to myself and when I did, I could hear some muffled sobs. A second later, I realised it was Ellie and she was crying.
My chest went so tight it was painful.
Jesus, was it something I’d done? Had I hurt her?
A cold feeling wound through me, the languid heat of the orgasm disappearing.
Pulling out of her, I dealt with the condom in a nearby and cleverly disguised bin, then bent and gathered her trembling body into my arms. She tried to push against me, turning her face away, but I ignored it, tightening my grip as I took her over to the bed and laid her down on it. Then I stripped off my clothes and climbed in beside her, drawing the thick, soft velvety quilt over us as I held her small body close to mine, using my touch to soothe her.
She pushed against my chest.
