I’d decided. I’d made my choice. But was it really even a choice? Could I even have Rix? I was ready to lay it out and see what our options were. Maybe he could get out of this life and have a fresh start somewhere?

And you’re an idealistic and naive idiot because he’s a criminal.

I also needed to shed the guilt that was weighing me down. Rationally, I knew it wasn’t my fault that Rhett had decided to join me. It wasn’t like I could be rude and tell him no, right? I had a feeling that excuse wasn’t going to fly.

I lay awake for long minutes, watching the numbers of my bedside clock change before I finally drifted off.

Hands.

Decadent hands.

Clever fingers.

Everywhere.

Teasing, touching.

And the lips . . . tasting, sucking, kissing.

The sensations were too real to be a dream. My body heated and my eyes fluttered open. There was no fear when I realized I was no longer alone in bed. There was nothing but need.

Rix knelt over me, hands pressing my legs apart as his mouth lowered to my center.

“Oh God, yes. Please.”

His head lifted and his gaze shot up to mine, flashing in the dim light of the room. “You’re gonna have to do better than that, duchess, if you want my mouth on this pretty cunt.”

“What?” The word came out on a breath, and my inner muscles clenched at the possession in his eyes.

“You left me hanging, and if you want yours this time, you’re gonna beg.”

“Beg?”

He nodded slowly, lowering his mouth to hover over my clit.

“Please, just . . . please.”

“What are you gonna do for me? Gonna leave me stroking my own cock, thinking of you, while you’re letting another man put his mouth on you?”

“No. I’m going to tell him. I swear.” I lifted my hips, trying to reach him, but Rix’s hands clamped over my thighs and held me down.

“I feel like we keep having the same conversation over and over again. This is the last time.”

“Okay. Now, please.”

“Please, what?”

“Please make me come.”

His eyes flashed again, and his lips curled into a satisfied smile before he lowered his mouth to my pussy.

My palms found their way to his buzzed head, and it took all of my self-control not to shove his face between my legs. A plea left my lips and he began to devour me. Like with everything else, Rix followed no one’s rules when it came to the bedroom. He licked and tongued and sucked at my clit until I was arching up and writhing against him. And when one finger slid inside me, I knew I couldn’t wait long before he filled me.

I needed. I wanted. And I might combust if I didn’t get it.

An orgasm slammed into me when his teeth closed around my clit and tugged. Or maybe it was the finger pressing against the entrance no one had ever breached.

Either way, I lost my grip on reality as pleasure rolled through me.

“Please. I need—”

Rix lifted his head and stared down at me. “Me, duchess. You need me. I’m the only man eating this pussy. I’m the only man sliding inside you. I’m the only man you’re ever gonna feel this way for. Get me?”

“Yes.”

“I see you again with that cop, and I’m going to tie you up and tease you until you’re about to come—over and over—but not let you, even when you’re dying for it. And then I’ll spank that ass of yours red. My woman. I don’t share. You need a lesson. I’m here to deliver it.”

Caveman.

Realization sank in. He knew about me having dinner with Rhett again? Was he having me watched?

But as much as I wanted to protest that I was not the kind of woman who would ever allow herself to be spanked, all I could do was nod, because his thumb pressed to my clit and another orgasm broke free. My fingers curled into the sheets of the bed as I bucked and rode it out. How he could play my body so easily, I didn’t know, and I didn’t actually care. I just wanted more. Everything else could wait.

Rix was rolling a condom down his cock, and that was exactly the more I wanted. Needed.

He pressed the head to my entrance but went no further.

“Wha—”

One hand shot out and Rix grasped my nipple between his thumb and index finger, increasing the pressure with every passing second. Shards of pleasure-laced pain clawed through me. My eyes cut to his, another question on my lips.

“You want to know what? You remember last time we got this far and you decided you’d had enough?”

A tendril of fear twisted around the pleasure and pain as he rolled my nipple, his silver gaze burning with intensity.

I nodded.

“Good. Because that shit don’t fly with me. You’re gonna beg for this—” He nudged his cock against me, making my inner muscles clench with need. “Before I give it to you.”

Beg? A frown tugged my lips downward, but Rix increased the pressure on my nipples and gave me another teasing push with his cock.

God, I want him. Now. I was already begging in my head, and the words would soon be on my lips.

Rix raised an eyebrow. “You want this?” He thrust an inch before pulling out completely, never letting go of his hold on my nipple.

“Yes. Please. I need it,” I whispered. “Please—”

A slow smile spread over his face. “Then say it, duchess.”

I shook my head, confused about anything beyond the pleasure he was withholding from me. I’d begged. What else did he want from me?

He pressed his cock to my entrance once more and I raised my hips, trying to take more. Shaking his head, Rix tsk-tsked.

“Not until you say it. Or I walk.”

“Say what?” I demanded, frustration edging my words. I needed him inside me. Now.

“You’re mine.”

He spoke the words like a vow, and I could do nothing but give the words back to him. Because they were the truth.

“I’m yours.”

He slammed home with one thrust and I arched into his lean, muscled body. It was beautiful. A perfect blend of pain and pleasure, and I wanted both from this man.

“Fucking perfect. Everything I knew you would be.” The words were a low growl. He gripped my calves and lifted my legs until they rested on his shoulders. “Gonna take everything I need from you, but you’ll get what you need too.”

And that was the last he spoke before he began to pound into me. Over and over. Readjusting the angle and my position so he could get deeper and, oh Jesus, he found my G-spot.