“Well,” he says as he unbuttons his jeans and kicks them off, “you’re goddamn lucky you were a virgin when I came along, otherwise I’d have a hit list for anyone who ever touched you.” Before I can tell him that’s an inappropriate joke, he sits down and grabs my shoulder. “Flip over. We do it my way now.” Before I know what’s happening, I’m face down on the bed.

I peek over my shoulder to watch him fling his jeans across the room. He shoots me a crooked grin and I start to get worried. He said something about—“Ow!” My train of thought is obliterated in one swoop of his hand as it smacks down on my ass cheek, leaving a sting behind. Before I can put together a coherent objection, he’s straddling my upper thighs and massaging the sting away with his rough hands.

“That was a love tap. Just to warm you up.” He rises up on his knees, then places his hands on my outer thighs and pushes my legs all the way together.

The fingers search for my pu**y again, but this time they slide right past my ass. That feels so f**king good. I moan.

“You like that, Harp?”

Before I can answer his finger drags the wetness leftover from my orgasm up into my perfect pink bud. I brace for the pain I felt back at the beach apartment when he tried this same thing. But this time he’s slow. And gentle. And he goes back several times for more of my slick juices. “Will you—”

“No. Not tonight. I just want you to know how good it can be. I want to take my time, make you want it. Make you beg for it.”

“What if I want it now?” I chew on my lower lip as I try and look over my shoulder at him again, but he leans his chest over my back, trapping me underneath him. He lifts his hips and one hand goes to his cock. He flicks it back and forth, still dragging the wetness from my pu**y to my ass, and every few seconds, he stops to push his thumb against the tight muscle at my entrance… until… it slips right inside.

“Ohhhh,” I moan. And it’s not a bad moan. It’s not a moan of pain or pleasure, but some elusive mixture of both at the same time. I’m throbbing again, and it’s like James can read my mind, because even as I become distracted by the new sensations, he’s twirling my clit with his fingertip. Dragging, dragging so, so slowly, up and down the crease of my opening, all the while he pushes his thumb farther inside me.

“Do you want my dick in your ass yet, Harp?” he asks, pressing his lips up against my ear, sending a jolt through my entire body.

“I’m ready to beg for it.”

He presses his mouth into my neck and kisses me, getting mostly hair for his efforts, but he’s chuckling, so I know he doesn’t care. “I do love you, Harper. I’ve loved you for so long. But now I want more than love and sex. I want to know you.” He lifts his hips again, but this time, his c**k finds his mark and he thrusts himself inside my pu**y. He rocks back and forth, still teasing my ass**le with his thumb. He repositions himself so he’s straddling my upper thighs now and this changes everything. All the feelings I just experienced pale in comparison to the sensation of his dick sliding past my ass cheeks as he f**ks me from behind.

“Your f**king ass is beautiful. The way it hugs my c**k as I take you.”

Oh God. That’s the only thing I can think of. Oh God, oh God, oh God!

And then he flips me over again and before I know what’s happening, he’s pushing me down to the ground. I hit the cold tile floor and the sting on my knees registers for a brief moment, but then James pushes his c**k towards my mouth and I open for him. Everything else is forgotten as I look up into his eyes.

Now. Now I can see the truth in him.

“Fuck me,” I whisper.

He doesn’t wait for a second request. His c**k slides past my lips and I flick my tongue along the underside of his shaft. My eyes never leave his and even though he’s definitely the one in charge right now, even though he’s one of the most dangerous men in the world, and even though I’m the one on my knees—I have the power.

He gives everything to me when he throws his head back and explodes down my throat.

I have the power.

But that’s not what makes me happy. It’s the way I receive the power that makes all the difference.

I have power because he gives it to me.

Chapter Eleven - James

I’m out of bed in an instant, reaching for the gun that’s not there, as I try to wake up from a night of sex-induced deep slumber.

Where the f**k is my gun?

Harper is standing next to me, pulling on her top. Her shorts are hanging off her hips, half-zipped, a phone sticking out of each pocket. Before I can make sense of what I’m seeing, she whispers, “What was that noise?”

“The Smurf?” I answer as I find the gun on the floor and check the chamber and the mag. The FN Five-SeveN holds twenty rounds.

Twenty is more than enough.

A scream jolts us into action and we bolt for the door at the same time. I push Harp back. “Stay here,” I growl down at her. “I’m not kidding.”

I don’t wait for an answer, just open the door and press my back against the hallway as I maneuver towards the living room. Where the f**k did we leave the Smurf? Outside?

But no, the TV is on, cartoons are playing softly. There’s wrappers and stuff on the coffee table like she’s been helping herself to food.

I notice the open back door in the kitchen and hear the whine of a dirt bike engine at the same time.

“Fuck!” Harper’s next to me and we hop down the porch steps in tandem and run for the garage.

“Get in,” I bark at her. The keys are in a magnetic holder to the left of the tailpipe, so I grab those, get in, and start it up. “Where did they go? Did you see where they went?” I pull forward out of the garage.

“That way.” Harper points behind us, to the desert beyond the back yard. There’s a cloud of dust. “Did someone take her?”

I ignore her. This kid isn’t going anywhere without me until I say so.

I gun it. “Hold on!” I yell to Harp over the roar of the engine as we bounce along the scrub. I glance in the rear view and there’s a trail of decimated yucca plants.

“Oh my God,” Harper says as she grabs the handle above the window. We gain on them and the biker looks over his shoulder at us, then increases the throttle and pulls away on a flat stretch of hard-packed sand. The sun is just starting to rise and the glare blinds me for a moment, but it blinds him too, and he swerves west to avoid it.