Lies in Blood (Dark Secrets #4)(42)
Author: A.M. Hudson

But he couldn’t just lay back and let me have full control. I knew that. I could feel the burn to govern this rising up in his hands like electricity. He broke free of my grip and cupped my waist, moving me to his own pace, much faster and a little harder than before.

“What?” I said, noticing something odd in his gaze. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

The sharp smile made his eyes small, his head moving side to side for a second. “You’re pretty darn hot when you’re being seductive, Ara.”

“Is that so?” I leaned forward and placed both hands on his chest, pushing down slightly so my hips rose off his—the warmth there going cool.

“Yes, but—” He flipped me through the air and landed on top of me, wrapping both my legs tightly around his hips. “I much prefer creative control.”

“Creative control?” I said, a brow arching.

He smiled down at my nakedness, shrugging one shoulder after. “Or maybe just control.”

A rush of excitement filled my gut. I kinda liked that, too. “As long as you don’t start tying me up.”

His eyes narrowed into cheeky slits. “If I did, you wouldn’t be able to stop me.”

“Yes, I would,” I said playfully, learning something new about myself then: I wasn’t sure I’d want to stop him. “I could just say no.”

He moved closer and pressed his lips to mine in a long, very slow and very wet kiss. “Not if I gag you.”

I went to say something witty, but couldn’t help laughing instead.

“Mmm, don’t do that.” He leaned back a bit, closing his eyes, moving inside me again. “You know how much that giggle stirs my inner vampire.”

“And you know how much your inner vampire turns me on.” I accompanied my statement with a quick flick of my nail down his chest, making him bleed.

His chin rolled so his gaze settled on the cut. “Perhaps I will have to tie you up.”

My insides tightened. “I dare you to.”

“I—” He was too shocked to actually do it, though. He just closed his mouth, keeping a tight smile there, and ran his hand firmly down my arm, cupping my wrist and pinning it to the bed by my hip. “I swore I’d never be that way with you, Ara.”

“Why?”

“Because that kind of thing is not for you. It’s for whores.”

I huffed. “Whores?”

“It’s just how I feel.” He brought my wrist up above my head, his hand wrapping it so tight the blood filled my fingertips.

“Then why are you holding me like that?”

His fingers loosened. “Look, I love you, Ara. And no matter how much I want to, I would never do anything disrespectful to you.”

“Maybe I like that kind of disrespect.”

He laughed, and the sweet warmth of his breath brushed over my lashes, flavouring my tongue a little with orange chocolate. “Yes, I think you’ve always been a bit twisted, my love. Perhaps it’s all the torture you suffered.”

“Then what’s your excuse?” I said, and he stopped pumping. “You clearly want to do those things to me.”

He cleared his throat. “I’m just mentally deranged from years of inflicting heinous punishments on the stripped and restrained bodies of lawbreakers.”

“So, it’s okay for you to be twisted, but not me?”

“Yes, because you are my sweet, pure-souled little wife, Ara. And I won’t taint you the way I’ve been tainted.”

I shook my head, sending my incredulous smile across the room, away from him. “I’m not as pure as you think I am.”

He cupped both my cheeks and kissed my lips once. “I’m going to die soon, Ara. Let me go peacefully to my death with the notion that my involvement in your life hasn’t ruined you, please.”

I laid both hands above my head, crossing my wrists like they were bound; my body long and open to all he wanted from me. “Maybe you’ll just have to stick around until I’m all sweet and innocent again then.”

He laughed and caged both my hands in one of his. “You’re going to be sorry you did that.”

“Are you going to spank me?”

“Do you want me to?”

I nodded, smiling playfully.

“Okay, but remember, you asked for it,” he warned.

“I can take whatever you can dish out.”

He bit his lip, his fang making a deep impression in the skin, and reached down, leaving a gentle but sharp sting across the firmest part of my thigh, almost on my bottom.

I jumped a little, my leg tightening, but the rush of heat only tingled, making my skin want more. “That didn’t hurt.”

“It’s not supposed to hurt,” he said.

“What’s it supposed to do?”

“Open you up—take something from you that you wouldn’t give to anyone else.”

“What’s that?”

“Control. Permission to hurt you.” He paused, letting the words simmer through me. “The right to do whatever I want with the trust that I’ll draw the line before it gets too much. The feeling of opening up—experiencing something we normally run from—in a completely open, completely vulnerable situation.”

I thought about the emotions that little smack stirred in me, seeing myself tense and flinch as the pain flared, my soul suddenly connecting with him after the sting dissolved. “You do realise you’re tainting me right now.”

He wet his lips and ran his thumb slowly up my chin, pulling my mouth apart. “Maybe that was always inevitable.”

“As was the hurt,” I said sadly.

His hand rested over my breast, his fingers pressing firmly to feel my heart. “I know you’re suffering, Ara. But I will leave you with a child, at least. I promise.”

I nodded, placing my hand over his. “Then you better make love to me, David. I don’t want our child conceived while you’re spanking me.”

He laughed, falling on his elbows, his silky, naked body completely touching mine, and brought his hand up to sweep my sweaty hair off my brow. “Look at you.”

“What?” I said self-consciously.

“You’ve grown up so much, Ara, but you’ll always be that sweet girl I fell in love with on the football field at school.”

I looked up at his perfect dark pink lips, then at the long lashes surrounding those emerald eyes, and I could still see so much of the boy he would always be to me—the sweet, funny, carefree guy I sometimes missed. But that was fading—washing away to reveal the man inside me right now. My king. My husband. Strong. A fighter. A man willing to die, willing to do anything to see that I never went a day again in my life looking over my shoulder. And his face changed then, his body moving faster against mine, his eyes turning dark and black as he reached the point of no return, becoming the man who would one day be the father my daughter never knew.