Blood Always

23

She was wild, untamed—a goddess of war. The personification of indignant rage. I flashed my teeth in a vicious grin, inviting her to unleash her wrath. “The second you agreed to our marriage, your body became mine. No other man will see what is mine. No other man will touch what is mine. You need to be f****d, you come to me. You want to end up chained to my bed? Go ahead and tease me again.” “Oh, so I have to be unerringly faithful, but I’ll bet that doesn’t apply to you—does it? I’m expected to toe the line, but you can go out and f**k anyone you want. Well, that’s bullshit. I’m not some feeble wife who will sit at home and pine for you.” “You don’t think I’m f*****g aware of that? This would have been a hell of a lot simpler if you were. Then I wouldn’t have cared who you fucked.” Her brows creased as confusion set in. I continued my lecture, inching forward one small step at a time. “I came here to talk about Rico … but f**k him. He was a liability anyway.” “Stay back,” she hissed, her bottom nearing the dining table as she retreated with each of my steps. I ignored her, never pausing my forward momentum. “Neither of us are happy about whatever this is between us. We didn’t plan it, but there’s no escaping it. Maybe all it would take is one good angry f**k to cleanse you from my system. But until then, until this crippling need vanishes every time we’re together, your body is mine.” Catching her off guard, I whipped my hand out and seized her wrist holding the comb. I spun her around and had her chest down on the dining table in a handful of lust-filled heartbeats. She hissed and squirmed, seething with righteous indignation, but it did her no good. I held her hands above her head, using the length of my body to fold her over the table and keep her immobilized. When our heart rates eased from a raging boil to a heated simmer, I consolidated her hands into one of mine, then used my free hand to pull her hair back from her face. I used my teeth to nip at her earlobe and tasted her sweetness with a long lick up her neck. “Swear to me you won’t even look at another man.” I sounded unhinged, my voice a maniacal growl, but I didn’t care. I needed to hear the words—to be reassured no other man would be sampling my wife’s fiery passion. “You’re deranged,” she huffed, her lungs constricted by my bodyweight. “You’ll never force me into anything.” My lips peeled back at the thrill of a challenge. In one clean motion, I reached for the hem of her dress and yanked it up and over her ass to find a black thong exposing the perfectly rounded globes of her ass. f**k me. I didn’t have the best view from above her, but it was enough to make my balls constrict painfully with the need to cover her in c*m. The sight was so intoxicating, I almost missed the way Maria’s body petrified into solid stone. A perfectly carved statue of tempered fury. “You f**k me without my permission, and I’ll kill you.” Her words were no longer breathy. Her entire being went glacial. Still and unyielding, promising to pulverize anything in her path. Saying I was walking on thin ice was a gross understatement. But I was too far gone. The insistent need that pulsed between us was all-consuming. It gave no room for rational thought or contemplation. I pulled back my hand, bringing it crashing down against her ass, the slap resounding loudly in the open room. “I don’t rape women,” I seethed beside her ear. Her wrath fueled my own, like two dueling flames merging into a raging inferno. Her body jerked at the spanking, but she didn’t make a sound. I’d shocked her into silence. I caressed my palm over the heated skin where I’d just struck and coaxed back the reins of my temper. “Now, I want to hear the words. Tell me you will not look at, kiss, f**k, or even think about another man.” My Maria had a spine of rigid steel. Commanding her to bend was as pointless as telling the sun to fall from the sky. I knew that, and yet, I knew just as assuredly that the right amount of heat, along with time, could melt that steel into something malleable and extraordinary. “I’ll do whatever I damn well please. Our marriage doesn’t make me your slave.” Smack. Smack. Smack. Three strikes in quick succession on the opposite cheek, their finish accented with a guttural moan from Maria. No doubt it had been meant to relay her animosity, but instead, reeked of yearning. I lowered myself back down to run my nose along her jawline. “Oh, Maria. Now you’ve done it. You’ve let me see how much you like this. Are you already wet?” “I hate you,” she spat. I switched sides again, exposing the first check and pressing my groin into the other to keep her in place. She was too feral and well-trained to give her an inch of wiggle room. Smack. This time, her ass pressed up against me, the delicate curve of her spine arching minutely. It was a good thing she couldn’t see the triumphant grin that spread across my face. She would have raged harder. Held firm to her convictions like a rabid dog with a bone. “Lies don’t become you. I can smell your arousal, feel your heartbeat skitter with anticipation.” “That’s just the alcohol.” Smack. This time, I aimed my hand between her cheeks. I eased up on my force, but came down directly over her opening, her most sensitive flesh. Maria bit her lip, arching her head back with a pant. “Just as I suspected,” I mused, bringing my hand up for both of us to see the glistening moisture soaking my fingers. “You’re not just wet, you’re drenched.” “Just because I’m horny doesn’t mean I want you.” Smack. Another moan, this one unleashed and wanton. Smack. “I could do this all night, Maria. I want to hear those words.” Smack. “Please.” The word was so small, so broken, I almost didn’t catch it. “Please, what? You know how to get me to stop.” Her breaths quivered beneath me, but not from my weight. I’d let up enough that she’d have no problem breathing. This was an entirely different struggle. An internal one. One she was losing.