by James, Gemma
“You’re begging for an ass-fucking, aren’t you?”
Her eyes darted up to meet mine, and I swore I found a challenge there.
“I’m gonna take that as a yes.”
She raised her brows the slightest bit, and before I could take my next breath, much less thrust into her throat, she hopped off the end of the mattress and ran for the bedroom door. With a quiet laugh, I slipped from the sheets, fingers on the key around my neck, considering all the deviant things I could withdraw from the drawers across the room. All the creative ways I could make her bend.
But it was Christmas, and I was too anxious to get inside her ass, so the most I grabbed was the lube from the nightstand.
Either way, she wouldn’t get far.
I made my way downstairs, feet heavy on the steps. It was the only warning she’d get. As I came to a stop at the bottom of the staircase, I peeled my ears for a hint of her hiding spot.
Shallow breathing to my left, coming from the dining room. Jesus, she was excited, and probably wet between the thighs from the chase. Light on my feet, I turned the corner, and there she was on the other side of the oval table, naked, just the way I liked her first thing in the morning.
“The longer you run, the rougher I’ll be.” I stepped to the right, about to round the edge of the table.
A smile twitched at her lips. “I know.” She tried sneaking two steps to the left.
I lunged for her.
She took off, bare feet skidding across the hardwood as she hurtled into the living room. I followed in quick pursuit, about to grab her by the hair when Jax’s wedding gift caught my eye. The white paddle hung on the wall next to the fireplace.
A white paddle for a white Christmas.
I snatched it from the wall then gripped a fistful of her hair as she tried making her escape once again. “Merry Christmas, baby. Got a present for you.”
“Yeah? What a coincidence. I’ve got one for you too.”
“Mine’s gonna hurt.” I hauled her to the couch and bent her over the arm. She pushed against the cushions, still fighting me, and I forced her hands to her back, wrists caught in my much larger fist.
Breathing hard, she twisted her head and stared at me through her curls. “I like it when it hurts.”
Bull, meet red flag.
I blasted the paddle across her ass, much harder than I’d planned until she’d thrown down the gauntlet. Her mouth opened wide, dispensing a soundless scream. Before she recovered, I whacked her again, right on top of the little round welts forming on her skin, courtesy of the holes in Jax’s wedding gift.
Now her agony echoed off the walls.
“Holy fuck, Rafe!”
I unleashed three more strikes, just as equally painful as the first two before setting the paddle on the couch in front of her face. I’d been as brutal today as during any punishment, but that particular paddle was never used to correct her behavior.
It was strictly for play.
Allowing her a couple of minutes to come down from the endorphin high, I massaged her stinging ass, eager to get inside it.
“How does it feel?” I asked.
“You know how it feels.” She sounded dazed. Fuck, she sounded turned on.
“You’re about to feel more.” I grabbed the lube from my pajama pants before pushing them down my thighs, kicking the soft cotton free. I rolled her to her back, lifted her legs, and wound them around my neck.
“What are you doing?” she asked, eyes going wide.
“Making sure you feel every inch of me in that tight hole.” I picked her up and stumbled away from the couch. Three steps in retreat gave me the room I needed, and I sat on my haunches with my knees apart, impaling her ass onto my lubed cock.
Gouging my shoulders, she let out a sharp cry at the initial intrusion.
“Damn, sweetheart.” I rammed her hard, each pummel a driving force she couldn’t escape. Especially from this angle, with my arms an immovable band around her back, forcing her into the thrusts as her calves pressed against my ears.
Knees bracing against the floor for leverage, I arched into the position, driving deeper as her skin grew slick with sweat against my thighs. Each violent thrust dragged shrieking cries from her throat. Anal with Alex always came down to push and pull. She fought me, tightened against the girth of my cock, pushed back with each grunt and cry.
And that only made me crave it above all else, because she eventually gave in so beautifully, body a writhing and sweaty mess, head lost in deep subspace, and I was a goner.
“Fuck, it hurts,” she groaned, instinctively bearing down to dislodge my cock. “It’s too much.” Tears trailed down her cheeks, and I kissed them away, letting the salt dissolve on my tongue.
“Shouldn’t have teased my cock. Now it wants to come in your ass.”
“Please, Rafe.”
“You can take it.”
She squirmed some more, but she didn’t utter the forbidden word.
Rule number three.
No didn’t exist in her vocabulary, though she’d definitely tested that rule enough times in the past.
She didn’t now. She accepted the pain. Accepted her own surrender to it.
I accepted that I’d never get enough of her.
“I’m so in love with you,” I said, tone a rugged vow that told her just how whipped I was.
“You’re in love”—she gasped as I rammed harder—“with my ass.”
“That too.”
“Let me come.” Her watery eyes pleaded with me.
“I haven’t decided yet.”
She wasn’t in trouble, so she knew she’d get there eventually. It was the eventually part that had her worked up, had her ass opening for me, desperate to find the pleasure.
Had her mouth parting in something other than pain.
Holy hell, she wanted it.
I wanted to give it.
Planting a hand on the floor, I leaned forward and laid her out, raising her hips at the right angle as I pushed into her ass again. I reached between us and rubbed her clit just right, pumping away to my own climax as she climbed to hers. The rush of releasing blood hit us at the same time. Afterward, I collapsed on the floor next to her, drenched in sweat despite the chill of winter.
“That was…” Alex trailed off, still catching her breath.
“So spectacular you want to do it again?” I rolled to my side and pressed my mouth to hers.
“I need to recover,” she said, pushing against my chest.
I laughed. “Isn’t that my job?”
“Your job is to stay there.” She rose to her feet, and I sat up, back against the couch, and followed her movement across the room to the wall of windows.
An eight-foot Christmas tree stood there, alight with multicolored lights and too many bulbs to count. Getting that sucker onto the island had been a lesson in determination, but the day Alex spotted it, and her eyes lit up with happiness, I knew it’d been worth the effort.
She bent to retrieve a small oblong box before returning to the couch, and I arched a brow as she settled next to me on the floor.
“I don’t recognize that one,” I said.
“That’s because I wrapped it last night while you were in the cellar.”
Zach got three meals a day, the same thing day in and day out; oatmeal for breakfast, a PB&J sandwich for lunch, and a can of ravioli for dinner. It wasn’t the most tasteful or healthy diet, but it kept him alive.
For now.
I fucked my wife down there at least twice a week, and during Alex’s ovulation periods, those sessions were extra special. Each time I took her in front of him, making it no secret that we aimed to conceive, it dug under his skin a little more.
Three months in that dark space had taken their toll, and Zach looked less like a man and more like a ghost each day.
I was anxious to send him to the other side for good.
Handing me the present, Alex nodded for me to open it. I tore into the shiny gold and red
Christmas wrap, revealing a plain brown box, and as I worked the flap up at the end, I sent her a questioning glance.
She practically beamed at me, complexion aglow with excitement as I dipped two fingers into the narrow end and pulled out a plastic white stick.
One sporting a plus sign.
Utterly speechless, I stared at her as my heartbeat skipped like a fucking school girl’s. I worked my vocal cords, finding my voice. “Is this what I think it is?”
With a squeal, she hopped onto my lap and straddled me. “We did it, Rafe.” Her lips brushed mine. “We made a baby.”
All the doubts were still there, begging to poke through the joy of her news, because I worried I wasn’t father material.
I was a criminal.
A man with a sadist’s edge.
A man who loved his woman more than life itself and would do anything for her.
Even if that meant getting my shit together to become the father this kid deserved. To become the husband Alex needed.
A furrow drew her brows together. “You don’t seem happy about it.”
“No, baby,” I said, palming her flushed cheek, “I’m happy about it. I’m just processing.”
“Process a little faster.”
That earned her a smile. “I’m right there with you, trust me.” My mind went to the monster in the cellar. “You know what this means, right?”
Her mind went there too, dark cloud deepening her jade eyes. “It means you get what you want.”
“And what about you, Alex? What do you want?”
“I just wanted him to suffer.”
“He’s suffered, sweetheart. So have we.”
“I know.”
“Don’t you think it’s time we let go?” I studied her expression, hoping to find a hint that she was on her way to being whole again.
With a hard swallow, she nodded.
Relief flooded my veins as I gripped her by the hair and kissed her, infusing every ounce of love I felt for her in the meeting of our mouths.
Zach’s death could wait another day, because it was Christmas, and thanks to that little white stick, we had more than the holiday to celebrate.
We had a fresh start and the promise of forever in front of us.
Thank you for reading Alex and Rafe’s journey! Still hungry for more? Join my newsletter today and receive the bonus scenes, including scenes from Jax and Angel’s POV!
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM GEMMA JAMES
ARRANGED MARRIAGE ROMANCE
Twelve men. A virgin queen. One arranged marriage. Out of the twelve men, only one has her heart, and only one can marry her in the end. If only it were up to her to decide.
Grab your copy of Aries
***
A DARK AND SEDUCTIVE SERIES OF BLACKMAIL & REVENGE
Billionaire Gage Channing has always wanted to own a woman. Not just any woman, but his thieving personal assistant. Let the blackmail begin.
Grab your copy of the Devil’s Kiss Series Collection
***
SEXY FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS
She’s my sister’s best friend. The girl I’ve known since grade school. The girl that’s off-limits...and she wants me to teach her how to blow a guy.
Grab your copy of Swallow Me Whole
***
FORBIDDEN OFFICE ROMANCE
He’s flying home to confront his cheating wife. She’s running from her life in shame. Neither expected to fall in love 35,000 feet in the air.
Grab your copy of the Trashy Duet
***
SUSPENSEFUL PSYCHIC ROMANCE
She’s running from a traumatic past. He’s got nothing left to lose. They might heal each other if a serial killer doesn’t get to them first.
Grab your copy of Epiphany
TOP 20 SONGS FROM CONDEMNED SERIES
1. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Tori Amos
2. “My Blood” by Ellie Goulding
3. “Afraid” by The Neighbourhood
4. “Cut” by Plumb
5. “Battle Cry” by Imagine Dragons
6. “Bad Blood” by Bastille
7. “Believe” by Mumford & Sons
8. “Whore” by In This Moment
9. “Lost It All” by Black Veil Brides
10. “Black Sun” by Death Cab For Cutie
11. “Empty Gold” by Halsey
12. “Haunted” by Maty Noyes
13. “Scotland” by The Lumineers
14. “Ashes of Eden” by Breaking Benjamin
15. “Don’t Let Me Go - Acoustic” by RAIGN
16. “Letters From the Sky” by Civil Twilight
17. “Shatter Me” by Lindsey Stirling (featuring Lzzy Hale)
18. “Save Yourself” by Breaking Benjamin
19. “The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed
20. “The Dark of You” by Breaking Benjamin
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gemma James is a USA Today bestselling author of a blend of genres, from new adult contemporary to dark romance. She loves to explore the darker side of human nature in her fiction, and she’s morbidly curious about anything dark and edgy, from deviant sex to serial killers. Readers have described her stories as being “not for the faint of heart.”
She warns you to heed their words! Her playground isn’t full of rainbows and kittens, though she likes both. She lives in middle-of-nowhere Oregon with her husband, two children, and a gaggle of animals. You can connect with her online at the following places:
Website | Newsletter | Facebook | Gemma’s Naughty Nook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram