by Bethany-Kris
“I can’t,” Abriella finally said.
Tommas’ shoulders dropped. The sight hurt her more than she could explain. She hated being the one thing that weakened Tommas, but she loved being the one thing that could control him at the same time.
It was a bad mix.
They were bad.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because how can I give something to you only to take it away, Tommy?”
Tommas blinked, recognition and surprise lighting up his handsome features. “Oh.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’ll just have to fix it for you.”
Abriella laughed sadly. “It’s not that easy.”
“It really is.”
“I’m sick of people being hurt, Tommas. I don’t want to keep being separated from my friends, and watching them bury family member after family member. This needs to end. No one even knows what they’re fighting for in this war.”
He leaned down close enough that his nose skimmed hers. “I do.”
“I’m sure. A title, right? The highest seat. Control and power. Useless things, Tommas.”
“Wrong.”
“Am I?”
“Entirely, babe. I’m still fighting for you.”
Abriella’s air caught hard in her chest. She had known his answer before he even whispered it, but it still struck her right in the heart, taking away her ability to breathe. His fingers dug into her sides again, making her body sing with want and need. Just the sensation of his fingertips pressing into her skin promised the sex, security, and love that only Tommas could give her. With a single stroke of his digits, Abriella was spun, happy, and home.
Tommas’ hands ghosted up her sides, skipped under the jacket she wore, and pushed it down over her shoulders. Then, his fingertips danced along the spot where her shirt showcased her collarbones.
She still couldn’t catch air.
He made her breathless under his touch.
“And if that means taking it all down with me to get you,” Tommas continued, ticking a finger under her chin to make Abriella look up, “… then that’s exactly what it means, Ella.”
“Don’t do that for me, Tommy.”
“Don’t ask me not to.”
Abriella frowned. “I don’t want—”
“I know what you don’t want. You don’t want people hurting, you want to go back to living in your pretty gilded cage where safety is a lie, and where everyone believes that we’re all compliant, happy little sheep. That place doesn’t exist, Abriella. It never has. Glass houses only stay standing until rocks start getting thrown. I want you. That’s the one thing in my goals that has never changed. Just you, babe.”
“Just me?”
Why did she like that so much?
“Always you, Ella.”
“I’ve never been a sheep,” Abriella whispered as Tommas’ thumb trailed over her bottom lip with a tender swipe. “You know that.”
He laughed huskily. “No, I guess not. My little rebel Trentini queen, right?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“You like it.”
“I—”
“Love it,” he murmured.
Abriella sucked in a sharp breath when Tommas pushed her back into the wall with a hard thud. “I’ve chosen to ignore it, actually.”
“You’re so good at lying, baby.”
“I learned from the best, Tommy.”
“Don’t ask me not to fight for this,” he said, pressing his body to hers.
Every single inch of Abriella reacted to the pressure of Tommas’ frame pinning her to the wall. From her fast breaths, to the pulsing between her thighs, she wanted him. It came on fast, like it usually did. It was almost always overwhelming for her.
Like a fucking hunger she couldn’t control.
“You’re so bad for me,” Abriella told him.
He could kill her. Ruin her. Hate her. Hurt her.
All it would take was a few words whispered to the wrong person, and Tommas could destroy Abriella like it was nothing.
But she knew he wouldn’t.
He loved her.
“You’re the best thing for me,” Tommas said lowly. “And you know that’s why you can’t ask me to stop fighting for this—for us. I know what you want. Give me time.”
Wasn’t time running out?
Abriella decided to ignore her inner voice.
Her heart spoke louder.
“I came here today, didn’t I?”
Tommas grinned a dangerous sight. It was enough to make her panties wet.
“You did,” he said. “You didn’t know it, but I needed you to do that, Ella. Come here, I mean.”
“Me, too.”
The words barely escaped before Tommas’ mouth was crushing down on hers. Sucking in a gulp of air, Abriella’s lips opened the second Tommas’ tongue struck against the seam of her mouth, demanding entrance. There was no asking for her kiss, he simply took it with hard strikes of his tongue and the nip of his teeth to her lips.
He marked her with his kiss; he owned her.
Tommas’ hands grabbed onto her jaw and his fingertips bit into her cheeks. Abriella tilted her head back a second before Tommas’ digits began to roam over her neck.
Christ.
She couldn’t breathe again.
It was crazily familiar.
His dark eyes watched her like she was prey, his kiss turned harder, and the scruff on his jaw was sure to leave marks behind. It was so good, and her body trembled under his weight.
“Missed you,” Tommas breathed, peppering softer kisses along the seam of her lips.
“I missed you.”
“I needed you, Ella. I need this—you. Forever, babe.”
God.
It was terrifying and lovely.
She needed this, too.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Be careful.”
Tommas barely even heard Abriella’s whisper as he lifted her effortlessly against the hallway wall. She was mumbling about something or other when he kissed her quiet. He loved all her sounds, particularly the ones she made when he was fucking her, but he wasn’t even at that point, yet.
“Tommas …”
He forced her head back so he could stare down into her ice-blue gaze. He grabbed her throat tight in one hand, and her chin in his other. She would feel the imprint of his fingers pressing into her skin for days, like invisible fingerprints had been left all over her body.
Tommas had gotten smarter over the years where sex with Abriella was concerned. Once, he’d left a mark on the spot behind her ear, red and clear from his teeth and lips, and someone had seen it. Joel, probably. Abriella never really said. She simply asked him not to do it again, because she couldn’t explain something so obvious away to others.
He hadn’t minded correcting that for her.
Marks that could be felt but not seen were far more effective between them. He would fuck her hard enough that she could feel him long after he was gone. He would leave bite marks on her inner thighs, ones that would fade but a sting would remain, and his kisses would cover every inch of her.
It allowed Tommas to wonder … When she wasn’t with him, did she still touch the spots that he had? Did she wear the invisible aches and marks with her usual pride because he left them on her to keep until the next time?
“Christ, Tommy,” Abriella mumbled as he nipped a path along her collarbones. Her back arched off the wall while her legs tightened around his waist. Tommas drove his hands down her sides and fisted her shirt. All the blood in his body was rushing straight down to his cock, making him sore and as hard as fucking steel. “You shouldn’t—”
“Shut up and let me love you.”
“But your rib.”
“No hits. No pressure. No sleeping on my stomach. No wrapping them. I was told nothing about fucking someone, Abriella.”
“Someone?”
Tommas couldn’t have missed the heat in her tone for a second. Popp
ing his head up to meet her gaze, he smirked. “You, not someone.”
“Better be only me, Tommy. I would rip out a bitch’s throat if I found out otherwise.”
Tommas didn’t question her on it. Abriella was horribly jealous where other women were concerned. Not that Tommas had any other women, but he worked in places where he employed a lot of younger females. Abriella never hid her contempt for those women whenever they were around.
“You’re pretty when you’re jealous, Ella.”
“You’re an asshole when you’re jealous.”
Tommas flashed a smile. “I know. And you love it.”
Abriella didn’t say a thing. Instead, she ground her jean clad hips into his growing erection, making a wave of pleasure course through Tommas’ cock and straight down into his balls.
“Jesus,” he breathed, wanting more of that.
“You might aggravate your rib, Tommy.”
“It’s not broken. It’s a very small fracture. It has little to nothing to do with how badly I want to feel your sweet pussy squeezing the very life out of me while I fuck you raw. It’s not going to make a difference to how hard I fuck you, how loud you’re going to scream for me when I put you on your knees, or how many times you come today. It isn’t. Okay, Ella?”
Abriella blinked, her pretty pink lips falling open. “Okay.”
Her breathless response only made Tommas harder. He reached up and swept his thumb over her bottom lip. Her tongue struck out to taste his skin, and then she moaned when Tommas flexed his hips into her center.
“Not another fucking word about my rib,” he warned.
Dark lashes fanned her cheeks when Abriella closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. “Nothing. I promise.”
Tommas never knew Abriella to follow the rules, but he believed her this time. Stepping back, despite how much he hated to let her go, Tommas helped Abriella drop back down on the floor safely. A twinge of pain reminded him that his rib was still tender, but that was about it. The pain killer he’d downed with his breakfast would keep that nonsense at bay for another couple of hours.
“How long do you have?” Tommas asked.
Abriella smiled. “Most of the day.”
“Are you sure?”
“Technically, I’m supposed to be doing catch up work for school which isn’t even in-class work. I could be anywhere doing that, Tommy. It’s not my fault that my enforcer drives like an eighty-year-old woman.”
Tommas laughed hard. “Get upstairs. You better be fucking naked before your back hits my bed, Ella, or I’ll turn your sweet ass red.”
Abriella bit her bottom lip and grinned sinfully. “Promise?”
Good God.
This woman would kill him someday.
Tommas was sure of it.
“Go.”
Abriella’s gaze widened at his husky order before she turned to disappear around the corner leading to the entryway and stairwell. Tommas took his time to grab the gun on the table and the bandage that Abriella had dropped. He put the bandage on the table and slipped the gun into the waist band of his sleep pants.
Satisfied that he had given his lover enough time to follow his demands, Tommas turned the corner to take the stairs. He froze at the bottom of the stairwell at the sight of Abriella waiting for him at the top.
She was naked but for a black lace thong. She’d let her hair out of its messy bun, and the waves drifted far below her shoulders to cover her breasts. With the tip of her thumb stuck between her teeth, and a wicked smile curving her lips, she looked like sin.
Sex.
Heaven.
And sin.
“That is not my bed,” Tommas said, taking the first few steps.
Abriella shrugged. “You’re not upstairs yet, Tommy.”
“And you’re not completely naked, Ella.”
“I’m working on it.”
Tommas licked his bottom lip and sucked in a hiss of air. “Work faster.”
Once he was at the middle of the stairwell, Tommas stopped walking. Abriella had dropped her hand from her mouth to hook her thumbs under the waistband of her thong. With slow, unhurried movements, she pulled the lace down around her thighs. A simple shimmy of her hips, and the thin scrap of fabric fell on the floor.
“I’m keeping those now,” Tommy told her.
“What, like a memento?”
“Something like that. I have five steps left before you need to be on my bed, Ella.”
“Maybe you should walk a little faster.”
The peach and cream tone of her skin was highlighted by the morning winter light filtering in through the upstairs windows in the hallway. It bathed her in color and warmth, showcasing every beautiful curve and dip of her body.
Perfection in flesh and blood.
That’s what Abriella was for him.
Young. Vibrant.
Vital to his life.
Taking the last few steps two at a time, Tommas pulled his gun from his pants, set it down carefully on the step, and then fisted the waistband of his sleep pants. He shoved them down roughly. The moment his foot hit the second level, Abriella turned on her heel and shot for the bedroom with a breathless laugh tumbling from her lips. Kicking off the only article of clothing he had on, Tommas grabbed the heavy length of his erection in his palm and stroked his cock.
By the time he stepped into the bedroom, Abriella was on his bed like he had told her to be. She wasn’t on her back, but he let that go considering she was on all fours with her sweet little ass high in the air. Tossing him a heated glance over her shoulder, Abriella winked.
“God, that took you long enough.”
“You’re such a fucking smart mouth,” Tommas growled. “Always teasing me like you do. I think you do it just to see how far you can push before I snap. You like that, Ella. You always have.”
“I know. It’s wonderful.”
“What’s wonderful is when I fill it full, Ella. And I think I might just do that, babe. Make you get down on the floor, fill your mouth, and make you serve me like you do. Strip you of everything just the way you like, fuck your throat until your eyes water, and watch you lick me fucking clean.”
She groaned low, the sound originating from deep within her chest. “Is that how you want to do this, then?”
“No.”
Her gaze met his.
“No?”
At the foot of the bed, Tommas stopped walking. He was close enough to Abriella that he could reach out and touch her if he wanted.
“No,” he repeated.
“But—”
Tommas didn’t give her a chance to argue with him. Reaching out, he snagged her ankles in his palm and yanked her to the edge of the bed before she could react. Abriella’s gasp echoed in the room as her hands flew out to find purchase on the bed. She came up empty as her hair billowed out in all directions.
Pinning her flat on her stomach, Tommas climbed on the edge of the bed so that his legs kept Abriella in place and unable to move while his hands could wander. His palm skimmed up her back while his other reached back to slide between her thighs.
He found her wet, hot, and sensitive to the touch. She jerked with a loud cry the moment his fingertips came in contact with her wet slit. Stroking her from the entrance of her pussy up to her hard little clit, he felt her body shudder beneath him. She squirmed under his weight, and soft whimpers muffled into the bedsheets.
This was how he liked her. Under his control. However he wanted to take her. Obedient in a way, but defiant all the same. Dirty, begging for it, and a little crazy.
She liked it, too.
To be used.
To be his.
Even if it hurt. Even if she would be called a slut for it. Even if it left them filthy deep in their souls.
She wanted it.
“I need—”
“What, Ella?” he interrupted darkly. “To move, to be fucked, or to come? All of the above?”
“Oh, Christ.”
“No, Tommas.”
His words were punctuated by two of his digits thrusting hard into her pussy. Knuckle deep, her walls flexed around his intrusion while her honeyed juices slicked up his fingers and palm. His other hand grasped the back of her neck when she tried to push up from the bed. Her shoulders strained while her cries turned louder, sweeter. The pace of his fingers fucking her was brutal and fast, no mercy. He wanted her to come pinned down like she was, unable to control herself, and then he needed her to beg for more.
It got him off like nothing else.
Tommas got his wish.
Abriella’s orgasm came on fast and hard as she shook under him. Her tartly sweet-smelling arousal soaked him wonderfully. Nothing was better than feeling her break apart around him.
“Tommas … please …”
As quickly as he’d climbed on the bed to hold her down, Tommas stepped back off it. Abriella sucked in a gulp full of air as her fingers curled tightly into the bedsheets.
“Love it when you do that to me,” she breathed.
Tommas laughed quietly. “I know, baby.”
“Drives me crazy.”
Before she had even fully caught her breath and recovered, Tommas was pulling Abriella back to the edge of the bed again. He let her feet drop on the floor. Next to whatever grip she could get on the bed, it was the only stability she would have when he fucked her.
She liked it better when he had all the power.
Abriella pushed up a little on her hands to watch him behind her. Tommas stroked his cock in a tight grip using the same hand he’d fucked her with. The juices from her sex smeared along his length with every tug. Despite her earlier performance on the stairs and her smart mouth, Abriella was quiet and waiting now.
He enjoyed breaking this woman’s will. She gave it to him willingly. He liked to steal her kisses, her orgasms, and her screams. She always handed them over with a smile.
Tommas needed to fuck her raw, until she was nothing but a mess in his sheets. Abriella never asked for anything different.
They were so good like this. The very best. They were fantastic when they fought, better when they were quiet, and happy all the times in between.
But like this?
Like this they were perfect.