Page 17 of Lord of Punishment

The wine was sharper than I usually liked but I didn’t care. I needed something to try to remain calm. After taking several sips, I placed the crystal stem on the counter, eyeing his jacket for a few seconds before pulling it into my hand. Almost as soon as I felt the pockets, I realized there was something hard in the inner pocket that I hadn’t noticed before.

I managed to ease my finger inside, pulling out something black. It took me a few seconds to realize what I was peering down at. A magazine of ammunition from a weapon. Given the bulletproof vest, that would make sense. Maybe he was law enforcement.

Maybe he was an assassin.

I placed the magazine on the kitchen table and continued my quest. My fingers touched what appeared to be a single piece of paper. The piece was ripped but there was a single name typed on top, as if it had been part of an email.

Sabatino.

Given it was an unusual name, it could be for anything, not his name, but I liked it and the sexiness suited him. Whether this was his name or not, I’d need to call him something until he regained his memory. Finding nothing else, I took another sip of wine and grabbed the towels and sweats, returning to the bathroom. I knocked this time, waited for him to answer. When he didn’t after twenty seconds, another fearful rush swept through me and I opened the door.

“Hey, are you okay? I think I know your name. It’s Sabatino. I found something in your jacket.” I wasn’t prepared to tell him about the ammunition yet. When I heard a slight thump, I jumped. “Sabatino?”

The shower was running, the curtain pulled into position. God. What if he’d fallen unconscious, possibly ready to drown? Oh, Jesus. Now I was becoming overly dramatic, my nerves stealing a portion of my rational mind. I took a deep breath before pulling the curtain away.

The stranger lifted his head, breathing heavily. I couldn’t help myself, allowing my gaze to fall down the length of him. Not only was he the best-looking man I’d ever laid eyes on, he was also the most well-endowed. I pressed one hand across my mouth, holding in any sound.

Without me realizing it, he grabbed my other hand, yanking me into the shower with him.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, instinctively pushing my palm against his chest. Even the feel of his carved muscles underneath my fingertips was incredible.

He swept his heated gaze over me, a slight smile curling across his full lips, his chest rising and falling from his labored breathing. I was fully clothed yet that didn’t seem to faze him. In the wake of what we were experiencing, of his near-death experience and the fact I wanted a chance to live, to enjoy aspects of my life that had seemed forbidden, I curled my fingers, caressing his skin.

When he suddenly wrapped his hand around my throat, pushing me against the cold, hard tile, I whimpered in fear instead of desire. His hot breath was like a wildfire against my chilled skin, my nerves so rattled I could barely process what was happening.

He whispered something I couldn’t understand, but I was certain he was speaking in Spanish. The sound was as enticing and passionate as the man, yet I still couldn’t breathe.

“You’re afraid of me,” he said in English, dropping his head so his lips were dangerously close to mine, so much so I could easily dart my tongue across his lips.

“Should I be?” I rasped out.

“I won’t hurt you, beautiful princess.” He brushed his lips against my cheek, creating such intense heat that my legs were trembling. “You’re far too desirable. No one should ever destroy such innocent beauty.”

While his hold wasn’t tight, it was possessive, and the rich scent of his testosterone created another haze. He lifted his head, studying me with such intensity in his eyes that I couldn’t move. There was no doubt what he was thinking.

And what he wanted, his hunger creating a luminous shimmer in his dark eyes.

“You can’t do this. You’re hurt.”

“I can do anything I want, princess. Anything,” he said gruffly, the man determined to take full control. He cocked his head, his eyes more hooded than before.

“What is happening?”

Sabatino lifted his hand, carefully running his fingers down the side of my face, allowing the fiery look in his eyes to follow like a blazing trail of need. Slowly, he lowered his fingers, sliding them down my neck then under my chin. Using a single finger underneath, he lifted my head, staring into my eyes with such soulful need I was caught in a quiet abyss where all time stood still, no one else around but the two of us and our needs.

“Hunger.” The single word reverberated in the back of my mind a split second before he captured my mouth.

CHAPTER 7

Georgia

His lips were softer than I’d expected, the taste of whiskey filling my mouth explosive. Hunger breached the surface, powerful and wild, difficult to shove back into its cage. I was lightheaded, butterflies churning in my stomach as he crushed his fingers around my long strands of hair, tugging on my head to keep me in place.

He was brutal in the intimate moment, claiming my mouth as if the taste of me was the only thing that would quench his thirst. I slid my arm around his neck, tangling my fingers in his hair, arching my back to the point his thick cock was pressed into my stomach. I didn’t want to think, to analyze all the reasons this was a terrible idea. I didn’t need to conjecture on the outcome or the odds of surviving what we would share.

I just wanted to feel alive, to feel excitement and to indulge my mind and my body in something other than myself. And so, I let go, allowing him to take full control of me, a man I didn’t know, a dark and delicious stranger who’d dropped into my life when I needed something special.

He was sensual in his savagery, sweeping his tongue past my lips, drinking in every ounce of my essence. A dying man fulfilling his last wish, the intoxicating taste of him filled my senses. I undulated my hips, hating the barrier of clothes that was between us. I rolled both hands over his broad shoulders, marveling in the feel of his skin searing my fingertips just as it had done before.

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