Page 19 of Mark & Don't Tell

“That’s . . .” Too intimate. Too much.

Gliding his hands up the back of my neck, he tips my head so I’m staring up at him. With the limited light, I can only make out the vague features of his beautiful face. “Let me take care of you.” His lips brush over mine. “I need this as much as you do.” He gently sucks on my bottom lip, and I sigh, melting into his hold as a single tear slides down my cheek.

What the fuck?

Why am I crying?

God, this is embarrassing, but Vic runs his tongue over my cheek, hiding the evidence. Then he kisses me, parting my lips and stealing my shaky breaths. He breaks away and strokes my jaw. “Will you let me take care of you?”

Let the tattooed god continue to lavish me with attention?

As much as I’m out of my element, I think I can get on board with that, especially since I feel like I’m headed toward some sort of breakdown. The crash. It’s not a fucking joke.

“I’ll grab our stuff.” He edges away, waiting to make sure I can stand on my own two feet before quickly grabbing everything. As the heat from his body seeps away, my chest tightens, an uncomfortable feeling weighing me down. The plug is still inside of me, and the collar is still around my throat when he takes my hand and leads me to the back of the room and toward an exit I didn’t even notice when I was focused on hiding.

My stomach clenches. “I’m not wearing clothes.”

“The private room is attached to this one.” He pushes the door open and guides me through. The space is like a small studio apartment without the kitchen. There’s a bathroom on the left, and a full-size bed sits prominently in the middle, fresh sheets and blankets covering it. Two lamps with low-wattage bulbs sit on top of the tables on either side of the bed. There’s a small basket of snacks and a few bottles of water.

Vic sets our things in a chair and tugs me into the bathroom, leading me to a full-length mirror hanging on the wall next to the shower.

I gasp. “Oh my god.” My neck is covered in hickeys, and my nipples are even a little bruised from the clamps. My lips are bright red, and I look like...I look like I’ve been thoroughly fucked.

“Gorgeous,” he tells me, turning to search my face. “Do you want to shower?”

“Um. No. Not yet.”

His eyes flare with approval, and a little smirk tugs at the edges of his lips as he closes the small distance between us, running both of his hands down my back and over my ass.

I hum in approval.

“I like the way you feel in my arms.” Then he takes the plug out of my ass.

“Holy shit,” I gasp, and he bites back a laugh.

“I’ll clean this. You go get into bed.”

“You’re kind of bossy,” I tell him, finding little pieces of myself once again.

“And you’re kind of bratty. Get in bed before I decide you can take another orgasm or four.”

My lips seal together, and I rush from the room. His knowing laugh chases me into the bed. I glare at the bathroom door, ignoring the smile that’s breaking across my face.

This is the strangest and the best night of my life.

I’m snuggled under the blanket by the time he comes out of the bathroom, still naked. I have no shame hungrily drinking in every inch of skin I can see. God, his thighs are so thick, and his cock hangs heavy between his legs. Is he hard again? As Vic prowls toward the bed, my gaze jumps to his, noticing unmistakable heat and hunger in the depths of his irises.

He crawls on top of me, pinning the blanket against my body with his knees on either side of my hips and bracing his hands on either side of my head. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to want more, and I don’t think you’re really ready for that.”

If you give a dom an orgasm, he’s going to want another.

“You’re beautiful,” I tell him with a shrug. “I like to look at pretty things.”

A ripple of something—shock or uncertainty—quickly flashes over his face, but it’s there and gone before I can even begin to understand it. You shouldn’t want to try and understand him that intimately. He’s just a playmate.

He lowers his face until his mouth hovers over mine. “And you’re perfect.” His kiss is chaste and over too soon. He drops onto the bed beside me and slips under the blanket, grabbing me and dragging me toward him.

I roll so we’re face to face, biting my lip as he guides one of my legs over his hips and wraps his arms around me. Once he has me, the tightness in my chest fades, and I release a long exhale.

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