Page 71 of Taming Achilles

“No more talking.” I jumped on my tiptoes to take him in my mouth. I tried to push further into him, but I stumbled, and he had to catch me. He grabbed behind my thighs and pulled me up around his waist until I was climbing him like a fucking koala.

He tried to pry his lips away, but I pursued. I was the aggressor now. He stopped me with a hand on my throat, pushing me back. His darkened, lustful eyes looked at me as he swallowed, his tongue jutting out to touch where my teeth scraped his lip.

“Stop, Pip.” His voice was controlled, even if his breaths weren’t. “We need to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk.” I tried to kiss him again, but his grip on my throat tightened.

He chuckled at my expense, walking us to the living room. I looked longingly at the bedroom, where we should have been going.

“We need to talk, Princess.” He stroked the hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear. “I promise, it’ll be worth it.”

I pouted. Truly pouted. And he laughed out loud.

“Fine,” I relented.

He lowered us onto the couch so that I straddled him. He wrapped his arm around my waist, tightening it before I could create space between us.

“It’s important that we’re connected when we talk about this,” he said, neutrality back in his voice.

How could he be so calm when I was burning inside?

“I know how we can be more connected.” I shot my hand down to his belt, trying to tug it open, but he grabbed my wrist, and put my hand back on his shoulder.

“We need to talk about this. I don’t want a misunderstanding between us. Not anymore,” he said to me, shaking his head sadly. “Too many lies, too many secrets. Let’s do this one thing right.”

“I don’t understand.” I truly didn’t. Didn’t he want me? Didn’t he burn with desire like I did? Had all our drama pulled him from me even further?

If I was going to die … I wanted one more. One more night. One more moment to forget. To be happy, with the man who made air worth breathing.

“I want you to tell me your limits, and your desires.” He traced a finger on the bottom edge of my jaw. Light and gentle. “And I want to tell you mine.”

My heart constricted. Desire was doused by bitterness as I remembered his truths. His confessions. Other lovers. Many of them. Teaching him. Learning with him. Doing things I couldn’t even fathom because I had no desire outside of him. But he had found it with others.

“Something you learned from your other women?” I tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let me. He wrapped his arms tighter and gave me a warning look.

“Don’t.” He stroked a hair out of my face. “Don’t bring others into what exists between us, and us alone.”

His eyes darkened with anger. The look was accompanied with a pulsing throb beneath his trousers. A heated thrust, as he scraped his shaft against my centre, enormous and effective, even through our clothes.

“Have I done anything you haven’t liked?” He continued, “not the emotional - I know where I went wrong there. But physically… do you not like …”

“Tell me what you like,” I put the ball in his court. I wanted to hear what he wanted, and didn’t, so I could figure out how to respond in kind.

He studied me for a moment. That finger was still tracing my jaw, then my cheek, then up to my ear, my eyebrows. It was like he was making a study of my features. Like he didn’t already know every line and curve.

“Control,” he said, finally. “I want to have you at my mercy. To order you around, and have you obey. I want to push you, and watch you struggle as I ask you to humiliate yourself for my pleasure.” A menacing grin came to his face, and his eyes heated with a lust I had never seen before. “And I don’t want to stop when you tell me no. I want to hear you scream for me to stop. And I’ll push you far beyond what you think you want.”

I recoiled, but he wouldn’t let me go. “Rape?”

“Only by the most beautifully engraved invitation.” He placed a kiss on my clavicle. “And that’s why you need a safe word.”

“Even … even when I say no …” I stuttered, “even if I try to stop you …”

“That would turn me on.” I tried to get away, but he held tighter around my waist keeping me in place. “And you’d enjoy it too.”

His brown eyes were as warm as chocolate when they met mine. My thighs clenched.

“I could take all the indecision out of your head,” he whispered. “I’d take your choice away and give you more pleasure than you think you can handle. He bit down at my throat and I winced, pulling away. “And you’ll want more. I swear.”

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