Page 116 of Ivory's Ruin Romance

Despite being cut off from each other while he prepared, she could sense his longing as clearly as her own. How his body and mind yearned for her as much as she did for him. How she could please him simply by existing and how he protected her merely by keeping her heart.

The doorknob turned, and her black knight pinned her with a dark look that sent a jolt straight to her clit. His lips curled in a knowing smirk. “Trying to figure out what I have planned for you?” He tsked and closed the door before she could catch a glimpse of anything beyond. “That won’t do.”

She flushed as his eyes roamed over her body, assessing with cool authority. With unquestioning ownership.

Braving a look of her own, she took in the cascade of his sleek, auburn hair, falling over broad shoulders and the exposed, hard planes of his pecs. He’d left his jeans on, outlining a growing bulge between his legs. No one else would notice the extra holes carved in his belt, but to her, they stood out like two deep puncture wounds. Like bite marks left by a fanged beast.

The full weight of his attention bore down as he stalked forward with the grace and prowess of a wild panther. She felt small. Powerless.

Adrian stepped between her thighs and eased them apart, calloused palms deliberate in their steady command. Her glistening pussy was on full display, tits poked out like a lewd offering, but his focus lifted to her face.

“You are a masterpiece,” he breathed.

The praise coiled low in her belly and heated her from the inside out. Unable to speak, she inhaled his scent—spicy and warm, intimately arousing.

His lips twitched up in a smile that was half in awe and half condescending. He rubbed circles into the inside of her thighs as he continued, “Mine to bend and break. Mine to please and cherish.”

His voice held a rough, possessive edge, and she bit back a grin.

Light and shadow glittered in the gold of his eyes as he reached up and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. The slight graze of his fingertips made her heart race, and her eyelids fluttered.

“Stand up and turn around, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Let me braid your hair. We wouldn’t want it to get in the way.”

Wordlessly, she obeyed and slid off the stool. His calculated gentleness both soothed and sowed seeds of apprehension. The calm before the storm.

After all, they both knew what she’d asked for.

Back turned, Adrian gathered her hair and expertly wove it into a snug braid. Electricity ran up and down her spine in delicious currents. His fingers feathered across her neck as he worked, ghosting caresses here and there. Her ass brushed against the button of his pants, but she resisted the urge to push back. A punishment wouldn’t be nearly as exciting as whatever he already planned.

Her eyes drifted closed, and she honed in on his steady breaths, on the heat radiating from his body, and the assurance of being in his presence. As long as she remembered this feeling, she could find peace anywhere. Have the courage to face any trial.

“Feel good?” He gave her hair a light tug.

She smiled. “Yes, sir.”

“One last thing.” He stepped away, and the bedroom door opened again. When his footsteps returned, something smooth slipped over her eyes. He tied it tight behind her head, and it held her eyelids shut. Her other senses tingled with awareness as her sight vanished.

The ribbon.

“Today, I’ll let you earn the last two inches.” His words came out crisp, giving away nothing as to what that might entail. These were the last, and two at a time—it wouldn’t be easy. But she was determined to earn each one. “Do you trust me?”

“I trust you with my life, sir,” she purred. In every sense.

A pleased hum resonated from the back of his throat as another ripple of arousal flooded her thighs.

“Then it’s your life I will play with." Her breath caught as something cold and pointed ran over her shoulder blade. It traveled down her spine and wound over her hip, leaving behind a faint sting. A blade?

She groaned. When she’d put his knife on her list, she hadn’t been sure how Adrian would take it, but clearly, he had no objections.

“I won’t be holding back, sweetheart,” he murmured. “I intend to carve out your soul and claim it for myself.”

Her next inhale came out shallow and uneven. She’d wanted pain with pleasure. Poison with the sweet. Icy bitterness mixed with the hot demand of dominance. But knowing it would come didn’t dull its effect. “It’s yours,” she whispered. “I’m yours, sir.”

“You are,” he promised in a dark, silken hum. His fingers wrapped around her shoulder and guided her to face him, though she couldn’t appreciate the sight with the ribbon tied over her eyes. “I’m going to show you exactly what that means.”

The knife swirled over her stomach. Her muscles retracted at its sharp touch, blood pulling to the surface. Then it was gone.

Soft, wet lips closed around her nipple. She groaned and arched into the touch. Pleasure consumed her fear of the blade. He kissed over to her other breast, licking and sucking the hard bud before skating up to her jaw. Her body melted, coalescing without hesitation.

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