We draw apart with Rafe thumbing my cheek. “You know what this means, right? Time for round five.”
31. Marisse
“You thought you’d get away,” Rafe growls, wrenching me toward him. “You thought you’d skip out and run off to another country? Did you think I was kidding about being mine?”
The front door’s slammed shut. We’re secluded inside the privacy of his condo, the atmosphere silent and dark. Tonight feels like a night that’ll last forever.
Wet from the drizzle and dazed from everything that’s happened, tonight feels like the most bizarre dream imaginable.
…yet I’m loving every second of it.
I can barely catch my breath, pressed up against Rafe. He holds my gaze hostage, his heated and intense. A manic level of desire lives in them, like he’s on the brink of madness. His desire for me surpasses sanity. It can’t be bound by logic and sound judgment.
I’m at a loss for words. I didn’t know it was possible to want a person like Rafe wants me… and how I want him.
Even if I’ve fought it every step of the way.
I peer up at the handsome planes of Rafe’s face, his hair unruly and wild and his expression dark.
The heat from him scalds.
He strokes my cheek, then cups his hand to the back of my neck, his fingers digging into my curls. His grip’s tight enough that my scalp prickles.
I’m trapped, wrapped up in Rafe. I’m breathing harder, dizzied by his intensity.
“Answer me, Sugar,” he says, tugging harder on my curls clenched within his fist. “Did you think I was lying?”
“I didn’t want to give in,” I choke out.
He leans close like he’s about to kiss me. Instead, his tongue swipes up my lips. A small taste of me on his tongue as he smirks and his gaze gleams.
“That’s too bad,” he says, his hands all over me. “Because the rules for round five are as follows: there is no end. It’s for keeps.”
His mouth attacks mine. His kisses are ravenous, his touch rough. He grips me by the ass and hoists me up off my feet. My legs band around his waist, my pussy aching to be filled. He drives me into the wall ’til I’m pinned up against it and he’s kissing me even more thoroughly.
We kiss like we’re two creatures in the dark who’ve long gone starved.
Rafe tugs off my jeans and peels me away from the wall. I rid him of his t-shirt as he walks us through his condo. The second it’s past his head and discarded on the floor, he crushes his lips to mine for another passionate kiss.
He’s demanding, his hands warm and rough on my skin. Each touch sends another pulse of arousal through me. I grind my pelvis into his, needing to feel more of him.
We wander into his bedroom, where he flings me from my perched position against his chest. I’m tossed like nothing to the bed. I land, barely registering I’ve flown several feet across the room.
Rafe snatches me up by my ankles, dragging me closer to the edge of the bed. The next thing I know, I’m flipped over and laying on my stomach. I yelp in surprise as I’m dragged backward again, moved around like I’m a rag doll.
I’m contorted just like he wants—on my hands and knees with my ass pushed back directly in front of him.
“Rafe,” I breathe, my heart pounding. “Are you trying to give me whiplash?”
“Keep mouthing off,” he says. “The more back talk, the more fun we’re about to have.”
I glance over my shoulder at him. He’s scrubbed a hand over his facial scruff, his slanted grin a dangerous one. It sets off a frisson of nervous energy inside me.
But instead of surrendering, I do what I always do.
I play hard. I taunt him.
Turning so I’m staring straight ahead, I say, “I did what I had to do.”