Page 80 of Tower

She bit down on her lower lip and remained silent for a moment. She couldn’t just blurt things out as she had in the past. She needed to contain her thoughts, put them in order first.

“You idiot. I love you. Why would I want anyone but you?” Okay, she needed more practice. “You don’t bring any bad memories with you. I mean—okay, maybe we met in an unconventional way—but…” How to say it, how do you tell a man you love being his—being owned and controlled, and protected by him.

“But what?” He put his hand on the island and started toward her. “Go on, finish your snit.”

“You didn’t do anything to me that I didn’t want or didn’t love. Even when you were being an asshole. Even when I couldn’t sit comfortably. Every bit of it was exactly as it should be with us.”

“Go on,” he ordered.

“But you can’t just fucking disappear on me.” Her voice rose. “I needed you, Peter. When I was lying in that hospital bed trying to figure out where I fit in the world now, I needed you. Because everything I knew turned out to be a lie. I have a new brother. I have no mother. The only thing that was real—or at least what I thought was real—was you. And you turned out to be a fake, too.” Tears she’d been battling for days finally fell, shaking her voice.

He was on her in an instant, pulling her against him and kissing the top of her head. She clung to him, maybe a little afraid he’d disappear again, or because she just needed to feel him close to her.

“You’re right,” he said after she calmed and her sobs quieted. “I should have been there. I should have let you make the call if you wanted me in your life or not. I’m sorry, sorrier than you’ll know. And to make it up to you, I won’t paddle your delicious ass for calling me an asshole.”

She pulled back from his embrace to look at his face, not sure if he was joking or not.

“What? It’s the least I can do for the woman I love.”

“You—” Her protest was cut off by his lips covering hers. He kissed her with a fever that could burn her. A warning and promise of things to come. And she wanted all of it.

“Promise me,” she managed to say when he released her.

“I swear it to you, Azalea, I’ll never leave you again. And you don’t need to figure out where you belong in this world. Because you already know.”

She looked up at him, that dark, demanding glare of his and nodded. She did know.

“Say it.” Bossy man.

“With you. I belong with you.” She wiped a strand of hair from his forehead. “Always.”

Chapter 26

Peter bent over the woman tied facedown to his bed, her ass a warm red, her back marked beautifully from his flogger, and her arousal glistening on her exposed pussy.

He kissed Azalea’s neck, trailing more of them down her back until he got to her ass. That, he smacked with his open palm, getting the sweetest sound of pain from her.

“You’ve been awfully good tonight.” He pulled her hips up until she managed to get to her knees. Her arms were tied to the headboard, so she wouldn’t be getting far that way. He lined up his cock with her hot entrance.

“Yes, I have,” she agreed. Funny how agreeable she could be when she was about to be fucked senseless.

“We’ll have to make this quick. We’re expected downstairs,” he said, gripping her hips.

“Way to ruin the moment,” she muttered, and earned another smack to her already-punished ass. She grunted, not the sort of sound that told him she was displeased.

“Quiet while I fuck you. Not a word, Azalea. I mean it. Not one fucking word.” He pinched her hip to test her. A little squeal but nothing else. “Good girl. Take your fucking.” He held her hips and plunged deep. Her pussy gripped him, surrounding his cock with warmth and wetness that didn’t give him a fucking chance in hell to go slow with her.

Not that she would want him to.

He pulled back and plowed forward again. Another grunt.

“You like that, Azalea?” he asked and paused to see if she would answer.

She nodded.

He laughed. “Good girl.” He reached forward, grabbing a fistful of her short hair and pulling her head back. “Fucking come for me, then.” He fucked her hard, their bodies smacking into each other. Her groans mixed with his grunts and it took no time for them both to find their fulfillment.

Azalea screamed out his name when she found her release. He let go of her hair and rode her until he exploded inside her, filling her with his seed, marking her body again as his.

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