Page 78 of Power and Possession

She just couldn’t handle the pleasure.

I thrust carefully, trying to make it last. Endurance wasn’t a problem for me, but when it had been this long since I’d fucked her, my control was slipping. Luckily, she’d experienced the same dry spell as me, and she was moaning and thrashing as my pubic bone rubbed her with every slick movement.

“That’s my girl,” I encouraged, smoothing her hair and then muttering in her ear. “Let yourself go. Don’t hold back—there’s plenty more waiting for you.”

She scrunched up her face and then climaxed, whimpering as she clutched at my back. My scars bothered her, but she'd have to get used to them now. I’d endured a lot of trauma, but if it had brought me to this moment, to this exact second when this beautiful woman was pulsing around me, it was all fucking worth it.

She threw her head back, trying to catch her breath, but I pushed us both forward.

“I can’t again—not so soon—”

“Yes, you can,” I encouraged, bringing my mouth down to her breasts, “and it needs to happen now.”

At my command, she released again, softer this time, but satisfying all the same. With a few more thrusts, I finally allowed myself to finish, filling her full of my essence. I stayedinside of her, pulsing for almost a full thirty seconds. It was the greatest high I’d ever known.

We both came down from the clouds gently, our breathing becoming steady and calm. I stayed inside of her, hovering over her body and kissing her as tenderly as I knew how.

“My god, I hope you’re pregnant,” I whispered, biting her lower lip gently.

“Steele!” She smacked me playfully, slightly horrified, slightly aroused.

“I mean it. That way, you’d be forced to marry me. For your honor.”

She giggled and then laid her head back down, sighing contentedly.

“I’m back on my birth control, you freak.”

“One thing at a time then,” I said. “I plan to bind you to me for life, Ashlynn Phillips.”

For the first time in our relationship, she didn’t disagree with me, and she just rested her head on my chest.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Ashlynn

After being alone for nearly a month, Steele’s arm wrapped around my waist was exactly how I wanted to wake up. The second my eyes opened I registered how close he was, enveloping me with the smell of his masculine cologne and the bit of scotch that always seemed to linger, even though he hadn’t consumed a drop since he’d pulled me from that club in London.

He was still asleep. Every time I’d slept in his bed before, with the exception of when he was badly injured, I’d woken up to his hot stare on me. But instead, he rested comfortably, the gash on his forehead stitched up neatly and his lip much less swollen than it was yesterday. His stubble was already coming in, and I knew that he’d easily have a thick beard if he stopped shaving for a few days. His five o’clock shadow seemed ever-present, long before the early hours of the evening.

The sheets were bunched below his waist, and I could just make out the hollow of his hips. His chest was still scarred from his encounter with my father, but the lines were fading and didn’t bother me as much as they once did.

If he could forgive me, I needed to forgive myself.

I traced the scars on his chest, thinking of how we got here. From the moment he first skimmed his hand over my bare stomach, he’d wanted me. And if I was honest with myself, I’d wanted him the second he pressed his lips to mine.

And now I had him.

His hand grabbed the wrist that was tickling his chest,and then he curled his fingers around mine before bringing them up to kiss them.

“Bonjour,mon amour.” His voice was husky and dry from sleep. The look he gave me was smoldering. His eyes were heavy and lidded, but his lips curled into a sly smile.

He wasted no time, pulling me towards him by my waist and then rolling me on my back as he leaned over me. I suppressed a moan as he licked my throat. I couldn’t imagine waking up to this every morning, but I knew I wanted to. There was only one thing left to say. I’d wanted to say it last night, but every time the words were on my lips I’d pulled them back, afraid of the implications.

But it wasn’t as if I was going to be leaving any time soon, and I knew that Steele wanted me for as long as he could have me.

I took a deep, shaky breath. Steele immediately stopped kissing me, sensing the sudden change in my pulse and my erratic breathing.

“Ash?”

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