Page 116 of Cruel Games

But even the strongest of warriors needed someone every now and then.

“I belong to you,” I whispered against her temple, hands shaking so badly I had to plant them against the counter to keep myself from backing out. “Tell me what you need.”

“I don’t know what I need,” she grumbled, her voice low. “I can’t even tell up from down now.”

She reached over my shoulder and twisted the knob in the shower, the cold water splashing out to dance across my ankles as I stood there, watching her curiously. Her hands were steady, more than my own, and she shoved me back as she stood, letting her dress fall to the floor as she took off her bra and let it join the rest of her attire.

They splatted against the floor as she dropped them, but she paid it no mind, stepping into the frigid spray of the water without even flinching.

“You’ll get sick,” I tried, worried for her health, but she ignored me. The heaviness in the air settled like a boulder between us, and I might never have managed to climb it to get to her if I didn’t do it now. “Ivy?—”

“If you’re so worried, then get in here with me,” she snapped, turning her back to me, the water still running a surprising red as it tore chunks of flesh and dried blood from her skin and hair, washing away the last traces of her night down the drain.

I steeled myself and stripped bare, suddenly very, very aware that I’d never been this vulnerable in front of another human in my life. With a deep breath, I stepped under the water, the frigid droplets shocking my system as I swore.

“Fuck.”

Her head tilted slightly as I stepped up behind her, reaching over her shoulder to grab the shampoo. “Too cold for you?”

“No,” I growled, the nearness of her body raising my temperature significantly. Even in this frigid water, my cock twitched in eagerness, wanting to take things further, desperate to make her see me as a man like she saw the others. “Close your eyes.”

My fingers worked into her scalp, hoping to release the tension she’d built up in every muscle in her body. She sagged against me, her body tired and weak, but she kept her footing as I worked the suds into each strand, making sure not a single fleck of tonight’s escapades remained.

When she looked in the mirror, she’d imagine it all a dream.

A bad dream.

Without warning, she turned to face me, her whole body touching mine as she looked up into my eyes, searching for something I couldn’t decipher.

What do you want from me?I wanted to ask her.What do you want to see in my eyes?

And then her hand snaked between us as I rinsed the suds from the back of her hair and grabbed my cock like the neck of a beer bottle.

Andstrokedit.

The sound that left my lips was less than human. It was downright embarrassing, feral, and unhinged.

No woman had ever put her hands on me like that before.And in that moment, I knew no other woman ever would. Ivy, in one move, one flick of her wrist, possessed me.

Wholly.

Completely.

Indefinitely.

“Ivy,” I gasped, my hands leaving her hair to slam against the wall behind her. “What?—”

“Don’t start talking now, Coyote,” she muttered, her lips turning down in a pout as she held my gaze captive. “All I need from you are sounds.”

A wave of regret washed through me. I didn’t want this to be what defined our relationship on an intimate level. I didn’t want our first time together to be a rushed interlude in the bathroom in the middle of a cold shower while the remnants of her tears burned her delicate skin and the feel of another man lingered in her mind.

“No,” I insisted, reaching down to grab at her wrist, but she slapped me away with her other hand, letting her eyes fall for just a second to take in what she held in her grip.

“Oh,” she murmured, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. “That’s uh, that’s a lot.”

“I—”

“It’s not a bad thing,” she said, cutting me off with a little smirk. “It just means it’ll be a little harder to do this.”