Page 38 of Chaos Crown

My grip tightened on the buckle. “You don’t make the rules here, de Souza. You don’t test me to see if I’ll break. Much has changed, but that never will.”

She pinned me through. “Then do something about it.”

That challenge was the sounding bell to charge. To whip off my belt and give her what I denied myself while she positively begged for it. But I didn’t move. It was possible I wasn’t breathing.

She got me all those weeks ago as we played her little game of “ask me anything.” Ivy slipped in my head, and then into my pants. Cairo walking in was both welcome and unwelcome.

Raineyburrowed into my head without me realizing, then was ripped out. Catching me off guard once was a statistical probability, but the same woman winding me around her finger twice were the actions of the lovesick pathetic fool I just swore I wasn’t.

I will not do this with her again.

My belt slipped its buckle.

She will never have that power over me.

It slipped its loops, leaving my waistband to slide an inch down. I unbuttoned and it went the rest of the way.

There was nothing more illogical than the concept of love. It was nothing more than a rush of chemicals in the brain—as real as the trick Ivy’s mind played to make her believe she was her sister.

The bed dipped beneath my knee. Drawing my shirt over my head, it joined the rest of our clothes on the floor.

What I felt wasn’t real. It didn’t exist to be lost again. It didn’t make sense to say it never truly went away.

I pressed her flat, palm warm on the small of her back. As warm as the legs wrapping around me.

My love was nothing more than a delusion that had taken hold of me, and experience said there was no controlling when those released you.

I tightened around the leather.

So why fight it?

Thwap!

“Uh,” Ivy half cried, half moaned. My balls squeezed in time to her pale cheeks. “Again.”

My jaw clenched, penning in a hiss. Her alter ego didn’t demand more. She’d offer herself up to me in total submission, even if she didn’t pretend she wasn’t enjoying it.

But I was dealing with Ivy now. She wasn’t shy about taking what she wanted, and that did nothing good to the dominant, alpha beast that logic, reason, and genius was never able to tame.

Thwap!

Her back arched against the sheets, bending like a finely crafted bow. I ran my fingers up the curve of her spine. “Ah, yes, Jacques. Don’t—” I closed over her mouth, muffling the rest of her order beneath my palm.

Much better.

Thwap!

Ivy vibrated beneath me, pain and pleasure rippling through her body. It had been so long. Too long.

My erection honed in on her like a heat-seeking missile. Precum gathered on the tip, unashamedly giving away this woman’s power over me. Half-naked and three spankings in, and I was so hard there was a chance all of me would explode when I came. So much for the genius who was always in control. Always—

Pain sprouted from my palm. Ivy scraped her teeth along my bitten palm and closed over my finger.

“Ugh.” My cock twitched violently as she sucked me into her mouth. Head bobbing, she found something else to do with her mouth and I pictured all the other uses I could put it to. Where the fuck was that handcuff key?

“Where’s the key?”

“Can’t recall,” she sang.

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