Page 25 of Dark OZ

His hands lifted to my neck, his long fingers cupping the back of my head. I dropped the forgotten towel, instead finding the hard planes of the thighs framing my body.

This time, when his mouth claimed mine, it wasn’t chaste or soft. And unlike last time, I kissed him back, allowing his body to surge against me. He tasted like dark coffee. When his tongue moved against mine, I couldn’t help but moan. He was delicious. The kiss tasted like everything Em had forbidden, everything I knew I should be cautious of, and everything I wanted to lose myself in.

He savored the kiss, taking his time and learning all the ways our mouths fit together. The calluses on his palm scraped against the soft, exposed skin on the underside of my breast, applying enough pressure to make me gasp.

Crowe’s other hand angled my head to expose my neck. The lips breaking away from mine moved down the column of my throat, resting in the sensitive spot just below my ear. “I want so badly to lay you out on this counter and show you how veryniceI can be.”

“Do it,” I breathed in a sultry tone I’d never heard before.

“Darling, your body can’t handle the things I want to do to it right now.” Crowe licked at my neck, biting down so lightly that I gave a whimper of impatience. My fingers curled into his shirt, holding on like it was a lifeline in this sea of desire.

Crowe gave an arrogant laugh into the hollow of my shoulder. “The ways I would bend you…” The hand that still cradled the back of my head tightened, holding me firmly in place. It tugged me backwards until my weight was suspended in his palm. My body arced to offer my chest to him. Golden hair dusted over my chest a second before his mouth did. It was hot against my nipple, but the sensation of his tongue was nothing compared to the teeth that followed it.

“Crowe,” I pleaded.

“So sweet.” His hand drifted over the bandages. “Are you wet for me, beautiful? Does that pussy ache for my touch?”

When his fingers skated over my lower abdomen, my entire body began to quake. I had to hold onto the planes of his chest to keep from falling the moment my knees gave out.

“All that time locked away on the Farm. Has a man ever explored your body? Has anyone ever held you in their arms until you were trembling beneath their touch? Have you ever been stroked so completely you forgot how to breathe?” His ankle wrapped around my lower leg, forcing my stance wider. “Tell me I’m the first to hear you gasp their name.”

“You’re the first.” It wasn’t a lie. I wasn’t a virgin. I refused to let that be an asset Em could sell to the highest bidder. It was mine to give, and she didn’t have the right to claim it. So, once I was old enough, I bribed one of the guards. He was a tall man that had always looked at me with pity in his eyes. Pity was the closest I’d ever found to kindness at the Farm. He tried to make it good for me. But Crowe, even in these few moments, had heightened my pleasure far more than anything I experienced that night or any night since. I certainly never felt the urge to cry anyone’s name before, not the way his name was nearly slipping from my mouth right now.

A low growl of male satisfaction responded to my admission.

All of the blood in my body followed his hand until it, just like he, was centered between my legs. His thumb moved in tight, firm circles against my clit, while his fingers stroked with unrelenting pressure, learning my body in the same way his tongue had learned the shape of my mouth. The combination of sensations wound my nerves into one electrified coil that threatened to consume me if it didn’t find release.

I whimpered with need, hanging onto him and pleading with each breath. I pressed against his palm, chasing the climax he denied. It was maddening, to the point that I began riding his hand as he crested me higher and lower, over and over again. Each wave was more intense than the last, but never enough to push me over the edge.

“When I make you come, I want you to scream my name loud enough the boys upstairs hear you. Show Dandy who you really belong to.”

Between heavy breaths, I said, “I don’t belong to any—”

Crowe stole the words, claiming my mouth at the same time he pressed a third finger into me. The intrusion filled and stretched me until thoughts of ownership drifted away, and there was only the coil of his fingers.

“Say my name, beautiful, and I’ll give you what you want.”

Still against his lips, I forced the word to take form through my delirium. “Crowe.” It wasn’t a scream. It was barely a whisper. The best I could manage since I’d forgotten how to breathe.

The heel of his palm rolled against my clit, with a single pump of his hand that twisted within me. I exploded. That wave of heat finally crashed down on me and set my body aflame. My reality blazed around me, breaking apart until the only thing tethering me to this world was the twisted fabric of his shirt between my fingers.

Chapter 11

Why the fuck had I decided to wear jeans today? I have an entire drawer of sweatpants and joggers, but I chose today to be the day that I just lounge around home in jeans. And then, of course, I had the bright idea to follow my dick all the way downstairs, drawn by the sound of Thea’s raging like a sailor following a siren’s song.

I’d left Dorothy just after sunrise. I always rose early, despite how dark my room could be in the mornings. There was too much to be done in the day to waste it sleeping. I did a few circuits in the gym, then headed up for breakfast.

Hours later, the boys and I were going over the details of what we knew about the Wizard and debating the best way to go about ensuring a meeting with them. Nick, no surprise, wanted to force their hand. Danny wanted to go with manipulation and espionage. And I… I couldn’t take my eyes off the security feed of my bedroom. I barely heard their bickering over the rush of blood through my ears.

After hours of waiting, the motion alert finally signaled. I’d been checking it all morning like an obsessed addict waiting for his fix. When the notification buzzed against the desk, I practically pulled a muscle trying to slow down my reaction and open the phone in a way that didn’t rouse suspicion.

Thea had woken and was walking, perfectly fucking naked, around my room. The feed was in black and white. The night vision made her long, dark tresses glisten like snow. When she finally found the light switch, the colors of the video feed changed, making the bandages stand out in stark contrast against what used to be flawless skin.

Eastin deserved so much more than the two-minute death Thea had delivered. Although, a grim part of me loved the fact that for someone so vain, Eastin no longer had a face.

The map work of lacerations could only have been described as torture. Watching my girl in pain had awoken something in me. Thea quickly forgot her modesty as Nick moved from one long cut to the next, but there was nothing sexual about what had happened in my bed. At least not yet.

Nick might get off on the way a woman’s orgasm heightens with carefully applied pain and the rush of endorphins that can only come with fear, but that was never my thing. I wanted to hear a woman scream with pleasure, not agony.

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