I touched my bruised lips, tasting strawberry jam as Q locked the door, leaving us in echoey silence with the tang of salt in the air. The pool wasn’t chlorinated but kept clean and filtered using liquid as salty as the sea.

His eyes flashed with shame before being swallowed by blazing darkness. “Tonight, there are no rules, esclave. As-tu un problème avec ça?” Do you have a problem with that?

My body loosened, melted, giving into his wishes before he’d even begun. Q’s ferocity was gasoline to the already curling fire turning my blood into dust. “No.”

“Good.”

Removing the distance between us, Q placed both hands on my cheeks. His fingers would’ve been loving and tender, but they bit with silent need. “I’m going to fuck you, wife.”

I sucked in a hopeless breath as Q bowed his head and kissed me.

His tongue lashed out with demand, forcing me to follow his lead. I tensed for pain, for a bite or claw, but he kept himself sweet. The kiss granted a false sense of security and romance as his hands left my face, dancing over my breasts.

Arching my back, I pressed my nipples into his touch, moaning for more.

His lips tightened in a feral smile beneath mine as he ignored my request and moved his fingers to my shoulders.

He hovered there.

Kissing me.

Loving me.

I didn’t move.

Knowing this wasn’t the end but merely the beginning, I held my ground as Q looped his touch beneath the spaghetti straps of my negligee. With a harsh breath, he tore at the material.

I cried out in pain as the satin cut into my shoulder blades, fighting his desire to destroy it.

The nightgown put up a fight, but it was useless.

Q wanted me naked.

He wanted to butcher my outer shell and strip me nude because he couldn’t hurt my flesh in the same way. This was his only outlet, and I had no problem replacing yet another negligee with new.

My stomach flipped as his lips landed on my brand, his hand fisting my hair to tilt my head the way he needed. He licked me, keeping his teeth sheathed as my nightgown slipped to the damp floor.

The air inside the pool dripped with humidity. The carving of jungle and parrots decorating the walls were the only witnesses as I stood naked and wanting.

Our breaths were lost in the liquid music of a waterfall spilling into the pool, leaving the water rippling and broken.

Taking my hand, Q paced toward the control panel where light switches and temperature gauges rested. Selecting only one form of illumination, I smiled as the LED lights in the pool sprang bright. Hidden at the bottom they filtered through the water, bouncing of crimson mosaic and turning the salty depths a blood, blood red.

Q smiled as he guided me toward the shallows. “Get in.”

Not giving me a choice, he pushed.

I stepped off the edge and held my breath as the warm water lapped over my head. Pushing off from the bottom, I broke the surface and wiped away droplets to watch Q undress.

Not that Q undressed.

He tore like a beast shedding its winter coat.

He was as violent with his own clothes as he was with mine. Ripping his shirt, not caring about buttons, and tearing at his fly to kick away expensive shoes and tailored suits. The minute he was naked, he stood over me proud and glorious.

Taking his cock in his hand, he stroked the steel-hard length. “Take a good look, Tess. Because soon this will be so far inside you, you’ll be screaming for mercy.”

Water cascaded off my arm as I reached for him. “Can I touch you?”

“Tu peux me sucer si tu le souhaites.” You can suck if you wish.

I licked my lips. “I do wish.” Shivering, I couldn’t look away from him. I stared at both my husband and the monster I would never be able to tame. To think Q would try to shackle this part of himself and win? It was inconceivable. He was wild at heart. It would break him to be normal.

“You have to come closer, maître.” My eyes dropped to his lips. They were wet from his tongue, making my mouth water at the thought of kissing him again.

Never looking away, Q bent his knees until he crashed on the edge of the pool. His fingers grew white as he fisted his cock. “I’ll only ever accept instruction from you, my sweet wife.” His free hand dropped to my nipple, tugging it hard. “You have me on my knees. What do you intend to do with me?”

My breathing turned shallow as I pressed my body against the side of the pool. My mouth was so close to his erection—a willing vessel ready to taste.

But I paused.

Fluttering my eyelashes, I whispered, “My intention, dear master, is to suck your cock until you snap. I want to taste the whiskey you’ve been drinking, I want to bite you so you rage, and then, when you’ve had enough of my mouth, I want you to fuck me like you were born to do.”

His jaw clenched; his five o’ clock shadow darker in this gloomy water world. Letting go of his cock, he grabbed my head, bringing me toward him. “When you talk like that, how am I supposed to say no?” His teeth flashed as his touch turned brutal, inserting his hot erection past my lips. “Suck me like a good little esclave.”

My tongue swiped around his crown. We groaned in unison.

Once upon a time, I’d taken it upon myself to break Q. Believing, that until he gave in to me and trusted my love for him, he’d never be free. This reminded me so much of that. He wanted something more from me. Something I was achingly ready to give. But he was afraid.

And Q afraid was not a good thing. He would be volatile, mercurial, and impossible to predict.