“You.” I fight to keep sane, to keep from breaking down completely. But fuck, I need him so much, like nothing in the world before.

“Me?” He asks slowly, sliding one finger inside me.

I arch up, lifting my hips into him. “You,” I gasp, clenching tight. “More.”

“Like this?”

He thrusts another finger inside, and God, it feels so good. Filling me, stretching me. He beckons, curling his fingers up against my walls, just right.

I answer with a whimper of pleasure, but he pulls back. My frustration builds, but he just smiles, a dark angel in the dim light, so controlled. Out of reach.

He’s still holding back, I realize through the rush of pleasure. He thinks he can contain this, stay removed and on the edge of this whirlwind.

I need to prove him wrong.

My wrists are bound lightly, and it’s easy for me to tug off my tank top completely and sit up, reaching for him. I kiss him deeply, tasting myself on his tongue as I reach for his jeans and yank them open impatiently.

“Easy there,” Ash groans, trying to grab my wrists again—to control the pace—but I close my fist around him, hard and hot, and he shudders, his hands dropping to the counter to brace himself against my teasing caress. God, he feels so good. I watch his face change as I stroke along his rigid length, loving the way his controlled expression slowly shatters, until he’s breathing fast, his eyes locked on mine with a ravenous stare.

The moment shimmers between us, electric, but I need more.

I need him to lose control completely. To feel even a fraction of this chaotic passion that surges through my body. I lean in, as if to kiss him, then bite down on his lower lip, meeting his eyes with a wicked challenge.

Ash’s eyes flare, and then his control is lost forever.

He grabs me, claiming my mouth in a hard, demanding kiss that obliterates everything in the universe but this: his hands, his mouth, the heat that surges like a firestorm in the night. His hands roam over my body, yanking me closer as he shoves his jeans aside. I barely have time to wrap my thighs around him before I feel him against me, where I need him the most.

He thrusts into me in one glorious, thick stroke.

I gasp, gripping his shoulders tightly as he moves inside me, all the way to the hilt. God, so deep.

Ash groans into my mouth, pistoning his hips in a maddening rhythm. I grind back against him, loving every inch of his invasion, and then he’s lifting me, his hands tight on my ass as he turns and slams me up against the nearest solid surface. The cold of the refrigerator door hits my back just as he surges deep inside me, and I cry out from the overwhelming sensations flooding my body, consuming every sense.

It’s mindless; madness, the fever of touch and taste and God, the thick drive of him, rubbing up high inside me, hard and deep.

I cling on, meeting every thrust until Ash takes us both down to the floor. I roll us before he can pin me down, straddling him on top. I sink down on him hard, riding him relentlessly, pushing us both to the edge. He clutches my hips, thrusting into me with every beat, our eyes locked so I can see the aching lust in his expression, those dark eyes alive with something reckless.

Something real.

This, this is what I wanted. Right here, beyond logic or reason. Nothing but friction and heat and hunger, everything else long since melted away. The wild passion that grips us both now, hurtling closer to the edge of oblivion with every damp thrust and desperate kiss.

I’m close, so close to falling completely. I arch my back, rocking my hips to meet him as Ash drives up deep inside. His hands are on me, gripping me tight, so good. Again, again, God I’m ready, but just as the deep shiver starts to coil around the base of my spine, Ash rears up, tumbling me beneath him. With a deep groan, he slams into me, and the force is so good, so right, I shatter with a scream. He pistons hard, over and over, riding out the breaking wave until I’m mindless with pleasure and he finally he lets out a ragged cry and surrenders to the epic climax that seizes us both; an obliterating, all-consuming ecstasy that wracks my body and consumes my soul, until there’s nothing left in the world but him.

Only him.

15.

Ash.

We lie there in a tangle of limbs on the kitchen floor, until I feel Noelle’s breathing settle beside me. She’s asleep. I get to my feet, and then gently carry her out to her studio bedroom; I lay her naked body on the bed and wrap her up in a blanket I find thrown over the chair.

She lets out a breathy sigh in her sleep, snuggling into the covers. She looks so beautiful, her hair tangling on the pillows, a smudge of flour still on her cheek. She’s sleeping peacefully, a world away from the reckless, wild woman branded into my memory; straddling me in the darkness, her back arched above me, her eyes falling shut in the grip of ecstasy.

A pleasure that consumed us both, in the end. I let go with her, completely. She gave me no other choice. And sitting here beside her, watching the moonlight dance across her pale skin, I wonder, why have I been fighting this for so long?

Because you know, this passion will wreck all your plans, a voice reminds me. Make you stupid in the grip of lust—stupid, and reckless, and destined to fail.

Noelle stretches in her sleep, reaching for me. Emotion slices deep in my chest, and I can’t stop myself from lying down beside her, spooning her body against mine so that every inch of warmth and sweetness is cradled tightly in my arms.

She’s dangerous.

She’s perfect. Too damn good. It’s never been like this before. I’ve never been tempted so much—or given in to the chaos of lust. Given up control.