Feral King (The Dominant Bastard Duology 1)

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You let him touch you.”

“It was your idea.”

His jaw set under his scruffy beard.

“Did it make you jealous?” she asked carefully.

“No.” It was obvious from the glittering anger in his eyes that it had and still did. “Maybe you should get to know him. He’s a man worth knowing.” He was quiet for a long moment, but she doubted he was done saying what he had to say. “Actually, once I would have said that, but now I don’t know.” He turned toward his forge, and she examined his strong profile. Maybe this was more distress and confusion than anger.

“Because of what happened? Because he got caught up in the moment?” She reached for his arm, then realized what she’d almost done and folded her hands together behind her back. “Rodrigo loves and respects you. He did what he thought you wanted.”

“I won’t be talking to him again.”

“But why? He’s your best friend. You seemed to be into what was happening – how was he supposed to know you wanted him to stop?”

He glowered into the flames.

“And now you don’t like him because he made me give you a blowjob? That sounds like a pretty awesome friend, if you ask me.”

His eyes narrowed. “It’s not funny.”

“Was it – do you feel like he did something you couldn’t stop him from doing?”

“I didn’t want to stop him at the time. It was after, but by then it was too late.”

“Because it made things weird between you?”

“No.”

“Then what, Mister Leduc? What’s going on in that twisty mind of yours?”

His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. “If he really liked me, how could he touch you?” he asked, his gaze stark.

“You asked him to. He thought you’d given him permission. I thought you had too.” She grimaced at him. “With kink there has to be clear communication. If something is happening that you don’t like, you need to let me know. If we hadn’t started playing around in front of him he wouldn’t have been anything but professional, I’m sure. He thought he was doing what you wanted.”

He reached for her with one of his rough, grimy hands, and grabbed her hair, then pulled her to the workbench where she’d put his lunch. Arousal spiked through her, unexpected and unwelcome. She was trying to have a serious conversation with him and had been making headway, damn it. Stubbornly, she forced back her desire and tried to focus on communicating.

“Did you enjoy it?” he growled.

“I thought it was what you wanted.”

“That’s not what I asked you.” His fist tightened, and he gave her a small shake, his body half covering hers and his face so close she could feel his breath at her ear.

“Yes, Mister Leduc. I enjoyed feeling helpless.” She gasped, her healing nipples tightening and making her all too aware of the piercings he’d ordered put through that most sensitive of flesh. Every time she caught sight of them or became aware of them, she got aroused all over again.

“You liked his hand in your hair as he forced you down on my cock,” he accused.

“Yes.” There was no reason to deny it.

His erection dug into her hip, and she lost her determination to keep the conversation going. He let go of her hair and pinned her down with one big paw on the back of her neck. Brusquely, he kicked her feet apart and got between them, then his hardness pressed along her ass.

“I keep thinking about it, and then I get like this even though I’m angry. Does that make any sense?”

“Feelings don’t have to make sense. They just are.”