Ruthless Prince (Dark Syndicate 1)

“You fucking dog!” I lash back. He answers by tearing off my clothes. The dress rips right off me in one swift move. Then my bra comes off too. He tears off my panties. In seconds I’m naked beneath him. I scream and try to fight back, but he holds me down.

Massimo then flips me over onto my front, and before I can take my next breath, a heavy hand lands on the bare skin of my ass, jolting my body forward. Another scream rips from my lips, and other slap comes down hard on my ass. And another. And another.

“Stop it!” I cry. “You’re hurting me.”

In the reflection against the glass wall I notice he was gearing up to spank me again, but he stops at my cry. When his hand touches my ass again, it’s a gentle caress of his fingers running over my skin.

There’s a moment of nothingness as I stare at our hazy reflection. Me naked, pinned to the bed with my hair falling over my face, and him half naked. Too close to me.

I keep still. I keep very still, but my poor heart can’t take this. It’s beating so wild in my chest I think it might explode.

His fingers flutter over my ass, and it’s only then that I notice how much the skin burns.

In the glass I watch him bend his head, then I feel his lips pressing against the stinging patches of skin. Four kisses for the three times he spanked me.

Before I can process the shock of that, he grabs me and pulls me into his lap. Slipping one large hand behind my head, he cups it and holds me close, bringing me forward until our lips almost touch.

I’m naked, pressed up against him, with our eyes and our lips close. With no words spoken and just the sound of my heavy breathing, the tension is thick in the air. The myriad of thoughts that race through my mind twists and scatters. My lungs tighten and the air dispels, leaving me breathless the longer he stares at me with those tempestuous eyes.

The only things I’m aware of are my shaky breath, my racing heart, my skin touching his, my nipples pebbling against the hard wall of his chest. The wetness gathering deep in my core, stirring and growing only for him. Arousal.

Maybe I’ve gone crazy. The last forty-eight hours have made me crazy, because how can I feel aroused after what he just did? He ripped off my clothes and spanked me. No one has ever laid a hand on me and hurt me like that.

How the fuck can I be aroused by that?

Now, what is this?

Is he going to kiss me? Is he going to steal my first kiss away from me too? It’s so naïve and child-like to think that way. Foolish.

When he leans forward and brushes his lips over mine, electricity sparks deep inside me and pulses through my body, but instinct makes me turn my head away. Instinct to protect something that seems more passionate to me than him claiming my virginity. I can’t give him my first kiss. I won’t allow him to steal it… yet.

Yet is the word I need to bear in mind because I can’t fight him. I’m weak and defenseless against his strength, and… this thing that seems to screw with me every time he touches me. This is the second time I’ve been naked in his presence, and look at the way my body responds to him.

What will happen next time?

“So pretty, so pure, so innocent. You’ve never been kissed, have you?” he breathes. I look back at him.

I tr

y to pull away from the invasion of my space, but he latches on to my hair and holds me still.

“Answer me,” he demands.

“You just accused me of fucking my best friend. Why are you asking me about something as simple as a kiss?” I challenge. I don’t know where my strength, or courage, comes from to talk to him with such defiance.

Maybe it’s an enhanced version of fear talking, but I feel a small victory when annoyance spreads across his face. The victory is only momentary, though, because he presses his cheek to mine and gets close to my ear.

“Answer the question I asked you, Emelia. You’ve never been kissed before, have you?” His voice is crude and demanding.

When he tugs on my hair, I press my hand to his chest. The taut skin and deep ridge of muscle tighten under my palm, and he runs his fingers over my ass.

One hand on my head, the other on my ass, making sure I know I’m locked in, paralyzed against his hold on me.

“No. I have not.”

“Your kisses belong to me now. Your arousal is mine, your fantasies are mine, you are mine. Nothing is yours. You don’t fuck with me, and I won’t fuck with you either.”

And just like that, he picks me off him and sets me back down on the bed. He stands up. My gaze drops to the bulge in his pants. It’s more pronounced against the joggers than what he wore the other day.