A Million Different Ways (Horn Duet 1)

I took it. I took all of it. His frustration, his desire, his need to dominate, to make me bend to his will. He bit my bottom lip hard enough that I could taste the metallic tang of my own blood. He squeezed my breasts roughly and my body bowed into his hands rather than shrinking away. His reckless passion stoked mine to a fever pitch.

“You need to do a better job listening.” I felt a scrape of teeth on the delicate skin of my throat. The sting lingered. “Who do you think is calling the shots here?” he asked, his voice descending into a primitive growl. I was pretty sure it was rhetorical question.

He shoved his stone-hard erection against my sex and slipped his hand under my tight skirt, hiking it up forcefully. With the heel of his hand, he brushed my clit just enough to drive me wild. Lost in the heat of the moment, I struggled to get closer and ripped the shirt out of his pants to stroke the muscles of his lower back.

“Do you want me?” Two fingers secretly slipped inside of me. “Do you?”

“Yes!”

“Good.” The wall of heat was gone in an instant. He pushed off of me abruptly, leaving me utterly aroused and unfulfilled, cold and alone where his touch had been. I wanted to scream. His eyes were hooded, sulky, daring me to challenge him. When I didn’t respond, the flat line of his lips curved in victory. Grabbing my hand, he pulled me onto his side. “Let’s go.”

Good Lord, this man was mercurial. His need for ownership should have worried me. But it didn’t. If I was being honest with myself, I had to admit that part of me liked it. Having been on my own for so long, it was a relief to relinquish control to someone stronger, more powerful, more worldly. I was tired. All I wanted to do was drift and let the inexorable force of this stormy control freak take me––for a little while, at least.

Gideon popped out of the driver’s seat and looked around vigilantly. I slipped into the car and Sebastian snapped my seatbelt on. He was quiet and brooding all the way back to the apartment, the air between us heavy with the tension radiating from him. Any attempt at a civil conversation was pointless. He was an unbridgeable island when he was like this, an ocean away.

On the elevator ride up, he yanked me into a rough embrace. The guardedness had crept back into his eyes. He barely paused to look at me when we entered the apartment. “Get changed. You have ten minutes.” Talk about hot and cold.

I went back to the bedroom and slipped out of the beautiful shoes, the stockings, and dress, tucking them safely back in the closet. I laced up the high heeled gladiator sandals that reached my knees and went to fetch the Gucci dress. The silk jersey was fine enough to pass through a wedding band. I could barely feel it, the fabric whispering on my skin as it fell down, over my body. The slit exposed my bare leg up to the thigh. I felt naked. Between the shoes and the dress, there was more of me exposed than I was comfortable with.

Sebastian walked in wearing a slim tuxedo with a laydown collar and a skillfully tied bowtie. Even more devastatingly handsome than usual, he looked like he had stepped out of the pages of Men’s Vogue.

“Nice tux. Who’s your tailor?” I tried for cool indifference. His lips quirked…at least he wasn’t brooding anymore.

“Tom Ford. I’m glad you approve.”

As he stalked towards me, his liquid fire gaze traveled from my unpolished toes to my hair in a slow, sensual inspection that made my skin burn. Gripping my neck gently, he bent his head and brushed his soft lips back and forth on mine until I leaned in and kissed him back. When his lips lifted, I opened my eyes and caught him wearing a small, unreadable smile. He brought his other hand out from behind his back and held out a navy leather box with the word JAR written on it. Full of curiosity and apprehension, I looked up and found him regarding me attentively.

“I…I…” Words deserted me when what I really wanted to do was explain that in no way was I accepting jewelry from him.

“I want you to wear these.”

He opened the box and my hand lifted involuntarily, floating in midair before landing on my throat. Nestled inside, on a leather pillow, was a pair of exquisite chandelier earrings. They were designed in a delicate floral pattern with cascading petals, the tiny pave stones colored in shades of white to lilac.

“The wisteria tree?”

There was a smile in his eyes. “Do you like them?”

“They’re amazing but––”