Beautiful Nightmare (Dark Dream 2)

He licked a tear that had rolled down my cheek and then forced me to taste it, prying my lips open with his own.

“Tell me aren’t on fire for me, too,” he demanded arrogantly.

And fuck him.

Fuck him for playing me like a maestro, plucking sensations from my body that muddled my brain. Fuck him for playing with my life and the life of my brother as if there was nothing at stake.

Fuck him for being right.

“You make me cold,” I told him firmly, staring into that peridot green gaze that made my heart flutter. “I feel nothing for you but hatred and you bought that, Tiernan.”

He glared down at me for a long moment, only the sound of our harsh breath and my own pulse in my ears loud in the cold room.

And then he leaned close enough that we were breathing the same air and the intimacy nearly killed me. As if that wasn’t enough, he lapped at my lower lip softly then tugged it lightly between his teeth.

“Then, I’ll buy back your admiration,” he said, the words so heavy with solemn, unflinching intention that I felt each like a physical blow.

“Impossible,” I breathed.

“You underestimate me, little thing,” he murmured against my cheek. “I am a wealthy man.”

“You can’t literally buy me back,” I argued, hating the idea that he could think I was like Aida, obsessed with beauty and wealthy. “I’m not that kind of girl.”

“No,” he agreed, leaning back from me so I could see the full impact of his beautiful, broken face. “I’ll buy you back, Bianca, with patience. I’ll buy you back with kindness. I’ll do it with paintings I know will bring tears to your eyes and I’ll do it by putting those damned solar panels on Lion Court. I’ll do it by giving you space to make your own decision to come home even though I want to drag you back there by your hair. I’ll do it with orgasms that rip you apart at the seams and after, when you’re boneless and floating, I’ll hold you. Anchor you in a way you know I won’t let you go.”

“Stop,” I choked out, panic roaring through me in wild surges.

I started to thrash against him, so hard I clocked him in the mouth with my chin. He started to bleed, but he didn’t let loosen his hold.

“I won’t let you go,” he repeated almost viciously as he held me like Peleus wrestling the ever-changing form of Thetis, determined to win me and keep me forever. “I won’t. Now I own you, I won’t ever give you up.”

“I don’t want you,” I cried out, but there were more tears on my face and a keen edge of desperation in my tone that shook my conviction. “I’m not just a thing you can own.”

“Such a liar. You are my little thing,” he reprimanded, darkness crossing his face as he pressed his groin harder into my hips, pushing my legs farther apart so he could cant his erection against my panty-covered sex. “Should I show you how badly you lie?”

“No.” I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my face from him.

A part of me wanted it, a large part. For Tiernan to take from me. For him to press me open and pull me apart with the hard drive of his thick cock and the punishing hold of those strong fingers all over my flesh.

But another part was terrified. I didn’t have anything more to give to anyone, but Brandon. How could I trust anyone after a lifetime of being taken from?

I expected him to kiss me then. To take me with the same ruthless savagery he’d taken me on the beach.

Instead, he licked the path of a tear from the edge of my jaw up my cheek before planting a soft kiss at the corner of my closed eye. He smoothed my hair back with a big palm and I could feel his gaze hot on my face.

I didn’t dare open my eyes to see his expression.

I knew, whatever it was, I couldn’t bear it.

This was the side of Tiernan that eviscerated me. Those small glimpses of a warm heart and kind spirit that razed my resolve to the ground.

So, I lay still and sightless as Tiernan kissed me again. Hot, open-mouthed kisses down my cheek to my neck and chest. Each press of his lips to my body melted my resolve. Atom by atom I sank into the floor, into him, pliant and hungry in a different way than I had ever been before.

This wasn’t a flash fire. A burst of lust so intense it burned fast and clean.

This was a slow burn.

A seduction.

And I was helpless against the heat.

“I’ve barely touched you,” he murmured into the hollow of my throat as one hand swept down my side and rucked up the hem of my dress. “But when I put my fingers in your pussy, I bet you’ll drench them.”