Another reference to her departure. He squeezed the arms of the chair and the wood cracked. “You need me,” he reminded her. “And not just for this.”

“I don’t.”

He offered no other rebuke, his every nerve ending electrified, his desire for her only escalating. Instead, he lunged forward and sank his teeth in the cord that stretched from her neck to shoulder. Finally leaving his mark.

She shuddered against him, gasping his name with breathless wonder. Then she rotated her hips, gradually increasing the pressure. Press...retreat...press...retreat. Agonizing him.

“Do you like this?”

“Love...it.” As his inhalations quickened, he stared up at her face, enraptured. Her features were luminous, her eyelids heavy, her lips soft and pink, slightly swollen from his kisses. A flush brightened her cheeks, and her dark curls tumbled past her shoulders in well-loved tangles.

He reached up and fisted the strands. “Let me keep and protect you until Hades’s war is over.”

She stilled, her nails digging into his shoulders. “You keep reminding me how weak I am.”

“Because you need me.” Within a few short seconds, the lack of pressure and movement proved excruciating. Sweat beaded on his brow. “I’m strong.”

“You’re also stubborn. But how about this, hmm? I’ll let you pleasure me, and I might even stick around for a while, but you’ll keep your thoughts on strength and weakness to yourself.” She teased him with a featherlight stroke, her core brushing his erection. “Say yes, and we’ll get back to business. I’m wet. Shall I prove it?”

“Yes. Yes!”

She stood and pulled her dress over her head. Her bra and panties were blue—and the panties had a definite wet spot in the center. He groaned as he drank in the rest of her. Drank his fill. The long, endless legs so wonderfully dark, her injury hidden by a bandage. The flare of her hips created a heart. The indention of her stomach...the lacy bra couldn’t shield the crest of her nipples.

She was purely female, and he wanted her all over him.

He crooked his finger at her. “Return to me.”

“How about another bargain?” She placed a knee on each side of him, goose bumps erupting over her flesh. “I’ll stay right here...if you’ll put your fingers inside me.”

Agonizing? No longer. She—was—killing—him. A definite threat to his survival, but he was certain he and Destruction would go with a smile.

The urge to rip his gloves off with his teeth bombarded him. He would slay an entire army for the chance to feel her silken heat. But he couldn’t risk it. This was only his second encounter with pleasure in centuries. If he spoiled it with a flood of unnecessary pain...

“I agree to your terms.” A sense of urgency drove him as he tunneled his fingers under her panties. Even with the leather he could feel her slickness—she was soaked—and the sweet burn of her feminine heat. He thrust a single digit in, going deep, her inner walls clamping on him.

Moaning, she plumped her breasts and pinched her nipples. For his enjoyment, and her own. Such an uninhibited reaction delighted him.

Slowly, he fed her a second finger, stretching her. So tight! So perfect.

She groaned a sound of desperate hunger. “Feels good.”

Good. Yes. But they could do better. “Ride my fingers.” His jaw was clenched so firmly he almost couldn’t get the words out. Somehow, she’d completely stripped him of his humanity, turning him into an animal with only one goal: climax.

Or a beast.

“Like this?” Up she rose...down she slid. “Mmm, I hope so. That’s amazing.”

“Yes, just like that.” He used his thumb to circle the heart of her. “You’re squeezing me, scalding me.” Ruining me for anyone else.

She tilted his head, giving herself an unobstructed path to his lips; she traced her tongue along the edge of his mouth. “I want my hand around you. Let me?”

Yes! He still couldn’t risk skin-to-skin, so he would wear a condom. Where were the condoms? No time to search. He’d have to let her go, and he couldn’t let her go. “Keep your hand outside my underwear.”

“I will...if you’ll kiss me harder.”

“Always bargain like this.” He slammed his mouth against hers, drawing a moan from her, and she unzipped his pants. “Never stop.”

He hissed as she wrapped her fingers around his shaft. Up...down...she stroked him while continuing to move on his fingers. Yes, oh yes. This! This made him lose his ever-loving mind. The friction sparked new wildfires, until everything but arousal had burned off him. He pushed his tiptoes into the floor to raise his thighs and force her to lean against his chest to maintain balance.

He thrust his fingers deep, deep, deeper inside her.

“Yes! So close,” she rasped, her hips arching to chase his circling thumb.

He pressed against her bundle of nerves, and she shouted her pleasure to the ceiling, coming, coming so hard, her inner walls clenching on him, as if to ensure he stayed right where he was. She bucked against his fingers, once, twice, three times, her nails cutting into his shoulders.

When her forehead rested on his shoulder, she gasped out, “Needed that. Thank you.” Panting, she squeezed the base of his shaft. “Now let’s take care of you.”

He trembled as he arched a brow. “Sweet, Rina. What makes you think I’m done with you?”

* * *

Katarina buzzed with satisfaction and anticipation. Baden’s fingers were still inside her, still revving her engine despite her climax. She was hot, and she was achy—one taste had only made her hungrier for this dark and dangerous man.

She gave the base of his erection another squeeze. He was so big, thick and long, and harder than a police baton. “Am I hurting you?”

“Hurts good.”

Desensitizing him already? Or was the condition mental—a manifestation of his detachment from the world?

Figure it out later. Enjoy! With a moan, she arched her back, presenting him with her cleavage.

“Does my krásavica want her nipples sucked?”

His glamour girl? He kept claiming her...

“I do,” she said. His eyes were almost completely black, his pupils overshadowing his irises. Fine lines bracketed his mouth. How intense was his need to come? “Very badly.”

With his free hand, he jerked at the center clasp of her bra, freeing her breasts. Cool air kissed her skin, propelling her need ever higher.