Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61652 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61652 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
And like a drug, I went to her.
Needing her touch. Needing to punish her the way I was punished. Needing ownership.
Pain.
Loss.
Screams.
I gripped her by the hair and exclaimed, “Who am I?”
Her eyes dilated as she replied, “Master.”
Juliet
He was shaking.
Did he even realize it? The way he clung to me?
“Master,” he repeated from his panicked memory. “Now you know… He killed my mother, and I paid him back in the same kindness. Troy saw.” He sat up, facing me on the floor. “He saw, and he took me under his wing. Our business has always been this, but Troy…” He hesitated. “He’s not the same as me. He’s cruel, punishing, and he’d kill me to get to you.”
“You’re afraid,” I said calmly. “Of turning into him.”
“I fucking am him!”
“No.” I was ready to slap him. “You aren’t. You’re controlled. You’re loving. You know the boundaries. Maybe at first, I didn’t see that, but now I do. I—” I almost confessed. “I see you, Donovan. I see you.”
“Impossible.” His voice cracked. “I stole you. All you see is what I want you to see.”
“Had you given me a chance,” I uttered softly. “I would have begged to be stolen by my monster, my villain. I would have tied myself up and opened wide for your taste, would have spread my legs and cried for the pleasure only you could give me, would have crawled across a floor just to serve my master. I would have—”
His kiss was sudden.
Painful.
Raw.
Mine.
Our tongues tangled as he pushed me back against the floor, hovering over me, his body weighing me down in such sweet surrender I wanted to cry. “Yes.”
“Yes,” he repeated. “Mine, all mine.”
“Always,” I agreed while he kissed down my neck.
He paused, his breath coming out in short pants and pinning me there. “I’ll never let anything happen to you.”
“I know that.”
“I keep this estate to remember.” His dark eyes met mine. “To never become him; no matter how much I need—to stay me.”
I leaned up and kissed him across the mouth, setting my lips against his. “She’d be proud of you, Donovan.”
“She wasn’t even mine.”
“She was in the ways that counted.”
Our foreheads touched.
I didn’t know how long we stayed like that until my stomach started growling.
With a sexy smile I hadn’t seen from him ever. Donovan stood and pulled me to my feet. “Shall I feed my pet?”
“As long as it’s not in a bowl,” I joked.
He burst out laughing, pulling me into his arms. “Aw, pet, it would be my honor to serve…”
An hour later, he was looking at me while I ate.
“Aren’t you hungry?” I devoured the snack he’d made for us, finally looking up as he watched me eat. “What? Is something on my face?”
He scoffed out a chuckle. “Would fucking kill to have you on my face.”
I shot him a look. “Do you only think about sex?”
“Yes.” He reached out and grabbed my chair, jerking it closer until our knees were intertwined. We were sitting outside, watching the gorgeous Seattle night sky. “Sex and you. Always. Every second. Every day.”
I couldn’t resist. “So, are all your pets like this?”
“Do you see any other pets?”
“No, but—”
“You’re mine.” He grabbed my fork and put a piece of fruit into my mouth. “Serve me during the day, then let me serve you during the night. Let me worship you while you submit so perfectly; doesn’t that sound like the best ending to every fairy tale?”
“Servitude.”
“What better way to show your devotion than on your knees? What better way for me to show my adoration than bringing you to them?”
I found myself smiling. “Somehow, that was the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.” I ate the bite, leaning in. “I promise to always wait for you on my knees if you swear to keep me, own me, honor me—while you stand.”
His smile was no longer cruel. It was beautiful, like seeing the ocean for the first time, like losing yourself then finding yourself again.
“You say I’m yours. But you’re just as much mine, aren’t you?”
He was quiet.
Too quiet.
All of a sudden, I was in his lap with his lips caressing my collarbone. “Where else would I be? Then with you? When the world is chaotic, I’ll be calm. When you have nowhere to turn, I’ll be your home. When you think you’re lost and afraid, let me be your map. I’m done, Juliet. I have so much to tell you, but I’m done—finished. This is it. You’re my crescendo after a lifetime of playing.” He pulled me in for a hug, his lips hot on my ear. “You’re my finale.”
I exhaled against his body, feeling him everywhere, too relieved to say anything but, “Don’t forget…”
“I could never forget you.”
“Then don’t let me go.”
“Never.”
“I think…” I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I think I was yours before I even knew it.”