Page 195 of Nightshade

I understood his reasoning. Perhaps the most confusing part in all of this was that he wasn’t holding me against my will for his amusement. He was doing it because he felt it was the only way to keep me safe.

As much as I wanted to hate him for it, I couldn’t. However dark and wicked, his feelings for me seemed to transcend all the rules.

“Please. Just … tell Remy about the church, then?”

“I’ll send him to check it out. You have my word.”

“Jericho, I don’t blame you for this. Really. In some weird, Stockholmish way, I get your reasoning. But you don’t have to tie me up and lock me in a room. I’m not going to leave.”

He leaned forward again, seizing my mouth at the same time his hands slid up the hem of my nightgown. “Darling, you’ve just proven yourself to be untrustworthy enough in that regard that I would never take your word for it now.”

Every treasonous cell in my body sprung to life with his touch.

“Humans are such tempting little creatures.” He licked my neck, taking his time over my hammering pulse. “I don’t know what is it about seeing you restrained that makes me want to fuck you so relentlessly.” His rough voice and hands sent a shiver through me, as he slid my panties down my thighs. “My dangerous little tu’nazhja.”

Tu’Nazhja. The tiny bird he’d told me about the day in the woods.

I wanted to fight him, to tell him I wouldn’t let him touch me until he released me from the binds. That I was a strong and independent woman who could make her own decisions and didn’t need him watching over me.

Sadly, that was a lie.

Although I considered myself fairly intelligent, he was right. If given the chance, I was just stupid enough to try to leave. The mystery of my father had pulled at me for too long to abandon the search for him. And Jericho would sure as hell have to tie me up to keep me from trying to escape.

Lost to his touch, I spread my thighs for him, stretching the fabric that dug into my legs.

He loosened the laces of my gown and pulled the collar low enough to expose one of my breasts. The moment his lips made contact with my nipple, my whole body seized with a warm rush of pleasure. The stubborn beast inside of me clawed to get away, but the bigger, inescapable beast on top of me pinned me down. I wriggled and bucked, trapped in his immovable cage, my mind urging me to fight, while my body begged to surrender.

Strong hands held me still.

Still, I squirmed against him, the anger inside of me battling the undeniable mastery of his tongue and mouth, which made for a confusing mix of lust and revulsion.

“I hate you,” I lied.

“Your body disagrees.”

One, long drag of his tongue sent a pulse of electricity over my sensitive skin. Stomach tight with the ache that throbbed between my legs, I moaned and writhed.

The sound of his dark chuckle only goaded my frustration.

“Your impudence doesn’t work with me, Tu’Nazhja.” He suckled my flesh, and my fight turned to nothing more than pleading whimpers.

“Because you don’t play fair!” My voice carried a pathetic whine of defeat. I threw my head back against the pillow, crying out from the intense pleasure that had my thighs trembling.

“I could spend an eternity listening to that sound,” he rasped against my flesh. “Tell me what I want to hear, Farryn.”

My body flipped over, arms crossed in the binds, and he propped my ass up with what looked like an enormous neckroll pillow, which he slid beneath my belly. With my face buried in the mattress, he set a hand at my crown and turned my head to the side. The unforgiving fabric of my panties dug into my thighs, burning as he spread my knees apart.

His finger slid up and down my infuriatingly wet seam. “Look how your body responds to my touch. You swell and drip and tremble, practically begging to be filled.” Tiny vibrations from his skin sank into my flesh, and I ground myself against the pillow beneath me, humping it like an animal.

“You cannot resist me. Not when my sole objective is to conquer your stubborn will. Now say it.”

The rubbing of my clit stopped, but he kept his finger there, allowing those pulses of electricity to innervate the too-sensitive nerves. The sensation curled my stomach and I ground my hips harder, desperate for relief.

“Please, Jericho.”

“Tell me what you want.”

“I want you to fuck me.”