She couldn’t answer that.

Instead she bit his thumb. Heat flared in his eyes at the feel of her teeth, his breath catching. “I will never let any man own me,” she said, kissing the bite mark to soothe it. “But you can try.”

At the sound of her sultry whisper, he let her go. Her hair unraveled, tumbling down around her shoulders. Neither of them looked away.

“Then I will.”

Hands slid over her hips, then under her thighs. Somehow he lifted her into his lap as he settled on the chair beneath her. Barrons dragged her forward with one hard thrust, seating himself fully beneath her, his muscled thighs clenching beneath hers.

He brushed her hair back over her shoulders, baring her corset to his gaze. Thumbnails scraped over her skin, bringing the barest shiver to the fore. His eyes were shadowed now, unreadable. Palms cupped her breasts through the stiff boning of her stays. Mina twisted uneasily, pulling at her wrists.

“Let me go.”

“No.” He leaned forward and bit her throat, one thumb sweeping beneath her corset and rasping over her nipple.

The sensation shot all the way through her. “Please.” She twisted again, feeling the hard steel of his erection rock between her thighs. “If we do this, I want to touch you.”

“No.” His voice came a little harder, fingers dipping and rolling her nipple between them, breath warm against her throat as his lips grazed her skin. “We don’t always get what we want, Duchess.”

Duchess. The correct way to address her, and yet it only emphasized the distance between them. A hand slid down her calf, tugging her boot off, making quick work of the other one before he settled her more firmly in his lap.

“Now,” he murmured, a strange light in his eyes, “let us see who’s telling the truth.”

Obviously he was still smarting over that “never let any man own her” comment. “About what? About how desperately you want me, Barrons?”

He stilled, the backs of his fingers brushing over her corset, then looked up slowly with dark, dangerous eyes. “I already admitted that. That makes you the liar. Are you lying, Duchess?” His thumb swirled dangerous circles around her hardened nipple, sending a hint of seduction through her corset. “Do you want me too?”

“Do you need me to want you?” she countered and his face darkened as if she’d struck a direct blow.

“No, you’re right.” Something cleared in his expression. He caught her hips between his hands and ground her against him, earning a hiss. “I just need you to want this.”

This was safe. She bit her lip, letting her hips ride over his again. Silent confirmation.

“I’m not going to be gentle, Mina—”

Mina. It threw her out of the moment, forming a connection between them that she shouldn’t want, and yet her heart clenched in her chest.

“Not tonight. I want you to remember this.” He lowered his head, tugging at the top of her corset. Her nipple tumbled free, drawing his heated gaze. “I want to mark you so that you can’t deny this tomorrow.”

“Then mark me,” she whispered. “Make me feel it.”

Teeth bit her nipple, drawing a cry from her lips. The pain was sharp, swallowed in warmth as his mouth softened over her, sucking at her. Exquisite. She felt it between her legs, as though his mouth were there instead.

His hands jerked at her trousers, tugging at her buttons, then ripping the fabric down her legs until his hands hit her thighs. Bending her knees up between them, he stripped the trousers off. Her drawers went with them, his mouth finding hers as she gasped at the shock of her sudden nakedness, his teeth sinking into her bottom lip.

No time to think about it. He spread her thighs wide in his lap, tearing at the buttons holding his own trousers closed until his cock jutted free. Lifting her hips, he hissed as the blunt head of his cock wedged between her slick thighs. Her entire focus narrowed to the sensation of their joining, as if nothing else mattered. Barrons looked at her and she saw the silent question in his eyes.

She had no answer. None but this… Inch by inch, she impaled herself upon him.

The shock of it stole her breath. Oh God. Then she was moving, the muscles in her thighs straining as she rolled her hips. Or tried to. The ties at her wrist dug in, giving her no leverage.

Large hands slid under her bottom, holding her there. The feel of him stretched her inside like a molten brand. “You’re at my mercy, Duchess.” His cool whisper shivered over her skin, a taunting smile darkening his lips. Muscles bunching in his arms, he lifted her hips until the blunt head of his crown threatened to leave her, then slowly let her sink back down.

“Do you want this?” A hiss escaped him as his cock glided all the way back in again. Mina buried her face against his shoulder, shuddering. She nodded.

Again those hands lifted her, holding her at the very edge. “Then beg me,” he demanded. “Tell me how much you want it. How much you want me.”

Years’ worth of secret desire burned between them. Mina shook her head, and he rubbed the blunt head of his cock against her sensitive flesh. The ache of withdrawal was bittersweet, and she realized that he was telling her the truth.

He would take no more unless she surrendered to him.

“Why is it so bloody important?”

His eyes darkened as he held her there, face-to-face, his body threatening—promising—to breach hers again, if only she whispered those few little words. And she could tell from the stiffening line of his jaw that he wasn’t going to answer her.

“I want you.” There, damn you. “I’ve always wanted you.” She nipped at his lip. “And I want this—” Her words ended on a hiss as he thrust back inside her. “All of this. All of you.”

“I’m not letting you go.” A part of her didn’t care. Teeth sank into her arm as he turned his head to the side and bit her. “Never, Mina. This is the only thing that makes sense anymore.”

Somehow she dragged a hand free of the shirt and cupped his face, tilting his mouth to hers in a whisper of a kiss. Those damning words burrowed deep inside her soul. She couldn’t let him say any more.

She wanted to hear them too badly.

Tongue thrusting into her mouth, he slid her up and down in carefully controlled glides, his cock gliding wetly between them. Mina moaned, clenching her inner muscles. She didn’t want slow. She didn’t want controlled. She wanted to drive him crazy, to finally see the darkness that lurked under his skin.