“Beg,” he repeated. “Say what you want to say.”

It was tempting, but I couldn’t let go of my ego, of my sliver of self-control around him. We were not on the same team. Just because he indulged me tonight, didn’t mean he’d acknowledge my existence tomorrow morning.

“No,” I answered again.

He laughed long and hard, drunk on my resistance, loving that I hated his game. He spread my legs so I was wide open in front of him, took my clit in his mouth again and rubbed my entrance with his thumb in delicious up and down movements.

This time I knew I was really on the edge. All I needed were a few more strokes. I didn’t know what was going to happen with Troy, but I knew it would be worth more than the begging. It was magic. It was giving your body to someone else, feeling every single one of your muscles tighten deliciously, feeling a swell of pleasure about to overtake you like a tsunami…

“Beg,” he demanded one more time, and I knew it’d be the last.

“No.”

His wet lips left my skin as he dragged his body up so he could kiss my lips, inserting his tongue into my mouth and swirling it teasingly, forcing me to taste myself.

“This was fun.” His throaty voice tickled me, and I felt shattered. I wanted to come so badly. “Now let’s see how long you can manage without begging me to be balls deep in you. I like a challenge.”

“Good, ’cause you’re in for an impossible one.” My teeth chattered from the impact of his touch, but at least I managed a comeback.

He gave me another deep, intoxicating kiss, darting his tongue and twirling it over my lower lip. I felt his smile.

“Your spine…” He ran his index finger along my back. “Is beautiful. And here, I thought I could snap you like a twig.”

He propped himself up, leaving me to lie there on the floor, naked other than my bra and heels, as he walked out of the room unaffected, like nothing happened.

A chill gripped my body when I felt his footfalls in the hallway, echoing on the bedroom floor. He opened a door down the hall, probably his study, and banged it shut after him.

The pit of my stomach turned, worry and anxiety swirling inside. I buried my face in the crook of my elbow.

He could still snap me like a twig. He’d just decided not to…this time.

TROY

THERE WAS NOTHING more dangerous than a person with nothing to lose. That’s why I’d hired Sparrow to work at Rouge Bis, even though I knew she’d be close to him.

I wasn't the controlling kind when it came to women. With my business, hell yes. But with a woman? If my wife wanted to work and was good at what she was doing, she can bust her ass for all I cared.

And Sparrow? She’d turned out to be a breath of fresh air. I was so used to the women around me not working or even entertaining the radical idea of doing something with their lives that I was genuinely surprised with how much Red wanted to work at the restaurant.

Love and compassion had nothing to do with my decision to give Sparrow a job. Having her out of the apartment occasionally might be nice. Her wicked smart mouth and endless questions grated on my nerves. Plus, putting a smile on her face wasn’t the worst idea I’d ever had.

I had to admit, the taste of her pussy in my mouth was fucking amazing. Not sure if it was the thrill of tasting what's mine, only mine, pure and untouched before (other than that asshole, Paddy) or if it’d been so long since I went down on a woman that I forgot it was literally sweet. Either way, I’d enjoyed watching her as she crashed down, so close but not there. I wanted to snap that little spine of hers. Have her begging. Leave her wanting and lusting. Wanted to prove to her that she wanted me no less than I wanted her.

Well, her body, anyway.

But now I had to take matters into my own hands, so to speak. Bring my body down to a sensible temperature.

I hadn’t jerked off in maybe fifteen years, but when I leaned with one hand against the glossy black tiles, under the stream of scorching water, masturbating like a fucking teenager, I admitted it was oddly exciting. I laughed to myself like a madman as my hand relearned how to pump hard and fast to the beat of my new fantasies. Sparrow. Sweet, fucking Sparrow. Tight, lean, intelligent, annoying Red…

I‘d forgotten how good it felt to want something and not get it in a matter of hours.

I pumped harder, faster, imagining her legs wrapped around me. I came in my hand, squeezing the warm cum between my fingers, thinking about how good it’d feel to shoot my load inside her.