And when the truth came to mind before words came out, her heart grew sick. ‘Because if you’re about to get rid of me then this might be the only chance I have to be with you one last time.’

‘My thoughts exactly,’ he grumbled.

Because she couldn’t see him it was a shock when his swollen dick plunged into her. Their conversation thus far hadn’t meant much in the way of foreplay and so her juices were on the sparse side, mostly just residual from when she’d awoken and watched him strip.

But her hissing curse didn’t stop him from pulling back and sliding back in, on a path much easier to forge this time. She closed her eyes and tried to loosen the clamping tension low in her gut that had to be hindering his path. He slid in and out, gaining pace, but other than the occasional spank he didn’t touch her. There were no fingertips on her spine, no kisses on the back of her neck or smoothing of her thighs.

He kept going at it and cursed a few times, but his pace slowed then after a few more pumps he withdrew and vanished from his place between her raised thighs.

‘What are you doing?’ she panted. ‘You weren’t done. I wasn’t done.’

He didn’t say anything, just flipped her onto her front and freed her arms from their binds. Anger saturated his expression and she considered what she would do if things got violent because against a man like this she wouldn’t stand a chance.

His body lunged for hers and she braced, but it was a kiss he planted on her mouth. A kiss that was so deep and punishing that the sickness in her heart metastasised to all of her cells. With her hands now free she could touch him, so she did.

Cupping his face, she ran her hands into his hair and to the back of his neck, caressing his shoulders, his arms, and his ribs, all while he kissed her mouth. The severe force of his kiss seemed to be his way of chastising her for everything her mouth had made him believe. Ivy knew that her words and her actions had all been true, but Dax didn’t, he didn’t trust her.

This time when her legs parted around him they did it by choice. And when he slid his unsated appendage into her now slick channel he pushed all the way into her, as far as he could go. He remained there, still within her, while continuing to kiss her mouth. But other than holding her chin in one hand to direct the kiss, he didn’t touch her.

His other hand was busy keeping his body above hers. She wanted to believe that he was being considerate and that it was a sign of care, but it wasn’t. If he wouldn’t touch her with his hands then he wouldn’t touch her with the rest of himself, it was too intimate, and he didn’t want to be reminded of a time when he had faith in her.

Eventually his pelvis rose then came back down and he was making love to her slowly. At almost the same time the description came into her head it must have occurred to him too because he pulled away from the kiss and rose onto his knees, pulling her pelvis up with hers.

‘Come,’ he demanded, pushing into her, the angle left her neck awkwardly positioned but it also meant that the blunt head of his fat cock was constantly pounding against the g-spot hidden inside her.

‘No,’ she said, unwilling to follow his order just because he gave it.

Maintaining hold of her hips with one steadying arm, Dax licked the tips of his free fingers and began to rub her clit. ‘Come!’

‘No!’ she retorted, her rebellious nature didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, but the more he worked her inside and out, the harder it was becoming to resist him. ‘No, geez, Dax, don’t!’

‘You want it, don’t you fucking dare deny how hot you are for it.’

His pants and increased pace made her teeth clench, all she needed to do was hold out longer than he did because once he tipped over the edge, she could relax. ‘You’re a fucking jerk!’

‘Squeeze my dick with that tight snatch, Minx, come on, girl. You do it now!’

‘No,’ she said, but it was too late. The burst of bliss cascaded throughout and the spasm of her intimate muscles clamped his invader in place.

He cursed and huffed, and slapped the side of her ass with his hand, but still she couldn’t let him go because the vice of pleasure was wringing every drop of her worth into holding onto him. Letting him go now could mean letting go of him forever and her body didn’t seem to be willing to do that.

‘Fuck, babygirl! Fuck! Fuck!’

She couldn’t tell if his words were of pain or pleasure but the heat of his DNA filling her up from the inside betrayed that he’d gone over the cliff as well. Sparkles on the inside of her eyelids joined the ones pulsing in her head and the ringing in her ears. Lying here on her back, she was dizzy, like her blood pressure had just plummeted through the floor. Just as her muscles loosened, they contracted again and the aftershocks of orgasm left her twitching and squeaking as he tried to retrieve his probably bruised dick from the prison she’d locked it in.

The bed bounced when he collapsed onto it beside her, but he didn’t touch her. Ivy’s eyes were still closed so she didn’t even know if he looked at her. Lost in their own ecstasy of what had happened between them it took Ivy a while to come around to replaying how they had ended up locked in that mess, or rather what had proceeded the pleasure she’d tried to deny herself.

Opening her eyes, she let her head flop to the side. Dax was staring up at the ceiling without expression on his face. ‘What now?’

‘Get some sleep,’ he said, without moving. ‘You’re gonna need it.’ Reassured that meant he wanted to rekindle their intimacy she was going to liberate her smile, and then he spoke again. ‘Trystan will probably want to play with you for most of the night.’

Her smile evaporated as did all feelings of goodwill. Endorphins retreated and the weight of pounding panic returned. Bucking up, he got off the bed and she watched him stalk out of the bedroom without giving her another thought, or worrying about how his words might affect her.

She had lost him. He was going to turn her over to them; at least that was what she understood from what had transpired. She wasn’t going to go quietly, Ivy had no intention of going at all. Leaving the bed she headed for the shower, determined to figure out the steps that she would have to take next.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ivy got washed and changed into the only clothes that she had. She didn’t have any money, so she went hunting for Dax’s wallet. Seeking out his jacket, she found it hanging in the closet. It was when she stuck her hand in his pocket that Dax walked into the closet.

‘What are you looking for?’ he asked. He must have used the other shower while she was in the ensuite because his hair was still damp and she could smell his soap. His clothes were clean too, so he must have dried off and changed as well.

‘I need some money,’ she said with no intention of hiding what she was doing. ‘We’re married, right? What’s mine is yours?’

‘What do you need money for?’

‘I need a change of clothes and transport.’

‘For what?’

Unimpressed by his lack of expression, she tried to match it with her own. ‘Did you think I was going to hang around and let you hand me over to them?’

‘I didn’t ask what you wanted. I told you what was happening.’

‘That Trystan wants me in his bed? Thanks but no thanks, you know?’

His wallet wasn’t in his jacket and so she went to what looked like a laundry hamper in the corner to see if she could find his jeans from earlier in the day, sure enough they were there, so she began to search in them.

‘You’re not walking out of here,’ he said.

‘What are you going to do, Dax? Hmm?’ Throwing the jeans back in the hamper she moved to him and reached around to pat his back pocket. ‘Bingo,’ she said, snagging the wallet to tug it out of its confines. He didn’t stop her from taking it and when she opened it she figured out why. ‘Twenty bucks, that’s all you’ve got?’