After a long while of inflicting his perfect pleasure, Jace’s breath hitched, and Aggie opened her eyes to find him biting his lip. “I waited too long,” he gasped. “Can I come now?”

He was asking her?

“Yeah, go ahead.” He’d more than earned his release.

It was as if something inside him snapped. He tore into her like an animal. He wrapped his arms around the backs of her thighs and folded her in half. He fucked her hard, driving his thick cock into her body. She cried out, unable to distinguish between pleasure and pain, knowing only that she loved it and didn’t want him to stop. She liked the harsh contrast of being fucked after the considerate, tender lovemaking he’d showed her before.

“Yes, Jace!” she screamed. “Fuck me.”

“Hurt me,” he countered.

Aggie’s nails dug into his chest. He groaned.

She drew her hands down, leaving eight parallel scratches down his chest. He shuddered, his head tilting to the side, his mouth falling open in ecstasy. “God, yes,” he growled.

She grabbed his nipple, twisting viciously.

He lowered his head to kiss her. She bit his lip until she tasted his blood. He didn’t resist her cruelty, but rose up on his knees so he could fuck her harder.

She cried out, close to orgasm.

His lip now free of her bite, he lifted his head and looked down at her. “Do you want to come hard?”

Well, of course she did. What kind of a question was that?

“Yes, Jace. Make me come hard.”

“Don’t take your eyes off mine.”

He continued to thrust into her, driving her closer to the edge. She stared at him, lost in his intense gaze. He watched her as if looking for the exact moment to let go and join her in bliss.

She felt a connection to him—deeply personal, more than sex. More than she wanted to experience with some guy she scarcely knew. Her heart thudded hard in her chest. For a short instant, he let her see him. That internal part of his troubled psyche he hid from the world. Her breath caught, and she held it even after her lungs began to sting in protest.

Unexpectedly, her womb contracted. A spasm gripped her pussy. Ripples of release sent her body into convulsions, and she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer.

Oh God, she was coming. And coming. And coming. He pumped into her harder. “Aggie, hurt me. I need…”

The instant she dug her fingers into his raw back, his body shuddered against hers as he spent himself inside her. He rubbed his face against the hollow of her neck as he called out. They clung to each other, bodies writhing in mutual bliss.

He paused and lifted his head. His voice sounded distant. “Breathe, baby. Take a breath.”

Breathe? What did he mean?

“Aggie!” He shook her by both shoulders.

She gasped, glorious air filling her stinging lungs, and came again. Came even harder than when that first orgasm had gripped her in that intense moment of personal connection she didn’t quite understand. Aggie cried out, rocking her hips to work against his softening cock. Her entire body writhed with ecstasy, twisting her into an involuntary spasm of delight.

That had been fucking amazing.

When her body stilled, Jace moved his arms from the backs of her thighs so she could stretch her legs out straight. He rubbed her hips to alleviate the ache, and then cupped her face in both hands to gently kiss her lips.

“You okay?” he whispered. He rubbed the tip of his nose against her cheek, his lips tickling the skin near her ear. “I think you forgot how to breathe there for a second.”

“I’m more than okay,” she said deliriously. “What was that?”

“What?” He rubbed his lips over her jaw.

“I can’t explain it. I don’t know if it was how hard you were fucking me or the way you were looking at me or something else. It was…”

“Exciting?”

“Exciting? That was fucking unbelievable. Do it again, please.”

He lifted his head and stared down into her eyes. He looked utterly stunned. “You don’t hate me now?”

“How could I hate you after that? I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life. It was wonderful.”

“Even though I couldn’t come until you hurt me?”

“If that’s what you need to get off, I’m perfectly fine with it.”

He smiled. “This is usually the part where the woman calls me a sick bastard, grabs her clothes, and runs out of the room naked without a backwards glance.”

“I’m not running.”

His smile widened, causing her heart to stutter stupidly in her chest. “I noticed. Will you whip me again? I’ll take it better now that I’m not so sexually frustrated.”

She grinned. “I’d be happy to. Will you fuck me again when you’ve had enough pain?”

He kissed her and pulled out. “If I’m still capable of moving.”

He stripped the condom from his cock, glanced around the room, and got out of bed to dispose of it in the small trash can near her desk. She dragged herself from the bed, not ready to shake the afterglow still coursing through her body.

She sighed and reached for her panties.

“You’re getting dressed?” he asked.

“Don’t you want me to whip you again?”

“Yeah, I want you to whip me—Aggie, not Mistress V. I want you naked. I want the body I’m learning to please exposed while you hurt me.”

“I can’t, Jace. I’m not capable of hurting you as myself. I have to be in the domme role.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her and ran his hand down the scratches on his chest. “Oh really?”

She ducked her head. She had hurt him. And something about it excited her. “This is usually the part where the man calls me a crazy bitch, grabs his clothes, and runs out of the room naked without a backwards glance.”

“I’m not running.” He held a hand out, and she crossed the room to take it.

He led her through her home, back into the foyer, and into the soundproof room. A cell phone was beeping in Jace’s pile of clothes. He had a voice mail. His brow furrowed. “Who could that be? No one ever calls me.”

He retrieved his phone from his leather jacket and listened to his message. She watched his expression change from confusion to horror. He reached for his clothes and started to dress.

“Sorry, but I have to go.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Trey’s in the hospital.”

“Trey?”

“Sinners’ rhythm guitarist.”

“Is it something serious?”

He stomped his foot into one boot. “Yeah, sounds like it. Head injury. Can I see you again?”

She crossed her arms over her naked breasts. “If you have an appointment.”

“Tomorrow night? Same time?”

“I have another client scheduled for ten tomorrow.”

His entire body jerked, the way it should have responded when she whipped him. “Oh,” he murmured breathlessly.

“How about five in the evening?”

His smile rivaled the sun in its brilliance. “Even better.”

She tried to hide a grin, but failed. “I’ll pencil you in.”

If the waiting didn’t kill Jace, the dark cloud of doom surrounding Dare Mills just might. The long hair and leather identified him as the infamous rock star he was, but the worry twisting his face with concern was a staunch reminder that he was only human and an utter wreck over his little brother’s hospitalization. It was almost five a.m. Trey had been out of a successful surgery for a few hours now, but he was still sleeping off the anesthesia.

“Why won’t they let us in to see him?” Dare asked for the twentieth time. “I just want to see him.”

“He needs his rest,” Eric said. “That’s all.” He produced a lion-sized yawn and scrubbed his face with both hands.

“It’s not like I’m going to yank him out of the hospital bed and take him for a cruise down the Vegas strip. I just want to see him. To know he’s still fucking breathing.”

Jace patted the back of Dare’s hand. He understood all too well what Dare was feeling. Not that he could express it. Every time he opened his mouth to tell Dare how it had felt to sit in a hospital waiting room while a loved one’s life was in the hands of strangers, the white walls seemed to close in on him, and a paralyzing anguish stole his breath. None of his experiences with hospital waiting rooms had ended well. Dare didn’t need to hear that, and Jace didn’t want to revisit it, so he just patted the back of Dare’s hand every so often, hoping that he somehow realized that Jace was there to support him. He owed Dare his success—his entire livelihood.