He wasn’t easy. He didn’t wimp out. He didn’t pretend to spank her and throw little pats her way. She would have been deeply disappointed and thoroughly unsatisfied. This was what she needed. That edge. The thin line between what she could and couldn’t take. She wanted it pushed. She wanted to strain her very limits every single time. She wanted him to take her there and then pull her back with a loving hand. Just like Lucas.

“How many can you take, Ren?”

She blinked, perplexed by the question. It wasn’t one she should answer. Through her haze, she knew the right answer.

“As many as you choose to give me.”

Satisfaction carved a line through his features. His mouth firmed and his eyes glinted in approval.

“Your ass is so pretty. It has a nice rosy blush that complements your lingerie quite nicely. The only thing better than the marks from my belt will be the fingerprints I leave when I hold you down and fuck you.”

She shivered and her palms slid the barest of inches, suddenly slick against the smooth glass. She was quick to reposition herself, ready for the next lash.

It came like fire. Quick. Searing. Suddenly one after the other. He forewent the methodical striping that he’d begun and peppered a line over her entire ass until her entire backside throbbed and burned.

Then the belt slid from his hand and landed on the floor, the metal buckle clinking on the polished tile. He gripped her ass in both palms, massaging roughly over her burning flesh.

Impatiently, he ripped the thin lace of the panties and they fell down one leg to hang at her knee. He pushed upward on her buttocks, baring the entrance to her pussy, drawing it so tight she knew it would be almost impossible for him to get inside her easily.

She didn’t want easy. She wanted an animalistic taking.

He unzipped his slacks but left them on. His cock protruded through the fly and he rolled a condom on before returning his hands to her ass.

He slapped the cheeks to bring back the burn. He continued to administer stinging swats until she moaned and twisted restlessly in his hold.

Then he was inside her. Quick. Brutal. Shocking.

But so very good.

She leaned her forehead against the glass, overwhelmed by the ferocity of his possession. He was so thick and huge within her. She’d been damp, but she hadn’t been completely prepared. She loved how snugly she fit around him. Loved the delicious friction of his too-large erection in her tight opening.

“You’re resisting me, Ren,” Cole said as his fingers dug more tightly into her ass.

He gave another hard push and she gasped when he only gained an inch. Then he pulled out, his cock rippling over swollen, engorged flesh. She nearly orgasmed on the spot and had to use all her restraint not to let go.

“Open for me. Take me all the way,” he ordered.

Then he surged forward, until his hips slapped against her hips. His entry was rough, delicious, painful, intensely pleasurable. A whole host of conflicting sensations that had her incoherent.

Her mind went blank. She couldn’t even conjure the simplest of thoughts. All she was aware of was Cole’s possession. Him inside her. And how very right it felt.

Her face was flushed. Eyes heavy and drugged. Her lips were swollen and yet he hadn’t kissed her. Had she bitten them in reaction to the mind-numbing bliss she was experiencing?

Her hair was tousled and sexy around her face. She looked like a wild creature wrestled and subdued. She arched her neck and moaned when he rammed into her again.

Then suddenly he pulled out and wrapped his arm around her waist. She was lifted into the air and he carried her across the room to where one of the armchairs was positioned.

He pushed her roughly down and ordered her to grip the arms of the chair with her hands. Then he lifted the bottom half of her body up so that her weight was supported by her hands gripping the arms. He spread her and then thrust back into her.

“I needed deeper,” he rasped. “I can take you deeper this way. Keep your head down. Arch your ass. Open yourself to me, baby, Ah hell, that’s it. Love it when I’m deep inside you.”

The words slid over her flesh like the finest silk.

He fucked her ruthlessly, taking his pleasure and driving her further and further to madness. After a moment, he picked her up again, like she weighed nothing, and positioned her on the large ottoman on her hands and knees. And then he fucked her from behind for five long minutes.

His stamina amazed her. He was a machine. A beautiful, ruthless machine designed to bring her maximum pleasure.

He wrapped his hand in her hair, twisted and then pulled her head back, angling it so she was forced to meet his fierce gaze. His eyes glittered. Animalistic? Oh yeah, she’d gotten her wish. This was no gentle wooing. No swoony love-making session. This was as guttural as it got. He was fucking her, owning her, giving her no doubt that he owned every inch of her body and that he could do what he damn well pleased with her.

“Come, Ren. You have exactly ten seconds to take your pleasure before I take mine.”

To reinforce his command he pulled harder on her hair and began fucking in long, rapid strokes that shook her entire body.

Her vision blurred. Heat fanned out over her body until sweat broke out on her forehead. Tension. So much tension. He drove into her body, hammering with speed and force that made her breathless.

And then his other hand went to her neck. Just a simple, gentle caress. He ran his fingers over her shoulder and then down to her breast to tenderly brush over her nipple.

The contrast between the savagery of his possession and the one hand in her hair holding her so tightly and the other hand caressing her so sweetly completely undid her.

Her orgasm flashed over her, brutal in its intensity. So …powerful. She couldn’t breathe. She could only take what he continued to give her as wave after wave of excruciating pleasure consumed her.

She didn’t want it to end. Not just the orgasm, but the experience of being so consumed by this man. She wanted him to keep touching her. To keep that contact between them and the intimate connection made so much stronger by trust.

Did she trust him? Definitely she did. And maybe that made her a fool, but she saw no deception in him. All she saw was genuine regret and a soul-deep desire to make up for past mistakes.

Even when she’d felt betrayed by him, she’d known he would never hurt her. Never.

His thrusts slowed and he became gentler as her skin prickled with post-orgasmic sensitivity. Then he pulled out and walked around in front of her, yanking impatiently at the condom.

“Open your mouth.”

Her lips obediently parted and he placed the tip of his cock on her bottom lip and began to work his hand back and forth.

“Put your tongue out. That’s it,” he said when she complied.

He closed his eyes and groaned, gave one more pull and the first jet of semen shot into her mouth. He continued to guide the hot liquid onto her tongue and then he slid into her mouth, warm and rigid and emptied the last of his release into the back of her throat.

For the longest time he remained there, his cock deep in her mouth as he stroked her hair with loving caresses. Then finally he pulled away and brushed his thumb over her swollen lips.

He tucked himself back into his slacks then bent to retrieve the belt he’d dropped on the floor. Her ass tingled all over again as she relived each and every stroke of the leather.

“Get dressed,” he said softly. “I’ll have the saleslady collect our purchases and send me the bill.”

Ren was nervous and she wished she wasn’t. With Lucas she didn’t worry because …She frowned a moment, feeling disloyal for the thoughts crossing her mind. But it wasn’t like she could turn off an entire year of an intense, close connection to a man she trusted implicitly.