Page 213 of Safe Word

THIRTY-EIGHT

The moment my foot shifted forward, his eyes darkened.

He waited until I closed the distance, his presence swallowing the space between us, suffocating me in his heat, his scent.

A rough hand shot out, wrapping around my throat. Just a firm, unyielding claim. My lips parted, breath stuttering as he angled my chin up.

‘You’ve been hiding things,’ he murmured. His thumb brushed the sensitive skin just beneath my jaw, pressing lightly against my pulse. ‘You want to play a bad girl?’

Heat flared through me, humiliation and desire tangled so tightly I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.

Then, with a slow, measured force, he guided me downwards. My knees hit the floor.

My throat worked on a swallow, my pulse hammering against his palm still curled around my neck. Heat in my core flared hard and sharp, like a fuse lighting up before short-circuiting.

‘Are you going to ask for forgiveness?’ His grip tightened, just enough to steal my breath.

My nails bit into my thighs, sharp crescents branding my skin as every muscle coiled, strung between defiance and surrender.

‘No,’ I said finally, my voice barely more than a rasp. Not a real refusal – just the rejection of yielding first.

His fingers lingered a beat longer, pressing into my throat as if savouring the fragility of it, then he let go.

Cool air rushed in where his touch had been, but the reprieve was fleeting.

With painful slowness, he unfastened his belt. The sound of leather slipping free sent a delicious shiver down my spine.

He wound it around his hand, letting me hold my breath, letting me anticipate. Then, Unhurriedly, he draped it around my neck, the smooth leather settling against the base of it like a claim.

And he pulled.

The belt cinched just enough to remind me who was in control, enough to make each breath count.

‘I’m going to strip every last lie from that sweet mouth,’ he murmured darkly. His knuckles grazed my jaw, deceptively gentle. ‘You’ll take it like the good girl I know you can be. You’ll take me deep into your throat. You’ll choke on me. You’ll cry for me. And when I’m done, what will you do?’

A wickedness curled in my stomach. His words from a past encounter came rushing back, the echo of them pressing against my lips before I could stop them.

‘Swallow every last drop of you.’

His eyes glazed, approval weaving through the predatory gleam.

‘I didn’t lie,’ I said – though I wasn’t sure if I was still defending the truth… or daring him to show me what that glint in his eyes meant.

The line on his face remained taut, but something in the air shifted into desperate hunger.

‘Open your fucking mouth.’

I did.

The belt stayed snug, a tether, a silent demand.

His fingers twisted into my hair, a firm hold that sent a sharp sting rippling across my scalp, as I watched him undo his jeans and release himself.

Heavy and thick, it hung between us like a threat. Flushed. Veined… There was no mercy in the way he gripped the base – as if he knew exactly how ruin should feel like.

‘Take it,’ he murmured, guiding the tip over my tongue, the salt of his skin igniting every nerve. ‘Breathe through it.’ Like a dark melody, his voice wound through me as his own breath turned unsteady.

Need threatened to consume me when I yielded, letting the tension between us draw tighter, letting him take from me – inch by inch, breath by breath.