I slammed the door to Callan’s bedroom closed behind me as I stalked inside. He looked up from the drawer he had been pulling something out of and turned to scowl at me.
“The hell are you so pissed off for?” he demanded. “We got our way into the ball.”
“You almost blew it,” I snapped back.
“I’m the one who got us the invitation.”
“Yeah, after you completely ruined my careful manipulation of Carl by storming in like a jealous lover!”
A sharp smile stretched his lips. “How would you know what a jealous lover looks like when you’ve clearly never even had a real lover before?”
“Says the guy who pants after me like a horny teenage virgin,” I threw back as I stopped right in front of him.
Lightning flashed in his eyes. Before I had even completely stopped moving, he grabbed my wrist and spun me around. My back hit the wall with a thud. While pinning my right hand against the wall next to my head, he positioned his forearm across my collarbones and used it to push me harder against the wall. But I had gone in there expecting a confrontation.
The moment he grabbed my wrist, I had used my other hand to pull the knife I had strapped to my thigh as soon as we returned home from the soirée. Yanking my hand up, I pressed the edge of the blade against Callan’s throat. With him using one hand to pin one of mine to the wall, neither of us could do magic right now. Which meant that my knife to his throat currently gave me the upper hand.
“Take your hands off me,” I warned in a low voice. When he only stared me down and continued pushing me into the wall, I drew the blade upwards, forcing it higher up under his chin. “Now.”
Fury burned in his eyes, but he slowly released his grip on my wrist and then took his forearm from my chest, but he didn’t back off. When his hands drifted closer to one another, I pushed the knife higher, forcing him to tilt his head back.
“Keep your hands wide,” I ordered.
A mocking laugh rolled off his tongue, but he stopped moving his hands.
I drew the knife downwards again so that it was positioned across the middle of his throat, allowing him to tip his head back down to meet my gaze once more. There was a lethal smile on his lips, and the promise of revenge shone like dark flames behind his eyes.
“Now you listen here, and you listen well.” I held his gaze with hard eyes while keeping the blade firmly against his skin. “I might allow you to live despite your constant displays of disrespect because I still need you to get Lance out of this city, but the moment we finish this mission, I will come at you with everything I have. You keep talking about getting your lands back, but as soon as this is over, I am going to take your lands from you. I am going to take everything you have and then I am going to make you bow down before me and grovel and beg me for mercy. And once I have destroyed your reputation and everything you have ever touched, then, and only then, am I going to allow you to die at my feet.”
His smile sharpened with every word I spoke, and something dark and forbidden pulsed in his eyes. He raised a hand towards my face. I pressed the blade harder against his skin, but he kept moving anyway as his fingers brushed my chin. Taking my jaw in a firm grip, he held it steady and leaned down until I could feel his hot breath on my skin.
“You vicious little poisoner. Every time you open that pretty mouth of yours, I can’t decide whether I want to fuck you or kill you.”
A thrill raced down my spine. It was followed by dark desire that made my core throb. I stared up at him. “I hate you so much.”
“I hate you too.”
“Take your shirt off.”
His wicked smile widened. Releasing my jaw, he moved his hands back towards his chest. I kept the knife pressed to his throat while he unbuttoned his dark shirt. The smooth fabric fluttered as Callan pushed his shirt off his broad shoulders and shrugged out of it, making it fall to the floor behind him.
I raked my eyes over his muscular chest and down to the V disappearing below his pants. Desire pooled inside me. I wanted to run my fingers all over his lethal body. And I wanted his hands all over mine. It was insane, I knew that. I didn’t love him. I didn’t even like him. But as I took in the way the candlelight danced over his powerful body and his handsome face, I was forced to admit that he made me feel other things. Things I had never felt before. So just because we would go back to killing each other once this mission was over, it didn’t mean that I couldn’t take what I wanted from our temporary truce right now.
Keeping the blade to his throat, I dragged my gaze up to his and then raised my eyebrows expectantly. “Now, take off my dress.”
His eyes glinted dangerously, but he reached up and started to gently undo the fastenings on my dress. It laced up in the front, so he only had to pull at a few of them before it was loose enough to get out of. Once it was open, Callan widened the collar and drew his hands up my chest and towards my shoulders while pushing the dress off me. Lightning crackled through me as his fingers brushed my naked skin.
I slid my right arm out of the dress as it fell towards the floor, but my left hand was still holding the knife to Callan’s throat. After shifting it to my other hand, I slipped out of the dress fully and let the dark green fabric pool around my ankles. My skin prickled at the exposure.
Callan’s eyes darkened as he ran them up and down my body. But he said nothing. Only watched me intently, waiting to see what I would do next.
“Now, my underwear too,” I ordered.
When he reached towards my body again, I made a split-second decision and intercepted his hand. Wrapping my fingers around his wrist, I stopped his hand mid-air. Callan arched an eyebrow at me in silent question.
My heart was pounding in my chest, but I hadn’t forgotten what had happened in the living room that time we had gotten back from the dressmaker. And I wanted to feel the thrill of that again.
Taking the knife from his throat, I twisted it around and then pressed it hilt first into Callan’s waiting hand. “Use this.”
His eyes widened. Then a sly smile curled his lips and he flexed his fingers on the hilt. Placing his other palm against my collarbones, he pushed me back against the wall. “You’re gonna have to stay very still for this.”
I nodded.
While keeping his hand against my chest, he positioned the tip of the blade against my wrist and then started slowly drawing it upwards. A shiver coursed through my body, making it shake slightly, as Callan dragged the knife up my arm. Stopping the blade’s path, he slid his other hand from my chest and wrapped it around my throat instead.
He cocked his head at me. “What did I just tell you?”
“Don’t move.”
“Exactly.”
For a moment, he just held my gaze as if to truly drive the instruction home. Then he began tracing the knife along my skin again.
The cold metal scraped against my upper arm and over my shoulder, hard enough to be felt but not enough to leave any marks.
I sucked in a shuddering breath as Callan drew the blade over my collarbone. Releasing his grip on my throat, he instead placed the tip of the knife right below it while keeping his eyes locked on me. I bit my lip.
His eyes darkened further as they dipped to my mouth for a second. Then he met my gaze again and began trailing the blade down the middle of my chest.
My heart was slamming against my ribs and it took everything I had to stop a shudder of pleasure from racking my body.
Callan placed his other hand against my side and then drew it over the fabric of my brassiere until his large hand cupped my breast. My eyes fluttered as he kneaded it while also continuing to move the knife closer to it. I inhaled deeply to try to calm my thrumming pulse as Callan’s fingers curled around the edge of the brassiere and lifted it slightly off my skin.
With his eyes locked on mine, Callan yanked the knife down and cut through the sheer fabric in the middle of the brassiere.
I sucked in a gasp.
My nipples hardened as Callan drew his free hand up my chest and pushed the ruined garment off my shoulders while still keeping the point of the blade resting above my heart. I shrugged out of the straps when they slid down my arms.
Callan drew his hand back down my chest while moving the knife towards one of my exposed tits. A low moan escaped my throat as he traced the point of the knife in a wide circle around my nipple while his empty hand slid across my other breast. His fingers dug into my skin as he kneaded it. The blade continued circling closer.
Throwing my head back, I rested it against the cool marble wall while my heart beat so hard in my chest that I thought Callan could surely hear it. Desire pulsed inside me, making my clit throb with need.
His fingers sped over my skin and took my nipple in a firm grip. Right as the blade reached its target on my other tit, Callan twisted his hand, and my nipple with it.
I gasped in a shuddering breath as both pain and pleasure crackled through my body. Throwing out my hand, I splayed it against the wall behind me to stop myself from falling over.
Callan released his punishing grip on my nipple and massaged my breast instead while he drew the knife back towards the center of my chest. Another shiver coursed through me as he trailed the sharp point down my stomach.
His lips brushed my jaw.
Pleasure washed over me and I sucked in another shuddering breath and arched my back as he kissed his way down my throat and across my chest. He jerked down his other hand. Taking my hip in a firm grip, he held me steady while he trailed the blade across the skin above my panties. I let out a moan from deep within my chest.
He withdrew his lips right before they reached my tit, and instead stood up straighter. The knife moved down over my hip. With that firm grip still in place, he slid the blade underneath the thin fabric of my undergarments. Then he paused.
“Eyes on me,” he ordered.
I blinked my eyes back into focus as I raised my gaze to his face. When I at last looked into his dark brown eyes, I found insatiable hunger burning behind them.
“Stay very still,” he commanded.
I nodded.
He yanked the knife up, shredding the fabric. My skin prickled as the last of my clothing fell away, leaving me entirely exposed to my lethal and dangerously attractive enemy.
When my torn panties had at last landed on the floor around my feet, Callan drew the point of the knife over my pussy. Shifting his grip on the hilt, he twisted it and then positioned the flat of the blade against my throbbing entrance. I drew in a soft gasp. Power and control pulsed from Callan’s body as he slowly raised his hand, using the knife he pressed to my pussy to force me up onto my toes.
It took all my willpower to keep perfectly still in that position while a thrill of pleasure shot through my body and my heart skipped a beat. The whole situation just stole the breath from my lungs and made my thoughts all jumbled up. I was standing there naked, pinned to a wall by Callan Blackwell, while he rested a knife against the sensitive skin of my pussy. I should have been terrified. But all I could think about was that I wanted more.
He kept me like that for a few more seconds while he studied every twitch of my muscles, every flicker in my eyes, and every expression on my face. Then he slowly removed the knife and held it up before my face. Both of us glanced at the slick blade.
“So wet already.” Callan let out a dark chuckle. “You really do like it when I—”
Before he could finish his taunt, I ripped the knife from his grip and dropped it on top of my dress while my other hand snaked around the back of his neck and yanked his mouth down to mine. I wanted more.
His lips crashed against mine. I stole angry kisses from them while my hands found his belt. Raking his fingers through my hair, he held my head between his palms and returned the furious kisses while I worked to get his pants off.
When they at last slid down his thighs, he released me and helped shove both his pants and his underwear all the way down his legs before stepping out of them. He grabbed his belt and my sliced brassiere on the way up. Before he had even finished straightening again, I gripped the back of his neck and pulled him towards me once more.
His hands slid down to cup my ass. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he lifted me off the floor. The leather belt and my brassiere were still wrapped around his right hand. Bracing his left hand under my ass and wrapping the other around my back, he carried me towards the bed while I continued stealing the breath from his lungs. His muscled body shifted against my naked skin as he walked, making me press myself harder against him. I wanted to feel it all.
Soft sheets appeared under my back as Callan knelt on the mattress before placing me down on it and moving into position above me.
His hard cock brushed my entrance.
A groan of pent-up desire tore from my throat. I locked my fingers behind his neck and yanked him down against me. My tongue tangled with his as I claimed his mouth and dragged my hands down his back while he pushed inside me.
I moaned into his mouth as his thick length slid into me, but he pulled back again too soon. Arching my back, I pressed my hips against his. He pushed his cock inside me again, a little farther this time.
“I want it all,” I panted against his lips. “Now.”
He shoved his cock into me, all the way to the hilt. I gasped and dragged my fingers down his muscled back as he pulled out and then pounded into me again, his massive length filling me completely. My hands slid down the side of his ribs and then over his abs. Pleasure built inside me as I raked my hands over his powerful body while he thrust his hips. He kissed me savagely, biting my lower lip and claiming the inside of my mouth with his tongue.
“More,” I growled into his mouth. “I want more. I want it rough.”
His lips disappeared from mine and he pulled out of me. Reaching up, he grabbed my wrist and then forced my arm towards the bedpost. The leather belt appeared against my skin as he used that to tie my hand to the wooden pole. My heart thundered in my chest as he took my other wrist in a firm grip and used what was left of my brassiere to tie my other hand to one of the decorative wooden rods set into the headboard. I pulled against the restraints, but they held fast, keeping my arms spread and trapped above my head.
Shifting back into position, Callan touched his palms together while he shoved his cock into me again. A grunt of pleasure tore from my throat. When he drew his hands apart, force magic sprang to life on the fingers of his left hand. He slid it downwards while his right hand moved in the other direction. Another shudder of desire coursed through me as he brushed his knuckles over my collarbones before wrapping his large hand around my throat.
Right as he closed his grip, his other hand reached my pussy.
Force magic pulsed against my clit as he positioned his fingers between our bodies while he continued pounding into me.
I sucked in a gasp.
Callan tightened his grip on my throat in response, cutting off my airways and freezing the breath in my lungs.
His dark eyes were locked on mine as he thrust deep into me while his vibrating force magic made my clit throb. Pleasure built inside me like a tidal wave. With my mouth slightly open from the gasp that Callan had trapped inside me, I looked up at the beautiful enemy above me.
Light from the candles glittered in his eyes and painted his hair with gold. His lethal body moved against mine as he brought me closer to the edge with every thrust and every pulse of his magic while his hand stayed locked around my throat. And with my hands tied like that, there was no way for me to summon any of my own magic right now. No way for me to loosen the strong fingers around my neck.
I pulled at my restraints, but they kept me trapped firmly with my arms spread wide. My chest shook slightly as I tried futilely to get air into my lungs. The muscles of Callan’s forearm shifted as he tightened his grip on my throat even though it was already impossible for me to draw breath.
At that moment, my life was entirely in his hands. And it was so fucking intoxicating.
My lungs burned, begging for air, but Callan’s powerful fingers didn’t let up.
He increased the strength of the vibrations. I threw my head back, and I would’ve gasped if I could, as pleasure built exponentially inside me.
Angling his hips, Callan shoved his hard length deeper inside me.
Force magic pulsed against my clit.
My whole body was coming apart at the seams and my lungs screamed for air.
Callan slammed into me right at the same time as he increased the vibrations again.
White light exploded across my vision.
Just when the wave of pleasure crashed over me, Callan released my throat.
Air rushed back into my lungs as I sucked in a deep gasp while the intense orgasm racked my body, and in that moment, I swear my soul almost brushed the heavens.
My pussy clenched tight around Callan’s cock as he continued pounding into me, and release exploded behind his eyes as well. His vibrating magic kept pulsing against my throbbing clit while Callan came inside me.
Dark moans ripped from our throats at the same time.
I gasped in another desperate breath as my heart slammed against my ribs while my body trembled underneath him. His eyes were filled with dark desire as he held my gaze.
Leaning down, he stole another rough kiss from my lips while the final tremors coursed through both our bodies.
And in that moment, the rest of the world might as well not have existed at all.
