‘Yeah?’ he asked, gripping onto her ass and using his own strength to raise her body faster until it became a fight, he pulled up and she pushed down at the same time his body fought to remain in her.
‘I’ve never…’ Maybe it was the position, her legs were stretched so far apart that her thighs burned, and she was entirely at his mercy because his body was the only thing holding her up on this narrow bench.
‘Say it,’ he demanded.
‘Don’t ever take it away from me,’ she screamed out at the first ember of orgasm that burst in her crotch.
His roar wasn’t one of climax, but his arms clamped around her and she yelped when he stood up and slammed her onto her back on the bench, then he was pumping into her with such fierce single-mindedness that she couldn’t see man, only animal.
‘Look at me!’
Grabbing a handful of her hair, he wrenched her eyes to his and that cool iceberg in his eyes was aflame with a determined possession that fired through her like a missile aimed for her core. Shrieking out his name, she cared not about volume or about Bruno, and Dax didn’t appear too either because at the same time she arched up, her body locked in spasm around his, the boom of his orgasm shook through her and they growled together, their eyes matched in their epiphany.
One huff followed another. After they were both done and she was riding out the aftershocks, they stayed right there, her on her back, him above her, inside her, staring down into her eyes.
‘Shit,’ he whispered and she had no time to ask why he cursed because his mouth came to hers in a slow, but punishing kiss that pinned her skull to the bench and allowed him to pour the truth of his curse into her. He did care about her, and her admission in the midst of their passion that she wanted this, wanted him, was enough for him to release that truth to himself.
Jerking his mouth away, he dismounted the bench and pulled his shorts back up. ‘No more bikinis,’ he said, picking up his hand wraps from the floor to begin wrapping his hands again.
‘Ok,’ she said, retrieving her bikini from the floor because it was all she had to wear now.
‘I can’t stop him from touching you. If I tried it would… raise too many questions.’
‘What kind of questions?’ she asked.
He looked up from his task, and she saw anger in him now, she definitely recognised it. ‘You don’t understand what’s going on here and how we all fit into the bigger picture.’
‘What is the bigger picture?’ She tied her bikini back on.
‘I can’t tell you that,’ he said. ‘It’s not my decision when you’re told about your purpose. You don’t belong to me.’
Finishing the knot behind her neck, she crossed to him, resting her hands on his hips. ‘I… I think I want to.’
‘That’s what they want,’ he said, his timbre low and quiet. ‘They want you to think that.’
‘What do you want me to think? You don’t want to own me?’
Grinding his teeth, emotions washed over his face. ‘I want you to go upstairs, get showered and changed, then get back to work.’
‘That’s it?’ she asked. ‘You tell me that you don’t want me to wear a bikini anymore and that I don’t belong to you then you just dismiss me?’
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘That’s it. Get to it, or you’ll get more than a spanking.’
Lowering her chin, she slid her arms around him. ‘Now I’m curious.’
‘This time not from me,’ he said, unlocking her arms from around him. ‘If Bruno catches you not where he left you, then you’ll be going back in there.’
His eyes moved behind her and she turned to see the door to the place she’d been kept captive. ‘You’d let him put me back in there?’
‘Yeah I would,’ he said, without hesitating. ‘Though I’m not sure I’d be able to leave you alone at night.’
The idea of being back in that hovel made her feel sick, but knowing that Dax might come down to join her because he was compelled beyond logic or reason to do so, made her smile. ‘I’ll do what you say.’
‘I know that you will. You were told that was the only thing you had to do, what you were told.’
‘I’m not doing it because it’s Bruno’s rule. I’m doing it because… because I want you to trust me. I’ll have your back, Dax, if anything goes down. I’m going to be on your side.’
‘Talking like that could get you hurt,’ he said with a frown. ‘You worry about yourself, Minx. Nobody else.’
‘Are you doing the same thing?’ she asked.
Leaving him to consider that, she headed for the stairs. She didn’t want him to answer because she didn’t want to push him into saying something that neither of them wanted to hear. If he admitted to caring for her then he would be in trouble. But if he denied it then he would be lying, and she didn’t want him doing that. So she went upstairs and did as he had requested, then went back to work.
Keeping up appearances for Bruno was important and doing so would show Dax that he could trust her. But when they were alone, she’d keep pushing on the buttons that she had found, only now she wasn’t so clear on her motivation. Was she manipulating him to ensure her safety or escape? Or were her own buttons on show as well? Meaning that maybe she too felt more than she’d anticipated for the street fighter with the sinister eyes and the rock hard body that made her weak.
It was a few nights later when she was lying in their bed in the dark that she decided to push for more. He had connected her ankle to the bedpost, as he always did, while he went into the bathroom. The burst of light from the side of the room told her that he was coming back. He extinguished the light, closed the door, and came back to bed.
Because it was so dark there was no way for him to know that she was still awake. Snatching her hand he hauled her body to his, turning his back on her, he pulled her to mould against him, signalling that he was ready to sleep, except she wasn’t.
‘Why do you let me do it?’ she whispered against the smooth skin in front of her lips.
‘Do what?’ he grumbled.
Dax was a man who enjoyed his sleep and when he decided it was time for it, he wasn’t long delayed in achieving it.
‘You let me be me here, in this room, when we’re alone. Why don’t you tell Bruno that I’m playing him?’
‘You’re not,’ he said. ‘He wants you to do what you’re told and you do. You let him do whatever he wants with you.’
‘So you think that if I keep taking his orders it will eventually become automatic?’’
‘What do you want from me, Minx?’ he asked. ‘Do you want me to beat you and lock you up?’
‘No.’
‘Bruno is here to teach you to take orders and I’m here to fuck you into line.’
She was compliant in bed with him – for the most part. So he was right, in a way, he did his job just by sharing a bed with her. But that didn’t explain why he let her sass him in a way that Bruno would never tolerate.
‘Do you have family?’
‘No blood,’ he said.
‘I haven’t seen my mother in years,’ she said. ‘My sister stays with my aunt, least she did the last I heard—‘
‘I don’t need your life story, just access to your pussy.’
‘What about your parents?’ she asked, bending her elbow to curl a hand under her pillow, the other was still confined in his. On nights like this, after she was tied to the foot post, they often slept further down the bed, but her face was still buried in his back.
‘Never knew my mom, dad started me fighting at eight to make us some money, he sold me to the circuit when I was about ten. I ran away a few times, got picked up by the cops a few times, then I met Mauri.’
‘That’s so sad,’ she said, kissing his spine.
‘No sadder than your step-dad molesting you.’
‘He didn’t actually… you know… he just tried it one too many times, and I knew I could only fight him off for so long. My mother didn’t give a damn and so I left. I stayed with my aunt sometimes, then she moved to Florida and—‘