rin

ded down the sound-absorbing wool runner of the second-floor

tudy stood shut, a strip of warm white light bleeding from the bottom

hair behind my ear and deliberately quickened my breathing

hree times on the wood, as light and he

. are you

e the room before a deep, gravelly mal

me

avy door open just wide enough to slip my slend

bookshelves reaching a vaulted ceiling. Behind a massive custom obsidi

ess shirt with the top two buttons undone and the sleeves ro

ed on the bridge of his high nose, making his sharp, h

k; his hand held a custom gold Montblanc fountain pen poised to

wn hid almost nothing, the plunging neckline exposing deep snow-whi

n half a second, and the restrained cedar scent in

ne locked tight, his Adam's apple bobbed hard, and thick

Dominion, I curled my bare toes inside my mule

y voice trembling as thin as a thread as I turned my shoulders to retre

is possessive drive, prey attempti

ou permissi

wn onto the obsidian desk with a sharp

ted one palm on the desk and rose to his full, towering height of nearly

istance between us in seconds, stopp

his heavy, ragged breaths brushed my forehea

think you can run?" His rough index finger hooked und

ed wildly as two fat tears rolled around my r

d palm from the back of my neck straight down

ed me clean off the floor with one arm

high-backed chair, forcing my knees apart to plant m

all the way up to the root of my thighs, pressing my bare

p to clutch his broad shoulders, my fingertips feeling h

e hands tightly over the outside of my trembling thighs

ms to crush me against his chest before burying his face deep i

mphant smirk curved my lips in the shadows-stage one

I wrapped my slender arms around his tense neck and rub

car above his collarbone-the ultimate gesture of Pa

ruising force, his scorching palm nearly burning throu

h, summoned every ounce of fabricated grief in