“Yeah?”
“Don’t expect too much out of him when he gets home. He’s safe, but the Syrah…”
“I know.” I swallow.
Losing even part of the Syrah will kill Dale.
I need to be there for him.
I jerk upward in Dale’s bed as Penny scrambles out of the room.
Someone’s here, but Penny’s not barking, so it must be—
I scurry out of bed and wrap a robe over my pajamas. I run out of the room. “Dale?”
He’s here.
Walking toward me. More like stalking toward me. His blond hair is a mass of tangles around his unshaven face.
His lips are parted.
And his eyes…
His eyes are green and…feral. Primal. Animalistic.
“Dale…” I say again.
“Get back in bed,” he says.
“But I—”
“I said get back in bed.” His voice is the familiar darkness of Syrah, but this time with a black velvet cloak covering it. He stalks closer to me, and with every inch he closes between us, I tremble.
From fear?
From arousal?
From…
From both, but also from something else. Something more.
“Dale, please. I’m so sorry.”
“Do I have to repeat myself, Ashley? I’ve told you twice now to get back in bed. If you don’t, I’m going to fuck you up against this wall.”
Shudders rack through me. Yes, I want to go back to bed. And yes, I want him to fuck me up against this wall.
Here. Now. Hard and fast.
He’s angry. He’s exhausted. He’s grimy with dirt, and he smells of the woods. Of the fire. Of all that is wild and primitive.
And I swear, I’ve never wanted him more.
He’s an animal, as if he transformed in some way through this experience. I should tell him to shower first. I should say no. I should hold him and comfort him and tell him I love him. That everything will be okay. That I understand the loss he’s bearing, and that I’m bearing it too.
But I don’t.
I stand, his for the taking.
“I warned you,” he growls, cloaking me in red-wine ruggedness.
He grips my shoulders and pushes me against the wall. Then he shoves the robe over my shoulders and to the floor. I stand before him in a white cotton tank and red-and-white checkered pajama bottoms. That’s all that separates my naked body from this madman.
He curls his fist around the neckline of my tank top. Again, a growl rumbles from him, and then he yanks the shirt so harshly that it tears. He adds his other hand and rips the fabric in two, exposing my breasts.
“Fuck. Those tits.” He squeezes both of them, almost to the point of causing me pain.
I don’t cry out.
I don’t cry out because he needs me. He needs me to let him do what he desires, and I want more than anything to be here for him. To do whatever small part I can to get him through this horror.
“Dale…”
“Don’t talk.”
“But I love you. I want you to know that. I’m so thankful you’re all right. That the fire—”
“Fuck the fire,” he grits out. “The fire has taken all it’s going to take from me. Now it’s my turn to do some taking.” He bends down and pulls one of my nipples between his lips, not gently.
Again, I don’t cry out. I’m determined. I’ll do what he needs, and if that includes taking me hard, taking me violently, I’ll let it happen.
He groans against my breast, sucking my nipple into a hard berry. I’m already wet, and though I want to squirm against the tickle in my pussy, I don’t. I remain still. Still and available for Dale’s use.
And he’ll use me. I already know what’s coming, and I want it as badly as he does.
Possibly more.
Rough sex turns me on, and from the moment I first saw him, I wondered what it would be like with Dale. I didn’t let myself think about it then, and even now, our relationship is precarious at best. He’s promised me only the next two months, so I’ll take what he’s willing to give.
If it’s dark… If it’s rough… I’ll take it.
I’ll revel in it.
And I’ll make sure he knows I’m the only woman in the world who can give him what he truly needs.
Chapter Nine
Dale
God, her tits. I suck her nipple. I’m going to make it pink. Red. Fucking raw. Without thinking, I close my teeth around it and bite.
She gasps softly. No scream, and damn, I bit hard.
Is she willing? Will she give me what I crave at this moment?
My vineyards, where my darkness dwells… They’ve been breached, and my darkness has nowhere to go.
Nowhere…except into Ashley. Ashley, the woman I love. The woman I crave. The woman I’m going to ravish, to ruin…
I pinch her other nipple between my thumb and forefinger. Rough, yes. Rough and dark, and that’s what I want. Ashley cries out this time, but not in pain. It’s a sound I recognize. The sound she makes when she’s turned on. I inhale deeply. Musk. Tang.
For so long, I’ve smelled nothing but burning wood and pine needles—the scent of destruction. I inhale again, and Ashley’s arousal penetrates through the rest.
She’s wet.
She’s ready.
And she’s mine.
I squeeze those ripe tits again, bite the nipple again.
“God, Dale,” she moans through gritted teeth. “God, that’s good.”
Good? It’s better than good. It’s fucking unbelievable. I drop the nipple from my mouth and give her a light slap on the breast. The hallway is dark, but already I see her skin reddening from my touch. From my mark.
My mark. Only mine. Never will another man touch what’s mine.
I slap her again, harder this time. “Mine,” I growl.
“Yours,” she echoes softly.
I push her pajama pants over her hips and inhale once more now that no clothing covers her fragrance. Fuck, her sweet musk. Apples and spice and tangy female. The smell of the fire still drifts around me, and damn it if it doesn’t make her smell that much better. I’m here to conquer her. I couldn’t conquer the fire and save my Syrah, but fuck it all. I’m going to conquer Ashley.
Right here in my hallway.
She steps out of her pajama pants. Completely naked now, except for the tatters of her tank that still hang around her shoulders. She shimmies out of her tank tatters and stands before me, her breasts and nipples red from my rough handling.
Fuck. She hasn’t even begun to see rough. To experience rough.
I’m going to do things to her I’ve only imagined doing. Things I’ve wanted to try but never had the occasion to.
Things that are inside me, part of me. And now they’ll be part of her.
I love her.
I love her so damned much.
Even more, now that she stands here, offering herself to me. Offering to be the receptacle of my deepest and darkest desires.
I crush my mouth to hers.
She parts her lips instantly, and I devour her, sweeping my tongue into every tiny crevice of her mouth, sliding over her teeth, her gums, the inside of her cheeks. She tastes like sweet cream, almost as delicious as her pussy.