STORY EXCERPT

Mike’s heart crashed against his chest bone, and his whole body tensed as adrenaline flooded his system at the sight of that knife.

“I warn you now. You come near me with that fucking knife and woman or not, I’ll take you out. This isn’t funny.”

He kept his gaze trained on that wicked-looking blade, and breathed a sigh of relief when Scarlett put it down on the massage table. She cocked her head to one side and regarded him steadily with an extremely unsettling small smile on her full lips.

Now what was the blasted woman up to?

“I mean it, there’s no way you’re getting near me with that thing. Knives are not for playing stupid games.”

“I agree, and I take knife play very seriously. It’s also the most effective way to test your trust in me.”

“You’re fucking losing the plot, here.”

Scarlett laughed and drew herself up to every inch of her five-foot-nothing frame. She fixed him with that look again and stood to one side.

“No, I’m not losing the plot here, you are. Look at yourself. Not so brave now, are we?”

“What has you getting some kick out of cutting me with a fucking knife got to do with bravery? Been there, done that, got the fucking T-shirt and the scars to prove it, so—”

“Show me,” Scarlett interrupted him and he stopped dead and scowled at her.

Damn infuriating woman. He lifted his left arm, and she stepped closer to inspect the fine line left behind. That blade had punctured his lung and put him out of action for a while. He sucked in a breath when she followed that line and used just enough force for her long fingernails to score his skin.

“Anywhere else?” she asked.

Their gazes locked as she continued to run her hands over his naked skin, and he had to clear his throat to get the words out.

“My back.”

She stepped away and around the table and then her soft little hands were back, tracing a line down his spine this time, until she found the mark just underneath his kidneys. He grimaced at her sharp intake of breath, and then closed his eyes when something soft and supple touched his scars there. Had she kissed him? Sure enough when he risked a look over his shoulder, she was in the process of straightening up, her expression unreadable.

Their eyes met again and she smiled at him.

“I can see why this would freak you out, but I never break the skin—never. In the right hands a knife can bring the ultimate erotic pleasure. I’ll show you, if you let me.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to blurt out a very emphatic no, but something in the quiet way she studied him stopped him.

“You mean I get a choice?”

This time he could read her expression all too well. Irritation radiated off her in almost palpable waves, and he knew he’d goofed up again.

“Forget I said that. I know it’s my choice. Laura screeched that at me often enough. How it’s her choice to do all this, and to jump at Slade’s bidding.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice, and Scarlett narrowed her eyes and shook her head.

“And yet you clearly didn’t hear her, did you? What you describe is not the way this works. Laura and Slade’s relationship is far more complicated than that. Your sister is a strong, independent woman, and her submission to her Master is entirely her choice. Submission is a gift any Dominant treasures, and it’s a responsibility none of us take lightly.”

“So you say,” Mike grumbled under his breath.

Scarlett went very still and when she finally looked at him, her previously warm green eyes were icicles of steel.

“Then there is really nothing else to say, and I’ll escort you off the premises.”

“Oh no you won’t. I have a job to do here.”

“Then fucking do it, and open your closed-off mind to the possibilities. There is no place for you here otherwise, and Laura will have lost a brother as well as her parents.”

Her voice could have cut steel, and the ice-cold disdain with which she still regarded him cut through his protective layers of indifference as though she had cut him with that damn knife.

“Keep my fucking sister out of it. I’m here to protect you on order of the commissioner himself, and I’m not moving until I get the bad guy.”

Scarlett moved so fast he never saw it coming. One minute she was stood glaring at him, the next she had her whip in her hand and the end of the damn thing missed his head by inches. Only he got the distinct impression that she didn’t miss him at all. Every crack of the whip rung in his ears, and the air whooshed past his face, yet she never touched him. Mike didn’t dare move, too caught up in watching Scarlett swing that whip with such deadly precision.

When she finally stopped, a fine sheen of perspiration marked her skin and she let out a slow exhale.

“Does that look as though I need protecting?” she asked.

ADULT EXCERPT

She stepped back and let his robe fall to the floor, and Mike swore. He ran a hand through his short hair, and a shiver went through him when she took one of his large hands and put it on her breast. His hand was so large that it completely engulfed her small handful and shards of need shot down to her clit when he rubbed his rough palm over her hard nipple.

“Yes, oh yes,” she whispered the words and reached for the buttons of his jeans. Mike stepped back until he made contact with the wall and she yanked his trousers down his hips with more haste than finesse. His huge cock jumped up to his navel and her pussy clenched in need. Mike kicked the jeans off his legs and she jumped into his arms. Mike caught her automatically as his mouth slammed down on hers and he twisted until she was pinned against the wall.

Scarlett locked her legs around his waist and rocked herself upward until the tip of his cock slid through her soaking wet slit. Mike’s fingers dug into her ass and he broke free of the kiss, holding her just off him with almost superhuman strength.

“Protection?” He ground the words out through clenched teeth, and she drunk in the sight of his passion-glazed eyes, and the way the veins stood out on his neck with the effort to hold himself back.

Tears filled her eyes anew and she hastily blinked them away.

“I’m clean and I’m on the pill, and I know you’re clean from your records, so please, just fuck me. I need to feel you in…oh.”

The breath whooshed out of her lungs as Mike thrust into her core.

“Jesus, Scarlett, you’re so tight. Relax, let me in. I don’t want to hurt you.”

He pulled out, and then thrust deeper again. Scarlett threw her head back and watched in the bathroom mirror as his thick cock, slick with her juices, disappeared into her cunt. Mike, too, turned his head, and he pulled out and thrust in again.

“Fuck that’s so hot.”

Scarlett could only nod as the slide and drag of his shaft set every one of her nerve endings on fire. She felt so incredibly full and he was only halfway in.

“Faster, fuck me harder! I want all of you inside me. I can take it, use me. Please make me forget.”

Their eyes met in the mirror, and their gazes held as Mike bent his knees and thrust up. Pain exploded in her cervix as his cock slammed against it, and Scarlett threw her head back and screamed. That felt way too fucking good. Mike pulled out and slammed into her again and again until finally he bottomed out.

“Fuck, you feel so damn good around my dick, Scarlett. Look at us. Look how I stretch your tight hole. Jesus, baby, tell me this is as freaking good for you as it is for me.”

Scarlett dug her fingernails into his shoulders in answer and clenched around him, and Mike roared. He pulled out and thrust back in again, ramming her into the wall as she hung on for dear life. Pain mixed with pleasure so intense she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t talk, just hung onto his big shoulders and took all the passion he gave her.

Here was a man brutally taking his own pleasure and sending her body sky-high in the process. When he pulled out of her and dragged her over to the sink, Scarlett bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. Mike kicked her legs apart and then slammed back into her from behind. This position drove him deeper than before and when he reached around and stimulated her clit at the same time, Scarlett saw stars. Her whole body tightened in ever closer spirals of pleasure that started from deep inside her core. Impaled by his hot member, his harsh breath in her ear, one hand digging into her hips, the other mercilessly fingering her swollen clit, he pushed her toward a mind-splintering release. Higher and higher she climbed, and when Mike grasped one of her legs and shoved it over the edge of the sink, the move sent her over the edge.

He yanked her torso up and pulled it up against his chest, allowing him to sink deeper still into the clasp of her body. Ripples and waves of pleasure crashed over Scarlett, and she let her head fall back and gave herself up to the sensation rocking her body as Mike increased his tempo even more. Every forceful thrust lifted her off her toes, and Scarlett came a second time, or was it the third. Sensations merged into one, fire raced over her skin, and she screamed his name when he grew bigger still inside her and then grunted his release into her shoulder, and warmth spread deep inside her.

Mike lowered her leg with them both still joined as intimately as two people could be, and he locked his arms next to hers on the sink. By the time her breathing had slowed down enough to speak and her hazy vision cleared, Mike was slowly slipping out of her. She tightened her muscles to keep him in for longer and he groaned and rubbed his morning stubble across her neck. It left delicious tingles in its wake and Scarlett moaned her contentment.

Their gazes locked in the mirror and Mike smiled. Scarlett’s heart turned over in her chest at the open affection she saw in his azure eyes that seemed to bore straight into her very soul.

“Good morning, My Lady. I guess this beats coffee first thing.”