Raw Bloody Power

Chapter 27

27

ROUND TWO: FIGHT

Ivory

My hands shake around the wheel as I pull into the rooftop parking of Palazzo Verona’s parking garage—aka our old spot. When we wanted to be alone, free of our friends and the risk of getting caught somewhere in the city, we’d come here. Sometimes we’d lie on the hood of his car and watch the sky darken with the soundtrack of Manhattan playing around us. Other times we’d sit in the car and talk, eat… fuck. If I remember correctly, there was one occasion with a movie projector, an air bed, and tons of blankets, too.

I used to love our little bubble up here.

But that bubble has long since burst and while the sense of familiarity is still there, it’s also quite foreign, a little ominous even, as though I’m making a grave mistake by so easily falling back into his web.

The black Yukon I saw parked near the bakery the night of the fire is the only vehicle to be seen. I’m surprised he’s still here; it’s nearly seven. I almost didn’t show… but I’m pretty sure I’m ovulating.

That’s enough of an explanation, really.

Parking in the spot beside him, I kill the engine and sit there in the silence, mentally preparing myself for what’s about to go down as the pink sky around us begins melding with the darkness of night. For a split-second I consider bolting. I’m thinking with my proverbial dick and this is really fucking dumb. But a moment later I’m blindly reaching for the handle and stepping out.

I can’t even look at him as I finally slink out of my car, the loud click of his locks coming undone, and climb into the passenger seat, swallowing through the thick wave of tension already building between us. The weight of his stare pins me in place like it did that night so many years ago. I can’t bear meeting it. My heart’s beating three times too fast, masochistic butterflies rampaging violently within the confines of my stomach.

What am I doing?

“Look at me.” A command, the severity in his tone instantly forcing my hand, dragging my gaze up to a razor-sharp stare and furrowed brows. “I realize how unhinged this is, so if you wanna leave, go. I’m not gonna stop you. If I’m using my brain and not my fucking dick, it’s probably for the best…but I wasn’t lying when I said I’m a man possessed. The thoughts in my head?” he chuckles in an almost self-deprecating fashion. “Filthy. I’m talking about railing you into another dimension un til you can’t remember your own name and you’re screaming mine.”

My cheeks heat as yet another instant replay flicks through my mind, the undeniable spark of lust catching fire and rippling through my veins. “Same.” That’s all I can manage in the moment, teeth sinking into my bottom lip as my breathing picks up speed, and I squeeze my thighs together.

Small details he most definitely does not miss.

He moves so quickly, I couldn’t’ve seen it coming. Curling a hand at the nape of my neck, he yanks me over the center console and crashes our lips together. My purse slips from my grip, tumbling to the floorboard at my feet. I thought the club was nothing short of brutal, but this… this is otherworldly.

This kiss bruises, singes, his tongue delving greedily into my mouth. There were a few others after Rio, years later, one-nighters and short-term relationships to pass the time—and let's face it—sate the needs every woman has. But none were like this.

None had the power to consume me in a matter of seconds.

“The back. Get in the back,” Rio mumbles against my mouth, though his hold on me is unrelenting, slithering its way to my throat. “Go. Now.”

I’m about to protest that I can’t move beneath the strength of his grip when he literally pushes me through the gap between the seats. I don’t know how the fuck I squeeze myself the rest of the ways, sheer determination perhaps, but I barely land between the captain seats of the second row before he’s following right behind me, that hungered look darkening his already abysmal gaze.

A skilled hunter closing in on his prey, scooting me backwards until I make it to the third row.

One quick maneuver and he situates me on his lap, lunging for another brutal kiss like he’ll never taste me again. Does he know? That after this—we can’t have another repeat?

My skirt is next to feel the extent of his greed. I blink, that’s it, and the soft material is pulled up and over my ass, drawing a groan from deep in his chest as he helps himself to two handfuls.

“Fuuuck me.”

I can’t even help the satisfied curl of my lips. “I’m about to,” I quip, rolling my hips against his rapidly growing hard-on.

Rio hums appreciatively and pushes me against him, his grip on my ass deadly. “When the fuck did you get so thick?” He groans it, his voice suddenly several octaves lower, raspy and lust-laden. “I can’t even lock my hands around your thighs anymore.” Said hands squeeze the flesh in question and I can’t hold back the laugh bubbling in my throat.

“I’m not eighteen anymore, Rio. I grew up, filled out.” I also have a massive sweet tooth and I like to eat, but that’s irrelevant right now.

“ Yeah you did.”

Though I don’t think he meant to say that aloud, I heard it nonetheless. “If I had known thick thighs would disarm and incapacitate you like this, I would’ve used them to my advantage a long time ago. ”

Rio chuckles against my skin, his lips stamping along the column of my neck, my shoulder. “My weakness. Hips, thighs, ass.” The last one earns me a spank.

I gasp softly, relishing the delicious sting as it ripples and spreads. “Good to know. Next time you come at me sideways, I won’t even bother with an actual weapon. I’ll just lift my skirt.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Princess.”

That name again… The throes of passion do nothing to quell my temper. Using our position to my advantage, I rip a page from his playbook and lock a hand around his throat, pinning his head to the seat. Our eyes fuze in a sweltering battle of wills, though really it’s a one-sided feat. He’s more pleased with himself than anything else. “I thought I told you to stop calling me that?”

“Heard you the first time”— spank— “And the second.” He rubs at the same spot. “And the third.”

“Then stop . I can’t stand that shit.” It sounds so condescending coming from his mouth.

“And that’s exactly why I do it… Princess.”

My stare narrows. “God, I hate you.”

“Mmm.” That sound has the power to incinerate my panties, rumbling against my palm. “I know. Turns me on, honestly. I love it.”

Ugh! This man is beyond vexing. There’s no getting to him, no dissuading him. He’s impenetrable and unbothered, amused at every turn. I add more force to my grip, on the verge of shaking him, but his reflexes are impossibly fast and lithe, immobilizing me before I can so much as comprehend the how, much less defend myself.

Arms now firmly secured behind my back, caught in his vise-like grip, he drags the tip of his nose along my neck, settling somewhere beside my ear. “As enticing as your little display of authority is, there’s only room for one domineering personality around here…and that’s mine. Now be a good girl, slide those panties to the side, and show me that gorgeous cunt. I wanna see how wet you are.”

The pressure holding me captive eases, allowing me to move freely and follow his demand. There’s no thought process behind what follows. It’s automatic, a clear misfire in my brain that overrides ire and has me obliging willingly as the forest fire of my libido ravages me from the inside out.

I might hate Princess, but good girl? Fuck. I love it.

Setting a hand to his knee, I lean back and fulfill his order, slipping the white fabric aside. Idly, I’m reminded of being in this exact same position with Benedikt not a week ago, but the vision fizzles out when I note Rio’s gaze already fixated between us, tongue peeking out to wet his lips at the sight now exposed to him.

My heart thunders against my ribcage, breaths silent yet uneven as I watch a lone finger make contact, only the very tip dipping in slightly. “Definitely wet.” He glances up at me. “But we can make you wetter. Come here.”

Again, I move, draping myself over him anew in a quest for more praise. He wastes no time, clamping his teeth around the low neckline of my top. A few purposeful tugs and my breasts spill free, my nipples already pebbled from that same digit sliding up and down my slit. I’m all but vibrating on top of him, anxious to feel his mouth on me, to feel his fingers driving in and out, crooking against that one particular spot. Goosebumps break out along my flesh at the thought.

“Rio…”

“I know.” His tongue flicks against a rigid peak. “You want more.”

My head bobs with uncontrolled enthusiasm as I pull him against me, urging him to continue.

“So desperate,” he croons devilishly. “Beg for it.”

Fucking asshole.

“Please…” I don’t recognize my voice, the need emanating from that one little word catching me off-guard. “More. Deeper.”

He barely sucks my nipple into his mouth at the wanton plea, pushing his finger in another tiny inch. “What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.”

“Please. Rio, please. I need more. ”

“I’m sorry…” A light scrape of his teeth, a tiny crook of his finger. “Still didn’t catch that.”

“Rio, please. Pleaseee. Go deeper. Faster. Stretch me out and give me more. So much mo?—”

He’s in. Not one, but two digits, his mouth on my breast, my ass in his grip. It’s only a sliver of what’s to come, yet euphoric all the same, drawing a ragged moan free. “Oh, God, yes. It’s so good. Don’t stop.”

Good doesn’t cover it.

The way Rio plays my body is electrifying. Mind-numbing even. His touch expert, his mouth filthy, and fervent, and attentive—all reasons why I’m here when I know I shouldn’t be. After everything that’s transpired between us, the last thing I should be doing is this .

But I couldn’t say no.

I needed more, wanted more, my head and heart at fatal odds.

“You hear that?” he grits out through his teeth, working his fingers faster. “Listen to how wet you are for me right now.”

Sopping. I’m fucking sopping, the squelch loud and clear above our ragged breaths. Grabbing his face, I kiss him with abandon, lost to the erotic moment as I roll desperately into his ministrations and mumble a needy, “Fuck me already.”

“Then take my cock out and sit on it,” he demands.

Thank Christ he’s wearing sweatpants. Makes my life a million times easier as I reach between us and seal a hand around his hard length. We hiss in tandem on contact; him from my eager grip, me from the warmth of those solid eight inches radiating through my palm with each stroke. I relish the feeling of it for just a moment longer, re-familiarizing myself with it as I push up on my knees and drag the tip back and forth where his fingers were not thirty seconds ago.

But that’s not what he wants, apparently, because I get one more swipe before he clenches my hips and pushes me on him—while thrusting himself inside me at the same damn time.

I see stars from the sudden intrusion, but God, it hurts so good.

So. Damn. Good.

My gasp as he fills me to the hilt melds with one of his deep-seated groans. I could come from the sounds he makes alone, I swear it. Rio’s always been vocal, unabashed in sharing his pleasure and talking me through an orgasm, but he’s only gotten better with age. If there wasn’t so much animosity between us, I’d say his deliciously masculine moans are my favorite sound in the world.

I want more of them.

The thought springs me into action. Ginuwine would be proud ‘cause I ride him like goddamn pony, bouncing my ass, rolling my hips, earning me exactly what I want.

“Fuuuck,” he moans. “That’s it, just like that. Don’t stop, Petal.”

He’s said it before, but hearing it here, strained with pleasure in my ear, sets me off. I double my efforts, smashing my lips to his, running my fingers through his hair as I slam my ass on him and fuck him into oblivion. Each groan blasts down my throat, fueling me onward, more still when he offers a spank, and another, and another.

“Ugh, do it again,” I mutter against his mouth, my legs trembling from exertion.

“Do what?”

“Slap my ass.”

Rio laughs darkly, winding a hand in my hair. The merciless tug gloriously stings at the roots, drawing a hiss between my teeth. “Mmm. There’s my dirty little slut coming out to play.” Open-handed, forceful, the residual slap bounces off the windows. “You want more?”

“Yes.”

The word barely hits the air before he’s going for it, each spank hitting a different spot, increasing in strength and heightened by an upward thrust of his hips. I lose count of how many after the fifth, squeezing my eyes shut as the ache spreads, echoed by the throb of my clit. I’m a breath away from begging him to stop, to fuck me and make me come—but he beats me to it.

Both arms lock around my waist and he rails me from beneath, the head of his cock hitting the deepest part of me over and over again. Tears spring from the corners of my eyes, that’s how deep he is, our skin slapping, the windows around us fogged in entirety. There’s a brief moment where it’s almost too much, my palms falling flat on his chest in an attempt to push myself away.

He’s not having it, though.

A rough hand snakes up my back and latches onto the nape of my neck, holding me in place. “Take it,” he grits in my ear. “Take every fucking inch.”

“Rio, I c?—”

“You can”— thrust— “You can take it.”

I’m screaming at this point, clinging to him for dear life as he continues his assault on my pussy. “I’m right there! Oh, god!”

“Fuck yes, that’s my good girl. Come for me, Ivory. Scream for me.”

I do, holy fuck, do I ever, belting out a warbled rendition of his name with my head thrown back as my orgasm rips through me like an atomic bomb. Euphoria. Heaven. I don’t know what this is, but it’s almost an out of body experience I never want to come back from.

Rio’s right behind me, holding me down he empties himself inside me with a volatile growl. When the high fades, I collapse on top of him as reality creeps back in and I realize what he’s just done …

“You came…inside me,” I pant.

“Yeah, and?” he pants back, giving my ass a weak slap.

“No condom,” I remind him.

Rio stills beneath me for several long moments before he pulls me back and stares into my eyes. “No birth control?”

I allow him to panic, reveling in it, barely holding back the laugh that wants to escape until I can’t anymore. “I’m kidding. IUD.”

The way he deflates only makes me laugh harder as he crushes me against him anew. “You’re evil.”

“Says the devil’s spawn,” I chuckle, falling completely lax in a satiated haze. “You deserved that…and so much more.”