I was right. It could have been over an hour later that I was still writhing on the bed, practically shaking with the need to come, as his tongue licked and marked and f**ked me. Oh that wasn’t all. He’d bit the inside of my thigh, electrocuted my g-spot, and occasionally f**ked me with his fingers. But not once had he let me come, and now I needed more than his tongue and fingers. Several times I’d attempted to shove his head away, but each attempt had been unsuccessful − he’d known in advance that I’d struggle, and he’d prepared himself for it.

“Jared, I really can’t take anymore.” Not that I hadn’t already told him this. Multiple times, in fact.

“I like tasting you.”

I pulled hard on his hair, trying once again to dislodge him. No success. “I want to be f**ked!”

“I know.”

A swirl of his tongue inside me made me gasp. That was it, I’d had enough. I literally pummelled his back with my fists. He actually laughed.

“You want to be f**ked that bad, baby?”

“Yes.” That had come out sounding almost animalistic.

He forced a long-suffering sigh. “Oh all right.” The cheeky little shit.

Finding himself abruptly on his back on the bed with me kneeling above him, he double-blinked in surprise. A wide smile spread across his face, and he looked way too smug for my liking. When I curled my hand tight around his dick, that smug smile melted away and became a look of pure heat. He grunted as I pumped him, teasing him. But although it would be satisfying to put him through similar suffering, I needed to come too badly.

Positioning myself above his cock, I began to sink down on him. I moaned at the feeling of being stretched and filled, at the familiar burn. I could feel Jared’s tension, his need, his thirst, and how he was relishing every sensation as I continued to lower myself on him. When I’d finally taken every inch, I took a second to simply enjoy and revel in that full feeling.

Jared’s eyes were smouldering when they gazed up at me, but there was also something akin to awe there. I swivelled my hips, and he groaned through his teeth.

“Shit, baby.”

I did it again, and that seemed to have been too much for him. His hands landed on my hips, and then he was slamming me down on him while repeatedly bucking his hips, punching his c**k in and out of me. I tried prying his hands away, wanting to ride him, but he shook his head.

“You wanted to be f**ked, baby. Now you’re going to get f**ked.”

And then I was on my back again. This time, my legs were hooked over his shoulders and his upper body was curled over mine as he ruthlessly rammed in and out of me. The position meant his thrusts were deliciously deep − which was what he wanted, I could sense. He wanted to be as deep inside me as he could possibly go, wanted to come deeper inside me than he ever had before.

So close to climaxing, I was literally clawing at his back. “Jared, I’m going to come.”

“I know, baby. Do it. I want to feel it. I want to watch you come.”

Seconds later, a devastating climax crashed into me and a scream erupted from my throat. Rearing up, I bit into the crook of his neck.

“Fuck.” Holding himself deep, he exploded inside me, groaning my name. As if to ring out every bit of his come, he rocked a few times before finally lowering my legs and slumping. Still shaking with the reverberations, we tipped onto our sides.

When I could finally open my eyes, I found Jared gazing admiringly at the knot on my finger. I took his right hand and examined his matching brail-like tattoo.

Jared smiled. “Cool, isn’t it?”

I shivered when he lightly touched the knot, surprised by the small tingling sensation. “And it’ll never fade?”

“No. No matter what, it stays.”

Those words should have comforted me, shouldn’t they? I should have found the ‘no matter what’ reassuring. Instead, I found myself thinking about the downside of that.

His words were gentle. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“You’ll just tell me I’m being daft.”

“You probably are.” He merely chuckled when I slapped his arm. “No, seriously, tell me.”

Admit a fear? Not my style. But this was the person who I was Bound to, and that made things different, didn’t it? “It scares me that if you ever stopped loving me, or if you felt something for someone else, I’d literally be able to feel it.”

He looked at me as if he did, in fact, think I was daft. “Seriously, baby, how could you think that either of those things would ever happen? Is it because I don’t tell you I love you a lot? It’s not because I don’t.”

I was about to say no, but he didn’t give me a chance.

“It is that, isn’t it? Sam, I know I’m not good at giving compliments and telling you what I’m feeling and stuff, but—”

“No it’s okay,” I insisted. “You don’t have to shower me with pretty words. I don’t even like them.”

“Tough, you’re about to hear some. I’ll tell you what you are to me.” He kissed along my neck as he spoke. “You’re strong. Talented. Determined. Wilful. Gorgeous. Intelligent. Tenacious. Capable. A good friend. A good mentor. A good leader. You have the biggest heart. And you’re mine – whether you like it or not. My crazy, stubborn, homicidal bitch.”

I could tell that he meant every word, which left me totally mystified. “You really see me like that? I mean, the latter part I fully agree with. But all the other stuff…You really think that?”

He looked at me wearing an incredulous expression. “Wait a minute, I’ve just pushed past my difficulty with giving compliments, and you don’t even believe me? Oh the irony.”

“It’s not that I think you’re lying,” I chuckled. “I’m just surprised that that’s how you see me.”

“Well that’s exactly how I see you.” He brushed my lips with his. “I love every inch of you. It’s why I get angry with you when you’re hurt and I threaten to strap you to the bed – unfortunately, you like that, so the punishment isn’t a success.”

“It’s not like I get hurt on purpose.”

Hazel eyes pierced mine. “Doesn’t matter. I need you to be safe, and well, and here with me. Always.”

I nodded. “Always.”

“No matter what.”

“No matter what.”