When she opened her eyes, he still wasn’t looking at her face, but at her br**sts. She wanted him to look into her eyes, wanted some form of acknowledgement. “Untie me.” She gasped as he lazily and teasingly circled a nipple with his finger, never quite touching the hard bud itself. He gave the same treatment to the other nipple before replacing his finger with his tongue. Then he sucked her nipple into his mouth, grazing the hard bud with his teeth and biting down. “If you’re not going untie me, then at least make me come!”

The jerk didn’t react in any sense. Needing some kind of relief, Jaime wrapped a leg around his hips and ground her clit against the hard bulge in his jeans. There was no reaction from him whatsoever, as if he didn’t even notice. She was about to yell at him again when a finger suddenly slid between her folds, sending shudders of pleasure and relief through her body. That same finger lightly flicked her clit and circled it over and over, but the movements were too featherlike to make her come.

“Dante, why are you doing this?” she practically sobbed. He said nothing. Just slid his finger between her folds again, letting the tip hover near her entrance. “You want me to beg, is that it?” Still no reaction. Ever so slowly— too freaking slowly—he pushed his finger inside her. A noise that was something between a groan and a sob escaped her. Repeatedly, he slowly and gently thrust his finger inside her, pausing occasionally to swirl it around. God, she was so damn close to coming and so damn close to going insane. Her cries became louder as her climax began closing in on her. It was going to be a big one…But then he stopped and withdrew his finger. Stopped!

She was about to tell him she was going to rip his c**k off in his sleep when he was back on his knees and his tongue was teasing her clit. “Oh my God.” Using his thumbs to part her folds, he licked and nipped and growled against her flesh. Then he was sucking her clit between his lips and nibbling on the hood. She cried out as two of those magical fingers pushed inside her. Her muscles automatically tightened around them, trying to keep them. The bastard withdrew them. “Stop teasing me!” It was supposed to be a scream, but it came out as a pathetic wail.

Then Dante proceeded to show her the real meaning of being teased. Again and again, he brought her to her peak with his tongue and fingers, only to stop and wait for her to come down from her high before starting all over again. Sometimes he would return his attention to her br**sts instead, leaving her feeling emptier than she had ever felt in her life.

She sagged in relief when he finally lowered his zipper and freed his cock. The feel of the head rubbing at her entrance was so good that she almost cried. Panting with the need to come, she wrapped her other leg around his hip—an invitation. But instead of plunging inside her, he lowered her legs and began fondling her br**sts again.

She screamed in frustration and struggled against her bonds, but it was useless. As if she wasn’t writhing, screaming, and insulting him, Dante continued to alternate from teasing her br**sts to finger-fucking her to sinuously rubbing his c**k between her folds. She moaned. She groaned. She whimpered. She sobbed. She cried. She threatened his livelihood. She even tried kicking the shit out of him again. After what felt like hours of sensual torture, she was practically delirious with the need to come. So delirious that she did what she’d never done before.

“Please!” Nothing. He simply continued to nibble on her shoulder while teasing her clit with the tip of his finger. She curled her legs around his hips again and groaned as she felt the head of his c**k against her entrance. “Please f**k me!” Still no reaction. What made the whole thing so much worse was that he wouldn’t meet her eyes, wouldn’t even look at her face, wouldn’t talk to or respond to her. Like she was just any woman, like she was no one at all to him.

A mixture of enraged, hurt, horny, and restless, she completely snapped. “You don’t get to treat me like this! Like I’m just some faceless f**k! I’m not one of your one-night stands! I’m not one of your little sluts! I’m your mate!” He rammed every inch of his c**k into her and, that easily, she fragmented. A throaty scream tore from her as flames of ecstasy lanced through her, making violent orgasmic convulsions rack her entire body.

When she opened her eyes, she gasped at the feverish hunger glowing on his face. How he hadn’t come was beyond her understanding. He really was the embodiment of self-control. Although he was meeting her gaze— finally— he still didn’t speak to her. She realized then what he’d been doing. Realized what he wanted. She didn’t want to give it to him, she really didn’t, but she couldn’t fight him, or this, either. She needed him so much in every way someone could need another person.

She had even before she knew he was her mate.

Suddenly feeling drained mentally and physically, Jaime sagged and her head fell forward to rest on his shoulder. She cried and cried, hating how weak and helpless she was. When she felt him kiss her hair, she returned her gaze to his. His expression was patient, expectant, and resolute. He wasn’t going to budge on this.

“I’m your mate.” She cried out as he rewardingly thrust once inside her. “Your mate,” she again admitted, and again he drove into her just once. She knew what he was waiting for. “And you’re mine.”

Triumph, relief, and satisfaction filled Dante. “Goddamn right. And don’t ever forget it.” Then he was gripping her ass and hammering his c**k inside her. Taking her. Claiming her. Branding her.

Jaime thought she might black out; his pace was merciless and wild, and it felt so amazing and right that tears stung her eyes. Although the bark of the tree was biting into her skin, it only complemented the other sensations spiraling through her as every bit of the ravenous longing that had been riding her was now, finally, indulged.

“Tell me what you want, Jaime,” he ordered hoarsely. “Tell me.” The urge to claim her as his mate was pushing Dante so hard it was actually painful, but he wouldn’t do it without her consent.

Not just because it wouldn’t be fair to her, but because he needed to hear her say that she wanted it.

His stubborn mate didn’t. Abruptly he stilled, staring deep into her glazed smoky-blue eyes. Ignoring her sounds of irritation, he held her immobile and flexed his c**k inside her, making her whimper.

“Do you want me to claim you?” he demanded.

A huge part of her was saying no, but it was drowned out by her need to have every part of him, to lay the ultimate, irrevocable claim on him. “Do it.” He withdrew until only the head of his c**k was inside her. “Not good enough. I need to hear you say that you want it.”