This wasn't even the incredibly hot, bordering-on-violent sex that I had with Viktoria before.
This wasn’t about showing Viktoria her place or controlling her.
This was something else entirely. It pulled at strings inside my heart, inside my soul, that I didn't know existed. With every slow, methodical thrust inside of her hot, tight little body, I felt closer to her.
I buried my face in her hair, loving that I was surrounded by her vanilla scent. I couldn't stop my hands from exploring her body, my mouth from kissing the long column of her neck, even if it was just to feel her heart flutter in her veins.
She gasped and writhed under me, her ankles never letting me pull out too far.
We devoured each other. Hands, lips, bodies, souls, everything. I gave more than I took and she did the same.
It was heaven.
All too soon I felt that familiar tingle at the base of my spine, but I would be damned if I had my release before she had her second.
She enjoyed fighting with me; she liked when I whispered filthy, even degrading things into her ear. I wondered what it would be like if I whispered the truth, if I whispered praise.
"No one has ever made me feel like this," I said, rough with emotion. "No one has ever challenged me like you have, has ever made me want to fight for something more."
She gasped under me. Her trembling thighs tightened on my hips.
"The way you fight me is incredible. Your body is perfect but the fire that you have, that drives you, is a pure aphrodisiac."
"Artem," she gasped again, her nails digging into my shoulders.
"Come for me, princess. Not because I'm demanding you to, or controlling you, but because you want to."
She panted my name again, and I had to fight the demand that was my own pleasure.
"Come, princess, take the pleasure I'm giving you. Feel all of me and know that I'll always be yours. Only yours."
Viktoria came apart with a silent scream, her muscles going tense as her back arched hard enough that I had to grab her and roll over so she was on top of me.
I thrust up inside of her, holding her shoulders down so she didn't move up with each thrust as I pushed harder and harder, extending her orgasm until she couldn't take anymore, and then I followed her into the abyss.
When she collapsed next to me, I pulled her into my arms and we stayed like that for a very long while.
"Artem, you can't keep controlling me," she said, so low I barely heard it.
My heart stopped for a beat, vulnerable in a way I'd never allowed before.
The words left my lips before I could stop them, raw and honest.
"This wasn't about controlling you," I said into her hair.
It was about loving you.
CHAPTER35
VIKTORIA
Everything felt different, and I couldn't put my finger on why.
After Artem showed me what happened in the woods and then took me back to the lake house, we had sex. That wasn't surprising. The second his men caught me, I knew I was going to be punished again.
This wasn't a punishment, though. It was different.
Every time we had been together before, he had been rough, but thorough. Artem always left me physically exhausted and emotionally raw, yet still deeply satisfied. This time wasn't like that.
