THE BILLIONAIRE'S LOVER

20 | IN WHICH SHE EXPERIENCES STRANGE EMOTIONS

His embrace was warm, encompassing, strangely protective even though Malora was covering most of his body, her feet extending far past his on the bed. His thumb drew gentle circles over her bicep as returning to something approaching normal. 'How are you feeling?'

Malpractice considered the question for a moment. Her ass and clit was sore, both from the flogging and the fucking, and her heart felt like it had been tossed around, wrung out, and left out to dry in the sun, but overall. . .she was thoroughly used and loving every bit of it.

'I feel good,' she said, burrowing closer into his side. 'That was…amazing. A little strange. But I'm not. . .you know, traumatized or anything.'

'Good.' He planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

'Thanks,' Malora mumbled into his side.

'Apart from that, was everything else enjoyable? I didn't hurt you, did I?'

'No. You didn't. I enjoyed every minute of it.' Malora wriggled against him, feeling the way the heated skin on her ass pulled with the motion. 'I never thought I'd actually enjoy getting hit like that,' she said, stretching her fingers over the smooth plane of his chest. 'I mean, if you'd told me ten years ago that I'd enjoy what we just did, I'd have been horrified.'

Titan blew out a quiet laugh. 'Tastes change over time. I never used to think I could enjoy hurting another person—and now look at me.'

Malora tilted her head up to see his face, but he was gazing up at the ceiling. All she saw was a low angle of his jaw and the hint of his profile. A sudden urge welled up in her, a desire to know how he looked from every angle, to learn every curve and line of him, and every twist of his thoughts. 'Do you enjoy it? Inflicting pain?'

'I do,' he said, his fingers deceptively gentle on the skin of her arm. 'I enjoy the reactions it brings out of people, the noises and the movements. I enjoy knowing that I can make a person move the way I want them to, just by hurting them a certain way. I enjoy the. . .violent release of striking skin. I like seeing the evidence of my attention written on someone's skin, and the knowledge they'll come back for more if I've done it well. It's a complex and many-layered experience.'

Malora found myself being carried by his words, by the rise and fall of his voice and the passion behind them. She didn't feel like she understood, exactly, because hurting someone and enjoying it didn't exactly seem sane, but it didn't seem all that strange. It wasn't the twisted cruelty she'd always imagined motivating bedroom sadists. It was just a sort of power and pride thing. That was easy enough to understand.

'Did you. . .' She hesitated, not sure she wanted to know the answer to the question on her tongue. 'Did you get what you wanted out of it?'

Had she been able to offer him enough?

'I did.'

'Even though you had to hold back?'

'There's so much more to enjoy about this than just hurting you, Malora.' Titan's fingers tightened in her hair, and Malora's reaction was as instant as it was automatic. Her eyes rolled back and her mouth fell open to let out a ragged gasp. He leaned in, and she reached for him with her lips, helpless to control her desire for him.

When he spoke, his voice was light and teasing. 'Oh, is there something you want?'

'I want to kiss you.' No hesitation, no fear. Only need.

'I love how hungry you are for me,' he said as she strained forward against the pull against her scalp, desperate for his lips on hers. 'I could do anything to you, as long as I give you a taste of me.'