Decades have passed. Our patience is thin.
Turning away from both the window and the memory with a low curse, Max caught up his coat and left the café. Time had just run out. He couldn’t fail in this. Failure would cost him more than loss of pride. It would cost Victoria her life.
He crossed the busy thoroughfare and entered the St. John by way of the revolving glass doors, waiting until he was midrotation before using his power to move up to the top floor, where Victoria was hard at work. The thought of her occupied at her desk made his dick ache. He adored intelligent women, and Victoria was more cunning than most. She was also tough as nails.
The only time she’d been truly vulnerable was on the brink of orgasm, so he’d kept her there, time and time again, absorbing the sudden flood of her thoughts and recollections. Feeling the love she’d once had for Darius and the aching sadness of loss. Those glimpses of her soul always moved him to orgasm, the feeling of connection so profound it stole his breath.
He grit his teeth as his c**k swelled further. He’d come more since meeting her than he would have thought possible. It was why he had made so little headway. A proper taming required restraint on the part of the Hunter. He should have been finding his release elsewhere, tempering his desire, but no other woman appealed.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Westin,” the receptionist greeted with a come-hither smile.
With a snap of his fingers, she had no recollection of his visit, her memory wiped clean in the blink of an eye. All she knew was that her boss was too busy to be disturbed, and she would take messages and deny visitors until she was told otherwise.
Max entered Victoria’s lair without knocking, setting in place a simple glamour that prevented any passerby from seeing their coming activities through the glass office wall.
She looked up, arched a brow, and set her pen down. “Max.”
His name. One word. In that soft purr, it was an aphrodisiac and he was not immune as he should be.
“Hello, kitten.” He smiled at the soft shiver he felt from her. She was not immune either.
“I’m busy.”
“You’re about to be,” he agreed, setting aside his coffee and summoning a beautifully wrapped box on her desk.
Her mouth curved in a sensual smile that made his blood heat. “A gift? How delightful.”
Long, elegant fingers plucked at the lavender iridescent ribbon and tore at the royal blue wrapping. Inside rested an ornate wooden box. He watched as her fingertips drifted over the phrase that was carved there: Only within my bonds will you truly know freedom.
Victoria said nothing, but he watched her with a Hunter’s perception and noted the sudden appearance of erect ni**les beneath her white silk blouse. Her hand lifted to engage his vision, holding aloft a set of velvet-lined nipple clamps connected by a delicate gold chain.
“I was wondering when you were planning to get around to the toys,” she said, a tad breathlessly. “You’ve waited longer than most.”
The intimation that he was nothing special, merely another in a long string of annoyances, forced his hand. Furiously swirling air filled the room, scattering the papers on the desk and thrusting Victoria backward. Max stalked toward her, his gaze narrowed, his open palm closing swiftly into a fist, bringing her to an abrupt stop just a scant inch away from the window.
Her green eyes were wide, her lips parted on panting breaths, her chest rising and falling in apparent fear. He, however, knew it to be intense arousal. He could feel her in his thoughts, their bond building with every moment spent together. The surge of power inside her, a careful blending of magic and Familiar enhancement, made him groan aloud with his own overpowering lust. Never in his life had he felt this way about a woman. It felt almost as if he’d found the perfect fit to a puzzle piece. His fingertips itched with the magic coursing through him—magic strengthened by his proximity to Victoria.
“Kitten,” he growled, reaching her. He thrust his hands into her cropped hair and pressed her back against the glass, her feet suspended a few feet above the ground. Eye-level with him.
She purred and nuzzled against him, her silver hoop earrings cold against his cheek, and then too hot. He stepped back, his power pinning her to the scenic view of the city behind her. Her arms were held motionless beside her head, her br**sts thrusting wantonly toward him in the submissive pose. Only here, in the seat of her corporate influence, would a true taming be possible. She was ruler here. Until he arrived.
That was the lesson to be learned.
As he reached for the buttons of his shirt and freed them, magic mimicked his movements with Victoria’s blouse. He smiled as he felt his belt loosen, pleased with her initiative in exerting her own power to undress him.
“A nooner?” she murmured, before licking her lips.
“An all-afternooner,” he corrected, shrugging out of his shirt.
“You’re insatiable.”
“You love it.”
Max watched with heated anticipation as the bra clasp between her br**sts snapped open and then separated. The nipple clamps rose up from the floor and then clipped into place, her reaction to the sudden pressure a low hiss from between clenched teeth. The sight of those pale, firm br**sts capped with swollen, reddened ni**les and the slender chain made freeing his c**k from its confinement necessary.
“Oooh, Max,” she purred, moving sinuously against the window as he dropped his pants. “What a big c**k you have.”
He gave her his best wolfish grin, enjoying her playfulness in the face of her helplessness. “The better to screw you with, my dear.”
The side zipper of her thin skirt lowered and then the garment fell to the carpeted floor along with her black lace thong and stiletto heels. “After,” he summoned the remaining contents of the box into his open palm, “I screw you with this.”
Victoria swallowed hard at the sight of the slightly curved dildo in his hand. It was long and thick, close in size, shape, and coloring to Max’s cock. He lubed it generously, his gaze never leaving hers.
She pouted. “I don’t want that thing. I want you.”
Max faltered a moment at her words, then moved quickly, taking her mouth with deep-seated hunger, distracting her from the tightening bond between them.
I want you. Such simple words, but for her, the words imperiled. It wasn’t quite the “needing” required to make the collar appear, but it was close enough to cause a quickening inside him. He shouldn’t feel anything more than triumph at her words, but he did. Much more.