My molars grind at the sound of her gasping whimper, my jaw locked as hard as my body to prevent me from ripping the barrier of her skirt away so I can take her right against this railing.

“And then the misery, the sheer fucking torment of you when I know you’re doing the same damn thing. When I sense you push your fingers inside, cloaked in the dark, seeking that achy need. Trying so hard to satisfy the desire. I feel you when it’s not enough and you grind into your bed”—I thrust against her ass in graphic demonstration—“burying your throaty moans against the pillow, your hips thrusting so lewd and sexy as you chase that elusive orgasm, your thighs spread wide to feel as salacious as you do when you look into my eyes and see that raw, carnal heat, and are tempted to let go and fall.”

Her body held captive in my embrace, every subtle roll of her hips drives me out of my mind. My lips graze the thinly raised welts along her neck, choking my throat in a thick vise of lust. I breathe over the sensitive joint of her shoulder, the painful desire to sink my teeth into her skin a throbbing pain at the head of my cock.

“But you only drive that maddening ache deeper,” I say, my voice coarse, my sinew corded like ropes of fire around my bones. “You can never satisfy the need. Just like now, how we’re right here, so close, but unable to satiate our desire. The craving threatens to make us mad, tear us apart, until we’re clawing at each other and fucking like debased, wild and wicked things.”

“God, Kallum. Please…”

I groan at my name pleaded on her trembling breath. Her begging nearly unravels me, and I shove her closer to the rail, sparking that flame of fear higher. “Please what, Halen? Fuck you and make you scream out in front of every person here?” I demand, breath hot in her ear. “Will that satisfy the craving?”

She hesitates, her overstimulated nerves a web of need tormenting us both. “No,” she admits. “It’s not enough.”

I drive her farther, her toes positioned right at the edge of the terrace. My own fear is tested as I dread the moment she slips from my arms. The tighter I band my hold around her, the more that fear thrashes at the last of my sanity.

Her instinct is to run. To hide. To deny us.

Yet the feverish flush of her skin bares her innermost desire to me, those dark little yearnings she refuses to confront.

“Your appetite is just as wicked as mine, and I’m the only one who knows what you need, sweetness. The dirty things you want to hear.” I lick over the marks I placed on her neck, letting my teeth take a greedy nip of her skin. “You want to tell me to stop, but that’s only so I’ll push you past that refuge. I wonder if you even know what truly scares you.”

She locks her forearms, the heels of her hands braced against the railing, her belly pressed to the iron as the dizzying sensation grips her.

“The fear is a fucking aphrodisiac as we edge closer.” I rut against her, pushing her another inch over the railing. “Don’t close your eyes, Halen. Watch those fucking meteors fall, feel every fiery pulse rush your veins, how your heart pounds in fright. Let me taste that saccharine fear, baby, the one that really terrifies you.”

Lust gathers her muscles tight, her body tensed as she grinds against me in need. I bring my foot next to hers and force her legs together, dying as her broken moan rakes over my skin. Her head falls back against my chest as a shiver of relief races through her body.

“Fuck, you’re not actually scared of being caught. Your fear of heights won’t stop us either.” My voice is gravel as my erection stabs her ass. “You’re not even scared of what I’m going to do to you when I get you alone. You’re frightened of what you’re going to let me do to you, beg me to do to you. And how much you’re going to love every filthy, deviant second.”

A breathy moan escapes as she arches her back, her nipples desperately seeking friction from her blouse, and my heart crashes against my chest wall at the erotic sight.

The stirring notes of the cello float to the terrace to rouse, and her body is possessed as she yields to the desire. It takes all my willpower to harness a fraction of self-control, to stop myself from fisting my hand in her hair and bending her over the rail and fucking her like her needy little cunt is begging to be fucked.

“Dammit, tell me what terrifies you, Halen,” I demand.

Her whimper sets my blood aflame, the sensual roll of her hips pure torture as she salaciously rubs along my cock. My unfastened buckle snags on her skirt, and the feel of her frantically reaching for her release is fucking hell as I deny her.

I run my tongue over the smooth surface of my teeth, my lungs seared with her arousing fragrance. “Tell me,” I say with a low growl.

“Us.” The word escapes her on a rushed breath. “I fear us. The terrible things we’re capable of…the loss of control.”

But the way she’s squeezing her thighs together reveals the dark current of truth beneath her confession, just how much those terrible things excite her, how badly she craves that loss of control.

I can feel her so close, so damn close to that edge. “God, Kallum,” she breathes my name. “The ache…it hurts. Make it hurt so much worse.”

“Jesus, fuck.” I grit back my need to gnash her skin and deliver the pain she craves from me—the sharp delivery of which can be the sweetest relief.

“Bewitching little siren, be careful what you ask for,” I whisper roughly into her ear.

The explicit way in which she’s arching her back in pursuit of contact levels me. I drag my arms over hers, shifting her blouse to offer her nipples the stimulation she’s seeking, and when she tries to stifle a soft cry, I’m ash amid her fire.

I wedge my hand in the confined space between our bodies and gather her skirt at the waist. I tug the back of her panties just enough to slide the soaked material over her sensitive clit, and she greedily takes the friction.

“If you work those sexy hips any harder, I’m going to come all over this fucking skirt, Halen.” A growl claws free of my constricted chest. Every tender wound on my body blazes as she defiantly undulates against me.

With marked effort, I uncurl my fingers from her clothes. “If I taste your pain right now, I won’t be able to stop.”

Her reactive shiver tempts me to the bounds of my control, and as I force my hands over hers, she turns her palms up and threads her fingers through mine. “I trust you.”

Hell will swallow me whole.

I lower my mouth to her neck and breathe her into my aching lungs, tangled around her as she infuses my whole being with her delectable scent, her desire for that hit of pain strangling me.

“Breathe, sweetness,” I coax her. “Clench that sweet pussy around the throbbing ache. Hold the fire deep inside. Feel my hands touching every beautiful inch of your body. And stop fucking moving, or I swear I’m going to be forced to fuck you in the most obscene way in front of this whole gala.”

Her body locks tight, the dare to move and end the torture is a charged current strung too viciously tight between us. If she even shivers, I won’t hesitate to shove her infuriating skirt up and bury my cock inside her until she’s screaming my name.

“I need your touch,” she whispers, flaying the last of my restraint.

Unable to deny her, I splay my hand low on her belly, feeling her pelvic muscles contract. “That’s it, angel. Feed those dark and needy things right here out in the open. You can’t hide from me, ever. I know the sordid thoughts that surface from the fringe, and how you want me to take you there.”

Her body trembles against mine in concession, and I slide my hand down to her inner thigh to touch the sigil I carved there, stimulating one of her erogenous zones. I’ve mapped her body. Nipples, ears, thighs—all places Halen’s body responds to, but nothing surmounts mental stimuli when it comes to making my muse lose her mind.