Casimir eyes the tray. “You didn’t eat enough.”

“If I wanted your opinion on my eating habits, I’d ask for it.”

He curses softly in Russian. “Fine. Let’s get this out.” He flips back the covers and snags my ankle. “I chose you, baby. You, Ruby Belmonte. How many heirs are there in Carver City? Five? Six? It took me all of two seconds to recognize the glint in your eyes. You’re just like me.” He starts to drag me down the bed toward him.

“I’m nothing like you.” I half-heartedly try to kick him, but he catches that ankle too and jerks me to the edge of the mattress, then easily steps between my thighs. I prop myself up on my elbows and glare. “I might like fucking you. I might have loved Luke. That doesn’t mean I’m some kind of kindred spirit.”

“No, it doesn’t.” He strokes his hands up to my knees and slides me until my ass is nearly hanging off the bed. “But the fact remains that you are like me, baby. Violent and selfish and willing to use other people as your toys.”

I flinch. “That’s cruel.”

“That’s reality.” He squeezes my thighs, pressing them a little wider. “Last night, you were fantasizing about me killing those two while they fucked you. It made you come harder.”

I almost lie, but he’ll know if I do. “Fantasy is not reality. I’m glad you didn’t hurt them.”

Casimir cups my pussy, his palm rough and possessive. “One day you’ll be territory leader, Ruby. Violence is part of the role, and if your parents haven’t prepared you for that, it’s on them.”

They may have sheltered me to some degree, but I hid from the truth too. Not because I’m afraid of violence; it’s more that responsibility gives me hives. What a selfish little brat I’ve been. I can’t think with his hand on me, his fingers sliding through my folds. “What’s your point?”

“My point”—he spears me with two fingers, then fucks me slowly—“is that with me by your side, you’ll be safe. The pair of us will be unstoppable.”

Pleasure slows my thoughts, his words and touch seducing me. “You can’t just . . . fuck me into . . . submission,” I finally manage.

“No.” He grins suddenly, and it hits me in the chest like a freight train: that’s Luke’s smile, rueful and a little mischievous. Casimir twists his wrist and curls his fingers against my G-spot. “But that won’t stop us from enjoying each attempt.”

I need him to stop touching me so I can think clearly. I need him to never stop touching me, to keep fucking me until I’m wrung out and empty. “This will never work.”

“Baby, it’s already working.” He tugs off his towel, and then his cock is there, splitting me in half, one agonizing inch at a time. He brackets my hips with his hands, holding me down as he fucks me in shallow strokes, each one a little deeper than the last. “You loved me once as Luke. You’ll love me better as I really am.”

“No.” But I don’t know what I’m protesting anymore. My heart is all twisted, and I don’t know which way is down anymore. Did I think I was in a free fall before? What a joke.

In desperation, I arch up and hook the back of his neck. He allows me to tug him down so I can take his mouth, and the moment our tongues slide against each other, it’s as if I’ve snapped a leash that I wasn’t even aware held him back.

He bears me back to the bed, his mouth harsh and demanding on me. Casimir isn’t going slow now. He’s pulling me to him, his hands on my neck, my spine, my ass, as he drives into me, as if he’s tattooing his ownership under my skin.

I meet him halfway. I drag my nails down his back and dig them into his ass, urging him to go deeper, to go harder. It’s a frenzy. There’s no other way to put it. As if all the pent-up rage and confusion and hurt is distilled into this moment of fucking. And yet it’s not as simple as that. This is a moment of knowing. Of understanding.

Of recognition.

One monster acknowledging another.

He switches up his strokes, grinds against me in exactly the way I need. I bite his bottom lip. He squeezes my ass hard enough to bruise, his fingers finding the scrapes from last night and sparking new pinpricks of pain. The contrast with the agonizing pleasure of his cock sends me hurtling over the edge.

Casimir keeps my orgasm going, wave after wave crashing over me until my muscles give out. Only then does he retreat. I make a sound of protest, but he doesn’t go far. He flips me onto my stomach, and there’s a faint rustle as he grabs a bottle of lube. “It’s time, baby.”

We’ve never done anal before. I’d had a bad experience with a previous partner and wasn’t interested in trying it again with Luke and his giant cock—and doing it right now feels like a promise I’m not sure I can keep. “This doesn’t mean anything.”

“Liar.” He cups my ass, squeezing my cheeks the same way he did before. There’s no plug this time, but my body clenches. “You didn’t answer my question before.”

I’m having a hard time thinking straight. “What question?”

“Have I ever hurt you, Ruby?” He presses a lubed-up finger to my ass and eases it inside. Testing me.

“You’re about to.” I don’t really believe that, though. If I did, I wouldn’t be quivering with pure anticipation for what comes next. Fucking Casimir has been a life-changing experience, even though I’d die before I’d admit that aloud. We’ve trampled over boundaries I thought I had, and there’s been more pleasure than I could have ever dreamed.

“Ruby.” He stops the delicious, careful stroking. “Answer.”

I curse, but he’s not moving, and I want this too badly to use a safe word to end it. “Fine. No. You haven’t hurt me. You bruised my pride. I hate that you lied to me for so long. But you’ve never hurt my body.”

He resumes his careful finger fucking. “I won’t hurt you this time either.”

“Prove it.”

He eases his finger from my ass, and then his cock is there. It feels obscenely large compared to anything he’s inserted to date, and I tense.

“Relax, baby.” He strokes me with his hands, soothing me even as he presses forward. His cock stretches me. Even with the lube and prep, it burns. It’s not bad, though. Just strange.

Casimir curses softly and stops the forward motion. I don’t expect him to lean forward, press his body to mine. He wraps me up in him and slides one hand down to my pussy. “Relax.”

“Can’t,” I pant. It feels like I’m being impaled. But also not. It hurts, and yet there’s a pressure building around that fullness that is pure pleasure. My brain can’t process the conflicting feelings. Then he starts circling my clit, and it all gets so much more confusing. I moan and shake, which only makes it more achingly obvious that his cock is in my ass. But not even close to his whole length. “Casimir.”

“I’ve got you.” He’s not moving anything except his fingers, the intoxicating circles causing pleasure to override my nerves. He kisses my throat, the back of my neck. “It was only ever going to be you, baby.”

“What?”

He keeps up that slow circling even as his hips shift, pressing his cock a little more into me. This time, I don’t tense in response. The penetration is extreme, but the more I relax into it, the better it feels. I tilt my head to give him better access to my throat.

Casimir sets his teeth there. “First time I saw you properly was at the Tower. You were on the dance floor wearing a bikini and dancing as if it was your last night on earth.”

I arch a little, taking him deeper. I know the night he means. “Foam party.”

“Yeah.” His fingers are soaked with me, and he dips to press them inside before bringing them back to my clit. “You were drunk off your ass. There was a guy fingering you right there in front of everyone.”

I had just moved out and was determined to make the most of my freedom. Up until that point, I’d only hooked up with truly safe people, and I was out-of-my-mind jealous of Michelle, who’d been going through bedroom partners the same way she goes through lipstick colors. I wanted to be wild and free, but I needed alcohol to get me there.