Page 82 of The Merger
He had me tangled in his web. I was ready to beg for the release he masterfully kept just out of my reach.
My body started to tremble, but once again he pulled back, denying me the release I so badly craved. He leaned back and tauntingly wiped his chin.
Slowly, he rose from the floor. His erection jutted forward accusingly as if I were the one punishing us both.
He grabbed a sheet we’d cast aside because it was old and threadbare in places. Holding it between both of his hands he pulled. The material barely protested as it shredded under his efforts, leaving him with strips of fabric.
“Arms above your head,” he commanded.
Desperate for release, I obeyed without arguing. He got to work tying my hands above my head and connected the end to a piece of furniture.
Taking his time, he moved around to my feet. Grabbing both my ankles and pulling me down making me unable to move my arms at all. His hands slid up to my knees and guided them open. Settling between my thighs he held himself back.
“You’re right. This will be our baby. I love how strong you are, and it's what makes your submission to me such a gift. So understand this, I try to be evolved, but there’s a primal side of me that only sees you as mine. Mine to protect, to care for, and mine to fuck.”
I should have balked at his speech. He’d never treat me as a possession, but there was a big part of him that wanted to own me. It was a hard truth to admit, but I wanted him to own me, at least when we were alone.
He laid on top of me, and the weight of his hard body felt like security and home. He guided my legs up next to his sides and pinned them under his arms, and he paused. “This is the moment where you have to decide if you’re all in. I might look good in a suit, but that white collar still chafes sometimes. So decide now, because the primal side of my brain is trying to take over, and it’s demanding I fuck you until I’m certain you’re pregnant.”
My fingers twitched with the need to hold him. He knew at some point I’d feel that way, but binding them was his way to hold on to me. I wasn’t naive, I knew he was subconsciously trying to scare me away as a test to see if I would stay.
I sucked in a gasp as a realization hit me. Stryker wanted me to admit he owned me because I owned him. He handed himself over to me the night we met, and he’s been mine even when I forgot.
For five years he waited and built a life for us to share. Now he needed me to prove to him I was as tied to him as he always had been to me. My husband seemed to prefer his metaphors to be literal.
“I’m all in,” I whispered.
Those were apparently the words he needed to hear. This time he pushed into me slowly. I gave in to letting him lead.
He used me in the best way. My only choice was to take what he was giving me, and that was everything. A stream of consciousness fell from his mouth. “You’re mine, and I’ll never let you go again. I’ll keep you tied up forever if I have to.”
Those words made me fight. I bucked against him, which elicited a growl from him, and he drove into me harder. My body was on board even though my mind was not. “Stryker,” I snapped, and his eyes locked on mine. His pupils were blown, and I was looking at a man being run by his instincts.
“Tell me that’s not why you want a baby,” I snapped. “Please, tell me the reason you want to get me pregnant isn’t because you’re afraid to lose me.”
He rocked against me slower, but he didn’t stop. “There’s not one single reason I want to see your body swell with my child. If you’re asking me if it’ll turn me on to know our family is growing inside of you, then the answer is yes. Knowing that every man who sees you will know you’re taken.”
He leaned forward and sucked on my neck hard enough to leave a mark. My eyes rolled back into my head, almost making me forget he hadn’t answered my question.
“My desire to have a family is something I didn’t think I’d need to explain to you.”
The stark honesty in his expression ended my argument. It told me everything I’d ignored while I was trying to make my decision. Stryker was lonely, he’d only had his mother, and for a brief moment me, in all of his thirty-five years. When I forgot him five years ago, I left him completely alone.
“Sunshine, I’m barely hanging on,” he whispered with his head buried in my neck.
“Then let go,” I told him.
He reached for the bindings on my wrists and untied them. “Not like this, at least not this time.”
Once my hands were free I threaded them into his hair and breathed into his mouth as we kissed like we’d never touch again.
* * *
The fire burned down to coals while we were consumed with each other, but once our energy was spent, the chill in the air was hard to ignore.
Stryker sat up and started shoving his feet inside his boots. “I’ll go grab more firewood.”
Air wooshed in as soon as he opened the door letting in the cold and a swirling cloud of flurries.