My silence was the only permission Tom needed.
His mouth claimed mine with a bruising, ruthless intensity that wiped away every remaining shred of my sanity.
The camera hanging from my neck clattered against my chest as he lifted me effortlessly, my heels coming off the polished marble floor.
I let out a soft, helpless gasp against his lips, my fingers instinctively tangling into his short, dark hair as I pulled him closer.
The taste of him was dark, heavy, and completely intoxicating.
Where Ethan’s kisses were gentle and comforting, Tom’s were a possession—a declaration that my body no longer belonged to me.
He carried me backward down the dim hallway, his boots making heavy, deliberate strides against the hardwood until his back hit the frame of the master study.
Without breaking the kiss, he reached back, shoved the door open, and pressed me against the cool, painted drywall inside.
“Look at me,” Tom growled against my mouth, his breath ragged and hot.
I opened my heavy eyes, my chest heaving as I stared up at him in the half-light of the study.
His dark gaze was wild, burning with an unholy mix of lust and triumphant control.
His hands slid down from my waist, gathering the hem of my dark green dress, slowly pulling the silk fabric up my thighs.
The cool night air hit my bare skin, making me shiver violently.
“Tom, we can’t…
not here,” I whimpered, though my hands tightened on his shoulders, holding him in place.
“Eric could come back…” “Eric won’t be back for hours,” Tom murmured, his lips tracing down my jaw to the valley of my collarbone, biting gently until a sharp spark of pleasure shot straight through my core.
“And even if he walked through that door right now, I wouldn’t stop.” His words sent a terrifying wave of adrenaline through my blood.
He wasn’t just taking me; he was stripping away my entire identity, piece by piece.
His large, calloused hand cupped my cheek, forcing me to look directly into his eyes.
“Tell me you think about me when you’re lying next to him,” he demanded, his voice low and dangerous.
“Tell me you feel my hands on your skin when he touches you.” “No…” I breathed, shaking my head slightly, trying to hold onto the last thin wire of my morals.
“Don’t lie to me, Rain,” Tom whispered, his hand sliding lower, his fingers pressing firmly against the bare skin of my waist, pinning me flush against his hard, demanding body.
“You haven’t thought about Ethan once since you stepped through that front door tonight.” The raw, brutal truth hit me like a slap to the face.
Tears spilled from the corners of my eyes—tears of sheer guilt, panic, and an overwhelming surge of sensation that I couldn’t suppress any longer.
He was right.
Ethan felt like a distant memory, a shadow from a life I had left behind in Brooklyn the moment I crossed the threshold of this house.
“Say it,” Tom ordered, his thumbs digging into my hips as he lifted me higher, trapping me between his muscular frame and the wall.
“Say my name.” “Tom…” I gasped, my head falling back against the wall as his lips found the sensitive spot beneath my ear.
“Tom…
please…” “Good girl,” he growled, his mouth capturing mine once again in a kiss so deep, so possessive, that it swallowed my desperate sob whole.
My cell phone in my tote bag on the foyer floor began to ring.
The muffled, cheerful chime echoed down the hallway—the distinct ringtone I had set exclusively for Ethan.
The sound cut through the heavy silence of the study like a serrated blade.
I froze instantly, my body rigid against Tom’s.
He paused, his lips resting on my throat, his dark eyes opening slowly as the phone continued to ring in the distance, a relentless reminder of the world waiting for me outside this dark room.