MY ROOM held a quality that wasn't there when I left to take a shower, and when my eyes landed on the brooding man sprawled across my bed, I understood why. He slowly sat up straight and planted his booted feet on the carpet. The look he gave me was dark and dangerous, and shouldn't have made me feel anything other than annoyance.

I gritted my teeth to tamp down the onslaught of desire that I couldn't shake and hold on to my growing anger. Clutching the towel tighter to my body, I looked at him. "I'm tired. Say what you wanted to say and leave."

He regards me quietly. "What makes you think what I came to do involve words?"

"What makes you think that I would let you touch me?" I snapped. Anger boiled beneath my skin, and I held my lip between my teeth.

His deep chuckle vibrated all the way down my body. "Is that a challenge?"

He smiled that mischievous smirk that seemed to highlight his startlingly handsome features, his green eyes wild with abandon. My thighs clenched.

Damn thighs.

I shut my eyes, taking a deep breath. "It's whatever you want it to be, Kade. Just leave me the hell alone. We're done."

With that, I spun around to leave, but he was across the room with his hands behind my back before I could cross the threshold. He turn me around, grabs my throat and squeezes, kissing me so hard I know there will be bruise. The anger was back in a flash and I lashed out. I ball my fists and rain them on his chest, just furious blows raining down on his body, and anywhere I could reach.

"I hate you," I snarl.

He laughed, then his hands meet the back of my knees, and he hoists me up. The towel was discarded to the floor. My legs automatically knot around his waist. My back was pressed against the wall and I was caged in by his hard body and drowning in the intoxicating sweet-scent of his breath. He cups my face and squashes it as if he is milking this kiss out of me. "I told you to trust me." he said softly between kisses.

Shame like I've never known coursed through my body. I could feel the tingles in my nose and the pressure behind my eyes. I was so disgusted with myself for wanting to believe him. And look where that brought me. Anger fills my veins like kerosene. All I need now is a match. I ripped my lips away. "Get off me! This is over. I want you to leave."

His head tilted, and I knew he was assessing me in the way he always did, gauging my expression.

He whispered, "And I just want inside you."

I felt the rush, the clench, and the goddamn fucking need.

I was weak.

I should run. I could run now, but I didn't.

I knew I wouldn't.

I would give in when he came to me. I almost had to. There was a yearning deep down. I craved Kade. I needed my fix. I needed to feel him inside of me, claiming me, fucking me. I sank to the floor, with my heart in my throat. A part of my mind was still thinking clearly, a small part, but it was fast disappearing.

When he scoops me up from the ground like I'm a child, and placed me on the bed, I knew it was over for me. The sound of his belt unbuckling and his zipper lowering made my core clench with need. His green eyes were glowing with a possession, and from the predatory look on his face, I knew he was going to eat me alive... and I wouldn't have the good sense to stop him.

He crawled over my body and his hand slid further up to rest at the apex of my thighs. I whimpered as my body reacted to his touch. It caused this familiar ache I felt deep inside me, whenever he was near, except this time was stronger. His eyes darkened as he pressed harder against me.

I met his eyes, letting him see the anger. "This is the last time," I promise. To him. To myself. To Arabella. I don't want to be a cheater anymore. Taking someone who doesn't belong to you knowingly—that's cheating.

The anger that flashed in his eyes, more than I've ever seen before, was my only warning. He covered my body with his and forced my thighs open wider to accommodate him. I could feel the head of his cock poised at my entrance as he grabbed a hand full of my hair in his hand and leaned down to place his lips at my ear.

"Oh, princess. We'll be over when I say we're over." he said before he rammed his cock into me once and held it deep inside me. I let out a shocked cry of pleasure. He grabs my hair and tilted my heald up to his mouth, delivering a series of short, hard thrusts.

"Kade..." I plead as I tightened around him. He had me pinned to the bed, completely immobile and vulnerable to the demands of his cock.

"Should I stop?" he asked, his arms boxing me in as he continued pounding.

"Y-yes," my weak voice stuttered. I did want him to stop...didn't I?

His hand slid back up my side, grabbing my breast and covering my nipple. He bent, his mouth taking one breast as he kneaded the other. Then he started thrusting. Hard. I gasped, a shout working its way out of my throat.

"Did you meet that fucker?" he gritted through his teeth.

I know who he's talking about. He made sure to show me just how much he despise the thought of me and Derek together. And because I'm angry and feeling brave enough to taunt him, I lied, "Yes."

Kade kissed down my throat, and I can feel his smile against my skin. His other hand holding my ass as he pumped his cock in and out of me. "I dare you, Ayla," he growled, his voice dark and low. "Let me catch you with even as giving that fucker a smile, and he'll never be able to walk again, much less fuck."

My knees buckled. "You're a fucking hypocrite," I seethed, then clamped down on his lips and bit him hard.

He reared back, shocked. His lower lip bruise and I saw a trickle of blood. Then a devilish smile appears. "So feisty."

His mouth slammed back into mine and he sucked my sigh into his mouth as if the taste of his lips will erased my nerves and my fears and my hesitation, so all that remained was his mouth upon mine and his cock moving inside me.

"Kade," I cried out despite the movements of him pumping into me, making it hard to speak.

I didn't think he could go deeper, but somehow, he did. It was like his entire body was taking me over. I could feel him everywhere. He was pure lust and power. It wasn't just harder and faster; it was as if he hit every g-spot all at once. My muscles clenched around him.

"You're mine, Ayla," he thrust deeper into me, stealing away my breath. "You always will be and I won't let you go. Do you hear me? I won't."

"You have to..." I contract around him, and he grunts in satisfaction. I want to fight it. I want to prove a point. That he can't do this. He can't just take from me and do whatever he wants.

But my body wants to give in. My body wants to be completely at his mercy. My body is a slave to its own cravings. He moved in and out, forceful, and my body met every roll of his hips.

In. Out.

Harder.

Deeper.

Faster.

I raked my nails down his arms, curving in and holding on for dear life.

He lifted his weight off my body and planted his fists by my head and continued his, long, deep, forceful thrusts with powerful hips that pushed me up the bed. The headboard began a steady beat against the wall, matching the sound of our skin slapping. I began thrashing and flailing around him, fighting not only him but also the sensations he was creating within me. His wild eyes roam possessively over my body as he watched me.

"It's too much," I throw my head back and squeeze my eyes shut.

"No." He reared up, bringing me with him until he was sitting on his haunches and I was in his lap. "It's not fucking enough," he growl against my neck.

My bruise lips part but no sounds come out as he bends his knee a bit, changing the angle. He's right there, pressing against the one spot that causes my eyes to roll back and hips to buck in desperation. I'm tightening around him. I can feel my walls try and to pull him in deeper.

"Please, Kade.." It leaves me on a shaky whimper, my hips pushing back against his, beads of sweat roll down my back.

"Give it to me.." His hips push harder, pistoning at a pace that leaves me on the tip of my toes. "Come on my cock, Ayla. Mark me."

That's it. Two words and I'm thrown over the edge. My moans are loud and yet, even at my highest peak, a feral growl rips from his throat, coming from somewhere deep and primal, and he bites my neck. The sounds of his pleasure break me all over again, and I clench around him as another wave of bliss rocks through me. I'm left gasping and sweaty and completely sated. It takes a while for my heart to stop racing and for the shaking of my limbs to cease, but when they do, reality sets in. I brace myself and wait for him to leave like he always do, but he does something else.

He drew me back against his chest and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his warmth and I let him.

I want him. I hate him.

My feelings for him are a battlefield. And the only refuge I have is that when he looks down at me, I can see the same expression reflected back in his eyes.