“It won’t be that long, I promise you.” Although he did need to get out of here ASAP. “Now, will you please go?”

When she continued to hesitate, he was the one who triggered the prison door to open by taking her hand and placing it on the wall—

The lights were on inside, not off. And s’Ex was on the bedding platform, his back against the headboard, his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles.

In one hand, he had a whetstone. In the other, he had a dagger.

With slow, sure strokes, he was sharpening the blade.

He didn’t bother to look up. “Imagine my surprise when I came to personally check on you.”

iAm put his body in front of maichen’s, blocking her completely. “This is not her fault. I forced her.”

“That is a lie.” The executioner glanced up, his black eyes glittering. “But whether you did or didn’t is the least of your problems.”

As Fritz pulled up in front of the Brotherhood’s mansion, Selena burst out of the back of the Mercedes before the car even rolled to a halt. The sudden lunge was an expression of her excitement, something she had been holding in, and it felt good to—

Except she was in high heels, and the landing went badly: As the tiny pinpoint back ends of her shoes skipped over the cobblestones, gravity grabbed hold of her and she threw out her arms, her weight shifting off-kilter—

Trez caught her in his arms with a powerful surge, capturing her before she could fall and sweeping her up against his massive chest.

He held her as if she didn’t weigh a thing.

Putting her arms around his neck, she leaned back and smiled so widely, she probably looked like a lunatic. She didn’t care.

“That was incredible!”

Trez grinned as he mounted the steps to the door to the vestibule. “It was something else, for sure.”

Stretching around Trez’s triceps, she called out to the butler, “Fritz, can we do that again tomorrow night?”

The butler followed in their wake. “But of course, mistress! Anything to be of service. I must comment, however, that the car shall require some attention prior to any further such excursions.”

Probably right, and maybe that was why the doggen had parked it parallel to the front door instead of with the other vehicles on the far side of the fountain. Could the thing even reverse anymore?

There was a quick pause as they entered the vestibule, and then they were welcomed into the mansion’s warm, lush interior by one of Fritz’s staff.

“If you will excuse me,” the butler said, “I must attend to Last Meal’s preparations, as I indicated.”

“Thanks for getting us back in one piece,” Trez murmured.

“My pleasure indeed.”

As the doggen went off through the dining room, Trez started for the stairs, his long strides crossing over the foyer’s mosaic floor—and Selena started to smile for a different reason than pure adrenaline.

But he didn’t take her up to his bedroom. Her male strode around the base of the grand staircase on the left, taking them to the ornate door of the bathroom.

“Open the door for me,” he growled.

She glanced up and drank in the sight of his face. Pure sexual need gritted his jaw and narrowed his eyes, turning him into an animalistic version of himself.

His response to the car ride, she thought.

Reaching out her hand, she gripped the brass knob and released the lock, opening the way in.

Such a beautiful room, with its private stall for the toilet, and its sweet-smelling air, and especially its peach, red and pink veined marble that covered the walls and the floors. Red and peach satin fell from both sides of the mirror over the sink, as if the thing were a window to look out of, and the velvet skirting around the basin was bloodred with gold-tasseled fringe. Old-fashioned gas sconces burned incessantly all around the room, the mellow yellow light like that of candles.

“You’re going to want to use that lock,” he said, bending down so she could get to the thing. Slide it home. Give them some privacy.

There was a long, skirted bench on the far wall, and he brought her over to it, holding her with one hand as he shoved all kinds of silk and needlepoint pillows onto the floor. Stretching her out, he purred deep in his throat as he caressed her shoulders, her waist, her legs.

“I thought about this all night,” he said.

Arching up, she felt the caress of her dress moving up over her thighs as he swept his palms higher and higher.

“Oh, God,” he breathed as he looked at her sex.

“Did you forget already?” She smiled as she lowered her lids. “That they gave me everything but the panties?”

“Mmm, no, I remember.”

He moved her around, pulling her forward so that he could split her legs around his hips. Leaning down over her, he put his mouth on the side of her neck and then drew his tongue up until he nipped at her earlobe.

“You know what the hardest thing is?”

He punctuated the question with a thrust of his pelvis, his arousal pushing into her bare sex through the fine fabric of his slacks. As she gasped, his fingers drifted over the bodice of the dress.

“Hmmm?” he murmured, nipping at her again as if to chastise her. “Do you?”

“I have a good idea,” she moaned.

“It’s not this.” He pushed into her core again, stroking her with his erection. “Believe it or not.”

“Wha-what . . . ?”

He put his mouth next to her ear. “It’s not ripping your dress off with my teeth. I want to take you to Last Meal after this, and as much as I respect the Brothers . . .” Trez kissed his way down to her shoulder. “I’d have to kill them all if they saw you naked. And that’s a lot of clean-up.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Sit up for me.”

She was dizzy as she did what he asked, but it was from the passion, the heat . . . the need. “Now . . . what?”

“We very carefully get rid of this.” Grasping the hem, he pulled the black wisp up over her waist . . . over her breasts. “Fuuuuuuuuuck.”

As he tossed the silk to the floor, he just stared at what he had revealed. “Oh, that’s what I want.”

With his palms stroking up and down her thighs, he dropped his head to one of her nipples, sucking her in, nursing at her, his dark head contrasting with her paler skin. Letting her head fall back, she gave him the access he wanted, spreading her knees even further.

The sound he made was all male animal, and the hold he sank into her hips was rough as he jerked her forward.

“Gimme,” he demanded. There was a quick zip! as he released himself, and then that growl was back. “All night. Thought about this all night.”

He pushed into her with a thrust of his hips, and she grabbed onto his wrists, arching up again. With hard drives, he let himself go and she took everything he gave her, a powerful release gathering momentum immediately. So hot, so wild . . . the culmination of the thoughtful dinner, the crazy ride home, the constant anticipation she’d had when she was around him.

Dragging him back down to her mouth, she clung to the power of him, seeking his lips and sucking his tongue inside of her until the rhythm of penetrations below made that impossible. Faster, harder, and then the orgasm hit her.

And it was just like careening through those panes of glass, a gathering speed and then a spectacular shattering.

Except it was her body coming apart.

In a wonderful way.

Just as she was beginning to float down, she found his wrist at her lips. “Take from me,” he grunted. “I want to feel your teeth in my flesh.”

Instantly, the heat rose again and she pushed his arm out of the way. As her fangs descended in a rush, she hissed and struck the side of his throat, right at the thick vein that ran up from his heart.

Trez cried out her name and clasped her to him, tilting his head and encouraging her to take more, take everything she needed—as his hips locked against her, his erection jerking as he came deep inside her body.