Which reminded her… “Why Shadow Man? And when did you… become him?”
He pushed one of his hands into his workout pant pockets, keeping the mug in the other, and damn he looked good. A belated tendril of heat curled in her, and she squashed it down.
“I am Shadow Man,” he stated. “He had to come out to deal with The Syndicate. He could go, get information, do things that others couldn’t. It was simple to have him. Blackthorn Group has access to current data, and I have access to the past. Between all the information I have, it’s made it easier.”
“And why do you want to take The Syndicate down?”
The first sign of stiffness tensed his body. His jaw worked slightly as he stared at her, and she waited, not knowing if she’d touched a nerve or if he was simply thinking. After a long minute, he put his mug down, heading toward the fridge.
“Are you sore?”
Blinking at the sudden change of topic, realizing that he wasn’t going to answer her, she sighed. Small steps, she reminded herself. They’d made enough progress that she could let it go for now.
“I am,” she answered him. “You wrecked me good last night.”
His back muscles came into focus and relaxed as he rummaged in the freezer. “You should put some ice on it.”
“No, it’s—” The sentence died on her lips as he turned and she saw what he held in his hand.
A dildo.
An ice dildo.
A dildo made of ice, a little smaller than he was.
What in the everloving fuck?
Horrified yet intrigued, her eyes flew to him as he went to the sink and ran it under water, the crystal clear ice shining in the sunlit kitchen. Turning the tap off, he moved toward her and she scrambled back.
“Oh, no. No. That isn’t going inside me,” she stated firmly, looking at the dripping ice appendage in his hand. She had never had good experience with foreign objects and she had told him that. He knew she didn’t like the idea of toys at all.
Unheeding, lips twitching, he put it on the counter before calmly picking her up and planting her ass on it.
“Put your feet on the slab,” he instructed, pushing her knees open. “Take the t-shirt off.”
Hesitating, not on-board with it, she stripped, resting her weight on her hands behind her on the counter, waiting to see what he would do.
He looked at her intently between her legs, seeing her swollen, abraded, nether lips. She’d always marked easily, and her pussy looked like it had been a battlefield.
“You had this in the freezer even though I said I didn’t like foreign objects inside me?” she intuited. It wouldn’t surprise her if he didn’t have a regard for her boundaries. He never had, and he probably never would.
“You already know the answer to that.”
Well, if he was going to push her boundaries, she was going to return the favor.
“Why are you after The Syndicate?” she pressed on, knowing that was the moment he had clocked out of the conversation and began to distract her.
Cold, chilled ice circled around her heavy breasts in a large, infinite loop, leaving her gasping. Her gasp turned into a moan when his warm tongue followed, licking up the same path, her breasts heaving under the sudden onslaught of sensation.
He made the icy cold loop again, this one tighter, closer to her aching nipples and yet so far, then followed the trail with his hot tongue, lapping the water. She lay back on the counter, her hands getting weaker, unable to support her body as she went flat on her back.
“Why are you after—？” The sentence got cut off on a strangled cry as he slapped her clit with the ice, the cold and the sensation making the little nub throb.
“Eyes.”
The single command had her eyes flying open, making her realize she’d closed them at the touch. She watched with half-lidded gaze as his hand—his large, burned, hand that had killed so many people in her name she probably should’ve felt remorseful about it—moved the ice back to her breasts, this time straight to her nipple, circling it over and over again. Leaning over her, between her legs so she could feel his hardness nudging against her over the fabric of his pants, his warm mouth closed around the nipple while the ice went to the other one. The immediate sensation of cold and warm had a shot of fire arrow right between her thighs, making her moan as she bit her lip, her hands spearing into his dark hair. His thumb went to her lips, tracing them like he always did.
“Say my name.”
With the way she knew her voice affected him, she knew he was trying to feel the sound right at the source.