Excerpt of Bittersweet Darkness by Nina Croft

“Tell me,” Ash said. “Did you know?”

“Know?” she asked. But her eyes were wary.

“Last night, when you came so sweetly for me, did you know where Tara was?”

He watched the pulse fluttering in her throat while he held his breath and waited for her answer.

“Yes.”

His fist smashed into the concrete wall. Faith took a step back away from him, but came up against the cot behind her. There wasn’t room to escape him in this tiny room.

Fear darkened her eyes, and a tremor shivered through her. Then she appeared to draw herself up. She controlled her fear and stared him in the eye as if to say—do your worst.

But she had no idea what his worst was. He’d seen her shock when he had killed her boss. Was she expecting the same? He felt his demon rise up inside him, push at his human skin. He had an urge to show her his true self. Afterward, she wouldn’t stand so bravely, daring him to hurt her.

But he didn’t want to hurt her. Even now.

Then alarm flickered in her eyes, and he knew she was only acting. She feared him and that made his anger rise even more.

Had he ever hurt her? He knew he was being illogical but couldn’t stop. He stepped up close. Her hands were still bound behind her back, so her small breasts pushed outward and suddenly his anger was washed away on a tidal wave of lust.

Her gaze dropped to his mouth. Was she remembering how he tasted? When she raised her gaze, her eyes held something new—hunger.

He took another step so they were almost touching. Panic flared in her face and she edged away and around the cot. This time she came up against the wall behind her and Ash kept coming. He didn’t stop until his chest was touching hers and he could feel her breasts nudging him. His dick responded in a flash and that pissed him off. How could he want her when she’d betrayed him?

Leaning in close, he rested his palms flat on the wall on either side of her shoulders. He lowered his head and his lips touched hers in the briefest of kisses. Her lashes fluttered closed, and her mouth parted. And he couldn’t resist one more taste.

This time his lips slanted over hers harder, and his tongue pushed slowly inside. As she went still, he felt the tentative flutter of her tongue and heat rushed through his veins.

He shifted so the lower half of his body rested against her belly. A groan rose in her throat. He backed away so he could watch her reaction. “Do you want me, Faith?” He pressed his hips into her. “Or are you pretending as you no doubt did last night.”

She hadn’t pretended, but something pushed him to taunt her. Although she responded to his kisses, he could almost sense her distancing herself from him and that made his fury spring back to life. He needed to hurt her, like he was hurting.

“Or do you find it a turn on for me to kiss you while you’re bound and helpless.”

“Why? Does it give you a buzz to kiss women who are tied up?”

He answered truthfully. “Yeah.”

Shock flared in her face.

“Usually they ask me nicely first though.”

Suddenly the fight drained from her. Her body sagged against the wall, whether to distance herself from him or because she didn’t have the energy to hold herself up anymore, he didn’t know.

He levered himself away from her, stepped back, and turned. It took an effort; he still wanted her, but if he took her now it would be a sort of rape even if she didn’t fight him. She didn’t have the energy to fight him either mentally or physically.

And he still felt too angry. Anger and desire, and a whole load of other emotions he wasn’t sure he wanted to identify, tangled inside him. He wasn’t sure what he might say if pushed, and she appeared at the end of her tether. And he realized he didn’t want her to hurt any more. Whatever she had done; it hadn’t been easy.