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.