Chapter 5 · First inch lands

He tore the rest of my shirt and pinned me. I trembled. Pride refused. Then he slid inside on the first breath and claimed the withheld inch.

"Look at me. Don't you dare run from this." He thrust harder, deeper, snapping hips, again and again, until the rhythm broke. My mind said no. My body said yes. I came around him. He finished inside me and marked me.

Then he clipped the worse rider to the ledger. On beat 1 I felt the rivet at the panic-room bunk change temperature while his weight stayed. Pride refused to count 1 out loud even as my breath hit the rivet. On beat 2 I felt the latch at the panic-room bunk change temperature while his weight stayed.

Pride refused to count 2 out loud even as my breath hit the latch. On beat 3 I felt the hinge at the panic-room bunk change temperature while his weight stayed. Pride refused to count 3 out loud even as my breath hit the hinge. On beat 4 I felt the grate at the panic-room bunk change temperature while his weight stayed.