“Do you like it?” Byron asked as he came to stand behind me, his arms snaking around my waist and his chin resting on my shoulder.
“It wasn’t what I expected, but it feels very you.”
“If you don’t like it, we can change it to whatever you want. I’m not fussed, I just like the simplicity of a single colour palette. Too much colour feels like too much noise to me. It helps keep the chaos at bay.”
“And the graphic novels?” I pointed towards the vast collection. “You like those?”
“Probably the way you like music.”
I turned on the spot, Byron moving with me. “And all the knives?”
He shrugged. “I like knives. These are ones I’ve collected on my travels. Bishop says I hoard them like a dragon hoards treasure, but I just like to look at my favourite things. Theseknives, I just took to them and I couldn’t bring myself to part with them. I refused to.”
“The same way you refuse to part with me?” I thought I’d regret hearing those words out loud, but I didn’t.
Byron’s eyes snapped to mine with a possessiveness that had my cock hardening instantly. “Yes. I’ll never part with you.”
“Will you put me in a display box with your knives?”
Byron dragged his nose up the column of my throat, breathing in deeply. “But if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to touch you whenever I want to and I very much want to touch you. There isn’t a minute that goes by where I don’t think about my fingers on your skin.” He pushed the hem of my jumper up and trailed the tips of his fingers over the top of my hip bones and down my V-line before playing with the top of my waistband. “Even when you sleep.Fuck, I want to sink deep inside you when you’ve got no control, because knowing it’s when you’re at your most vulnerable makes my dick hard.”
“Jesus,” I blurted breathlessly.
“Can I do that, baby? Can I fuck you while you sleep?”
At least he was asking. That had to count for something, right? Maybe even progress. “Yes.”
The single word was whispered, but it hit hard and heavy. This was trust. In Byron. In believing that he would never do anything more than he thought I could handle.
This was everything.
Byron stilled behind me. “Really?”
“Yes.” A little jolt of excitement bubbled up inside me at the thought of being woken by Byron sinking his cock into me. I wanted that. Wanted to feel him in that way. Did that make me the crazy one?
It certainly made me crazy for him.
Sharp teeth nipped at my neck. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”
I imagined it was something similar to the way he made me feel. Desperate and needy and singularly focussed on him.
“Do you think we should deal with the box in the room?” I asked, my throat dry and voice husky.
I felt Byron’s smile pull wide across the side of my neck. “If that’s what you really want, then sure.”
He stepped away from me, and I dragged a deep breath into my lungs. My hands trembled with how big that moment just felt. It all clicked into place. I was his. He was mine. And I was going to let him ruin me in any way he saw fit.
I looked deep into Byron’s eyes, wondering if he could feel it too. There was something softer about them as he looked back at me. It wasn’t love, it never could be, but maybe it was acceptance or an acknowledgement of what we were. He’d always known it, and really, he’d never given me a choice, but I think that’s what I’d needed. And he fucking knew it.
The asshole knew how to play me well.
The smile that pulled at my lips felt natural and free. “Let’s take a look in the box. Together.”
His lips pulled into a small smirk and he grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the kitchen. And of course, the kitchen was massive. It was all black marble and grey cabinets, it should have felt dark and cold, but it didn’t. It was spacious and inviting and full of warm low lighting.
“How big is this place?” I asked as we stepped towards the island.
“This apartment is the whole top floor and the one beneath, but that’s Bishop’s space.”