Chapter 4
BrandedI didn’t expect to be branded.Not literally.But that’s exactly what Dominic Vale did.It started with a text the next morning.You will come to the address below at 11 AM sharp.Do not be late. Do not wear anything under your coat.There was a pin. A luxury townhouse downtown. I recognized the neighborhood—it was the kind of place that charged five figures just to breathe inside.My hands shook as I buttoned up a long trench coat over my bare skin. No bra. No panties. Just the ghost of his cum from the night before, dried between my thighs, and the soft ache of a hole that had been used more times than I could count.I hated how wet I got remembering it.I hated how fast I obeyed.But I showed up.Because I was past the point of pretending I wasn’t addicted to the way he used me.When I knocked, the door opened to a woman in black.Tall, striking, leather gloves to her elbows. She didn’t smile.“ComChapter 5 Morning After, AgainElenaI should’ve left.Should’ve packed what little I brought, layered up, and taken my chances trekking through the snow.Instead, I was in his bed. Again.Naked. Again.His arm was slung over my waist like it belonged there. Like I belonged there.And his cock?Still thick, hard, pressed against my ass like a not-so-subtle promise that round… what, six? …wasn’t far behind.My body ached in that dangerously satisfying way. A kind of soreness that said you did something dirty, and you liked it. My inner thighs still trembled when I shifted. My lips were swollen from hours of being kissed—and bitten.And Jax?Sleeping like he hadn’t ruined me for other men in under twenty-four hours.I tried to move without waking him.Big mistake.His hand clamped on my hip.“Running again?” he mumbled, voice gravel and sex and smugness all rolled into one.I didn’t answer.He rolled over, draggi
Chapter 4 There’s Still Only One Bed Elena By the time the snow stopped falling, I’d already come three times and threatened to kill Jax Hart at least twice. Not necessarily in that order. I stood in the kitchen wrapped in nothing but a too-thin robe, watching him cook bacon shirtless like he hadn’t just used my body as a human jungle gym two hours ago. His back flexed as he flipped a strip with a casual, one-handed flick of the wrist. Muscles rippled. Tattoos shifted. I hated him. I hated that my thighs were still sore and my nipples tightened just looking at him. I hated that I was considering going for round four before breakfast. “Coffee?” he asked, glancing at me over his shoulder with that lazy, cocky smile. “Or are you more of a post-coital mimosa girl?” “Is this your idea of pillow talk? Greasy food and cheap charm?” “Only when it works.” He hand
Chapter 3 Morning After, Still Bent OverElenaI woke up to the crackle of fire and the heavy, arrogant weight of a man’s arm slung across my waist.Correction: Jax Hart’s arm. Author. Asshole. Human red flag.Also, the man whose cock I’d let rearrange my cervix the night before.I opened one eye and glanced around the room. Cabin still intact. Storm still howling outside. My dignity?MIA.The bed creaked as he stirred behind me, pressing against my back—bare chest warm, scent maddeningly male. He smelled like pine, heat, and satisfaction. Like someone who knew he’d been unforgettable.“Awake already?” His voice was sleep-rough. Teasing. The kind of voice that could unhook a bra without touching it. “Didn’t peg you for a morning person.”“Didn’t peg you for someone who talks after sex.”“Only when I’m not done.”My thighs clenched instinctively. Fuck me.He shifted closer, and I could feel him—thick, already getting hard again. My
Chapter 2 Hate Me HarderElenaI didn’t mean to kiss him.That kiss wasn’t a surrender. It was a challenge.But the second Jax’s mouth crashed against mine, I knew something was over. Maybe my resolve. Maybe my dignity.Definitely my dry spell.His hands were under my shirt in seconds—rough, greedy, like he’d been waiting years to ruin me. And fuck, maybe he had.“You hate me, huh?” he muttered, teeth scraping my jaw as he pushed me down onto the bed.“I fantasize about lighting your ego on fire.”“Good.” He shoved my tank top up. “Then moan like you’re burning.”I didn’t. I whimpered.He sank his mouth over my breast, tongue flicking my nipple before he sucked it hard enough to make me gasp. My back arched. My thighs pressed together. My pride wanted to slap him. My body? It wanted him to leave handprints.“God, you’re such a mouthy little tease,” he growled against my skin. “All those red ink notes, every snarky comment—you were
PROLOGUE After a professional feud explodes at a publishing event, fiery editor Elena and smug bestselling author Jax Hart are forced to shelter in the same mountain lodge during a snowstorm. There’s only one bed. No Wi-Fi. No escape. What starts as snarling insults becomes raw, scorching hate sex in front of the fire—fast, brutal, and addictive. And Jax? He wants a new kind of release—and he’s about to write Elena into his filthiest chapter yet.“You hate me? Good. Bend over and show me how much.”Chapter 1 Just My Fucking LuckElenaI should’ve known better than to wear heels to a mountain event in January.Especially not when Jax Fucking Hart would be there.But there I was—stranded at a backwoods lodge after a canceled publishing panel, my boots packed in the wrong damn suitcase, and a blizzard moving in like karma with a vengeance.The universe didn’t just hate me. It wanted me to suffer.And it sent my least favorite man on E
Chapter 7 ClaimedThe first time I came for him, it felt like surrender.The last time?It felt like war.Not a battle I lost—but one I chose to never walk away from.Because when Dominic Vale pinned me to his penthouse window, overlooking the midnight skyline, he didn’t make love to me. He took me like he was erasing the version of me that ever lived without him.“I warned you,” he whispered against my neck, voice thick with lust and something darker, “you signed more than a contract, Maya.”His cock dragged against my folds, teasing, soaking in how wet I already was for him. From behind, he forced my palms against the glass, his other hand gripping my throat, holding me exactly where he wanted me—where I wanted to be.“You thought you were walking away after thirty days? You thought this was just business?”I couldn’t speak.Didn’t want to.Not when he shoved in deep, burying himself inside me so hard my body slammed against the win