chapter 2

The rain hammered the windows like it wanted inside as badly as I wanted Damien’s hands on me. My back was still pressed to the heavy oak door of the study, heart slamming against my ribs so hard I could taste copper. Sophia’s sleepy voice lingered in the hallway just beyond the wood—barely three steps away—while her father’s body caged me in, his fingers teasing the edge of my silk sleep shorts, two thick digits already slick from how desperately wet I was for him.

“Answer her, sweetheart,” Damien breathed against my ear, voice low and rough like gravel dragged over velvet. His thumb pressed firmer against my lower lip, parting it slightly as his other hand curled deeper, stroking once, twice, with deliberate slowness that made my knees buckle. “Tell her you’re fine… or I won’t stop until she hears exactly how pretty you sound when you come on my fingers.”

A whimper tried to escape. I bit down hard on my lip instead, tasting blood. The storm outside flashed lightning across his face, illuminating the raw, feral hunger in those dark bourbon eyes. He looked every inch the ruthless billionaire the world feared—silver at his temples, jaw clenched with barely-leashed control, broad chest rising and falling like he was fighting a war he was destined to lose.

I forced my voice steady, barely above a whisper. “I’m… I’m okay, Soph. Just couldn’t sleep. Talking to your dad about… the storm.”

A pause. Then Sophia’s soft laugh filtered through the door, muffled and trusting. “God, you two are such insomniacs. Don’t stay up too late—my flight’s at eight. Night, Ava. Night, Dad.”

Her footsteps padded away down the marble hallway, fading toward the east wing guest rooms. The moment they disappeared, Damien’s restraint shattered.

He spun me around so fast the room blurred, pressing my front against the cool oak door with his massive frame at my back. One big hand clamped over my mouth, the other shoving my sleep shorts down my thighs in one rough tug. Cool air kissed my bare skin, followed immediately by the scorching heat of his palm cupping me possessively from behind.

“Smart girl,” he growled into my neck, teeth grazing the sensitive spot below my ear. “But next time you lie for me, I’m bending you over this desk and fucking the truth out of that pretty mouth.”

His fingers returned—three this time—sliding through my folds with obscene ease. I moaned into his palm, the sound vibrating against his skin as he pumped them deep, curling just right to hit that spot that made stars burst behind my eyelids. The study smelled of rain-soaked cedar, aged leather from the wingback chairs, and the sharp tang of spilled scotch from earlier when papers had scattered. Thunder rolled overhead, shaking the crystal decanters on the sideboard.

Damien’s free hand roamed up under my tank top, palming my breast roughly, pinching the nipple until I arched back against his hardness. I could feel him—thick, heavy, straining against his slacks—grinding slowly against my ass like he was already imagining burying himself inside me.

“You’ve been dripping for me for years, haven’t you?” he rasped, voice dark with satisfaction as his fingers worked me faster. “Every time you came home with Sophia, every holiday, every stolen glance across the dinner table. I saw it. Felt it. Jerked off in this very study thinking about ruining this tight little pussy while my daughter slept down the hall.”

The confession sent a fresh wave of heat flooding around his fingers. I was shaking, thighs trembling, so close already from nothing but his voice and the filthy way he touched me like he owned every inch.

“Please…” I gasped against his hand when he eased the pressure just enough for me to speak.

“Please what, Ava?” He nipped my earlobe, then soothed it with his tongue. The contrast—rough dominance and unexpected tenderness—made my head spin. “Please stop? Or please fuck you right here against the door where anyone could walk by and see what a desperate little slut my daughter’s best friend is for her daddy?”

Lightning flashed again, painting the room in stark white. Outside, the cliffs dropped sharply to the churning Puget Sound, waves crashing against the rocks far below like the chaos building inside me. The Blackwood estate felt alive with secrets tonight—its sprawling wings, private cinema, infinity pool glowing turquoise in the distance, all of it a gilded cage we’d both been circling for years.

I pushed back against him, grinding shamelessly. “Ruin me. Please.”

Damien groaned—a deep, broken sound that vibrated through his chest into my back. He removed his hand from my mouth only to fist it in my hair, yanking my head back so he could claim my lips in a bruising kiss. It wasn’t gentle. It was teeth and tongue and five years of pent-up starvation. His fingers never stopped moving inside me, thumb circling my clit with perfect, ruthless precision until my orgasm crashed over me like the storm outside.

I came hard, biting his lip to muffle my cry, body convulsing against the door as waves of pleasure ripped through me. He held me through it, murmuring filthy praise against my mouth—“That’s it, good girl… soak my hand… let me feel how badly you need this cock”—until I was boneless, panting, dripping down my thighs.

He didn’t give me time to recover.

Damien spun me again, lifting me effortlessly onto the edge of his massive mahogany desk. Papers and that spilled scotch slicked the surface beneath me, but he didn’t care. He shoved my tank top up, mouth latching onto one breast, sucking hard while his hands worked his belt open. The metallic clink echoed in the quiet study, louder than the rain now that the thunder had quieted to a distant rumble.

I reached for him, desperate to feel the weight of him in my palm, but he caught my wrists in one big hand, pinning them above my head.

“Not yet,” he growled, eyes blazing as he freed himself. God—he was huge. Thick, veined, the head already glistening. The sight made my mouth water and my core clench with fresh need. “You’ve teased me for years in those tiny bikinis by the pool, those backless dresses at parties. Now you’re going to take every inch like the greedy girl you are.”

He notched the head against my entrance, rubbing it through my slickness in slow, torturous strokes. Teasing. Claiming without fully taking.

“Damien…” I whimpered, hips rocking desperately.

His free hand gripped my jaw, forcing my eyes to his. The silver in his hair caught the lamplight, making him look every bit the dangerous older man who could destroy my entire world with one decision. “When I’m inside you, there’s no going back. You’ll be mine. My secret. My obsession. Mine to fuck whenever I want, however I want. Say it.”

“I’m yours,” I breathed, voice breaking. “Ruin me. Please—”

The study door creaked open a fraction.

A soft voice—Sophia’s again, hesitant this time—floated in from the darkened hallway. “Dad? I forgot my charger… the light’s still on. Are you sure everything’s—”

Damien froze, buried just an inch inside me, thick and pulsing. His hand tightened on my jaw, eyes locking onto mine with dark, savage promise. Rain continued to lash the windows, but the real storm was right here—his body half-buried in mine, my best friend’s footsteps pausing just outside the door, one wrong move from walking in on her father claiming her best friend on his desk.

He leaned in, lips brushing mine in the barest whisper, voice pure sin:

“Stay quiet while I fuck you, little girl… or I’ll let her watch exactly how desperate you are to be ruined by me.”