She Used Me for a Dare… Now I Own Her Mother

Their lips finally parted with a soft, shuddering breath.

Neither of them pulled away. Forehead pressed against forehead, their ragged, uneven breaths mingled into pale plumes of white mist against the freezing mountain air.

Victoria’s fingers remained tangled in the dark hair at the nape of his neck, her chest rising and falling in sync with his, her body humming with a searing warmth that completely defied the howling summit wind.

Slowly, as the dizzying rush of the kiss began to steady, Victoria opened her eyes.

In the dim amber glow sweeping up from the stone pavilions below, Alex’s face was inches from hers.

Her hands slipped from his hair, her fingertips rising to gently cup the sides of his face, unhurried and reverent. Her thumbs traced the firm line of his jaw, smoothed across the sharp arch of his brow, and lightly brushed the warm contour of his cheek, committing every single plane of his features to memory.

A quiet, almost disbelieving breath slipped through her parted lips as a memory surfaced from the quiet corners of her mind.

”Do you know what terrifies me most?” she whispered, her voice fragile and raw against the breeze, carrying a confession meant only for him.

”Whenever I look back to the day you first walked into my life... I realize how close I came to pushing you away. I had spent so many years locked behind iron walls, treating every person as a contract, an angle, or a threat.”

Her thumb swept gently over his cheekbone, her dark eyes shimmering with an emotion so deep, so consuming, it verged on an ache.

”Agreeing to let you in... choosing to keep you close... it was the single greatest thing I have ever done. Before you, Alex, I wasn’t living. I was just ruling a fortress of ice, surviving on sheer willpower. But having felt this... knowing what it truly feels like to be loved, to be alive beside you... I couldn’t bear to go back to that hollow silence. I wouldn’t survive it.”

Alex’s gaze darkened with a fierce, tender gravity, his hands tightening at her waist until she was pressed flush against him. He raised one hand, his fingers sliding into the dark, wind-tousled silk of her hair to cup the back of her head, holding her steady with unshakeable conviction.

”You’re never going back to that cold silence, Victoria,” he said, his low voice cutting cleanly through the howling gale. ”Not while there’s breath in my body. You gave up the fortress—and you’ll never have to stand alone again.”

A soft tremor ran through her, her eyes glistening with unshed tears in the dim summit glow. Her chest hitched with an emotion so overwhelming she couldn’t find the words for it.

Unable to bear even an inch of distance between them, she leaned back in.

The frantic hunger from moments before melted into an unhurried, breathless adoration. She tilted her chin, pressing a warm, lingering kiss to the center of his forehead. Alex closed his eyes, his breathing slowing to match hers as he yielded completely to her touch.

Shifting softly, she brushed tender lips across the ridge of his brows, kissing away every lingering trace of tension.

She trailed slow, feather-light kisses along his temple, down over the warm flush of his cheek, and into the shadow of his jaw, her breath ghosting across his skin as her arms looped tightly around his neck.

Finally, she drifted down to his mouth, her lips grazing his before claiming them once more in a slow, intoxicating kiss that tasted of quiet promises and complete surrender.

When their lips finally parted, the air between them was electric, thick with an intensity that had outgrown gentle reverence.

Alex’s eyes opened, dark and blazing with raw desire. His hands slid from her waist, fingers catching the hem of her soft blouse. With deliberate, possessive intent, he gathered the fine silk upward, drawing it over her head and tossing it aside with her fallen cardigan.

The biting summit wind struck her instantly.

Victoria gasped, a sharp, breathless cry slipping past her lips as the icy mountain air raked across the bare curve of her ribs, her waist, and the delicate skin of her collarbones. Shivers rippled down her spine, and goosebumps prickled along her flesh under the sheer drop in temperature.

Before the cold could settle, Alex’s hands clamped over her hips, dragging her hard against him.

His palms were blistering hot. Calloused and wide, they smoothed upward along the contours of her waist, mapping every line of her ribs with a fierce, consuming warmth that chased away the chill in a single heartbeat. The clash of freezing air against his burning hands sent a violent, dizzying rush of heat straight to her core.

”Alex—” she choked out, her breath catching in her throat as she arched back.

He didn’t give her time to think. Leaning up, Alex buried his mouth against the exposed hollow of her throat.

He devoured her with hungry, unrestrained kisses, his lips and teeth grazing along her pulse point, moving down over her collarbone to the soft slope of her shoulder.

A low, helpless whimper broke from Victoria’s parted lips, her hands clutching frantically at his broad shoulders, her fingers digging through his coat as if he were the only solid thing anchoring her to the earth.

The biting wind whipped wildly around the granite promontory, howling against the dark abyss behind them, but Victoria couldn’t feel it anymore. Every inch of her skin that was exposed to the freezing night seemed to burn twice as hot wherever his mouth and hands touched.

She tilted her head back to the canopy of stars, trembling in his lap, letting out soft, broken gasps as he kissed a trail of fire down her chest, stripping away every last shred of Madame Blackwood until there was only the raw, uninhibited woman completely alive in his hands.

His hands slid up her ribs, wide and calloused, moving up to cup the soft, full curves of her breasts.

The contrast was staggering. Her skin was cool to the touch from the biting mountain wind, but wherever his fingers pressed, a jolt of blistering heat shot straight through her. His thumbs brushed slowly across her tight, sensitive peaks, rolling them with a steady, deliberate pressure that made Victoria’s breath catch hard in her throat.

A ragged, helpless whimper broke from her parted lips. She arched her back, pressing her chest shamelessly into his palms as a violent shudder racked her body.

Alex didn’t keep her waiting. Lowering his head, he took one aching tip into his warm mouth, his tongue swirling against the hardened flesh before drawing her in with a slow, possessive pull.

Victoria let out a breathless, broken moan that the roaring summit wind swallowed whole. Her fingers dug through the thick fabric of his coat, clutching his shoulders as her hips shifted involuntarily against his lap, grinding down against the hard, unyielding ridge between his thighs. Every tug of his lips and every flick of his tongue sent an electric shock straight to her lower stomach, turning her blood into molten lava.

He didn’t rush. He moved to the other breast, lavishing it with the same slow, agonizing attention—tasting her, biting down just enough to make her gasp, before soothing the sting with his warm tongue until she was trembling uncontrollably in his arms.

”Alex... please,” she breathed, her voice thick and unraveling, her knuckles white against his jacket.

Alex slowly lifted his head, his chest rising and falling in heavy, ragged rhythms. His dark eyes burned with unfiltered hunger as he looked at her bare, flushed skin, glistening in the faint ambient light of the terrace.

A low, wicked chuckle vibrated in his throat. He brought his hands up to frame the curve of her jaw, his thumbs stroking her flushed cheeks as he leaned close, his lips brushing the shell of her ear.

”Tell me, Madame Blackwood,” he whispered, his voice low and dangerous, dripping with quiet mischief. ”How bold are you feeling tonight? Should we finish this right here... an open-air adventure on the edge of the world?”

Victoria looked at him, her dark eyes dilated, drowning in raw, dizzying arousal.

For a heartbeat, the wild, reckless part of her screamed yes. Every nerve ending in her body was screaming for him, begging for the sheer thrill of giving herself to him on a cold stone terrace high above the city she ruled. The thought alone made her pulse race like a runaway train.

A faint, breathless smile touched her swollen lips.

Slowly, deliberately, she shook her head.

She leaned in, her bare chest pressing flush against his lapels, her lips brushing along the rough contour of his jaw until her mouth hovered barely an inch from his ear. Her voice dropped to a low, husky whisper, heavy with an intoxicating, shameless need she had never spoken aloud in her life.

”You have no idea how badly I want to say yes,” she murmured, her warm breath making him tense. ”But tonight... I don’t want to be gentle. I don’t want to hold back my voice, and I don’t want to share a single piece of you with the world down there. Tonight, Alex... I want you to completely ruin me.”

She pulled back just enough to look dead into his eyes, her gaze dark, commanding, and utterly surrendered.

”Take me home.”

A slow, wicked smile spread across Alex’s lips, his eyes gleaming with dark, hungry intent.

”Then what are we waiting for?” he murmured.

He didn’t waste another second on the freezing terrace. Scooping up her fallen blouse and cardigan, he helped her slip them back over her flushed, wind-cooled skin, his hands moving with efficient, coiled urgency. Lacing his fingers tightly through hers, he guided her down the sweeping stone stairs, leaving the whispered shadows of the lovers’ landings behind.

The drive down Mount Solitude was a breathless blur of speeding asphalt, winding curves, and heavy, electric silence.

By the time the front door clicked open to the quiet warmth of home, Victoria was practically vibrating with anticipation.

Before they could take two steps into the foyer, hurried footsteps sounded from the hall. Madison and Emma came rushing around the corner, smiles on their faces as they looked between the two of them.

”You’re back!” Emma chimed, while Madison gestured toward the dining room. ”Should we set the table for dinner?”

”Don’t bother,” Alex cut in smoothly, never breaking his stride. His arm remained locked firmly around Victoria’s waist, pulling her along with him. ”Eat without us tonight.”

Madison and Emma blinked, taking in Victoria’s flushed cheeks, tousled hair, and swollen lips, but neither had the chance to ask a single question.

Without another word, Alex swept Victoria straight past the living room, down the corridor, and directly into the bedroom, kicking the heavy timber door shut behind them with a sharp, decisive thud.

Alex turned around, his broad back resting against the solid timber of the door. His dark eyes burned with an unmasked, predatory hunger, tracking the figure sprawled across the mattress.

Victoria had already kicked off her boots, lounging back against the pillows. Her cardigan hung loosely off one bare shoulder, her dark hair was spilled across the white linen like raw silk, and her cheeks still burned with the fever of the mountain wind.

”Say it again,” Alex murmured, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly rasp that seemed to vibrate straight through the floorboards. ”Tell me what you asked for up on that mountain.”

A slow, wicked smirk curved Victoria’s swollen lips. She arched her back slightly, propping herself up on her elbows as her dark eyes locked dead into his with reckless, feverish heat.

?”Ruin me, Alex,” she breathed, her voice thick and commanding. ”Don’t make me wait another second... I want the two of them downstairs to hear every scream.”

Alex’s jaw tightened, a dangerous fire flaring in his eyes as his hands came up to rip his shirt apart, stepping away from the door.

Before Victoria could even draw another breath, his massive shadow completely engulfed her, his knees bracketing her hips as he loomed over her, ready to devour every inch she had offered.