Isle of Sin: A Standalone Dark Romance
Isle of Sin: Chapter 16

This woman is going to be the death of me.

Perhaps literally.

I kicked off my shoes and started unbuttoning my shirt. “You have ten seconds before I come in after you, Adalyn,” I warned her.

“Mmm, well the water is quite nice,” she hummed in response.

I narrowed my gaze.

This little deviant was playing with fire. Trying to push my buttons and see how I would react.

She’d done the same thing over breakfast, stuffing herself beyond the point of comfort just to test me. If she wanted to devour an entire buffet, I wouldn’t stop her.

Because I knew she would pay for that choice later.

I also didn’t own her. She could do whatever the hell she wanted.

But I drew a line at putting herself at risk—like she was doing now.

Dr. Zansky was clear about her needing to rest, something she’d clearly not done since he’d only left ninety minutes ago.

When I’d heard the splashing outside, I’d come running, worrying that she’d fallen in. After our interaction on the beach the other night, I wasn’t sure she knew how to swim.

However, she’d been kicking across the pool just fine when I’d arrived.

Then she’d flipped to continue her journey back the other way.

Flipped.

At the fucking wall.

Spinning in a circle.

Something I was certain couldn’t be good for a concussion.

And now she was about to do it again at the opposite side, her long legs having fluttered across the pool after ignoring my demand for her to get out.

I unfastened my final button and pulled the shirt off to fold on a nearby chair. I’d given her more than ten seconds to react to my command. She was clearly disobeying me.

Brat, I thought, pulling off my socks.

My pants were next, leaving me clad in a pair of boxers.

Another pair to soak through at this female’s expense. It was becoming a ritual between us.

I walked around to the stairs and entered the water as she started her journey across the pool again. I swam over to the wall and waited for her with my arms sprawled out along the edge. It was deep on this side, the water well over my head when I stood at the bottom.

She continued her fluttering, humming to herself, evidently pleased with her decision.

Until she bent her head back to search for the wall and found me waiting for her.

She froze.

Then jackknifed upward on a gasp when her body began to sink.

I reached for her with one arm, wrapping it easily around her waist to pull her back against me. It was a careful movement, one meant to protect her head, but she floundered anyway as though trying to escape me. I tightened my grip. “Stop,” I said against her ear.

She grabbed my forearm, much like she had the other day, but she didn’t dig her claws in this time. Instead, she stilled and sucked in a breath.

I gave her a moment to calm down, aware that any amount of panic wouldn’t be good for her condition.

“If you’re intent on swimming, then we’ll swim together.” That way I could control her movements and ensure she didn’t overdo it.

Or drown.

Like she almost had the other night.

“This isn’t swimming.” Her tone held a note of challenge in it.

“Then what is it?”

She moved her head back to my shoulder and tilted her face up to see me better. “Resting at the wall.”

I cocked a brow. “That suits your condition better, doesn’t it? Resting?”

She scoffed at that, righting herself again and gripping my arm a little harder. “I don’t need rest, Asher. It’s a head injury. I’ve had worse.”

My arm flexed around her, making it clear that I would not be releasing her. Not even if she dug her nails into me again. “You have a concussion, Adalyn. And you’re under my care. That means I make the rules.” Since she obviously couldn’t be trusted to look after herself.

“What if I don’t want to follow your rules?” she asked, those sharp talons of hers starting to dig into my skin. “What if I want to make up my own rules?”

Her stomach flexed beneath my arm, her throat working as she fought to swallow.

She was pushing.

Testing the limits of my patience.

Determining how far she could go before I reacted. Before I did something to punish her. Something to put her in her place.

“I know what you’re doing, Adalyn,” I said, my thumb brushing her side as I relaxed my arm in a show of restraint.

She stilled. “What am I doing?”

“Testing the limits of my patience,” I whispered against her ear. “Attempting to draw my Dominant side out to play.” I nibbled her earlobe, my teeth biting down hard enough to sting without actually hurting her. “Trying to top from the bottom.”

A typical bratty sub.

Something I would replace alluring on an average day. Tempting, even.

But there was nothing average about our situation.

She shivered against me, her lower half squirming in a way that confirmed my every word. “Let me go.”

“No.” I pressed my lips to her neck, loving the way her pulse sang against my touch. “I have limits, Adalyn. You attempting to hurt yourself is one of them.”

She stilled again. “I’m not trying to hurt myself.”

“You’re being reckless and careless with your head injury, sweetheart. That counts as trying to harm yourself.”

Her nails sank into my flesh as she tried to rip my arm away. “I am not trying to hurt myself,” she repeated, her voice holding an edge to it this time. “A head injury is nothing compared to what I’ve been through. Nothing, Asher. Let me go!”

She started fighting me in earnest now, her lethal little claws drawing blood as she attempted to dislodge herself from my hold.

Her legs kicked backward into mine, her head flying back toward my shoulder, her movements all wild, terrified female.

Shit.

“Adalyn!” I let go of her, only to grab her hips and pull us both under the water, trying to cool her off. Because this was dangerous. This would hurt her, thus proving all my concerns right.

She kicked out, trying to escape me, but I pulled her with me to the shallower part of the water where I could stand. Her screams were waterlogged, her hair a web of darkness that swallowed her face.

I quickly stood, guiding her up with me, and grabbed her flailing fists. I wrenched them behind her back to secure her wrists with one of my palms against her lower spine, then grabbed her throat with my free hand.

It wasn’t my first time restraining a woman.

And it likely wouldn’t be my last time, especially if Adalyn Rose stayed in my life.

She was at a disadvantage, her shorter height leaving her without a way to touch the ground, my strength dwarfing hers easily in this position.

“Calm down,” I demanded.

Her nostrils flared, her pupils blown wide.

Not with fear.

But with lust.

Fuck. She’d done this to provoke me again. To see what I would do. To force me to show her the side of me that I’d kept carefully restrained these last few days.

She wanted to know what kind of Dom I truly was.

To learn my intentions. To learn my preferences. To figure out what kind of game we were playing. Because that was all this continued to be for her—a scheme that would end in her pain.

She still thought I was here to discipline her for what she’d done to Nathan Spencer.

And rather than wait, she’d decided to push me, to force me to show my cards.

Deep down, this woman was terrified of what I would do to her. Terrified of the punishment her former world had in store for her.

Until she overcame that fear, she would never believe my intentions. Never believe that I truly wanted to help her.

And that would be detrimental to the meeting being planned for next week.

We had less than ten days to sort this out between us, to figure out how to assist each other rather than hurt each other.

“All right, Adalyn,” I said, staring down into her beautiful eyes. “You want to see what kind of man I am? I’ll show you.”

I leaned down, forcing her back and hair into the water as I bent over her, my lips nearing hers with the intent to kiss her.

But her entire body went rigid.

Some of the lust bled from her expression, leaving a ghostly pale glow against her cheeks in its wake.

I frowned.

It was like she went from hot and bothered to terrified in a blink.

I straightened, giving her space.

But that only seemed to upset her more.

She trembled, her eyes falling shut as though to escape to somewhere else.

I pulled her back up until her breasts met my chest. She gasped as though she’d just been underwater. Then she held her breath, her upper torso stiff.

“Adalyn?” I gentled my voice, my lips near hers. “What are you thinking about right now?”

She didn’t answer, too busy holding her breath and squeezing her eyes closed.

I released her throat to palm the back of her neck. “Adalyn?” I whispered, still speaking close to her mouth.

She trembled.

I gave her back the use of her arms, and she immediately grabbed my shoulders. But she didn’t try to push me away. She clung to me instead. Her legs went around my waist as well.

And suddenly we were hugging.

Or she was hugging me, anyway.

I gently wrapped an arm around her lower back, my opposite hand remaining against her nape.

“Where did your mind go?” I asked, my lips against her ear again. “What did you think I was going to do?”

“Waterboarding.” The word was a soft whisper of sound, one I almost didn’t catch.

I frowned. “I wasn’t going to waterboard you, sweetheart.” I wasn’t into breath play like that. A little asphyxiation to demonstrate dominance? Sure. Waterboarding or evoking true terror in my sub? Absolutely not.

However, I noted that limit for her.

She’d claimed not to have any, but her body had just revealed it as one for her.

Something told me these cues had been ignored in the past, or perhaps exploited.

I ran my palm up and down her back, offering her comfort. “I was going to kiss you,” I told her softly, then demonstrated against her neck. Her legs tightened around my hips in response, suddenly drawing my attention to just how close we were.

The thin fabric of my boxers wasn’t doing much to hide my reaction to having a gorgeous woman wrapped around me.

If anything, it was accentuating that reaction because of how constrained I felt below. The fabric rubbed along my dick as she pressed herself more firmly against me.

Fuck.

I could feel how hot she was despite the cool water around us.

Just like I could feel her nipples beading against my chest.

She was no longer stiff, but relaxing more and more with each breath.

I swallowed, the feel of her far too perfect in my arms. This wasn’t what I’d planned to do. I’d merely intended to give her a demonstration with my mouth.

Now other parts of my body wanted to play, too.

Adalyn pressed against me again, her hot little cunt a sensual kiss to my senses that had my palm flexing against her lower back.

A moan slipped from her mouth, one that had my muscles tightening in response.

“Kiss me,” she whispered, repeating my words.

Or I thought she was repeating them.

Until I realized she’d meant it as a request.

To kiss her.

Just like I’d said I was going to do.

But now I wasn’t sure if I should.

She didn’t trust me.

Because she doesn’t know me, I thought. But I could help her get to know me.

By kissing her.

By showing her what it meant to be with a man who cared about her pleasure more than his own.

By demonstrating to her how a Dom should act.

By rewriting her history with my own instructional touch.

Yes, I decided. Yes, that’s what I should do.