Ray's POV
The second the front door shut behind us, I lost whatever composure I had left.
I turned, and she was already unfastening the chain around her waist—slow, deliberate, like she knew what it was doing to me.
"Sky."
Just her name. Just that.
And she was in front of me in an instant.
My hands slid into her hair, tangling tight as I kissed her—raw, rough, starved. She kissed me back harder. That dress—that dress—had been driving me insane all night. The curve of her hips. The way her legs looked in those boots. And worst of all, how she didn't so much as glance at me across the room, like I didn't exist.
But now?
Now she was gasping against my mouth, fingers digging into my jacket lapels.
"You know how hard it was to keep my hands off you?" I breathed against her throat, pressing her against the wall, caging her in. "You were killing me."
She tilted her head back, smirking even as she shivered. "Good. Maybe next time you'll learn not to flirt with the Sterling heiress in front of me."
I bit down on her collarbone in response, and she gasped. Her legs wrapped around my waist before I even touched her.
God, she was fire.
"Say it," I murmured, lips brushing hers. "Say you're mine."
She pulled back just enough to meet my eyes—lashes dark, pupils blown. "I've always been yours."
That was all it took.
I carried her to the bedroom without breaking eye contact. She tore my shirt open like she'd been waiting for it all night. And when I finally had her on the sheets, dress peeled off her body like silk slipping from sin, she looked up at me like the only thing that existed was us.
No fathers. No merger. No gala.
Just Sky.
And the way she said my name—over and over—like a secret she'd never share.
---
Her breath hitched when I pressed her wrists into the mattress, pinning her beneath me. Not too hard—just enough for her to feel it. To know that I could. That I wanted to claim her, ruin her, worship her in ways no one else ever would.
"You look better like this," I whispered, my voice low against her jaw. "Undone. Mine."
She arched beneath me, daring. "Then don't waste time, Maddox."
God, the way she said my name—like a challenge and a promise and a threat all in one.
My mouth was on her again, trailing down her throat, teeth grazing skin. I left marks. I wanted them to show in the morning. I wanted the world to know—she wasn't some corporate pawn, some daughter in a merger contract. She was mine.
Her fingers slipped into my hair, tugging hard. She kissed like she fought—demanding, reckless, desperate to win. And I let her think she was winning for a moment.
Until I flipped us.
She gasped, straddling me now, hair wild, eyes darker than sin.
"Sky…" My voice was rough. "You're playing a dangerous game."
She leaned down, lips ghosting over mine. "So play it with me."
And we did.
Again. And again. Until her name was the only prayer I knew how to say.
Until we weren't just fire behind closed doors—we were a goddamn inferno.
---
Sky's pov
I couldn't breathe.
Not because he was above me.
But because every time he touched me, it felt like the ground fell out from under my feet and somehow—I liked it.
His eyes weren't just on my body.
They were on me.
All of me.
And God, it scared the hell out of me.
"Sky," he whispered like I was something he had no business saying out loud. "You're playing a dangerous game."
I leaned in, pretending I wasn't shaking. "So play it with me."
But the moment our lips touched again, it wasn't a game anymore.
It was a war.
And I lost every round on purpose.
His hands weren't gentle. But they were sure. Like he knew exactly what part of me needed to be touched, kissed, bitten. My skin burned with the memory of every time he said my name like it meant something. Like I wasn't just the girl in the black dress at the merger gala. Like I was his.
And maybe I was.
Somewhere in the blur of tangled limbs and breathless moans, I realized I didn't care who knew anymore.
I was done pretending.
Done being the good daughter.
Done hiding behind silence and soft smiles.
His hand curled behind my neck, pulling me in until I could taste his breath, his heartbeat, his need. And for once, I let it all go. All the rules. All the fear. All the pretending.
Because in this moment—when his mouth found the hollow of my throat, when I clawed at his back like maybe this was the last time—I wasn't Sky heir to a billion-dollar company.
I was his Sky.
And I didn't want to be anything else.