Xander had used his safe word.
Because of her.
For the last few minutes, Mercedes had been praying Clarissa would safe word. Wishing like hell the nervous little sub would save them all from themselves.
But she hadn’t, and Mercedes had been terrified of going any further. She didn’t want Clarissa touching Xander. Didn’t want to watch anyone touching him.
For some unknown reason, her scene had taken a drastic turn somewhere along the way, and it had been all her fault. But right then and there, the scene was the last thing she worried about. She didn’t care that Clarissa and Shane would likely think of her as a failure. She didn’t care that half of the club would think that either.
At this point, the only thing she wanted to do was to come with Xander’s cock lodged deep inside of her. To feel him against her. Anything to get Xander’s hands on her, even if it meant handing over the control to him. He had effectively destroyed her defenses, making her lose her touch, but she really didn’t care. Not right then at least.
Unable to hold back any longer, Mercedes moved to release Xander from his restraints. Neither of them said a word, but the nonverbal communication between them was loud and clear.
The look in Xander’s eyes stole the oxygen from her lungs.
For the last half hour, she’d wanted nothing more than to abandon the scene. It was selfish to put her own needs above everyone else’s, but for the life of her, she couldn’t go through with it.
Even now, she knew Xander would be more than happy to take over from there because he was a Dom, and she was… an imposter.
She knew she should consider this the ultimate defeat, but it didn’t change the fact that she could hardly breathe for wanting him.
Once he was freed, Mercedes stood motionless in front of him, watching, waiting.
“This is still your show,” he whispered. “What do you want?”
“What do you mean ‘what do I want’? I failed, Xander. It’s done.”
“Not even close,” he growled. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
Mercedes didn’t understand what he was doing. Why wasn’t he taking over? Why wasn’t he forcing her to do what he wanted?
“We aren’t walking out of here until we’re through here.”
“We are—” through. Mercedes couldn’t say it. She didn’t want it to be true. She didn’t want what they had to be over, and she knew he was giving her a chance to redeem herself. To take back the scene that had gone horribly wrong.
“Pick up right where we left off,” he told her, but he wasn’t commanding her. He was making a request.
Mercedes stared at him in disbelief for a long moment before she said, “Sit in that chair with your legs wide.”
Xander gripped the chair that was in the corner and set it down beside where they stood before lowering himself into it. Without another word, he spread his legs wide. His thick, heavy cock was like a steel rod standing proudly against his belly, his muscles tense, but he had a smile on his handsome face.
“Come here.” He urged. Still not a command.
Mercedes realized then that she wanted him to take over from here. Because for her, it no longer mattered who held the reins. This man owned her. Every piece of her.
Walking around to stand between his spread thighs, Mercedes put his hands on her hips as she looked down at him, still trying to hold on to the last sliver of control that even she knew had disintegrated a long time ago.
“I want to ride your cock. Right here, right now,” she told him, trying to play along.
Xander nodded, and Mercedes gripped his dark hair tightly. If she had been thinking like a true Domme, his lack of response would’ve angered her, but she was long past that. She wasn’t able to keep up the perfect Domme routine. Not with him.
Hooking her left leg on the outside of Xander’s thick right thigh, Mercedes gripped his erection in her fist and guided him inside of her before sinking down on him slowly.
“Oh, God,” she moaned, pressing her cheek against his. “X,” she pleaded quietly. “Please.”
She allowed her body to adjust to the blunt intrusion, and once she could take him deeper, she relied on Xander’s firm grip on her hips to hold her as she raised up and hooked her right leg over his left leg until she was straddling his lap, his cock buried to the hilt inside of her.
“Fuck me, X. Please,” she moaned, moving her mouth to his, unable to keep from kissing him.
The way Xander gripped her hips, lifting her until only the head of his cock was penetrating her, and then lowering her roughly, Mercedes knew he was right there on the edge with her.