Page 47

He kissed me.

It was soft, his lips brushing mine like he was trying to soothe something deeper than my skin. But then he kissed me again—firmer this time, more certain—and I felt his fingers slide up along my spine.

One kiss melted into the next until I wasn’t sure when I’d moved, only that I was suddenly straddling his hips, the blanket slipping low on my back, his hands resting at my waist like he didn’t want to spook me—but wanted me all the same.

His mouth lingered at the corner of mine. “I can’t speak for everyone, but I know you’re not losing me.”

And when he kissed me again, it was anything but soft.

Craig’s hands slid up under the hem of the shirt I was wearing—his shirt, soft and worn thin, the fabric brushing my thighs as I shifted in his lap. His thumbs traced the curve of my waist like he was memorizing the shape of me all over again.

I kissed him harder.

I didn’t want soft, not anymore. Not with the storm still churning inside me. I wanted the way his mouth opened undermine, the way he groaned low in his throat when I rolled my hips, the way he gripped my thighs like he was barely holding himself back.

“Fuck, Bunny,” he breathed, lips against my jaw now, down my neck. “You’re gonna kill me.”

“You started it,” I whispered, tugging at the hem of his shirt. He lifted his arms without hesitation, and I pulled it off, tossing it somewhere I’d pretend to find later. His skin was warm beneath my palms, solid. Familiar.

Craig pulled my shirt off me, slow and deliberate. The air was cool against my bare chest, but his hands were already there, rough palms cupping my breasts like they were his to worship.

He pulled me down to him, his mouth on my collarbone, teeth dragging over my skin, and I felt myself arch into him. My hips rocked again, and this time he groaned into my chest, letting one hand trail down between us, slipping under the band of my underwear.

“God, you’re soaked,” he murmured, voice low and reverent like a prayer. “You want this?”

“Ineedthis,” I said, fingers digging into his shoulders.

His name left my mouth in a gasp as he touched me, fingers slipping through slick heat, teasing me until I was grinding shamelessly against his hand. I could feel him hard beneath me, his cock straining against his boxers, and I wanted all of him—rightnow.

“Take these off,” I said, tugging at the waistband of his underwear, breathless and hungry.

“You first,” he said with a wicked grin, and I didn’t need telling twice.

I shifted back just enough to peel mine down, and Craig kicked his off in the same motion.

I buried my face in his neck as his hand slid between us, fingers brushing exactly where I was aching, and I couldn’t hold in the whimper that broke from my lips.

“You’re killing me,” I breathed against his throat.

“You’re the one riding me like that, Bunny,” he said with a ragged laugh, voice rough and reverent all at once. “You think I’m gonna stop you?”

Skin to skin now, nothing between us, his hands on my thighs, guiding me back over him like he couldn’t bear the space.

I reached for him, wrapping my fingers around the length of him, and he cursed under his breath, hips jerking slightly.

I sank down onto him, his head falling back against the pillows, both of us gasping as I rocked slowly onto him.

“Victoria, I—” Az’s voice cut through the haze of breath and heat and moaned half-words. I lifted my head at the sound. His eyes locked on me—bare, flushed, grinding on Craig like I was trying to drown the past in pleasure, and I froze.

Almost.

Craig didn’t. His hands tightened at my hips, pulling me down harder against him. “Don’t stop now,” he murmured loud enough for all three of us to hear.

Az’s expression changed.

That sharp intake of breath, the way his jaw clenched. Anger wasn’t what moved through him now. It was something darker, hungrier.

His gaze roamed over me like a man starved, then cut to Craig, then back to me. “I came to apologize,” he said, voice low, controlled, but slightly frayed at the edges. “I shouldn’t have yelled. You didn’t deserve that.” Az took another step inside. “But I stand by what I said about your training. You need it. What happened can’t happen again.” His eyes dropped to where Craig’s hands still gripped my hips, the sweat-slick line of my spine. “Though clearly, you’re... recovering well.”