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Her words shocked through him, his hips jackknifing. He thought he was going to lose his damn sanity while she mind- and body-fucked him at the same time. Every breath was a gasp. Every sigh, a shiver. He could feel her desire flaring now, igniting under her skin, in the little tremble of her legs against his, the arch of her spine as she leaned in harder, deeper, trying to get closer, every clench and release of her body flaring into a raging inferno. He was caught in her fire, rising with her while they were both being burned to ashes.
She kissed him, fucking him like a woman who wasn’t just giving him her body, but was still fighting a battle she was afraid of losing.
Fuck, he felt every ounce of that decision in the way her mouth pulled at his, hungry, hesitant, fierce. In the way her body demanded all he had to give. Like she was tearing herself openand stitching herself back together, all in the press of her lips to his, the way she thrust against him.
His heart thudded hard behind his ribs. Not just from lust, but from the weight of what this meant. Her hands slipped into his hair, tightened until pain lanced through his scalp. Her nipples scored his chest, her knees bracketed his hips, and the urge to possess her coiled in his dick. Her hands tightened in his hair, tearing a moan from the back of her throat as he grabbed her hips while his pelvis pistoned, his strokes faster, ruthlessly demanding. With each thrust he grew harder, thicker. She sobbed into his mouth as she stiffened against him, the pulse of her climax hitting him like a jolt of electricity.
Because this…all of this…wasn’t just passion.
This waspossibility.
Her mind fuck took him over colliding into him body and soul, dragging him into a white-hot heat and an all-consuming pleasure that threatened to demolish him. Lost in her words, in the rush of sensation, lost inher, he moaned in pure ecstasy, and arched into her one last time, so deep. A guttural growl tore from his chest, and his entire body shuddered as he came, harder and stronger than he could ever remember.
His scorching release seemed to go on and on, wringing him dry and leaving him weak and devastated, until he existed in exquisite limbo. He moved slightly, and she cried out again, her pelvis riding the wave of another powerful orgasm. Fuck he hadn’t surrendered, she’d conquered his warrior’s ass, her body a lethal weapon, and her words the sword that pierced him.
If she wasn’t careful, if he wasn’t, he was going to fall so goddamn deep he’d never come back up.
Because in her desperation, Brian’s ghost still hovered, still haunted, still stealing pieces of her, and he was fucking selfish. He wanted all of her pieces, every last molecule.
She sprawled across his body like a banner claiming her right to him. Her breathing was choppy, her hands still in his hair. The stillness of the morning had weight to it, like that specter who had died here in this city, not far from where they now lay. His breath caught at the searing pain of that memory, and he realized that Brian still had pieces of him, too.
“You’re a sexy bastard,” she bit out, then her voice hushed. “The way you move, the shape of you, the combination of your heavy muscles, and your unwavering confidence.” Her voice sounded crushed. “I’ve always thought so.” She pushed herself up, meeting his gaze head-on, and he trembled inside with pride, with hope at this woman who was taking her power back bit by bit. Her breath hitched, her voice breaking. “It feels so good to tell you that to your achingly handsome face with the power of conquistadors in every line. To see what my words do to you…not shredding you with my bitterness but bolstering you with my truth.” She dropped her head. “Kade…”
He rolled, settling his body on top of hers, trying to protect her from all this turmoil, but he knew he couldn’t, that inevitably they would have to deal with it all. Everything was in a fragile state. She stared up at him, her eyes clouded, and she bit her lip and looked away.
“Don’t,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. Her lashes lifted and she met his eyes. Her gaze was now guarded and her expression tentative, guilty. She looked so damn vulnerable. This woman had the ability to cripple his emotions, even as that love he’d buried pushed up through the dirt his soul had piled on top.
“Don’twhat?” she whispered, struggling with everything.
“Don’t limit your happiness, your feelings for me by overshadowing them with Brian.”
She stiffened, her gaze suddenly flaring with rebellion. “I told you I wasn’t ready to talk—” That quickly her entire demeanorshifted and changed at the mention of his brother’s name. Gone was that tenderness for him, and in its place was a spark of defiance that was as effective as putting a wall between them and shutting him out.
“Don’tfuckingdo that either,” he said fiercely, cupping her face in both hands. “Don’tshutme out, babe. I can’t—” He closed his eyes.
She made a soft sound. “I don’t want to,” she said as fiercely. “It’s just too much right now.”
“Okay, I’m dropping it.” He looked at his watch, realizing they were going to be late if they didn’t get moving. But even as he tried to shift back into focus, something lodged deep inside him, something uneasy. His heart contracted hard at what they’d just shared, but a part of him couldn’t help but wonder what was still unsaid? What pieces of her were still locked away? When it all eventually surfaced, because itwould,what would it dislodge between them? Would it crack open this fragile new thing they'd built… or shatter it beyond repair?
13
In the hushthat followed his growled,“Okay, I’m dropping it,”Dagger rolled off her. The loss of his heat was immediate, palpable, and silence settled like a weight between them. Regret surged up, thick and choking, sharp in her throat like something she should have seen coming. Of course it was there. Of course it burned. She’d known it would.
After the way she’d come apart in his arms, claimed him like he belonged to her, of course there’d be fallout. She was the one who'd crossed that line. She was the one who’d let it happen.Wantedit to happen.
His body, thick with muscle and unmarred strength, lay bare beside her, and all she could see was the imprint he’d left behind on her skin, in her bones, etched into the deepest hollows of her heart.
She swallowed hard, shifting on the bed, her gaze drifting toward the tense man beside her. His distress, it pulled at something inside her she didn’t know how to name. It wasn’t comfort, exactly. But it wasn’t indifference either. Something warmer had begun to stir. Something…gentler.
Her breath hitched. The memory of his body inside hers, the way he’d responded to her words, so honest, so wounded, it clung to her like heat after flame. Tears stung behind her eyes, sharp and unrelenting.Why did she have to go and ruin it?
But the answer struck sharper than guilt.
Brian.
It wasn’t shame this time, not the grief-worn guilt she knew so well. It was something fiercer. Frustration. Impatience. A flicker of rage, not aimed at herself, but at him. At the man who’d left behind a shadow so heavy she couldn’t move without stumbling into it. She blinked, startled by the shift inside her, a new shape to her grief, sharper and more defiant.He’d ruined this. Not her.
If he hadn’t gone, if he hadn’t left her with so many broken pieces to pick up, none of this would be happening. She wouldn’t be here, tangled in guilt and heat, stripped bare by the one man she should have never wanted.But she had wanted him. After this, after her job was done here? Then what? Even after one night with him, she wanted more, and she shivered at the glimpse of a nebulous future.