Page 42

Knox was different. He was a good different.
I wasn’t wearing a bra. I’d chucked the one I was wearing into the trash under one of the cabinets. It had blood on it. So when Knox’s hands cupped the warm, heavy velvet of my right breast, I arched my back with another gasp and shiver.
Knox chuckled dark and low in his chest, his lips now at my throat. “Just that makes you gasp, spitfire? What am I going to hear when I really start touching you?”
His thumb brushed over my peaked nipple, and I clapped my lips tight to stop another gasp. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of thinking I was easy.
“Oh, come on now,” he murmured, pressing his hips into mine. “Let it out. I want to hear every whimper.” Knox nipped at my earlobe. “Every gasp.” He kissed my jaw. “Every scream.”
My eyes flew open at the first feel of his hard cock against my pelvis. I could see it straining against his jeans. The pulsing low in my belly tightened, starting to pound at the anticipation of seeing it spring free.
But I wasn’t some meek woman who turned to putty at the first growl. I took Knox’s face between my hands and said, “I’ll make you work for it, Royal.”
Knox’s grin was wicked. “Challenge accepted.”
His hand pushed up my breast, and I snapped, “Take my shirt off already, fucker.”
“Ah, she doesn’t want to wait,” Knox purred, doing as ordered. I wriggled to help. At the sight of my exposed tits, he sat up on his knees to admire the view. The hunger in his eyes was infuriatingly attractive. “Perfect.”
I rolled my eyes, fingers fumbling with his jeans button. “Please. Nothing you haven’t seen before.”
Knox’s hand shot down, knocking mine away. In a blink, he pinned both my wrists above my head, his grip firm and unrelenting. The pain was secondary.
“I haven’t seen you,” he growled, low and dangerous. “And don’t insult me by lumping yourself in with other women. I don’t fuck around. If I’m taking something this personal, I make it mine.”
His free hand drifted down to skim the waistband of my oversized jeans like a threat.
My breath caught. I smirked up at him. “If you think pinning me down is gonna make me behave, you’re as delusional as you are cocky.”
Knox lowered his head to my throat again, his mouth dragging across my hammering pulse. “Who said I wanted you to behave?”
Oh, fuck.
My toes curled, and I readied to snark back, but he cut me off with a kiss of bruising force. I forgot what I was going to say.
Knox pulled away slightly. “What, lost for words at a little kiss?”
My eyes fluttered open just to narrow at him. I gripped the hair at the back of his neck, tugging, scraping my nails across his skin. His jaw clenched, and he flattened me further into the mattress under his weight in retaliation. “You think I have a shortage of?—”
Knox unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans with such force that I gasped. “Keep talking,” he murmured. “Let’s see how long you can keep your smart mouth running while I’m inside you.”
“Hurry up then,” I said breathlessly, wriggling my hips.
Together we worked to get the jeans off, and I was just in my panties.
Knox chuckled. “The Wolverine’s right hand wears boy shorts.” He slipped a finger under the hem and snapped it. “Hm. What a satisfying sound.” Knox leaned in, nibbling my earlobe again. “Not as much as your moans will be.”
“I am nothing if not practical,” I said breathlessly, my skin smarting. Knox was so different from the man he had been only minutes ago. He was cocky, but he was respectful—respectable. Now he was making me clench around nothing, desperate to be filled.
Knox slid his index finger under the waistband of my underwear, humming thoughtfully. “Is that what sex is to you? Practical?”
“Yes.”
The heat and hunger in his eyes flickered. His wicked smirk faltered. I never regretted that word more.
Knox’s voice was low when he spoke, but it didn’t growl this time—it rumbled. “Survivor,” he said, almost to himself. Then his tone sharpened, and the alpha came back full force. “You want control. You want the upper hand. Because it’s the only way you feel safe. I get that.”
His hand pinning my wrists moved down to cup my breast while the other hand tugged my panties down to the side, not quite revealing what was underneath yet. It made me irritated. Just rip them off already!