Page 36

“You mean the wife that was never home because her husband beat her? And the kids that barely knew their father? What little they did know of him was colored black and blue. They vividly saw that on their mother's face.”

Poppy glared at me. She was thinking. She thought about the reality of what Dylan had done. He was evil. He didn't deserve to live. Dylan was the worst kind of predator. Worse than a lion, or a bear, or a shark. At least you knew what they were going to do to you. People like Dylan Graves were far more dangerous.

“What you did,” she started to say.

“What I did just saved, God knows, how many women. I couldn't let that happen anymore. He had done enough damage already. No one is going to miss him. And after what he tried to do to you, that was all I needed.”

“You killed him because of me?”

“I killed him because the sight of seeing you hurt killed me. I won't let anyone lay a finger on you.”

Poppy licked her lips. She softly bit her bottom lip and tugged it into her mouth. I felt her snuggle up closer, closing any gaps between us. I tightened my arm around her. She untucked the blanket and covered my lap with it.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Don't thank me yet. It's not over.”

She set her glass on the floor and slid her hand around my stomach. I held her like that, close and firm. Poppy's gaze never left mine. She stared at me with gentle eyes. No fear. No hate. No questions. It was as if she absorbed my words and let them swim around her body.

I touched her cheek, tickling the tips of my fingers up and down her face. Her lips were soft and delicate. I wasn't going to let Poppy's own worry, fear, or uncertainty about the future blacken the calm in the storm.

I was going to take her and make her mine. I was going to show her that not all beasts were monsters. Not all evil was wrong. Not all of me was rotten. Deep within this body made of flesh and bone was a man. A man who knew what it was like to end a life and a man who knew what it meant to save one.

Poppy didn't do anything to deserve the fate cast down on her like rain on a road. The sheer weight of her death on my shoulders was enough to drop me to my knees. I wouldn't do it. I refused to.

I was going to give her pleasure where she could see none. I was going to give her every reason to want revenge of her own.And I was going to start with the open flesh of her lips. They were screaming at me again, just like at the gala. Screaming to be kissed and licked and tasted.

The pads of my fingers traced her jaw. I pinched her chin to lift her face higher. Poppy licked her lips as she began to exhale a slow breath. I captured her breath with a kiss. She cooed gently, partially surprised and partially surrendering willfully.

Her chest rose, bringing her tits closer to my hand. She moaned into our kiss as our tongues rolled, twisting like two snakes in a dance. Poppy's eyes closed as her body began to arch and bend.

She was losing herself. Allowing me to erase her thoughts like a layer of white paint over a colored canvas. I ran my hand down the center of her chest, over her naval, and cupped her mound.

Poppy groaned, her lips feverishly suckling mine. Her nipples beaded under her shirt, enticing me to touch them. Goosebumps broke over her skin like mountain peaks as she pushed her pussy against my palm.

I enjoyed how her skin had flushed. I could feel the heat of her body radiating beneath her clothes. She was hot as freshly fallen embers. Every inch of her body sizzled with desire. Desire only I could give her.

With no resistance, I pulled her shirt over her head. Poppy didn't want to break our kiss; she kissed me until the shirt was at her jaw and came back full force before it was over her eyes. She grabbed my face, kissing me even deeper. Her movements were frantic, ravaging, devouring, like she was hungry and hadn't eaten for days.

I grabbed her tit with my hand and squeezed. Poppy groaned against my lips with a sultry smile. I pinched one nipple, then moved to the next. More goosebumps emerged, turning her skin to braille.

My cock was hard as steel, pressing so angrily against my jeans it hurt. I wanted to be inside her. I wanted to feel her warmth from within. I wanted her hot cunt to sheath my length and never let it go.

A darkness brewed inside me. A darkness that was all animal, resembling no man on earth. I slid my arm out from around her and dropped to my knees in front of her. Poppy's hands slipped through my hair and tugged.

I yanked her pants down her legs, exposing her wet heat. She was breathing heavily. Her back arched hard as I brought my face to her glistening pussy. I licked lightly around the edge, causing her thighs to clamp shut. I pushed them back open and held them in place.

I licked her again, all around her lips and up the creases of her thighs, but I stayed away from her clit. I wanted to make her beg for me. I wanted to see her quiver and wiggle for more until she was about to go insane.

My tongue glided all around her needy button, moving close and then pulling away. She was soaked. Her pussy was seeping with sweet juice. Poppy tasted like new beginnings. She tasted like honey and bourbon. She tasted like a meadow after a fresh rain. She tasted like new life.

The tip of my tongue hit her clit, and it sent her body into a frenzy. Her hands clutched the blanket. Her legs trembled. Her back bowed. Poppy stopped moving, letting out a moan as beautiful as an angel singing.

“That's all it took to make you cum. One flick of the tongue.”

“I couldn't stop it,” she said between labored breaths. “It surprised me, too.”

“I wouldn't want you to stop it. I wanted to make you cum now so fucking you would last longer.” I yanked off my shirt and tossed it blindly. I unbuttoned my pants and pulled them off. My cock was hard and ready. The tip glistened with pre-cum.I smeared it around as I held my shaft. “You're mine, Poppy Aneska. I'm going to prove it to you.”