Page 84 of Atone

Slowly, he moves down between my breasts, kissing my ribs as he tugs my shorts and underwear off. Stripping me completely until I’m wearing nothing except the knife strapped to my leg. I wait for him to strip me of that, too, but he doesn’t.

He kneels on the bed between my legs and admires me spread out for him. “You’re fucking stunning. You’re everything.”

My entire body blushes at the compliment. Not a ploy to lure me into his web, but a confession. He sees me.

I lift enough to grab his shoulder and pull his lips to mine. “So are you.”

His kiss sears. His lips brand my soul. So much more than lips, his entire body rocks over me. Lapping like waves against my skin. I grab his jaw, barely holding on, but with our bare chests pressed together, it snaps his attention back to the reality of the situation.

He grabs my wrists, pinning them overhead.

I frown. “Why don’t you let me touch you when we’re like this?”

He let me explore him through our entire conversation, but the second we get more intimate, he finds ways to shut me out.

“Because you don’t know what your touch does to me, my angel.” His tongue skates over my lower lip to distract me.

“What does my touch do to you?” My eyelashes flutter closed as he plants kisses along my throat.

“It makes me feel things I’m not allowed.”

“Good?”

“Alive.” He lifts, meeting my gaze.

“And feeling alive is a bad thing?”

“It’s harder than dying most of the time.”

Does Alex wish he were dead? Or does he really just think that it would be easier than this?

“Don’t worry,” he whispers, brushing a kiss over the apple of my cheek. “I’ll survive living for you.”

It’s a strange way to put it. One I don’t know if I should take as a good thing or a bad thing. All I know is that, when it comes to him, it all circles backto mefor one reason or another. And I’d like to know why, but I’m too distracted byhis hips grinding between my legs. By his hand gripping my wrists overhead. By his other hand working his jeans to release his hard cock as he settles it against me.

“Let go of my hands and let me make you feel alive, Alex.” I brush a kiss on his lips. “Trust me. Please.”

There’s every chance he’ll pull away entirely. He might even pick me up and kick me out of his room like he did that night at Montgomery. But I refuse to have only parts of him when he demands every bite.

Alex releases my wrists, and when I plant my hands on his chest, he flinches like I’ve burned him. But he doesn’t stop me. He doesn’t break my stare as he thrusts deep. His hips meet mine, with his jeans still around his thighs, and he fills me with every inch.

But I need more.

The air in his lungs.

His fears.

His limits.

I wrap myself around him and pull our bodies flush, forcing the kiss that makes me whole. He sucks my lower lip between his teeth, and I’m unraveling. Addicted. The world is nothing but dust, and we are the depths of darkness in the night sky.

In his hands, I’m alive, not just living. And it’s downright terrifying.

I need it all from this man.

Another kiss. A tender caress. A pinch on my breast. My ass.

Alex fucks me deep and sure, and I’m somehow both lost and found. He’s all I feel and all I understand.