Page 139 of Blackwood

She lets out the softest noise against my mouth, and I swear to God, if we weren’t surrounded I’d drop to my knees right now and feast on her sweet pussy like I’m dying and she’s my last meal. Because I know her. She’s probably already soaked for me. She always is.

I pull back just barely, breathing hard. “Hey, baby.”

She’s flushed. Dazed. “Hey, I’m glad you’re here.”

“Oh yeah, me too—” Knox cuts in full of sarcasm, “—ifhe was actually doing anything. Bella, you’re distracting my help.”

I don’t even look up. Just keep my hands on her.“Cool it, Bestie. I’m on my five-minute union break.”

Bella arches a brow. “Bestie?”

I shrug. “Yeah. Me and Knox? We’re basically bros now.”

Knox groans. Ellie cackles from somewhere behind a tray of glitter shots. Bella just laughs and presses a kiss to my cheek before trying to walk away.

“Nope. Not happening,” I say as I catch her wrist. “Did you miss the part about a five-minute break?”

She turns back, amused. That look on her face. All smug and sweet and half-daring me to do something about it. I grab her by the waist, pick her up, and carry her like they do in those cheesy romance movies. Like a bride being taken across the threshold of some overpriced honeymoon suite. She squeals.

“Lex!”

“What? It’s the rules, baby. You’re legally required to sit on my lap until the five minute buzzer goes off.”

She laughs but doesn’t fight me. I carry her across the lawn toward one of the cabanas near the back draped in gauzy curtains. I drop onto the cushioned bench with her still in my arms, settling her in my lap. She lands with a softoof, hands braced on my chest. Right where I want her.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Yeah.” I run my hands up her thighs, slow and steady. “But I’m yours.”

She freezes for half a second. I feel it. The goosebumps rising on her perfect skin. The change in her breath. The way her body reacts before her words do. Her steel-gray eyes lock on mine and I swear to God, I need her.I’ve never needed anything like I need her.

Not air.

Not blood.

I want her so bad it fucking hurts. Hurts to hold her. Hurts not to fuck her. Hurts to pretend that this is enough.

We haven’t had sex. Not yet. She’s only let me use my hands and even that feels like a gift I didn’t earn.

A mercy.

A tease.

Deep down, I think she’s still waiting for Cade.

I told myself I’d be patient. That I’d let her come to me. That I’d earn it. But fuck, it’s torture. Because I see it in her eyes. Every goddamn time I touch her. Every time she gasps, trembling under my fingers, hips jerking, thighs shaking, and screaming,“Lex… Oh God… Lex…”

Seeing my girl come undone like that? It’s beautiful. It’s fucking ruin.

We haven’t said I love you yet. Not with words. But I see it. In the way she clings to me after shattering from my touch. Inthe way she looks at me when she thinks I’m not watching. In the way her breathing changes when I saybabyin that voice she pretends doesn’t undo her.

It fucking does.

She loves me. And she will say it. Eventually. Right before I fuck the living daylights out of her.

God, I need to get laid.

She pulls back just enough to meet my eyes. “Are you sure you’re up for all of this?” she asks, voice quiet and nodding toward the pool. “You’re a Hollow King, remember? You gonna be okay at a Row party, baby?”