Page 9

Chapter nine

Bleeding Heart

Axel

W hat the fuck was I doing?

I held Kylie’s trembling body in my arms. She buried her face against my chest and cried, her tears soaking my shirt. Her sobs sounded as if they were wrenched from deep within her soul, and I ached for the pain she had been through.

But I had no fucking clue what to do with a crying woman. I wasn’t considered gentle by society’s standards—with good reason. I never felt as out of place as I did in this moment. I worried I would fumble and say something wrong. Especially when my body was getting its wires crossed. I hadn’t held a woman in ages. And part of me ached to sink into her soft curves.

Shit.

I should get Mateo or Chase to help her. They were far better with women than me, at least when it came to being kind and considerate. As much as I knew I should, I couldn’t make myself move from my perch on the side of her bed or release the weeping woman and leave her to fend for herself.

“Want to tell me about it?” Anything to distract me from the fact that her soft curves were cuddled against me and felt like heaven. The sweet curve of her ass pressed against my crotch. And my dick was already at half-mast. I sniffed her hair, and her scent, a subtle amber, surrounded me.

God, she was gorgeous and soft, and I couldn’t help but imagine laying her down and loving her properly. I hadn’t been with a woman since Melanie opted out of our relationship. That was two years ago now. Which was why my body was acting like a randy teenager with his first woman.

I had to get a fucking grip. Kylie hadn’t flirted with me or given me any indication of interest.

“It’s a memory,” she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper as she hiccupped through her tears.

“I figured. Of what?” I stroked a careful hand down her slender back. She was so small and delicate. And I felt like the beast in the tower. Regardless of whether I thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes upon, the beast never ended up with the princess. Not without changing back into a man. And that’s something I would never be. I’d seen and done far too much. There were black marks on my soul from the lives I had ended. It didn’t matter that those murders were sanctioned and in service to my country, I would always bear the scars on my soul. No good woman would ever want someone as corrupt as me.

“When I tried to leave him, it didn’t go well.” She hugged me tighter, like she wanted to burrow into me.

“There was no one who could help you?”

She shook her head no. The unbound brunette waves of her hair shifted against my hand. And I couldn’t help but catch a small strand and feel the silken glory between my fingers. It felt like hand-spun silk. Reminding me once again that Kylie was fragile and delicate. I was here to protect her, not fuck her.

But the way she clung to me had me fighting against a tsunami of rising desire. The beast inside me rattled its cage, scenting a female. I wanted to lay her down and taste her cunt, driving her to orgasm after orgasm until she screamed my name. And only then, with bliss riding her features, would I gift her with my cock and fuck her until she clawed at me as she came.

It had been a long time since I’d been with a woman. And never one this gorgeous nor as elegant. A guy like me, I would break a little thing like Kylie just by my sheer size alone. As much as I might wish it were otherwise, she wasn’t for me.

But a man could dream. And make plans to jack off the moment I was alone.

“No. I’m an orphan. Nobody wanted me. He knew that and used it.”

I fought to keep my hands from tightening and my face impassive. That sick bastard. To have a gorgeous woman like Kylie with her beguiling blue eyes and knockout body, only to abuse her badly enough that she had nightmares about her time with him months after his death. I’d kill the asshole if he wasn’t already dead.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured, wishing I could have been there to protect her. Vowing I would ensure she was safe. If it meant I had to kill Luka Santos with my bare hands and add to the tally of dark marks on my soul, I would do it.

I stroked a hand down her hair and back. Fuck, this woman. I breathed her in. That amber scent made her smell like sunshine to me. And I would love nothing more than to lay her down and make her forget all her demons.

I knew what it was like when your past wouldn’t release you and kept you in a chokehold.

“Why don’t you lie back down and get some rest?”

When she nodded, I laid her on the bed and released her. But she caught my forearm before I could back away. I lifted my gaze from her delicate hand to her face and found myself drowning in blue eyes.

“Please don’t go…will you stay and just hold me?” Her lush bottom lip trembled. But she gazed at me as if I was a lifeline. I couldn’t walk away from her, not when she needed me.

“I will. But only if you promise to go to sleep.” Because then I had to distance myself before I did something that damned us.

She scooted back beneath the covers. Thank fuck! If I had to stare at her bare legs much longer, I was liable to say screw it and discover what was beneath the nightie.

I removed my belt and gun holster and laid them on the nightstand nearby, then removed my shoes. This way, I could reach my firearm if it was needed and wouldn’t have to worry about it going off accidentally in her bed.

Once she was under the covers, I scooted onto the bed on top of them. If I was beneath them with her, all bets were off. The moment I was situated next to her, she snuggled into my arms. She laid her head against my chest and sighed. Tremors of fear still racked her frame.

I couldn’t help it. I stroked a hand over her silken hair and back, trying to soothe her. She sighed against me, and her lush tits pressed against my chest. And I told myself as I watched her fall asleep that I would leave soon. That once I knew she was asleep and wouldn’t wake, I would go back to my post outside her door. That Mateo had everything covered. The cameras would spy anything untoward.

But it was a bald-faced lie.

Because I didn’t want to fucking let her go. A guy like me would never get the chance to hold a woman this beautiful again. So instead of leaving, I lay beside her. I held her in my arms, caressing her hair, and wished for things that could never be.

I couldn’t help imagining all the filthy things I’d do to her. I’d make her cry, but only by fucking her mouth with my dick. The thought of those lips around my shaft while she looked up at me with tears streaming from her eyes made me hard as stone. Not to mention I would dearly love to discover what she looked like without any clothes.

I’d bet I could spend hours eating her pussy until she begged me to stop. And only then would I give her my cock.

The greedy bastard twitched.

That’s it. Time’s up. I needed to get the fuck away from her before I did something stupid, something I couldn’t take back. Gideon would kill me if I fucked this up for him.

I began extricating myself while telling myself she would be fine on her own. I’d be right outside the door. If I heard anything, I could be inside in two seconds, tops.

I had almost gotten free when her eyes snapped open.

“Axel.” She licked her lips as her gaze came into focus. A slight frown marred her features as her memory returned. Her gaze dipped down, and then lower still to my crotch.

She was killing me.

When she lifted her eyes back to my face, I sucked in a sharp breath at the hunger I spied in those achingly blue depths.

She hungered—for me . She wanted me.

On a groan that welled up from the depths of my soul, I crushed her lips, taking her mouth in a brutal kiss, punishing her for the desire I spied. She was still for a moment. And then she kissed me back, opening for me as my tongue swept inside past her lips. I ached for her taste, for her touch, for her .

Growling at her potent flavor, I deepened the kiss. Needing more. Needing all of her. Needing everything, I reversed our positions and felt myself falling into her.