Page 79 of House of Cards (The Devil’s Den #2)

“No, stop, Smith, please, it hurts, it fucking?—”

He tenses, then thrusts.

Deep, brutal. Once, twice.

“Fuck!” he mutters like a curse, and then he’s filling me with his seed, taut body shuddering against me. Hips rolling as his cock churns our cum into thick cream.

He slows, stops, and for ten heavenly seconds, it’s just him inside me. Our slow, deep panting. Our sweaty bodies melding together.

“You should go,” he says, his voice flat.

Dead, like his heart.

He pushes me off his lap, turning away, already looking for his clothes. His walls slamming closed like steel doors.

My mouth is open. Not because I’m still fighting for breath, but because I can’t understand what the fuck is going on.

“Wh—I—You…”

He finds his sweats, keeping his back turned as he steps into them.

“Troy will drive you wherever you want to go in the morning.”

I sit down on the bed with a wet squelch, my pussy still throbbing, still wanting more.

“I beg your motherfucking pardon?”

“This was a mistake.” He still won’t look at me. Still won’t acknowledge the epicness of what just happened. Maybe this is just an average Tuesday for him.

“Are you fucking serious right now?”

Heat floods my body. Anger, arousal, disbelief all tangled together in an awful emotional soup.

“You just fucked me senseless and now you’re kicking me out?”

He jerks away when I reach for him. “You wanted to know. Now you know.”

“Yeah, fuck, I get that, but?—”

“This is what you wanted, Zoey.” I’ve never heard him like this. So…broken. Like I just tore away the last shred of humanity he had inside him.

“What I wanted?” My laugh is brittle. “I want you. Again. Right fucking now.”

When he says nothing, I step up to him, grabbing the back of his neck as tight as I can, lowering my voice to an urgent, needy rasp.

“I want you to bend me over and fuck me until I can’t walk.”

I feel his cock twitch against my hip, hardening, but his face remains stone.

“That’s the endorphins talking. Tomorrow you’ll realize?—“

“What?” I cut in harshly. “That you made me come so hard I nearly blacked out? That I’ve never felt anything like that in my fucking life?”

Compared to my furious words, his are devoid of any trace of emotion.

“You’ll realize I’m nothing more than a monster who gets off on pain.”

“You forget, Smith. I don’t run from monsters unless I’m being paid to.” I move closer, my skin still stinging where he cut me. “I run toward them.”

Something cracks in his expression, but his eyes narrow. “You don’t understand?—“

“You’re not as mysterious as you like to think.” My voice drops to a whisper. “You’re terrified, Smith. You’ve never let anyone see you like this before.”

“Stop.” But his voice breaks on the word, and that means I hit a nerve, and so I keep going.

“You thought I’d run screaming. Well, guess what? This—“ I wave a hand at my bloody thigh, “—This doesn’t scare me.”

His eyes search mine, and I guess he doesn’t like what he sees there, because he puts a hand between us and shoves .

Not hard enough to send me sprawling, but hard enough to break my grip. He stabs a finger at the door, voice barely recognizable when he grates out, “Get out!”

I stare at him, dumbfounded.

Why is he fighting so fucking hard? I get that he can fuck anyone he wants. He just has to snap his fingers, and he could have a handful of Angels up here to use and abuse as he sees fit.

So why is the thought of me staying such a fucking thorn in this lion’s paw?

His nostrils flare, lips trembling like he’s holding back ugly words. And that’s when it hits me all at once, like someone switched on the lights.

“You love me.” The moment I say it, his whole body goes rigid.

I clap a hand over my mouth, slowly drag it away. “Holy shit, you actually love me.”

He shows me his teeth. “No.”

“You fucking do.” I step closer, almost stalking.

Who’s the predator now?

He looks away, jaw ticking. “Get out, Zoey. I won’t ask again.”

I tilt my head, batting my eyelashes at him. “Aw. The big bad monster is in love with his little kitten.”

“Zoey…”

“Say it.” I’m close enough to feel his breath on my face. “Say you love me, you fucking monster. Say it and I’ll leave.”

“I—” He swallows hard, his control cracking. Anger flashes in his eyes as they flick to the door, like he’s wondering if I’m bluffing.

“Go on,” I murmur. “I fucking dare you.”

He doesn’t take kindly to my words, or my tone of voice, or the way I slide my hands up his naked chest. His muscles flinch under my fingers, and I swear I hear his teeth grinding as he glares down at me.

“Yes,” he grates out.

“Yes, what?”

“I love you. I fucking love you and it’s going to destroy us both.”

“But monsters can’t love.” I grab his face, pulling him down to me. “You’ll have to convince me, Smith.”

I kiss him hard, violent, pouring all my confusion and need and rage into it. He responds instantly, his hands fisting in my hair, his mouth devouring mine.

In a second, he’s lifting me up to the bed, crushing me under him. I let him—for a second or two. Then I’m clawing my way free, pushing him onto his back with all my strength.

He looks up at me like he’s waking from a nap. “What?—”

“You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?” I straddle his chest, rolling my hips so my cum-soaked pussy drags over his bare chest.

“You think you can just fuck me, then send me packing?”

His hands grip my thighs, but he doesn’t try to move me. “You don’t understand what you’re asking for.”

“Then let me make myself clear, Monster.” I sit up, inching higher on my knees until I’m positioned just below his chin. Then I lower myself just enough that he can smell me, taste the air between us.

His eyes dart to my pussy, then up to my face, pupils so blown out there’s barely a sliver of iris left. I grab his hair in a fist, my other hand cupping his jaw.

“I want everything,” I whisper.

I dip down, twisting my hand in his hair a second before his tongue can touch my dripping pussy. He winces, eyes flickering back to mine, incensed.

“Your darkness,” I dip down again, this time letting his tongue brush my pussy just once before pulling away.

Jesus, but I’m torturing myself as much as I’m torturing him. My clit is throbbing like it’s mad at me, my pussy clenching in time with every fierce pounding of my heart.

“Your violence.”

This time he gets in a full, languid lick before I jerk away with a gasp.

“Your twisted fucking love…All of it.”

I roll my hips, coming in close. His tongue darts out, almost touching me, then stops.

“Zoey—”

“What? You don’t want this?”

I take my hand away from his jaw, massaging my clit instead.

“You don’t want me?”

I can feel the pain in his groan. I dip a finger inside myself, bring it to my mouth, lick it clean. And he rewards me with another rattling sound deep in his throat.

“Promise me I can stay, and I’ll give you what you really want.” I yank his hair hard enough to make him grimace. “Promise me you’ll stop trying to protect me.”

“I can’t promise that. I’ll hurt you?—“

“You already did. And I came harder than I ever have in my life.” I lean down to whisper, “Promise me, Smith. Or I’ll do exactly what you want…and walk away forever.”

My voice is strong—chin out, shoulders back—but I’m terrified.

Do I really want to stay with the man who trapped me, tortured me, bled me…and enjoyed every second? The man who admitted he’d killed someone he loved, and thought it merciful?

There’s a part of me that knows this isn’t normal. That when he opens the door for me, I should run through it, not slam it shut and dead bolt myself inside.

This is just my brain’s way of coping with all the shit I’ve been through. Shit he’s put me through.

But there’s another part of me. A deeper, hidden part that awoke when he first touched me. And that part knows that this choice is real.

That it’s mine.

If that means I’m fucked up, then I’d rather be a fucked up mess with him at my side.

His hands tighten on my thighs, his whole body trembling. I straighten, hovering above him as I toy with my clit, as he watches, as he shivers under me and gazes up with his tortured eyes.

“Stay,” he mutters angrily. “Please fucking stay.”

“Why?” I know I shouldn’t be pushing him, but maybe I’m a little sadistic too, because God how I enjoy the flicker of pain in his eyes.

“I—I need you, Zoey.”

“And…?”

He licks his lips, and for once, keeps his eyes locked on mine.

“I love you.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard,” I murmur as I lower myself onto his warm, hungry mouth. “Now be a good monster and make me come.”