Page 64 of Ly to Me (Devils of Alliston Springs #1)

Lyra

The Chase

C arver—shirtless, looking like a mean motherfucker with a heart-shaped scar on his chest—talked a cop off our property. I don’t know what he said, but I do know the cop smiled. Not just at me, either. I also know that if I’d been that cop, I’d arrest him just to see him in cuffs.

Maybe there really was something hot about being surrounded by metal.

When Car was done on his phone, he came back up to the fence, resting his forearms along the top. “Havin’ a good time in there, sweetheart?” His wink sent flutters through my stomach.

I raised my voice so he could hear me across the ring. “Can I go faster?”

His smirk made those flutters worse. “Course you can. But we’ll try that on Bee. Together.”

I dropped the reins, and he shook his head in his hand. “What happened to liking my independence?”

“You’ve got a lot to learn, one of those being to not get so comfortable to where you drop the reins on day one.” I stuck my tongue out at him as I picked the reins back up.

“What else are we doing today? Do you have to work?”

“Not gonna ask me about the cop?”

I cocked my head. “Do you want to tell me about the cop?”

He covered his grin with a finger. Right as Nora and I were about to pass him, he climbed up the fence, straddled it, then clicked his tongue and reached for her bridle, stilling her almost instantly.

“Turns out Jamie really wants me to suffer from winning that poker game.” His fingers were quick to thread in my hair, and then his lips found mine, devouring any chance of a remark. Wasn’t even sure I had one as his tongue swept in, keeping me pleasantly silenced. Jamie who ?

Oh, right.

“Car, wait.” I pushed my hand to his chest, and he groaned. “Did he try to get you arrested? What for?”

“Wrongful termination and battery.”

“He really thought—” I stopped myself from finishing that sentence.

I didn’t want Carver to know how far Jamie went.

I didn’t want him to worry about the way his words had affected me to the point I was near comatose when I got back home.

And I certainly didn’t want him to know that Jamie thought I’d be backing him instead of telling my husband the truth, which would include the certain word Jamie had used when relating me to the monster that was Chet Walker.

Even though I’d told Car the part of my past that plagued me the most, I was still trying to hide parts of the truth at every turn. It was like a disease.

Maybe I was crazy.

“What did he really think, Lyra?”

Silence.

An intense pop of his jaw.

Then, a wide grin.

“Slide off Nora.”

“I—” I went to protest, but he crossed his arms. “Okay.”

I did as I was told. Again. Something he loved way too damn much.

After eyeing both sides, I finally figured a way down. He hopped down from the fence, and in seconds, I was turned and pinned to the fence by the throat. “You know what I really can’t get off my mind lately?”

“What?” I croaked, though his fingers were rather loose, not blocking enough air to cause that sound.

“The way you ran from me. The way I fucked you with my fingers and got you to talk.” His lips brushed over the shell of my ear as his voice lowered. “The way you felt right before I denied letting you come.”

Shit . I’d gone through one day of edging. One day of making my body hypersensitive, begging for release. I’d be lying if I said I missed it.

I shook my head furiously. “Don’t.”

He tsked. “You still won’t tell me everything.” His hand slipped down the front of my jeans, skilled fingers brushing my throbbing clit. I shuddered. “So fucking ready for it, aren’t you?”

“F-for what?”

He gave a rough pinch before slipping his hand back out, then slammed his lips into mine, consuming my moans. His kisses trailed along my jaw as I panted, almost unable to hear when he said, “When I tell you to run, you better run, sweetheart.”

I slumped back against the fence, only to be yanked to his front by my waist. Something hard slid into my back pocket. “Put up a fight, Ly. I love it when you fight.”

I blinked up at him, then darted my gaze to the opposite end of the fence by the woods. “Now?”

“No. You won’t know when.” He smirked down at me. “Keep that knife on you if you know what’s good for you.”

He stepped back, eyeing my peaked nipples tenting the t-shirt he’d forced me to wear.

“Why?”

His head cocked. “Why do we have a primal kink, or why did I give you a knife for that other kink we share?”

I shook my head while reaching into my back pocket. “Why give me time?”

“Element of surprise.”

Surprises. Huh.

That was something I could do as well.

“It’s really nothin’, Car,” I said, covering the sound of the metal clasp on the sheath popping open.

“Nothing is nothin’ when it comes to you. You need to learn that I can take every one of your truths. Every single one of ’em.”

“That right?” I asked sweetly, fighting a stupid smile from poppin' up.

“And your lies, too.” Carver bit down on his lip while staring at mine.

Sucker.

I shot my hand holding the knife toward his throat. He grinned as he caught my wrist mid-flight, the blade glinting in the sunlight between us. “If I didn’t already let you put a knife to my chest before, I’d think you were tryin’ to kill me.”

“Had to check if you didn’t want to chase me now because you were too tired. Fucking me every night might be too much for you,” I teased. “Element of surprise and all.”

A spark lit in his eyes as his sharp tongue darted over his lower lip. And then he pried the blade from my fingers, lifting each with ease. I wasn’t actually going to hurt him, but I did want to see how fast he’d react. It made my legs weak seeing how quickly he could take control.

“I was going to be gentle when I catch you later, but I think”—he wrapped his arms around me, resheathing the knife—“you need to be dealt with a little harder.” His lips skirted over my cheek as he murmured, “Maybe then you wouldn’t question my stamina.

” The tip of his nose grazed my neck as he cupped my breast, making me squirm.

“So damn ready to follow my orders, listening when I told you to put up a fight.”

Every time he praised me, my pussy ached and my thighs trembled. My body became even more his. Somehow, there was always another piece of myself to give to him.

Carver brushed his thumb over my cupid’s bow, tipping his lips toward mine like he was about to kiss me, but then pulled back.

He grinned when I frowned.

“Be ready, little Ly. Because when I catch you this time, I will fuck you, and I won’t be gentle.”

Carver walked over to where Nora had wandered off a few feet from us and started walking her back to the barn like he didn’t just promise to destroy my body. Like he didn’t just knock me back against the fence and give me a knife to use to fight him off later when he decided to chase me.

The rest of the day went by like that as well.

We drove to Oak Heart and set up my print in the system, then went to The Sanctuary, where he showed me the collection and the way it’d grown since he’d taken it from my childhood room.

He was soft as he pressed me against the wall and kissed me like he alone held the breaths my body needed.

He was gentle as he held my hand during the ride home, and then again when he made sure we both ate before taking a bath together, each swipe of his soapy hands over my skin a reminder of how surprisingly soft he could be.

Even with the caring and gentle gestures, I was on edge.

He’d put me on high alert when he told me I’d need to run when the time came yet refused to tell me when that time would actually be.

Perhaps he was only being soft because he knew how hard he’d be going later, when he’d inevitably chase me and then fuck me senseless.

It was like he was plumping up a chicken before slaughter, only I refused to let my guard down.

While eating dinner, I slammed my fork down, ready to tell him exactly what Jamie had called me, and the way he was going to use that to his advantage. Carver simply raised a finger to cover his smirking lips, telling me, “I plan to fuck it out of you. Don’t spoil the fun.”

How did my body react to that, you might ask? As if it were being plunged into a frigid lake, then dragged near a pit of flames on repeat.

My thighs ached by the time we laid in bed, my pussy drenched and heart racing.

How the fuck was I supposed to sleep?

“You’ll need your rest,” Carver purred into my ear as he pulled my back to his front, getting rather cozy. Maybe the chase wouldn’t be tonight. “Sleep, Lyra.”

I tried biting my tongue for all of two seconds. Two whole seconds. And then, I snapped. “You’re insane if you think I can drift off.”

“Nervous the boogeyman might come for you?” He chuckled when more time passed and I hadn’t answered. “I can fix that.”

“Car—”

“No, really. One sec.”

He rolled toward his nightstand, the drawer opening and snapping shut. When he rolled back, his arm wrapped around me. I looked down at his hand where a silver Zippo lighter was paired with a rolled joint.

“Here. Calm your nerves a bit.”

“You rolled that?” I asked as I took it between my lips, shifting in his hold to lay on my back. Carver did the same as I lifted the lighter and sparked the end.

“You judgin’?”

I inhaled the flowery smoke, notes of citrus filling my taste buds. “Only slightly.” I pinched my fingers together, leaving a small space to show how much I was judging him.

He laughed as I passed the joint back to him. “You were always much better than me at that.” As he took a hit, I watched his chest expand, then followed the plume of smoke he released above us.

When he passed it back to me, I admitted, “I missed this.”

His head turned until his cheek rested on our shared pillow. My body turned into his as I shifted to do the same. As I brought the joint to my lips, he brushed his thumb over my hollowed cheek.

“I missed this too, sweetheart.”