Page 114 of Monsters Carve Thrones

AndChrist, the idea of having her again was driving me out of my goddamn mind. By the time I parked, my cock was already hard from the tension alone. The last thing I wanted wasfor her to feel pressured after everything she’d been through, so I was grateful for my suit jacket in my lap.

I opened her door like a gentleman, but I was barely holding myself together. I didn’t touch her beyond what I needed to. But the second the front door of our townhouse shut behind us,shemade the move.

She grabbed my shirt with both hands, yanking me down into a kiss that was desperate and hungry andhers. My world fucking stopped.

My hands cupped her face as I kissed her back, my breathing suddenly stuttering. Her lips opened to me, hot and sweet, and I swear to God I lost it a little. My hands slid into her hair, her waist, everywhere at once.

“Rafe,” she breathed into my mouth, her voice trembling with need. “I want you.”

I froze. My heart punched against my ribs. “Are you sure? Please don’t feel like you owe me anything, I don’t you to–”

She didn’t hesitate. “More than anything.”

I didn’t wait. I scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom, savoring how her nails dug into my shoulders in anticipation.

I laid her down gently, my eyes roving over her perfect form. I stared for a long moment. Her chest rose and fell with nervous, excited little breaths. Her pupils were blown wide. Her lips were kiss-bitten and parted. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. And she wasmine.

I touched her like I had all the time in the world. My fingers skimmed her jaw, her collarbone, and the edge of her breast. I was reacquainting myself with her body, tracing paths I’d ached to return to for weeks. She reached up and threaded her fingers through the buttons of my shirt, undoing them slowly.

When she saw the faint scar on my shoulder–the one where Nico dug the bullet out–her eyes glassed over. “You got shot for me,” she whispered, reminding me.

I leaned in, brushing her lips with mine. “I’d take a hundred more if it meant your safety.”

Her hands trembled as she pushed the shirt from my shoulders. Her mouth opened like she wanted to say something else, but instead, she kissed me. It was slow, deep, and full of a kind of desperate gratitude that stole my fucking soul.

I didn’t rip her dress off like I wanted to. I took it slower. Every inch I exposed, I kissed. Her shoulder. Her sternum. The swell of her breast. I dragged the fabric down slowly, tasting her skin, breathing her in like I’d die without it.

“You’re so goddamn beautiful,” I whispered, tugging the dress over her hips.

She was wearing a little black thong–barely there. My cock strained at the sight. I hooked a finger in the band and dragged it down her thighs, mouth following as I went, until she was bare beneath me.

I stood, pulling my belt loose with a hard tug.

Her eyes locked on mine the whole time, and I scanned her face.

“Are you sure, baby?” I asked again, my voice hoarse.

Her nod was slow, but it was all I needed.

I knelt over her, dragged her to the edge of the bed, and pushed inside with a slow, careful thrust. Her heat wrapped around me so tight, so perfect, I almost came right then and there. “Jesus,” I groaned, bracing myself over her. “You feel like… fuck, Adela…”

She gasped, legs tightening around my waist, her nails dragging down my back as she arched into me.

“You’re okay,” I murmured, lips brushing her ear. “You’re mine. I’ve got you.”

“I’m okay,” she whispered, pulling me in for a kiss so deep I forgot how to breathe. I moved slowly, losing myself in the feel of her. I wasn’t fucking her... I was worshipping her. Giving her everything I’d been holding back. My hands slid under her back, and my mouth found her neck, her jaw, her lips.

And God, the way she looked at me... like I waseverything.

“I love you,” I breathed against her mouth.

Her eyes filled again, but she didn’t look away. “I love you, too. I missed you every fucking day.”

I kissed her then, but it wasn’t soft this time. I had been saved from the brink of fucking hell, and I wasn’t about to miss out on the incredible joy of her. Her walls fluttered around me, her legs tightening, her moans growing louder, broken, frantic. I kept my pace steady yet not too rough. I wanted to really feel her. My eyes rolled back listening to her breathy little whimpers.

“Fuck,” I growled, shifting to go deeper. “You feel like heaven, baby.”

“Rafe,” she whimpered. “Oh my god… I–I can’t–”