Page 14 of Monsters Wear Crowns (Crowned Monsters Duet #1)

“You think you know me,” I whispered, my voice steady even as my heart threatened to betray me.

His smirk was slow. “I do.”

My fingers curled against the desk behind me. “Then tell me–what am I going to do next?”

Rafe exhaled a quiet laugh, his hands suddenly gripping my waist as he turned me, shoving me back against the window. The cool glass was a shock compared to the heat between us.

“You,” he murmured, sliding a knee between mine, forcing me to feel just how closely he pressed against me. “A re going to let me show you .”

My breath stuttered. “You think I want you?” I challenged, but my voice had lost its bite.

Rafe reached up, dragging his thumb across my bottom lip, pressing just enough to make me gasp.

“I know you do,” he murmured. “And you hate that you can’t stop yourself. You really loved my fingers inside you the other night.”

My mind spun, begging me to escape the danger standing before me. But I didn’t. Instead, I did something far, far worse.

I parted my lips, my tongue flicking out just enough to taste the tip of his thumb. It was instinct. A mistake. A moment of pure, reckless surrender. And I knew the second I did it that I had lost .

Rafe inhaled sharply, his pupils darkening with something lethal. His fingers flexed against my waist, pressing me harder against the window.

“That’s what I thought,” he murmured, smug as sin.

I clenched my jaw. “Fuck you.”

His grin was razor-sharp. “Oh, sweet girl,” he breathed, tilting my head back, owning the way I shivered beneath him. “ You will .”

I choked down a whimper. Because there was something intoxicating about it–the way he knew what I wanted and saw right through every wall I had ever built. I tipped my head back against the glass, my breath shallow, my nails digging into his shirt as he pinned me there.

“Good girl,” Rafe murmured against my skin, his voice a dangerous caress. “Finally done fighting me?”

No.

Yes.

I didn’t know anymore.

The only thing I knew was that I was trapped between him and the window, the city lights flickering behind me, my reflection staring back at me in the glass–wide-eyed, lips parted, body trembling from the war waging inside me.

“I have an important question,” he coaxed, his fingers trailing up my throat, pressing lightly, just enough to make me aware of the power he held over me. “Does fear excite you?”

I swallowed hard, my pulse thrumming against his fingertips. “Yes,” I whispered.

He laughed, low and dark. “What is your safe word?”

I hesitated, unease clawing its way out of my chest. “Um... seriously. ”

“ Seriously is your word?” he huffed a laugh. “Alright, then. If we do this, and you ever truly want me to stop, then say that word. But if you say anything else, I won’t. Got it?”

My stomach clenched.

I hated him. Yet he had done more than any man to find out what it was I truly craved. My hunger was far too volatile to attempt to tame. I’ve tried. Rafe must have seen it in my eyes, because his expression darkened with something possessive that sent a thrill down my spine.

And then–without another word–he kissed me .

It wasn’t soft or sweet. It was entirely claiming.

His fingers tangled in my hair, his other hand pressing against my throat, not choking, just holding –like he wanted to feel my pulse against his palm, like he needed proof that I was his in this moment.

He must have enjoyed feeling his affect on me.

And…I gave in . I kissed him back, heat surging through me like wildfire, a desperate, reckless thing.

I wanted to spit out something sharp to remind him–and myself–that I was not the kind of woman to be owned . But as his mouth claimed mine, his fingers curling in my hair like he wanted to devour me–there was no stopping this.

Because some sick, secret part of me wanted to know what it felt like. I was not new to sleeping with men I barely knew, but he was different. He was…fascinating in the darkest kind of way. It was more than enticing that he knew of my darkness and even wanted it. So I’d be stupid not to indulge.

His lips dragged from my mouth to my jaw, then lower, his breath hot against my skin. “See?” he murmured, his voice like smoke curling inside my chest. “This is what you were made for.”

My nails dug into his arms, my breath shallow, my body betraying me with every passing second.

“I don’t belong to you.” The words left my lips, but they didn’t sound convincing–not when my pulse was pounding against his fingertips, not when I was still pressed between him and the glass.

Rafe chuckled, dark and seductive. His hand drifted lower, fingers skimming the curve of my waist, my hips, until he gripped my ass–possessive. “No,” he agreed, his mouth hovering over my ear. “Not yet. Once I fuck you, you will.”

I clenched my teeth, heat curling low in my stomach, shame and hunger tangling in a way I couldn’t control. Rafe had studied me like a predator stalking prey, like he had been waiting for the moment I’d stop running .

“You read them a lot, don’t you?” His voice was a slow taunt, his fingers tracing along my thigh, the fabric of my dress hiking just slightly. His fingers tightened on my hip, his lips grazing my throat. “All of those dirty books. You are a nasty little thing. ”

My stomach dropped.

My breath caught in my throat.

I tried to push him away, but he only laughed as he grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head against the glass.

“You’re going to struggle?” He dipped his sharp chin closer. “I know how much you enjoy the idea of being a little doe beneath a wolf.”

I swallowed hard, the arousal between my thighs almost unbearable.

“God,” he whispered, lips brushing over my jaw. “I’d love to watch you touch yourself while you read them.”

Holy shit.

My cheeks flamed.

“I can give it to you,” he murmured, his voice a sinful promise. “ All of it. We can even recreate your favorite scenes.”

His fingers clamped over my throat, pressing just enough to make my pulse stutter. His other hand trailed up my arm, his touch featherlight but searing. My body reacted before my mind could catch up. He was reading me, attuned to every shallow inhale and every involuntary shift of my hips.

“Let me show you, little doe,” he whispered, his lips brushing my ear. “Let me show you what a wolf can do to you.”

I didn’t stop him when he yanked me against him.

I didn’t protest when his fingers traced the curve of my spine, teasing, testing, until I arched into him.

He was toying with restraint, savoring the moment like a predator who knew the hunt was already won.

I had never experienced a build-up this intense before.

It was agonizing. My heart raced as he tilted my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze.

The hunger in his eyes threatened to consume me whole.

“All you have to do,” he whispered, “is say yes . Or no , since you like that, too.” He winked.

I was on the edge.

I felt it.

One step, and I would tumble over. But maybe I had been falling into him since that first night. Maybe Rafe had simply been waiting for me to realize it. I lifted my chin, pretending his touch wasn’t scorching into my skin, or that my knees weren’t weak from the way he was looking at me.

I was starving.

I had been for years. And somehow, he had seen it– sensed it–in a way no one else ever had.

He didn’t hesitate. He moved like a predator indulging in a long-anticipated feast, his grip inescapable.

There was no more room for hesitation, no space between the fire that licked at my veins and the dangerous man who had set it ablaze.

His lips found mine in another possessive kiss, coaxing a desperate moan from my throat.

My fingers curled into the fabric of his black shirt, nails digging in as he pressed me against the cool glass of the window.

A sharp gasp escaped me as he traced fire along my throat, his teeth grazing just enough to make my breath catch before he returned to my mouth.

My body arched sensuously into his, every nerve on fire as I became sharply aware of his arousal straining against his pants. God, I wanted him inside of me. I ground against him, holding back a whimper. Rafe’s voice, rough and commanding between kisses, rasped against my lips.

“You’re about to be mine , Adela.” His words fell like a dark promise, sending shivers of warning and wild desire racing through me while my fingers gripped his broad shoulders.

His hands cradled my face, and the declaration left me trembling between resistance and willing surrender. “No going back.”

My breathing became erratic, and I positioned myself so that the only thing separating his cock from my pussy was his pants. I was aching .

He growled low, a deep rumble vibrating in his throat as he drew me close until no space remained between us–only the searing heat of our bodies and the inevitability of the moment.

“Say it,” he murmured, his lips trailing along my jaw while his fingers left bruises on my hips.

“Say yes .” I pressed my teeth together, feeling the weight of betrayal in that very instant, because, beneath it all, I knew I wasn’t truly his.

I wasn’t anyone’s. Yet even as uncertainty churned within me, his demand came again–rough and urgent–into my ear. “ Now .”

In a breathless whisper, I yielded, “Yes.”

He exhaled sharply with a laugh, like he’d been waiting for that single word all night.

Heat flared under my skin, pooling low, setting every nerve ablaze.

A deep, resonant sound of satisfaction mixed with hunger vibrated from his chest as he tangled a hand in my hair, yanking my head back so that his dark, predatory gaze met mine.

“Good fucking girl,” he hissed, his praise laced with raw intensity that sent a final shudder through my conflicted soul.