Page 62 of Monstrosity

"Yes." It's all I can manage before he's kissing me again.

He backs me against a large oak tree, hands already working at my clothes.

There's nothing gentle about it—we're both too keyed up, too desperate.

I fumble with his belt while he shoves my skirt up, both of us racing against the need consuming us.

"Someone could see," I gasp as he lifts me, wrapping my legs around his waist.

"Don't care." He positions himself at my entrance. "Need you now."

He slides home in one thrust, and we both groan.

There's no finesse, no slow build—just raw need as he pounds into me.

The tree bark is rough against my back, the position is awkward, and anyone could walk by.

None of it matters.

All that matters is proving we're alive, we're together, we survived.

"Mine," he growls against my throat, careful of the bruises even in his desperation. "My woman. My everything."

"Yours," I agree, nails digging into his shoulders. "Always yours."

It's fast and fierce and exactly what we both need.

When I come, it's with a cry that echoes through the trees.

Rio follows seconds later, my name on his lips like a prayer.

We stay pressed together afterward, both trembling from more than exertion.

Slowly, carefully, he lowers me back to my feet, holding me steady when my legs wobble.

"Fuck," he breathes, resting his forehead against mine.

"Yeah." I'm shaking again, but this time it's release rather than fear.

We fix our clothes in silence, both a little stunned by the intensity.

Then Rio takes my hand and leads me off the trail to a small clearing by the creek.

He sits with his back against a tree and pulls me into his lap, holding me like I might disappear.

"Talk to me," he says quietly. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I understand now," I admit. "Really understand. Why you become the monster. Why the violence is necessary."

"Yeah?"

"When he had his hand on my throat, all I could think about was the girls. How they need me. How I couldn't leave them." I touch the bruises gently. "And I realized I'd do anything to stay alive for them. To protect them."

"That's the thing about having something to lose," Rio says. "It makes you dangerous in ways you never imagined."

"Is that what happened to you? After Flora?"

He's quiet for a long moment. "When Flora died, I thought I'd never feel that kind of rage again. Thought I'd burned through it all hunting her killers." He tightens his arms around me. "Then you came along. You and your smile and your coffee and the way you looked at my girls like they mattered. And suddenly I had something to lose again."