Page 26

CHAPTER 26

SCARLET

“If something happened to you…” His eyelids close, and his facial muscles strain. He doesn’t need words. I feel what he’s saying.

His fingers comb through my hair, and he holds me, inches away. The light brush of his lips across mine raises goose bumps across my skin, and the small hairs rise in the brewing electrical storm.

He seals my mouth with his. What starts as a slow kiss strengthens into a crushing one. Our breaths go from slow to ragged.

He tugs on my hair, pulling me back from him. With his thumb, he dries my lips.

“I can’t risk it,” he says apologetically, or at least, for him, it’s an apology.

“No,” I say.

“No?”

“You said you won’t run.”

“And I won’t. I signed up for this. I’ll manage it.”

“But not alone.”

He palms my breast, and his thumb brushes back and forth. I luxuriate in the heat and intimacy.

I won’t go so far as to say I love him. I’ve never been in love, and I need to give myself time to be certain of the emotion. But I care for him. With Willow gone, I care for him more than anyone else in the world.

I don’t blame myself for him being in a precarious situation. He approached me. Whatever else is going on, I’ve no doubt it’s thanks to the choices he’s made. But I’m not ready to say goodbye to him.

I don’t fear death. But I do fear returning to a life without him in it.

“How did you dig yourself into me so quickly?” he asks.

The familiar stretch of a smile crosses his lips.

His thumb pushes my bra lower, and he tweaks my nipple.

My breasts grow heavy and aching. I don’t think I’ve ever been more conscious of my breasts, of my body, of an intensifying need.

“You stay with me, and there’s no way out.”

“You think they’ll win?”

His brows nearly merge. “What? No. The men coming after me will learn lessons. Plural.”

His confident smirk is the sexiest I’ve seen.

“When I say no way out, I mean for you, love. You bind yourself to me, and I’m not letting you go.”

“Don’t get too cocky,” I warn him as I tend to his buttons as he did to mine. “There’s always a way out. Have you forgotten my history?”

“If I ever betray you, I deserve your retribution.”

He’s right. But even as he talks his game, I believe he won’t betray me.

I tug at his shirt, and he captures me again, bringing me down until my lips hover over his, so close. Everything bottoms out inside me.

“I never thought I could trust a man. Yet you…” My words trail off as my hips rock of their own accord.

“I’m one lucky bastard.”

Hard kisses rain down my throat to my chest. A brief suckling on my exposed nipple makes my entire body twitch. Blood rushes hot and thick through my veins with the desire for him to fill me.

He rolls me onto my back and sits back on his heels. My head lolls, and my eyes snag on the open door as my hips lift, and in one smooth swoop, my clothes are gone.

“The door,” I say.

“It’s just us.”

He says that, but there’s a chef, a fire stoker, and more security than I’ve ever seen, but I don’t care much about any of them as I unbuckle his belt and strip him of his clothes.

I grip his erection, and he hisses. Then I’m flat on my back, legs spread, and the burn of his cock fills me, stretching me.

He grasps my hands and holds them over my head, pinning me in place. His hips thrust, and the rug burns my bottom. He stills deep inside me, muscles strained.

“You trust me?”

“Body and soul.” It’s the truth. My heart squeezes with the admission, but I don’t have time to consider it, because he consumes me.

We writhe like animals on the floor. He brings me close, to the brink, to the point I beg for release, and then he flips us, and he’s on his back, with the same intention from earlier, mixed with love.

“Bring yourself there. Use me however you like.”

And I do exactly that. It doesn’t take me long before my back is arching. My knees scrape against the rug, but fuck if it isn’t worth it. He watches every minute of my release.

I run a thumb over his bottom lip and squeeze myself around him, earning a moan.

“What do you want?” He’s still hard and deep inside. I need to know what he needs.

He pulls me down and kisses me. It’s slow and sensuous, as is the movement of my hips over him.

Then he swats my ass playfully. “Get up.”

“Floors not that comfortable, is it?”

He grins. I lift, and we both groan as he slides out of me. But he’s up fast, offering me his hand.

He helps me up and spins me around, taking my hands and placing them on the mattress. He knocks my ankle and commands, “Spread your legs, love.”

He licks and kisses his way down my spine. His tip nudges my entrance, and I flatten my back, pushing out to meet him. And then he’s in, filling me, bringing me to the point of explosion yet again with his fingers and his cock. He reaches around, fondling my breasts, pinching my nipples, his hot mouth on my back, lifting me to ethereal heights. With a grunt and one last, deep thrust, he pulses inside me, and I detonate.

He holds me for long minutes as our breathing regulates, his chest to my back.

“Let’s shower,” he says into my hair. “We’ve got work to do.”

My muscles are weak, and all I want is to crawl onto the bed. He palms my thigh and nips at my shoulder blade. “If we get on that bed, we’ll never get out of it.”

An awkward half giggle escapes me because our thoughts are similar.

He groans and pulls me to standing, embracing me fully from behind. His rough beard grazes the side of my face, and he fondles my breast.

“Woman, I believe you’ve ruined me for all other women.”

I curl around in his arms, peering up at him, attempting to ignore his cock, which is miraculously twitching back to life.

His statement makes me inordinately happy.

I push up onto my toes and press my lips to his through my grin, then I reach between us and wrap my fingers around his length.

“Good,” I say against his lips. “Because this is mine.”

In the shower, I learn he has no issues with my ownership claims.