Page 61 of The Invite (The Massacre Ball #1)

Nessa

“If you have triggers, I need to know about them. At least the ones you’re aware of,” Augustus softly demands after an hour of us quietly lying side by side. “You had me terrified, and that was before I felt you pass out in my arms.”

“I hate firearms and sounds that resemble a gunshot.”

“Anything else?”

“You already know the rest.” As my mind whirls for something else that might trigger me, one thing comes to mind. Pushing past the nervousness, I stare at his chest as I say, “August… I know you’re adventurous in bed but I… I don’t think I can handle bondage.”

“Nessa.” He waits until I meet his gaze before he vows, “I won’t ever do it. And if there’s anything else we do that makes you scared, all you have to say is your safe word and I’ll stop, no questions asked.”

“Thank you.”

With a hand under my knee, he pulls me flush against him with my head tucked under his chin. An arm rests as my makeshift pillow while the other draws lazy circles on my waist. Goosebumps rise on my flesh when I feel his heartbeat is as unsteady as mine, clueing me in to his lingering apprehension.

I raise my chin and he looks so unsettled that it makes me want to hug him.

“I’m okay now,” I tell him honestly. “You make me feel safe.”

“Fuck, I was only fooling myself thinking I can ever walk away from you or get you out of my system,” he groans in anguish.

Irrational hurt passes through me that he saw us having an end date too. It shouldn’t sting so much when I was planning to do the same, though I just didn’t know when. I didn’t realize until now how deep my feelings were running for him.

However, my disappointment lasts for a lingering second because he says, “I was wrong. I’m keeping you by my side, even when all this bullshit with Anonymous is over. No matter what it takes.”

A part of me wants to jump up in elation at his declaration, but when you’ve been burned too many times in the past, a happily ever after sounds too good to be true.

“What changed your mind?” I ask in a small voice.

“Because for those seconds when I thought I lost you, even forever felt too short. I want to bind you to me for eternity and beyond, little prey. In every lifetime, it’s you I want to chase.”

Tears prickle my eyes as his promise washes over me. The strength behind his statement boosting my chest with confidence and hope. Nevertheless, other obstacles stand in our way and hold me back.

“I’m your teacher.”

He flips me onto my back and wedges his hips between my thighs. “Is that your only reservation?”

“The biggest one.”

“We can remedy that,” he murmurs, raising my arms over my head. I squirm when he nuzzles my neck. The playfulness is a welcoming distraction from the residual effects of the nightmare and the heavy talk. “I’ll get you fired.”

“Augustus!” I chastise. “Why are all your solutions so unhinged?”

He chuckles and tilts his face to meet my gaze. “Or you can quit.”

“I happen to like teaching.”

“Did you work in the same field before moving here?”

I glance away sheepishly, and admit, “This is my first job.”

“Ever?”

Uneasiness builds. “As a full-time job? Yes.”

“So, you’ve barely taught for a week and you like it?” He arches one brow in disbelief.

“I might switch the subject in the future, but yes, I’m enjoying being a teacher. I think it’s fun and I can be good at it.”

Peering at me softly, he nods. “Fine. We wait until I graduate and you’re no longer my teacher to make you mine in front of the world.”

I don’t agree immediately and curiously ask, “Doesn’t it bother you that I’m older than you?”

“Hardly.” A small smirk graces his lips. “Age is just a number, little prey. I sure as fuck find it hot that you’re older than me.”

“There’s no swaying you, is there?”

The air crackles with lethal intensity as his expression turns possessive. So is his grip when he wraps one hand around my throat. “Just answer me this. Do you want to be with me?”

“Yes.” If there’s one thing that I’m sure of in all of the chaos and danger, it’s being his. Augustus has become a constant fixture that anchors me. An immovable mountain that shields me from anyone daring to hurt me.

“Then forget all your doubts and fears.” Pressing his thumb on my pounding pulse, he darkly vows, “I didn’t let anything stand in my way to you when we first met and I’m not going to let it start now.”

The tears I was keeping at bay fall freely now. I can’t contain the utter happiness of belonging to someone, who makes me their entire world. It’s a mixture of pure relief, hope, and contentment.

“Honey, don’t cry,” he murmurs, brushing the wetness from my cheeks, but the dam has burst and it can’t be contained. “Shh… Come here.”

Rolling to his side, he tugs me into his arms and rubs my back until my sobs turn into small sniffles. I hate these moments where I break down at unexpected times. It’s the consequence of bottling up all my emotions inside.

Ten years since I’ve opened up to someone. Too goddamn long to go without having another person to bare my soul to.

A depressing thought creeps in.

Am I really into Augustus or am I clinging to the first person to show me affection and listen to me?

I shoot the voice down before it can grow into a seed of doubt. What Augustus and I feel for each other is real. Our connection is strong and deep.

Soft lips graze my forehead and press a gentle kiss.

I shiver when they stay there. My heart beats faster the longer Augustus’s breath ruffles the small hairs framing my cheeks.

As we lie together without an inch of space between us, his hard muscles pressed against my soft curves, I’m taken back to the moment right before our evening shot to hell.

The temptation to kiss him evolves into a crucial necessity with every beat of my pulse. The effects of it travel straight between my thighs, provoking a low throb. I have to feel his lips on mine, kissing me back with fervor. He’s branded every inch of my body except for my mouth.

After promising to spend eternity with me, a kiss should be a small price to pay. What is holding him back? Would he push me away if I did?

A sharp sizzle laces my skin as his mouth glides back and forth like he’s having the same thoughts. Lying so close, it’s inevitable to not think of locking our lips.

Pressing my palm into his pec, I raise my head.

His hand resting on my waist slides an inch upward.

I trace mine to curl around his shoulder.

Digging my nails into the coiled flesh, I feel his breath tease the tip of my nose as I stare at the shape of his full lips.

So seductive and inviting, even as they’re pressed in a thin line.

I sway closer and lick mine in anticipation. A rough exhale whips through the air when my tongue lightly tastes him too because of the negligible distance between our faces.

I don’t dare meet his eyes, afraid to see the hesitation. Or worse, the rejection.

“If you’re going to kiss me for the first time, little prey, then you better look me in the eye.”

My skin flushes while my stomach does a backflip at his husky dare. I want to cry from delight he isn’t thwarting my attempt. And that’s before he yanks the earth from beneath my feet with his revelation.

“I sure as hell want the beautiful eyes of the woman on mine as I imprint every single second of the moment she steals my first kiss.”

My heart launches to my throat in tandem with my eyes jumping up to lock with his molten ones. He holds me immobile in a trance as I let those words sink in.

He’s never kissed a girl? It sounds so preposterous. Except nothing but sincerity shines in his pupils.

It all becomes crystal clear.

He wasn’t repulsed or angry at me when I tried to kiss him in the past. It’s because he was holding himself back from giving in to me— us —completely. Kissing implies intimacy and that’s not what our relationship was.

Everything’s changed today.

He wants to be with me, no holds barred. He couldn’t have shown in a more special and significant way that he’s all in. We’re falling into this blissful abyss together.

Without a second thought, I cup his face and seal my lips to his.

Time stands frozen as I just enjoy the feel of them on mine.

The shape of it is so soft and luxurious unlike the rest of him, which is made of brimstone.

My lashes begin to flutter, causing his hand on my spine to slither up to the back of my neck.

A warning lies in the strong curl of his fingers to not take my eyes off him.

Like I could ever. They have imprisoned me since the very first second they collided with mine in the woods.

Sinister.

Deadly.

Sensual.

Soon, the simple touch isn’t enough and I suck on his bottom lip. His grip flexes and I repeat it to his upper lip. Slanting his head, he presses a close-mouthed kiss. Like he’s testing the waters, before diving deep.

The kiss starts slow as we learn the contours of each other.

This may as well be my first kiss because I only did it once when I was sixteen—eight torturous years of abstinence from any physical touch.

Yet one chaste kiss from Augustus blows my first time out of the park.

The softness escalates into greediness for more.

Never taking my gaze off his, I lick the seam of his mouth and he opens with a groan.

The first shot of his taste derives a wild moan from the back of my throat.

I swipe my tongue against his—a teasing flick—craving another hit.

As if he’s desperate for the same, he tangles his tongue with mine, sucking hard.

Augustus comes undone, taking the lead, and I settle along for the ride. Cupping my face, his thumb brushes along my jaw tenderly but his kiss—it’s bruising and all-consuming. His reaction is everything I wanted from him.

Hungry.

Full of desperate need.

Raw and demanding.

Even our eyes lose the battle of staying open as we sink into the kiss. Stretching my mouth wide to push his tongue deeper, he claims it as his. Doesn’t even let up to gulp in air as if it’s secondary. I don’t even care if I die from this.

“Christ, Nessa! I thought the taste of your pussy was divine and addictive—” He growls, nipping my bottom lip harshly. “—but it’s nowhere near as sweet and drugging as your mouth.”

With a hungry noise, I yank him down to shut him up. He chuckles, which soon turns into a moan as I leave no corner of his mouth untouched. He bites; I pull his hair. He licks; I suck. Wet noises melt into the quietness of his room as we lose ourselves in each other.

“Ruined,” he grunts. “You’ve fucking ruined me for all women, little prey.”

A sense of ownership coils around me at the knowledge I’m the only one he’s kissed. That no woman will ever feel his lips or any other part of him.

Augustus Grayson—my monstrous shadow—belongs to me. I’ll kill anyone who dares to steal him.

I go feral as the possessive and violent thought keeps swirling in my head and I kiss him harder.

Flipping on his back, he takes me with him. Straddling his hips, I bend over him to keep our lips fused as I grind down on his rigid cock. He growls at my boldness when I deepen the kiss. He winds one hand around my hair and scratches his nails down my spine under my shirt with the other.

“Yes,” I mumble raggedly.

It’s him who yanks me back down and rolls his tongue with mine. The kiss turns messy and unhinged, like everything about us. I go dizzy, grinding and rubbing my pussy against his thickness.

With a power that shocks me, he tears his mouth away and ends the kiss.

Our harsh pants are all that can be heard in the room.

God, his lips are swollen and red as I take them in. I touch mine and they’re in the same condition. His laser-sharp gaze is drawn there. His thumb reaches out to trace over them and he pulls me down for another kiss.

A slow and romantic kiss.

“This was you stamping your claim on me, Nessa Davenport.”