Page 25 of While He Breathes

His deep laugh fills the space between us, only making me seethe more.

“Tell me, Little Flame. Have you let another man touch you since you ran from me?” The blade slips beneath the strap,and he doesn’t hesitate to slice through the delicate, albeit very expensive, fabric. “Have you let anyone fuck your pretty pussy?”

“That’s none of your business,” I growl, shoving against his hold on my wrists, but he’s too strong, and his entire body holds mine against the mattress.

“Oh, it’s absolutely my business, sweet Ember,” he murmurs, dragging the knife across the swell of my breasts to the other strap, which quickly meets the same fate. “Because if I find out you’ve allowed another man to touch you, I will remove their hands from their body and their eyes from their sockets.” He dips his face down until his lips are just a breath from mine. “You are mine, Ember. And I don’t fucking share.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ORION

This is not going to plan.

Not that I really planned anything other than curling around my woman and holding her while we both sleep.

But if I had made a plan, it wouldn’t have involved slicing her pretty black slip from her body and staking my claim like a caveman.

Not that the shoe doesn’t fit. Because it absolutely does.

Ember takes me down to my base instincts. The ones that demand I throw her over my shoulder and lock her away where nothing and no one can ever touch her.

But something tells me that’s not going to win me any favors.

The blade glints against her soft skin, and I barely swallow down the urge to cut her. Just a little. Just a nick to see her blood pool.

But she’s already too close to running again, and this time I don’t think she’ll stay quite so close. Max has endless resources, and if she wants to disappear, I have no doubt that he would help her, and I’d spend the rest of my life searching.

She glares up at me, her sapphire eyes full of hatred. “That’s none of your business, Orion. You have no say over what I do with my body and who I fuck.”

“You don’t have to tell me, baby. I’ll find out one way or another. And if it just so happens that I have to hunt down every man that has so much as looked at you in the last three months, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

“You’re certifiable.”

“When it comes to you? Absolutely, I am. There’s no line I won’t cross to stake my claim on you, Little Flame. I suggest you remember that unless you want their blood on your hands.”

She huffs out a sigh. “No, I haven’t fucked anyone else.”

A slow smile tugs at my lips that I don’t bother trying to smother. She knows me well enough to know I’m a smug son of a bitch. Why start trying to hide it now?

“Good.” I press a chaste kiss to her pouty lips before dragging the knife to the delicate lace covering her perfect tits.

“Orion,” she warns, but I quickly flick my wrist and slice through the fabric, reveling in the sound of it tearing at my hand.

“Yes, Ember?”

“I don’t want this,” she whispers.

I flick my eyes up to meet hers and take her in. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes wild, and her breathing is labored. All signs of both fear and arousal, but Ember knows I won’t hurt her. If I wanted to, I could have killed her many times over by now.

But she and I both know I would never do that.

“So you’re telling me that if I dipped my hand between those pretty thighs of yours, I won’t find your pussy dripping for me?” I ask as I part the fabric covering her tits and don’t bother to bite back the moan that tugs from my throat.

So pretty.

So perfect.

So mine.