I sighed, poured a drink, and settled in for another night on the couch.
Minutes ticked past. I turned on the gas fireplace. The door was dark and the orange glow sent long shadows across the floor. I sipped my drink, waiting for sleep to come, and finding nothing.
My head was full of worry. I was afraid Kaspar, Darren, and Roman would attack together and overwhelm my plans. I was anxious about Erin, and wondered when her people would try to stab me in the back. A thousand ways all my plans could go wrong swirled around and I wanted to shut my eyes and stop my skull from spinning, but I couldn’t make it quiet.
Too much was at stake.
If it were just me, I could handle this. I’d been through difficult times already. Killing my father wasn’t easy, and wrestling the house under control after his death took all my skill and strength.
I was up for a challenge. Hell, I relished the chance for a fight.
But Erin was involved. She made things more complicated. I couldn’t throw myself into a fight without thinking—I had to keep her in mind as I pressed forward.
She had to be kept safe. She was more important than anything else.
I heard the bedroom door open and footsteps. I blinked up at the ceiling and sat up on one elbow.
She appeared at the end of the couch wearing a black tank top and a pair of gray panties as if she could hear me thinking about her. Obsessing about her. Imagining her every inch.
Her hair was down around her shoulders.
I put my drink on the coffee table. “Do you want—”
She shook her head, interrupting me, and climbed onto the couch. I watched her come closer, crawl up along my body, and press herself down onto my chest. I felt her breasts through her thin clothes and her breathing was fast and near my lips. I stared into her eyes, those moss-green eyes, and reached up to touch her cheek.
This was like a dream, except she was real—solid and perfect.
She didn’t flinch when my fingers brushed across her skin.
I kissed her. Slowly, softly. She kissed me back, sucking in a breath, and threw herself into the moment. Gentle turned to passion as she straddled me, and I let out a harsh grunt of pleasure and surprise. I hadn’t expected her to come to me like this, but as soon as I saw her, looking so beautiful, so tired, so frail, I knew what she wanted.
A few moments to forget.
Release, pure and simple.
I could give her that.
I needed it just as badly.
I rolled her over, pinned her down. She writhed under my strong hands. I put a leg between her thighs and she gasped, arching her back.
We didn’t exchange a word. Nothing was said. I didn’t need to speak. I kissed her throat and pushed her tank top up, revealing her breasts, her hard nipples. I licked them, sucked them, and slid a hand between her legs.
She groaned as I adjusted myself, moving my knee back. She gripped the side of the couch. Her eyes were wide, imploring, begging. I slid my fingers deeper, fucking her with them, teasing her slick pussy, before I kissed her stomach, her hips, and slid her panties off.
Her pussy was beautiful in the firelight. Every inch of her was smooth and perfection, and I marveled at the girl lying in front of me, panting, moaning, needing. I kissed down to her inner thigh, but before my lips could touch her slit, she grabbed my hair and pulled me up to look into her eyes.
“I’ve never—” She blushed deep crimson. “Is that okay?”
I moved up and kissed her hard, then dropped back down and tasted her.
She moaned low in her throat. I licked along her folds until I reached her clit and rolled myself around it. She gasped, arched her back. I loved the long, lean lines of her legs and her hips, and I gripped her hard, holding her as I sucked, licked, lapped her up, teasing her until I moved down to push my tongue inside.
She grabbed my hair hard, little pants of delight escaping her lips. Her heartbeat was a wild, staccato rhythm. I reached up to tease her breasts and felt her heart straining against her chest. Her fingers tightened and I grunted, but the pain was good, it meant I was doing my job. I kept going, licking, sucking, rolling my tongue inside and back out, until I focused on her clit with my mouth and slid a finger into her tight pussy.
“Fuck,” she whispered as her muscles tensed. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she moaned. “Redmond, fuck.”
I growled with pleasure and went faster, faster, sucking her, fucking her, loving the way her breasts shook with each shuddering breath, how stiff her nipples were, how her lips hung open and her skin flushed pink, and the taste of her honey cunt, and the way her hips moved in rhythm with my tongue, and how close she was, god, yes, how close she was.