“I’m not sure what you want from me,” she said still focused on the room. “You went from never touching me, not even a hug, to…Wednesday. It’s a lot to take in.”
Fair enough. He sighed then took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. With a gentle nudge, she was no more than a breath away. He kissed her. Soft at first, but their out-of-control chemistry didn’t allow for softness, and the kiss soon grew wild and hungry. When he pulled back, Shell’s eyes were glassy and her breaths stunted.
“I’ve wanted to do that since you were eighteen fucking years old. You wanna know how much time I spend around you hard and aching? Not sure I could even count as high as the number of times I’ve whacked off imagining you on your knees before me. Or dreaming of the taste of your pussy. Or the feel of you squeezing me as you came. Fucking years, Shell. Even when you lived in New York, I wasn’t safe. One of the guys would tell me they spoke to you and bam I’d be fucking hard for days. Yeah, I never touched you, babe, but it wasn’t because I didn’t fucking want to.”
Owl-eyed, Shell blinked. “So…what? Why did you stay away?”
“Stayed away because you’re sixteen fucking years younger, baby. Stayed away because your pops made me fucking promise you wouldn’t become an ol’ lady. Stayed away because the shit I’ve done could catch up to me at any time. I’m the king of this castle, Shell. I’m the one any number of enemies would come for.”
Gorgeous blue pools of emotion held his attention. Shell might be confused but those eyes didn’t lie. She felt something for him, and it ran deep in her veins.
“And now?” she whispered.
With a chuckle, he slid his hand up her back until her curls were fisted in his hand. He held her head immobile then whispered against her lips. “I’m only a man, baby. You walked in my room, stripped off your clothes and taunted me with the sexiest body I’ve ever seen. You broke my resolve, and now you have to live with the consequences. And that’s me, taking you, every chance I get.”
Worry wormed its way into her gaze. There were still secrets buried in the ocean blue depths. Something causing her to hold back. As much as demanding answers and expecting his mandate followed was his style, it wouldn’t work with his stubborn Shell. She’d close down. Waiting it out was the only option. Showing her she could trust in him, trust in what he offered her enough to one day open up.
Hopefully, before it destroyed whatever they were building. Because now that he’d had a taste of her, he wasn’t sure he could survive without more.
“So you want a relationship with me?” Uncertainty tinged the words.
Moment of truth. Did he? Part of him was fully on board with that idea, but another part still screamed it was a mistake. The years between them. The club’s enemies. So many reasons to walk away. But goddammit, he couldn’t make his feet move.
“I want you, Shell. You and that beautiful daughter of yours. There’s only one thing missing from my kingdom. One thing I need to make it complete.”
“What?”
“A queen.”
Happiness should have been radiating from her. In his mind, she’d thrown herself in his arms, and they’d attacked each other with the force of their need. In reality, she gazed at him with the kind of sadness that fed off a person’s soul. Despair that ate away at a person until nothing remained but a rotting carcass. Whatever had a hold on Shell caused her severe anguish.
There it was, an itch at the back of his neck telling him to pull the plug. To be smart and think with his head instead of his dick.
Or fuck, his heart.
But all he wanted was to fix whatever had her eyes dimming. No matter what or how long it took. He’d fucking fix it.
“I’m not sure I can be that for you. Not sure I can give you what you want. There are things…” She curled her lips in and shook her head. Not able to give him the words yet.
“Shh.” He cradled her face between his palms. “Just give me you for tonight. Then tomorrow, when you wake up, give me you again, for one more day. Then, the next day, we’ll do it again. One day at a time until you realize you own me, and I will do anything to keep you safe, even battle your own secrets.”
The blue of her eyes darkened as the tip of her pink tongue peeked out and swiped across her bottom lip. She pressed a hand to his chest, right over his hammering heart.
He had to taste her. Had to have her flavor burst through his system. Leaning in, he licked right under the angle of her jaw. There was a spot on her neck he’d discovered on Wednesday, right at the base where it gently dropped off to shoulder that turned her to putty in his hands. He kissed, then sucked on that spot. Instantly, her body went lax in his arms, and a mix between a hum and a moan crossed her glossy lips.