“That’s… I don’t…” Her voice creaked, and she feathered fingertips around the perimeter of cuts on her thigh. “How long will it take to heal?”
“Two months. It’ll fade to pink. With time, it’ll be completely white and blend in with your pale complexion. But unlike a tattoo, it has a tactile element.”
“It’ll be raised like yours.” She tickled a hand over the welts on his arm, but didn’t look down at his scars. Those huge, glistening eyes fixed on his. “I like the way they feel.”
Compelled by a force he’d only ever felt with her, he ducked his head and kissed her, running his tongue along the seam of her lips the way he’d imagined for hours.
Soft and wet, her mouth opened for him, salty with her tears, warm with the gust of her breaths.
He plundered her with urgency, devoured her with hunger. Hauling her onto his lap, he took her mouth with feverish strokes, his body moving of its own volition, grinding against her, mindless with desire.
The need between them swelled, and he didn’t hold back. They were an explosion of motion—hands gripping, tongues battling, breaths heaving, hearts pounding. All of it burst into a consuming, soulful integration of her and him.
Her mouth dove to meet his in a kiss that was so unexpected he groaned and shook to his core.
She was unexpected, yet it felt as if his entire life had been building to this. Every tragedy, every crime had brought him here, to this woman, who kissed him with all the hatred and goodness inside her.
Her fingers lifted to his hair as his hands lowered to her chest, cupping and caressing her nude flesh. She rocked on his lap, and he gripped her firm ass, jerking her body harder, faster, until he felt wetness bleed through his gym shorts.
“Kate.” He grunted against her greedy lips. “Kate, wait.”
She pulled back, dazed.
“Your leg. Hang on.” He swept her onto her back and fumbled for the package of gauze. “Don’t move.”
He re-cleaned the incisions and dressed her thigh in soft bandages. She watched his movements with labored breaths, her cheeks flushed, and eyelids at half-mast.
Then her brows pulled together, the depths of her gaze flickering with an inner war.
At any moment, the words I don’t want this or I hate you would fire out, but instead, she reached for his face and traced the line of his jaw.
He lowered his body into the cradle of hers, falling. “You’re wrecking me.”
“You deserve it.” She hooked her legs around his hips.
Shoving down the elastic band of his shorts, he slid the head of his dick along her slit. “You’re mine.”
A pretty growl vibrated her throat. “Shut up.”
“You want my cock.”
“Not even a little.”
“You want to come all over it.”
“Lies.”
Her body didn’t lie. A sweep of his finger through her cunt released a gush of arousal. She made a strangled sound and pressed her hands against his bare chest.
When he pushed back, her fingers caught his nipples and locked on, pinching with an alarmingly strong bite.
He choked, seated his cock against her pussy, and shoved home.
With a yelp that rivaled his throaty groan, she wound her arms around his neck.
“So fucking wet.” He rotated his hips, grinding into her soaked heat, teasing her. “Hear how sloppy you are? You’re creaming all over me.”
“You’re a good kisser, okay?” Her hand speared through his hair and clenched. “I still hate you.”
“You want to hate me, but I don’t think you do.”
Her eyes shuddered, and she looked away. “I want my freedom back.”
“Can’t release you.” He shifted to his side, taking her with him so that her bandaged leg rested over his hip.
“Then, for now, I’ll take a different release.” She rolled her hips, catching a slow ride on his cock. “We both need this escape. You can take from me. I’ll take from you, and just for a little while, let’s get lost in it.”
Her words gripped him deeply, every part of him bowing toward her. An honest touch from her fingers could sustain him forever.
“No more resistance,” he ordered.
“No more restraints,” she ordered back.
He palmed her ass and drove harder inside her. “No more holding back.”
“I’m sick of fighting this.” She gasped on his next thrust. “But I won’t stop fighting everything else. Especially when you’re being a total dick, which is pretty much all the time.”
“Except now.”
She raised her face to his, her expression drunk on desire. “This is a good moment.”
Lying on their sides, he wrapped his arms around her. Then he fucked her gently, taking, giving, fusing them together. She cried out, her mouth agape as he drove into the hot, tight fist of her body.
Hands down the best thing he’d ever felt. Soft lips on his mouth. Thick blond hair against his arms. Lush, toned curves beneath his fingers. Wet, warm pussy sucking in his cock. Heaven. Salvation. She made him feel again.