Dark Need (House of Sin 3)

I shudder in place as he gets up from the chair and towers over me. His sheer size still makes me feel overpowered, especially when he plants both hands on the table beside me, trapping me inside.

“April …” he murmurs with such a low voice that it prickles my senses. “Be honest.”

My lip quivers as he stares me down so hard it’s like he’s penetrating my soul.

“I … I …”

He leans in so close I can feel his breath on my skin, right below my ear.

“You’ve ruined me.”

Ruined him?

How?

“Say you want me …”

My breath hitches in my throat.

“And I’m yours.”

I gasp.

Mine?

Could he be?

No, definitely not.

He can’t. I can’t. We can’t.

“I … want you.”

The words roll off my tongue like I didn’t mean to say them, but I did it anyway. They sound like a whisper in the wind.

But he heard.

He definitely heard.

Because he leans away just to look at me with a glimmer in his eyes and a filthy smirk on his face.

And I know right then and there that I’m in deep, deep trouble.

Chapter 31

Soren

I lean back and squint as I look into her watery eyes.

Even when she wants to cry, she looks pretty.

But I won’t allow those tears to run, and when one threatens to tumble, I brush it aside with my thumb. She’s cried enough tears for me already. I don’t need her pity or her worry.

What we’re doing may be sinful.

But I’d rather die a sinner than live knowing I could have this … knowing I didn’t take it when it was offered.

My palm rests on her face. I can’t take it off, even if I should, even if I wanted to.

Because there is something I want more than anything, and it’s ripping me apart at the seam.

“But it isn’t right. You’re only here to take me to—”

I place my index finger over her lip to shush her.

I know it isn’t right.

I know it isn’t what I’m supposed to do.

It isn’t what this trip was for.

But I can’t stop myself from needing what I need, from craving what I crave.

And what I crave is her.

My finger slides down her lip, dragging it along. My eyes linger on the motion, on the softness of her skin, on the wetness of her lips, and how badly I have wanted a taste.

For. So. Damn. Long.

I am tired.

I am hungry.

And I am not waiting one more second to claim what I thirst after.

So I grab her face with both hands and press my mouth to hers.

Not to revive her like before, but to take her lust and make it mine. I’ve gone beyond greed. I want to own her.

And if that’s so wrong, then I want to be wrong together.

Because fuck me, the feel of her lips on mine is everything I never knew I needed so badly. It’s sweet and delicate and so very sexy that I can’t stop myself from kissing her.

I’ve never felt this way before.

In fact, I’ve never even fucking kissed before.

But it feels fucking divine, and I don’t want it to stop.

I can’t fucking stop yearning for her.

Suddenly, she places her hands against my chest and pushes me away, breaking the connection. But I’m still lusting, needy, brooding like the motherfucker I am. And the more she pushes me away, the more I want to throw her down and show her what she’s missing. Show her who she’s pining for.

Because I’m not the only one who’s been thirsty all this time.

“Soren,” she whispers.

My name comes out in a breathy lisp as her tongue darts out to wet her swollen lips. Those sweet, luscious lips I want to devour like a fucking beast.

“Say it,” I growl. “Say it again, and I swear to—”

“I want you.”

It comes out clearly. No whispers. No gasps.

Just me, her, and insatiable lust.

And now all the reins are gone.

I grunt and lunge at her, grabbing her face as I smash my mouth on hers. Every inch of her lips, I greedily lick and suck, my tongue unable to stay at bay. I groan against her lips as they open for me, allowing me inside.

Allowing me to take her.

Because that is what has been on my mind since the very first time I laid eyes on her.

Taking this woman and making her mine.

It is easy with a muscled body like mine to take and take without regard to anyone’s wants and needs. I’ve done that for years. But I don’t want what’s easy. I want what I can’t have. What I shouldn’t crave.

Her.

I could’ve snatched a kiss from anyone and gotten away with it.

I could’ve used a woman’s body to my heart’s content whenever I chose to.

I had plenty to choose from at the House, all tied up and locked in a cell.

But my greedy heart wants something more. Something that couldn’t be taken, only given. Something unattainable to me.