He runs his lips down the column of neck and bites gently on my shoulder. “Babysit, apparently.”

I chuckle, wrap my arms around his head, and hold him against me. He moves to the other side of my neck, trailing kisses and leaving bites.

“I hate you,” he whispers into my skin. “So much.”

There’s a rawness to his tone which hollows me out. As if even saying those words are too much when we both know exactly what they mean. Of course, he’d feel vulnerable, exposed. Margery stripped away everything he uses to hide himself, protect himself, even from me.

But I can give it back if he wants it. If he needs it. I can deal with the masks if it means I have him healthy and whole.

I drop my head back, trying to give him all the access I possibly can. His teeth graze my skin, shooting sensation everywhere in a white-hot flash. “I hate you too.” It’s more of a pant as I succumb to the feeling of his lips on my skin.

He eases me off his lap and strips off the pieces of his tuxedo one by one. It’s not sexy but methodical.

I remember she put him in that suit. She dressed him up for her own pleasure.

I attack his shoes, his socks, helping him kick away the pants until he’s gloriously naked on my hardwood floor. His curls fall unruly around his face, and I shove them back over the crown of his head gently.

“You’re mine.”

He nods. “And you’re mine.”

I shimmy enough to get out of my underwear and bra, then climb back onto his lap again. When his warm skin meets mine, I sigh against his mouth. “My brother is going to make you pay for this.”

“Let’s skip talking about your brother for now. I need to be inside you.” He lifts my hips to rearrange me so he’s nudging at my entrance. I’m not very wet yet, and for a second, the stretch is almost painful as he slowly lowers me onto him. But I don’t have to worry. He thumbs my clit and holds me around the waist until I’m panting and sliding along his length easier.

“You’re mine,” he repeats. This time it sounds darker, deeper. As if it’s more than words alone.

I’m too breathless to say anything, so I simply nod, grasping his shoulders for leverage. He’s filling me so completely in this position, I can barely think straight. I tentatively rock forward, testing the sensation. When I shift my hips back some, the angle causes a delicious friction inside me, lighting me up, setting my nerves on fire.

“Yes,” I whisper.

He continues to work my clit with one hand, keeping me steady while I move with the other. It only takes a few minutes for me to climb the peak and throw myself over the top. He comes with me, his mouth on my neck, his teeth in my skin prolonging my orgasm in a dichotomy of pleasure and pain so deep, it threatens to swallow me whole.

When we stop moving, our panting breaths mingling, I press my forehead to his. “You’re mine,” I whisper.

He nods, his lids heavy, no doubt still fighting some of whatever that bitch drugged him with.

I wobble to my feet and pull him up with me. We shower together quickly, climb into bed, and I fold myself against his side.

He wraps his arm around me, his hand on my ass in a claiming grip.

We stay that way in the dark quiet room, listening to each other breathe. “I know we have a lot to figure out,” he whispers after so long that I thought he was asleep.

“Yes.”

He smooths his hand over my bare waist as if testing I’m still there. “I love you, Selena. I have since the moment you didn’t argue with me in the elevator the first time. You slipped into that mask so beautifully, and every time after. You’re incredible.”

I’m not sure what to say to that. “I love you, too. But I don’t want masks, or acts, between us. I want just us, but if that’s what you need, then I’m here for you. Any way. Every way you’ll let me be.”

He kisses the top of my head, and it’s enough. There’s not a doubt in my mind he knows how hard it is for me to admit how much I need him.

I close my eyes and snuggle into him, letting the soothing scent of lemongrass carry me off to sleep.

EPILOGUE

Selena

Two months later…

The Doubeck Penthouse

I stare down at a tiny piece of plastic that has just changed my entire life.

Gently, I place it beside the six other identical pieces of plastic on the countertop.

After the events in Chicago, I took my seat on the council again, but this time, determined to root out the rot which had somehow leached into my society.

Tags: J.L. Beck Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net