Chapter One
“Every breath and every heartbeat and every minute of every day was spent waiting for you,” Reyna whispered against his skin.
His perfect skin. The hard-muscled chest, the cold feel to him, the awareness of his body pressed against hers. She had waited so long for this. So very long.
“Becks,” she said. She ran her hands against his jaw and forced him to look down at her. A bottomless sea of onyx enveloped her. “Say something.”
“I love you,” he said like a prayer.
Her breath caught. She’d waited to hear that for so long. At her low points, she even tricked herself into believing Beckham had never said those words. That maybe he had never admitted to being part of the rebel group Elle. Maybe Beckham had never put all of his trust in her hands only for her to rip it away in one horrifying flight of dizzy terror.
But hehadsaid those words. And shehadrun out of his penthouse after he had bitten her, only to be kidnapped by Visage.
This was her reality.
Now he was here and saying those words she’d so longed for.
“I love you, too.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close. She wanted to feel him, solid and immovable. To know that she couldn’t shake him—that nothing could tear him away from her again.
A tear slipped down her cheek, and he brushed it aside with his thumb. “Shh, Little One.”
“I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“You never have reason to doubt me.”
His thumb brushed across her lips as she read hot desire in his eyes. It had been so long since she’d had his hands on her and seen that look cross his face. Her body heated, and a flush suffused her face.
She said the words she’d been dying to say: “I never should have run that night.”
“I know, but you’re here now.”
After that there was no talking. Beckham pushed her backward and onto the bed. It creaked beneath her weight. She reached out for him, but he ignored her and took her threadbare dress in his hands, ripping it straight down the middle. She was naked underneath save for a pair of cotton panties, but he looked at her as if she were encased in silk lingerie. She had been, once. It felt like a million years ago.
At the sight of her, a primal growl escaped his lips. He shucked his black shirt to the ground and stepped out of the black slacks. The length of him was visibly hard and bulging against his boxer briefs. All she wanted was to touch him, to feel him inside of her again—but Beckham was in control. She’d once quaked under his gaze. Now she was shaking for entirely different reasons as his body covered hers.
His lips closed over her nipple, sucking it into his mouth. Her back arched off the bed as her hands dug into the sheets. His hips pressed her down into the mattress, and she felt the full length of him press against her core while his hand kneaded the other breast. She swiveled her hips, wanting the release, wanting everything he would give her. Then his fangs grazed her nipple and she nearly fell apart.
“Becks,” she moaned.
He just shot her a ruthless smirk as he moved to her other nipple. Her panties were soaked, and she needed them gone. As if he read her mind, he slipped his hand under the material and found her wet and wanton. A feral noise of pleasure breached his lips. Then he took the thin fabric in his hands and yanked it down her legs.
“Please.” She wasn’t above begging. “I’ve waited so long.”
“I won’t bite you,” he said, his face sliding down between her legs. A fang nipped at the sensitive artery in her inner thigh. “But I bloody well want to.”
Did she even care if he bit her? It would be a relief after what she’d endured. A relief to feel that connection so acutely. She wouldn’t press him this time. She remembered how they’d gotten carried away. He’d taken too much, drunk too deeply, and she’d almost died. They needed to take it slow.
The blood. Not the sex. She needed that right now.
His finger slicked through her wetness and used it to draw circles around her clit. Her fingers dug grooves into the mattress as she vibrated from the sensation. She was so close that she didn’t know if she’d be able to hold out before he was inside of her.
Then his eyes found hers again. That dirty smirk returned as he sped up. “Come for me.”
And she could hold out no longer. Her body contracted and a gasp escaped her as she released at his ministrations. Her body hummed as she came down from the orgasm and watched through hazy, sex-drunk eyes as he removed his boxers.
He took his cock in his hand. He pumped it up and down as he watched her return to earth. “This is my favorite view of you,” he said as he settled back between her legs.
“Fucked?” she asked with a laugh.
