“Yes, you did. You sat there and looked at me like I was crazy. You watched Grim crush my heart, and you didnothing.”
Guilt sat heavy along my neck and chest. “I know, Merri. Trust me, I know exactly how badly I fucked up. But my silence was never because I didn’t believe you. I was so shocked by the truth of what you said, of what it meant, that I got lost processing it.”
There was a glimmer in her eyes that I couldn’t quite read before she swallowed. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
My hand was at the top of her knee now, and I squeezed gently to emphasize my point. “Of course it matters. You’re my mate, hellcat. That’s just about the only thing that matters.”
Her gaze met and held mine, and I swear an entire novel’s worth of longing and regret passed between us, but she didn’t say a word. She just held my stare and sighed, her shoulders slumping a little.
“Horsemen don’t have mates,” she finally whispered.
It was going to take more than a single apology to undo the damage we’d caused. That was okay, it was what I deserved. I didn’t mind proving myself to her.
“I’m not a hamburger,” I said firmly, running my palm up her thigh. “If anything, I’m a fucking five-course meal.”
She uncrossed her legs and parted her knees minutely, the tension in her muscles easing ever so slightly. I took that for the opening it was, needing her in the worst way.
“Merri, I’ve missed you,” I murmured as I leaned in and kissed the soft flesh of her inner thigh. “Your taste, your smell, your touch.”
A sigh escaped her as I moved up her leg, taking the hem of her skirt along with me.
The first hint of her arousal hit my nose, and I inhaled greedily, nipping at the sensitive flesh I’d just exposed. I was nowhere near close enough to where I wanted to be, but after days without her, it felt like I’d just found the fucking promised land. Tingles raced down my spine as she threaded her fingersthrough my hair, her nails scraping my scalp before she fisted the strands.
“You smell divine. Lie back and let me have you, hellcat.”
Her breath hitched, but her voice was firm when she said, “No.”
“No?”
“That’s not how I feed. I need to tasteyou, Malice.”
My cock gave a very happy twitch in my trousers, as if eagerly volunteering for the job. I leaned back in my chair, spreading my legs wide as I slid my zipper down. “Then do it.”
As she hopped off the desk, I pulled my dick free and slowly stroked from root to tip, sucking in a sharp breath at the intense desire already building at the base of my spine. She needed me to come, but I wanted this to last. What a conundrum.
Watching her stare at me as I stroked myself was almost enough to settle the matter for both of us. The hunger that burned in her eyes ignited within me, like it was the answer to a question I’d been afraid to ask. If this were just about feeding, surely it wouldn’t feel this way.
We were mates, after all. That didn’t cease to be true because of a bump in the road.
No matter what either of us claimed in the beginning, or perhaps in this moment, it would neverjustbe about feeding her. We were more than a means to an end. Grim may have denied it, but he was wrong.
Merri got to her knees, and I welcomed her between mine, reaching out with my free hand to stroke her face before I wrapped her hair around my fist.
“You look so beautiful on your knees for me,” I rasped.
“Bet I’ll look even better when my lips are wrapped around your cock.”
Fuuuuck me.
“Prove it.”
“Yes, sir.”
And, fuck me two times.
She leaned forward and replaced my palm with hers around my jutting length, her touch somehow so much more sensual than my own. With deliberately slow strokes, she worked me, precum beading on the tip almost instantly. Fuck, I was weeping for her, and she wasn’t even using her power on me.
Holding my gaze, she opened her mouth and started to swallow me down. I hissed in a breath, my fingers flexing in her hair. “Fuck yes, just like that. You take me so well, hellcat. You were made to suck my cock.”
