“Kane.”
She gets wetter and wetter, my fingers soaked right to the palm. Slippery and so right, just as I knew she would be. I bring my head to hers as I demand more.
Truth or orgasm. And if she won’t give me words, she knows the alternative.
I press my lips to hers, and she kisses me back, sweet and inexperienced. Clumsy almost, in a way that makes my cock ache to be inside her.
“I love you,” I whisper, the confession raw.
But that’s what she needs. She tips over, and every orgasm I’ve had is put to shame by the feeling of her coming apart in my arms, my fingers on her clit, my mouth on hers.
I ease her through it. Kisses on her cheeks and forehead, soft strokes, and besotted words.
I tell her she’s so good, that she did so well. That it’s not her fault I did this, and she was my good girl for giving in.
My mind plays over and over that she’d rather submit to me and take an orgasm from a man who has her tied up than tell a little lie. Than say that she loves me when she can’t.
When I’m merely cupping her pussy possessively, I lift my head. Her eyes are closed, and I brush my thumb over her freckled cheek.
“You could never do anything to put me off or push me away. I’m strong enough. You can fight me. You can be whatever you want, and I’ll always want you. I’ll take it. I’ll accept all the responsibility and blame. I love you to the ends of the earth—that is to say, infinitely. I love that you stalked me. I love that you broke into my apartment and found out all about me.
“And I’m done hiding. I’m obsessed with you, Lily. I can’t live without you, and I’ll never be healthy. I’ll never be anything less than insane in my love for you.”
She licks her lips, then swallows. “Kane.”
I don’t know what I’m expecting, but my heart jerks at the sound of my name on her lips. I pushed her beyond what’s reasonable or okay. I forced her to come on my hand and I should apologise. But I’m not sorry.
“I love you, too.”
She…
I…
Those words, they’re fresh and sweet and new.
No one has ever said that to me.
I didn’t think I was loveable. I embraced being the Devil of Croydon. I’ve been cruel and wrong, and I’ve stalked her. Even when I was pressing her to say she loved me, I didn’t believe it.
I didn’t think I’d let her go, but despite all that’s happened, regardless of how much I love her, her loving me felt as far away as outer galaxies. The black part of the night sky, where there aren’t stars.
But there are stars, even in the dark.
She loves me.
She’smine.
“I have to take you. Now.”
12
LILY
My brain is still pleasure-drunk from the orgasm, which is probably why I don’t summon up so much as a whimper as Kane rears up, takes both sides of my knickers in his hands, and rips them apart.
I stare in mute disbelief.
He shoves the tattered cotton away, and then pushes his trousers down, underwear and all, growling ferally as something—his shirt?—gets in the way. But then his cock is revealed, and I cannot breathe for the sight of it.
