Carrington.
Always fucking Carrington.
Every curve of her, pressed to me, reminded me of him in the woods, and every sigh mirrored the ghost of his touch. My teeth clamped over my lip, stifling a groan, and my hands trembled with the dual fire. It was like they were both here with me now, and my heart hammered in my fucking chest.
“Lose yourself inside me,” Xanthy murmured, her voice gentle, those pale eyes searching mine.
Yes. Lose yourself in her so I can fuck you back into my reality.
I groaned, shivering, letting her hands tug me closer, while his fingers pressed against my asshole. I could feel her heartbeat and hear his behind me. I was so unsteady, like an acrobat dangling off the edge. The shadows lingered, a dark, insistent pull that wouldn’t release me.
Fuck her harder, Sunshine. Let’s see who screams louder. You or her.
I gasped, ripping her panties from her body and pressing her ass against my raging hard-on.
“Oh fuck, yes. Please, do it!”
I fumbled with my belt, feeling those ghost hands of Carrington pressing into my hole. The feeling was overwhelming.
“Oh fuck, holy fuck, this is so much—I?—”
Fuck. Her. Sunshine. Can you last long enough to make her come with me in your mind?
I slipped my dick inside Xanthy. Her wetness allowed me to slide in all the way with one quick thrust. At the same time, Carrington’s fingers slid inside me, and I couldn’t breathe.
I pounded into her, feeling absolutely skewered with his pumping fingers and her squeezing my cock at the same time.
“Ah! This is?—”
I couldn’t take the dual ache any longer. I pulled back slightly, gasping, while my chest heaved and stung. My hands found the ring in my pocket, the gold was cold, and felt sharp against my palm—a tether, a lifeline, a promise.
A sacrifice.
Carrington’s presence faded as I gripped the engagement symbol.
“Xanthy…” I whispered, my voice so raw and shaking. “I…I can’t…I have to…”
Her moans stifled as she pulled away from my body and turned to search my face. “Do what? Shiloh? Whatever it is, just tell me, please.”
I sank to one knee on the floor by the bed, trembling with the storm of heat and guilt raging inside me. The obsession and desire crashed together around me as I held the ring out to her. I spoke so low, it was a fierce, urgent plea.
“Marry me,” I said. The words came out rough enough that my breath caught on them. “Alexandra Francis Harding. Be mine. Forever. I don’t care about the world, the wedding, or anything else. Just you…only you. Right now. Only me.”
Her lips parted, as a shiver ran down her spine, while her eyes widened, reflecting the same fire I felt coursing through me. “Shiloh…”
“I mean it,” I said. Something low pulled at the back of my voice, an edge I couldn’t soften, but it made her settle somehow. “No one touches you. No one controls you. Not him, not them…not anyone. Only me.”
Her hands cupped my face, brushing away sweat and blood, holding me steady, anchoring me to the moment as Carrington faded away completely.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, Shiloh. I will marry you. Of course.”
Sighing, I slid the ring onto her finger, my thumb brushing over it, over the blood, the heat, and my breaking heart. I finally collapsed against her, holding her tight, letting her warmth wrap around me as the fire and shadows continued to press at the edges of my mind, turning them into a muted, cold feeling that lacked the burn.
The night was far from over. The shadows were vengeful, and the fire in my mind raged, tugging me down, trying to drown me. Deep down, I knew that now…I had to face him.
And this would be goodbye.
The haunted house pressed around me, completely stale and musty. Little dust particles drifted in the pale moonlight as it spilled through the broken windows. I leaned against the crumbling doorway, my muscles coiled beneath the leather, and every nerve alive like a live wire fraying my senses.
