Yeah, not happening.
“Tell me,” I demand between gritted teeth. Then I run my tongue across the seam of her lips, relishing the sweet taste of her.
Kerri’s hand is a featherlight touch on the nape of my neck. It’s fucking mind-blowing how something so delicate—just a whisper of her skin against mine—sends such a powerful shockwave through my body. “You know I do.”
I rotate my hips, proving how hard her admission got me.Christ. What is it about her? I can lose myself in this woman. Spend the rest of my life in this cabin. Drinking coffee while watching the sunrise with her. Walking these woods, helping her search for rocks to add to her stupid little collection.
Because here, I’m not broken.
Here, I’m someone worthy of Kerri Ward.
Here, I can be Caleb Taylor.
“Say it, Kerri,” I demand. I inhale her next breath. “Tell me what you want.”
Her other hand moves to my ass. Gives it a firm squeeze. “Make love to me.”
Loveisn’t a word that can describe how I do this. “Nah, Duchess, that’s not what you want.” I kiss her. Hard. Raw. Punishing. Lick my way into her mouth until she’s shaking beneath me. From fear. From need. Don’t know. But she grasps my neck, her nails biting into my scalp.
And when I pull away, Kerri fists my hair. “Fuck me, Havoc.”
Here she is.
Here’s the woman who came undone in my arms.
I lift myself off her. Strip away the rest of my clothes. Kerri sees the gauze and tries to shimmy herself into a sitting position, but I hold her down. “Second thoughts already?”
“What did you do?”
Not,“What happened to you?”
Because she knows.
Of course she knows. Everyone close to me knows what I do. It’s an open secret they don’t talk about in front of me.
“Not now, Duchess.”
“Then when?”
I pin her against the mattress. “Leave it alone, Kerri.” I’ve played nice. Been my version of a gentleman. But I’m done. I’m a man who takes what I want—and I want her.
Her body.
Her soul.
She was mine from the moment I saw her.
Now it’s time to claim her.
13
HAVOC
When I was nine, I stole a bicycle. It belonged to some random kid. Must have been a birthday gift or something. I didn’t know. Nor did I care. He had it. I wanted it. I took it. The bike still had a big blue bow on it. I snatched that Huffy off his front lawn because I was a nasty little shit even back then. I pretended it wasmypresent. Pretended Alice bought it forme. Invented a whole scenario in my head. How it was a belated birthday gift. That my mother was sorry she’d forgotten my special day—again. Same as she did every year. This time, though, was different because she’d remembered. She was just a few weeks late.
I rode that bike all over Mayhem.
Rode it until the kid the bike belonged to caught me. He thought it was a good idea to point out I’d stolen it from him.
