Admirable of him, but stupid.
I beat the shit out of him until we both agreed it was mine.
Of course, we couldn’t erase the truth. No one would lower themselves to give Caleb Taylor a present.
Not even for my birthday.
Kerri is the first true gift I was ever given. One a monster like me doesn’t deserve. But I’m a greedy bastard who needs her, and when Kerri trails her fingertips over my spine, a current of fire flows in their wake. My whole body is pulsating from her heat. Her hand slides down, and the sharp sting of pain from the jab of her nails in my ass cheek makes my hips surge forward. Pulls my cock against her pussy.
She whimpers into my mouth at the empty friction. I swallow the sound and answer with a groan as I lift the hem of her shirt. Her breast fits perfectly in my callused palm. She arches her back, silently begging for more, and I swear to God, it’s the first time in my whole miserable life I’ve wanted to cherish someone.
I tear away from her mouth to watch her face as I roll her rosy nipples between my fingers. Get them nice and hard. Revel in how small she is beneath me. How her eyes—those amazing blue eyes—stay locked with mine.
“We’re really doing this?”
My hand stills and my tone drops into a sneer. “Most women have regretsafterI fuck them.”
“How about not mentioning other women right now because you can go fuck yourself.”
I tweak Kerri’s nipple—hard—ripping a gasp from her. “Be mindful of what you say to the person who controls your pleasureandyour pain, Duchess.”
“That would be good advice if it were anyone else but you.” She strokes my cheek, and before I can stop myself, I lean into her caress. “You’ll never hurt me.”
“You’re wrong. I willhurtyou.” I pinch her nipple again, just to hear her sweet cry, but I ease the torment by worshiping her entire breast with my mouth. “But I promise to make you like it.”
“Oh, my God…” she moans. And then her hands are groping at me, pulling at my shirt. “I need to take this off.” Kerri sits up, but there’s no way she’s going to deny me the pleasure of undressing her.
I take my time removing her shirt. Button by button. Open the material like it’s the generic packaging on an extraordinary gift. Bare her simple white bra—of courseit’s white. But it’s what the bra covers. Christ. Her flawless breasts. With their taut, rosy peaks, two perfect handfuls, begging for my touch.
She watches me as I paint every part of her, from the top of her messy blonde hair to the tip of her pretty pink toenails, on my brain. I never want to forget this moment, how she looks right now.
I press her back down. Bring my lips a breath away from hers. “I can’t be gentle.”
She grabs my chin, her fingers digging into my cheeks. “You can’t scare me away. Be who you are, Havoc.”
“If you knew the things I’ve done… The things I want to do to you.”
Kerri strokes her way up my cheek. Trails to the back of my head to bury her hand in my hair and tugs at it—taunting me. “Shut up and show me.”
Let’s see how brave my duchess is…
I grab her throat and keep my grip tight. Her lips part on a gasp, with a thrill sparking behind her eyes. Christ, that raw desire is a lightning bolt right to the tip of my cock. “I’m going to make you mine,” I warn her through gritted teeth.
Kerri lifts her chin to give me better access. “I know.”
A bold acquiescence from a woman whose life is literally in the palm of my hand.
I release her throat and brace myself above her. When she wraps her legs around my waist, I claim her mouth.
Consume her.
Lick my way inside.
Duel with her tongue as I get drunk on her. Drown in her. Grind my cock against the juncture of her thighs to ease the building pressure. And when I tear away from her, the demanding moan she issues is a soulful song.
I graze my teeth along her skin to her breasts to let her know how much I appreciate the desperate sound. Suck on her nipples and get them nice and hard. Flick them with my tongue as she stabs her hands deeper in her hair. I torment her with little bites and struggle not to rip off the rest of my clothes and drive into her like a feral animal.
All the while, I appreciate how everything about Kerri is soft and flawless. A sharp contrast to my hard and damaged. She’s the sun and the sky and the wind. And I’m shadows and rot and ruin. I don’t deserve to have my hands on her, but I can’t stop touching her. I slide my finger along the delicate elastic of her cotton panties. It’s a tease that’s amplified when she pushes onto her elbows to watch me.
