“I don’t know why.” I let my free hand rest on her hip. “Maybe because I’m just that addicted, or maybe it’s something that looks normal to me but not to everyone else.”
“It’s not normal.”
“Normal people do normal things.”
“Is that your excuse?”
“What do you want? Me to get down on my knees?”
I could feel her trembling under my touch, her breaths shallow and shaky. Her lips pressed into a thin line, trying to hold back words, maybe even tears. My gaze followed the curve of her cheek, the slight flush in her skin. Just staring at her, I felt like my body was being pulled apart and rebuilt, every nerve burning from the inside out. Every inch of space between us felt like a void I needed to fill—no, Ihadto fill. It wasn’t just desire, it was something primal, something that crawled under my skin and wrapped itself around my veins, tightening every time she looked at me like this.
Her eyes locked with mine, and something heavy sat in my chest, so deep I couldn’t breathe right. I knew she hated me for the camera, for everything else I’d done, but there was something in her eyes, too. Something she couldn’t deny, and that made it worse. It made me want to destroy everything between us and rebuild it with nothing but her.
“I don’t have an excuse, Ainsley,” I said, my voice low, but the tension tightened. “I can’t stand the idea of you being somewhere without me knowing. And maybe that makes me a monster, maybe I’ll never be what you want. But you...” I moved my hand up, cupping her face, feeling her warmth against my palm. “...you’re the only thing I know how to want. The only thing I’ll ever need.”
Her breath hitched, and for a moment, it felt like the world had stilled, like the universe had taken a step back to watch whatever this was between us unfold. I felt her pulse beneath my fingers, quick, almost frantic. And I knew she could feel it too—the pull, the weight of something too big to ignore.
“You have no idea how deep this goes,” I whispered, leaning in closer, my lips barely grazing her ear. “How starved I am of your touch.”
Her armour cracked. “Then touch me. I’m too tangled in your web anyway. To the point I’ve become the web itself. There’s no way I’m getting out or you’re letting me out.”
I didn’t plan on kissing her—not when she had not agreed to accept my madness as it was. But as she said those true words, something inside me snapped. The air between us shifted, a raw, violent energy taking over. Without thinking, I slammed my lips onto hers, hard and desperate. It wasn’t soft, it wasn’t slow. It was everything I’d been holding back for years.
Her lips parted against mine, but not by choice—didn’t give her one. I kissed her like the starved and thirsty man that I was, my arm wrapped around her waist, gripping her as though she might disappear if I let go, the pain in my shoulder forgotten.
My heart pounded, and every muscle in my body tightened as if fighting not to lose control. But control was already gone. The taste of her, the feel of her lips, the way her breath hitched when I stole it from her—it was intoxicating. I wanted it all, every second, every gasp, every struggle, every touch.
“Theon.” She pulled away for a breath, our chests heaving like we just ran a marathon. She twisted her hands which were still suspended above her head, and I let go.
The second I did, she was on me, her arms around my neck, her lips on me.
Fuck.
I think I might die.
I palmed the back of her legs and lifted, wrapping them around my waist. Tingles ran through me, and I shuddered when her fingers went into my hair and pulled, a moan slipping free from her.
Desperately, I pressed into her and grabbed her hair, forcing her to stay put as I ate her mouth. The lower part of her body began to move, rubbing her crotch against my bulge. I lost myself.
I tore my lips from her, meeting her hazy eyes and lips that were swollen frommykiss.
She rolled her hips harder, her head pulled back as she released a throaty moan, like doing that itself would make her shatter in her panties.
I should take my time to watch as she tried to get off on the dick straining so hard it might combust, and I would, someday. Now, I had to make sure this wasn’t some one night stand thing to her, because as much as it might be easy for her to go back to her normal life pretending we didn’t fuck, I couldn’t.
I needed her like I needed to breathe.
“We’re not doing this.”
That got her attention. She returned her eyes to mine, frowning. “What?”
“Until you tell me you’re mine, and that every part of you belongs to me as of tonight. I want to hear you say it.”
“I am yours,” she declared. “And I’m not running away. Because I know you’ll always find me anyway.”
And finally, I let loose the beast. “It comes with a package. Can you handle it?”
She rotated her hips, and I almost groaned loud in pleasure.
