He backed her into the wall, the chill biting through fabric enough to make the heat pouring off him feel all the more combustible. His chest rose against hers in uneven rhythm, every breath laced with tension and want—a firestorm barely contained.
His mouth found hers again in a kiss that scorched and scattered thought alike. He kissed her like she was the only thing tethering him to this earth. Like if he stopped, he’d fracture. The grip on her thighs didn’t waver. He held her like he was staking a claim; flesh and fire and every impossible truth between them.
He trailed down the edge of her jaw, lingering low, lower, until he found the sensitive place below her ear. When his teeth grazed that spot, her gasp broke—guttural, needy, dangerously soft.
Her head tipped back, body arching into him, hips aligning to his. Her fingers tangled in his hair. She trembled, but not from fear. Not even close.
He tasted her like he meant to leave a memory on her skin. Something indelible—a brand she wouldn’t forget.
“Gideon,” she breathed, her voice breaking.
His teeth skimmed her neck again, hips pressing hard into hers, and every last ounce of resistance shattered.
When he finally stilled, their foreheads met, breath tangled between them like smoke.
“You’re mine,” he said again, voice hoarse with certainty. The words tethered him to the ground.
She gripped the lapels of his coat, her body trembling—not from cold, but from the sheer weight of how right it felt.
He lowered her with deliberate care, his palms sliding along her thighs in slow descent, until the soles of her boots kissed the floor. But the current between them? Still live-wire. Still ruinous.
Neither moved. Neither spoke.
His hands settled at her hips, wide and unapologetic; the kind of curves a man didn’t just hold, he studied like scripture. He didn’t move, but stood there, grounded in the weight of her, the heat of her, like she was holy.
Then he dipped his head, kissing her again, slow and reverent. One final burn.
“I’m yours,” she whispered into his mouth, steadier this time. Undeniable.
“Damn right you are.” The grin that broke across his face was dark and shameless, but behind it flickered something unguarded.
He leaned into her ear, lips grazing skin that still burned. “Go inside,” he murmured. “Like a good girl.”
She blinked up at him, sharp and defiant. “I’m not a good girl.”
His smile curved, molten.
“I know.” His voice dropped lower. “I prefer it that way.”
Gideon stepped back deliberately, dragging the moment out so she’d feel it long after he left.“Goodnight, Arden.”
And then he turned, his stride unhurried and confident; a man who knew he’d just razed the ground and left her standing in the ash.
She stood frozen, breath jagged, the echo of him painted across her skin.
“Bastard,” she whispered, dazed and far too fond.
The door clicked shut behind her.
She didn’t move. Just leaned into the wood, chest rising and falling, like she’d barely survived a cataclysm. Her fingers brushed her lips, swollen and burning.
His voice looped in her memory.I prefer it that way.
The words coiled low in her belly, molten and wild.
For one reckless, unraveling second…
She let it consume her.
