"I could have taken Gardel, Cleo."
I lock my hands around his biceps. I move my lips to his throat, where the tendons stand out in tense, rigid lines. He lets out a groan when I lick a path along his throat to his ear, rolling the lobe between my teeth much as he'd done to me.
"Don't lie to me, Ryker," I breathe. "You and I both know that fighting was hopeless. He's right. You wouldn't have made it even a foot. And then that would have left me with him. Do you want that?"
A growl is his only response, and he fists a hand in my hair, tilting my head up so he can press a searing kiss to my mouth.
"You're mine."
"All yours," I agree. "Now prove it."
14
Ryker
I'm being too rough with her. My hands reach for her shirt and I want to wrench it open, popping the buttons so that I can bare her to my questing mouth. I'm more cautious than this and I know full well that Cleo isn't going to respond well if I crush her. Too much like Damian. I never want her to feel trapped or cowed while in my presence.
But it's impossible to keep my hands off. I need to feel her, vital and alive beneath me. I need to make it fucking clear to any of the King bastards with ideas who the fuck Cleo belongs to. It's primal, animalistic, and probably a little sexist, but I don't care.
Cleo doesn't whimper or pull back as I expect, arching her back when I place a sharp nip on her clavicle.
I'm still floored that this is happening at all. Had it really only been yesterday? It seems impossible that I've fucked Cleo twice in twenty-four hours and am about to do it again. Never in my darkest of fantasies would I have imagined Cleo with me. Especially not here, locked into a shabby little room in Gardel's fortress.
Cleo stops me when I try to shimmy the skirt down her hips. "Wait."
"Can't fucking wait," I moan. "I need to be inside you."
She gives me a shy smile and shrugs off her shirt, exposing the swell of her breasts. She's flushed with desire already, and the rose undertone beneath her tawny skin is so fucking beautiful that I could groan again.
"You will be inside me."
Then she drops to her knees, hands finding the button on my pants. I realize what she's trying to do as she peels them away from my hips, exposing my throbbing cock to the air.
"Cleo, you don't have to--"
But I cut off with another moan as Cleo wraps one of her soft hands around my shaft, squeezing with just the right amount of pressure. As I stare down at her, she gives the head a tentative lick that sends pleasure in a wave up my back. When she wraps the warm heat of her mouth around the head I buck into her, unable to help myself. She feels like fucking heaven. I have a new definition of beauty as I watch her glossed lips slide down my shaft and back up, never taking it from her mouth.
I pull away just as I feel like I'm going to spill inside of her. As good as it would feel to cum inside her mouth, I'm not through. I won't let this be the extent of what we do tonight. I back away just enough to draw out of her and seize her by the shoulders, hauling her up. Her mouth is still open in a lush 'o'. I hike her up onto my hips, bracing her back against the wall and enter her in one smooth movement.
Her back arches and she cries out, anchoring herself to me, digging her nails into my back in a sweet, searing slash of pleasure. I'm sure the cuts will hurt like a son of a bitch later, but for now, I can't find it in myself to care. I pound into her, burying my face in her neck to inhale as much of the cinnamon scent as possible. Her hair is a soft wave against my face.
She rolls her hips desperately against mine, meeting each thrust, taking me deeper. It's not long before her back bows and she lets out a soft cry. Her muscles clench around me, pulling me even deeper. We come together, and I groan her name against her throat.
"I love you," I whisper into her ear.
"And I love you," she says, tears glistening in her eyes. "I'm sorry that I didn't see it for so long."
Better late than never. At least she was here. At least she was mine.
I carry her to the bed, depositing her onto the thin mattress. We huddle together in a sweaty pile, breathing hard. Eventually she curls into me, curving her small body into my side. My dick, half-hard presses against her ass. She smiles lazily.
"You never quit, do you?"
"With you? No."
I drape a blanket over us both and slide the pillow beneath her head. "Get some sleep."
"It's still morning," she argues.
