His mouth twists. “You still don’t understand how powerful The Order is. Me going against them is like throwing a drop of water into the ocean. It makes no difference.”
I square my shoulders. “So we start small. With Jackson. Let’s take out one evil at a time.”
I feel it click into place. The bond between us, a partnership, forged under the pressure of our circumstances, yet somehow inevitable. Carrson trusts me and treats me like an equal, not a pawn or a prize. He’s always been honest, never lied to me even when that would have been the easier path. In a place like this, where monsters smile and shake your hand while holding a knife behind their back, that matters to me.
He’s still watching me, his expression torn between rage and guilt and something much deeper. I reach for him. My fingers curl around his wrist and hold tight. “We can do this, Carrson. Together. As a team.”
He kisses me.
Raw and messy and filledwith need.
His lips crash into mine, and I answer him with equal urgency, like he’s air and I can’t breathe without his lips on mine. A growl rumbles in his chest as his tongue pushes past my lips.
“So fucking sweet,” he groans into my mouth.
My hands flatten on his chest. I push, not to stop him, but to take control. He lets me guide him back, his eyes locked on mine as I crawl over him and straddle his hips. The moment our bodies align, a ragged sound tears from his throat. Carrson’s hands fly to my waist, fingers digging in through the thin fabric of my sleep shorts. He moans loud and raw when I grind down against him with nothing but cotton separating us, and I feel just how hard he is beneath me, how close to snapping.
His hand slides up, cups the back of my neck, and he pulls me down for a long, deep kiss. With one hand holding me in place, his other hand slips beneath my shirt and finds my bare breast. His thumb brushes my nipple, and I moan, my hips rocking against him. He shifts, groans into my neck, teeth scraping the sensitive skin.
“I thought you’d leave me when I offered you the money and freedom,” he whispers between kisses, his voice thick with emotion, like he’s making a confession. “I forced you into this. That’s the only reason you’re here.”
I freeze, pull back to look him in the eye, and tell him fiercely, “You’rethe reason I’m here.You, Carrson.”
His brow furrows. He looks uncertain.
“It’s because of the things I see in you.” I put my palm on his chest, right over his beating heart. “Your kindness, loyalty, and strength. I see the potential in you, how you can make everything different.”
He stares up at me, his dark eyes searching mine like he desperately wants to believe what I say, and I realize no one has told him these things before. No one has ever loved him, not for his last name or his position, but just for himself.
I brace my hand on his chest and lean closer. “There’s goodness in you, Carrson.”
He closes his eyes and turns his head away like the truth hurts more than a lie would. “No. There’s not.”
My hands frame his face as I force his gaze back to mine. “Look at me.”
He resists, keeping his head averted, but I stay steady. Lightly, my thumbs brush along the sharp angle of his cheeks. His eyes finally open, stormy with disbelief.
“It’s true,” I say. “You’re good and worthy and—”
I love you.
That’s what I almost tell him, but I bite it back at the last second. I’m already emotionally vulnerable from all the tumultuous events of the day and although we’ve come so far, Carrson and me, I’m not quite ready to offer him my heart, or at least to admit that he might already have it. Not to himorto myself.
“I’m not leaving you.” My voice cracks, my hands fisting his shirt.
Something shifts in him. Wakes up. His expression sharpens, turns feral.
“Say it again,” he growls, gripping my arms. “But I’m warning you, make sure you fucking mean it.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Good.” He yanks me against him, his eyes burning. “Because I’ll never let you.”
He flips us with a snarl, caging me beneath him. His mouth finds my throat, biting, licking, kissing the delicate skin until I’m writhing beneath him, helpless to the heat that overtakes us.
“Remember,” he breathes against my ear, his voice guttural as his hands move down my body, rough and greedy. “I gave you a way out. You didn’t take it.” His fingers hook into the waistband of my shorts. He rips them in one brutal motion, the fabric tearing at the seams, baring me completely. I gasp, arousal and adrenaline roaring through me. “No matter what happens,” he growls, sliding his hand between my thighs, “how bad it gets, remember you chose this.”
His fingers slide through my folds, separate me, and he shoves two fingers inside me. “Hmm,” he hums when he feels how wet I am, “dripping for me, aren’t you, Tiger? Greedy for my cock to slip into that warm, tight pussy of yours.” He moves his hand, thrusting in slowly, pulling out, circling his thumb over my clit, then pushing again. A sweet, slow punishment.
