Skimming her palms over the hard rise of his pecs, Jo lifted her lips a breath away from his mouth. “Kiss me.”
Heat flared in his eyes as he traced her bruised jaw with his thumb. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m not fragile. I don’t want to feel fragile. I need to feel alive. I need to feel you.” She didn’t want him to make love to her. She couldn’t be any more emotionally connected. It hurt too much.
“Jo,” he warned.
“Please, don’t make me beg.”
One side of his mouth curled upward. “Maybe just a little?”
She loved that lopsided grin and the delicious flutter it stirred in her belly, consequences be damned. “Yeah, maybe just a little.”
His fingers curled around the back of her neck, pulling her into him. His mouth meshed with hers in a tender kiss that made her heart break a little more. It was as if he was trying to steal it.
He didn’t have to. It was already his.
Avery pulled back, his tongue slipping over his lower lip, his brow dipping low. “You’re still bleeding.”
“Kiss me anyway.”
A growl, low and deep, resonated from his chest, but when he claimed her lips, it was another achingly sweet kiss. His hands were painfully reverent, a whisper of a prayer over her skin. It was too much.
Breaking the kiss on a whimper, Jo pushed him away, yanked off her towel, and crawled farther onto the bed. On her hands and knees, she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Fuck me, Avery. Fuck me harder than you’ve ever fucked me before.”
Slowly, he stood, fists clenching and unclenching at his side, his jaw ticking. His dick, long and thick and roped with veins, strained toward her while, behind his dark eyes, he struggled between the need to make love to her and his desire to fuck her.
She closed her eyes. “Please.”
The drawer of the nightstand opening signaled his surrender. The condom package tore. She opened her eyes to watch him roll on the condom. He stroked the shaft and thumbed the head, then climbed onto the bed and settled behind her.
Jo lowered her face to the cool sheet and grasped it with both hands as she braced for him. He liked doing her from behind. She liked it, too. Hard. Fast. Relentless.
Fingers digging into her hips, he hiked her ass higher. She arched into his hands.
One finger circled her entrance, gliding through her slick arousal. He plunged deep and withdrew. He doubled up on the next few thrusts, stretching her, making her wetter. She moaned long and loud as heat coiled in her belly.
“This what you want?” The head of his cock replaced his fingers and eased inside.
Her pussy contracted, trying to coax him deeper. “Yes.”
“Fuck, Legs. I’m gonna wreck this pussy.” He slammed into her, filling her, making her whole.
“Yes, Avery,yes.”
He pulled out and drove in again. She tried to meet him, but he gripped her harder, fingers biting into her flesh, as he fucked her in a punishing rhythm. Maybe he had his own demons to fight.
Sweat slickened her skin. Her breath sawed in and out of her lungs. Friction forced her to the edge, but emotion chained her to the cliff. Fear. Sorrow. Love. Tears soaked the sheet as she reached for the sweet release that would burn them all away.
“Fuck.” Avery pulled out, flipped her over, and crammed her full of cock again. A gasp parted her lips, and her eyes flew open as he levered up on his elbows and stared down at her.
She turned her head to one side before he saw too much. Another damn tear betrayed her, trickling into the hair at her temple.
“Jo?” His voice was thick, gravel-rough, and tight as his fingers ghosted over her cheeks, as if he tried to determine the reason for her tears and erase them at the same time. “Look at me.”
She shook her head.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you.” Possessive hands slid over her palms. He laced their fingers together and drove them over her head. “You’re safe. You’re right here with me.”
