When she touches her lips to an inked skull on my chest, a forge sparks to life inside me, surging heat in my skin and blood straight south.
“What are the skulls for?” she wonders, rubbing her mouth along each one.
Fuckfuckfuck, my throat tightens. “Kills. Wins.”
“There are a lot of them.” She flicks her tongue on my skin.
All my muscles flex. “Mmm…God, fuck, Girly, what are you doing?”
“The snakes?”
When her tongue traces them, moving lower, gliding along my stomach…fuck, I can’t help it, I grab her curls. “Stop now, Briella. I can’t focus. I’ll lose control.”
“Good. Lose control. It’s about time.” She peers up at me from my hard-packed stomach. “Snakes?”
“Poison fights. They’d dope us up. See who could fight the best with enhancers that made us half-blind, half-dead sometimes.”
“The daggers here and here.” She kisses each forearm, the gashes worn into the flesh.
My breath heaves. “Stab wounds I survived.”
She touches my thighs, and I throw my head back, teeth cutting around the growl in my chest.
“The hammers…” She draws a finger along each one, inches from my heavy rod.
“Not every win ended in killing.” I tighten my grip on her curls, throbbing again, jerking toward her. “But they were knockouts.”
She takes me in her hand. Shitfuck, I release one hand to fist the sheets.
For the past four weeks, I’ve done nothing. Shut myself down after Raphael returned. A hand job now and then with Jude, but he hasn’t pressed, and he’s been too busy helping Briella. Justlike I stay busy, feeding the animals, keeping them warm in the winter.
And now, her hand is all warm silk, clutching but not moving yet. Fucking destroying me more than a thousand opponents ever could.
“The chains here?” I hear the smile before she lowers her head.
“Fuck, Girly, fuck, fuck, fuck!” I growl when she twists and coils her tongue all over my length, following the chain tattoos.
“Vinny, you’re strong. So strong.” She stares at me, tears on her cheeks. She whispers, unsteady, just above my heart. “You’re always there. You watch over us all. But has anyone ever watched over you?”
I blink. Silence stretches between us, heavy as stone.
She lifts her hand and presses her palm to my bare chest, right over the largest skull. “Has anyone ever been your shield?”
My throat works. I want to say something clever. Deflect. But she doesn’t give me the chance.
“Let me be your shield tonight, Vinny.”
Her soft words strike like a blade sliding between my ribs. “Just…take off the armor. Let me be here for you tonight like you were for me earlier.”
I grab her wrist gently, but firmly. “You don’t have to do this, Briella.”Not for a broken thing like me.
Her expression flashes with something furious and beautiful. “It’s the first time I’ve everwantedto do this—withanyman, Vinny. So with all due respect…” She leans in, tongue flicking my crown, baring her teeth with a feminine snarl. “Fuck you.”
Then, she seals her lips to my length and wraps me in the velvet heat of her mouth. I forget everything. My name. The skulls. The chains. Every brutal second in the pit.
She’s slow, reverent, purposeful—taking me down and down until she swallows me into her throat. Fuck, I watch her, not fathoming because it was never this goddamn good!
When her tongue twirls under my cock, it feels like she’s rousing something in me back to life. My chest heaves with the pressure, my balls heavy and ready to explode. Then, she cups them. Then, her beautiful eyes find mine.
