Everything about himmight be a monster, but those eyes of hers, from the very first moment they’d locked with his, they’d always had a way of fooling him into believing he could still be forgiven for everything he’d done.
But her lips? Her kisses?
They had the power to wreck.
And wreck they did.
His white-knuckle control shuddered apart inside him, the fortress he had built about himself proving nothing more than weathered ruin. There was nothing left to brace against—not when every single touch she gifted him came as a blow to his gut.
“I want you.”
The three words breathed into him.
Three words that had the strength of a thousand lightning bolts. His entire life, no one had ever wanted him. What he could do, yes. What he could take, yes. But nothim. He didn’t know what a man was meant to do with such words—where to set them, how to hold them without spiraling into insanity. So he let his body answer for him andprayed she would hear what his tongue could not shape.
He could taste his absolute downfall on her skin. Her taste.
He kissed her harder, deeper.
He lifted his head a fraction, breath harsh. “Say it again.”
The quiver that passed through her went straight through him.
“I want you, Maxen.”
The words tore something loose inside him, old and primal, and what replaced it was dangerous in another way his mind could not begin to grasp: a tenderness so sharp it nearly felled him. An overwhelming need to claim her roared through his veins, fierce as the very pulse that kept him alive.
She wriggled beneath him, lifting just enough for him to strip away her jacket and shirt, their urgency making the act clumsy, desperate, perfect. He flung each garment aside until only her stays remained, and he could no more keep from dragging his mouth over the swell of her breast than he could stop the moon giving way for the sun.
He wanted to mark her.
Leave proof of this moment. His teeth grazed her skin, and he clenched a fist to keep from biting down. She didn’t deserve such animalistic behavior. He might be a beast. But with her, he could never be beastly. He could, however, be impatient.
He dragged his tongue over her skin. “I want you naked. Completely.”
She laughed, husky, half-daring. “Are you asking for my permission?”
His jaw tightened, eyes burning into hers. “I’m telling you what I want.” His thumb traced the curve of her breast. “Every inch of you bared to me.”
Her fingers caught at his hair, tugging. “Greedy man.”
“I am greedy. So bloody greedy.”
“So am I.” She bared her neck to him. “Aren’t you a criminal overlord who takes what he wants? So take me.”
Bloody everlasting damnation.
His cock swelled more painfully.
“You should be punished for those words,” he rasped, pulling at the ties of her stays. His mouth followed, hot and unrelenting down her skin. “Punished severely.”
“How?” She exhaled a small groan.
“With my lips. My body.”
“I’ll allow it, dark prince.”
Her stays flew across the room. Damn. Damn. Damn. He lowered his head and closed his mouth over one peak, treasuring the gasp that tore out of her.
