Good.
The feeling inside my chest gets bigger as I consider whether Maren and I arouse them as much as we do each other.
I slide my hand down her throat, slow enough that it builds anticipation. I wonder just how far Maren will let me go before she stops me.
I drag my fingers over her collarbone, then dip my hand beneath the vee of her shirt.
“Did you know what you were walking into when you came down here?” I ask. My lips brush against her ear, and she shivers at the contact.
Her breath catches. “I want to say no.”
“In answer to the question, or this?”
I slip my palm into her bra and cup her breast. Her thighs rub together, so I place my foot between her feet, encouraging her to spread her legs.
“You don’t get to make yourself feel good, sweetheart. Not when I’m here to do it for you.” I let my hand drift down her flat stomach and dip into the hem of her drawstring pants.
She stiffens.
“Easy, sweetheart. Remember, all you have to say is Knox, stop. You got that?”
Maren nods.
I glance past her, once, catching Vandal’s eye. He’s grinning like the bastard he is.
My fingers dip beneath the waistband of her panties, over the narrow strip of hair, and between her lips as I bite her neck.
“Fuck, you’re drenched.”
My cock aches so thoroughly, I can feel the beat of my pulse in it.
Maren’s head dips forward. I move my hand from her breast to grip her around the waist, pull her back against my cock. The presence of my men stops me from grinding her like a hapless teen incapable of any kind of control.
“Knox.” Maren’s word comes out in a mix of a gasp and a sob.
But I also hear the confusion. The indecision. Wanting to be what everyone expects versus wanting to be the sexual being she is.
“Such a good girl letting me touch you in front of my men,” I soothe. “Letting me show them what you’ll take for me. It’ll be impossible for them to not respect you when you show them how beautiful you are when you come.”
She grips my wrist of the hand that’s buried inside her, but she doesn’t pull me away. Instead, she moves against my hand. A small but involuntary sound escapes her, and it goes straight through me.
“Still good?” I ask, breaking my own rule by checking in on her.
She nods, but it’s not enough.
“Use your words, Maren.”
“Yes.”
“Kiss me,” I instruct. And when she lifts her head, I’m dead. Her cheeks are pink, her eyes wide and bright, but it’s the look of sheer trust and need that sends me reeling.
When our lips touch, everyone else in the room disappears for the two of us. There’s only me and this woman, and I can’t help but think the loss and loneliness we’ve endured end here. Because she’s mine.
More than anyone ever has been.
I’ll make these men respect her to repay her for choosing me, even when she shouldn’t. Hell, she’s showing them now. Putting herself in this position to prove what she’d do for me. To convince them to trust her.
Nothing about me is worthy of her, but it doesn’t matter.
