Page 67 of Claimed By Ruin

Her nostrils flared with anger, a feeling I matched.

“Like the consequences of just sitting here with my thumb in my ass?” I said.

“This isn’t about you, Jack. About what you need to do. Can you, for once, just think about everyone else?”

I huffed a disgusted laugh. “Right. Just like you are, huh? Pay your little tribute, kiss enough ass, and you’ll be safe. Is that the play?”

Her face shifted with a flurry of emotion that she almost instantly clamped down.

I ground out my words through clenched teeth. “You can’t be stupid enough to think that’s going to work. He’s not going to stop until he has this farm, until he has you under his thumb.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t think I’m aware of everything that’s at stake? Everything I do is to try to keep this place going and keep these people safe!”

“It’s not fucking working. But I know what will.”

“You just don’t listen.” Her voice was raw, high pitched. Again, I watched her pull her emotions back in check. “Never mind. Fuck it. Do whatever you want, Jack. Nothing I say matters anyway.”

“Oh, give me a fucking break,” I said.

“What?”

“This is not a good look on you, Counselor.”

She looked positively murderous. “What did you say to me?”

“Oh, poor me. I have to make hard choices, and I had to kill Bridget. Boo-fucking-hoo.”

She tilted her head. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

“Miles is a kid, and he doesn’t cry half as much as you do.”

She looked almost wounded, then scoffed. “Is that right? Big, bad super soldier doesn’t like the way I handle things. Should I shoot it instead? Or fuck it? Maybe that’ll fix the problem.”

“Maybe it will,” I responded.

I don’t know who moved first, me or her, but we met in the middle.

Her mouth hit mine like a fist and her hands at my chest were actual fists.

I grabbed her wrists, and she twisted free, shoving me again.

I let her. She stared at me, her eyes daring me. She shoved me again, curled her fingers against my chest, leaving little crescent moon indents. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips against my cheek, sucked at the skin and then bit down.

That sharp sting sent a dark surge through me.

I grabbed the back of her neck and crushed my lips against her. It was no more a kiss than hers was and that confrontation, lips crushed against lips, teeth against teeth, had my cock hard enough to hammer nails.

Her back hit the wall even though I had no recollection of us moving.

It didn’t matter. I had her body trapped like she had all of me trapped, and I would use it to my advantage. I stripped her down and stared at her nakedness, letting my gaze rake her body. She stared back at me, her head tilted in defiance. I looked down, taking in her pebbled nipples, the soft round of her stomach, her thick thighs, the dark hair that covered her mound slick with wetness that I knew shamed her.

“Fuck you,” she spat.

“You will.” I reached for my belt and opened my pants.

She went to shove me again, but I caught her wrists and lifted them above her head. She didn’t try to fight me. Her pride wouldn’t let her.

Eyes still glued on hers, I jerked my dick in harsh strokes. Her gaze followed every motion, her breasts shaking with the force of her exhales.