Page 65 of Villainous Rise

“But you do.”

“Yes.”

Fuck restraint. Fuck patience. Fuck the elaborate plans I’d made to win her back properly.

I crushed my mouth against hers, swallowing her gasp as I backed her toward the bed. Her hands fisted in my hair, pulling me closer as she opened for me. The taste of her, rain and wine and Annie, flooded my senses.

I broke the kiss only to drag my mouth down her throat, feeling her pulse race beneath my lips.

“This isn’t how I wanted to take you,” I confessed against her skin. “But fuck, Annie, I want you.”

Her fingers dug into my shoulders, her body arching against mine. “Then take me,” she breathed.

I pulled back, my breath ragged against her lips. The killing high still burned through my veins like liquid fire, making my hands shake with the need to claim her. To mark her. To fucking own her.

“Annie,” I managed, my voice a raw scrape. “I shouldn’t.”

I pressed my forehead against hers, fighting for control. The monster inside me wanted to take her. Hard. Violently. A continuation of the violence I’d just committed.

She deserved better than that.

I started to pull away, but her hands caught my face, forcing me to look at her. Her eyes were clear, seeing straight through me like they always did.

“I know what you need,” she whispered, her thumbs stroking my cheekbones.

I closed my eyes, unable to bear the weight of her gaze. “You don’t understand what’s happening inside me right now.”

“I do.” Her voice was steady, certain. “You just killed two people protecting me. You’re riding that edge between control and chaos.”

My eyes snapped open. “And that doesn’t terrify you?”

She shook her head. “You need an anchor,” she continued, her fingers sliding into my hair. “Something to bring you back. Someone to ground you.”

She understood. She fucking understood.

“Let me be that for you,” she whispered.

The restraint I’d been clinging to broke. My hands went to her thighs, shoving the wet fabric of her dress up until I could grip the bare skin beneath and lift her.

Annie wrapped her legs around my waist immediately, locking her ankles at the small of my back. The position pressed her heat directly over my cock.

“Fuck,” I growled, carrying her toward the bed.

I laid her on the mattress, following her down without breaking contact, my body covering hers. Her fingers tightened in my hair, pulling my head back so she could look into my eyes. “I know what you are,” she said, her voice low and fierce. “I’ve always known.”

I crushed my mouth against hers again. The kiss was violent, all teeth and tongue and desperation. I bit her lower lip hard enough to make her whimper, then soothed the sting with my tongue.

Her nails raked down my neck, leaving trails of fire in their wake. I growled into her mouth, grinding harder against her.

“I want to fuck you until you can’t remember anyone but me,” I confessed against her lips, rolling my hips in a slow, deliberate thrust. “Until you forget every man who came before me.”

She arched against me, her head falling back against the bed. “There’s only you,” she gasped.

Only me. The possessive thing inside me roared in satisfaction.

I buried my face in her neck, breathing in her scent as I continued to rock against her. Each thrust drew a small, desperate sound from her throat.

“Tell me you want this,” I demanded. “Tell me you want me.”