Page 20 of Unmasked

I lowered, pushing my tongue in to take every drop of her into me. Only when I was satisfied, did I lift. And Penelope was ready for me. Waiting. Watching. Our mouths met, and I let myself slide into her.

Inch by inch, I disappeared even more. I let myself know nothing but the way she made me feel—around me—inside of me as I drank in her taste. I let her perfume bury into my lungs. I wanted her to live in me always. Just like I planned to live in her. At least a part of me. Always. Forever. It would happen. I would make it happen. Or maybe…it was already done…

“Look at me.”

Penelope’s plea had my head lifting. Blue swallowed me whole, and her nails dug into my chest as her knees pulled back. I pushed deeper, moving faster. Harder.

“Just like that.” More, her nails embedded. “Show me. Show me your love, Vaughn. Show me the words.”

A struggled sound left me—half consuming love, half plea.

I lifted higher, grasping to her hip as I kept my other arm next to her face. She turned, sinking her teeth into my forearm, only to come back to meeting my eyes. Sweat was soaking my hair, and I was trembling through the need to convey the pressure of all these emotions.

“Love me, Vaughn.”

Faster, I thrust.

“Need me.”

Harder.

“Fuck,” she cried out. “Only me. Love only me.”

“Only you.”

The deepness of my tone was predatory. I slammed into her with every ounce of madness taking me over.

“Only. You.”

Thrust.

Slam.

Pounding.

“Only. You.”

A scream left Penelope, and I felt myself explode inside of her. I lowered, grinding my hips into her, pushing so deep that I’d never leave her. I’d be with her—be part of her—the only way I knew how. The only way that mattered. Forever. For. Ever. Always.

CHAPTER 6

Penelope

What was the meaning of life without history?

The tale of my lineage used to be one I was torn over. I’d been ashamed that the first king, David Evans, had thought us treasonous and stripped us of our title. But then came anger. Not for what was done but for what my parents allowed it to become.

Their greed defined our present.

Their desperation shaped my future.

Regaining a title, any title, was all that mattered to them. It didn’t bother them that they were sacrificing the happiness of their only child to obtain it.

That was what broke me.

But the more I was forced to face the past, the more I began to understand it.

I stopped looking at how it made me feel and focused on what I could do with it. I couldn’t change what had been taken, but I could decide what came next.