Page 240 of Sweet Temptation

I reached for a wad of tissues, dampened them with some water, and wiped the blood off his neck. “Whose blood is this?” I asked him, as calmly as I could.

He didn’t answer me.

I tossed the bloody tissues in the toilet and flushed them. When I turned back to Ronan, he was unbuttoning his shirt. It was black, and I really couldn’t tell if there was more blood on it. His knuckles didn’t appear to be bleeding anymore, but his hands were pretty beaten up.

He walked out of the bathroom and I followed him.

I watched as he peeled off his shirt. Then he started undoing his belt.

I reached to do it for him, pushing his hands gently away. I slipped off his jeans, then his socks, his underwear, and when he was naked in front of me, I inspected every inch of him to make sure he was whole and unscathed. I walked all the way around him, and he sighed a little. I trailed my fingers around his body as I went, and goosebumps broke out across his skin.

“I’m fine, Summer,” he muttered, in a low, guarded voice.

When I reached his front and looked at his face, I could see it. He was not fine.

“Baby…” I said, taking his face in my hands.

His eyes skipped away from mine. “I can’t, sweetheart.” His voice was rough and barely a whisper. But I heard him.

Whatever this was, he wanted away from it right now.

So I kissed him.

If he wasn’t going to talk to me now, if he couldn’t talk to me… I just wanted to make whatever was weighing on him a little lighter. I could take some of that weight and help him carry it.

He’d come to me. He’d come home to me and gotten undressed.

I was his safety, just as he was mine.

So I nudged his mouth open and licked my tongue along his lip, melting into the taste of him. My body softened against his. I gave myself to him, so he knew I wasn’t angry with him.

Hell yes, if he’d done something I should be angry about, we’d fight that out tomorrow.

He knew as much.

But tonight, and every day, I had nothing but love for the man standing in front of me, angry or not. I needed him to know that right now.

He started kissing me back, hesitantly at first, like he wasn’t sure I wanted this… this darkness in him. I could feel his need and his struggle to control himself, to hold himself back. I could taste it as he pushed in closer and dug his tongue deeper. As his hands closed on my waist and his fingers bit into me.

“Yes,” I murmured against his lips, as he pushed me back toward the bed.

I felt the heat of his body, the stiff warmth of his erection pressing into my nightgown. I could feel his urgency as he pushed me back onto the bed and crawled over me, and I clung to him, pulling him down with me.

He pushed up my nightgown with his strong hands. I fucking loved those hands. Warm, sure, a little rough. Squeezing… taking.

He squeezed my naked breast and I moaned into his mouth. Then his hand moved down, between my legs, and he slid his fingers over my pussy. I spread my legs, whimpering as he stroked my opening. We kissed roughly, deeply as he grabbed his cock and slicked my wetness over his head; I felt him do it, his battered knuckles brushing me. Then he notched his cock into my opening.

I cocked my hips toward him, wanting him inside.

He broke our kiss on a groan and shoved into me, slamming me down on the bed.

I moaned.

He grabbed my wrists and fell on top of me, and he fucked me, hard. I wrapped my legs up around his waist to take him deeper, and he buried his face in my neck as he pounded into me. His teeth bit a gentle path along my neck, sending shivers down my spine. But there was nothing gentle about his thrusts, the pounding of his hips against me, his hands on my wrists, holding me down.

I could feel his pain, his hunger, his desperation for this with every touch, every thrust.

And I just wanted him to give it all to me.

---