Page 86 of Marked

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“Cole!” Sophia’s wheezy laugh made him pause at the side of the bed.

Her legs were wrapped around his waist, her hands on the back of his neck. With daylight streaming in freely through the windows, he wanted nothing more than to spend hours examining every perfect, fuckable contour of her body.

Unspent lust vibrated along his nerve endings, testing his control. “Yeah?” The question came out on a hoarse growl. If she asked him to stop, he’d explode.

Her fingers circled a lock of hair behind her ear, and she dragged her teeth over her bottom lip. “What are we doing here?” Her gaze flicked to the bed and back.

“First, I’m going to lick every inch of you and then make you scream. You got a problem with that?”

Her throat bobbed and her eyes grew wide. If the flash of desire in her irises meant anything, she had no qualms.

But her question penetrated the thick steam of need clouding his brain. She wanted an explanation. A label to compartmentalize or categorize them—and he didn’t have one.

His hands locked beneath her ass, he kept his gaze glued to her. He remained standing. If he set her on the bed, he’d forget her question entirely.

Drawing on a well of reserve that was almost empty, he pushed out a breath. “Look, all I’ve got to give is sex, okay? Take it or leave it.”

Her face grew somber.

Hell, she didn’t—couldn’t—want more... could she?

She was a cop. He was a criminal. It didn’t get more impossible than that.

“I don’t want anything serious,” she said. One shoulder lifted shyly. “I guess I just want to make sure there’s respect between us.”

His heart constricted. The cloud of desire ebbed away, and he lowered her to the bed then pressed his knuckles on either side of her thighs on the mattress. “Honey, I respect and admire you more than I can say. Probably too much, because there’s no fucking way I’m going to let this”—he gestured between them—“go farther than the sheets... even if you wanted it to.” He brought his thumb to her cheek. “I’ll protect you from me if it kills me.”

Her eyes moistened. “Cole, what do you mean? You’re a good—”

He sealed his lips over hers and then pulled away scant millimeters. “Don’t,” he softly chastised. “I know what I am.” Easing her backward, he captured her mouth again. This time, her hands went to his hair as he caressed her tongue with his. A sharp moan escaped her lips, more primal and desperate than anything he’d heard from her the previous night.

Her hands drifted from his scalp and over his shoulders to his waist. Her chilled fingers dragged along the waistband of his pants and then down to his zipper.

Jesus Christ.

He inhaled as he sucked on her bottom lip. Her lilac-scented fragrance swarmed him, making his need skyrocket. He caught the bottom of her shirt and shimmied it over her head.

The sight of her breasts, restrained in white lace, made his pulse hammer. He unfastened her bra then flicked it aside and brought one of her pink nipples between his teeth.

She gasped, her head falling back to the bed and her hands wiggling near his zipper again. If she didn’t quit he’d come in his pants like a goddamn teenager.

Sliding down her body, he trailed kisses between her breasts and to her navel.

“Oh my god,” she wheezed. Her fingernails pierced the skin on his shoulder and fuck, that turned him on even more.

Reaching her pants, he tugged them down her legs. Her white lace thong stared back at him, and while she looked sexy as hell in it, he needed what was hiding beneath.

Hooking his thumbs into the thin material, he peeled it down her sleek thighs. She flicked her leg, sending the panties flying, and then returned her bent knee to his side.

Her leg swayed gently and her heavy-lidded eyes watched him, waiting. Her sex peeked from between her thighs, taunting him.

Slipping his hands toward the insides of her thighs, he pushed open her legs. They parted without complaint, opening wide so he could see every glistening inch of her pink folds.

Holy hell.

He brought his mouth to the inside of her knee and kissed it. Lifting his gaze, he watched her eyes flicker shut. He made his descent, kissing and sucking all the way toward her wet heat. When he reached the apex between her thighs, she jerked. He brought his tongue to her opening, gently stroking the folds and tasting her sweet slickness.

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