Page 69 of Love Bites Hard

“Then I’d say youareready now. There’s no reason to hate yourself for the way you grieved. You can’t go back. If you could, you still wouldn’t have been ready. All you can do now is move on, and try like hell to survive the change.”

“The change you survived at what, fourteen?”

“I wasn’t an alpha,” I pointed out. “And Blair was basically our leader, so I didn’t have any real responsibilities other than coming up with some kind of online business to start. On top of that, I was glad my parents were gone. It was nothing like your situation.”

“You still had to be strong.”

“I just did what I had to to survive, like everyone else.” I slipped my hand out of his, and he let me go. “We’re still at war, Porter.”

“Do your worst, baby.”

I rolled onto my side, so I could finally look him in the eyes. “I’m not your baby, remember?”

His lips curved upward slowly. “Not yet.”

“Not ever.” I brushed a hand over his cock, and felt it harden immediately beneath my touch. He closed his eyes, letting out a harsh breath.

“Fuck me.”

“You’ll have to beg if you ever want that to happen again.”

“I’ll put it on the calendar.”

I dragged my hand slowly over his length, and he throbbed hard. “Wouldn’t take much to get you to the edge, would it? Even with our room smelling like a bunch of other men.”

“Don’t remind me how much I want them dead.”

“Why not?” I slipped my hands into the waistband of his shorts, and earned a low groan when I wrapped my hand around his length.

He seemed to have forgotten the question as I stroked him slowly, watching him move beneath my touch with something that felt a lot like pride. One of his hands slid between my thighs, but his fingers were pointed away from my core. He was just gripping my leg, like it was an anchor or something.

His other hand found my wrist, but he didn’t try to stop me as I worked him lightly.

When I released his erection and lifted my hand to his mouth, his eyes met mine for a moment.

And damn, they burned.

I nodded toward his hand, and the bastard knew exactly what I wanted.

He licked my palm slowly, and maintained his grip on my wrist when I wrapped my fingers around his cock again.

His chest rumbled darkly as I stroked him, my hand slick.

His hips rocked.

He gritted his teeth.

I dragged him to the edge—and then stopped while he throbbed, his pleasure fading.

“I shouldn’t have done what I did,” he growled, while I waited for him to come down from the ledge a second time.

“You think?” I continued, resuming stroking him after giving him a moment’s rest.

Somehow, it was one of the hottest experiences of my life.

His fingers dug into my leg as I edged him again, and again, and again, until I knew I’d tortured him longer than he’d done it to me.

Then, I finally released his erection and rolled onto my back again. I could hear his chest heaving as he struggled with the need.

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