Page 9 of Devil's Game

The door crashed against the frame before I even knew I’d yanked it closed, the full weight of my attention firmly on the devil in front of me.

“I killed him.”

There wasn’t a question or an apology in her tone, only acceptance with a flicker of pride. That was my girl.

“You wanted me to reclaim my strength, and I did. I killed him, Merrick.”

“Giana—” I started, not wanting her to think I ever thought she was weak, but she cut me off.

“Now I want you to reclaim this space. To wipe away what he did until it’s nothing but a distant memory. Reclaim me.”

A growl reverberated from my chest as I launched into action. I snatched her, gripping her biceps and pinning her against my chest as my lips slammed down on hers. Her mouth parted for me as she tilted her head up to meet my kiss head-on with a moan of her own.

This woman was so fucking perfect. How had I survived these last six years without her? How could I have thought, for a second, that she went with him willingly, when we felt this fucking incredible together?

“Giana.” I grunted her name, needing to remind myself that this was real, that I really had the woman of my dreams pressed up against me.

“Merrick,” she groaned, and I lightly nipped her bottom lip, eliciting a needy whimper of pleasure.

“You want me to reclaim you?” I backed against the desk until her thigh lightly bumped into the rounded edge. “You think there was ever a second that you weren’t mine?”

I pulled away, my eyes flicking between hers as her mouth popped open, and she inhaled a shaky breath.

“No,” she whispered.

“You were always mine, and there wasn’t a moment when that ever changed.” I trapped her legs between my knees, punctuating my point. “It was always going to be you. I was always going to find my way back to you, no matter if I had to claw my way out of the grave to get to you.”

Her breath hitched as she pressed her chest against mine. I could feel the rapid beat of her heart, our pulses syncing.

“Coming back to you was a dream I never let myself linger on. And, now, sometimes it doesn’t feel real.”

My eyes shuttered at the pain lacing her words. But a steely determination settled over me as I silently promised myself to do everything in my power to wash away any memory or nightmare that lingered because of that asshole. “If I hadn’talready promised his dying breath to you, I’d kill him, Giana. I’d kill him for stealing a moment of your thoughts, for hiding away your sunshine from the world for even a second.”

I reached behind her and swept the papers strewn across the desk onto the floor, uncaring if they were important. I didn’t know if I lifted her or if she hopped up on her own, and I didn’t care once she spread her legs, caging mine instead as she yanked me to her. My lips captured hers in a searing kiss, and she pushed my jacket off my shoulders, taking her time as she ran her palms over my chest.

“Fuck,” I groaned and stripped her jacket off next, needing to feel the warm press of her skin against mine. We ripped and pulled until nothing sat between our torsos but the satin material of her bra.

She reached for the waistband of my jeans and tugged the button open, shoving them down my legs. I hurriedly pulled them off, our lips parting for a moment as I kicked them to the side. She whimpered in protest at the space between us until I wrapped my fingers around the edge of her skirt and slid it down her legs, leaving her spread on my desk in only a lace thong.

My breath hissed out as I devoured every inch of her body, committing each curve and detail to memory. I wanted to have the image of her burned into my brain, so that when I closed my eyes, it was only her, nearly naked and spread before me. Mine for eternity.

“If you don’t get over here—”

I didn’t let her finish the sentence as I descended upon her, a dark shadow swallowing her whole. I wanted to consume her, mind, body, and soul. My tongue delved between her lips, stroking her in long, languid strokes that I hoped I could repeat on her pussy.

“Merrick,” she breathed against my lips, and I swallowed the plea, my possessive need for her only growing at the sound of my name on her tongue.

“I want you screaming my name for the whole damn bar to hear.” I ripped the clasp of her bra open to expose her perfect breasts. “I want every fucking inch of you, Giana. You’re mine.”

“Yes.” She gasped as I crooked my head to her neck, sucking and kissing my way down to her collarbone. She shifted her hips against me, and I groaned as her pussy rubbed a slow, delicious line over my cock, teasing me and urging me on.

My hands clasped behind her, and I eased her back only far enough to capture one of her nipples between my lips. She sucked in a gasp as she clutched my biceps, her hands barely making it halfway around the bulging muscles. I rolled the sensitive nub before focusing on the other, my cock pulsing at each needy sound that escaped her lips.

“Merrick, please,” she pleaded, her fingers digging into my skin.

“What do you need, little devil?” I asked, already knowing what her body craved. My lips twitched as I pulled back to watch her, loving the indignant look she was giving me.

“I need you.”

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