Page 59 of Girl Anonymous

He stood with one foot in the Old World; he believed in fate. She might think that was ridiculous, but…six hundred plus years was long enough for the cycle of possession and murder to exist. She trusted him to finish this vendetta.

She needed to clarify only one thing. “You and me, forever. No one else, ever.”

“Forever isn’t long enough for me to learn you: your mind, your body, your heart.”

“So yes?”

“You and me forever. No one else,” he promised. “Do you believe me?”

“You may be a ruthless bastard, but you’re not a liar.”

He barked a laugh.

She took the blade away from his chest and presented it to him.

He accepted it and without looking, threw it so hard she heard the thump as it buried itself in whatever target he’d chosen. That half smile on his face would frighten a lesser woman, but Maarja… Well, yes, she was afraid. A little.

“Why are you afraid?” Putting his hands to her shoulders, he pushed the remnants of her T-shirt and bra to the floor. “I don’t want to kill you.”

Either he was reading her mind or she was talking to herself. Probably talking to herself, the drawback of living alone for so long. “No, for what you want, I must be alive and pliant.”

“Eager would be nice.”

“But—”

“But you’re new, barely touched.” He slid his hands down her spine to her bottom, rubbed her panties as if the smooth cotton and the shape underneath pleasured him. “I hurt you once. You’ll have to trust me not to hurt you again.”

She cleared her throat. “It might be…not easy.”

“To trust me? Or to take me?”

“Yes?”

“Those are my jobs. To prove myself to you. And to make it easy, this second time. To make it good. I know how to pleasure you.”

She stood naked, bare…well, except for her panties and house slippers. Yet he didn’t look at her body. He focused on her face,molten gold flowing beneath the dark stone of his eyes. He compelled her, and she couldn’t look away.

“Maarja, it’s not all about the pain, is it?”

Hypnotized by his voice, she shook her head.

“You’re letting me touch you, and this time you’re not driven by grief and need for comfort.” His hands slid up her spine, his fingers spanned her waist, and he pressed as if he wanted to support her as her knees weakened. “You’re thinking coolly, wondering about the long years ahead. Even more than that, you’re revealing yourself, and you’re trusting me not to injure your body or mock your passions.”

She nodded. For a man, he was insightful. She did fear embracing him, letting go of her reserve.

“It comes down to trust, Maarja.” He pulled her tight against him. Blood from his wound smeared her chest, and his boxers didn’t provide much of a barrier against his erection. He was hard and hot, and she knew she’d had him inside her, but he seemed impossibly big. “Do you trust me to make this good for you?”

Funny. Trusting him to be good in bed wasn’t an issue. This guy had that look about him. Maybe it was the way he walked, or his swift reactions, or his slow hands. Probably it was the way he concentrated on her, as if no one else existed for him, as if the world could end and as long as he was in her arms, he wouldn’t notice.

“I trust you. This is about me. Last time, I was out of control. You used your tongue on me—”

His hands flexed. His dick grew. He breathed through his open mouth as if he needed all the air in the room. “God, yes.”

“I made a lot of noise, and I let you do things I’d read about and heard about, but… Well, most of my friends say most men are in such a rush to get to the main event that they don’t do the good stuff.”

His lips barely moved as he asked, “Are you worried I won’t do enough good stuff, or that I’ll do more?”

“I don’t know if you’re going to do more or less, but I think that you’re going to make me lose my sense of self and scream. In a good way. When I come back to myself, I won’t be the same.” She started to feel foolish, unable to explain what she felt. “I’ll have left part of myself in you, and I know I said I’d belong to you as long as you belong to me, but I don’t want to be the only one who has emotions invested here.”

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