Page 108 of The Twisted Throne

“I told you so.”

That should have been the end of it. The moment when he stepped back, confident that she had suffered only minor damage, propriety again becoming his utmost concern. But James didn’t move.

And neither did she.

“You are unlike any lady I’ve ever met, Ahnna Kertell,” he said, smoothing back her hair, the sensation achingly familiar, though she didn’t know why. “Wild and irreverent and brave.”

“Because I’m not a lady.” Her heart was hammering, blood roaring through her veins. “Though I’m trying to change. Truly, I am.”

“For you to become something other than who you are would be the greatest tragedy.” James’s throat moved as he swallowed. “And yet no one has been more complicit in trying to make you change than me.”

“Why?” She asked the question that had been making her heart bleed because she’d been so convinced that he thought everything about her was wrong.

“Because if you become the perfect woman for my brother, you will cease to be the perfect woman for me.” His amber eyes seemed to burn as the sunlight caught them, searing into her soul as much as did his words. “And then perhaps I can be free of this compulsive need to be in your presence every waking moment and might again sleep without you haunting my dreams every night.”

Logic and duty and the inevitablefucking consequencesshould have demanded that she back away from this. Shut it down beforeit became a larger problem than it was. Yet the only thought in Ahnna’s head was that for the first time in what seemed like forever, someone wanted her as she was, and the one who wanted her was the man she desired more than life itself.

She caught hold of the front of his coat, pulling him closer even as a thousand warnings screamedDo not do this.“Then I don’t want to change.”

It was as though her words cut the last fibers of his self-control, for in the next moment, his lips were on hers, kissing her like he’d starved for weeks and now sat before a feast. Hard enough to bruise, but instead of snapping sense into her head, the bite of pain opened a well of desire within her that had no bottom.

Ahnna slipped her arms around his neck, burying her fingers in his hair so that she could pull him closer. So that every inch of her was pressed against his body, her curves against hard muscle. He groaned, then thrust his tongue into her mouth, the feel of him making her back arch. Making her claw at the buttons of their coats, the need to feel his skin against her own like the need for breath when one is dangerously far beneath the surface.

He obliged, removing his hands from her ass long enough to tear off the garment and cast it aside, his shirt following. The beams of light filtered through the opening above, illuminating his naked torso, the sight of him nearly bringing Ahnna to her knees. Every inch of him was hard muscle, a tattoo she hadn’t realized he bore inked across one shoulder, and a long pale scar running the length of his ribs. Deprived of the civility of clothing, he seemed large, her body petite by comparison as he dragged her against him, his mouth claiming hers again.

She ran her fingers over his skin, exploring every hard curve, the heat of him sinking into her fingers. A whimper stole from herlips as he moved from her mouth to her jaw, biting at her throat. The lobe of her ear. Each press of teeth sent a jolt of need surging up from her core.

“I want to see you,” he growled between kisses, his hands unfastening her belt. “I want to suck your perfect breasts until you’re wet for me and then fuck you until my name is the only word you remember.”

“It already is,” she gasped, every part of her relishing the departure of the mask he always wore, the man beneath having finally cast it aside. This was who he really was, andoh God,did she want him.

James caught hold of her blouse and drew it over her head. A snarl of annoyance passed his lips as his eyes fixed on the silk camisole beneath, and with one jerk, he tore it down the front, baring her breasts. Her nipples peaked as the cool air hit them, the ruined garment slipping down her arms to fall at her feet.

“So goddamned beautiful,” he whispered, sliding his palm up her torso, his fingers closing around her throat to gently lean her back, the sunlight illuminating her breasts. She was at his mercy, yet instead of fear, her body thrummed with feral power.

“Kiss me,” she said. “Now.”

His body shook with dark laughter, then he wrapped an arm around her and lifted. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist even as his hand abandoned her throat for her hair. Pulled its length so that her spine bowed backward to expose her breasts to his mouth.

A gasp of pleasure tore from her lips as he sucked her left nipple into his mouth, and Ahnna rocked her hips against him, the buckle of his belt rubbing her clit in a way that turned her body to liquid fire. In a way that made her want to rip his belt off and unleash the thick cock she could feel beneath it. To sink herself downupon it inch by merciless inch, because that was the only way her desire would be sated.

He moved to her other breast, his teeth scraping over her nipple. The jolt of pleasure made her sob. Made her plead, because pressure was building in her core, and she needed release. Needed him.

“Not yet, Princess,” he whispered, lowering her slightly so that it was his cock she pressed against, his grip on her implacable as he worked her against him, his breath growing ragged. “I want you wet and ready.”

“I am,” she gasped, her body shuddering as he bit at her nipple. “Oh God, I need you!”

“Show me.”

Dropping to his knees, he lowered her to the ground. Pulled off one of her boots and then the other before his fingers caught hold of the waist of her skirt, tugging it slowly downward, her undergarments with them. Tossing them aside, he gripped her behind each knee, his hands like fire against her skin as he kissed the bruises on them, then parted her legs.

The beam of sunlight had grown brighter as the clouds had cleared, and it fell across her body, exposing her in a way she’d never been exposed before. Yet instead of feeling self-conscious, Ahnna parted her thighs wider, eyes on James’s face as he looked down at her.

“So fucking perfect,” he whispered, trailing his finger down her belly, then parting her sex with a gentle stroke that made her back arch. “Every part of you is perfect, Ahnna.”

The way he said her name made Ahnna shiver, but then his finger slipped inside of her, and her eyes rolled back in her head at the pleasure of it.

“Not wet enough,” he murmured, sliding a second finger into her and stroking her core. “Ahnna, look at me.”

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