Page 23 of Brutal Knight

I studied her eyes, reading the truth in them.She was lying.

"You also like kissing him more than me?”

“That depends, it’s been too long for me to remember.” Her throat bobbed, “Are you ever going to kiss me again?”

"Only when you deserve it." It was one of my rules. I would never kiss her until she belonged to me again.

“Then, yes. I like kissing him."

I noticed she didn’t say,more than you. Releasing her, I inhaled a calming breath. Then, slowly, I trailed my hands down the side of her body, lowering myself until I was kneeling at her feet. She gave me a skeptical look but I didn't care.

Tonight was her birthday.

I wanted to show her what she meant to me.

That I would kneel at her feet a thousand times if it would prove to her how I felt about her.

I traced my thumbs over her hips, then hooked my fingers in lace, slowly pulling down her panties. At the same time, I pressed my face to her belly, placing soft kisses there and whispering against her skin. “My littlepolva.”

Her eyes shuttered close as fingers threaded through my hair. "I told you not to call me that. You know I hate it.” Her voice sounded pained.

“That's like asking the tide not to roar and the earth not to bow down to the sun." I kissed and suckled, gently pulling up one of her legs to slip off her underwear. “I cannot stop calling you that, just as you cannot stop your need to torture me. You are mypolvaand you always will be."

“Except, I'm no longer the dust under your feet.” She clasped my head, exhaling a breath, holding me to her. “I’ve come up in the world.”

Tossing the panties to the side, I caressed her skin with my lips and fingers, showering her with tenderness as the water cleansed us both. "You will always be mypolva, Tati. From the moment we almost died in that hurricane.” I began to stand, running my nose up her skin until I was facing her. "Do you remember?” That was the night that changed everything for me. The night I knew I would do anything in the world for her.

She shook her head, her deep, star-blue eyes simmering with defiance. "No."

Lie.

Scowling, I gripped her by the throat, pulling her to me. “You may have come up in the world, but the moment you stepped into my territory, you became mine again. I let you go once, and that was a mercy. Like the good littlepolvathat you are, you returned. Now you belong to me. You will never escape that.”

“You cannot stop me from leaving.” Her head was bent back, staring up at me as I towered over her. “I could flee this city in the middle of the night, like a thief who has stolen your heart.”

I scoffed. “If you tried, I would chase you to the ends of the earth and drag you back, kicking and screaming.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Rook and I easily?—”

“If you think for one second that Rook left my territory without my permission, then he hasn’t been as forthcoming with you as you think.”

“But we leave all the time.”

“To Ibiza?” Her lips parted in surprise. “Seychelles? Or do you mean your trip to Côn Son, Vietnam? I know about them all.”

She looked away. Grabbing the loofah, I squirted body wash onto it, then placed it in her palm. "Wash yourself off."

"No. I like him on me."

"You just want me to do it, isn't that right?"

Her lips parted with want, her voice breathless. “No."

"Lie."

"I never lie to you." The lie was so blatant, we both knew it. It sat between us like a bloody knife.

I stared at her for a long moment, letting it drip like poison into our souls. Then I stepped back and began to run the soapy loofah over her body.

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