Page 77 of The Demons We Hide

She’s a fighter, a survivor, and I want to show her that.

I’m going to show her that she, too, can endure an untold amount of pain … and pleasure.

I take a step towards her, daring her. Juliet smooths a hand down her stomach, drawing my keen interest as I watch her grip the hem of her shirt and lift it. Arms cross as the fabric rises, revealing smooth skin and a plain black bra. My throat dries up. She throws the shirt onto the pile I’ve created and then reaches for her leggings, shoving them down her long, impossibly ready to be stretched wide to take my fucking cock between them, legs.

Frowning, I tilt my head to the side as she takes the time to work them over her sneakers instead of removing them entirely. When she’s in nothing but a scrap of fabric that covers her pussy and that bra, she stops. I bare my teeth.

“All of it,” I demand.

Another step forward, but this time when she backs up, a grin eases across her face. Then, she says the two words bound to make any hungry man such as myself lose his fucking mind.

“Make. Me.”

My nostrils flare and her grin widens into a full-blown smile right before she takes off. For a moment, I’m stunned into place—watching the fluttering strands of her blue hair as it disappears into the darkness of the forest.

She’s running from me?

With a snarl, I dive after her. Something primal drives me forward, an animal instinct I didn’t know I had until she threw down her challenge. The sound of her laughter drifts back to me and I stop, mid step, turning as it echoes up to the tops of the trees.

Diabolical woman.Her laughter is all around with no hint to where she’d gone, and if there’s one thing I know about Juliet, it’s that she’s smart. She won’t go down easy. If I want her—and I’ve never wanted anything as much as I do this fucking woman—then I’ll have tomake hersubmit, just like she asked.

Slow, even breaths. In and out. Inhale. Exhale.There. A soft shampoo scent drifts to me from my left. I turn and start tracking her. I spent half of my childhood in woods just like this, camping, hiding from my father when I could, spending time at that infernal hunting cabin when the guys and I needed to get away. She might think she has me caught in her trap, but she’s wrong. Soon, she’ll be the one in mine.

I was born to hunt her.

My legs eat the distance between us, searching, seeking. Seconds pass into minutes as I follow her through the darkness. I can only guess at the actual amount of time that’s come and gone. All I know is that each moment makes my desire for her that much more intense. If she keeps pushing like this, when I do inevitably find her—I’m going to shred her cunt with my cock and laugh when she screams through my revenge.

I pause as wood snaps to my right. The low hiss that follows heightens my arousal. I smile.

Got you, Princess.

Feet silent. Heartbeat pounding against my ribcage, I creep closer to the location of the sound. A thready need ricochets through my bones. My bloodstream is liquid violence and all of it directed at one blue-haired seductress. Sideways, I sidle around a large oak and inhale. Shampoo and something utterly feminine hits my nostrils. Almost there.

Another twig snaps under what sounds like a sneakered foot—now her actions make sense. Our girl is such a fucking giver, even when we don’t realize that she matches us in every way we never knew we needed.

Closer and closer, I move until a bright flash of pale skin enters my vision, and there she is. I watch her shift on her feet where she kneels on the ground. She doesn’t even seem all that concerned with all of the skin on display. The round cheeks of her ass are hidden beneath bikini style underwear that I mentally promise to shred the second I have her under me. Any other underwear she has back at my house will disappear soon too.

Then, the movement of her hands on the ground has me frowning as I tilt my head and edge closer. She seems to be setting up… something? I have to hold back a bark of laughter as I see her hands brush together several twigs and leaves to the side. A snort almost escapes me as she hisses again and in the near dark of the woods, fumbles with some sort of rock as she digs and digs and digs from the opening she’s cleared away.

I almost want to watch her finish, to see how far she’ll go to dig the hole that I’m sure she expects to lead me to. I shake my head, though. Stepping into something like that without warning could break someone’s ankle. This is a game and she’s so far out of her depth.

Shifting closer, I see the exact moment when she realizes she’s no longer alone. Her head lifts up, but I’m on her before she can give up on her little attempt of slowing me down and bolt. A sharp squeak of surprise leaves her lips as I haul her into my arms, turn, and shove her back against the bark of a tree.

Blue eyes wide in the dim light, she gapes at me. “You’re faster than I expected…” she pants.

“And you’re not as drunk as I thought,” I reply. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have made it that far.”

“I was feeling good,” she says, “but I told you that I wasn’t that drunk. I can hold my liquor.”

“So you did.” And so she can.

We stare at each other, her breasts shoved up against my chest, nearly toppling out of her bra. All it would take was one finger and I could slide a cup down and take her pretty pointed nipples between my lips. Her belly hollows out in time with her ragged breathing.

“Trying to hurt me, Princess?” I ask, arching an eyebrow as I nod my head back to her half-finished trap.

She blinks. “Just trying to slow you down a bit.”

I hum in the back of my throat and grind my hips into her front. My cock strains, pulsing with a need to be inside her. Not yet, though. I have more in store for my little runaway.

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