Page 48 of The Villain

As soon as my palm pressed to the strained front of my jeans, a violent need for release snapped through me like a whip.No.I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to focus only on the sweet pebble of her nipple between my lips or the tight grip of her pussy around my fingers, but I couldn’t.

My stomach tightened. Air stopped entering my lungs. Some part of me decided it would be better to pass out than to touch myself with her like this…until her hand settled on my shoulder.

Maybe it was support. Maybe it was simply another plea for more. But my body—my own need—took it as permission.

My eyes flung open, need dilating all my senses into a single purpose: pleasure. A feral noise rumbled from my chest as Itore open the front of my pants and fisted my throbbing length.

And then it was everything all at once. The drag of my lips on her nipple. The press of my fingertips on her G-spot. And my firm grip yanking long, punishing strokes on my cock.

She had to know—had to feel my shoulder jerking under her hand—but I could pretend like her own pleasure erased it from her senses.

My tongue and hands all moved to the same rhythm, sending pleasure rocketing through us both until she couldn’t take it any longer.Thank God, because neither could I.

“Yes!”She came with the sweetest cry, her body arching all her softness into me like the most beautiful offering…and one I didn’t deserve. From there, it was only my name on her lips as she rode out her release, and the sound of it was my undoing.

“Fuck,”I groaned under my breath, feeling the pressure in my spine an instant before my own orgasm erupted. My cock jerked wildly in my grasp, shooting my release in thick streams against the tub and onto the floor.

She panted, her chest rising to my lips, and inreturn, my teeth sank into her skin, heaving in a breath like I took the oxygen directly from her lungs.There, in the riotous, blinding pleasure, it felt like we were the only two people in the world. No present. No danger. No past. No betrayal. Just Athena and me.

“Dare…”

Her voice found me in the darkness—it pulled me from the fantasy and back to the moment when I saw her beautiful, flushed face. Her eyes glistened with pleasure, similar to the way they’d glistened with tears the day I’d left her.

Fuck.

“Let me get a towel,” I said hoarsely, drawing myself away from her. “There’s water everywhere.”And my cum streaking the side of the tub.

I straightened and wiped the evidence of my failure from my pierced tip, carefully tucking myself back into my jeans and using my footsteps to mask the sound of the zipper.

The first towel I placed on the floor, wiping up the water, and then quickly over the side of the tub before tossing it to the side.

“You can stand up; I have a towel for you.”

I wanted to look—wanted one last look. But the guilt I’d expected—the guilt I’d hoped would give me a moment of reprieve—hit me with its full force, and I turned my head under the weight.

The sound of the water rushing down her body mocked my restraint as my mind just imagined all her curves anyway. As soon as she was upright, I wrapped the towel around her middle with almost robotic-like efficiency and guided her back to the bedroom, where I deposited her on the bed and pushed fresh clothes onto her lap.

“I’m just going to finish cleaning up the bathroom,” Isaid quickly, and I made sure to shut the door behind me so she knew I meant for her to get changed without me watching.

For five painful minutes, I stared at the damn tub that had been my undoing. The water. The woman. The want. I threw the towels in the hamper with a curse and returned to the bedroom. Thankfully, she was not only changed, but she was underneath the covers.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” I said, as though that would give me enough time to figure out what the hell to say.

“Dare—”

“Goodnight, Athena.” I strode toward the exit.Fled, more like it.

“I’m sorry.”

Her words stopped me like a gun to my back, and I turned. For the first time, I wished she could see me—see the way I looked at her.“Don’t ever apologize for that.”

She licked her lips, and my damn cock stiffened again. “But you’re upset.”

“I’m not upset with you.”

“Then what is it? Why do you feel like what we did was wrong?” Her question gutted right to the center of it.

So I gave her as much of the truth as I could and prayed it was enough to stop this from ever happening again.

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