Page 13 of Hunted Innocence

In fact, I’m ready to feel him inside of me again. I want more of it, more pain, more aching, more of everything. It’s better than I could have ever imagined. Closing my eyes, I can’t stop my hand from trailing down the center of my body. Slipping my fingers between my legs, I hiss at the sensitivity there.

Grayson has awakened something inside of me that I didn’t even know existed. Sex was never for pleasure. Landon used it only as a means of control. Not that I didn’t come, because I wasforced to orgasm a lot over the years I spent with him. So there was a semblance of pleasure, but it was not pleasurable.

Then, after I left him, I made myself orgasm a few times over the years. Nothing ever felt the way it did with Grayson. What happened between us was magical. I’m sure he doesn’t feel the same, but the buildup inside of my head was one hundred percent on point.

I knew it was going to be the best ever, and I was right.

Now I have to figure out what it means, if it means anything. And what to do next, or at least how to act around him. Because I’m pretty sure that the dynamic between us has completely changed.

I’m no longer under the impression that our flirtations are harmless—I don’t want them to be. I want all the harm, the good, and the bad to bring it on. Because I really loved what we did, and I already want more.

There is a loud knock on the door that causes me to squeal and my hand to fly from between my legs, slamming it against the glass to brace myself.

“Time to eat,” Grayson calls out.

Catching my breath, I thank him before I turn the water off. Then I grab the towel from the holder beside the shower and quickly dry off, then wrap it around my hair.

I tug on my sleep shorts and also pull on the matching cami. It’s my favorite combo, navy blue with soft off-white lace trim on the legs of the shorts and the hem of the tank.

After combing out my hair, I open the door and toss my towel in the small hallway laundry room before I walk into the living room. I stop in the middle of the room and suck in a breath at the sight in front of me.

There, in the kitchen, his back to me, is the man of my dreams. He’s shirtless, his muscles working as he moves aroundthe space. I don’t know what he’s made. My senses can’t take in the aromas around me.

Mainly because right now, the only part of me that is actually working is my eyeballs. They like what they see, and the rest of me can’t comprehend anything else happening in this apartment.

“You coming to the table?” he asks.

My nipples tighten at his gruff voice, and I know that they poke through my camisole. I should have put on a robe or something, maybe a heavily-padded bra. He slowly turns his head, looking back over his shoulder at me. His eyes flick down to my chest, and I watch as his lips curve up into a smirk.

“Come to the table, baby,” he purrs.

My heart races at his words, his soft-spoken tone, all of it. Pressing my thighs together, I stay rooted in my spot, unable to move even an inch. A million things swirl around inside my head, but one thing bursts out of my mouth without a second thought.

“Why now?”

He turns fully to face me, his face laced with confusion. “Why now?” he repeats when I don’t say anything else.

“Why all of this now?” I ask. “We’ve been sharing the safe house for months.”

He tilts his head to the side. His gaze never leaves mine, but his eyes are searching. He doesn’t speak immediately. Instead, he walks away from the kitchen and begins to move toward me, stopping when he’s so close that I can feel his body heat.

My breath hitches as he lifts his hand, and his fingers dance down my throat as his eyes continue to stay connected to mine.

“Baby,” he rasps.

My lips part, but no sound comes out because I have nothing left inside my lungs. My air has all been sucked from my body by this man. He consumes me. Grayson lowers his head, his lipsbarely brushing mine before he lifts his head slightly, and his eyes find mine again.

“I’ve wanted you since the moment you walked into Securus. I did think my chance had finally come when you had to go to the safe house, but I knew there were still things you were hiding.”

I snort before I speak. “And you were what? Waiting for all the truths to come out? Like you’ve told me your deepest, darkest secrets or something?”

“No,” he says, his lips twitching into a smirk. “But what you were hiding was big. If I had fucked you like that six months ago, not knowing anything about your past, I would not have known what signs to watch out for.”

“Signs?” I ask on a shaky breath.

“Signs,” he confirms. “I needed to know that you were with me. That you were aware and not lost somewhere else. In a different life.”

Something about his words hits me harder than I think it’s probably meant to.In a different life. I’m pretty sure he knows so much more about my circumstances than I could imagine. He hasn’t told me in so many words, but it’s there, lurking just beneath the surface.

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