Page 24 of Hunted Innocence

It’s only been hours since he was inside of me, since he kissed me, yet it feels like it’s been a lifetime.

Grayson touches his lips to my forehead, exhaling through his nose, before he shifts his head slightly and rests his forehead against my own. Closing my eyes, I wrap my fingers around his biceps and hold on to him.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you all this a long time ago.”

“No,” he rasps. “Our secrets are not something we just go around telling everyone. I understand why you didn’t. But it’s time we know everything, because without it, we are wasting precious time.”

“Okay,” I breathe.

“It’s not going to be fun. You’re going to have to tell all of us, but I’ll let you in on something, baby.”

“What’s that?” I ask.

He is quiet for a moment. The entire room is silent, and I wonder if he’s going to say whatever it is. But then he lifts his head and takes half a step backward, keeping his palm against my cheek, but his eyes find mine, and he holds the connection.

Grayson’s thumb slides across my bottom lip again. “Every man who will be in that room has not only been through everything that you have, but probably even worse.”

His words roll around inside my own head for probably thirty full seconds before they register. “And you include yourself in that?” I ask, too afraid to say the words above a whisper.

“Yes,” he murmurs.

My heart squeezes. I thought that maybe it could possibly be the case, but I really didn’t want to think about it or know it for certain. Now that I do, I feel differently about him, but not in a bad way. I feel closer to him. I know I’m not actually any closer, but maybe closer isn’t the word—connected.

Yes.

We are connected.

Chapter Ten

GRAYSON

I cannot believeshe’s got a thumb drive. Not just that she has it, but that it’s in her fucking wallet. And she’s not only had it this whole time, but it’s been with me and in the safe house. Something that we can use as blackmail, and she kept it from me, from us.

This is exactly what we were trying to find, something like this to hold over Landon’s head. But before I call a meeting with everyone else, I can’t let this opportunity go.

We’re standing in the surveillance room, just the two of us. It would be a wholly missed opportunity if we didn’t take advantage. Gliding my hand from her cheek, I wrap my fingers around the front of her throat.

My bruises are still there, though only faintly.

I want to deepen them.

“Please,” she whispers, her eyes wide and her nostrils flaring.

Arching a brow, I don’t say anything immediately. In fact, I don’t make a single move. My fingers don’t even twitch, and thatalone takes every ounce of my control. But she’s going to tell me what I want to hear.

She needs it just as much as I do.

“Please fuck me hard. Please choke me when I come. Please make it hurt.”

Goose bumps break out over my entire body at her words. Leaning forward slightly, I touch my mouth to hers, but I don’t kiss her.

Instead, I talk to her, speak to her, whisper to her. I’m so fucking frazzled right now that I’m not even sure my words are coherent. What she said was every single fantasy I’ve ever had come to life in one single moment.

“Baby,” I rasp against her mouth, “when I have the time, I’m going to devour you. I’m going to make every part of your body ache, then I’m going to kiss it better until it hurts in a different way.”

She whimpers, trembling, not speaking. She doesn’t need to. Shifting my head back slightly, I grip the hem of her skirt and hitch it up over her hips, then grasp the sides of her panties and rip them down her legs.

Without being directed, she steps out of them, and I take that opportunity to slip my fingers between her legs. Feeling her wet cunt against my fingertips almost sends me completely over the fucking edge.

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