Page 158 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

No, it wouldn’t.

Lessia let out an involuntary sound when his touch left her, but then he shifted so he lay atop her, his arms caging her as they rested on either side of her head, holding most of his weight off.

“I feel your emotions.” Merrick’s eyes were immediately there when she opened her own. “Always have, but it’s even clearer now. And after… after watching you for so many years, I am pretty well versed in your different facial expressions.”

He kissed her, and this time it wasn’t a gentle brush but a more urgent one—his lips fusing with hers, his tongue demanding as it danced with her own.

Her eyelids fluttered closed as she responded, whimpering into his mouth as an overwhelming need overtook her, making her limbs heavy and eager—all at the same time.

“I need you to know,” Merrick whispered into her mouth, and she stopped her writhing when the pain in his tone broke through the need. “I wish to die every time you hurt. And when it’s because of me… Fuck, I nearly jumped off a cliff when they made me torture you. I—” His voice broke. “I can’t say how sorry I am for what I’ve done to you.”

“Merrick.” Lessia placed her hands on his cheeks, forcing his averted eyes to hers. “It wasn’t your fault. Raine told me what Rioner did—that he knew about us…Iam sorry you hurt for so long.”

“You’re sorry…” Merrick shook his head so violently her hands dropped from his face. “You’re too damn good for me. You’re all fucking light and goodness andlife.While I’m all darkness and evil and death.I don’t understand how you were chosen for me.”

Placing her hands on his rumbling chest, she dragged her nails down his taut muscles until he shivered above her and some of the pain faded from his eyes. “That’s because you’re a damned idiot.”

Lessia grinned when Merrick’s brows flew up.

“A.”

Her fingers reached his hips, and she slid them over the sharp angles, a fire building within her core again.

“Brooding.”

She traced farther down, savoring the groan falling from his lips.

“Damned.”

She gripped his hard cock again, and Merrick growled so deeply the bed shook from it.

“Idiot.”

Squeezing him from root to tip, she glared right into his glazed eyes. “And I love every single inch of you.” Her eyes dipped down. “Maybe especially these ones.”

Merrick inhaled sharply when she slowly pumped her hand up and down again.

Before she could react, he reached down to grip her wrists, and with one deliberate movement, he lifted her hips and thrust himself inside her again, her cries mingling with his groans as he filled her.

“You’re going to be the end of me,” Merrick rasped as he pulled out, only to slam into her again, any words and responses leaving her mind at the feeling of him—the delicious thickness of him—completing her, consuming her every thought and sense.

The slap of his hips meeting hers echoed through the room, and she dragged her nails down his back, ignoring that the scratches from earlier had barely healed.

She wanted him closer.

Wanted more.

Just… wanted him.

“I want you more,” Merrick growled as heat flooded her core, and when she clenched around him, he cursed again, the words barely reaching her ears as he thrust into her with such force the bed thudded against the wall.

Her cry split the air as he angled himself to get even deeper.

“I want to fuck you until every inch of your body smells like me.” Merrick slammed into her again, and her eyes rolled back into her head.

“I want to fuck you until I’m so deep inside you you’re never getting rid of me.” His lips collided with hers, and when he drove into her—merciless, unforgiving—she bit his lip until iron touched her mouth.

“I want to fuck you until everyone in Havlands realizes you’re mine.” Another ruthless thrust.

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