Page 46 of The Sin Binder's Vow

He groans, head tilting back like he’s praying for strength from gods who long since abandoned him. Then he drops his gaze, slow and deliberate, back to mine—and the shift is real.

“Don’t tempt me, Binder.” His voice dips dark and husky as he leans in again. “Because I will fail you. Over and over. All night long.”

I open my mouth to respond, but he kisses me first.

And it’s not gentle. It's not cautious. It'sElias. Thorough. Hot. Tongue and teeth and hunger. One hand comes down from the door to cup my jaw, the other tangles in my hair, tilting me back to take more. I moan into his mouth, and that sound—thatsound—makes him growl like he’s ready to throw me on the bed without another word.

Wait…There’s no bed.

There’s noanythingexcept a single chair that looks more cursed than antique and a floor I wouldn’t let my worst enemy nap on. It’s sticky. There’s a smear of something unidentifiable next to a bootprint. My toes curl in my boots, and not in a good way.

“Oh gods,” I whisper. “Elias.”

“Yeah?”

“There’s no bed.”

His fingers tighten on my waist. “Don’t need one.”

I blink at him. “What, you planning to fold me over the chair and pray it doesn’t collapse?”

“I mean... you say that like it’s not already Plan A.” His grin is wolfish, but my eyes are locked on that grimy plank floor like it’s a death sentence.

“I amnotlaying down in that.” I point down like the floor has personally offended me. “I’ll get some kind of supernatural disease. Sticky floor disease.”

He laughs, low and rasped. “Sticky floor disease. Real tragic. Did Silas give you that one?”

“I’m serious.” I shove at his chest. “My clothes will stick. My skin willabsorbwhatever’s down there.”

“Then I guess that leaves…” He shifts, brackets my thighs with his hands, and starts lifting.

I flail immediately. “No. No no no.Don’t you dare try to pick me up for—door sex.”

He pauses, lips twitching. “You say that like it’s not the dream.”

“My back will hit that knob, you’ll drop me halfway through, and I’ll die of embarrassment. Naked. Cracked spine. Found by Orin.”

Elias loses it. Full snort-laugh. “Okay, that—that’sthe visual I needed.”

“I’m being serious, Elias.”

“So am I.” He hikes me up anyway, and I wrap my legs around his waist on instinct—because the alternative is eating floor—and Ihatehow good this feels. His hands slide down to cup my ass, and it’s criminal, the way his grin sharpens like I’m a prize he’s already claimed.

“See?” he murmurs. “Perfect height.”

“Strength of a god, grace of a rhino,” I mutter, but I’m breathless now, clinging to his shoulders, already drowning in the heat between us.

“No backs cracking tonight,” he promises, dragging his lips along my jaw. “Unless you ask nicely.”

“Oh mygods, Elias—”

He laughs again, and then he kisses me like he’s trying to make up for every terrible joke he’s ever made.

And somehow, I let him.

Silas

There are exactly three things I register the second I open my eyes.

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