Page 18 of Her Dirty Defender

I swallow hard, my fingers curling against his belt, uncertain.

His voice is quieter this time, rougher. “Because if it's more… if you need more… I need to hear you say it.”

My chest tightens. My lips part.

I don’t know what terrifies me more—that Idon’twant this to be just physical…

Or that he already knows.

I make a frustrated noise, but his hands are already on me again. His lips brush my temple so gently that it makes my chest ache. “Let me take care of you.”

“I don't need?—”

He cuts me off. “You're safe with me.”

There’s that word again.

A word that threads through the heat, the need, and the undeniable pull between us. As if he knows exactly what I crave, what I don’t even know how to ask for.

Moving his hands to my shoulders, he kneads the tense muscles. His mouth trails to my ear, his voice low and steady. “You may not need it, but I want to give it to you anyway. Let me show you.”

Something in me unravels. The walls I’ve held up so tightly crack a little.

I bite my lip, body arching, desperate. He chuckles against my skin, but it’s not cruel. It’s pure, dark satisfaction.

Slow. Torturous. Focused.

“That’s better,” he murmurs. “Now, let’s take our time.”

And then?

I stop thinking.

Chapter5

Beckett

I skim my hands down her arms over her silky skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps in my wake. Entwining our fingers, I press them against the wall on either side of her head, leaning my body into hers with a protective, enveloping warmth.

How the hell did I end up here?

Withher.

Temptation in a sky-blue tank top that matches her eyes and jeans that hug her rounded ass and hips like they were stitched by the devil himself just to taunt me.

She’s pinned between the wall and me, her firm, curvy body melting into mine, loose strands of chestnut hair framing her flushed cheeks, eyes glittering like blue topaz. Her breath comes in soft, uneven gasps that match the pounding in my chest.

I don’t do this—I don’tletmyself do this. I don’t chase moments that feel too much likemore. I don’t let myself get caught up in the soft sighs and warmth of a woman who makes me forget who I am, who I’ve been, and what I’ve done.

Yet here I am.

Heresheis.

She shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t beminefor even these brief stolen moments. But I can’t make myself stop.

I told myself it was nothing at first—curiosity, attraction. But that was a lie.

She’s already under my skin, burrowing in deeper with every look, every touch, every fuckingbreath.And I don’t know what it is about her, if it’s how she meets my gaze without flinching or the way she bites her lip like she’s trying to hold back everything she wants.

---