Page 17 of Monsters Wear Crowns
He was consuming me, tearing me apart, and putting me back together in the same breath. His fingers plunged deeper, and I gasped against his lips. My mind spun, my legsshook, my lips tingled from the way he kissed me–like he was making a fucking point.
Then, just as suddenly as he kissed me, hepulled back. His thumb brushed my cheek. His icy gaze searched mine, as if waiting for me to come to my senses, to pull away, to run.
I licked my lips, still tasting him, stillburning. “Do you want me to run or something?”
His expression darkened. His fingersplungeddeeper. “Do you want to?”
Ishould. But instead, I smirked. And I tipped my head back as I writhed against his hand. “Would you chase me?”
The hunger in his eyesignitedlike I’d just said something that excited him. His fingers curled inside me, his lips grazing mine. “I would.”
Rafe’s arm was steady as it tightened around me. His body pressed flush against mine, heat rolling off him in waves, detaining me against the edge of oblivion. He smelled rich–expensive whiskey, cedar, and something darker beneath.
My pulse hammered, erratic, wild. I wanted to taste him again.
Like he could hear my thoughts, he lifted my chin, his fingers rough against my skin, and captured my lips.Stolemy breath. My control. Whatever sliver of restraint I had left.
“Are you ready?” he murmured, his voice an intoxicating blend of promise and challenge.
Goosebumps broke out over my arms. Blinking, I met his gaze–two pools of cold, glacial blue that threatened to drown me. My lips parted, my body already betraying me, and then–fuck–his fingers pulled out and pushed back in.
A ragged breath tore from my throat, and I somehow managed a choked, breathless, “Yes.”
His smirk was pure sin, pressing against my lips before–
Hepushed me down again.
The worldtilted.
My heart lurched into my throat, my backhoveringabove three stories of empty space. The city lights blurred into a dizzying kaleidoscope of color and shadow, and my entire body went rigid.I could fall.
I could die.
Panic andeuphoriaslammed into me in equal measure. My hands snapped up, clutching at his shirt, at anythingsolid–but he was solid.He was the only thing keeping me from plunging into nothingness.
And his fingers–
God.
His fingersnever stopped moving.A powerful gust of wind ripped through us, tearing at my hair and whipping it into a wild dance around my face. I was weightless, untethered, suspended between pleasure and pureterror.
He leaned over me, and his lips brushed against my cheek, his voice thick with amusement andhunger.“Look at you.”
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. I feltwrecked. My stomach twisted, and my body caught in a push and pull of emotions that were too sharp and intoxicating. Fear warred with desire, blending into somethingdark, something I had never touched before. Then–his fingers drove into mejust right.
I moaned, loud and desperate, my entire body tensing beneath him. Mystalkerwas touching me. He waswatchingme unravel.
A complete stranger.
Yet I had never felt so alive.
Rafe’s arm tightened behind my back, keeping me from slipping into the abyss–keeping mehis.
I was safe.
I wasscared.
“Let it out, baby,” he murmured. The sound of his voice, his playful request.That did it.
