Page 46 of Monsters Wear Crowns
“Yes?” he whispered back, his voice rough and amused. I smiled as he pulled my shorts down my legs and pulled down my tank top. His eyes drank in my body beneath him while he removed his underwear again. I was greedy. I was starving.
Before I could even ask, he shoved his cock inside me again, pushing as deep as I could take him. I yelped, my nails clawing at his shoulders.
He groaned, his hands pushing my hips down.
I’d never let anyone in. Not really. Men were fleeting, disposable distractions. But Rafe? He could dismantle me with a look. With a word. With the deliberate power of his body claiming mine.
And I let him.
I told myself it was just sex. Lust. But the way my body bent to him, the way my heart hammered in my chest...it was already more. “Show me I’m yours,” I gasped, wincing at the stretch.
“Jesus, Adela,” he growled, control fraying. His rhythm was merciless, his strength lifting my leg to open me wider, pushing me towards the edge again. I clung to him, nails raking down his back. He kissed me like the goddamn devil stealing his favorite angel’s soul.
“If you ever leave or betray me,” he snarled, “I’ll fucking kill you.”
I didn’t flinch. I matched his darkness. “So will I.”
He stilled for half a second–then groaned, teeth scraping my throat. “Perfect. Because I’m never letting you go.”
My body tightened around him, wave after wave of pleasure crashing over me. I wrapped my legs around his hips as he chased his own release, his thrusts rough and desperate. He grabbed my chin, kissing me hard, and with a final groan, he came inside me again, pulsing deep. And still, I couldn’t stop kissing him. Didn’t want to.
Chapter10
When I woke, the sheets were cold beside me. I just lay there for a long moment, my body aching in places I hadn’t felt in far too long. A slow, smoldering throb that kept every second of last night fresh in my mind. The air still carried the scent of him: dark and clean, laced with the faintest hint of smoke and cedar. It made my stomach twist and my skin flush as I stretched against the sheets.
But he was gone.
My eyes snapped open, and that slow, lazy warmth vanished beneath a sharp stab of irritation. I wasn’t the kind of woman men walked out on–not without a word, not without my permission.
I shoved the sheets back and rose from the bed, pulling on the silk robe draped over the chair. The apartment was quiet as I padded barefoot into the main room, all sleek glass and sharp lines drenched in early morning’s soft, blue-gray light. And then I saw him.
Rafe stood near the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, his back to me, the muscles of his bare shoulders shifting as he braced one hand against the glass. The city stretched out below him, glittering and endless. But it was him I couldn’t stop watching.
The way he held himself: still, powerful, like a king surveying his kingdom. Even now, there was something dangerous about his quiet.
“Running already?” My voice came out low and teasing,even as I hated the strange tightness in my chest.
He didn’t turn right away. “Not from you, ma belle.”
I cocked my head with a smile.
When he finally glanced over his shoulder, his eyes found mine. That ice-blue burned hotter than fire. There was a wicked glint there, a flash of the man who had ravaged me last night. But beneath it…he seemed guarded.
“I don’t sleep much,” he said.
The words hung between us, a sharp reminder of exactly who he was and what I’d let into my life. And yet I stepped closer.
“Are we doing this, Rafe?Reallydoing this?”
He sighed, gazing over the city. “If we do this,” he said softly, pulling me against his warmth, “there’s no turning back. For either of us.”
The warning was clear. But I had never been one to turn away. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
***
Lauren’s eyes widened the second we walked into Sinclair Solutions together. I didn’t blame her. It wasn’t every day I strolled into work with a man like Rafe Vaughan.
He looked utterly at ease in my space, like hebelongedthere, moving with that slow, confident grace. His dark suit was pristine, and his mouth curved in the faintest, venomous smile. He towered over me, acting as my big, scary guard dog. And when I felt his hand brush against the small of my back as we walked through the sleek glass doors, my pulse did a humiliating little flutter.
