Page 57 of Unmask
“To keep you away from us.” I tightened my grip on her hand.
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard.
For a second, I just stood there, forehead to hers, listening to the thunder of my heart trying to crack through my ribs. “Is that what you really want, little raven? To never see me again? To never have me touch you?” I swept the pad of my thumb along the inside of her wrist.
“You don’t play fair,Kreed.”
The use of my name was deliberate, knowing how it churned me up inside. I still couldn’t figure out what it was about my name on her lips that made me so damn hard. Even now, under a stairwell probably covered in cobwebs, hiding, I wanted her. “It’s the only way I know,” I murmured, dragging my eyes from her lips.
“I’m not saying being cautious isn’t wise, but I’ve known Rusty my whole life. He was my dad’s best friend. He wouldn’t hurt me. It’syouwho hurt me… Who I can’t trust.” Her voice was a soft tremor.
It wrecked me.
I moved fast, backing her into the wall, my hands slamming down on either side of her head, boxing her in. “You can trust mebecause of this,” I growled, right before I covered her lips with mine. The kiss in the parking lot had been nothing compared to this. That had been a taste. A tease. This was a goddamn claim.
Her lips parted under mine, soft and eager, and the second her fingers curled into the front of my hoodie, yanking me forward like she needed me just as badly, I surrendered.
My hands found her waist as I pressed into her, chest to chest, thigh between hers, every inch of my body demanding contact. One hand slid down her side, fingers fisting at the hem of her shirt, and I was on the verge of losing myself entirely.
She gasped into my mouth, and I took it, swallowing it.
The kiss turned messier, hungrier. Desperate.
Our teeth clashed. Tongues tangled. Breath shattered between us like glass underfoot. She clawed her hands up into my hair and yanked, just hard enough to punch a groan from my throat. I pushed harder, needing her to feel everything I couldn’t say. That I hadn’t stopped wanting her. That the emptiness inside me had only gotten worse without her.
I was starved for her.
Every press of her mouth against mine burned into me, branded itself into memory. Her fingers trembled against my skin, clutching at me as if she was afraid I’d vanish the second she let go. I wouldn’t. Not now. Not ever.
She tasted like guilt and want. Like salt and sweetness. Like a secret whispered in the dark.
I kissed her harder, deeper, tasting the sadness she tried to hide and wanting to consume every broken piece of it. Every broken piece of her. I wanted to rip it all from her and take it as mine. Break it apart. Shatter it into nothing.
She changed me. She wrecked me, and I’d let her do it again, a thousand times over, just to feel this. To feel her.
Her fingers dragged down my back, knuckles catching against the fabric, and her body tremored as I slid my hand upto cup her face, thumb brushing her cheek like I could erase the grief still hiding in her eyes.
Did I completely forget where we were when I shoved up her sweater and unclasped her bra? Yes. Did I care? Not in the moment, but these cursed straps needed to go, along with everything she was wearing. My lips craved to take the rosebud of her nipple. I settled for a quick brush of my thumb, reveling in the gasp that escaped her.
The problem was, it only spawned a stronger desire within me, and just sneaking a feel or two wasn’t going to cut it for either of us. I had to feel her. I needed to hear her soft, breathy gasps.
I fumbled with the button on her jeans, moving my hand inside and under her panties. She gave me no resistance when I slipped two fingers inside her. She bit her lower lip, her head falling back. My fingers began to move as I pressed my lips to the sensitive spot below her ear. “Let go for me, little raven.”
She shook her head, teeth still sinking into her lip even as her hips lifted to take my fingers deeper. My thumb flicked over her, drawing out a moan as she arched, moving with me as I stroked in and out of her.
“That’s it, little raven,” I coaxed, nipping at the column of her neck, my dick hardening as I watched her skin flush. I didn’t think it could get harder. Boy, was I fucking wrong.
I was intoxicated by her.
My rhythm increased with the change in her breathing. Her nails dug into my back, her eyes squeezing shut. She was so wet, already on the brink of release. “Oh, God,” she whimpered seconds before her muscles tightened around my fingers, pulsing as she climaxed.
The sight of pleasure on her face was so fucking beautiful, and knowing that I was the one who brought her such elation feltfucking good. I drew out her orgasm for as long as I could before slipping my fingers out, her body going limp.
“That’s how school should end every day,” I whispered along her jaw before leaning back.
“Shit” breezed through her lips, a hand forking through her messy hair. “Why did you?—”
“Because I’m not always a selfish asshole.” I made sure to flash her a dazzling smile, but it didn’t have the desired effect. She still had this haunted glint in her light-blue eyes, the look that made me feel things I never let myself feel.
