Page 65 of Sacrifice the Knight (Checkmate 6)

“Like how you like when I do that thing with my tongue?” He lifts his brows and quirks a grin.

I blush. I can’t stop the heat that rushes to my face any more than I can stop the pulse in my panties. “Yeah, things like that. He definitely doesn’t need to know that sort of stuff. Uh…” I literally fan my face in an attempt to focus, which makes Eric chuckle.

“Sorry. Go on,” he urges, but his grin remains.

“Um…” I cough to clear my throat. “Uh…?”

“You were talking about your dad.”

“Oh! Right.” I hate that I continue to blush under Eric’s teasing gaze. “Daddy… he’s my babysitter if I’m desperate, but he doesn’t force himself into my space. He’s perfect, really, because he builds me up every single day, and never makes me feel stupid because I made stupid choices.”

Eric processes my words with a frown marking his forehead. “I don’t think you made stupid choices.” He leans forward and drops a gentle kiss on my lips. “I mean, getting into a car with Zeke wasn’t the smartest thing you ever did, but you were just a kid, and I swear, I don’t know a single person who hasn’t made a choice like that.”

“Well, sure, everyone has done something like that at one point or another. The difference is I have a living, breathing reminder of my choice. It’s just more obvious, I guess.”

“That doesn’t nullify the fact everyone does the same thing. Your kid is funny, Katrina. He’s smart, witty, wears a whole lot of your crazy.”

I smack his chest. “I’m not crazy.”

“Those lemon zesty bitches are a real threat for you then?”

Mid-sip of my tasty wine, I snicker and dribble a line of the chilled liquid over my chin. I bring a hand up to swipe it away, but Eric catches my hand, leans in close and licks up my mess. “You Blairs are like wild animals,” he whispers. “Nobody contains you; nobody trains you, and nothing will make you conform.”

“Except maybe the Leahs of the world.” I breathe out a deep sigh. “Mom slowed my dad’s party train to a standstill. Whoever Mac’s Leah is will have her hands full.”

“She’ll figure it out when they get there. But for now,” he drops another kiss on my jaw, then a second and a third, “I’ll enjoy my ride with my own Blair.” When I stiffen, he shakes his head and drops another kiss on the corner of my lips. “I’m not looking to contain you. But I’ll enjoy the wild bucking while I got it.”

“You’re a glutton for punishment.”

He scoffs. “You have no idea. If I was smart, I’d know to stay far, far away.”

“Because we’re too much?” My heart races, and the ache literally makes me tense. “Am I too much baggage?”

“No.” He drops another kiss on my lips. “I just meant I should know not to get involved with a woman. I don’t meanyouin particular, but any woman. Ever. Because it usually hurts.”

“But that’s why we’re doing this.” I point between us and try to stave off the panic that claws inside my stomach. What was once butterflies are now cruel claws that mercilessly slice me up. “Sex. No feelings. No hurt.”Say it, repeat it, believe it.“You won’t get hurt so long as you follow the rules.”

“Right.” He presses a kiss to my lips. “And for as long as we follow the rules,youwon’t get hurt either. So stop panicking. I can feel your heart race.”

Swallowing the last of my wine in one large gulp, I toss my glass aside, then push Eric back so I can straddle his thighs. “I’m not shopping for more man trouble.”Say it, repeat it, believe it.“Which is why this is perfect. Sex, no feelings, no trouble.” I rub myself over his hardened crotch and smile when I find what I was looking for. “We’re two consenting adults; we like sex; apparently we do it well, seeing as we both come every single time, and then you go back to being a customer when the sun comes up.”

“The perfect solution.” He groans when I lift up and unsnap his belt. Laying his head back and lifting his hips so I can move his jeans down just a little, he helps me position us both and offers up a condom from his pocket so I can put it on for him.

Slowly, I roll the rubber down over his dick and smile when that alone makes the veins in his neck stand out. Panting and lifting his hips, he searches for warmth, bruising my thighs with his hands when I slide on and swallow him up. “Fuck!”

“Jesus.” I slump forward when he pushes up and impales me. The tip of his cock touches me deep inside, then his strong hands move me, so I only have to exist, and he fucks me from below. My dress remains on, my panties pushed to the side, and when he sits up with a fast grunt, our lips clash and his breath intoxicates me.

He has this magical ability to make me forget. It doesn’t last forever, and reality always crashes down onto my shoulders before an hour is up – and an hour is being generous – but for the time we’re joined, he consumes me; he helps me be someone else. Perhaps the someone I would have been had I never climbed into Zeke’s stupid car.

With one hand on my hip and the other in my hair with a painfully tight hold, Eric’s teeth nip and his hips slam from beneath me. I couldn’t ask him to stop even if I wanted to. It’s too much; he feels incredible, and each time he pushes up, his grunt against my mouth fuels my fire.

The stars twinkle above us, and if I were a romantic, I’d wonder if a certain pairing was being made.

Unlike my first time with Zeke, there are no fireworks shooting off above our heads, but scarily, they’re present in my mind. Eric seduces me with his mouth, with his rough hands, but with gentle care. When I become nothing more than a whimpering mess of sensitive nerves, he grunts, flips us, and slides over me with a smug grin.

That fucking smug grin; I should have known the first time I saw it that I was in love.

Dammit!

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