Page 49 of Iron Heart

Exhausted, I pull out carefully, disposing the condom and releasing her from her restraints.I lie beside her, pulling her into the curve of my arm.

“You were incredible, kitten,” I murmur, my lips grazing her hair.

The post-coital haze wraps around me like a comfortable blanket, but I fight the urge to sink into it.I carefully push myself off the bed and grab a towel to clean her up.While I tenderly wipe her, she watches me.Her eyes are soft, glowing with that look that makes me feel like I’ve been branded, marked by something indescribable.It scares me.

“Will you stay with me tonight?”Her question hangs in the air, innocent yet weighted, pulling at something deep inside me that I’ve kept locked away.

It takes everything in me to say the words that form in my mind.“I can’t,” I reply, my voice colder than I intended.

Her eyes, those deep wells of emotion, flicker with something that looks like disappointment or maybe understanding.I can’t tell which.

The weight of my words fills the room, thickening the air between us like an invisible wall.Victoria looks as though she might challenge me for a second, but then her gaze softens, and she lies back against the pillow.

“Okay,” she whispers.

That one simple yet heavy word recognizes the emotional chasm between us yet somehow makes it a little more bearable.

I lean in, my lips gently meeting her forehead in a soft kiss.“You should go,” I murmur, even though every fiber of my being screams for her to stay.

She nods, her eyes holding mine for a lingering moment before she starts gathering her things.Stepping out of my sanctuary, I can’t help but feel that each step she takes away from me pulls at something deep within me—something I don’t yet understand.

16

Victoria

Whoa, kill me now.

The butt?Seriously?

There aren’t enough expletives in the world to describe the orgasm that just shattered me from the inside out, nearly ripping me in two.It’s like every nerve ending decided to host its own fireworks show, and I was the audience, the main event rolling into one.

But from an extreme high came an extreme low.

When I asked him if we could stay together tonight, he turned me down.I should have known better.This is an arrangement, after all.He’s here protecting me.I’m his submissive.I am also meant to be sorting myself out, getting the help I need to overcome this overwhelming anxiety gripping me like a glove.

As I drift into sleep, I can’t shake the way his eyes seem to pierce my soul, as if he’s truly seeing me for the first time.Kingsley is a man of few words and even fewer emotions, yet I sense something more—something he’s fighting hard to suppress.

Should I do the same?Can anything good ever come between us?

My thoughts wander to the possibilities of happy endings.A sense of warmth envelops me, and finally, my eyelids grow heavy as I surrender to the darkness.

A stern knock on my door jerks me awake.

What the hell?What time is it?

Struggling to open my eyes, I realize it’s still dark outside.

“Victoria.”Kingsley’s voice slices through the door.

“For God’s sake, stop knocking and come in,” I reply, yanking off my sleep mask and sitting upright.The alarm clock taunts me, flashing five thirty a.m.

“Running time,” he announces, looking like he’s stepped straight out of a Nike ad.

“Now?”I ask, scratching my head.

His gaze softens me a bit.“Now, kitten,” he says, his voice dropping to an authoritative tone that weakens my knees.

Groaning, I throw off the quilt.His eyes drift to my satin camisole and shorts, and I feel my nipples harden.So, I intentionally lift off my camisole, putting on a little show.

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