Page 43 of Skin Deep

“I wanted you since the beginning. You know that, right?” I kissed him again. “Looking back, our meeting kinda feels like fate, you know?”

“I don’t believe in fate,” War muttered. His lips parted and he made a small sound as I pushed my cock into the tight heat of his body.

He pressed his palm to my chest again, long fingers brushing over the scorpion there, and he gave me a hungry look, those blue eyes so full of emotion. It felt strange after how roughly I’d handled him before to see him so subdued and soft for me.

I frowned when he turned his head slightly and I caught sight of the bruise blossoming on his cheek. “Did I hit you too hard?” I asked, cupping his cheek.

He put his hand over mine and shook his head. “Is it going to bruise?”

“It already is. I could get some ice?”

“No,” he said firmly and crossed his ankles around my lower back. “Don’t you dare. I want it there as a reminder.”

I still felt a little guilty about the way I’d treated him before, even though he was clearly into it. All I wanted to do was wrap him up in softness and love on him to make up for it. He didn’t think he deserved love, but he did. Just because he was a stranger to it didn’t mean he didn’t need every bit he could get.

I shifted his legs up my back. “Keep your legs around me, beautiful.”

He crossed his ankles, holding onto me tightly. I kissed him, rolling my hips into him slowly, swallowing the unintelligible sounds of his pleasure that were a language all their own. There was something so needy, so masculine yet vulnerable, about the sounds he made that it was like a reward every time I heard them. I never wanted him to stop, and I never wanted him making those sounds for anyone else again.

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t the only one who had a jealous streak.

I didn’t know how I was supposed to leave after this and go back to my life, even for a day.

I adjusted my hold on him, and my thumb brushed against the bandage on his thigh, making him whine a little louder. “Shit, sorry.”

“No, touch me there. Please.” He threaded one long arm between our bodies to stroke his cock. “I’m close.”

Was I really going to hurt him again so I could feel him come around me? Hell yes, I was. I pressed my thumb firmly in the center of the bandage and pounded into him harder, leaning back to watch the way he worked his cock. His sweet, musical whimpers got louder, faster, higher, and then he was coming, his body tightening around mine as he filled the condom with his release.

I moved my hand away from the bandage, focused wholly on driving into his body, chasing my own end. He was so fucking beautiful with his face flushed, eyes wide, full lips parted… My orgasm hit hard and I shuddered, filling the condom. There was a small spark of irritation in the back of my mind at knowing I wasn’t filling him, marking him with my cum the way I’d marked him with his scalpel. I wanted to fill him, to have him begging me to, to make him absolutely filthy again and watch my cum leak out of him, but I wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to live with that. I’d take what I could get, even so.

War made a small, distressed sound when I collapsed on top of him, and I realized I still had him folded like origami.

“Sorry,” I muttered, breathless, and helped him get his legs down.

His answer was a small hum and to rub his nose against my chest. “You’re kind of heavy.”

“Hm. Am I? Hadn’t noticed.” I grinned and let more of my weight fall on him until he was scrambling to try and push me away.

I laughed and finally let go of him. We went into the downstairs half bath to clean up quickly before returning to the couch. When we came back, I scooped him up and fell onto my back, bringing him along for the ride.

He snorted and let his head fall to my chest when I wrapped my arms around him. “Do you have giant DNA or something? I suddenly feel like a fucking hobbit.”

I smiled. “Your feet aren’t hairy enough for that. Plus, you don’t like food.”

War gave me a strange look. “What do you know about hobbits?”

“Saw the movies once.”

“Only once?” he said with a dismissive snort.

I kissed his sweaty temple. “Guess I was waiting for the right person to watch it with. We’ll make a date of it.”

“A weekend of it,” he corrected. “If we’re going to do it, we’re doing it right, and that means we’re watching the extended editions.”

I took a minute to clean us up with the wipes. It wasn’t as good as a shower, but it seemed like it might be good enough for him, at least for now.

War sighed and propped his chin up on his elbows, looking at me. “Are you free tomorrow? It’ll take a few days to run Bowen down. I need to figure out his routine, so I know the best place to grab him. But maybe it won’t be so boring if I have company. Plus, we should have the info from the police on the ripper soon. I was thinking of going by Shepherd’s to have him build a profile.”

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