Page 57 of The Shadow

Her eyes search mine frantically. “I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t. I promise you that Connor Blake will never take you from me… Nobody will ever take you from me. You’re mine, Aspen. Do you trust me?”

She nods her head slowly. “Yes. Yes, I trust you.”

“Good. Now I’m going to ask one other thing of you and when I say I need you to trust me and listen, I mean it. Don’t speak another word of this ever to anyone… I mean it. Take it to the grave, the same way that you and Jaxson are taking what happened to your father to the grave.”

I watch her eyes as she slowly comprehends what I’m saying and accepts it. The fear and panic that was just flooding her emotions slips away right in front of me.

“I promise.”

“What are you thinking about?”

Aspen’s warm body stirs beside me on the couch. The few slices of pizza we didn’t finish still sitting in the box on the coffee table, the TV still playing reruns of Friends. Sometime in the last few hours, we managed to fall asleep in each other’s arms, wrecked from the emotions of the day.

“Mmmm,” I groan, rolling her body so that she’s lying on top of me. My arms stretch across her back, my nose buried in her neck.

I don’t tell her what’s really been running through my mind the last few hours during short bursts of lucidity between naps—how to handle Connor. I could tell Lyra. I do know that she has a few contacts and handlers that she’s associated with. I found that out when Jimmy and I were doing recon on this assignment. Connor wasn’t lying about that fact. But the risk of involving others isn’t something I want to take on, but the real reason, the selfish fucked-up one… I want to deliver on that promise I made to him on day one.

“What I want to do with you.” I let my hands slide down her back to her ass, grabbing a double handful.

“I do have one teeny tiny little confession.” She holds up her fingers so they’re almost touching.

“Oh yeah?” I smack her ass playfully. “Anything that will get you in trouble?”

“Maybe,” she says coyly. “I might have located Connor’s secret crypto currency wallet.”

“Oh?”

“And I might have been able to siphon some away to clean out all of my mom’s medical bills.”

“Holy shit.” I laugh. “Did you tell Lyra?”

“No.” She chews her bottom lip. “I actually feel really bad about that but she’s about to get all of Connor’s money once they figure that mess out and she’s already a multimillionaire several times over with her family money. I only took enough to cover the bills. Nothing more.”

“You should have taken all of it.” I laugh. “Damn, you surprise me more and more, you know that?” My hands find her hips and I pull her down so she grinds against me. “My girl’s bad,” I say, sitting up to flick her earlobe with my tongue before sucking on it.

“So bad,” she says, her fingers curling against me as I drag my tongue over her neck.

I feel her body tense against me, her hips coming down harder against me as she starts to grind them.

“So naughty.” I nip her jaw, a move I know combined with dragging my lips over her neck will have her trembling in seconds. “In fact,” I say, swinging my legs off the couch so I can stand and pick her up in the process, “I think you need to be punished… thoroughly.”

“More,” she pants, her naked body writhing beneath me on the bed.

“Oh, you’re going to get more, baby.” I sit back and flip her over, pulling her up by her hips so she’s on all fours. “A lot fucking more.” I slap her ass, a resounding thwack combined with her moan echoing around us. “Is that what you need, baby? A good hard fuck to remind you who you belong to?” I smack her again, her hips jutting backward toward me.

“Yes, please.”

“Look at you.” I press my hand against the space between her shoulder blades until her chest is flat against the bed. “With your red ass in the air.” I grip her cheeks, spreading them apart so I have a clear view of all of her. “Pussy spread, begging for my cock.”

My resolve is hanging by a thread, my cock bouncing at her entrance that’s ready for me. I slide two fingers inside her, then pull them back out so I can taste her.

“Yeah, you’re ready,” I say, licking the last remnants of her from my fingers. I grab two pillows, shoving them beneath her belly so her hips stay elevated for me. “You can scream into a pillow or you can break that headboard, baby, but I hope you’re ready because I’m about to fuck you into next week.”

I don’t give her time to adjust when I slide in. I take her mercilessly.

“This is what you need, baby. Trust me,” I grunt, the sound of my hips slapping against the backside of her ass. “Rough and deep.”

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