Page 40 of They Break Beauty

“Oh God, Levi,” she moaned, the sound rolling through me like the sweetest fucking music.

I sucked on her neck, then growled at her ear, “Is this how Tommy touched you? Nah, let me guess, he was really soft and careful with you, treating you like you were breakable, yes?”

She murmured something into my hand.

“What’s that?” I asked, removing my palm.

“How do you know about that?”

“I know a lot of things. So, answer me. Was it like that? Too sweet and gentle? I can tell from your reactions to this brief little tease that you don’t like it nice and easy. Isn’t that right? You’ve been craving the rough and wild touch of a vicious bastard like me, haven’t you? You want to be consumed, utterly owned. But you’re also afraid, because you’ve never met anybody who could understand what you went through back then. Until me. I was there. I know, Brianna. And I know how to make it better, to give you what you need without triggering you. You’re claustrophobic, yet you haven’t reacted negatively to me pinning you up against this wall. Quite the opposite, wouldn’t you say?”

“I… I can’t,” she choked out.

“You already are. I’m certain if I reached under your skirt and dipped my fingers beneath your panties, you’d be soaking wet for me too.”

“It’s… it’s not about you. It’s just been… it’s been a long time. It could be anyone causing these reactions in me.”

What. The. Hell?

A dangerous growl escaped me and I ripped my hand from beneath her shirt and ceased rolling my hips for her.

Slapping my hand back over her mouth, I hissed, “Listen. Very carefully. I’ve waited. I’ve been nice and given you a lot of time, allowed you your freedom. But I’m here now. We’re here now together. So if you run, I will chase. If you make the wrong choice to fight me, I will chip away at that wall of yours right down to the bedrock. I’ll come at you with absolutely no mercy, and I won’t fucking stop. It won’t be pleasant. I don’t want to employ harsher methods, but if you continue to force my hand, I absolutely will. Final warning.”

I sucked in a breath and removed my hand, then stepped back. “What will it be, Wildflower?”

She turned around slowly, breathing heavily, struggling to get a hold of herself and come down from the heady sensations I’d made her feel.

And then she unscrewed the cap of her water bottle.

Assuming her throat was parched and she was going to soothe it by taking a sip, she instead surprised me as she thrust it forward and poured it all over my face and chest.

I hissed and jerked back as the ice-cold water had me shuddering.

And that was all she needed to make a run for it and burst out of the room.

She was almost through the door when Colt came striding in.

She collided with him, choked from the impact, but managed to shove him aside and bolt away.

“What the shit was that?” he asked me, eyes wide with a whole lot of confusion.

I stared after her and rumbled menacingly, “It means, game on.”

11

~Brianna~

That bastard had left his mark on me.

In more ways than one.

I dabbed more concealer over the right side of my neck from where he’d sucked on the skin so hard he’d left a very visible hickey.

I could still feel it, still feel him.

His touch.

His warmth.

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