Page 89 of They Break Beauty

She sobered then and grasped my hands on her face. “Why the nerves?”

I sucked in a breath and gave it to her straight, “Last time we got… carnal… you blew me off like it was nothing. Like it was just a meaningless release, an itch you needed me to scratch for you.”

“I didn’t mean… I was just scared… not ready. I hadn’t pegged you yet. And I was still in those shadows.”

“I know. And I see that’s shifted for you, or it’s at least on its way. I just… I’ve waited a long time, held off for longer than you even realize. Christ, I’ve been obsessed with you since I was fifteen. But it wasn’t the right time then. I mean, it took me two whole years after what happened to even become stable again.” I cocked my head to the side. “Well, to be able to appear outwardly stable to others, anyway. To get my father off my back and be able to live without such a short leash. And after that, it wasn’t safe to approach you. Not until the last year or so.”

“Wasn’t safe, how?”

“It doesn’t matter. It is now.”

“Levi—”

I dropped my hands from her and stepped back. “What I’m trying to say is that if I touch you again like that, escalate things beyond a tease, I won’t be able to give you space again, to allow distance between us. I won’t be able to let you brush it off. I’ll be all fucking in, Brianna. You will be mine. No fighting it this time.”

“Like I was saying, both times I’ve felt free and like my true self was around you, because of you. I want more of it. I don’t want to run anymore. And, you, you make me feel safe to do that, to get back to that.” She smiled, her eyes swimming with emotion, though, as she confessed, “You pulled me out of the shadows. I don’t want to fight that, to fight you, or this thing between us. It’s past the point of being denied, trust me.”

In the next moment, she was on me, looping her arms around my neck and crushing her lips to mine.

The moment I responded, all bets were off.

She hooked her thigh around me and I took the cue, hauling her into my arms without breaking our kiss.

It was all a blur of roaming hands, fisting each other’s hair, nipping, biting, and tonguing as I carried her into the building and managed to get us into the elevator and push the button for her floor.

As soon as we were inside, I slammed her up against the wall and rolled my hips, grinding my painfully hard cock between her thighs. She threw her head back, opening wider for me, inviting me in, her desperate need as acute as mine.

The doors pinging open had her pulling her mouth from mine, much to my regret.

Even for a moment.

I couldn’t stand the separation.

I fisted her hair to pull her back to me, but she resisted, uttering breathlessly, “My bag. I left it in your saddlebag.”

“Your keys are in it?”

“No. My jacket pocket.”

“Then I’ll get it after.”

“After?” she asked all coyly, biting her lip all fucking sexy.

I carried her down the corridor toward her apartment door. “After my cock has a thorough introduction to your sweet cunt.”

A little tremble of need went through her.

“Is that how you want it from me, Wildflower? Dirty and rough?”

“I thought you’d studied me in such an invasively in-depth way that you already knew how to give me what I need?” she said, grinning, so proud of herself, thinking she was calling me out.

Mmm. I loved it when her fight came out, when she spit fire back at me.

“I’m confident that I do. But this is about what you know, what you’re ready to accept.”

She reached into the pocket of her edgy pink and black leather jacket and withdrew her key. Even at the awkward angle, she was able to reach down and unlock her apartment door with it. She pocketed it, then took me in with blazing eyes. “Everything. I want it all.”

“Everything, hmm?”

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