Page 73 of Threaded

Mariah leaned back on her hands as Andrian stared down at her, his sudden closeness both an irritant and a drug, his tanzanite eyes like blue flames. His hand reached up to her neck, his fingers trailing lightly down her chest, between the swell of her breasts and down the plane of her stomach, leaving a path of blazing fire and goosebumps in their wake. Mariah’s traitorous body responded instantly to him, the thin material of her black nightgown hiding nothing.

She hadn’t quite known what she’d wanted when she’d silently pleaded with him to take her with him that night. All she’d known was that none of the others looked at her the way he had, that moment he’d burst through the doors of her bedroom.

Mariah still couldn’t shake that look. It was haunting, but was a lifeline thrown to her as she’d been floating through the sea of her nightmare, the only raft that had saved her from sinking fully beneath the weight of sadness and terror and fury.

She’d told him she wanted a distraction.

She supposed, in her own way, that’s exactly what she now needed.

His hand settled on her hip, her nightgown riding up just enough so his pinky finger rested on the skin of her thigh. Mariah felt his hot breath on her cheek as he whispered against smooth skin.

“You want a distraction,nio? I can give that to you.” He paused, Mariah’s breath catching in her lungs, her heart racing erratically in her chest.

“But that isallyou’ll ever get from me.”

He pulled back from her slightly, just enough to meet her gaze with his own. His normally bright, intrusive eyes deepened to a rich sapphire, and she could’ve sworn she saw tendrils of shadow curling off his bare shoulders. She wondered, distantly, if perhaps there was something hidden in his veins, a gift that, like her own, he sought to keep secret.

Except … he now knew about her second gift. She quickly vowed to unearth his.

It was only fair.

Mariah swallowed quietly, her mouth still hot and dry. Her gaze dipped to his full lips before speaking.

“Who says I want anything more.” Not a question, a statement. A declaration. There were many reasons she needed this, but one thing was for certain.

She wasn’t there for love, nor did she ever want to be.

Love was, after all, aweakness.

And after that night, she never wanted to feel weak again.

With her words, a rope was snapped, a tether unleashed. Andrian’s lip pulled back further from his teeth into a smirking growl, his right hand digging deeper into her hip, his left latching onto the back of her neck.

And then he kissed her.

Mariah felt like she’d been lit on fire with a torch, every inch of her being set alight with immediate, cravingneed. Her mouth opened as he crushed his lips to hers, his tongue instantly sweeping in, claiming,devouring. He tasted like snow and smoke, something crisp and dark anddangerousall at once. Nothing about Andrian was gentle or kind—he was icy darkness, demanding, punishing her for something she wasn’t yet aware of.

He was exactly what she needed, right at that moment.

She tilted her head back further, granting him deeper access to her mouth as his hand slid from the nape of her neck into the thickness of her hair. She arched her back, pressing her body into his, wrapping her legs around his hips. She felthim, the hard, impressive length of him, against her core, a soft, throaty groan escaping her lips.

He ripped his mouth away from hers at the sound, the darkness in his eyes near-feral, before dropping his lips and teeth to her neck. His mouth trailed down her neck, her chest, following much of the same path his hands had mere moments before. The hand gripping her hip suddenly moved up, right to her breast, pinching her nipple hard between his fingers through the thin fabric of her nightgown. She hissed at the pain, but couldn’t stop from pushing into him, begging for more.

And then the low neckline of her nightgown was pulled down, her skin suddenly exposed. Andrian’s mouth was hot and brutal as it wrapped around her breast, his teeth grazing the sensitive flesh of her nipple as he flicked it once with his tongue.

Mariah wasn’t sure if the sparks she saw were in her mind or conjured by the magic in her veins.

She gasped a breath as he growled against her skin, his grip in her hair tightening, pulling her head back until her gaze met the ceiling of his rooms.

As immediately as he’d grabbed her, his grasp on her hair released, and as her head fell forward, her mouth was once again claimed by his. This kiss was even more ravaging than the first, a torrent of teeth and tongue and hair and nails. Her head spun, her heart pounded, and her control slipped further and further away.

As if she wanted to maintain that control. She wanted none of that power, none of that responsibility. Not tonight.

When his hand again returned to her hip, his fingers gliding slowly across the soft skin of her inner thigh, her control evaporated completely.

A slight shift of Andrian’s hips had her legs falling from where they’d been clenched around him, his body pushing her thighs even farther apart. His hands were still moving, inching closer and closer to her center, the agonizing slowness of his pace driving hermad.

When she felt the rough pads of his fingers brush softly against her core, over her thin, lacy underwear, a shiver tore through her. A gasp escaped her lips as she broke their kiss, her head falling back further into his palm.

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