Page 59 of Mine for a Moment

I can’t suppress a moan when he pulls back, only to thrust into me harshly, our eyes locked. “You want me to show you I’m yours?” he asks, doing it all over again. “Just look at me, baby. Look at what you’ve done to me.”

His fingers dig into my skin as he holds me up, and my nails scrape across his scalp in that way he likes.

“I’ve never been so desperate for anyone. Nevereverhave I felt like my heart is no longer mine, like it’s entirely at your mercy to do with as you please.”

He draws a long, pleased groan from my throat when he tilts my hips just right, hitting that spot inside me that drives me wild. The way he smiles at me, looking entirely too satisfied with himself, tells me he knows exactly what he’s doing to me.

I tighten my grip on his hair and pull his mouth to mine, losing myself in him in this moment. He groans, his tongue parting my lips eagerly. “I’m close,” he whispers against my mouth, his movements becoming a little more erratic. “I can’t…fuck,Serenity.”

The way he moves his hips, rotating them just right, his movements strong and intentional, tip me over the edge.

“Ohfuck,” he moans when my pussy contracts around him, his voice far too loud, though he doesn’t seem to care. “Yes,” he groans.“Yes.”

I tighten my legs around his hips as he comes deep inside me, the sounds leaving his lips driving me wild. There’s something so incredibly sexy about Archer losing control like that because ofme.

He smiles at me when his body relaxes, and I gently trail a fingerbetween his brows and down his nose. He chuckles as he bites me softly, and I pull my hand away, giggling back at him.

The same words I keep trying to hide rise back to the surface, but I can’t voice them. Not now. Not when it’d seem like emotional blackmail to tell him how I feel, guilt-tripping him into saying it back.

He groans as he slips out of me and gently lowers me to the floor, his forehead dropping to mine. I whimper when he cups the back of my neck and leans in to kiss me. My lips trail to his neck, and he moans in the sexiest way when I kiss him in the same spot that always makes a shiver run down my spine. He inhales sharply when I suck down on his skin right where his neck meets his shoulder. I pull back when I realize it’ll leave a mark, and all of a sudden, something dark and unpleasant rushes through me—something that makes me hate myself.

“No,” Archer says, grabbing my hair and guiding me to his chest. “Mark me, darling. Right here, over my heart. It’s yours.Iam yours, Serenity.”

He pulls me closer, until my lips are pressed against his chest. His eyes are filled with a different kind of desire as I do just that and mark him as mine, satisfaction coursing through my body.

He smiles at the dark red mark when I pull away, his eyes glittering with something I’ve never seen before. “Good girl,” he murmurs, before pulling my face to his, kissing me slowly.

Forty-Nine

Serenity

I stare at Archer through the mirror in his bedroom as he gently combs my detangling leave-in treatment through my hair with a wide-tooth comb, his movements patient and diligent. I’ve never seen him focus on a task quite as much as this one, and something about it makes me smile.

“What?” he asks.

I love you. “Nothing.”

His gaze darkens, and he smiles back at me, his gaze briefly roaming over the T-shirt I’m wearing. It’s the same one he walked in wearing, and though he hasn’t said anything, I know he loves seeing me in it. Almost as much as I love seeing him in nothing but the pair of black boxers he’s wearing.

“Let me dry your hair for you with that diffuser thing you like. Where is it?”

I shake my head and turn to face him, my heart heavy. “No. It’ll make far too much noise. I’ll just wrap my hair up and let it dry naturally.” I hesitate, my fingers brushing over the mark I left on his skin. It darkened, standing out against his light skin.

Seeing it brings me a sick kind of satisfaction, and I wonder if he knew it’d put me at ease to know he either wouldn’t take his shirt off in front of Tyra or that he simply didn’t care if she saw. It’s reassuring in a primal way that should embarrass me, but instead, I embrace it, reveling in the feeling.

“Archer…you should go,” I say nonetheless, unable to suppress the tinge of guilt that took root the moment Tyra came back home.

He freezes, his gaze cutting to mine. “What? Why?”

I let my hand fall away, my possessiveness at war with my desire to do the right thing. “What if Tyra wakes up? I know she’s been having nightmares.” I look away, my heart aching. “I can hear her at night.” I don’t have the heart to tell him that I can also hear the way he consoles her softly, the way she repeats his name over and over again, like he’s her lifeline.

Archer reaches for me, and I gasp when he lifts me into his arms in one smooth move, his eyes on mine as he carries me to his bed. “Don’t think about anyone but me,” he says as he lays me down, not caring about the way my damp hair messes up his sheets. He settles on top of me and holds himself up on his forearms. “Not tonight, Serenity.” He lowers himself on top of me, placing his head just below my shoulder.

“It’s hard not to,” I admit as I wrap my arms around him, enjoying the feel of his weight on top of me.

“I know,” he whispers. “I’m trying to be there for her, but I just…fuck. I can’t help but feel like I can’t win.” He tightens his grip on my waist, his breathing becoming uneven. “It feels like I’m losing you, Sera. Am I?”

I play with his hair, my touch soothing. “I don’t know,” I reply, my voice breaking.

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