Page 81 of When He Protects

She didn’t even get up the first step before he had Esme in his arms. He pulled her against him, her back to his chest, even as his arms looped around her. His mouth went to her ear, and he swore, “You won’t ever get away.”

“Tyler…”

“I can’t let you get away. Because you’re what I want.”He would be wrecked without her. He spun her in his arms. His mouth crashed onto hers. He didn’t want to think about the past. Death and cold graves. A world that had shattered and never been put together right again.

He didn’t want to think of two black coffins, side by side in a rainy cemetery.

He didn’t want to think of a café that had exploded in Paris. A woman too still and bloody in his arms.

Esme wasn’t the villain. She wasnothis villain. But she damn well might be his everything. His feelings weren’t rational when it came to her, and he didn’t care. Fuck rational. Fuck normal. Fuckgood.

Esme was his.

His to protect.

His to keep.

His to take.

His mouth plundered hers, and he could taste the salt of her tears.I hate Esme’s tears.The only thing about her that he hated. Did he want to rip her father apart? Hell, yes.

But he didn’t want to hurt Esme. Never, ever did he want to hurt his Esme.

Her mouth was open beneath his desperate lips. Her tongue met his with a wild greed. Her hands stroked over him even as he pulled her ever closer to his body.

Screw this. Need more.He grabbed her hips and lifted her up. Her legs automatically wrapped around his waist. The thick length of his cock pressed against the crotch of her jeans. She rode him through the fabric. Up and down, arching. Pushing.

Moaning softly for him.

He needed to fuck her. Right then. Right there. Fuck her deep and hard and let the rest of the madness that was life and death fall away from themboth. Tyler tore his mouth from hers and began climbing the stairs, with her legs still wrapped around his waist.

“What are you doing?” A surprised cry as she clutched him tighter. “You’ll kill us both!”

“Hold on, baby.” He had her, always. He could carry her up the stairs any day of the week.

She held him tighter. Kept her legs wrapped around him.

“It’s hot the way you’re so strong, Tyler,” she whispered. “Je veux te baiser.”

“It’s hot when you speak French. Drives me insane.” No, he was already insane. Had been, since the moment he first saw her at Jorlan’s party.

He reached the landing. Turned for her bedroom. Didn’t lower her. His cock wantedinher. He wanted in. They needed condoms. If it hadn’t been for the condoms, he would have fucked her on the stairs.

I will fuck her on the stairs. In the bed. On the floor. Against the wall. Anywhere and everywhere until Esme understands that we aren’t pretend. We aren’t ending. I won’t let go.

He hit the light switch with one hand. His mouth went back for Esme’s?—

Wrong.

He stiffened. His head whipped back up.

“Tyler?” Uncertainty. “Did you…did I do something wrong?”

He lowered Esme to her feet. His gaze swept the room. The room that had been completelytrashed.

She sucked in a sharp breath when she saw the destruction.

“We’re getting the hell out of here.” Right then. Noalarms had blared. The security sensors hadn’t picked up any intruders and sent an alert to his phone.

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