Page 61 of The Hand that Frays

“You know better, stupid girl. Crawl.”

His words damn near make me purr.

I fall to my knees slowly before maintaining eye contact with him and crawling across the small expanse between us.

As I approach, he moves his chair back, lengthening the distance between us until the back of his chair hits the bed.

“Where will you go now, Butcher?” I tease.

“There’s nowhere to go, my beautiful, stupid wife. There’s nowhere but here. With you.”

I try not to read into the foreboding, ominous feeling hanging over me like a cloud that his words mean that he and I will never bathe in the blood of others again.

This case, while strange, also felt different.

Like he and I were turning a page together, furthering the plot in our shared story.

“Is that so?” I ask, coasting my hands up his shins, over his knees, and finally resting them on his thighs with a squeeze.

He reaches down and clasps my throat in his hand, not hard, just enough to lay claim to my breathing.

“I never knew there was someone out there for me.” He leans forward a bit, tipping my face back a hair with his hold to loom over my lips with inky intent. “Then you came into my room with a med cup in one hand, a cup of water in the other, and a look on your face that said you were mine to play with.”

I swallow, opening my mouth to reply, and he gives me room to do so by loosening his grip.

“I’ve always wanted to ask what you saw in me. Why me?” I whisper.

He teases his lips closer, and I damn near forget we’re having a conversation at all and close the distance between our mouths.

I always feel out of control near him.

His proximity steals my sensibilities, and he knows it.

His tongue darts out and teases the seam of my lips, lapping up the whimper that escapes them.

“Someone like me has a radar of sorts, one that allows him to know when he’s in the company of someone likeminded. You, my perfect girl, have an aura about you that I couldn’t look away from. You’re radiant with insanity. You also looked at me like I was something to eat, and I very much wanted you to devour me.”

My breathing halts, and my heart damn near does the same at his words. “I did not.”

His malicious laugh causes every butterfly still residing in me to fall dead, twitching on the floor of my stomach. “You did, stupid girl. Don’t worry; I’m not judging you. I had never wanted to see my cock disappear in something so bad before I met you. I had tohave you.”

“Had to have me,” I whisper, lost for words, Fuck, I’m lost for thoughts.

His nose skims over mine, and I barely keep myself in check.

Barely able to keep from melting at his feet.

“You were mine from the moment we locked eyes,” he growls, which breaks my resolve.

I press forward, capturing his lips as I wrap my arms around his neck and lift from the floor.

Straddling him, I deepen the kiss.

His hands grip my hips, squeezing, reminding me who’s in charge, who I belong to.

Tangling my hands in his hair, I fist it in both of them as Neo’s length teases my center through his clothes.

Fuck, I need him.

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