Page 78 of A Heart So Savage

Her admission bought a surge of hot blood racing through Kingston’s veins. It pooled in his groin until he was hard as a fucking rock for her.

“Jesus, Ava,” he growled. “Your emotions are all jacked up right now. The shooting, everything that comes with that, the note. It’s all messing with your head.” He smoothed a tendril of her hair back from her forehead. “I want to fuck you until you scream, but it’s not a good idea right now.”

“Why not? Are you hurt more than you let on?” Ava scooted closer; her brow furrowed with worry as she lightly touched the bandages wrapping the circumference of his bicep. “I knew it was worse than you said.”

“It’s not that.” Kingston lay still, discomforted by her concern. It’d been a long time since someone bothered showing true concern for his wellbeing. He couldn’t decide if he liked it or not.

Tilting her head, Ava kissed the hollow of his throat. One of her hands drifted to his chest, and with gentle fingertips, she traced the outline of the lion’s head tattoo. “I want you, Kingston. I want you, and I don’t care if it makes me seem weak or stupid.”

Kingston immediately grasped her chin, holding her face with hard fingers. He glared at her, angry that she thought so little of herself. “Don’t you ever say that again, Ava.” His words came out harsher than he intended, but she needed to understand her value. To see herself as he saw her now. Someone who was strong enough to survive abuse and assault and still be the most tender-hearted person he’d ever known. “You are neither weak nor stupid. Despite everything that’s been done to you, including the hell I’ve put you through, you are braver and stronger than anyone I’ve ever met. You are priceless. A goddamn queen I should be bowing to.”

Ava regarded him solemnly. “Do you really believe that?”

Kingston huffed out a rueful laugh. “I can’t explain it. Becausethishas become something I never intended or expected. No matter how hard I fight against feeling any emotion for you, you somehow keep wiggling under my skin. The only thing I’m sure of is that I am a heartless, cruel bastard, and you deserve so much better than me. I’m the monster who stole you away from the world.”

Ava gave a tiny, stubborn shake of her head. “You’re wrong, Kingston. You are not heartless.”

His mouth twisted in a wry grin. “That still leaves my cruel nature, Ava. And that’s something that will never change. The way I’m wired when it comes to women… The depraved things I want to do to you… That part of me willneverchange.”

“I don’t want you to change.” Ava gripped his wrist, pulling his hand from her chin and placing it on her throat. “I want you just as you are. Controlling. Possessive. Dominating me and keeping me safe. Don’t you see, Kingston? You’ve said many times that I have always been yours. I understand what it means now, even if I fought it—and you—at first. But it’s also true that you’ve always been mine as well.”

Ava’s words were an aphrodisiac, enticing Kingston’s fingers to twitch until they were flexing around the slim column of her neck. He wondered if he was dreaming. Because what she was confessing was the stuff of fantasy.

“Fuck, Ava. Stop provoking me to take what I want when I’m trying so fucking hard to think of someone other than myself.”

Ava arched into him, her firm breasts burning his skin through the thin nightgown she wore. “Stop thinking, Kingston. Take me like you want to. Take me because I need you. You told me once that I would beg for you, and I’m begging now. Make love to me. Prove that I meansomethingto you.” She sighed with frustrated desire when he still did nothing more than tighten his hand around her throat. “I want to be a part of your life, and this is the only way I can accomplish that.”

Kingston stared at her, baffled that this girl did not recognize the depths of his need. The absolute fuckingobsessionhe suffered for her. His admission tumbled out before he could rethink the words and their implication. “Somehow, you’ve becomemylife, Ava. Even if I don’t deserve you.”

“Show me,” Ava whispered desperately. “Punish me. Fuck me. I’m giving you everything.” She dug her fingers into his hand where it wrapped around her throat, leaning into his grip with fever-bright eyes. “Everything, Kingston.”

“We’re supposed to wait twenty-four hours before having sex, remember?” Kingston’s tone wavered, and Ava leaned on his shaky resistance.

“I know my body better than they do,” was her tart reply. “And so do you. You know every curve and line. Every hollow. Every need and desire and the taste of my skin. Youknowme, Kingston.”

Kingston groaned at her words. “If I do what you’re asking, I’ll end up hurting you.”

“Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted? To hurt me?” Ava taunted, pressing her mouth to his tattoo. She kissed it softly, running her tongue over the white line scar making up the lion’s fang before nipping him with sharp, devilish teeth that made his cock roar to life. “You may have broken me, just like you said you would.” Her head rose and she stared him in the eye. “But I think I can break you, too.”

Kingston’s control melted away like ice during a spring thaw. “So, the bad girl wants to play, does she?”

His hand abruptly tightened around her throat. Ava gasped as her airway was constricted. Still, she nodded in consent, her green eyes dark with desire and a spark of foolish challenge Kingston could not resist.

Rolling onto his back, he dragged her along with him using only the grip around her throat. The pillows propped his upper body up against the headboard. Ava awkwardly sprawled across his midsection, scrambling until she ended up straddling him. His cock tented his sleeping pants, thick and hard as an iron pole, as it nestled against the plump cheeks of her delectable ass.

“Pull my pants down.”

The order was guttural, his patience snapping in two as her eyes darkened even more with excitement. How lucky was he that his girl liked it just as rough as he did?

“How?” Ava responded in a strangled voice.

Kingston’s eyes crinkled at the corners. His fingers flexed and tightened again. “I don’t give a fuckhowyou do it. Just do it.”

Her lips parted as she drew a quick breath. Kingston could see her mind furiously working out how she could accomplish the task with his hand wrapped around her throat, keeping her hostage.

Bracing one hand on his chest, Ava reached behind her and slipped her fingers into the waistband of his pants. Somehow, by contorting her body, she succeeded in pushing the garment down far enough that his cock finally sprang free from confinement.

“See how clever you are when you want something badly enough?” Kingston crooned. Using his free hand, ignoring the sharp pain in his injured arm, he reached beneath the nightgown she wore and slid his palm over the bare flesh of her ass. Higher and higher, his fingers traveled until he could hook them in the thin, delicate strap of her G-string. One quick motion and the fabric ripped in two.

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