Page 2 of Ruthless

The heat of our bodies causes the temperature in the room to go up and fogs over the lens of my glasses. Without a word, he slides them down my nose and places them on my nightstand before grabbing my ankles and digging the tips of my heels into him.

“I can’t see much without those, you know.” My fingers slide through the mess of hair on top of his head, but he grabs my wrists before I can dig them in and pins my hands above by the side of my head.

“You don’t need to see, Hummingbird. All you need to do is hold on to me and enjoy the ride.” His teeth dig into the sensitive place where my shoulder meets my neck so hard I’m sure I’ll have a mark to cover up later.

He slowly eases inside of me, inch by agonizing inch, until he’s all the way inside of me. A sharp breath escapes him as he braces on his elbows and stares down at me, watching my face for clues.

“Holy shit.” A blissful mixture of pleasure and pain fills my body as I let out a small gasp and become accustomed to his size.

He stills and watches me. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, it’s fine. Just give me a minute.” I suck in a few breaths until the muscles in my body relax against him. Once I’m sure I can take more, my hips move, encouraging him without words to keep going.

His grunts fill the room as he slides out and back inside me several more times. “You feel so fucking good.” He presses into me so hard the headboard rattles against the wall. With each thrust, I’m pressed deeper into the mattress.

An ache forms deep within my belly as he hits my sweet spot. I dig the heels of my shoes deeper into the cheeks of his ass, causing a throaty groan to escape him. The pain sets him off, and he thrusts into me faster and faster until I can barely breathe.

He takes control with every thrust of his hips, owning my body from the inside out. It isn’t long before my thighs tremble, and I come apart in his hands.

He lets out a deep grunt as I squeeze down on him. “Oh fuck.” A few more deep-seated thrusts have him following me over the edge seconds later.

We stay there like that until our heartbeats slow back to normal, but he isn’t through with me yet. Still, inside me, he hardens once more, and we lose ourselves in each other a few more times during the night.

The following day I wake up to an empty bed, but the scent of tobacco and sandalwood lingers on my sheets. A pleasant ache between my thighs has a smile spreading across my face as thoughts of last night replay in my head.

It was quick and dirty. There were no niceties. No names. No strings attached. We lived under the veil of anonymity for the night, just the way I wanted it. Too bad some secrets don’t stay hidden as they should.

CHAPTERONE

Zane

The cold metal of the silver band bites into my finger as I twist it around in circles with my thumb—a reminder of what I’ve just done, what we’ve just done. It feels as foreign against my skin as I feel in it these past twenty-four hours. The heaviness in my gut hasn’t settled since we boarded the plane. Things will be fucked the second we land in Atlanta, but as I glance at the tiny brunette to my right, I know it’s all fucking worth it. The only thing that might be saving me from my new father-in-law stringing me up by my nuts and gutting me is that I managed to make sure we were married by a Catholic priest.

I can’t say this is how I thought my weekend would go, but that all changed the second Connor punched me in the face, and I showed up at her place to find her in tears.

“Ken!”

My fist pounds on her apartment door as blood still drips down my lip onto my beard, but adrenaline courses through me, and I don’t feel shit. Connor’s lucky I deserved the hit, or else I would have knocked him the fuck out but getting out of there and finding her was more important. I left Axel to deal with her brothers and their bullshit since he likes to run his mouth. It’ll be a fucking miracle if he doesn’t create more of a shit show for me to deal with later.

A few seconds pass, and I’m greeted with silence. It only fuels the fire burning in my chest because I know damn well she’s in there. Her Honda Accord is in the parking lot, and it’s cold, meaning she hasn’t been anywhere in quite some time. I slam my fist against the door, hard enough to rattle its hinges.

“Open this fucking door, right now!” I’m trying to keep my shit together, but I can’t breathe until I see her for myself.

Muffled footsteps echo from the other side of the door seconds before it cracks open, revealing the petite brunette that’s turned my world upside down. Her watery blue eyes are red and puffy as they meet mine through the foggy lenses of her glasses. Ithits me like a punch in the gut seeing her like this, but I need to hear it from her, not her brothers. I step inside as she steps back away from the door, allowing me entry.

My feet don’t stop until I reach the far wall across the front door, which doesn’t take me long. The apartment is small and warm, like her. I lean back against the wall and watch her close the door. She twists the lock into place and turns to face me, but makes no move to come closer.

Silence hangs between us like a dead weight as I stroke the end of my beard and continue staring back at her, but I make no move to break it just yet. I need a breather before I say something that’ll have me putting my foot in my mouth. Instead, I take her in. Her dark hair is thrown up in a messy knot much like my own, but it’s her lack of clothing that has all the blood leaving my body and heading south. Wearing short shorts and a tight camisole has her looking like a gift ready to be unwrapped, but it’s the points of her nipples poking through the thin fabric that has my dick aching against my jeans.

I cross my arms over my chest and continue playing with the tip of my beard to keep from slamming her up against that door and fucking her senseless. It’s been weeks since I’ve been inside of her or heard her hum out my name like it was the answer to her prayers—something I’ve been thinking about nonstop ever since. We only had one night, but it has been running on a constant loop in my mind. It’s easy to get lost in those blue eyes and forget all the shit of my past. I shake out of my thoughts, shifting my focus back on why I’m here. “Is it true?”

Her gaze fixates on my bloody nose, and her mouth drops open. She shakes her head as her tiny nose wrinkles, causing her glasses to slide farther down her nose. “Which one of my idiot brothers did that?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Nothing else matters but hearing the truth from her lips alone. “Is. It. True?” I can’t contain the demand in my tone.

She shoves off the door and moves closer into the room until she’s near her kitchenette. She leans her hip against the counter, crossing her arms over her chest, mimicking my stance. Her blue eyes burning into mine from behind her glasses the entire time. She’s stalling, but little does she know I can wait her out all night if I have to. Years of training have taught me that patience brings the prey to you.

“What do you care?”

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