Page 21 of Sinner's End

My heart breaks a little for him. He reminds me of Daisy when I first adopted her. Wanting to be loyal but not quite sure what was expected of her. I wonder what happened to this mountain of a man to make him look so terribly fucking lost.

“Tell Mana I’ll be there at ten.”

Lethe looks doubtful. I smile, hoping to reassure him.

“Fine.” And then he walks off into the surrounding trees, disappearing into the dark.

“You don’t have to do this,” Kaleb says, drawing me against his chest and hugging me tightly.

“I need to make him understand that he doesn’t own me. He and Emma can do whatever they want. But I am done with both of them and that fucking asylum he calls home.”

Chapter Nine

First Date Expectations

Kaleb

Addi looks so damn pretty when she’s angry—prettier than ever—so what the fuck does that say about me? But I’m not here to talk about me. It’s her I want, in every way. Her scent wrapped around me, her body tight beneath mine as I show her what love really is.

Yeah, I fall hard and fast, but I’ve kept this part of me locked away for so long, from so many breaches of trust that delved soul-deep that I wasn’t sure I could want someone this way again.

Mission achieved, asshole.

Her head rests on my shoulder as I pull her back onto the hood of my car, tipping her head back to stare up at the night’s early stars. Her eyes are half-closed, her body soft where she curves into my embrace. I love that look on her face, her lips soft, the tension of a moment before gone.Trust.The one thing I crave, and she gives it to me freely. This girl will break me, I know she will.

And I’m not running.

I trace my knuckles along the gentle slope of her jaw. Her lips part on a breath that’s sweet and heady and leaves me as hard as granite. I shift her onto my lap, wanting her to know the effect her proximity has on me and needing her closer all at once.

“You’re handsy, aren’t you?” she murmurs, the easy way we were before Lethe’s intrusion sliding back. It better fucking stay too, because if I get her in my arms for a few hours, she’smine.

“I need to touch you.” I don’t hide the desire that leaves my voice ragged at the edges. Why shouldn’t I be honest if shecan give me her trust that fast?

She frowns, her gaze refocusing on me as she tips her head back farther. “Is this a marking-your-territory thing after that asshole turned up? I mean, a pretty asshole, and a confused one, but still. I’m here withyou.”

I swallow hard. “Yeah. You are.” Without any more thought about it, and as natural as can be, I dip my head and brush my mouth over hers.

Pleasure sings through my veins as if she is made for me, and I’m here for every goddamn drop of it. When she and that toxic-as-fuck sister of hers came into the asylum—let’s be real about where Mana keeps his secrets—I thought she was bait for him. Hell, maybe she still is. But she seemed untouchable and that made me want her more.

Addi freezes, the soft lines of her body stiffening as I suck in a controlled breath and go back for seconds. Because I’m a greedy mother, and I need to taste her, make sure she remembers the taste ofmetonight when she lies in her bed and slips her hands between her thighs. Not Mana, and sure as fuck not Lethe, who she seemed to form an instant connection with. Just me.

Fuck, she’s right. I am claiming her because he looked at her that way, like he wanted to take her home. Or worse, like he wantedherto takehimhome.

My head swirls with too many thoughts as her lips part the slightest amount. It’s more than I need to drive my tongue into her mouth, cupping the back of her head. The softness disappears from us both, transforming into something raging and feral, a frenzy of unsated need.

I draw back on a gasp, barely able to break the connection, but I do it because I have to offer. In another life I was a private schoolboy with manners before I found my place in Portland’s underbelly. May as well make some use of that trustfund education.

“Tell me I’m not pushing you?” I graze her lips with mine on every damning word.

“I want you to push more,” she breathes, her forest green eyes open and locked onto me like she’s garnered the corner of my soul and refuses to let go.

Her tongue flicks gently at my bottom lip as she speaks, and my cock is ready to rampage. The quiet touch is intimate, sweet. Erotic. I know instinctively what she’ll look like on her knees with her mouth wrapped around my cock.

Addi is a sexy-as-fuck brat, and I want to make it my life’s work to tame her, knowing I’ll never win, but enjoy the battle nonetheless.

Her lips part as I kiss her slower this time, gliding my tongue along hers, finding how deep she likes it, and when she’ll push me away.

Spoiler: she doesn’t.

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