Page 20 of The Heart of Midnight

His eyes widen only for a moment, then he squeezes my hand tighter. “Do you want me to tell you why I think you like that? Or would you prefer I shut up?”

“I want to hear it.” His response has me relaxing. “Say it.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you. You like it because you want to feel that level of desire,” he says. “You want to feel like someone craves you so badly, they won’t take no for an answer. They’d rather hurt you than not have you, that’s how badly they need you.”

“That’s exactly what I’ve told myself,” I admit. “That I want someone who needs me so fucking bad he doesn’t care about what’s socially acceptable. All he cares about is me, is breeding my body like he’d fucking die if he couldn’t, and he doesn’t care if that desire gets him arrested. I want him to be so fucking rough he leaves marks that I can look at in the mirror and remember how it felt to be that wanted — no, needed.”

I meet his gaze again and find a hunger there I’ve never seen before. At least not on Scar.

“I could do that for you.”

The noise I release should be embarrassing, but it isn’t. The conversation has me far too wet to be embarrassed. “You could?”

I don’t know why it comes out as a whisper, but it’s clear he hears me anyway.

He just doesn’t answer with words.

Instead, he stands up and pulls me to my feet, wrapping both hands around my face and tipping my chin up. “I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted, Avery. But first, there’s something I’ve been dying to do for a very long time.”

He sweeps me into a searing kiss that has my knees giving out, but with the grip he has on me there’s no world where he letsme fall. It’s without a doubt the best kiss I’ve ever had, because with it, I feel every ounce of his desire, every restraint he’s had snapping one by one with each swipe of his tongue. It makes me fall for him even more.

Trust me, handsome. I’ve been wanting you to do this for a long time too.

Thirteen

Scar

One day, when I’m sitting on death row, I’ll look back on this moment as the one that fucked me over. I’ll sit there and wonder why I did it, why I let myself be so vulnerable and stupid after a few shots of tequila and hearing her say the words I already knew were true. But I get totouchher now. Not through gloves, with my bare hands. Callused, rough hands that haven’t felt the softness of a woman’s body in more years than I can count. I get tokissher now, not just fantasize about it in the dark. I don’t need to wear a mask or change my voice or alter my movements to hide my identity.

I can take her the way I always meant to.

I can take her in the light.

“Avery,” I growl, picking her up off her feet as I catch her bottom lip between my teeth. “You’ve been teasing me for months.”

“Have I?” she breathes. “How so?”

She does that infuriatingly hot thing where she bites her bottom lip and stares me down like she’s innocent, and I lose my fucking mind every time. There’s something so enticing about a girl who looks innocent and happens to be anything but.

“Revealing clothes, flirty smiles, touching me all the time,” I growl, carrying her toward her room. “Spreading your legs on the couch as if I don’t know you’re trying to draw my attention to your pussy.”

She clings to me until I throw her on her bed, then spreads her legs for me like she can’t help it. “Did it work?” She releases a shaky breath. “Did my pussy have your attention?”

Nodding, I try to remind myself not to slip into either one of my usual personas. I can’t be Midnight right now, can’t be Muerte. But it’s been so fucking long since I’ve been with a woman as Scar that I’m not sure I remember how it used to be. “Oh, you’ve had my attention. And now someone has to pay the price for that.”

I grab her ankles and yank her toward the edge of the bed as she squeals, gripping the leggings she’s wearing to peel them off and reveal cute little pink panties with a wet spot right in the center.

Fuck, she really does want me.

“Like what you see?” she whispers, dropping her knees to the sides as she reaches down to rub herself through the fabric.

I do, but I can’t help but notice this isn’t what she asked for. She wanted to feel forced, yet everything about her is screaming that she wants this, wants me. For the first time in a while, I’m okay with that. Maybe I don’t have to be so rough all the time.

“You’re gorgeous, Avery. Staying away from you has been impossible,” I admit, hoping she won’t read between the lines. “Take your panties off for me. Slowly.”

There’s a spark in her eyes that makes me believe she’s about to deny me, but she doesn’t. Her gaze never leaves mine as she slides them off of her body and kicks them to the side, waiting patiently for my next command. Well, maybe not patiently.

“Touch yourself. Show me that pretty little pussy.”

---