Page 30 of Caged Bird

“You’re scared of me.” The realization was a punch to the gut.

“Yes.”

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Then why are you in here?” she asked again.

“Because you’re hurting yourself, and it’s killing me to listen to it.”

She shrank away but I caught her foot, pinning her in place.

Both of us stared down at my fingers sliding around her ankle. It was too dark to see them now, but I’d seen the bruises. The nasty purple marks on her skin I had no doubt my brother was responsible for. I pressed my lips to one without letting myself think about the consequences.

“Zane…”

But the smell of her skin was intoxicating. I dragged my lips up her calf, kissing her gently, holding her between both hands like she was precious. Because to me she always had been.

She didn’t stop me. If she’d asked, I would have, but her breath came hot and heavy on her lips, quickening with every touch as I moved up her thigh.

I raised the hem of her sleepshirt, exposing more of her skin. The blankets were pushed aside until I was crawling onto the bed and up her body, taking her sleep shirt with me.

My heart hammered too hard, something wild and reckless unfurling inside me.

A fuck you to my brother. He was ruthless in ways I could never be. He set traps, and I walked into them time and time again because I couldn’t just turn away when he threatened the people I loved.

But in here, in the darkness, I could give his woman what he never had.

I bit down on my lip at the sight of her breasts. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Fawn.”

I bent my head and flicked her nipple with my tongue.

She gasped, and I put my hand over her mouth, staring at her in the darkness. “You can’t make a noise.”

She nodded.

“I want to make you come,” I whispered into her skin, kissing the swell of her tits without her permission, even though I knew it was wrong. I drew my hand away from her lips. “Tell me to stop.”

Her gaze burned through the darkness between us. “I’m with Eddie.”

I stared at her. “Because you want to be or because he’s forcing you?”

She said nothing.

“I’m never going to force you to do anything, Fawn. Not even this. I’m dying to put my mouth on you, but if you tell me not to, I’ll walk away right now and we can pretend this never happened.”

Her face screwed up in agony. Another tear dripped down her cheek.

I brushed it away with the back of my hand. “I hate that he makes you cry.”

She swallowed hard, and her fingers wrapped around my hand on her rib cage. Slowly she moved it up to cover her breast. “Touch me.”

I stifled the moan that threatened to erupt from somewhere deep inside me. I squeezed her breast, flicking over the nipple with my thumb before lowering my head to suck on her.

I molded the other with my fingers, tweaking the tip of her into a stiff peak, ripe for my tongue. I switched, devouring her,licking her until her chest was heaving and she was pressing her thighs together, trying to find some relief.

I reared back on my knees, spreading her thighs and fitting myself in between them. Greedily, I hooked her legs over my arms, drawing her hips up off the bed and lowering my face to meet her sweet flesh with my mouth.

Her fingers clenched in the sheets at the first lick of my tongue over her clit. She writhed beneath me, moving her hips so tantalizingly my dick responded, straining beneath the borrowed sweatpants.

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