Page 68 of Gathered Sparkle

It’s not just about control for him. It’s about making sure I want this. That I choose this and him.

And I do.

He tugs the sweatpants down over my hips, and I lift slightly, helping him. The movement feels natural, like something we’ve done a hundred times before, even though this is the first. Even though this is new, I already know it’s something I’ll crave again. Him. His hands on me. His eyes drinking me in like I’m something worth savoring.

The pants slide down my thighs and land on the floor, leaving me in Sylus’s boxers, nothing else between me and the weight of Koen’s stare.

Koen exhales a slow, measured breath, his pupils dark and consuming as he takes me in. Not just my body—me. I feel it in the way he looks at me like he’s peeling back the layers of who I am, stripping me down with more than just his hands.

“Just because I know you want something doesn’t mean you want to go through with it.” He grasps my chin, tilting my face up to his. His thumb drags over my bottom lip, and I part for him instinctively, my breath catching in my throat. “Stoplight, precious. Can you do that for me?”

I’ve had men want me before, but I’ve never had one want me like this. Like my pleasure, my consent, my trust is something sacred.

My throat feels dry. “I think so.”

He tilts his head as he regards me. “Not good enough.”

I take a shaky breath, my hands clenching in the sheets beneath me. Koen waits, giving me space to choose, to be sure. His restraint is another form of dominance, a deeper kind ofcontrol—the kind that makes my heart hammer because it’s not just about power. It’s about trust.

“Yes.” I steady myself. For him, for me, for this. “I’ll tell you to stop when I want you to stop.”

His lips curl into a smile that feels like a reward, a gift only for me, before he brushes his mouth over mine. “Precious girl.”

Koen’s fingers curl into the waistband of the boxers, his gaze burning into me as he peels the fabric down my legs. Cool air kisses my skin, and I shiver, every nerve alight and waiting. The boxers join the rest of my clothes on the floor, and Koen uses a firm grip on my hips to pull me to the edge of the bed slowly.

Then he sinks to his knees in front of me.

A breath shudders out of me because—fuck.

Koen Lane is on his knees.

For me.

His hands slide up my thighs, spreading me open with the same reverence they held when he looked into my eyes. Like he’s worshiping both my body and who I am inside with his touch. My pulse is beating in my clit, thrumming out a frantic rhythm of need.

He lowers his head, his mouth brushing along the skin of my inner thigh before he places a slow, open-mouthed kiss, then another, the scrape of his teeth making my muscles tighten.

“Now repeat after me,” he murmurs, his lips brushing against the valley of my hip. “Nothing is wrong with me.”

I draw a shaky breath through my nose. The words feel foreign as I form them, but the need to feel his mouth where I want it overpowers my hesitation.

“Nothing is wrong with me.”

He hums in approval, his tongue flicking out to taste my skin. “Just like that, precious. So damn perfect.”

The praise melts through me, a wave of warmth that settles in my core as I tilt my hips toward him in desperation, seeking his touch.

His lips trail lower, his tongue tracing patterns that leave my skin tingling. He sucks at the flesh of my inner thigh until a bruise blooms beneath his mouth. The sharp pull of his suction makes me gasp, my thighs twitching as pleasure ripples through me.

“Say ‘I’m worthy.’”

My heart skips a beat at his command. I want to obey, but the words lodge in my throat as my mind races.

Worthy of what? Of him? Of this? Of something that feels dangerously close to love?

My mind rebels, whispering old doubts, old wounds. “I…” My words falter, and he nips my skin in either warning or encouragement, or both, so I press out, “I’m worthy of some things, I guess?” It’s more a question than a statement.

His teeth close around the flesh of my thigh, and the bite is sharp enough to make me yelp and send a jolt of pleasure-pain shooting straight to my core, making my pussy clench and ache for more.

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