Page 24 of Injustice and Absolution

We’re so close, and I won’t allow him to deny me again.

CHAPTER NINE

DELILAH

He runs his heated touch across my fist.

Continuing his path, he reaches over his shoulder and grabs his T-shirt, pulling it over his head. Not until he’s shirtless do I loosen my hold on the fabric.

Letting it fall next to my head, I run my hands over his chest. Admiring his hard, toned physique, I sit up and kiss a trail from the center of his pecs down to the dark hair nestled between theVat his lower abdomen.

With both hands, I feverishly work his jeans open. The more of him I see, the less I need lovemaking.

I need ownership. Possession. I want Royce to take me, mark me as his, and keep me forever.

He stands once I’ve unzipped his jeans and gently grabs one of my hands, helping me up. His lips tickle the back of it before letting go.

His eyes stay locked on mine as he reaches for the hem of my shirt and swiftly pulls it over my head. I thank the underwear gods for suggesting I wear my good bra today rather than the ratty sports bra I almost put on.

Standing before him, my rounded breasts rise and fall at the pace of my accelerated breathing. Reaching behind me, he unclasps my bra then pulls it down my arms, discarding it on top of his shirt. Palming my breasts, he massages each mound masterfully, with a look of awe twinkling in his stare.

“I’ve tried, painfully, to fight my urges, kitten.” Another zing to my core, and he’s reduced me to animalistic purring.

“To not think about you in any way other than as a guardian,” he admits, not taking his eyes from my chest. “I’ve imagined what it would feel like to do this countless times. How incredible it would be to gaze upon you. To memorize your body with my hands. To taste you from head to toe.”

Who knew big, bad Royce had such an eloquent way with words?

He reaches out with his tongue and licks one of my hardened nipples, ripping a gasp from my throat.

“I’ve barely scratched the surface, but it’s more than I ever dreamed...”

“More what?” I inquire, needy for his depiction of me.

“More fire... More breathtaking... More … everything...”

With that admission, he wraps his arms around me and sucks my nipple into his mouth. One hand splayed across the small of my back, arching my body into his. The other between my shoulder blades to hold me tightly against him.

Each nibble, every flick of his tongue, wreaks renewed havoc over my trembling body. He switches to my other nipple, his slurping becoming more dire with each pull.

“Shorts off. Now.” He barks out his order through his teeth as they gently grind over my pebbled bud.

He has me pressed so tightly against him, I can’t get my hands between our bodies to unfasten my denim shorts. But I’m also weak from the pleasure he’s doling out. Whether he senses my struggle or he’s had his fill, he removes his lips from my chest, loosening his hold on me.

When he lets go, he drops to one knee in front of me, fumbling with the laces of his boot. Dazed from his delicious, torturous worship of my nipples, I’m not moving at the same feverish pace that he is.

“Quickly, kitten. Otherwise, I’ll fucking rip them from your body, and you won’t have any shorts to drive home in.” He winks when my eyes land on him, though the promise in his eye confirms he’s not joking.

He gets his boots off by the time I work my legs out of my shorts, then he kicks his jeans over to our growing pile of shed clothing.

I hook my thumbs in the elastic of my thong, ready to remove it, when I hear a soft roar rumbling from deep in his chest.

“Leave it.” The order comes as he closes the distance between us.

His fingers flirt with the thin strip of material low on my hips before they dip between my legs. He runs his fingernail over the thin, slick fabric barely covering my core, causing my body to quake.

Holy hell.

One more touch like that and I’ll come undone.

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