Page 115 of At the Edge of Surrender

“Yeah. I’m fucking my hand, hard and slow, and it’s never going to be enough.”

“It has to be.”

This had to be enough.

It was already a tragic mistake. Taking this farther than we already had. But I couldn’t stop the onslaught of need that barreled through my senses.

“Wish I was there so I could kiss the fuck out of you.”

I didn’t know what it was about the way he said it that set me off.

Why those words sent a bolt of pleasure blistering through my body.

The orgasm sudden and sharp.

A beautiful explosion that burst behind my sight.

His face right there in my mind.

The fierce, harsh lines and those magic eyes.

“Kane.” His name was a juddering plea. A question. Pleasure and shame.

“Fuck, Emery.” He moaned it, and I could feel his own pleasure rip through the line.

As if for a moment, I was with him.

But I couldn’t be.

I couldn’t.

For a while, I sat there in the silence, gasping, trying to wrap my head around what I’d just allowed to happen.

Then his panted words filled my ear. “Have made a million mistakes in my life, Emery. Have failed more times than I could count. But I’m not going to fail her, and I’m not going to fail you. I promise you that.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

KANE

Night possessed the sky.Sagging and heavy. A dark mist that clung to the heavens and draped over the blackened waters of the sea.

I slinked through its shadows, my back pressed to the wall of the industrial building, blood careening through my veins and my spirit a ravage of disorder.

On nights like these, my two greatest failures always rose to the surface. Pushing up beneath my skin. Reminders of the way I’d allowed my grief and hate over my mother to dictate my actions. What sent me on a spiral of destruction that had eventually led me here.

When I’d come to understand what I was supposed to be fighting for.

Voices echoed from within the giant building. Their haughty laughter reverberating against the metal walls.

Disgusting.

Vile.

Oblivious.

Oblivious to what was coming for them.

A door gaped open to the crash of the ocean below the dock, and I pushed myself up tight against the edge of it andshifted to peer inside.

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