Page 66 of Splitting Secrets
“What?” I finally ask, the word coming out as nothing more than an incredulous whisper.
A slender finger points toward the ground between us. “You heard me. You said you’d beg, so do it. Get on your knees and ask me to forgive you.”
Without another moment of delay, I step forward and fall to my knees. Grabbing her outstretched hand into mine, I lift her palm to my lips to brush them against her knuckles. If this is what will finally get her to see how serious I am, then I’ll do it.
If she were anyone else, this would be emasculating. A complete humiliation. No one gets Raze Whitlock on his knees—especially a woman.
But for her?
Fuck, I’m afraid of what I’ll do for her. There are no limits—no ends—and that’s terrifying.
Since I saw her use every ounce of strength she had to fight against Brody and Niles like some feral animal, I’ve been gone for her. I’ve been on my knees since I learned that she made it out of those cells and clawed her way into her friend’s, refusing to go without them.
If I’m being honest, I fell for her long before any of that. Probably as soon as I claimed her.
A woman with pride and strength and honor—all the things I’m lacking. I was destined to fall as soon as her name showed up on that legacy attendance sheet.
I don’t even think she realizes how powerful she is. She has no clue how many people are counting on her strength rightnow. Even if she did, I don’t think she would back down from the task.
“I lied to you,” I begin, planting featherlight kisses against her skin.
“Mhm,” she hums, lashes shuttering closed at my touch.
“You lied, too,” I test with a smirk. She lied, and I forgave her the instant I discovered it.
Those beautiful, violet eyes spring open, a slim brow raising. “You’re not off to a good start.”
“My life has been a complete shit show since you arrived,” I begin again, signaling for her to wait when she goes to interject again. “It’s like you’ve taken this town and turned it on its head, and we’re all just free falling. I’m suspended in the air, waiting for the ground to hit, but it never comes. That’s how you make me feel—weightless.”
Weightless. After a lifetime of burdens anchoring me down.
I swallow past the lump forming in my throat, the words clawing into my esophagus to avoid being released. This is what it’s like to express my feelings.
Physically impossible.
But I have to try for her.
“I never knew I needed you—this feisty little red head with wild eyes.” I reach forward and grab one of her coiled locks into my hand, giving a gentle tug that earns a soft giggle before I let it fall against her shoulder again. “You walked onto my campus with a fake name and a mission, and you claimed it. You’re better than anything I could ever dream of having—anything I deserve. But fuck, do I want you.”
I pause, inhaling a deep breath. All along I had thought admitting that would make me feel weak. As if giving her that kind of power would destroy me. But speaking those words has freed something inside of me. It loosened the knot that kept me held together, and now I’m unraveling.
“I’m a selfish person who does bad things. Horrible, miserable things. But I still pray to the universe every single night to make me worthy. I promise to change everything about myself, if it means I get to have you.”
She shakes her head. “I never want you to change. I want you to be truthful.”
Reaching forward, I wrap my hand around the back of her knee and pull her left leg toward me, offering my other arm for support when she careens over. She startles, her hands falling to my shoulders as I run my lips along her clothed thigh.
“Please forgive me, Little Nightmare,” I enunciate each word with a kiss, cursing these goddamn baggy pants for keeping her bare skin from me.
Her grip tightens on my shoulders as my mouth moves further upward, muscles going tense. I look up at her, shocked to find her heavy-lidded eyes staring back. She bites her lip, her brows tenting up as I move my fingers closer to her apex the smallest amount.
There probably isn’t a worse time to do this. She’s just discovered a life-altering secret, and she wanted to put the same foot that I’m holding through my chest a few minutes ago. As the one of sound mind, I should be stopping this. Not reaching for the waistband of her pants and tugging them down. Not getting instantly hard when I discover she’s not wearing any panties.
And certainly not lifting her leg back up to drape it over my shoulder.
She doesn’t stop me from doing any of that, either.
No, she hisses out a breath that shoots straight to my cock when my lips hit the bare skin of her inner thigh. I drag my tongue across her smoothness, stopping just short of her pussy before I look back up at her.
