Page 77 of Another Damned Storm
“But I wasn’t like this in the Nassa. The first time I’d felt that crazy power surge was… in the Alius.” I shook my head. “Do you think dropping in on the demon realm triggered something? And if it did, why didn’t I go all hulk smash when I tangled with the demons when I first got back here?”
It didn’t make sense.
“Your power was still manifesting then, and I imagine it still is. The more you learn to use it, the stronger you’ll grow.”
“But red eyes are bad, right?” It was physical evidence of thedarkness inside me. Shining proof that I really was a threat to everyone, even him.
Frustration bloomed from our connection, and a second later he was kissing me. Hard. Both of his hands came up to cradle my head. When he pulled back, both of us breathing hard, he glared at me. “All it means is that your wild side is a little wilder than anticipated.”
I only kind of heard what he said because my ears were ringing with the need to touch him and feel his skin against mine. It was visceral. More potent than ever. I grabbed his shirt and tore it open, but he caught me by the wrists before I could make my way to his pants.
“As I was saying, love. Your wild side is showing.” His smirk made my center clench. In a flash, he had me pinned against the smooth white trunk of an aspen tree. “But you need more practice controlling it.”
“Why do I have the feeling this is less about me learning control and more about you taking it?”
He lifted my hands above my head. “Grab the trunk.”
I did, but not without a defiant glare.
He responded with another one of those smirks. Damn him. I was already hot and slick and aching.
“This is about you and me. Do you trust me?”
With my life, my heart, my future. I nodded.
“Good, because I trust you.” That serious gaze of his was unflinching.
I believed hewantedto trust me, but that wasn’t the same as?—
He clucked his tongue. “Let me try this a different way.” Without looking down, he unbuttoned my pants and slipped a hand inside. His fingers found my clit with unerring accuracy.
I dug my nails into the tree trunk above me for support. “It’s not fair when you play dirty.”
“You love when I play dirty.” He kneeled, pulled my boots off one at a time, then dragged my pants and underwear down, leaving me completely exposed from the waist down. When he pressed his face to the apex of my thighs and inhaled deeply, I let out a little squeak.
It wasn’t the first time he’d pulled that move. I knew very well how he could be all caveman when it suited him, but it still caught me off guard sometimes.
A hum of satisfaction vibrated his lips before he shoved my legs apart and raked his tongue right up my center. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
Another deliciously hot lick. “Do you want to hurt me?”
What he was doing was super manipulative, but the man was a master at making his point. The needy ache in my core spread out from my middle, stretching to the very tips of my fingers and toes. “No.”
This time, he worked two of his strong fingers inside me before swirling his tongue around my clit, leaving my knees weak. “I trust you,” he whispered.
Goddamn him.
He draped my left leg over his shoulder and gave me another flick of his tongue and pump of his fingers. “You won’t hurt me,” he said softly, pressing a wet kiss to my inner thigh.
It was hard to think, but as I fought through the fog of sexual pleasure to hear those words, they became an anchor. A mantra.
I won’t hurt him. I won’t hurt the people I love. I won’t. I won’t.
And when I was coiled so tight that I was basically screaming it in my own head, Hook stood, lifted me until my shaky legs wrapped around him, and drove into me hard.
The force of his thrust reawakened something in me. His fingers dug into my thighs. My hands tangled in his hair. Histeeth scraped along my neck, and a growl erupted from me that definitely wasn’t human.
