Page 142 of Monsters Carve Thrones
“I don’t care if it started filthy. If I wanted you for all the wrong reasons. I don’t care that I once thought I needed you to protect my empire. Because somewhere along the way… it became aboutyou.Not the business.You.”
My hands slid along her thighs, up beneath the robe.
“You survived hell, baby. And you still came back to me. You’re the strongest fucking woman I’ve ever known.”
I traced her jawline, watching her eyes flutter half-closed beneath the weight of everything I was pouring into her. “You’re mine,” I said. “And I’ll spend every day reminding you how loved you are.” I dipped my head close, lips brushing hers. “I love you, little doe.”
Then I kissed her.
Not like the monster I used to be. Not like the killer they all feared. I kissed her like a man who’d found heaven after a lifetime in fire.
Her mouth opened for me, warm and welcoming, and I took my time. Our wine sat forgotten on the side table. Her fingers tangled in my hair, tugging softly, her thighs tightening around my hips. I stood with her in my arms, her laugh low against my throat, and carried her down onto the thick rug in front of the fire.
The robe slipped from her shoulders.
She was bare beneath it all.
And I nearly lost my goddamn mind.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I whispered, hands gliding over her hips, her stomach, the soft curve of her breasts. “What God did I please to be gifted with you?”
She pulled my shirt off, running her palms over the muscle beneath like she needed to remind herself I was real. I looked down at the woman lying beneath me with a look in her eyes that utterly wrecked me.
“You saved me,” I whispered. “You made me something better.”
She smiled sweetly. “We saved each other.”
I stole another kiss. “You never needed saving before me, love.”
She arched into my touch, her nails dragging down my back. My weight pressed her into the rug, but I was slow. This wasn’t about the wild claiming I usually did. This wasn’t about control.
This was about love.
My hands moved over every inch of her like I needed to memorize her. Her moans were quiet and breathy, the kind that drove me to the edge with how trulyrealthey were. I settled between her legs and pushed inside her slowly–so goddamn slowly I nearly shattered. My name spilled from her lips in a whisper, and the world just… stopped.
Jesus Christ.
Sex with love… with emotion… was the most intense, beautiful thing I’d ever known. I kissed her as she took all of me, her nails digging into my back, her thighs pulling me in deeper. The fire burned at my left side as I thrust all the way in, burying myself inside the woman I would kill and die for without hesitation.
I drove into her harder, groaning against her mouth. The firelight wrapped around us, flickering gold and orange as our rhythm deepened, and as the sounds of ragged breathing filled the room.
“I’ll love you until the day I die,” I promised, my voice cracking as I held her tight. “And even then, I’ll find my way back to you.”
She whimpered on my next thrust, her breath catching.
I stilled instantly, as the sound struck something in me.
“Did you almost–”
“Yes,” I interrupted, with a laugh. She felt so fucking perfect that I almost came right there. I exhaled a shaky breath to gather myself.
She giggled quietly, her voice breathy and sweet.
I loved that sound.
I moved slowly again, savoring every second. “You’re my weakness in every way, Dela,” I whispered against her mouth.
Her eyes watered.
