Page 117 of Their Reckless Thief
I cleared my throat. “Are you cold?”
She looked up at me, her eyes dark, her pupils wide with something that matched the ache building in my gut. “No,” she whispered. A confession. A challenge.
My hand stilled for a moment, but I forced myself to keep going, moving up to the cuts on her ribs and chest. I had to touch her, but the distance between what I wanted to do and what I needed to do was killing me. Her skin, even as battered as it wasfrom the glass, was flawless. Every inch of her was sculpted, as if whoever created her was mocking me, daring me to resist the pull she had on me.
As I applied the salve to her ribs, my fingers brushed just below her bra, and I noticed her nipples hardening beneath the sheer fabric. I tried not to stare. Hell, I tried not to think about it, but my mind was a fucking traitor.
Her arousal curled around me like a drug, making my thoughts blur. The scent of it filled the room, wrapping around me, and I was doing everything I could to push down the urges clawing their way to the surface.
I wanted to taste her. No, Ineededto taste her. I wanted to devour her and make her come on my tongue until she couldn’t speak. Until her body belonged to me, until the only sound she could make was my name. I wanted to rob her of every orgasm I could with every apparatus I could get my hands on. I wanted to use my shadows to touch her everywhere all at once and leave her screaming for me to stop. I wanted to fuck her until the world fell away and nothing existed but us.
I swallowed hard, trying to snap out of it, but I couldn’t. Not when my gaze dropped lower, to the curve of her hips, to the delicate lace at the edge of her underwear. My cock was rock hard, so painful I couldn’t ignore it. I prayed to the gods she didn’t notice.
Her chest rose and fell faster now, and fuck, she had to feel it too. This pull between us. This madness.
I moved lower, my fingers tracing a line over her abdomen as I applied the salve to the cuts there. She tensed under my touch, and when I looked up, heat and hunger blazed in her eyes.
Fuck.I was so close to losing it.
I had to end this. I had to get her out of there before I crossed a line.
Finally, I finished with the last of her wounds, and she stood up, shaky but with more composure than I had. She turned to put her clothes back on, and I cursed myself for how badly I wanted to rip them right back off. She looked over her shoulder at me, half-dressed, and raised an eyebrow.
“You just going to sit there?”
I glanced down at the very obvious bulge in my pants and shook my head. “I, uh… I can’t quite stand yet.”
Her lips twitched, then, to my absolute fucking horror, she blushed. She blushed, and it was the most adorable, infuriating thing I’d ever seen.
Fuck my life.
She finally turned, pulling her shirt over her head and giving me just enough time to pull my shit together. As much as I wanted her, as much as the sight of her naked skin was burned into my mind, this wasn’t the time. It never would be. I couldn’t let it be.
“I’m going to go find Vivian,” she said, her voice more casual than I expected, like we hadn’t just shared a moment that was one step away from a disaster… or perfection.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. When she paused at the door and glanced back, her eyes met mine one last time, and something unspoken passed between us. Before I could figure out what it was, she was gone, leaving me alone in the room with nothing but the lingering scent of her and the ache in my body that refused to go away.
The soft murmurof the television reached my ears as I walked past the living room. Vivian and Celeste were on the couch, the flickering light of the screen framing their silhouettes.Celeste had her legs tucked beneath her, and Vivian leaned back with an arm draped lazily across the cushions. They were laughing softly, and the sound eased me. It was rare to hear them so relaxed.
I had intended to keep walking—to retreat to the solitude of my room and collapse into bed—but something made me pause. Maybe it was the faint tug of curiosity, or the fact that I hadn’t heard Celeste laugh like that in days. Still, I knew better than to linger.
“I’m going to get some sleep,” I said.
Celeste’s head whipped toward me. In an instant, she was on her feet, crossing the room with boundless energy that caught me off guard. Before I could step back, her hands were gripping mine, her touch startling in its warmth. I tensed immediately, every instinct screaming at me to pull away.
“Luca,” she said, her eyes wide and earnest as she looked up at me. “Don’t go to bed yet. Come on, sit with us for a bit. It’s tradition.”
“What tradition?” I asked, my tone sharper than I intended. Her sudden proximity had me on edge, and the words came out more defensively.
“Viv and I like to wind down with a show after a job when we can. It’s how we de-stress. You know, before the next crisis inevitably shows up.” Her fingers tightened on mine, her expression imploring. “Just one episode. Please?”
I hesitated, glancing toward the couch where Vivian was watching us with a raised eyebrow, clearly amused. “I don’t?—”
“Please.” Celeste dragged out the word like it was her secret weapon. She tugged gently at my hands, and despite every ounce of me wanting to resist, I sighed and nodded curtly.
“Fine,” I muttered. “But just one.”
Her face lit up like I’d just gifted her the moon. She practically skipped back to the couch, motioning for me to follow.
