Page 17 of Reaper & Ruin
My hands moved instinctively to her waist, steadying her as she shifted slightly. My laugh came out soft and breathless. “This is better because you know I love you,” I admitted, the words slipping out before I could stop them. “Before now, you didn’t know for sure. But now… now you’re not just a beautiful woman I covet. You’remybeautiful woman. It feels far better than I could have ever imagined.”
Heather started to sway, her movements playful but routine, and I felt like my entire world had zeroed in on the moment. The fire crackled behind us, and the faint music played in the background, but all I could focus on was her.
It wasn’t just that she was beautiful—though she was, undeniably. It was the way she carried herself, the way she could turn a teasing moment into something electric. She was confident in a way that left me completely disarmed, and every laugh, every smirk, every shift of her weight made it harder to remember how to breathe.
How the fuck could I think of anything as she unhooked her bra, chucking it on the floor behind us? How was I expected to be a rational man when her hips bucked and she ground on my lap with enough heat to cause a fire?
“You look shocked,” she teased, her voice cutting through the haze in my brain.
“Because I am,” I replied honestly, my fingers tightening slightly on her waist. “I can’t think straight,amore mio. I just want to take your clothes off and see what you taste like again.”
Her laugh was light, and she leaned in closer, her forehead almost brushing mine. “Relax, Gio. You’ll get what you want. You just have to be a good boy and have some patience.”
“Patience?” I was about to say I had none. Then she got to her feet and stripped out of her skirt in such a manner that I was willing to wait forever. If she kept swaying her bare ass in my face likethat, I was going to die here. Frozen in time as I stared at the tanned flesh of the only woman I’d ever love.
The song changed twice before she touched me for real. She just spent the whole time grazing her fingertips over me. Or scraping the tiniest bit of her ass over my crotch.
I was hard enough to break. Hard enough that I had to bite down on my knuckles to keep the moans from coming when shefinally, blessedly, took off the last of her underwear and moved closer.
“You look like you’re going to come in your pants.” She whispered as she got on her knees for me, messing with my belt buckle. “Do you want me to make you feel better? I know you like the way I choke on your cock. And I knowIlove the way you taste.”
Her smile was enough to make me want to marry her then and there. But the way she hurried to wrap her pretty lips around my cock?Fuck, I was getting a ring tonight. One made of red diamonds or whatever the hell she wanted from me.
I just needed to make sure she let me keep her.
That shewantedme to keep her because I needed her. Needed her plump lips as they puckered, and she hollowed out her cheeks, eager to take me as deeply as she could. Needed her blue hair wrapped around my hand when I held it out of the way just so I could stare into her eyes as she took me right to the base.
Tears burned down her cheeks, spit dripped down my cock, and all manner of logical thoughts dissipated on the breeze from the open window. All I could think about washer.
“I need to taste you.” I panted, eyes rolling a bit. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to finish already, and Ican’tfinish until you do.”
Heather let out a low laugh, throaty and dangerous. “Is that a threat or a promise, Reaper?”
“Giovanni.” I panted. “And it’s a plea,” I admitted, already trying to pull her up by the waist. “Let me take care of you.”
Her fingers grazed my jaw as she tilted her head, that calculating glint back in her eyes. “Hmm… what if I want to take care of you first?”
I growled, wrapping both arms around her as I stood—lifting her effortlessly off her knees and swapping our places until she was above the heap of blankets and cushions on thecouch. She didn’t resist, just smirked and locked her legs around my waist, like she’d been waiting for me to manhandle her all night.
“You want to take care of me huh?” she whispered against my ear as I lowered her down. “Is this the part where you read me poetry and worship my thighs?”
“Damn right it is,” I murmured, dragging kisses down her collarbone as I lowered myself to the floor in front of the couch. “I’m starting with the part where I make you forget your own name.”
She hissed softly when my mouth found her inner thigh, her fingers tangling in my hair without hesitation. I traced my nose along her skin, savoring the way her breathing changed—more ragged, more desperate with each pass. She smelled like wine and warmth and pure, unfiltered temptation. Like home, if home came with a soundtrack of breathy moans and sin.
When I finally tasted her, she made a sound that went straight to my core—half gasp, half curse, full power trip. I closed my eyes and focused, letting instinct and obsession take over. Every shift of her hips, every twitch of her fingers in my hair, was its own kind of reward. I wanted to ruin her for anyone else except Atlas. Hell, I wanted to ruin her for herself. To be one of the few things she thought about when her body ached and her skin burned.
She pressed one heel into the couch for leverage, grinding herself closer to my mouth, and I could feel how close she was getting. Her voice broke when she moaned my name, and I nearly lost it right there.
“Gio—fuck—don’t stop.”
I didn’t. Not until I felt her thighs tremble around me, her whole body arching like the fire behind us had jumped straight into her bloodstream. Only when she collapsed back into thecushions, gasping and flushed and wrecked in the best way, did I rise.
Her big brown eyes were hazy as she reached for me, tugging me down to kiss her like she didn’t care about anything else but having me close. Her lips tasted like wine and wickedness and something deeper—something permanent.
“You good?” I whispered against her mouth.
“I will be,” she said, reaching between us. “When you let me return the favor.”
