Page 87 of Start A War (Saint View Psychos)

“War!” I yelped, struggling to get down. I’d break the man’s back. “Put me down, I’m too heavy.”

“That’s real fucking insulting, baby girl.” He strode through the party with me in his arms, while some of the guys clapped for us. “You think I can’t carry your sweet ass to my bed?”

My cheeks went hot as I was carried toward the hallway where Rebel and Fang had disappeared earlier. But I didn’t stop him. Because making out with him on the couch wasn’t enough. I wanted more. I wanted him alone.

To War’s credit, he wasn’t struggling with my weight. He carried me like I was as tiny as Siren and Kiki. He was so big and solid, he made me feel small in a way I never had with any other man. The sounds of the party filtered away the farther we went down the darkened hall. We passed several other rooms, their doors closed, but the sounds coming from within made it clear what was going on behind them. I had no idea how long War and I had been making out, but we clearly weren’t the only ones.

It only added to the heat building at my core. “Are these all bedrooms down here?”

“Yeah. We all have one. Some of the guys live here full time. Some of us just use it as a crash pad when we’ve had too much to drink and can’t drive home.” He chuckled in my ear. “Some of us just use it as a place to get a beautiful woman naked and lick her pussy until she screams.”

Oh my God.

There was a promise in that last statement that had me trembling.

At the very end of the hall, War opened a door, stepped past it, then kicked it shut behind him. He finally let me go, and my feet slid to the floor.

We were suddenly very alone.

“Just you and me now, huh? Seemed to me like you were kind of into being out there with everyone.” I gazed around his room. It was sparsely furnished but clean. There was a bar fridge in one corner and a writing desk beside it. As well as a door that presumably led to a bathroom, but the main feature was definitely the bed. It was made up with dark-colored sheets, and a comforter was folded neatly at the end.

War leaned on the writing desk, crossing his arms over his chest, and watched me wander around his room, trailing my fingertips over his things. His grin was full of wry amusement. “Oh, I am. If I’d thought you’d be down for it, I probably would have laid you out on that couch and ate your pussy for everyone to watch. Fuck, Bliss. I’d love to do that; you have no fucking idea how bad I want your thighs around my head while every other man in the room watches and creams himself with jealousy because it ain’t him.”

I laughed. “That wouldn’t happen.”

He raised one eyebrow. “Why not?”

Ugh. I knew it would only be a matter of time before I made things awkward with my hang-ups. “Maybe if you did it with Siren.”

He frowned. “Why?”

I raised one shoulder. “She’s gorgeous.”

“And you’re not?”

“I’ve had a lifetime of people telling me how pretty I’d be if I just lost some weight. And they’re right.”

His eyes darkened. “Take your jeans off.”

I glanced sharply at him. “Sorry?”

“Take your jeans off, Bliss. Now.”

A shiver ran through me at the demand in his voice. The only light in the room came from a small lamp in the corner he’d flicked on. I wanted to do what he’d said. I’d willingly come down here, knowing, or at least hoping it was going to turn into sex. I knew this was my only chance to have him. He’d have lost interest by the next day, but I didn’t care. I had so much pent-up frustration inside me, I desperately needed to give it an outlet.

But I never had sex with the light on. And I sure as hell wasn’t about to start now, with him, the man who probably had models in his bed every other night. “Turn the light off.”

He stared at me, mulling something over in his head. Eventually, he nodded and pushed off the table to go to the lamp. “One time, Bliss. You get tonight in the dark, because I can see I’ve probably already pushed you out of your comfort zone. After tonight, every time I fuck you, it’s gonna be with the lights on. Don’t deprive me of watching you.”

I sucked in a breath at the promise. At the idea he’d even want to see me.

Caleb had never come right out and said it, but I’d always suspected he’d never wanted the lights on because he was too busy picturing someone else beneath him.

War bent over and flicked the switch on the lamp, plunging the room into darkness once more. “Take your jeans off, Bliss,” he said again.

My heart pounded, but God, I wanted to. Even if this was just a quick screw with the rest of our clothes still on, I wanted to feel him inside me. My core begged to be filled.

The darkness was familiar and comforting. It wasn’t absolute, but it was enough to feel sexy. He would only see my outline, a dark figure moving in the shadows, not all the little lumps and bumps and rolls I hated.

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