Page 67 of Dark of Winter (Wild Haven 1)

“My dad lost his temper. It’s crazy that I can’t even remember why he was mad. I should remember, but he was always angry. Dinner was late, my mom had been out with a friend, I was too loud or didn’t speak up enough or it was just the fact that I fucking existed. He beat her so badly that night.” Davis sucks in a deep breath through his nose and I grasp the hand on my knee, curling my fingers around his.

“He’s a drunk, and he was back then, too. He smashed his bottle of Jack and swung at her with the broken edge. I stepped between them.”

I bite down hard on my lip, trying to stem the tears prickling in the back of my eyes. He was only eight. He was defending his mom. From his piece of shit dad. There’s no question he’s nothing like his father.

“My mom got in his way, and he killed her.”

I swallow back the gasp, a tear sneaking down my cheek. I wipe it against my shoulder and clutch Davis’s hand so hard it’s probably painful.

“Why didn’t he go to jail?”

“Anthony helped him cover it up. Local law enforcement is in his pocket. And who knows what other magic he used to sweep it under the rug.” Davis sneers at the wall, obviously seeing monsters that aren’t in the room with us right now.

“Oh God. I’m so sorry I made you go to dinner with me. You had to sit across from that piece of shit.”

“I wouldn’t have let you go alone.”

“In retrospect, I don’t think either one of us should have gone.”

“Stupidly, I thought trying to stay off his shit list was worth being in his presence.”

“Yeah, except I can’t keep my mouth shut and pretend when I don’t like someone. Pretty sure he knows I want to shove some of his fancy stick furniture up his ass. Especially seeing as he just cursed me.”

Davis’s mouth curves up in a smile as he shakes his head. “That mouth is going to get you in trouble one of these days.” His eyes drop to my lips and my body flushes with heat. How does he do it with just one look?

The bed shifts as Davis stands, but I’m still holding his hand and I tug it, pulling him back to me. Not that he couldn’t break free if he wanted to, but he lets me pull him to my side.

“I feel a lot better, there’s just one thing that’s still aching.” Oh no, I did not just say that out loud. A grin breaks out over my face, and Davis lowers his chin to his chest. It takes me a second to realize he’s laughing. When he lifts his face, I’m gifted with that bright smile that lights me up inside. God, he’s beautiful when he smiles.

I shift until I’m on my knees at the edge of the bed in front of him.

“That mouth is trouble.” Davis untangles his hand from mine and I almost sag at the loss, but then he wraps his hands around my wrists. He must be able to feel my pulse beating beneath his fingertips because my heart is pumping so hard, I might have a heart attack. When he slides his hands up my arms, over my shoulders to cup my face, I sway. I’m lightheaded. His touch is that powerful.

“You’re trouble.” Davis lowers his head, his lips whispering against mine, sending a ripple of need over my skin.

“The best kind.” I lick my lips, the tip of my tongue touching Davis’s lower lip. With a growl, Davis closes that last bit of distance between us and captures my mouth in a kiss to end all kisses. I grip his forearms, holding myself up as our mouths and tongues tangle. We have our own language, a connection forged from years of yearning for something that felt like home. Nothing has ever felt like that for me before Wild Haven and... Davis.

My hands move from his arms to grip the sides of his shirt, needing him closer. His hand slides into my hair, arching my head back to deepen the kiss, while his other hand roams down my back to grab my ass and presses me tight against him. I’m strung taut like a rope, my skin singing from the contact. Heat pours off him and I’m burning up everywhere we touch.

Desperate need has me pulling at his shirt, bunching it in my fingers before sliding my hands beneath it to skate over the tense muscles of his stomach, over his chest, shoving the shirt up until he lifts his arms and lets me push it off. Our kiss only breaks for a second before Davis swoops back in, capturing my lips as I touch every bared inch of skin I can reach. He’s scarred, the visible signs of his messed-up past, but to me he’s perfect.

His hands are everywhere, in my hair, gliding down my back, digging into my ass and pulling me close as his hips grind against mine. I gasp for breath when he breaks the kiss, pressing his hot mouth down my neck while his hands peel off my shirt. He doesn’t waste any time, my bra following a second later.

Davis groans, his hands cupping my breasts, thumbs brushing over my nipples before he lowers his head. His mouth is so hot it sets me on fire as his tongue flicks and laves at the pebbled tip, a low growl humming against my flesh as if he’s savoring the taste of my skin. My fingers thread through his hair, knocking off the stocking cap he’s still somehow wearing. His hair is so soft it almost doesn’t seem like it could belong to him. Everything about him is hard and rough, at least on the outside. I love that this small piece of him, that he always covers up, is like silk. The scent of ocean and rain wraps around me, and I’m lost in the storm of Davis. He’s all I know, all I can feel, nothing else but him exists.

I press him into my breast and his fingers dig into my hips, moving to unbutton my jeans.

“God, yes,” I pant as his hand dips into my panties, fingers gently delving to the sensitive skin between my thighs.

Davis pulls away from my breast, his mouth and teeth scraping over a spot on my neck that makes goosebumps break out all over my body.

“Fuck, you’re so wet.” He breathes into my shoulder and I shiver.

“I need you.” I shudder as his finger circles my clit with just the right amount of pressure to leave me shaking and already close to tipping over the edge of pleasure.

With trembling fingers, I tug at his pants, getting them unbuttoned and pushing my hands down his ass to free him of jeans and boxer briefs in one move. He kicks them away, and I wrap my fingers around the rigid length of his cock. Holy shit. He’s so damn hard and huge and I want him to lie on top of me and make me scream.

Davis groans low as his tongue licks a path up to my jaw before his lips slant back over mine. I moan when he pulls back, gently untangling his hand from my pants before putting them on my hips. I frown at him, about to ask what he’s doing, when a devilish grin breaks out over his face. With an impressive show of strength, he tosses me back on the bed. My jeans and panties are gone in the next second, thrown somewhere across the room.

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