Page 42 of The Ruthless and the Strong

We moved through the warm house and straight to my bedroom. I brought her to the en suite bath. Before she could say anything, I hooked my arms under her armpits and lifted her up, setting her on the counter. She let out a small yelp in surprise but didn’t say anything.

“Show me where you are hurt,” I said, moving to one of the drawers, where I kept the first-aid kit.

“I’m fine, Max. You know that, right?”

I didn’t say anything, just stared at her. She let out a small sighbefore pointing to her jaw. I gently placed my fingers under her chin and lifted a bit. A small bruise was already forming.

The anger must have shown on my face, because she patted my chest. “It’s only a small injury. Honestly, it doesn’t even hurt that badly anymore.”

“Where else?” I asked.

“What?”

“Where else are you hurt? Don’t downplay your injuries for my sake. I want to know every little place on your body that’s hurt. Hell, even if it’s as small as a paper cut. I want to know about it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?”

“No,” I said seriously. “I want to go back to that bar and hunt down the two fuckers who started this. I even wanted to hunt down the damn bartender.”

I wanted to destroy everyone who had a hand in Lizzie hurting tonight, directly or indirectly.

She cupped my cheek then. I stilled. Then I calmed.

When I looked at her, she was smiling a bit, her green eyes soft in this light. Or perhaps her eyes had always been soft.

No matter the years and distance between us, the shit we’d had to deal with, it all didn’t matter. Not when I was looking into those innocent eyes of hers, and realized I would kill to keep the softness in her eyes like that, for this moment, and the next, and a million and billion more still.

I would do whatever it took to protect her.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled in closer. I moved in toward her and settled between her legs. I moved my hands down her thighs and pulled, keeping her legs on my waist.

“Tell me to stop,” I said. I was holding onto control by the skin of my teeth. It was only a matter of time before I snapped. I bent down and traced my lips around the delicate curve of her jawline. Her eyelids fluttered shut.

“Max.”

“Sweetheart. Tell me to leave.”

My grasp tightened around her legs, contradicting my words. I didn’t want to leave her. But I would if she told me to.

“Don’t—” She let out a tiny gasp when I suckled on the delicate skin of her neck. Fuck, she smelled good. Felt good. “Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”

She pulled me in closer, until there was barely any space between us.

I didn’t think.

I kissed her.

She whimpered into my lips. It took a millimeter of a second before she responded to me, and then she was kissing me back. My hands moved to her waist, around the small of her back, before I hauled her in close to me.

I was working purely on instinct now. I lifted her up in my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waists, and I carried her out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. I laid her down on the bed and moved on top of her, bracing my weight with my elbows on either side of her. Her legs crossed at my back, and as she pulled me in closer until I pressed in on her.

God, this felt good. I couldn’t even remember the last time it had felt this good with a woman underneath me.

She moved her hips up, pressing against me in the sweetest torture. Her eyes were half-lidded as she took me in, and her lips were swollen and slightly red from my stubble.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful. You know that?”

She didn’t say anything to that, but looked down shyly, biting on her bottom lip. Lizzie wasn’t exactly shy by nature. Just quiet. But I loved how she was with me now. I moved my thumb over the abused flesh of her lips, back and forth, back and forth.

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