Page 56 of Fury

Serena’s lips tipped up. “Sounds like a plan.”

“I got to go make some phone calls,” I said. “So Tania, how’s all this risk-taking feel now?”

A slow smile broke over her mouth. “Like the best fucking rush ever.”

16

“They call youFinger now?”Serena asked, her voice just above a whisper.

I turned on the motel bed and took her in. The lamplight created a golden glow over her. Her eyes were full and round. “Yeah. I earned my patch in a big way.”

A serious look passed over her face as her hand stroked over my chest, lingering there, sending shivers skittering over my flesh, my pulse charging like a generator kicking in under storm conditions. She planted light kisses on my pecs, gentle, revering, almost timid. She bit her lip, the side of her face sinking into my arm.

This was our first time together, alone, like normal people, a normal couple. But there didn’t seem to be much normal about us. Yet here we were together, and here she was, mine, and I was so fucking grateful.

My heartbeat hammered like I was a boy about to kiss his first girl—a girl he really liked and didn’t think he’d ever have. A girl whose light touch drove me just as crazy with lust and emotion as her mouth around my cock once had. This was different, though. Right now, these heady looks, light but sizzling touches of hers over my skin were pulling me under. This was more, more in a way that I couldn’t explain, but my body knew. I knew.

I kissed the side of her face, my hand at her jaw, my lips trailing to the edge of hers, and her mouth opened to mine. Her warm hand slid around my neck, the caramel taste of the whiskey still on her tongue. She made a soft noise in the back of her throat, her hips rising, and I crushed her body with my own.

Yeah, we both knew.

I pulled back, my thumb rubbing over her full lower lip. “I love being with you, here, like this, free and in the light. I like seeing you when we touch. Seeing your body with my eyes, not just my hands.”

“Me too.” A slow smile lit her face. She pulled my head down to hers and kissed me, a more insistent kiss, her one leg wrapping over mine, pressing.

Tania was taking a bath. A long, long bath, with her ear plugs in and her Sony Discman on. I could hear faint strains of the music through the closed bathroom door. She was a good kid and smart on the uptake. She was giving us some private time without being asked.

“I’m sorry for what they did to you.” Serena’s warm breath fanned my skin as her fingers traced over the grooves on my face. “I’m sorry for helping them. For—”

“Stop. You got nothing to be sorry for. Sometimes I forget, you know. But then I pass a mirror or a window and see my reflection. I notice that look people give me. It’s a split second of horror, a mental and physical freeze. They look away real fast, they back off.”

She took my right hand in hers and brought it to her mouth, and I hissed in a breath as her tongue danced over the nub of where my middle finger used to be.

I grit my teeth at the sensation springing over the stub. “You kissing my claws?”

“These hands aren’t claws. They hold me, carry me. They fight for me and make my dreams come true in hell and high water. These hands are beautiful and strong.” She ripped off her T-shirt and placed my hands on her breasts. My skin heated at the feel of her tits, at the sight of them covered with my large damaged paws. She raked her nails over them. “And they’re mine.”

My heartbeat grew louder at her words. That deep, sensual tone of her voice that was just for me, ticked off a time bomb deep inside me that I didn’t even know was there.

Her fingers went to my lips, stroked down my chest, my middle. Tucking her hands under the waistband of my boxer briefs, she tugged them down, and I flexed my hips so we could get them off. My head twisted back, my hips shifted, and both our gazes fell to her hand working my already rock hard cock.

My breath jammed in my lungs. “Serena.” I closed my eyes, letting out a grunt. I buried my face in her throat, nuzzling her warm skin. “It ain’t the same anymore. It hurts now.”

Her hand stopped moving. “Your dick?”

I put my hand over hers and brought it back to my cock. “I start coming and expect the chop, the pain, it just hangs over me. I come jerking off, but I don’t getin thereanymore, just can’t. Can’t let go.”

“It’s okay. I understand.” Her hand stroked firmly under mine. “Don’t I understand?” A knowing smirk passed over her face.

I stopped her hand. “Hey, you’re no whore. No whore,” I breathed, my lips brushing the side of her throat, nuzzling the warm delicate skin, inhaling her soap fresh scent to push back the demons.

Clean, clean, we’re both clean now, aren’t we?

“I know exactly what you’re talking about. I learned to shut it off,” she said, her voice low.

“I don’t want you shut off with me,” I said. “What they did to you isn’t what we do. Different…” I struggled to find the right words.

“I don’t want to be shut off anymore, and definitely not with you,” she breathed, her warm fingers opening over my cock once more, stroking.

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