Page 94 of A Villain's Kiss

Chapter34

How I met your mother

Oriana

“He’s very taken with you,” Jake’s mother says as we walk to her car.

Jake has gone back inside to grab me a jacket because it’s getting colder at night. I don’t respond to her comment about us because I still don’t know where I stand with Jake.

“Just be careful of Grayson. He was always jealous of Jake.” Again, I say nothing. “You must think I’m an awful person.” Her eyes dip down to the ground. “That I let all that happen under my roof.”

“I’m sure you had your reasons.”

She meets my gaze and wipes a tear from her eye. “I was struggling, and sometimes when a woman is struggling, she will do anything to survive.”

From behind a jacket is placed over my shoulders, and Jake slides his hand under the fabric to my lower back.

“I hope to see you again…if you would like that?” she asks. He doesn’t respond right away, and she pushes for an answer. “Jake?”

He’s studying her, an intense expression on his face before he says, “I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

“Okay. I’ll give you all the time you need.” She turns to me. “It was lovely meeting you.”

“You too.” I smile.

His mother gives Jake one last look before she walks to her car and gets in. We stand there until her taillights are out of sight and it’s just us standing in the dark.

“I want you to stay the night in my bed,” he rumbles. I give him a curious look. “The therapist suggested it, and I wouldn’t have said anything if I thought I could hurt you again.”

“If you think—”

His finger against my lip silences me. “I don’t think… I know I won’t. What happened to me doesn’t haunt me anymore.” He pauses, swallowing roughly. “What I did to you haunts me.” His finger leaves my lip. “I would never hurt you again. Do you get that?”

I can only nod in understanding because I have no idea how he knows that to be true, but I want more than anything to believe him—to believe in him.

It doesn’t take Jake long to turn me around and lead me back to the house. His hand doesn’t move an inch as we walk the stairs, and he shuts the door behind us.

My feelings for Jake are real and nothing like what I felt for Kyler. I’ve come to accept that, knowing they are two entirely different people and that not everyone loves the same. I loved Kyler in a way I thought he needed to be loved, but I’m falling in love with Jake in a way that Ineed to be loved.

And I think that’s okay.

Jake removes the jacket from my shoulders ever so slowly. He does it with intention, his fingers dragging along my skin and sending goosebumps everywhere. When the jacket falls to the floor, his hands scoop underneath my ass, and he lifts me until my legs wrap around his waist. Then he strides up the stairs with purpose, pushes the bedroom door open with his shoulder and walks in.

That’s when I take in the space around me. This is a simple bedroom design for a house that’s so grand on the outside. It has no television and no dressers or nightstands. The only thing it contains is a bed and two closed doors, which I can only guess are a closet and bathroom.

“I need my mind silenced at night. So I have to have nothing distracting me from getting a good sleep.” I didn’t ask for an explanation for his lack of décor, but he gave me one anyway.

When I turn my head toward him, he gives my ass a little squeeze, leans in, then rubs his nose against mine softly. “I want to devour you,” he whispers. “Taste every inch of you and let you know that you are mine.”

I don’t object to his words. Instead, I relish in them.

Jake places me down, then goes to the closet, flicks on the light, and removes his shirt. When he comes back out in just pants, I ogle him as he adjusts himself.

He takes a moment to look me up and down before he says, “I think you should remove everything.”

“You do, do you?” I reply coyly. “And why is that?” I lift my hand to my shirt but don’t remove it.

“Because I plan to fuck you so hard that the words that leave your mouth will be filthy.” He sucks air through his teeth, and his stare eats me alive. “I will make you swear. I will make sure you bring every bad word in your vocabulary out when I’m inside of you.”

---