Page 28 of Worth

I snort, knowing that Zander and I won’t be having civilized conversation anytime soon. At the noise, Aiden lifts his head so that he’s looking down into my eyes. He studies me for a moment until I lift a brow in response to his curious look.

Then he kisses me.

I flinch as his lips touch mine, more out of surprise than anything. He pulls back after a long moment—longer than when I kissed him that first full day—and stares down at me again. I search his eyes as I furrow my brows, unsure what it is he wants from me.

Because that’s just it, isn’t it? Everyone wants something. Human compassion. Kindness. Love. They all come with a price tag of what you can give in return—how you can be exploited. Just like with Zander. He had taken my body and information in exchange for a moment of pleasure. A transaction, plain and simple.

But I know Aiden isn’t like Zander. He’s got this sort of simplicity around him I know is hiding the cold and complex darkness I saw when he pinned me to the wall. This warm exterior is hiding someone ruthless. And yet, he’s already told me he won’t have sex with me unlessIinitiate; unlessIwant it to go that far.

I’m struggling to come to terms with the idea that Ilikeboth parts—the simple and the ruthless.

I’m struggling to come to terms with the idea that I think... I think I might be more like him than I would want to admit.

Rather than admit it, I lean up and press my lips to his. He responds almost the same way I did when he kissed me; the surprise evident when it takes a moment for him to respond to me. When he does, the kisses turn away from chaste and innocent.

Before being sold, I had only kissed a couple of boys, and every attempt had been awkward and slimy. Mostly because I don’t think I had really been into any of the guys trying to slip their gross tongues into my mouth. With Damien, trying to kiss me had been a liability because I used whatever method of fighting back I could when he was on top of me—and that meant biting if he was within range.

Which meant that this kiss, which had started out so simple, was quickly turning into something not simple at all. It also was the first time someone had ever kissed me and I didn’t find them disgusting.

Aiden groans into my mouth as he kisses harder, his tongue licking into my mouth and teasing mine. His hand slides up from the ground, tracing along my arm until he’s grazing along the bruises on my neck. As his fingertips press into the sore spots on my skin, I let out a heady moan.

That’s the breaking point for Aiden.

His body moves over mine as his hand closes around my throat, his weight pressing against me. I expect to feel panic at the way he’s pushing my thighs apart to make room, but there is none. If nothing else, I shoulddefinitelyfeel panic at how he’s choking me just enough to remind me he could cut off my air completely—like he did yesterday.

I feel neither. I’m fucking excited. The glittering edge of danger I feel as he squeezes is only heightening the mind-blowing kiss.

I told Aiden that he was weird, but maybe I’m the one who is truly fucked in the head.

Aiden’s kisses turn halfway violent when I wrap my legs around his waist, the hand on my neck turning my head to just the perfect angle he desires. His other hand grabs at my thigh and I know there will be more bruises on my skin in the morning where his fingers bite into the flesh.

His hand moves from around my throat and tangles in my hair, jerking hard enough to make my neck arch for better access to it. I am still as he presses soft, gentle kisses to each of the places I know I’m bruised, my fingers curling into his shirt as I cling to him. When he reaches the base of my throat, his tongue skates up the column of it and, despite me being the one who’s having every nerve ending lit on fire, a low groan rumbles throughhim.

“You taste like sin and peaches, Kitten,” Aiden growls in my ear. “Like fucking heaven on my tongue, even though I only deserve hell.”

Before my eyes can open, he claims my mouth again, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth. His teeth bite into it hard enough to break the skin and I whimper, but I don’t pull away. I can taste the metallic tang of my blood seeping between our mouths as I find myself rocking against him, my pants turning to some sort of soft, breathy moans. My pussy grinds against the hard length of his cock, and I’m certain that I’m starting to soak through my pants. I wouldn’t be surprised ifhispants are damp at this point.

Then Aiden’s weight disappears from on top of me.

My eyes fly open and immediately find Aiden’s, a wicked grin on his face as he holds out a hand to me. Every one of my limbs feels like I have zero control over it; my legs have fallen open and my arms dropped from around him to lie on the ground around my head. I just lay there, gawking at the man who ravaged my mouth in a way I never even thought was possible, attempting to catch my breath.

“Come on,” Aiden says, sounding totally unaffected. “Break time is over.”

“What the fuck?” I gasp, licking my sore bottom lip and tasting Aiden and blood.

“I need you to be distracted,” he replies, like my question was serious. “When you defend yourself, you’re not going to be laser focused. You’re going to panic and have a million different thoughts go through your head and have to still remember what you’ve learned despite that.”

“You’re a dick,” I murmur, no sign of the bite to my words that I was going for.

With a large amount of effort, I take the offered hand and stumble as Aiden pulls me to my feet. He hangs on long enough for me to steady myself, that goddamn knowing smirk on his face as I shift on my feet uncomfortably, every movement of my thighs doing nothing to ease the pulsing and clenching my pussy is doing.

Clapping his hands together, he steps away from me. “All right! Let’s go through maneuvers again!” Aiden chirps.

He leaps forward, grabbing at me from the front. Like we practiced until I got it just right, I bring my hands together and make a fist, swinging it into his dick while I butt my head into his nose. As soon as he distances himself with a yelp, my knee jerks up, landing square in his groin.

I do it exactly as we practiced. Except that, when we practiced, we only went through the motions—I hadn’t actually hit him.

Unfortunately for Aiden, in my distracted state, I forgot about that part.

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