Page 6 of Riley & Kane: Complete Set

My sweat drips down onto the pillow above her head. “Can’t.Ican’t.”

She grips the sides of my head, tugging me down. “Kiss me,” she whispers, her voice shaking. “Just kiss me,please?”

Those words cut through the pandemonium in my head like butter to a hot know. Silence reigns. Her sweet fingers tunnel in my hair and urge me close, closer, until I’m lying in the cradle of her body, still conscious enough of our size difference to keep most of my weight on my left elbow. But that prop almost gives out when our lips meet and her sweet, pliant mouth opens beneath mine, allowing my tongue to sweep inside. Bliss. Complete and total bliss I never thought I’d experience in mylife.

My disbelief continues when she slides her hands up beneath my shirt, tracing my scars with her fingertips and making a sad, mewling noise.Keep her from that horror. Distract her.She doesn’t like being reminded I’m a freak. Whowould?

“I’m grateful just being allowed to pleasure your body…I never thought you’d let me near your perfect mouth with thisface.”

“Stop,” she says, her eyes closed, her thighs wide open. “Shhh. More,baby.”

“Lainey,” I choke out, almost coming in my pants. “You calledme—”

She yanks me down for another long, mind-blowing kiss, her hips working under mine, inviting me to fuck while her tongue tangles with mine, reminding me we’re not in a hurry. That we can just kiss like this…just likethis—

A hard object smashes down on myhead.

Jagged pieces splinter in all directions around me, bouncing off my arms and the mattress. A deafening roar rips from my throat as I lower myself to protect my beautiful Lainey. Protect her from whoever has enough of a death wish to enter my home while I’m kissing my girl. I’m momentarily confused when she’s no longer beneath me, her heat and soft skingone.

I catch on soon enough when her racing footsteps register behind me. There’s a broken lamp dangling from her hand—the one that usually sits on my bedside table. Pain lances me through the ribs, forcing my breath from mylungs.

She doesn’t like kissing me. It was all adistraction.

None of it was real. And now she’s going toescape.

Denial crushes both sides of my skull as I lunge off the bed, my bellow splitting the night in half. Feeling as though my insides have been slashed to ribbons, I go afterher.

Chapter Five

Lainey

Running nakedthrough the forest issupernotideal.

Poison ivy and mosquitos andwolvesnotwithstanding, I have an eight-foot-tall, four-hundred-pound giant crashing through the trees behindme.

And he’s nothappy.

A sob kindles in my throat when I hear him shout my name, sounding like a wounded animal. Well, what the hell was Isupposedto do? Lie there and let him take my virginity with a ten-pound eggplant lookalike? Dude was already way too attached before we slept together. I can’t even imagine how he’d beafterward.

Probably caring and lovelyand—

Oh my God. Do I hearmyself?

This might sound crazy, but…I thought Carver was listening when I told him about my past. I saw the sympathy in hisamazing—stop it, Lainey—green eyes and I knew he would understand that I’ve spent my life trapped. I can’t do it again. But that’s exactly what he wants to do to me. Keep me in his cabin, never let me leave, and growl at anyone who comes close. After spending the bulk of my childhood in foster care, I know too well what it’s like to have nooptions.

Once I’d been returned to my mother, I spent a year trapped in a tiny one-bedroom, sleeping on a pull-out couch, unable to leave in case my mother took one too many hits this time. She sold me into veritable servitude. Thank God I escaped before that became a reality, but I promised myself I would never live beneath someone else’sthumb.

Iwon’tlive like that again. This freedom I’ve taken for myself is too fresh, and no one is going to take it away from me. Even if my body is still seriously buzzing from Carver’s touch. No denying that. My thighs are still sticky where they rub together with every sprinted step. My nipples are aching in miserable little points. Until he stopped listening and tried to rule me, I was loving every stroke of his tongue, the cherishing touch of his hands. The good parts are all my body seems to remember right now. And being painfully turned on is really adding to the surreal nature of running through the forest naked. I don’t recommendit.

A tree branch whips against my cheek, and I duck right, hoping to find a path. Any path. I was sort of upside down when Carver brought me to his cabin, so I have no idea if I’m going in the rightdirection.

“LAINEY!”

A whimper falls from my lips. He sounds agonized and angry at the same time. As much as I’m determined to get away, I can’t help but feel a serious pull back toward Carver. He’s not a monster. Not at all. He’s actually very sweet, when he’s not threatening to murder anyone who thinks about touching mypussy.

Eventhatwas kind ofsweet.

Jesus. Do I have Stockholmsyndrome?

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