Page 65 of Dark OZ

I pushed back against the roaring lion, and to my surprise, he let me put space between us, though his hand didn’t leave my neck. “You pulled a gun on me.”

“And I fired one for you, too.” He dropped his head, kissing the valley of my breasts. Dammit. I hadn’t considered how more space just provided access to more skin. “So did you. You shot a man for me, Princess.”

“Maybe I shot the wrong man.”

“Maybe the wrong man is the man you need.”

His hands dropped to my hips. He dragged my body up and down his length, making sure that every considerable inch slid against my exposed flesh. It made my skin feel hot, and blood rushed through my ears. Without thinking, desire took control of my body, rocking my pelvis in time with his movements. Danny let out a low groan. “I’ve never wanted anything the way I want to possess you and make every inch of you mine.”

“I’m more than something to own.” I moved to pull myself off of him. His sweet words didn’t matter. Danny still saw me as a commodity.

He grabbed my arm, pulling me back down. “You don’t understand.” He cupped my cheek, forcing me to look at him. His emerald eyes bored into mine. “My thoughts, my desires, my dreams. They are all consumed by images of you, wanting you. The only person who owns anything right now isyou.”

I blinked and tried to remember how to breathe.

Danny kissed me with more emotion than I was prepared for. He moved gently, like he had when I awoke, causing a deep ache to thrum in my chest. He followed that first press of his lips with more to my cheeks and, finally, the center of my brow. It was an act of such sweet devotion, undoing every piece of armor I had guarding my heart.

“I’d give every last bit of me to you freely, for the chance to hold a piece of you.”

I ran my hands down his arms to make sure I wasn’t imagining this and hadn’t slipped back into a hallucinatory coma. But, it would seem Danny really was confessing…whatever this was to me.

Gone was the vindictive prick who calculated my worth in dollar signs. The fire in his eyes was something else entirely, and this caring version of him had me feeling all kinds of vulnerable. Maybe he was ready to confront that side of himself, but I wasn’t.

Vulnerable Thea was too similar to weak Dorothy, and that bitch could fuck right off.

That didn’t mean I couldn’t have a bit of unbridled fun. I bit my lip and let my eyes slide over Danny’s body, indulging in the rolling muscles in a way I’d denied myself earlier. When he wasn’t being a complete ass, it was hard to ignore how fucking gorgeous he was.

“It would seem you’re already holding quite a bit of me,” I joked, rocking my hips once more to prove my point.

“Not enough.”

I leaned back, running my fingertips along each ridge of abdominal muscle, past the lines of his hips, until I could drag my nails down the length of his cock.

Danny hissed through his teeth, eyebrows rising in surprise at the sudden flip in power.

Because I felt really fucking powerful in this moment. I palmed up and down the length in answer, wrapping my fingers as I went, squeezing harder at the base, and easing as I returned back to the tip. With each swipe, every muscle in his body constricted in answer.

Danny groaned, his fingers digging into my hips.

He felt fucking good in my hand, hard as stone and large enough that I knew I’d be seeing stars with every thrust. He’d come at me with all the savagery of the lion inked on his chest, tearing me in two—and I’d ask for more.

I licked at the seam of his mouth, imagining what it would be like to trace my tongue down the path my thumb was making. “And you want more?”

“Fuck yes, I do.”

Chapter 30

Thestrengthofhisbody surged up, taking me with him and sloshing water over the sides. I let out a laugh at his enthusiasm. I gave Danny the green light, and he leapt from the tub like a puppy being asked to go for a ride. It only took four long strides and one awkward slide on wet tile, until we were back in the bedroom.

“Wait,” I said partly on a laugh. “We’re soaking wet. The bed…we can’t.”

He growled, kissing me again, then reluctantly set me down. “Don’t move.”

Danny disappeared into the bathroom, returning with a large fluffy grey towel, hastily running it over his hair and body as he walked. The view gave me ample time to drink in each dip and curve of his naked body, and damn…why had I denied myself this the first time?

By the time Danny reached me, he was relatively dry, and the Cheshire grin he was giving me was bright enough to be seen from space.

I reached my hand out to take the towel, but he knocked it away.

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