Page 123 of Hearts of Stone

“Off to bed, love?” Dad asked, only looking up briefly.

“Jade is very tired after all of her exertions today,” Carrick informed him.

“Sleep well, then. After this beer, I’m gonna have to hit the hay myself. We drove all night from Daysborough—”

“This is the town Jade was born in?” Graven asked, winking at us. “Tell us more about her birthplace.”

“Carrick…” I hissed as we walked through the lounge room, past my snoring mother. “Carrick!” But he didn’t stop or put me down until he’d carried me upstairs and deposited me in front of my bedroom door. Once I was standing upright, he leaned in and pressed me against the wall.

“Yes, my mate?”

“You like saying that way too much,” I said, giving his chest a shove, but the male wasn’t moving anywhere. He just smiled as his head edged closer.

“What, my mate?” He stopped when his mouth was hovering over mine, so I caught the moment it curved into a smile. “I intend to say it many times tonight. Once as I kiss my mate.”

“But—”

Whatever I had to say, it was silenced by his mouth as he kissed me, hard and punishing and demanding entrance.

“Once again while I strip you naked and marvel at the fact that a woman so beautiful is destined to be mine.”

Without knowing how I’d got there, I found myself standing in the centre of my bedroom, his kisses raining down over my bared shoulders as he removed my blouse, my skirt and then my underwear. True to his word, he stepped back, his hand toying with his rigid cock as he walked around me.

“Carrick—”

“Don’t say another word,” he said. “I’m holding myself back by a thread as it is, my mate.”

Although Mum was asleep, she was a notoriously light sleeper, and Dad was still awake, although occupied downstairs drinking with the rest of my flock. To say it was not the most ideal time to be doing this was an understatement. But I couldn’t seem to bring myself to care. As Carrick walked around to face me again, I lifted my eyes and boldly stared into his.

“Don’t.”

“Don’t?” His eyebrow jerked and a devilish light sparkled in those black eyes. “Oh, my Jade, you have no idea what you’ve done.”

Chapter 68

Carrick

What Jade didn’t understand was that while each of us was generally a gentle, domesticated monster, inside us still lived an aspect of the devils that had brought on the Fall. When my claws clasped around her sweetly rounded wrists and tugged her to me, I could feel a little of that nature within me.

“Carrick—”

“Worried your mother will wake to find you up here with me?” I asked as I stepped close. Her eyes were glued to mine and I loved every second of that. “Scared your father will learn of what I’m about to do to you?”

“Um. Carrick, maybe—”

“If you think I’m going to wait one more night before making you mine, you’ve got another thing coming.” I pressed my foot between hers, forcing those sweet thighs to part and with that came the heady scent of her arousal. Huh, she was into this as well. My grip on her tightened then as I raised her arms above her head. Her tits rose too, sweet, tempting mounds that I wanted to nip at and suck on and push myself between, but not yet. “You know there’s only one solution to that.”

“That we do this tomorrow night?” Jade squeaked. Her next words came out in a rapid tumble. “I’ll send Mum and Dad to a hotel and—”

I silenced her with a brutal kiss, which distracted her, and me as well, because when I was kissing her, I was tasting her, nipping at her bottom lip and wanting to crawl right into that slick wetness. My cock ached, and I couldn’t keep from it rubbing against her soft thigh, and wanting something else snapped tight around it.

“You have to be quiet.” Our breaths were coming fast and noisy, making a lie of my words. “This has to happen. I need to make you mine tonight and we can do so with you screaming my name as loud as you can so the whole neighbourhood can hear us or…”

“Or?” she prompted, her eyes flicking up to meet mine.

“Or you can hold your responses back as I feed every one of my pearls into that pretty little cunt of yours. Tell me you want that.”

That pause before she responded? It clenched around my heart like an iron fist, threatening to tear it out. Then she nodded, just a little thing, almost as though she was feeling naughty. I smiled, because my girl knew she shouldn’t be doing this, and she couldn’t stop herself.

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