Page 52 of Virtue & Vengeance

“Fuck,” I muttered, deciding she had never felt so good.

Not even during our first time when she had been at her tightest.

“Zander,” she begged. “Please.”

I worked my wrist, gathering her long hair around it before pulling her back until her back was touching my chest. Again, I captured her earlobe in my teeth and tugged.

“Please what, Angel? Tell me what you want, and it’s yours.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them.

What if she asked me to make love to her?

I wouldn’t do it.

Or would I?

I wasn’t sure I could deny her anything, which was scary because if she asked for my heart, what would I do?

Thankfully, she surprised me when she said, “Fuck me, Zander. Hard.”

Wrapping my free hand around her hip, I tugged her body into mine, filling her soaked passage deeper with my hard cock, and then I obliged, fucking her with all the stamina and strength I had until we both collapsed onto my sheets and drifted off to sleep two hours later.

I WOKE AN HOUR later with Eden nestled against my side. Her leg was lying over my naked hips, and her arm was lying across my chest.

She slept deeply, her tiny snores filling the space under my neck where she had tucked her face. Her breaths rushed over my neck and ear, making my cock instantly harden, but just as I was about to flip her over and have my way with her again, a thought occurred to me.

I was snuggling.

It was like a bucket of ice water was dropped on me. My cock softened, and I sucked in a shocked breath, filling my lungs with the cold air of my bedroom until they burned.

Quickly, but without waking her, I slid from beneath her and jumped out of my bed. Bending, I reached for my boxers and pulled them onto my body.

It was then that I chanced a look down at my bed. And what I saw slammed into me like a freight train.

Eden belonged in my bed.

She turned onto her stomach, kicking her knee out to her side as she captured my pillow into her arms and snuggled her head into its softness.

She claimed my bed and everything in it like the queen that she was, and that realization scared me more than the morning I woke up to find a dead woman at my side.

It was terrifying because if I was honest with myself, I wanted her there at that moment. I wanted her there every night. I liked Eden in my bed.

I wanted to feel her every night.

To enjoy each other’s bodies.

To fall asleep in each other’s arms.

I wanted to lie awake at night and watch her sleep. I wanted to watch over her—keep her safe—keep her with me.

I backed away from my bed with wide eyes, covering the part of my chest where my heart was beating entirely too fast behind my palm. And then I did something I hadn’t done since I was a young kid on the mean streets of Las Vegas.

I ran.

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