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His mouth moves over my collarbone and I’m ready to fall apart because this is the exact thing I shouldn’t want. Rhenn exists in the space between caution and desire. He is chaos. He is pain.
My arms lace around the back of his neck. It’s all I can do to pull him closer.
Rhenn brushes his nose against my cheek. “Is that a yes?”
Shouldn’t want, but do.
“Take it all away.” The trauma. The scars. The pain. “Please.”
He falls forward, melding his lips with mine. It isn’t hard, not like the other times. There’s no contempt, no urgency. Rhenn is kissing me like he wasn’t just hunting me. Like we aren’t full-time enemies.
His palm traces down the valley of my chest, catching on my shirt, then moves lower, taking my waist in his hands. “Whatever my girl needs,” he breathes into my mouth.
My head falls back, eyes closed while I lean against the tree. I let him lower my panties, looking just in time to see him shoving them into his back pocket, then rip open the button on his own dark jeans, allowing them to fall with his boxers past his knees.
He’s so much bigger than I remember. Long and thick. Rhenn pumps himself twice, then steps back into my space, dragging a finger along my slick folds. My body betrays me yet again, shuddering against his touch. He sees it too, the corner of his mouth rising. It’s stupid what that smile does to me, the way it makes me melt inside.
Rather than pushing his finger in, like I desperately want, Rhenn raises his hand between us, brushing my excitement over my bottom lip. His eyes are ravenous, staring at the arousal like it’s his lifeline. “You’re breathtaking like this.”
I can’t help the little pants falling from my lungs as though they belong to him.
Closing the gap, Rhenn sucks against my lip, cleaning it of the wetness he’d placed there, and a small whimper escapes me.
“Fuck, you taste like heaven,” he groans. “I’m going to lift you up, then I’m going to need you to wrap your legs around me.”
A swarm of bees battles in my stomach, and I nod.
Bark stabs into my shoulder blade. I ignore it, fighting with the part of myself that knows better than to do this. Granite fills my throat, and I try to remember to breathe. My nerves don’t care to listen to me, every one of them screaming to not let anyone touch me.
It’s just sex, I scold myself. People do it all the time. I’ve done it. With him. I shouldn’t need expensive faerie wine to let my body relax and allow my mind to turn down the unforgiving whispers. Just be normal, Sumner! He isn’t here, and he can’t touch us ever again.
We both moan as Rhenn fills me, stretching my walls around his thick manhood.
My cheeks warm, and a strange feeling replaces the nervous flutter in my stomach. It’s terrifying and wonderful. He’s moving so slowly, like he’s trying to savor this, because we both know it can’t last.
I stare up at him, struggling to keep the moans from falling. He watches me too, and for a moment, it’s like we’re not in the forest anymore. He’s taking me somewhere new, a place I’ve never been before. It isn’t bliss, but whatever comes after. And as he pushes into me again, I find it, something so beautiful. It makes my head feel light and my fingers go numb.
“Not too loud, baby. They’ll hear you,” Rhenn breathes, resting his forehead against mine. “Fuck, you’re taking me so good.”
Something that should sound so sweet simmers inside me. The words of praise blur, and panic creeps into my bones.
That’s right, princess. I’ll go nice and easy for you.
No, no, no! They’re Rhenn’s hands. It’s Rhenn’s mouth. I’m okay. I’m okay. Just breathe.
But everything goes dark. I feel the scratchy sheets beneath my back, smell the harsh, acrid smoke that fills my lungs.
Show me what a good girl you are.
So pretty. So tight.
The raspy voice breaks through my barrier, a whisper filled with tar and malice.
Why did I think I could do this?
I clamp my eyes shut, trying to block out the sounds.
My breathing becomes labored, and I feel like I might pass out. He’s pressing down on me. I’m suffocating. Banging strikes against the door, but it’s bolted shut.
