When Lies Unfold

Chapter 76

I don’t wanna talkabout the possibility of her not comin’ back. Don’t wanna entertain the idea of that motherfucker killin’ her.

Not only that, but I don’t wanna hear how much she’s gonna miss me and Alma. I’m already gutted over this, and she’s not even gone yet.

Once I release her skin and lean back to look at it, satisfaction sears through me. I’m leavin’ my mark on her, brandin’ her my own way.

It sure as hell isn’t the same way that fucker did. I’m not hurtin’ her, and it’s not permanent. But I am layin’ claim to her.

She’s not cryin’ or in pain. She’s willingly lettin’ me mark her. She’s gotta know what I’m tryin’ to tell her without actual words.

I’m hopin’ she knows she’ll be takin’ a part’a me with her.

Little by little, I trail my mouth over her exposed skin, leavin’ little marks until I reach the slope of one lush tit. Impatience takes hold of me, and I shove her sports bra up and over her head, discardin’ it to the floor.

Cuppin’ the weight of her tits in my hands, I graze her nipples with my callused thumbs. Then I lower my head and capture one hard peak in my mouth, battin’ at it with my tongue till she whimpers and arches, pushin’ it deeper into my mouth.

I suck a bruise on each perfect tit before I’m overcome with the need to claim her mouth again. Our lips collide in a fierce kiss that has blood surgin’ to my cock.

This is the only woman who can get me fired up so quickly like this. Mouth drawin’ from hers for mere seconds, I tug off her socks and boots before nearly rippin’ off the rest of her clothes.

Once she’s naked on my desk, my hands tremble when I cradle her face in my hands. In between deep kisses, our tongues dartin’ against each other, my voice is gruff with emotion. “If you’re gonna leave, then I’m gonna give you somethin’ to remember me by.”

Her breath catches as she whispers my name against my lips. “Santy.”

After another deep kiss, I capture her earlobe between my teeth, lovin’ how she arches. With my palms on her thighs, I spread her wider, lettin’ my thumb find her swollen clit.

“Santy, wait.” Her protest is on a labored breath. “I need to?—”

I work her clit in circles, cuttin’ off her words. I don’t wanna hear whatever it is she has to say. I need her to listen to me right now—to listen to what I’m sayin’ when I touch her.

I need her to know I hate the thought of her walkin’ back into the lion’s den. I hate the possibility of her dyin’ ’cause of me. Hate the idea of livin’ this life without her when it feels like I only just found her.

This woman’s changed my entire world. She makes me feel things I don’t even know how to name. What I do know is, my chest and gut fuckin’ hurt knowin’ I’m about to lose her.

Slidin’ my other hand up along her side until it rests at her nipple, I gently pinch the stiff peak, drawin’ a little moan outta her.

When her hand skates down my chest, those delicate fingers tracin’ over the indentations of my abdominals, my cock jerks. With painstakin’ slowness, she unfastens my pants to grip my bare length in her hand, and my cock throbs with need.

With her thumb, she smooths the wetness over the flared head, and I can’t resist givin’ a little thrust. Her hand’s holdin’ me so snug I’m afraid I’m not gonna last long at all.

A gut-wrenchin’ desperation clinches hold of me, and I take her mouth again, devourin’ her. Once I break off and suck in a much-needed breath, I speak against her lips, my voice gravelly. “Need you to put me inside.” My serrated breaths mingle with hers. “But you gotta know I’m not gonna be able to hold back.”

Her hot breath washes against my lips. “I don’t want you to.” The hand she’s wrapped around my cock flexes while her other hand reaches up to smooth back my hair from danglin’ in our faces.

When she speaks next, her voice sounds strained with sadness. “I want you to show me if you’ll miss me while I’m gone.”

Christ.If I’ll miss her? There’s no fuckin’ if about it.

The only “if” in my world is if I had the capacity to love any woman, it’d be her. She’s the only woman I’ve ever met who’s elicited such a visceral reaction from me—from the start.

For a split second, a memory flashes in the back of my mind from long ago, but I shove it aside.

My thumb grows still on her clit before I draw away slightly. Her hand relinquishes its hold on my cock, and when I palm her hips, it’s more to hold myself steady against the trace of doubt in her words.

It takes a monumental effort to push the admission from my throat. “I’ll be missin’ you more than you’ll miss Alma.”

Her eyes crease at the outer edges. “I don’t think that’s possible.” She presses a featherlight kiss to one corner of my mouth. “Because there’s no limit on how much I’ll miss her.” With a kiss to the other corner, she murmurs, “But you’re forgetting something.”

“What’s that?”

She leans back to peer up at me. “I have a thing for a certain man with girly hair, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be missing him like crazy.” A fiery sensation flares in my chest at the affection shinin’ in her beautiful brown eyes.

When I smooth back her short, dark fringe to reveal the other pockmarked scars along each side of her forehead and kiss them, her breath stutters.

“And I’m pretty sure I’ll be missin’ a certain mouthy-as-hell house cleaner like crazy.”

I kiss the other little scars along her cheeks and jawline. Swallowin’ past the lump in my throat, I let my mouth linger over the thumpin’ pulse in her throat. It’s spineless as hell, avoidin’ eye contact as I say it, but I do. “Promise you’ll find a way to come back to us.”

Her voice is a barely audible whisper. “I promise I’ll try.” When her palm splays over the center of my chest, I swear my heart beats even faster.

I cover her hand with my own, the scarred flesh of hers beneath my palm. Those blue morpho butterflies contrast with the dark black ink decoratin’ my own skin.

There are so many things I wanna say but can’t. They’re either stuck somewhere deep inside me or lodged in my throat. Which is why I decide to show her the only way I know how.

With my body. With my actions.

We come together in a flurry of movement, our intentions identical. Her desperate impatience matches mine as our mouths meld, our tongues tangle, and our hands frantically guide our bodies together.

I should take my time with her. I should take her to my bed, but somethin’ drives me to stay here. I want her to leave her mark everywhere she can.

As she guides me to sink inside her and cinches her legs around me, our kiss never ends. One of her hands remains molded over part of my ass to urge me deeper with each thrust. Her other clutches at my shoulder, blunt nails diggin’ into my skin when I grind the root of my cock against her, hittin’ her clit just right.

Her slick pussy flutters around me, so goddamn snug and hot as fuck that it takes every ounce of restraint not to lose it right away.

I tear my lips from hers, movin’ my mouth down the column of her neck, speakin’ my gritted words against her soft skin. “You feel so good.”

My breath comes out in labored puffs as I continue trailin’ kisses along her throat. “It’s takin’ everythin’ I’ve got not to paint your pussy with all my cum right this second.”

She arches in silent encouragement, urgin’ me to continue my mouth’s journey along her skin. “You act like I don’t want that.” Her breathless response has my cock shootin’ off a warnin’ shot.

Fuck if she’s not tryin’ to kill me on the spot, ’cause she keeps goin’. “I want you to fill me up,” she whispers raggedly. “Give me everything you’ve got.”

With a hand at her nape, I plant a fierce kiss on her lips as my hips pump wildly. My other hand remains at her hip to hold her steady as she welcomes each of my deep thrusts.

She whimpers my name, tellin’ me how good I feel and beggin’ me to go even deeper. When she lets out a little moan, whisperin’ raggedly, “I’m gonna come… Santy. Ohgod…” her pussy clamps down on me in a way that depletes all the oxygen from my lungs.

“Christ.” The expletive falls from my lips as my hips move frantically. I fuck her through her orgasm, lovin’ the way she soaks me with her release.

“You’re makin’ me crazy. How am I gonna survive with you gone even a second, huh?” I punctuate my question with multiple thrusts, my cock pulsin’ with the need to explode, but I force myself to hold off a little longer.

Powerful thrust after thrust, my cock slides in and out, coated so good and slick from her. “I’ve gotta flood this sweet pussy with everythin’ I got, don’t I? Want you drippin’ for days.”

My hips cant, my thighs shaky from my effort to last. “Gotta make sure you don’t forget about me.”

She grips my hair, guidin’ my face back to hers. “As if I could ever forget you.” The instant our mouths collide, I go off, unable to hold back any longer.

I release the first shot inside her, my thrusts unrelentin’. When she locks her legs tighter around my hips, archin’ like she wants everythin’ I’ve got to give her, it unleashes somethin’ feral inside me.

My vision goes hazy as I fill her up. Wet sounds greet my ears, and I’m relentless, paintin’ her pussy with every ounce of my cum.

She moans against my mouth, “You made me so wet,” before her pussy contracts around me again. Fuck if that isn’t the hottest damn thing. Havin’ my woman orgasm a second time after I fill her to the brim.

Once her pussy’s flutterin’ eases, she sags against me and rests her forehead against mine. She still maintains a near-desperate hold on me, one of her hands clutchin’ the lengthier part of my hair I usually tie back.

My tone is playful. “Think you’ve got a thing for my girly hair after all.”

Her soft smile has me wishin’ like hell I’d done more to witness them on a frequent basis. She tenderly sifts her fingers through my hair, her voice softened with affection. “That’s not all I have a thing for.”

If I wasn’t already gone over this woman, this would’ve done it.

She’s the first woman to want me for me—in spite of all the shit I’ve done and all the blood on my hands.

A sense of doom-filled finality washes over me. It’s just my luck that I finally found a woman I wanna claim, and the chaos of my life fucks shit up.

Fierce possessiveness slithers through me. With our eyes locked, I take her left hand and press her open palm to my mouth. Pressin’ a kiss to the center where the skin is marred the most, I don’t say a word.

When those brown eyes take on a sheen, I hope like hell that’s a sign she hears what I’m silently sayin’.

That I don’t wanna live without her.

That if she doesn’t come back to me—to us—no other fuckin’ woman will ever take her place.