Chapter 40
LEONORE
Isleep, and it’s a deep, heavy, dreamless sleep, where my body surrenders to the exhaustion of the past six years.
Oh my God, I slept the entire day.
I stretch, and my body feels lighter because I haven’t slept like that in years. Not since Viktor. And it feels so good. Staring up at the ceiling, I let contentment wrap around me and don’t feel any rush to leave.
But something delicious drifts into the room through the open bedroom door, and my stomach growls.
The last time I ate was at the restaurant, and that feels like a lifetime ago.
I sit up and push back the covers. Silas’s bed is enormous, with the softest sheets I’ve ever felt, and with pillows that feel like sleeping on a cloud. I almost regret having to leave it.
But the aroma drifting into the bedroom is making me drool.
Still wearing the T-shirt he gave me to sleep in, I leave the bedroom and follow the aroma through the house and down to the kitchen.
Silas stands at the kitchen island with his back to me, and the moment I see him, every coherent thought in my head short-circuits.
Shirtless, with his impressive torso on display, he’s standing at the stove sautéing something in the fry pan.
He’s barefoot in his black dress pants and a belt, and the sight is so sexy I indulge in a moment to watch him.
God, this man is so fucking hot. His body is a stunning landscape of muscle and ink and golden skin gleaming the warm light of the kitchen.
He turns slightly to reach for a wooden spoon, and I see the broad chest and the rigid grooves of his six-pack.
My mouth goes dry, and a slow throb takes up inside me.
There is something so fucking mesmerizing about a man like Silas doing something so domesticated as cooking. His staff are in a different wing of the house, so it’s just us.
“Are you going to stand there and watch me, or are you going to sit down?” he asks without turning around.
Of course he knew I was there. He probably knew the moment I left the bed.
I cross the kitchen, but instead of taking the suggested stool, I lean around him to take a look at what he’s making. The moment I’m close, he hooks an arm around my waist and doesn’t hesitate to kiss me. Dominating and possessively, as if it’s his every right.
I rise onto my tiptoes, crushing my mouth to his, tasting the power of this man who is far from gentle today. This is the Silas I’ve come to know.
I moan into his mouth because his lips are demanding and crushing and fueled by desire, which is exactly what I need right now.
I don’t want his restraint or to feel like I’m a wounded bird.
I want the delicious force of him wanting me so badly that he can’t control himself, empowering me in the same light.
I drag my hands down his chest. His skin is hot. His muscles hard and thick. I reach for his belt and pull his hips to mine, moaning when I feel the rigid outline of his cock pressing against me.
I want him so badly my body aches more than my stomach.
“Silas,” I moan his name between hot, desperate kisses. “I need you.”
I don’t want to face reality yet. There’s urgency in making sure everything that happened last night wasn’t made up in my head.
I hear the click as he turns off the cooktop. Then he moves swiftly with the urgency I was chasing. He spins me around and presses me against the counter, his hands pushing the T-shirt up to my waist. He drags my panties down my legs, and I step out of them.
He slides his hand up the inside of my thigh, and when his fingers feel how wet I already am for him, he lets out a half groan, half growl.
“Fuck, you’re dripping wet for me,” he rasps.
He finds my clit and circles it with his thumb, and my arms nearly give out.
“Don’t tease me,” I pant. “I need you inside me. I need you to fuck me now.”
I hear him unbuckle his belt. Hear the sound of his zip lower. And then the thick, slick head of his cock presses against my entrance, and every cell in my body screams yes as he drives it into me.
One stroke, so deep. My eyes slam shut, and I crush my teeth into my bottom lip.
Oh God.
He pulls back and slams into me again, and I cry out loud.
Yes, this is exactly what I needed, not to be handled like a breakable thing. My legs tremble beneath his power.
My half-hooded eyes burst open as he watches me intently.
“Is your back hurting this morning? Don’t you usually put more effort in?
” I half joke, lightening the intensity of the mood as we silently recognize that there is no getting out of this for either of us.
And right now, I feel like with him, I can take on the world.
He charms a half smile as he slams into me, driving his cock deep and hard. I buck beneath his force, my legs still shaking.
He wraps his hand around my throat, cutting off most of my air supply as he fucks me. “Act like a brat, and you’ll be punished like one,” he growls.
His filthy promise makes my pussy clench tight around him, wanting to punish him in the same way he does me.
He groans.
“You feel what you do to me?” he grits out. “Feel how fucking hard I am for you?”
I do. I feel everything. The thick drag of his cock inside me. The wet, explicit sound of our bodies meeting over and over and over with every thick, punishing stroke.
“Yes.” I can barely gasp through his thick chokehold, riding the high it gives me. “More,” I barely rasp out, begging for my fix. His eyes light with fire, knowing that I will only beg for him and only when in a self-serving mood.
I need this. This wild, consuming oblivion where nothing else exists but us and the pleasure he thrusts into me. Because at this moment, I am truly free. There is no fear. No panic. Just this man’s urgency for me and the sweet, sweet sensation of his cock moving in and out of me.
I feel my orgasm build. A sweet tension swelling inside. And Silas moaning and thrusting hard into me pushes me closer and closer toward the edge.
My legs begin to shake. My arms tremble. And the pressure between my thighs… God, it’s unbearable. I curl my hands into fists on the counter and drop my head as the pleasure crashes into me with the force of a tidal wave. I let out a low, drawn-out moan.
“That’s a good girl,” he commands in a low, wrecked voice. “Come all over my cock.”
His words ruin me, and I come apart with a cry, my pussy convulsing around his cock.
Oh fuck…
Silas follows me over the edge with a guttural roar, and with one deep, hard thrust he buries his pulsing cock to the hilt and holds himself there as he comes.
I feel everything. His cock pulsating as he jets into me.
My pussy clenching around him. His fingers gripping my hips, carefully placed around my scars. The quiet after the storm.
For a while, neither of us speaks.
We just breathe and slowly come back to ourselves.
Silas presses a kiss to the nape of my neck, and it’s unbearably tender. My heart twists with an emotion I’ve never felt before.
He eases out of me, and the warm liquid slides down my thighs.
Silas turns me in his arms and kisses me gently, then smiles against my lips.
“I can assure you I’ll never have issues with fucking you, Little Raven,” he says, and I know he’s referring to my comment about putting more effort into it, purposely antagonizing him.
I can’t help but smile as I brush my lips against his. “I’d hate to replace you so quickly.”
His grip tightens on my hips, and his words come out as more of a growl. “You’re not replacing me, Doc. Even if I’m in the grave.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s right, your men will hunt your replacements.” Though I’m certain the stubborn asshole would somehow be able to do it himself from the grave.
He pulls back to look at me, and his eyes linger on me a moment longer as if he’s realizing something taking place inside him.
It’s a loaded look, and I feel every second of it.
I reach up to brush his fringe from his brow, and he catches my hand and presses his lips to my palm.
And under his warm gaze, my heart jumps. “Are we really doing this?” I whisper.
“You are mine, Doc. In every sense of the word. From now on, I’m the only one you have to fear running from because I won’t let anyone else even close.”
My breath hitches because I believe in his power and force.
“What should I call you from now on?” he asks.
I don’t even hesitate as I say, “Leo. Or Doctor Graves.” I make a point to emphasize doctor, like I had in our first meeting.
“I’m not that person anymore,” I say, regarding my birth name.
The moment I decided to leave that life, I buried her.
And I’m grateful to Silas for giving me the strength to take this head-on, so I can protect the woman and life I’ve built here.