Chapter 27 Jade #2
I’ve never done anything like this before—trying to tempt someone. The only time I’ve ever done anything willingly with a man was with Zander, but he was just as ready and willing as I was. With Kratos, I feel like he’s trying to hold back, like he needs a little motivation.
I let my tongue dart out again, holding his gaze as I move up along his chest, dropping a few kisses here and there. Kratos groans, and the throbbing in my core is enough that I shift, hoping to ease some of the ache.
His gaze flicks down to my thighs, catching my movement before it snaps back to me, so full of heat that my breath catches.
I've been the object of lustful gazes for so long that I could recognize them anywhere. But somehow, it’s different with Kratos.
Kratos doesn’t just want me for my body. I’m not a possession to him. I’m a person. Regardless of my past, I’m someone he cares about and, surprisingly, still wants.
I let my lips rest against his skin lazily, making no move to pull away. My hand still sits on his chest, and while he’s busy staring me down, I use it to my advantage.
Ever so slowly, I slide my hand down, running over the taut muscle and ink that litters damn near every inch of his available skin. I make it to his abs before his hand shoots out to wrap around my wrist, halting my movement.
“What are you doing?” he asks breathlessly, without releasing my arm. I attempt to pull free, but he tightens his grip.
Fine. I don’t need my hand.
“I thought it was obvious?” I smile up at him before I drop my head lower and let my lips follow the same path my hand did.
Holding his gaze, I get the pleasure of seeing him suck in a sharp breath as my lips land just above his waistband.
A surge of pride fills me seeing that I have the ability to make him react like this, with just the simple touch of my hands and brush of my lips.
It’s a powerful feeling.
I let the power go to my head, losing some of my senses, and Kratos takes full advantage of it as he surges up.
In a blur of movement, I’m lying on the pillows where he laid only a moment ago, his hold still on my wrist that now rests above my head, pinned to the bed. His other hand holds my hip as I weakly attempt to wiggle free.
Kratos is huge, and while he hovers over me without the weight of his body pressing into my own, he still takes up all the space around me.
I still taste him on my lips, and my tongue darts out to lick at them.
He tracks the movement with his eyes. The way he watches me sends a spike of desire through me that's strong enough to cure any of my lingering inhibitions.
I lift my hips off the bed enough to press myself against him. He growls at the contact, his hand on my hip slamming me back into the bed hard enough to steal some of the air from my lungs, but not enough to stop me.
“What’s the matter, Daddy? You seem frustrated.” My voice is breathy and doesn’t even sound like my own, but I don’t care. His eyes snap back to mine, and I can see the war that rages inside of him.
He wants this, but he’s trying to hold back. I don’t understand why.
Using my free hand, I thread it through his hair, pulling him down to me. He moves easily, allowing me to do so, pausing just a whisper away from our lips touching.
“Do you not want me?” I ask, unsure if I want the answer, but knowing I need it. His eyes say he does, but his resistance says something else, and I’m questioning if maybe I read this wrong.
Kratos drops his head, pressing our foreheads together.
“You know I do, Killer,” he says, his words strained. He pulls back to look at me again.
“Then what’s wrong?” My voice is smaller than I’ve heard it in a long time, and I cringe at the sound of it as his eyes soften.
“The issue is how badly I want you. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you.”
His words make my stomach flip, and my heart feels like it damn near skips a beat, but they don’t explain why he’s holding back. If anything, that should make him have the opposite reaction.
“I don’t understand.”
He huffs, ruffling my hair before he pulls back to sit on his knees.
The moment there’s distance between us, I feel colder, more exposed.
My mind clears as if someone poured cold water on me, and I remember I’m lying on his bed in only his large shirt with nothing but a small piece of lacy underwear underneath.
Underwear that I’m pretty sure is fully on display right now.
For some reason, I don’t think the cold, exposed feeling has anything to do with the way I’m dressed, though.
I move to pull the shirt down as heat creeps up my neck, embarrassment setting in at how I’ve just behaved and the situation I’ve put us in.
Before I can cover myself, Kratos is moving again, turning to rest against the headboard, his legs stretched out in front of him. The moment he’s settled, he reaches out and plucks me up off the bed as if I weigh nothing before setting me on his lap.
I spread my legs on instinct, letting them settle on either side of his so that I’m straddling his waist, my hands falling on his shoulders to steady myself.
Sitting like this, it’s impossible to look away from him without being obvious. He usually towers over me, but right now, we're a lot closer to being eye to eye. I square my shoulders and lift my chin. I’m not sure what he’s doing, but I won’t cower.
“Jade.”
He says my name with so much emotion that something in me melts, and I take a moment to really look at him. This is Kratos. I don’t know why I’m so worried that he’s going to hurt me. He’s never done so in the past, even with countless opportunities, and I doubt he plans to start now.
I shift to settle more comfortably on his lap, letting down some of my usual defenses. The proof that he wants me is hard and thick between my legs as I move, and I have to fight the urge to grind against him as my core throbs in response to him.
Instead, I go still, trying to pretend I don’t notice the rock-hard bulge that sits between my legs, even as it presses into me exactly where I want—
Shit.
I mentally slap myself and realize he’s watching me with a smirk.
“You thought I was lying?” he asks with a breathy chuckle that only causes my body to heat further.
This man has no idea just how desirable he is. What the thought of someone like him wanting me as a person instead of as a possession is doing to me.
“No,” I tell him, squirming again. The ache only continues to build the longer I sit here. “I believed you, but that doesn’t mean I understand,” I tell him as I attempt to get comfortable.
His hand grips my hip, stopping my movement.
“Stop squirming,” he grits out, his words speaking a command, but his tone almost sounds pleading.
“That’s a lot easier said than done. It’s not exactly easy to sit still with your cock hard as fuck and pressed against me, you know,” I tell him, rolling my eyes.
His hand that isn’t gripping my waist runs through his hair, messing it up beautifully, and I can’t resist the urge to do the same.
His hair is long and thick with the slightest bit of a wave through it. It’s beautiful and so very him. Most times when I’ve seen him over the years, he’s had it pulled back, and while he still seems to wear it up and out of the way a lot these days, I can’t deny that I love seeing it loose.
“Do you have any idea how hard you're making this, Killer?” he asks, his warm breath fanning over my cheek, making me realize just how close we are. I’d leaned forward to card my fingers through his hair, putting us close enough to kiss if one of us would just lean in the tiniest bit.
I bite back my response of how hard I know I’m making him. He might not find that funny right now.
My eyes drift down to his lips and back up to his eyes as I wonder, not for the first time, what it would be like to lose myself to him. With the first man I ever trusted, the first man I ever truly wanted.
Sex has always been a means to an end, but I don’t think that would be true with him. No, with Kratos, it would be so much more, which is why I never let myself want him.
My heart rate kicks up a notch, and I realize just how much I want that. How much I want more with him, with Zander, with Trent—not the time, Jade.
“Don’t look at me like that, Killer.”
“Like what, Daddy?” I ask him, letting false sweetness drip from my words.
His cock throbs between my legs, and I sink my teeth into my bottom lip to stop the moan that almost slips free.
Fuck, I knew he loved that nickname the first time I called him it, but I wasn’t aware of just how much. I can’t say I don’t love it too, though, especially right now.
The look in his eyes has me squirming for an entirely different reason now, as his fingers bite into my hip. I’m pretty sure his intention was to stop me from moving, but the hint of pain makes me feel like I’m going to combust.
“Like you want me to lay you out on this bed and devour you,” he says, his voice low, husky, a lot like it had been when he first woke up.
The sound sends a shiver rolling through me that I don’t even attempt to hide, and he pulls me into him so that our chests are resting flush against one another.
I don’t have a bra on under the shirt I stole from him, and the thin piece of fabric is just enough to drive me nuts while also not being enough to stop the heat that radiates off his chest. My nipples pebble at the thought of him pressed against me with no barriers.
“And what if I told you that's exactly what I want?”
“I’d tell you that you better be sure you know what you're asking for because once I have you, I don’t know if I’ll be able to let you go.”
“And if I was okay with that?” I phrase it as a question, but the truth is I’m more than okay with that. I want it so fucking bad I’d be willing to beg right now, but he doesn’t need to know that.