Chapter Eight
Austin
Serena fights like hell as I storm across her living room. Not that it matters. She may be untamable, but she's not stronger than me, not even close.
If she weren't so hellbent on walking out of my life, I'd be proud of the way she beats her fists against my back, cursing like a sailor.
Instead, I'm terrified.
I'm not a man who panics, not even when we're down by six with a minute left on the clock. But the thought of her leaving sends me into a full-blown meltdown. My hands are shaking, my mind reeling, my body running on nothing but desperate instinct.
I can't let her go. I can't.
"Austin, put me down right now!" The way she bites my shoulder only makes me want her more.
"You'll thank me in five minutes," I growl, already striding past the tiny, framed photos in her hall. Her apartment is small and a little messy, but it smells like her. I want to bottle that scent and breathe it forever.
"I mean it, Austin! If you do not put me down, I swear to God—"
She twists hard, almost slipping out of my grip, but I clamp a palm over her ass and pin her in place.
"Quit moving," I growl, which only makes her squirm more.
"Austin, dammit!"
I kick open her bedroom door and toss her onto the bed, relishing the way she shrieks as she bounces. She's halfway to her feet before I'm on her, dragging her back down beneath me.
She claws at my arm, but I just pin her wrists over her head, straddling her hips.
"Let me go, you Neanderthal!"
"No," I say, giving her a smile that's more threat than anything.
She glares up at me, her cheeks flushed, her hair wild, her eyes full of a storm I want to chase for the rest of my life. Goddamn, she's stunning.
"This is kidnapping," she hisses.
"Try to leave again, and I'll tie you to the bed," I say, only half-joking.
She lifts her chin, full of defiance. "You can't make me stay."
I don't bother reminding her that this is her place. Instead, I lean down, my lips brushing hers, my voice steel. "Yes, I fucking can."
She gasps, a shudder rippling through her, and I know the fight isn't all annoyance. There's heat there, need. I can feel it in the way her body arches up, in the way her legs wrap around my waist, even as she pretends to hate this.
But I'm not here to play nice. I'm here to make her understand. To make her so aware of what's between us that she can't remember why she ever wanted to walk away in the first place.
I can fix what I fucked up. I can deal with the photos and make sure no one else ever even thinks about disrespecting her again. But I can't deal with her walking away now.
I tear her leggings down, nearly splitting the fabric in my haste. She tries to kick me in the ribs, but I grab both ankles and press them flat to the bed.
She's panting now, all bravado gone, replaced by a vulnerability I've never seen in her, not even when she told me about her parents.
"You can't just—"
"Yes, I fucking can," I repeat, ripping her panties at the crotch. They're soaked through, her arousal evident.
She draws in a breath to yell at me again, but I don't give her the chance. I drop to my knees by the side of the bed, pull her to the edge, and put my mouth on her the way we both know she wants.
Her taste is a miracle I don't deserve, but goddamn, it's mine anyway. She nearly bends in half trying to escape the intensity of my mouth on her.
I don't let her.
I hold her thighs open, forcing her to take everything I give her.
She comes apart in seconds, moaning my name. Her body is always ready for me, always so honest, even when her mouth is full of lies about how much she doesn't want this.
I don't let her finish.
The second she starts to crest, I pull back, leaving her hovering on the edge, shaking and furious.
"You asshole!" she yells, kicking at my chest.
I barely feel it when her heel connects with my sternum. "You aren't leaving me. Not now, not ever."
She tries to twist away, but I just drag her hips back to the edge and start again, slower this time, dragging it out until she's incoherent, her whole body trembling. My name is a curse on her lips.
Again, I pull away right when she's at the brink.
She sobs, all rage and frustration and need, and I love her so much in this moment, it's almost unbearable. I don't care if it's too soon or if I'm not supposed to want this. Fuck the rules. Fuck everything but her.
I think I fell the moment she looked up at me from the floor of Stu's, with her hands on my cock and her cheeks blazing red.
I was certain of how I felt when we were standing in the middle of the encampment last night, with her smiling at me like there was nowhere else in the world she'd rather be than right there, surrounded by battered tents and the people this city forgot.
"You're cruel," she rasps, trying to crawl away. I flip her onto her stomach, pin her arms behind her back with one hand, and lean over her, my mouth at her ear.
"I'd do anything to keep you," I growl. "Anything."
She goes very still, her whole body tensing beneath me as she registers the sincerity in my tone.
I drag my cock out of my pants, pressing it up against her, but I don't let her have it. Not yet.
She writhes, desperate for it, but I keep her right where I want her.
"I'm not a one-night stand," I say, my voice a gritty rasp. "I'm not a fucking mistake. You're not getting rid of me that easily, Serena."
She moans, her face buried in her pillow. "Please."
"Say you'll come to work for me."
She shakes her head, but it's weak, uncertain.
"Say it."
She makes a sound, muffled and desperate.
I push into her in one deep stroke. She screams, her body arching off the bed. I almost lose it right then, but I grit my teeth and hold on.
I fuck her slow, brutal, not letting her come until she's trembling and begging, sobbing my name.
"You're the most important thing in my life," I breathe in her ear. "You hear me? You're everything. I won't let you run because you're afraid."
She goes still beneath me, her breath stalling.
I let up, just enough for her to turn and look at me over her shoulder.
Her eyes are wide, her expression stunned. "You mean it?"
I nod, my jaw so tight it hurts. "I've never meant anything more."
She stares at me, panic in her gaze. For a minute, I think she might do something reckless, just to prove to herself that she's not as far gone as I am.
To my surprise, she doesn't.
"I'll stay," she whispers instead. "I'll…I'll go to work for you. I'll do anything, just…please…"
I break.
I drop down and kiss her, swallowing every word, every sound, every last bit of fight she has left.
She whimpers into my mouth, melting against me.
I fuck her like I'm trying to fuse us together, like if I can just get deep enough, she'll never be able to leave.
I bury myself in her, every thrust desperate. I can't hold back. The world outside this room doesn't exist, just her and the way she whimpers my name every time I slam into her.
She pushes up on her hands, arching her ass higher, begging with her body for more.
I flatten myself to her back, my hand fisted in her hair, and fuck her so hard the headboard slams against the wall.
"You're not leaving," I say. "You belong to me, Serena."
She shudders, her cunt clenching around me so tight I see stars.
"Say it," I snarl in her ear, my hand slipping under her body to rub her clit in punishing circles. "Say you're mine. Say you want me."
"I'm yours," she sobs, her voice breaking. "Please, Austin. Please!"
"That's my girl," I growl, biting her shoulder. "Fuck, baby. Make a mess on my cock. Let me feel you lose it."
The sound she makes is pure filth, and I know I'm not lasting another second. I angle my hips and circle her clit harder, desperate to feel her shattering around me.
She detonates in seconds, her scream muffled by the pillow, her whole body convulsing.
I let go, coming so hard I can't breathe. I grind against her until we're both shaking, nothing left of us but wreckage, heat, and the way we still can't get close enough.
When I can move, I collapse on top of her, caging her with my arms. She doesn't struggle, doesn't move, doesn't even breathe for a second. She just lets me hold her like I'm the only thing in her world.
After a long minute, she shifts under me. "Austin?"
"Yeah, baby?"
Her voice is small, but steady. "Did you mean it? About me being the most important thing in your life, I mean?"
I hug her tighter. "You're the only thing that fucking matters," I say, my voice so rough I almost don't recognize it.
She sighs, her whole body melting beneath me. "Okay," she whispers. "Okay."
I almost say the words I swore I'd never say to anyone until after I retired…the ones I've been thinking since she asked me if I was concussed in the bathroom at Stu's. But I bite them back, swallowing them.
It's too soon.
If I tell her the truth now, I'll only scare her off, and I can't risk that. I need her on the same page first.
So I roll us instead, turning her in my arms until she's facing me, her expression soft. I can tell she was crying at some point tonight, and that pisses me off. I hate that I've already fucked up with her. The last thing I want to do is hurt her.
I brush the back of my hand across her cheek. "I meant what I said. Tonight was my fault. I should have protected you. I should have made sure you felt safe, not like a fucking target."
She blinks at me, her lips swollen, her hair a disaster, her body marked all over. "It's not your fault people are assholes," she finally says.
"It is, though," I insist. "I brought this circus into your life.
You asked me to fix it, and I didn't. That's on me, not you.
" Guilt sits heavy on my chest. "I'm going to fix it, Serena.
I swear to God, I won't let anything like that happen again.
I don't care if I have to buy out every gossip rag in the country or personally take out the whole internet. You're not going through that again."