Chapter 20
Ava
Somehow, I found myself alone for the first time in months.
Something I’d been actively avoiding. I sagged onto Owen’s couch, mindlessly flipping through the television channels.
Owen was off with Syntax and Liam, questioning a billionaire who had senselessly bragged about being on the guest list for the Collectors’ Auction, which made it all the way to the FBI.
I could feel it was a dead end. Five minutes of scrolling through his social media, and it was obvious the guy was no more than a pompous and extremely rude attention whore.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Syntax found out that he wasn’t even a millionaire.
I wondered what the Apparitions… or Collectors, would be selling at their next auction.
A memory of that storeroom in the underground bunker flashed through my mind.
There were so many precious things in there.
I had helped Grayson pack everything away as we prepared to leave for Paris.
I remembered my awe at touching a painting worth over two hundred million dollars.
“What, in here, did you enjoy stealing the most?” I turned to Grayson, who was carefully placing a marble statue in a protective case. I watched the muscles in his arm ripple as he slowly lowered the heavy statue onto the cushioning. He was so unbearably, indecently sexy.
“You.” He grinned down at me, sweeping a thumb over my cheek. “You’re the most precious thing I’ve ever taken. I actually feel bad for the people I took you from.” A flicker of remorse flitted across his face.
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of giving me back,” I teased, snaking my arms around his neck, pulling myself up to my tiptoes, hoping to feel his lips on mine.
Grayson’s thumb gently flicked across his scar on my hip, before his hands slipped around my waist, over the curve of my ass, then lifted me off the ground, bringing me even closer to his mouth.
“They would have to pry you from my cold, dead hands, darling. You belong to me now. I stole you fair and square.”
My heart thundered against my ribcage. The look he gave me absolutely obliterated my insides.
“I like the sound of that.” I tried to breathe.
I had always despised the idea of belonging to a man, like women were nothing more than one of their objects to play lord and master over.
But Grayson? He gave it a whole new meaning.
He wanted to possess every inch of my body, my thoughts, my memories, my future, my being.
He left no part of me untouched; he had every part of me tightly caged in the palm of his hand.
And in return, he worshipped me. He deified everything about me, making me the reason for his breathing.
Always looking at me like he was ready to slit his own throat, if only I spoke the words.
“What are you thinking, baby?”
I smiled. No thoughts were allowed to be secret. He wanted everything. And I wanted to give him everything. “I was thinking of how demanding you are,” I teased, nipping at his neck, feeling a shiver run through his body. “Of how you would snatch my soul if you could.” I pulled away to see his face.
A slow, devilish smirk tugged at his perfect mouth. “If I could? Baby, it’s already mine.” He pulled away from me, setting me back on the ground, taking two steps back, out of my arms.
Disappointment flushed through me, and I ached to close the distance between us again.
Grayson gave me a knowing grin. “What are you feeling right now, Ava?” He leaned against the shelf, crossing his arms over his chest, his eyes inquisitive.
I bit at my lip, frowning. “What do you mean?”
“The feeling in your body right now. Describe it.”
I shifted uncomfortably, my cheeks heating. “Annoyance.”
His eyebrow shot up. “I don’t like you lying to me, Princess. Try again.”
I sighed, looking away from his intense stare.
“Tell me.” His voice was soft, pulling at my heart.
I swallowed hard. “Empty,” I admitted, a lump forming in my throat. Gods, this man!
“Thank you, baby, for answering. What else?”
I sighed, opening up to him completely. “Uneasy, like you might be taken from me if we’re not touching,” I whispered, acknowledging my irrational fears.
“Craving you. Your arms and your heat. And wanting to feel that feeling again when you touch me.” My words came in flustered, ineloquent sentences, at my discomfort.
“And how does it feel when I touch you?” His voice was rough, thick.
“Like I’m home.”
He closed the distance between us, his eyes hungry as he lifted me into his arms again.
“See, baby? Your soul is mine. It belongs with me.” He swooped an arm over the table behind us, swiping away precious art, like they meant nothing, before placing me on it.
His hand snaked up into my hair, gripping it tightly, angling my head up, while his other arm pinned me against his thick erection.
I melted for him, letting him arch my body the way he liked it.
My breaths were short and shallow, as I waited for him to claim me.
“You can never have it back. I won’t let you take it back,” he whispered against my lips while he slowly unbuttoned my jeans. “I might die if you do.”
I swallowed back the ache in my throat at the grimness in his voice. “I won’t. I might die too.”
He placed a soft kiss against my lips. “Then it’s settled. Together or death.”
A shiver ran up my spine. “You scare me, Gray.”
“I know, baby. But it’s one of the reasons you love me. I make you feel alive.” His tip slid between my folds, making my heart hammer in anticipation and my thighs shudder around his waist.
The bastard was right. Him threatening me with death awakened every nerve ending in my body. “This is so wrong,” I panted. Everything about us was so fucked up.
He pushed into me, making my body arch with pure ecstasy. He caught my gasp in a quick kiss, like he wanted to inhale my pleasure.
“God! Then why does this feel so fucking right?” he rasped, his fingers trembling in my hair. He let his head fall back as he pressed deeper into me, his eyes closed and his chest heaving.
Slowly, I dragged my tongue up the column of his neck. I couldn’t help myself. I imagined this was what Eve had felt, tasted, in the arms of the devil. Lust so sharp it was utter depravity. Forbidden.
Grayson moaned as I sank my teeth into the soft flesh underneath his jaw. His grip in my hair tightened, pulling me closer as the taste of his blood bloomed on my tongue.
“Yes, good girl,” he panted roughly. “Make it hurt. Take the edge off.” He moaned again, his cock jerking inside of me as I harshly scraped my teeth over the wound then licked the blood off his skin.
His body relaxed against me, and he lowered his forehead to mine, his sharp release of breath fanning across my heated face.
“I’m not used to this,” he admitted with a small smile.
“It’s all too much sometimes. The feelings. ”
I chuckled, tracing the lines of his abs. “I know, baby. It’s one of the reasons you love me. I make you feel.”
He grinned at my words, then nipped at my ear. “You have no idea, little witch.” He circled his arms tightly around me, yanking on my hair to make my head snap back so he could see my eyes. He moved inside me, eagerly watching my face, like the sight of my pleasure was his favourite show.
“You feel so good, Gray,” I whimpered, already lost to the fire spreading from my belly. I smoothed my fingers through his hair, savouring each deep, slow thrust.
“I know, love.” His fingers trailed down my spine. “It’s almost as if your gods made us for each other’s pleasure.”
I hummed my agreement, my eyes fluttering closed as he buried himself deep inside me.
“Almost as if your soul was always meant to be mine.”
I jumped from the couch, the pain and the anger sucker-punching the air out of me. I stumbled to the door, fighting hard to keep my body from folding in on itself.
Gods! I had to get out. I had to get out of my fucking mind.