Chapter 6 #2
“We want to preserve it because we need it. Because this world needs it. But you don’t owe the world anything more than you want to give it. You do enough just by existing. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone or be enough for anyone but yourself,“ he says.
“I want…” I start to utter the confession, swallow it back, and then start again. Once. Twice. I’m like a music track that keeps skipping, caught in the same cycle. I repeat the same snippet, unable to move past it. I want… I want… I want…
“Tell me,” Rhys says, freeing me from the loop.
I take a breath and move past the cycle. “I want to be enough for you.”
“Fuck,” he growls, his pupils flaring. “You think you aren’t already? Say the words, and I’ll show you how wrong you are.”
“I…”
“Say them.”
I’m not sure if it’s a demand to give him what he wants or a plea to set him free. Either way, I can’t resist it. I can’t resist this. We were both kidding ourselves if we thought we could. We knew the minute he agreed to let me stay here where this would lead.
In the end, it doesn’t matter what he’s keeping from me.
He’s my Kryptonite. I think I might be his too.
“I need you,” I whisper, shaking with the profundity of that statement. I do need him. Like air or water or hope. I’ve needed him for three years and have been drowning without him for just as long. He’s my port, my anchor, the one damn thing in this world that makes sense to me.
He lifts me off the couch into his lap, his strong arms engulfing me. The pillow lands on the floor beside the ottoman as my legs encircle his waist. I wrap myself around him like a koala bear, clinging like I don’t intend to ever let him go. Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll stay right here forever.
His lips land against mine, one hand plunging into my hair to angle my head.
Bliss ignites fires in my veins, sending smoke signals straight to heaven.
This is what joy feels like. It’s his lips against mine, his predatory growl vibrating against my chest. It’s his hard body against mine, one hand on my ass.
He ruins me with a single kiss, and oh! The pure ecstasy of it.
“You taste like sugar, sweet Raven,” he mutters against my lips. “I’m not going to be able to keep my mouth off you now.”
“Good. Don’t,” I gasp, running my hands all over his back. His shoulders are so broad. It’s strange. I’m tall and curvy, but on his lap, I feel small and dainty. Even though he’s beneath me, his sheer size still overwhelms me. He overwhelms me in the best way possible.
His tongue tangles with mine, and my mind ceases to function.
He’s heat and liquid steam, setting off explosions in places I didn’t know existed.
I thrust my hands into his hair, gasping as my entire body seems to surge to life at the same time, clamoring for attention.
My clit throbs, my nipples aching. I squirm on his lap, overwhelmed with the urge to move.
His teeth clamp down around my earlobe. The sting sends a jolt straight to my clit.
“You keep wiggling like that, I’ll have you naked in two seconds, songbird,” he says against my skin, his voice gritty. “I’m hanging on by a thread here.”
“Cut it.” I’m not sure where the demand comes from. Years of pent-up desire, maybe. But it comes out powerful, and confident. I’m a mess of competing desires, aching to go places I’ve never been, but I’m not unsure or hesitant. I made my decision. There is no going back now.
He nips my earlobe again, his stubble scraping deliciously at my skin. His fingers tug at my hair, sending chills throughout my system. His other hand skims across my ass as he grips me hard, holding me in place. “I hope you’re ready for me, sweet Raven. You’re mine now.”
Yes. Oh, God, yes.
Before I can respond, he rakes his teeth down the tendon in my neck. My entire body quivers. A moan rolls from my lips, his name bursting on my tongue in a song of ecstasy. I dig my nails into his skin through his black Friday Harbor police t-shirt, clutching him to me.
“Harder,” he grunts. “I want your marks embedded in my skin, princess.”
I give him what he wants, digging my fingers into his broad shoulders hard enough to leave indentions. His body is rock solid beneath mine, unyielding. He’s hard and hot, the most real thing I’ve ever touched.
“You were on the beach,” he murmurs against my neck. “I can taste the salt on your skin.”
“Yes,” I gasp. I sang to the ocean today, letting the wind carry my confession out to sea. Rhys hasn’t heard my song yet. No one but the waves has heard it. But I wrote it for him. When I sing it Friday, I’ll be singing it for him.
“And yet you still taste like sugar.” He shifts us, gently laying me out on the ottoman. It’s one of those massive square leather ones that run the length of the sofa. I feel like he’s laying me out on a bed.
He lands on his knees between my legs, staring up at me in reverence. His green eyes are so dark, so full of mystery and awe, as if I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. With him, I feel that way. He emboldens me, empowers me, and brings me to life in ways I never imagined.
One big hand grips my hip, holding me steady beneath him.
The other slides up my leg, starting at my calf.
His palm is rough against my bare skin, but it feels like silk too.
My skin turns to gooseflesh, reacting to his touch.
He notices. His eyes lock on my leg, watching in rapt fascination as he trails his hand higher and the gooseflesh climbs with him.
He stops when he reaches the leg of my shorts.
His fingers skim just below the hem, teasing at my inner thigh.
He teases at the waistband too, running his thumb back and forth, back and forth.
He never goes any higher than my thigh or any lower than my waistband, but somehow manages to make me crazy anyway.
My clit aches and pulses, pleading for attention. Pleading for him.
“Rhys,” I moan.
He leans forward and kisses me again. The tip of his tongue dances with mine…teasing there too. He gives me just a little taste. Just enough to make me ache for more. I crave this man with an intensity that’s overwhelming.
I’m an addict. Every moment with him makes me need more.
Every touch increases my tolerance and requires even more to sustain me.
Soon, I’ll be completely lost to him. I already feel it happening.
And like an addict, I don’t care. I just want him.
More, more, more. Until he runs through my veins, and I exist on him alone.
Is it the same for him? Does he feel me in the same way?
Is it selfish that I hope he does?
“Please,” I moan, pleading for more.
He bites my bottom lip, dragging it between his teeth in a delicious glide.
The sting fades to pleasure as his body comes down over mine. He’s so damn big. God, he’s a giant. A Titan. He completely engulfs me as the boards in the ottoman groan as if to protest our combined weight.
He breaks our kiss, his lips trailing down my throat. His stubble scrapes my skin as he bites and kisses, driving me higher and higher. My hands slip from his shoulders, exploring down his back. I scratch, dragging my nails down the thick bands of muscle.
He growls his pleasure, crawling over me. His erection grinds against my center. His mouth lands against my right breast.
“Rhys!” I cry out, stunned when he bites me through my shirt. Another sharp pulse goes straight to my clit. I’ve never felt that before. Ever.
“You like that, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
He rears back suddenly, reaching for my shirt. Faster than I can process, it’s in a heap on the floor. His eyes blaze with intensity as he stares down at me. No one looks at me like he does. No one sees me like he does. Seeing myself in his eyes is beautiful.
“You’re going to ruin me,” he growls.
“I want to ruin you.” I swallow hard, staring up at him. “I want to make you crazy, Rhys.”
He growls again, yanking the cups of my bra down. Cool air kisses my nipples and then he’s there, pushing them together, burying his face in them. He groans like a man on the brink. One dying and finding salvation in the same breath.
“You already are,” he says.
I don’t get a chance to respond. He pulls one nipple into his mouth, covering the other with his palm. I cry out in bliss, raking my nails down his back, clutching him to me…vibrating to a frequency I’ve never heard. Powerful sensations buffet my body, each one shooting straight to my core.
He rocks his hips, grinding his erection against my clit as he gorges himself on my breasts.
He’s a dichotomy on top of me. Gentle one moment, rough the next.
He bites me and then soothes it with a sweet kiss, curses and then tells me how beautiful I am.
Holds me like I’m spun glass but grinds against me like I’m unbreakable.
I love it.
“No!” I cry out, reaching for him when he pries himself off me.
“Take your shorts off, sweet Raven,” he croons. “Let me see you.”
I try to obey, but he yanks his shirt off over his head and I lose the ability to think.
I’ve never seen him shirtless before. The tattoos on his arms are a mere preview of the rest of him.
He’s covered in them. They climb and coil around his body like living, breathing pieces of him, each one painstakingly etched into his golden skin in vivid color. He is so damn beautiful.
“Shorts off, princess,” he growls. “Panties too.”
I reach for the button on my shorts, breathing hard. He watches me just as intently as I watch him. It’s like we’re both caught in thrall, spellbound. I fumble the zipper down and lift my hips to shimmy them down my thighs, taking my panties with them.