Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 134654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
But it was too late.
Bang!
Tears escaped unbidden as I sniffed back the past. “You were just the pawn they used so their hands weren’t dirty. They made sure the gunpowder was on your skin. Your fingerprints were on the murder weapon. They killed them and framed you. They destroyed both of us.”
Our breathing acted as knives, smashing the stagnant silence into smithereens.
That night replayed over and over again, but I remained in the present. I didn’t need to relive how the fire began or how I screamed as the flames found me.
Arthur moved toward the marble-topped island, gripping the ledge with his fingers and bowing as if the weight of the past was too much.
Seconds ticked endlessly loud. We didn’t move or speak.
Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer.
I went to him.
Lashing my arms around his middle, I squashed my cheek against his spine and willed him to feel my heart beat. To understand the forgiveness in its rhythm, to finally come to terms with the only crime he was guilty of: of being a puppet for his heinous father and brother.
Slowly, Arthur linked his fingers with mine. My skin sparked where he touched me and my knees trembled as he unlocked my iron-fast grip and spun around to face me.
His emerald eyes were pools of despair and desire.
With hitching hesitation, his body swayed into mine and his mouth hovered a whisper away from taking. “Can this be true? Not only can you absolve my sins, but also give me even more justice when I end his fucking tyranny?”
I nodded, standing on tiptoes to finish what he’d started.
I kissed him.
I expected a sweet surrender, a gentle sweep into bliss. Instead, something that’d been brewing in Arthur since that night unleashed.
He shed the pain of his concussion.
He shed the agony of being incarcerated unfairly.
And he shed the unhappiness of being betrayed.
His lips claimed mine; his loud groan entered my lungs. His tongue wrenched past my lips and the kiss I’d envisioned wisped into smoke as he drove us from lust into mania.
His hands clutched my backside, lifting me up and swinging me around to land on the countertop. My panties weren’t enough material to slip and slide and my naked thighs glued me to the cool surface, wedging me at the perfect height for Arthur’s questing hands.
Imprisoning my knees, he opened me wide and settled his large bulk between them. His lips nipped and caressed their way down my neck. The small tank top I wore didn’t stand a chance against his teeth and a vicious tug. The white cotton shredded like a flag of surrender, baring my breasts and throbbing nipples.
“I’ll never be worthy of you.” His mouth suckled my left breast, his hot, wet tongue swirling until I gasped and writhed.
“I’ll never understand how I stole your love.” His lips found my other nipple, granting it the same treatment. His voice never rose past a caress, lulling me into him with every syllable.
My back bowed and I grabbed his head, holding him against me. He devoured every millimeter of skin, rising over me to trail wet kisses from my cleavage, to clavicle, to mouth.
I gasped as his lips claimed mine again, bending my neck with a fistful of red hair until I moaned and handed myself completely into his control. He was merciless while I was meek. He was dominant while I yielded.
He took everything and I let him.
Demanding.
Feral.
Consuming.
Arthur was everywhere at once.
In my mind.
My heart.
My soul.
His taste.
His scent.
His heat.
He planted a hand on my sternum, forcing me backward until my spine met marble. My rib cage strained against flushed and sweat-misted skin. My breathing was wild and loud.
“Fuck, Cleo. You’re so goddamn beautiful.” His fingertips trailed my exposed skin. My tattoos glowed beneath the Edison bulbs and my scars shone with disfigurement. I was both inked and ugly but in Arthur’s eyes, I was exquisite.
“I’ll never tire of looking at you.” Something hungry and dangerous flashed over his face; his fingers dug into my multihued skin. “You’re my miracle.”
I tried to rise—to grab at his T-shirt and jerk off his boxer briefs. But he shoved me back roughly, pinning me in place. I didn’t care that he was brusque. I didn’t care that my back twinged with pain.
I was in pleasure heaven.
I need him.
He commanded, “Don’t move. I need to look at you. I need—”
I moaned as his hand fell down his front, cupping his hard length and squeezing. “Goddammit, I want you.”
“Take me, then,” I whimpered.
Arthur yanked my hips forward. We groaned in perfect unison as his hardness molded with my damp panties. I couldn’t stay still as he grinded unashamedly. I was stuck between cold marble and the hard heat of him.
My breath caught as his hands moved from my thighs to scrape against my naked rib cage, slinking upward. His thumb grazed the underside of my breasts.