Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“You told them exactly who you are,” I said, shrugging off my jacket and draping it over the back of a chair. “Who you’ve always been.”
Her eyes tracked my movement, darkening slightly as I rolled up my sleeves, exposing the forearms marked with memories in ink and scars. The energy between us shifted, tension crackling in the air like static before a storm.
“And who am I, Rancor?” she asked, her voice dropping lower, the question carrying weight beyond the words themselves. She didn’t often use my road name, but I got the feeling she was now as a symbolic way of finishing the break with her old life. As much as I loved hearing my real name on her lips, I found I liked my road name even better. Especially now, given it represented a new life for us both. Though my second life hadn’t started out the way I wanted it to, the current destination was more than I ever thought I’d have again.
I stepped toward her, deliberate and measured, the way I approached everything that mattered. “Mine,” I answered simply. The word hung between us, heavy with all it implied. She wasn’t my possession, she was my life, the person I wanted and needed to protect most in this world. Did I miss Sarah? I would always miss her. But I knew she’d want me to be happy. I had to believe she was smiling down on me from heaven.
A visible shiver ran through Cora as I closed the distance between us. I settled my hands on her hips, the expensive fabric of her dress smooth and cool beneath my fingers. I felt her heat through the barrier, her body responding to my touch with an immediacy that never failed to humble me.
I turned her to face me fully, pinching her chin with my thumb and finger to tilt her face up until her eyes met mine. “You’re the woman who just told her entire past to go fuck itself,” I said, my tone dropping to that quiet, measured cadence that always preceded something fierce. “You’re the woman who chose a future on her own terms. Who chose me.” My thumb traced her lower lip, feeling it tremble slightly beneath my touch. “You’re my wife. My fucking heart walking around outside my chest.”
Her breath caught, the sound small but unmistakable in the quiet room. I watched her pupils dilate, black consuming blue until only a thin ring remained. She swayed toward me, her body seeking mine instinctively.
I pulled her into a bruising kiss, swallowing her gasp as our lips collided. The gentleness I usually reserved for her burned away beneath the heat of need. My fingers dug into the fabric of her dress as I bunched it in my fists. I backed her against the wall with deliberate force. The small thud of her body meeting the drywall sent a jolt of satisfaction through me.
She gripped my head, her nails scraping against my scalp, kissing me back with a fervor equal to my own. I felt her teeth against my lips, the sharp nip more demand than request. I growled low in my throat, pressing her harder against the wall, pinning her with my larger frame.
“Did you feel powerful, telling them to go fuck themselves?” I murmured against her mouth, my beard scraping the delicate skin of her jaw as I moved to her ear. I bit the lobe gently, relishing her sharp inhale. “Because watching you do it made me want to fuck you right there in the parking lot.”
Her breath came fast against my neck, her chest rising and falling rapidly where it pressed against mine. “Yes,” she admitted, her voice ragged with want. “God, Marcus, I’ve never felt so free.”
I captured her mouth again, my tongue claiming hers with possessive intent. Every slide of our lips, every shared breath, felt like sealing a pact we’d made long ago. My hands slid down her sides to her thighs, finding the hem of her dress and pushing it upward, exposing the silk of her skin to my calloused palms.
She arched into me, her body a living flame against mine. I lifted her easily. She wrapped her legs around my waist as I supported her against the wall. The position aligned our bodies perfectly. I shoved her skirt over her ass, the hard ridge of my erection finding and pressing against her pussy through the silk panties she wore. The other layers of fabric suddenly seemed an intolerable barrier.
“I need you,” she whispered, the words broken and raw. “Need you to fuck me, Rancor!”
The second she uttered those words using my road name, I lost my Goddamned mind. “Hang on,” I bit out before I hooked my finger in the elastic of her panties and guided my cock to her entrance.