Kissing David shouldn’t have felt this good, on some level she knew that, but as his hands moved to cradle her face, as he bent to make it easier on her and their tongues clashed — she didn’t give a fuck. Everything felt right when one of his arms shifted down to caress the small of her back, pulling her against him, and she wished she’d set the damn glass down so she could return the gesture but with her one free hand wound in the fabric of his shirt it was still good.

So good.

Her pulse picked up, the heat reigniting at her core as he nipped her lip and changed the angle of the kiss, licking his way between her lips again until she was moaning against him. Hungry for the intensity of him, the fire that made him so dangerous, so unpredictable. He pulled her tighter against him and then stumbled.

“Fuck!” Pulling air between his teeth, he hissed and stood upright, pain etched across his face.

“Sit on the couch,” she commanded him, even going so far as to pull him towards it by a belt loop, and he chuckled as he followed.

“I had no idea you were so bossy.”

“Drop your pants,” she clarified, with more than a touch of sarcasm, ripping his belt open so fast the metal fixtures jingled. Then she pulled the button free, and dragged his zipper down. “Come on.”

He walked the rest of the way without an argument, let his pants drop to the floor, and sat down, letting her abandon her glass on the coaster so she could inch her skirt up and straddle him. The moment her knees landed on either side of him, he went wide-eyed. Hands in the air above her legs. Trying to be the fucking good guy. But she didn’t need a hero anymore, and she didn’t want the villain, she wanted the man. David Gethen. Him.

“Kiss me?” Inching forward, she put her hands over his and brought them down to her hips, staring down at his tawny brown eyes. When she leaned closer he met her halfway, capturing her mouth and tightening his fingers around her hips, thumbs digging in at her waist as he pulled her closer. Their groans echoed each other as his erection rubbed against her, and a moment later they were grinding, making out like teenagers again.

“Fuck, angel…” He licked and nipped his way down her neck, tugging at her top until he cursed under his breath. “Take this off.”

“Take your boxers off.” Standing, she smiled at him as she tugged her shirt over her head, and he quickly leaned forward to nudge his boxers to his thighs. Reaching forward she pulled them down his legs, and he toed his shoes off so she could toss it all aside.

“Skirt?” he prompted, and she smiled as she unzipped the side to let it fall. “Panties too, angel.”

“And your shirt?” she asked as she slid them down her legs.

“Afraid you’ll have to help me a little with that.” He grinned as she climbed onto his lap again, wrapping her fingers around the fabric she slid it up his hard abs, letting her fingers graze his skin until he pulled one arm through and winced as she helped him maneuver the other side free to rip it over his head. “Almost perfect,” he whispered, sliding his hand behind her back to unhook her bra with a single flick.

“How much have you practiced that?” She dropped the bra to the side and shifted forward on his lap as he ran his hands up her sides to cup her breasts.

“A gentleman never tells.” Leaning down he took one nipple between his lips and sucked, nipping the flesh until she whined, tingles rushing over her skin.

“Since when are you a gentleman?” she asked, breathless, and he chuckled as he gave the same treatment to the other breast, before pulling her forward until his cock brushed against her and she shifted her hips.

“It’s something new that I’m trying for a girl I’m interested in.”

“Well don’t try too hard.” She smiled down at him and he laughed low, moving his hands to her thighs, and then higher, and higher.

“Oh, I doubt I’ll be very successful.” He leaned closer, whispering against her cheek. “Are you wet for me?”

The words made her shudder, a warm tingle rushing over her skin as one hand dipped between them to stroke up her cleft and gather the wetness they both knew was there. He started to roll his thumb over her clit and she gasped, the noise dissolving into a moan as she leaned back to give him more access. “Fuck,” she hissed, appreciating the groan as he slid his hand lower and pressed two fingers deep.

“You are so perfect.”

Perfect. If it weren’t for the buzz of pleasure between her thighs, she might have laughed. She had never felt so far from perfect in her life. Everything was upside down. Everything was wrong. Even this was so fucked up it should have felt wrong… but it didn’t. For some reason David Gethen was the only thing that made sense. The only part of her universe that seemed solid and real, and his body was out of this world.

So much hard muscle.

His bicep bulged as he worked his fingers inside her, and she grabbed onto his shoulders, pushing him back into the couch so he wouldn’t strain the stitches. From the bullet wound he’d taken for her. Fuck. Just remembering that moment had her rocking her hips against his hand. His strong arms around her, body shielding hers — he was good. Down deep, very deep, he was a good man. The kind of man who fulfilled his father’s plan, avenged his mother, protected a girl too spoiled and stupid to realize her father was a soulless killer.

“I want you,” she whispered, moaning as he stroked her g-spot.

“You do?” Sliding his fingers free he lifted them to her lips, and she opened her mouth without a request, nodding as she sucked them in. Tasting herself for no other reason than he’d wanted it. “Fuck, angel, that’s hot.”

Teasing one finger with the tip of her tongue she leaned back and smiled. “Well?”

“Ride me,” he commanded, large hands palming her hips as he lifted her slightly until she was poised over his cock — but he didn’t pull her down. Instead, his fingers dug in to her flesh, gripping and massaging, and she was the one who reached between them and slid him inside as she slowly eased down.

“Fuck.”

“Yesss,” he hissed, head angling back on the couch as his hips twitched.

This was what she’d wanted, as fucked up as it was. Him inside her again, and it was somehow better with her in control for the moment. Lifting and dropping, before grinding her clit against him. All her pleasure, while he made desperate sounds and lifted off the couch to plunge deeper. Her nails dug into his shoulders, back arching as she sought her own orgasm regardless of his, and with the hum of alcohol in her veins she didn’t see the point in second-guessing her instincts.

Logic was bullshit anyway.

Reason and ‘thinking things through’ would have led her to an existence of abstinence, when all she’d really craved was this. Him. Hard body, hard cock stretching her core, making her ache when she spread her legs further and let him drive in deep. She wasn’t perfect, but this was.

“That’s right, ride me,” he purred, a low rumble in his chest as he slid one hand between them and started to stroke her clit with his thumb. She was soaked, the wet sounds of their bodies colliding only pushing her further towards oblivion.

When she opened her eyes he was outlined in dim gold, and it was criminal how gorgeous he was. He had taken her, hurt her, shattered everything she’d known… but now he was all she wanted.

No more empty wealth, no more shallow friendships, no more workaholic tendencies — Lianna had decided to live in the physical. In the real. In this. This place where she didn’t have to think, she only had to feel.

Static skirted over her nerve endings, lighting the ends like the popping of firecrackers, and she dug her fingernails into his skin as she arched her back to grind herself down. Reaching, surging forward for that impossible bliss that she knew waited just beyond the tension, the crippling pleasure that thundered through her muscles and made her shake. David picked up the pace, pulling her closer, soft feminine curves pressed against hard muscle.

Then it all exploded into glimmering fragments, leaving her breathless as the orgasm took her, and he continued to pull her against him, which only stretched out the horizon on her ecstasy until it seemed endless. Lost in a haze of alcohol and sex, draped over his hot, firm chest, Lianna rested her cheek against his shoulder as she felt him come, tightening around him on reflex. His groan brushed over her neck, and then he pressed a kiss to her skin as they were both caught up in the bliss filled silence.

What could they have been if they had met under different circumstances? Could it have always been like this?

Could it be like this forever?

Past and future taunted her as she struggled to stay in the present. To ignore their history, and the looming uncertain future. Tonight was not for thinking, too much of that had been done already. Too many confessions, too many discussions about her, the cell, their corrupted pasts. If she let herself, she’d taint this bliss — and that would bring back the reality of everything else.

“Come to bed with me,” she mumbled against his skin, nudging her hips forward so he shifted inside her.

“You want me to stay?” he asked, and his voice was almost too soft to hear over her own breaths.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Shut up.” Lifting her head she kissed him, and he wrapped his arms around her back, squeezing her close. It might have been insanity, or just the dangers of the world he’d opened her eyes to, but the only person she felt safe around was him. She wanted his arms around her, wanted him at her back, and if he slept in her bed she might finally sleep an entire night.

“You know what happens when you get mouthy with me?” he asked, leaning back enough to look in her eyes.

“I’m not afraid of you anymore.”

“I can tell.” Brushing his thumb across her cheek, he cupped the side of her face. “Why are you forgiving me?”

“I never said I’d forgiven you, did I?” With that, she turned out of his hand and climbed off his lap, feeling him slip from her, but she still held out her hand for his. She wanted him in bed, wanted him in her bed. Real and here.

“Guess not,” he answered, grabbing the rum as he let her lead him down the hallway toward her bedroom. It was much darker, but it wasn’t difficult to find the bed and pull the sheets back.

Climbing in, she scooted over to make room for him, and they both settled back against the pillows, staring at the dull gray ceiling. He offered the rum, and she sat up just enough to drink from it. “I don’t want to talk anymore.”

“Alright.” Without another word, he took the rum back and swallowed a mouthful. They continued that way for a while. Cooling down in silence under the crisp sheets as the alcohol suffused their limbs and left them still in post-orgasmic bliss.

Lianna woke up for a moment as he tucked her against him, skin to skin beneath the covers, but her alarm didn’t last. Even through the drunken haze and exhaustion she remembered wanting him in her bed, wanting him against her like this, and everything felt right for the first time in a long while.

Maybe ever.