Chapter Thirty
Almost eight hours since Darya had spied the word Koschei on Knox’s screen. Five since Knox had stormed into her apartment, seen the suitcases and demanded the truth. Now they were only an hour away from midnight with the bulk of his family on their way to Haven—a ranch she’d learned Jace and Axel owned on the outskirts of Dallas where only those considered family were allowed.
She’d also learned that family now included her, the resounding message delivered through a string of bear hugs and brotherly kisses that left her more than a little dumbfounded. What exactly family meant to them and when the change had happened, she wasn’t exactly sure, but none of them messed around with conveying their happiness about it. Through it all, Knox stayed steadfast at her side, only relinquishing his arm around her when well-wishes required it. Now he stood behind her, a rock-solid comfort as she said goodbye to the last of those headed to the ranch.
Standing by Knox’s front door, Darya hugged Gabe and muttered the same sentiment she’d shared with Natalie and Vivienne before they’d headed out with their men. “I’m sorry. For everything.”
Gabe tightened her arms around Darya’s shoulders and chuckled. “You clearly haven’t been to Haven yet. If you had, you’d know spending extended time relaxing there is anything but a hardship. You’ll know that for yourself soon enough, though.” She relaxed her arms and pulled away just enough to grasp both of Darya’s shoulders and hold her steady. Her expression sobered, a sincerity behind her pale blue eyes that penetrated deep. “I know it’s hard—coming into this group after so much time spent alone and acclimating to the idea you’ve got so many good people behind you. But believe me when I tell you, you will never be more loved, or more accepted and protected than you are with us.”
Knox stepped in close, his hands a calming weight on Darya’s hips and his heat a comfortable blanket against her back. “She’ll get it. We’ll talk tonight and she’ll understand we can handle whatever we need to.”
Zeke chuckled and steered Gabe out of his way enough to give his own goodbye. “Something tells me talking won’t be the highest point on the agenda. You’ve barely let her go since rally ended.” He kissed Darya’s cheek, stepped back and shifted his gaze to Knox behind her. “See you back here mid-morning.”
“Yep. We’ll be ready.” Knox squeezed Darya’s shoulders and had just reached around her to open the door for the couple when Ninette’s voice shot from the doorway of Beckett’s suite.
“You two be sure to let us know when you get to Haven.” Padding toward the kitchen on bare feet, Ninette had traded in the jeans and casual blouse she’d arrived in for yoga pants and an oversize T-shirt. Like Sylvie, who’d already set up camp on the huge sectional in front of the TV, her face was completely void of makeup, but glowing with a vitality most twenty-year-olds would envy. “And make sure Ruger and Max get free run of the house tonight. Max might only be able to bark the house down, but Ruger will tear the nuts off any stranger stupid enough to step foot in my house.”
Gabe snickered at that. “Yes, ma’am.”
Of all the surprises that had been thrown at Darya throughout the day, learning that both of Knox’s mothers had refused to return to their home in favor of keeping Darya company had been one of the most unexpected.
If you think we’re leaving her here with a trio of men overdosed on testosterone, you’re out of your damned mind.
As if she’d overheard Darya replaying the proclamation in her own head, Gabe winked and waggled her fingers in farewell over one shoulder. “Like I said, lots of love. Y’all have fun.”
Knox closed the door behind them and flipped the lock.
She’d barely turned, mouth open to ask Ninette who Ruger and Max were, when she found herself backed against the front door and a solid slab of delicious man pressed against her front.
His nose skimmed the side of hers and his breath whispered warm against her face, the air around them blazing fire pit hot in a second. “Zeke’s right. I know you’ve probably got a lot of questions, but I’m leaning toward loving you first and fielding anything verbal later.”
“Knox,” she whispered, her conscience all too aware of the microwave door latching into place and buttons beeping through the open loft behind them.
“Okay, scratch that.” He slipped his strong hands beneath the hem of her T-shirt, the low and grated rasp of his voice amplifying the sensual brush of his fingertips against her skin. “Verbal’s fine as long as it’s you saying my name just like that. Or begging.” He licked her lower lip and the carnal stroke echoed straight between her legs. “Fucking love the word please on your lips.”
Her sex fluttered and every nerve ending along her skin fired bright, all the worry and adrenaline she’d fought throughout the day tossed carelessly aside in favor of the need he’d created with just his presence and a string of sensual words.
“Knox, your mothers... I should—”
He sealed his mouth over hers, swallowing the rest of her words.
Her conscience demanded she push away. Even got so far as to brace the heels of her palms against his hard chest, but her body vetoed the idea and sunk into the kiss.
Sylvie’s semi-harassed voice cut from the living room. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, son. Standin’ up against a wall might be a fine display of yer strength and all, but it’s been a bear of a day fer the lass. Lay her down and let her take a load off, why don’t ye?”
Forehead pressed against hers, Knox huffed out a chuckle, but kept his body flush against hers. “You sure you don’t want to go to Haven, Ma? I doubt Zeke’s made it out of the parking lot yet.”
“And miss the antics around here?” The tone of her voice shifted, suggesting she’d turned her focus back to the television. “Not a chance. Besides, someone needs to teach the lass how ta keep the lot of ye in line. Might as well learn from the masters.”
Knox lifted his head. If he was the least bit put off by being coached and sassed by the mother figures in his life, his face didn’t show it. In fact, behind the still sparking intensity in his eyes was a wealth of barely contained laughter. He cupped the side of her face and skimmed his thumb along her lower lip. His eyes were locked on hers, but his words were for the other two women going about their business behind them. “You two need anything from us?”
Ninette scoffed, the indelicate sound punctuated by the microwave door slamming shut. About a second later, the buttery scent of popcorn filled the air. “Been fightin’ off assholes since before you were born, Knox. Get your girl where she needs to be. We’ll be fine.”
All the levity on his face disappeared, replaced with the pleasure of a hungry predator who’d just leaped the last barrier to its prey. He backed away and coiled his fingers around Darya’s wrist. “Yes, ma’am.”
Before she knew it, she was trailing behind him toward his loft, his strides unhurried but loaded with purpose.
“Ivan’s scans are in the system,” he said with eyes on Ninette and Sylvie. “He’ll be here in under thirty to watch the feeds while Beckett and Danny are out. Until then you see anything that tweaks you, you let me know.”
Bowlful of popcorn in hand, Ninette ambled to the couch and waved them both off. “Yeah, yeah. Go. I’d say have fun, but we already got the preview, so that’s kind of a moot point.”
Darya dug in her heels, determined to at least get in a proper goodnight. “Knox—”
He spun, dipped until his shoulder met her belly and hefted her up like a sack of potatoes.
Her surprised squeal rang out through the loft and mingled with Ninette’s and Sylvie’s laughter. Knox was just closing the door to his suite when Sylvie muttered, “Well, I guess that’s one way to get her off her feet.”
Still reeling from the sudden shift, Darya braced her hands on Knox’s back and tried to lever herself up. “Knox, put me down.”
He palmed her ass and strode through the darkness. “No way. Been waitin’ all night to feel you next to me. This way’s faster.”
She tried to get vertical again, but Knox counterbalanced the move by ducking forward and flipping her onto her back. He caught her head just before it hit the bed, the rest of his king-size mattress taking her weight with a soft whoosh.
As natural as water moving over a pebble-lined stream, he slipped between her thighs, his hips resting comfortably in the cradle of her hips.
She blinked her eyes into focus.
Moonlight and the soft glow of lights from the other warehouses streamed through the huge windows and highlighted his handsome face just inches from hers. “Waited my whole life for you.”
Whatever she’d expected him to say, it hadn’t been that, but the beauty of it pierced straight through the fatigue and worry that had needled her through the long night. Aside from their accelerated breaths, the only sound was the muted drone from the cars on the freeway and the steady thump of her racing heart.
He kept going, raining his uncensored words over her like morning sunshine after a month-long stretch of darkness. “After Tami and a string of bad decisions after her, I convinced myself it wouldn’t happen. Shut myself down so I couldn’t get hurt again, but deep down, I always wanted someone of my own. Someone smart. Passionate with a soft heart. Watching my brothers fall nearly killed me. Made the want deeper. Sharper.” Elbows braced on either side of her, he framed her face, the ferocity of his gaze echoed in the reverent touch. “Hearing the words you gave me, every day I waited—every second—was worth it.”
Her lungs seized. So many times she’d been blessed. Been given countless opportunities and seen amazing things at a high price to those who’d sacrificed and risked on her behalf. But in that second, every other moment of her life paled in comparison. She splayed her hand against his chest. “I’m not sure I deserve that. Not after what I’m putting your family through.”
The softness in his gaze shifted, replaced with enough heat her skin grew flush in seconds. He covered her hand on his chest with his own. “You feel that?”
Beneath her palm, his heart beat a steady rhythm, as strong and powerful as the man he’d proven himself to be.
“It might as well have been empty before you,” he said. “Yeah, Beckett and the rest of my brothers gave me the family I never had, but there’s one void they couldn’t fill.” He tightened his grip on her hand and lowered his voice. “Swear to God, sometimes I think the reason I couldn’t sleep all those years is because a part of me was afraid I’d miss my chance if it ever came.”
But with her, he slept. Had done so every night from the day he’d brought her home and done it deeply, curled up tight behind her.
He smiled as though he’d actually seen the realization materialize inside her head. “I didn’t miss my chance. I came close by bein’ a stubborn idiot, but now that my head’s out of my ass, I can tell you unequivocally you deserve it all. My skills, my contacts, my money...anything up to and including my life if that’s what it takes to keep you safe.”
She fisted her hand in his shirt, all the lightness of the moment surging to a fine point of fear. “Please, don’t say that. I’ve already lost too many people I love in my life. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
With a tender smile, he tugged her hand free and kissed her knuckles. “Sweetheart, I just claimed you for my own. You couldn’t shake me if you tried.”
Claimed her? The part of her who’d seen one too many women lose their independence, if not their life, under the dictatorial hand of men balked at the statement. Made her want to scramble for distance and give her mind a chance to think and process.
The other, far more instinctive part of herself, blossomed beneath the idea. As though he’d wrapped her very spirit in the finest silk and laid the world at her feet.
He guided her hand to the bed and pinned it beside her head. “Now, I’ve waited all night to show you how much your words meant to me. Any questions that can’t wait until I’ve shown proper gratitude?”
Oh, she had questions. Tons of them. Though, with the hungry way his gaze devoured her, few seemed important enough to warrant air—save one. “What do you mean, you claimed me?”
For a few, heightened moments he studied her, his shrewd gray eyes undoubtedly taking in far more than she wished. “I’m not him. Ruslan wants to put you in a cage. I want you to be free. With me. Beside me. Part of me.” He released her wrists, slid his palms flush with hers and laced their fingers together. “I won’t lie to you, though. If you ever run, I’ll be right behind you. Not to lock you down against your will, but to win you back. Everything that happens between us is because you choose it. Because you deem me worthy.” He paused a beat, eyes roving her face. “You understand?”
“I think so,” she whispered, her throat too clogged with emotion to manage more.
“Good. Then I’ll cover the other worry I figure is dancing around in your head while we’re at it.” He dipped closer, his voice nearly as hushed as her own. “You shared the kind of life Yefim lived. His involvement with dangerous men. So, I think you understand how men like that operate. Their mindset, what they’re capable of and how they operate.”
A weight settled on her chest and the pulse at her throat fluttered so fast she felt light-headed. She nodded. Or at least she tried to, uncertainty and fear making the simple motion a Herculean feat.
“Wherever you’re goin’ in that head of yours, come back.” His lips quirked in a cocky smile. “We’re ballsy bastards and not all that interested in rules outside our own making, but we’re not mafiya. I only bring it up to give you an idea of what we’re capable of. Their mindset—their tenacity and focus—is what we share. We’ve built a good life that provides for the people we love. Sometimes that means we play nice and color inside the lines drawn by other people, sometimes we don’t. But whatever decisions we make, we make them based on our own code. On honor. No plays are ever made that might hurt an innocent.”
“So, it’s just business? Investments and connections?”
He held her gaze, silent and watchful. “Unless one of our own needs something more. Then all bets are off.”
“Knox, please don’t—”
His mouth slanted across hers, silencing not just her words but her swirling thoughts with his all-consuming kiss. Lips, teeth and tongue, he worked her mouth until every vestige of worry disintegrated, leaving her pliant and primed for more of his touch.
Still, he kept his fingers twined with hers, his weight pressing into her palms. Only when she moaned, bucked her hips against his and tried to slip her hands free, did he surrender the kiss. He rested his forehead against hers. His breath huffed heavy to match hers, a beast who’d not only chased, but snared his prey. “You trust me?”
“Yes.” No doubt. No matter the atrocities she knew Ruslan was capable of or what fears she harbored deep, there was no one alive she trusted more than Knox.
He lifted his head and met her stare head on. “Then trust me in this. Trust me to know what we’re capable of and to keep you safe. To make you free.”
There were no words, not in English or her own tongue, worthy of the emotion swelling inside her. But she could show him. Could put everything she felt—every hope, dream and fear—into this moment and offer her surrender. “Knox?” she asked softly, a careful whisper against the room’s silence.
In lieu of an answer, he tipped his head to one side and cocked an eyebrow.
She tugged her hands and surprisingly, he released them, letting her frame his face within her trembling fingers. “I think I’m done talking.”
One second. One blisteringly perfect second, and his whole demeanor changed. A caged tiger faced with freedom and poised to pounce. Yet instead of the consuming attack she’d expected, he pressed a soft, reverent kiss to her lips.
Weeks, they’d spent every night together. Tussled and explored each other’s sexual desires with an endless, ravenous appetite. Always after, he was gentle. Attentive and present in a way he hadn’t allowed himself to be at first, but during sex, he was always aggressive. Demanding and bold to the point their play sometimes ran deliciously rough.
But this was different.
Special in a way that went beyond words and tapped into the deepest part of her.
Back and forth, he skimmed his lips against hers, his breath mingling with hers for a delightful new level of intimacy. While his kiss was infinitely gentle, the air around them zinged with a supercharged energy that left her skin prickling in the most delectable way.
Coiling her hands around the back of his neck and lifting her head from the mattress, she tried to deepen the kiss.
Knox pulled away, not enough to ease his weight, but enough to rob her of his heavenly taste. Of all the expressions she’d seen on his face, this one was new. A trace of the vulnerability he’d shown the night he shared his past, but overshadowing it was a resolute solemnness. A vow given even before he spoke. “I’m not rushing this. Not tonight. What I want to give you, what I want to show you, deserves more than that.”
Even after all the ups and downs of the day, her stomach still managed a swoop and twirl to rival an amusement park thrill ride and her breath caught in her throat. She smoothed one hand along his jaw. “Whatever you want. You lead and I’ll trust you.”
His eyes flared at that, the same greedy expression of a covetous man who’d just stumbled on a cave full of lost treasure. He covered her hand with his, squeezed, then pushed back and sat on his heels, using his hold on her hand to pull her upright with him. In one smooth move, he gripped the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it up and over her head.
The room’s chilled air settled against her exposed skin, raising goose flesh in its wake, but it was the awe behind the way he looked at her that stilled her thoughts. Like he was seeing her for the very first time. Experiencing the beauty of the two of them together from a whole new perspective. He skimmed his fingertips along the upper swell of one breast. “I should have known that first day.”
“Known what?”
He lifted his gaze to hers. “That you were different.” Taking his time, he peeled her bra straps off her shoulders, traced a teasing path from her rib cage to her spine and unsnapped the clasp. Not once did his eyes leave hers. “Just looking at you made me stupid. Made me want to forget I ever had a past. Forget all the hurt and throw my rules out the window.” He peeled the silk free, tossed it to the floor and guided her to her back. “I should have known you were mine.”
Mine.
Such a simple word, but it detonated inside her, unleashing a maelstrom of sensations in its wake. Beneath his gaze, her breasts drew taut and heavy, and tingles danced beneath her skin.
With achingly slow movements, he freed her of her jeans and panties and tossed them to the floor. He stood beside the bed and studied her in the moonlight. “Beautiful.”
So many times he’d seen her bare, but never had it felt this intimate. This exposed and raw. “You’re not even touching me, but I swear I can still feel you.”
He grinned at that, a little of the playfulness she loved about him slipping free. “Interesting. Care to share where?”
Oh, yes. Knox’s mischievous side had definitely engaged and she was more than ready to play along. She cocked her knees to one side and teased her fingertips above her belly button. “It starts here. Sometimes a flutter. Sometimes something deeper. A tug or a pull.”
He inched closer to the bed, his body angled as though drawn and desperate for contact, but holding himself in check. “Only there?”
“No.” Engaging both hands, she gently cupped her breasts, the sensation greatly welcomed against her sensitized mounds, but still not the caress she craved. After the nights they’d spent together only his hands would do. The power behind them. The tightly leashed strength he wielded with each touch. “I ache here.”
His gaze rained down on her, utterly devoted, lids heavy and lips parted. His hands opened and closed in loose fists.
She kneaded her breasts and rasped her thumbs across her distended nipples. “You like looking at me?”
He licked his lower lip and his voice came out low and hungry. “Like’s the wrong word.”
“What’s the right one?”
He lifted his gaze to hers. “Necessary.”
Pleasure speared straight between her legs and she whimpered, her hips flexing into the pulse building in her sex. Pinching and rolling her nipples, she amplified the sensation, each tug darting straight to her clit. “It’s necessary for me, too, but you have on too many clothes.”
With a frustrated grumble, he wrenched his T-shirt over his head. The second it cleared his face, his gaze latched back on her hands at her breasts and tossed the shirt to the floor. “Where else?”
She liked this game. Very much. A heady mix of visuals, temptation and strategy. And oh, how she loved looking at him. Appreciating the tightly compacted and defined muscles at his shoulders, arms and chest. Of all the ways he took her, her favorite was to see him above her, watching each ripple and flex of his abdomen as he worked his cock inside her.
Eager to push him more, she lifted one hand over her head and arched her back, offering herself to him even as her other hand smoothed toward her stomach. “I’ll show you if you’ll give me the rest of you. All of you.”
The muscle at the back of his jaw twitched, the shadows from the bold moonlight streaming through the window making the move even more pronounced. “Want to give you slow.”
“Then give me slow. But let me love you with my eyes the way I love you with my heart.”
Something flashed across his face. Perhaps surprise at the reminder of her feelings, or just the unfamiliarity of the confession. Whatever it was spurred him into motion. He shoved the denim past his hips, pushing his black briefs down with them and unveiling his perfect cock. Hard and thick it jutted proudly toward his belly, the lingering movements as he stepped out of his jeans and kicked them aside, making it bob in a way that made her hands itch to cradle and stroke his length.
As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, he curled one hand around the base and squeezed. “Show me.” The words rumbled up his throat as a command, but need was there, too. Her man starved for what only she could give.
She traced a leisurely circle around her navel then dipped lower, slowly moving toward her sex. In one blinding moment, everything shifted. What had started as a game—a sensual tease to heighten and build the moment—shifted to something bigger. An all-encompassing connection that coiled and pulsed around them even without physical contact. Her mind scrambled to process it all, but failed under the sensory input. The way he slowly pumped his shaft, the possessive heat in his gaze as he watched her, his shoulders pushed back and chest rising and falling on each deep breath. It all coalesced and consumed her. Pushed aside everything, but the need to feel him. His weight pinning her down. His skin hot against hers. His cock slicking inside her.
Teasing her fingertips through the tight curls atop her mound, she drew in a shaky breath. “I need you here.”
Gaze locked on her fingers, he crawled on the bed, gently grasped her ankles and kneeled between them. He smoothed his hands up her shins and palmed her knees, opening her further for his unflinching study. “Keep going.”
As if she could do anything else. The way he watched her, devoured every inch she covered, practically demanded her obedience. She slicked her fingers through her folds, the wetness she found matching the slow, pushing ache. “Knox.”
“Just like that.” He sat back on his heels and skimmed the flat of his hands down her inner thighs. “So slick for me. Ready.” His thumbs skated only inches from her core, up and down, flaming her need until she could barely draw a decent breath. “Draw it up. Coat your clit with it.”
Her thighs shook and the muscles in her sex clenched at his command, but she did as he said, circling the tight swollen bundle and flexing her hips into each stroke. Her muscles fluttered, release whispering just out of reach.
“Don’t come,” he growled. “Wait for me.”
She moaned and added more pressure, gaze shuttling between the beauty of his muscled body kneeling tall above her in the moonlight and the rapt craving on his face. “I’m close.”
“You’ll be closer before I give you my cock.” He gripped his shaft with one hand and squeezed her thigh with the other. “Slide your fingers inside. Show me where you want me.”
Eagerly, she dipped her fingers and pushed two inside, desperate for the fullness she longed for, but finding her own touch sadly lacking. She whimpered and circled her hips. “It’s not enough.”
“I know, baby. But I want a taste and you’re going to give it to me.” He gripped her hips, dragged her close enough the fine hairs along his thighs tickled her ass and guided her hand to his mouth. “Best of both worlds.” He licked one finger and teased the side of his cock against her clit still damp from her juices. “The taste of you in my mouth and your hot pussy teasing my dick.”
Her hips surged on reflex, a low grated moan dragging up her throat as she banded her legs around his hips. She lifted her hips, angling to catch the tip of him at her entrance, but the one hand he kept on her hip held her just out of reach. God, but she loved the feel of him bare. Of all the changes in their relationship the last few weeks, deciding they were ready for a commitment befitting the trust of skin-to-skin contact had been the most intimate. Until now. “Knox. Please.”
Pulling both her fingers into the wet heat of his mouth, he sucked her clean, eyes closed and savoring every drop. Through it all he undulated his length against her swollen clit, driving her higher and higher with every stroke. Only when he’d lapped and sucked every inch, did he kiss the center of her palm and guide her hand to his chest. He leaned over her, relinquishing his hold on her hip to anchor his hands beside her. His dog tags fell on her sternum with a soft jingle, the metal a welcome chill against the fire burning her from the inside out.
Frozen in place, he stared at them a moment, thoughts she couldn’t identify moving across his face. “You’re mine now.” He lifted his gaze to hers, the resoluteness in his eyes searing straight to the heart of her. “Mine to keep. To protect. Always.” He shifted his hips and she nearly wept at the tip of him prodding her entrance.
She flexed to take him, rolling her hips in welcome. When he held himself back, she sunk her nails into his shoulders and dug her heels into his ass. “Please.”
He nudged forward just a fraction. Enough to make her muscles flutter in anticipation, but not enough to ease the ache. “Take them off me.”
She moaned and writhed beneath him, the odd command not penetrating beyond the need to feel his length inside her. “Take what?”
“My tags.” He slid one hand behind her head and gently fisted her hair, forcing her eyes to open and her gaze on him. “Take them off.”
Stunned by the intensity in his eyes, she forced her fingers to release the death grip she’d placed on his shoulders and smoothed her shaking fingers to the thick chain around his neck. “You never take them off.” Not ever. Not in the shower. Not at night. Not when they were together. And from what the other women had said, the rest of the brothers were the same.
Never.
His hips pressed forward, notching himself inside her. “Do it.”
She lifted the chain up and he ducked his chin. The second it cleared his head, he pinned his gazed on hers and commanded, “Put them on.”
Oh. My. God.
She’d understood his claim. Understood the importance of tonight and what her words had meant to him, but until that moment, she hadn’t understood what he was trying to say. What he was trying to show. Knox wasn’t just claiming her, he was giving her himself. Showing his love the best way he knew how.
Fingers trembling, she lifted the chain over her head. The tags’ heavy weight rested on her chest, a brand searing deep beneath the skin. She moved her hands away from their smooth surface and splayed her hands against his chest.
Pride and possessiveness filled his expression and when his focus shifted to her eyes it was as if something between them locked into place. He held her gaze and inched his hips forward. Filling her with agonizing slowness. “Mine.”
She wrapped her hands around his shoulders, needing his inherent strength to anchor her through the moment. “Yours.”
Deeper he pressed, slowly taking what she freely offered and burning it into her memory in a way not even death could steal. He filled her to the root and lowered his mouth to hers. “Swear to me, Darya. Swear you won’t ever run and you’ll let me keep you safe.”
There it was. The vulnerability laid bare in the most intimate of moments. No matter what it cost her. No matter what the future brought the two of them, this was the moment she chose him for her own and took a stand beside him. “Never.” She banded her arms and legs around him, tangling her fingers in his hair and holding his head to hers. “I’m yours. Completely.”
In one consuming move, he took her mouth and ground his hips against hers, sealing her vow in the most physical and delicious of ways. Every sensation catapulted her to the very edge, hovering toward a monumental free fall. His kiss. His hard body moving against hers. His iron and velvet length tunneling in and out of her wet sex. No more was this about anticipation or sex. This was about two people becoming one. A joining of heart as well as flesh and vows spoken without a single word.
Groaning into her mouth, he shifted his weight back and slipped his arms beneath her, one banded low on her back and the other behind her shoulders. He straightened, taking her with him as he went so she straddled his hips as he thrust deeper inside her. From this angle and the power behind each buck of his hips, his glans brushed the sweet spot inside her and his pelvis ground unrelentingly against her clit. Lips close to hers and hearts pounding chest to chest, he fisted her hair at the back of her head and growled, “Now. Take it. Come for me. Make me whole.”
She couldn’t have stopped her release if she wanted, not with the feel of him and his sweet words pooling in her heart. Her sex clenched, the intensity behind it drawing pulses from the very soles of her feet and billowing out in all directions. She cried out against his mouth and squeezed her arms around his shoulders, the metal of his tags digging into her flesh even as her core milked his shaft.
His mouth crashed against hers and his hips surged to the hilt, burying himself inside her and pressing his hand at the base of her spine so there was no way to move. No escape from his cock jerking and jetting his release inside her.
No escape.
The idea would have terrified her with Ruslan, but with Knox she welcomed it. Savored the precious shield his claim created. The protection and love that came with it. Because after this, there was no doubt in her mind. Knox loved her. With everything in him—every action since she’d uttered her feelings and shared her past until this beautiful moment—he’d shown it. Given her all of him, heart and soul.
His kiss eased along with his thrusts, what had been wild and desperate before calming to languid, savoring strokes. Keeping one arm cradled around her back, he cupped the side of her face. He rested his forehead against hers, his breaths wafting soft and warm against her face.
She opened her eyes and nearly wept at the vulnerability reflected back at her. Even with his eyes closed, he was completely bared to her, a gift she had no doubt he’d never given anyone in his mostly solitary life. She framed his face with her hands, utterly safe in the knowledge he’d hold her close. “You love me,” she whispered.
His eyes opened. With just the moonlight streaming through the window, they seemed even more lustrous than in the brightest light. A foggy and mystical gray that reflected the magical moment. “If love is the strongest word there is to describe what I’m feeling, then yes. I love you. With everything in me.”
Tears welled from out of nowhere and emotion clogged her throat so thick she could hardly speak. “Thank you for honoring me with that. For giving me you.”
He smiled, the brightness of it outshining the moon and filling her heart to the point it ached. He leaned forward, keeping her supported with one hand even as he caught them both with the other, and eased her to the bed. “Told you I’d give you everything. Not much of a man if I can’t own up to what’s real.”
And just like that, he leveled them out. Eased them into a comfortable space where they could simply enjoy the moment and linger in the delicious afterglow. One forearm anchored in the mattress beside her and his cock still nestled inside her, he smoothed her hair away from her face and traced the line of her jaw. “You want me to clean you up, or are we staying close?”
It was a question they’d experimented in finding the answers to in the week since they’d stopped using condoms, the change in circumstance being one neither of them had any experience in handling before they’d agreed on the deeper intimacy. Sometimes they showered. Sometimes he saw to her. Sometimes they merely let things be what they were.
Tonight she was going for the latter. “I’d rather not be away from you.”
His quick grin warmed her. “No complaints from me.” He rolled them to their sides and his shaft slipped free, drawing a sad whimper past her lips. He drew her leg over his hip and slid his thigh between hers. Every night they fell asleep this way. No matter how they woke, they started nose to nose and chest to chest, their breath mingled as sleep took them. “You going to be able to sleep?”
She took her time studying his face, letting the moment imprint deep on her memory. “With you, I think I can do anything.”