Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
My own body overcome with desire, I opened my legs to him, willingly inviting his gaze to where I knew I’d be glistening for him.
It felt lewd to be naked out there like that, lying in the dirt. Forbidden yet natural all at once.
Knox looked at me a moment longer before his body covered mine, hooking one of my legs around his hip before he entered me inside.
I clawed at his back and cried out as his brutal strokes didn’t slow, as the ground, rough and soft and gritty, pressed into my back.
I thought that he’d already marked me, claimed me as his. But that was it. That act in the dirt, underneath the moon, that was Knox claiming me down to my soul.
In view of the Appalachian wilderness, under the glow of an ageless moon, that was it. The world witnessed to us, no going back. Only forward. Only through.
Whatever darkness might come.
Later, once we were sticky, sated and covered in dirt, Knox carried me inside and right to the shower where the hot water cascaded over us. There he took me again, coaxing more orgasms out of my spent body to the point that every ounce of pleasure and energy was drained out of me.
My legs couldn’t hold me. Not that they needed to. Knox carried me from the shower back to the bed where he dried me then proceeded to brush my hair. Soft, careful, rhythmic strokes. I drifted off just like that, enjoying such an unexpected showing of caretaking, of love.
It was the best night of my life. I felt loved, worshipped, owned and devoured. Knox took every part of me, and I would’ve given him more if he’d asked.
It felt pivotal. It felt permanent, something between us. Not that it hadn’t been from the start. But there was no denying it after that. My world could not have kept spinning without Knox. I couldn’t have breathed without him.
Again, toxic. Completely untenable. Something I should’ve guarded myself from. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to be loved the way he loved me. Too much. Enough that he would’ve burned the world down for me.
After last night, I was sure that was the way he loved me.
Until I woke up in the cabin.
Alone.
The SUV was gone.
Knox was gone.
Knox
It was a long way to Maine. Around sixteen hours of driving. Each way. Too long to leave Piper for. But I had no other choice. Not only did I have to get out of that cabin, but I had to talk to my brother. I reasoned that the drive would also serve to give me distance, help clear my head of whatever fucking enchantment had been put over me.
Away from her smell, her smile, her soft body and the little mews of pleasure she made as my lips explored her body. Yes, that would turn me right. Or turn me wrong. Back into the cold, unfeeling, familiar creature I had been quite comfortable being.
That was the only way to ensure my survival. Both of our survival.
That’s what I told myself the entire drive to Jupiter, Maine, where my brother lived.
I’d visited three times. Once to deposit the battered body of my brother’s piece of shit agent for his punishment, another time to meet Mabel, my niece, and the final time to plant a bullet in the brain of the piece of shit agent who almost killed my six-month-old niece and sister-in-law.
Neither Avery, my sister-in-law, nor my niece seemed scared of me, even when I murdered a man in front of them. Avery was nothing but thankful, welcoming. Mabel, well... Mabel was perfect. The embodiment of it. A small person I would do literally anything to protect. That included keeping my distance from her. Which she didn’t seem to understand, since her chubby fingers reached for me whenever they could.
A long time had passed since my last visit. Mabel would look completely different. I ached to see her, watch the changes, see how she’d grown. But I knew the best thing I could do for that child was to be nothing but a shadow whenever possible.
I watched them from a distance for hours. They had their lights on, no curtains. I shook my head at that. My brother was famous, his relationship with Avery Hart had made headlines, was a fucking sensation in the past. Paparazzi had once stalked along this beach in order to get one photo of Kane, Avery and most importantly, Mabel.
My fists clenched at the thought. I couldn’t protect them from that. I couldn’t kill every asshole with a camera. Couldn’t dispose of a body without it never tracing back to me like I had with the piece of shit who’d tried to steal Mabel.
But I hadn’t needed to. Their town, Jupiter, had closed ranks. They’d accepted Kane and Avery as their own and protected them from the media. There were still stories, ongoing interest, but no one dared to breach the limits of their beach.