Total pages in book: 170
Estimated words: 160166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
For now, though, I can’t do anything but press myself closer to him and kiss him harder. My back arches and I brush myself against him, needing to feel him.
I need this. I need him.
Declan makes a low noise into my mouth and pulls back, breath catching. “I’m going to fix this.” The tone of his voice is so serious that I know he means this as a promise. “I will never hurt you…even if you leave me. Even if you don’t love me, Braelynn, I love you.” He murmurs his promises into the crook of my neck between opened mouth kisses and I fall. I fall for every word, for everything that this man is.
Before I can say it back, his mouth is on mine. Declan’s body moves and I spread my thighs so he can get between them. I would have missed this so much if they’d kept me in jail. I would have missed losing myself in the sensation of pleasure that just touching him brings me.
He kneels up between my thighs and strips off his boxers. I don’t see where they land because all I care about is bringing his body back to mine. He leaves a little room between our hips so he can reach down and stroke me.
He groans, “I need you,” in a deep masculine throaty sound that makes me all the more ready for his touch.
I don’t even make an attempt to say it back. I show him by wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him down to me. He grips my hip and angles me up so he can take me with one powerful stroke. Which he does effortlessly and my head falls back, my mouth falling open. He doesn’t stop, he kisses me all the while with every needy stroke.
That’s when the tears come. I bury my face in his shoulder and work my hips against his. All I want is our pleasure. There’s still so much to face outside this room. I don’t want to think about any of it. I can’t. I’m too tired and needed this too much. I needed him to say what he said.
If he loves me, we can figure out the rest. Cause I’ll be damned, but I love him too.
He grips the headboard with one hand so he can fuck me harder. Our gazes lock while he takes me, his other hand coming up to grip my chin.
Declan changes his angle so my clit gets more contact. The pleasure in my nerves makes it too hard to think about everything that’s happened. It takes me to my safe place.
“Yes,” he says, and I realize a few seconds later that it’s because I’m going to come. Pleasure rocks through me so intensely that my toes curl.
I can’t think much of anything when he kisses the side of my neck. Declan stays inside me while he wipes the tears from my cheeks.
“I’ll fix everything,” he promises again. “Don’t cry.”
I don’t say anything because I can’t promise I won’t cry. I probably will.
DECLAN
I swear to God that fucking grandfather clock in the corner of Carter’s office has the loudest fucking tick. My brothers take their seats—Carter behind his mahogany desk with the curtains drawn behind him, Jase to my right in the wingback chair that matches mine and sits across from Carter, and Daniel by the fire, staring at it rather than us. The fucking clock ticks away, reminding me of how quickly time moves.
How mercilessly it takes from us. There’s never a moment of silence.
The fire crackles and snaps, the heat brushing against us as Carter pours a glass of whiskey into his crystal tumbler.
He offers the bottle to Jase, who declines. Daniel takes him up on it, pouring a glass for himself then a second one for me. Fuck it. I stare at the amber liquid for only a moment before downing it, letting it burn all the way down. The tumbler hits the desk a little too hard, but that doesn’t stop Daniel from pouring me another.
Carter nods slightly before taking a heavy gulp. Jase grips my shoulder and then tells Daniel that he’ll take one too.
We’ve had hard days, hell, we’ve had difficult years. Tonight is not one of them, yet it feels the heaviest.
“She didn’t say shit, and they don’t have anything on her,” Carter finally starts.
“I know,” I peer up at him and spit out the one thought that won’t let go of me. “She never said anything to anyone.”
My brother looks at me but doesn’t comment. Jase and Daniel don’t have anything to add either. A heat pricks at the back of my neck and I can’t help but rub it and then readjust in my seat.
“What do you think of her?” I barely manage to get out. Half of me doesn’t care. I want her, I love her. The other half of me desperately wants them to love her too. I need them to. To protect her and be there for her if something does happen to me.