I started to stand, but then she did the un-fucking-believable. She placed her head on my knee.
Her head was on my knee.
I froze. I stopped breathing and I just stared at her. Her eyes were closed like she’d fallen asleep or was praying. I doubted she was doing either.
“My mom was murdered for the twenty bucks she carried in her purse,” she said, voice shaky. “That was all. Her throat was slit for twenty dollars.”
I said nothing.
“The worst part?” she continued softly. “My mom would’ve given the kid the money if he’d asked. He didn’t have to rob her. He didn’t have to kill her.”
“I have discovered that humans kill as senselessly as the Luxen and our kind do.”
Serena pulled away, but my hand snuck out, curving around the back of her neck.
Her lips parted and her aura shifted from pale blue to pink. She wetted her lips, and my cock roared to life. That quickly. Hard as a rock.
Yeah, enough of this sharing shit.
“Thank you for telling me this,” she said.
Whoa. What? “Why?”
“It helps me understand you better.”
I froze again. Understand me? Anger rose in me like thick smoke, mingling with something I couldn’t even name. A feeling I didn’t recognize.
“You want to understand me better?” The edge to my voice caused her eyes to flick up. “Serena?”
“I…” She shook her head.
She could sense the change. Instinct was strong in her. She just never listened to it.
And that’s how she ended up where she was right now.
With my hand on the back of her head, I guided her forward, until she was on her knees, between my legs. She gripped the arms of the chair, balancing herself.
I bent my head to hers, feeling my lips curve up as they brushed her cheek. “You want to understand me? Really? I know I shouldn’t have you in here with me. I know you’re not safe with me, but I have you here. I don’t think you really want to understand me, Serena.”
She drew in a sharp breath but didn’t pull away. “If you were going to hurt me, you would’ve done it by now.”
I laughed, stirring the hair around her temple. Her warmth drew me in. “You really believe that?”
There was a pause. “I wasn’t sure before, but now I do.”
“You’re insane.” I moved my lips over the curve of her jaw, enticed by the delicate shiver coursing through her. “And it’s too late.”
Her breath was soft against my cheek. “Hunter…what are you doing?”
“What I want.” Taking her hand, I led it to the bulge beneath my jeans. Serena let out a gasp. “And I want you.”
I waited for her to pull away. I gave her that. If she shied away, I’d let her leave. I’d have to nail my hands to the chair to stop myself from chasing after her, but I’d do my best to let her leave.
But she didn’t.
Maybe she had a death wish. After last night, I wasn’t sure I could rein in the darker part of me. Didn’t matter at this point. I pressed her hand against me, and I bit back a groan. With my other hand I tucked her hair back and then placed my hand on her cheek, tilting her head so our eyes met. “Understand me better, Serena.”
Her chest rose rapidly and the pink around her swirled into red. I rocked my hips, pressing into her palm. Pleasure-tipped darts shot down my spine.
“Should we be doing this?” Serena asked, her voice thicker than normal.
There were a lot of things we should be doing right now. This wasn’t one of them.
But like I had realized before, she was an itch I had to scratch. “This is what I need.”
“Need?”
I felt my cock swell. “Yes.”
Serena was a funny little thing, because as she spoke, her hand rubbed the aching length of me through the jeans. “You’re not going to go Frosty the Snowman on me afterward?” she asked.
“Frosty?”
She bit down on her lower lip as she nodded. “Where frost covers everything and you want to eat me?”
I chuckled. “How many times do I have to explain this, Serena? I wasn’t trying to eat you. Although, that does sound tempting.” My gaze dropped to where her thighs were slightly spread. “Really tempting.”
Blood rushed into her cheeks. “You know what I meant.”
“What?” I slid my hand through her hair, and in an instant, I pictured those blond locks teasing my dick. “I thought you trusted me.”
Her eyes met mine, steady and clear. “I do, but you don’t trust yourself.”
“Does that matter?” I tugged on the wild wave of gold, forcing her head back.
She swallowed. “Yes. It matters.”
Interesting. Letting go of her, I stood and tugged my shirt over my head. When she watched my hands go to the button on my jeans and her pink tongue darted out over her lower lip, I knew there was no way in hell she’d make it out of this room now.
One look at her on her knees, and Goddamn, I was so hard it was painful. I needed this. Sate my lust. Get it out of my system. But something darkly possessive flickered through me.
Unzipping my pants, I felt my sex spring free. I reached down, wrapping my hand around the base. Her eyes were wide, but the gleam in them was pure heat. I realized that I’d stopped breathing as I waited for her.
She leaned forward, and I swooped down without thinking, claiming her lips in a soft, almost tender kiss. I didn’t do tender, but the kiss wasn’t hard or demanding. It was a leisurely, lazy exploration that rocked me. As I pulled away, I got a good hold on her shirt and tugged it up over her head.
Hot damn.
The creamy swells of her breasts strained against the black cups of her bra. Had Eliza gotten this for Serena when I sent her and Dex on the clothing run? I was going to have to tell Dex to thank his woman for me. I trailed a finger along the flimsy strap as I stood.
“Touch me,” I said.
She didn’t move at first and then she did. Holy fuck, she did. Her hand wrapped around my cock, right above mine. Enthralled, I watched her take the tip of me into her hot, wet mouth. Sensation shot through me like an out of control bottle rocket. My back bowed and my head fell back, eyes closing. A groan rumbled from deep within my chest as she took what she could. She suckled hard and deep, pulling back, carefully scraping her teeth in the right spot. My hands found their way to the soft, silky depth of her hair, and then my fingers pressed into her skull. I wanted to hold her there forever. As she took me deeper, my hips rocked forward and I realized that this act of dominance on my end had totally flipped.
Serena was in complete control of me.
I tipped my head down and opened my eyes. Our gazes locked, and I felt the change coming over me. My hand tightened on the back of her head as the temps dropped in the room. I struggled to hold my human form as the tension coiled so deeply within me, there was no stopping what was coming. I tried to pull back, but she refused me.
A powerful release rolled down my spine. Every nerve was firing, my muscles locked up. The climax was shattering. No. It wrecked me, fucking wrecked me in a way one had never before.
Knees strangely weak, I pulled Serena back as I stared down at her. “God…” That was all I was capable of saying. Just God. That was it.
Her eyes were gleaming. “You’re a praying man?”
My lips twitched. So did my sex, already on board for round two. “I was just then.”
Grasping her shoulders, I pulled her up and into my arms. I turned to my bed, easing her onto her back. Then, because I wanted to, I spread the long strands of sunshine hair across my pillows. “Stay here.”
Pushing away from the bed, I padded over to the other side of the room. I opened the door on a mini fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. Taking a quick drink, I felt off. Not in a bad way, just an unfamiliar and new way.