Their eyes were locked, their bodies rocking together in a dance as old as time. As good as it felt, it wasn’t enough.
He held her tight as he moved off the table and laid her on the rug. Thorn kissed her hard, letting her know how much he craved her, how desperately he needed her.
Her nails scraped lightly down his back. He pulled out of her until just the head of him remained. Then he drove deep.
It was hard enough to scoot her back. Her nails sank into his skin as a harsh breath passed from her lips. Thorn braced his hands on either side of her and began to move. His thrusts were fast, hard, and deep.
Soon her moans filled the flat. Her legs gripped him tightly, urging him faster. His hunger pulsed violently. It didn’t allow him to go softly or gently.
This was him at his most primal. He was taking her wildly and violently, but there was no way to pull back. The attraction he feared had turned into unrelenting, unwavering yearning.
He now needed Lexi in a way that could never be altered. With every thrust, he was staking his claim.
It never entered his mind that she might not want him with the same desperate intensity, the same ferocious passion. All Thorn knew was that he had been an utter, complete fool not to have taken her to his bed sooner.
“Thorn,” she whispered.
He felt her clamp around his cock as another climax swept her. She looked up at him, a silent urging in her gaze.
As if he could ever deny her anything.
Thorn gave in and let the orgasm come. Their bodies pulsed together, bliss sweeping them into an abyss of light and decadence the likes of which he had never known before.
He held her, their limbs tangled as they slowly came down from such hedonism. His eyes were closed and his forehead rested on her shoulder when her hand softly grazed his cheek.
Thorn lifted his head to look at her. There were no tears now, just a smile so stunning that it crushed the last threads of reservations he had.
“Wow,” she whispered.
He smiled and pulled out of her. Then he gently lifted her in his arms. She was boneless, a contented sigh the only sound from her.
Thorn walked to the bed and laid her down. Once he climbed in beside her, Lexi rolled toward him to rest her head on his chest.
He looked at the ceiling as he held her. Good or bad, right or wrong, he had caved and let Lexi in. He didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. Nor had he figured out how she’d gotten her memories returned. But what Thorn did know was that he would die before he let anything happen to her.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
“Thorn.”
Thorn’s eyes flew open at Con’s voice in his head. He glanced at Lexi to find her asleep after hours of lovemaking throughout the night. His body was curved around hers, his arm thrown over her waist.
He took his time getting out of the bed so as not to wake her. Thorn walked to the couch and put on his jeans. Then he gathered their clothes and tossed them on a chair near the bed.
Once he made sure Lexi was covered, he walked to the door and opened it. Con stood there with Guy. Thorn looked between the two and blocked their entrance with his hand on the door frame.
“You’re no’ going to let me in?” Con asked in an even tone.
Thorn wasn’t fooled. Con might appear calm and cool to the world, but inside was a maelstrom of anger and fury that broke through occasionally.
“We can talk here,” Thorn said.
Guy jerked his chin toward the inside of the flat. “I believe he doesna wish to wake Lexi, Con.”
“I’m awake,” Lexi said in a mumble from behind him.
Thorn glanced over his shoulder and bit back a groan when the sheet fell to reveal her amazing breasts.
“I think,” Lexi added.
Thorn made sure Con couldn’t see, though Guy had turned his back to the flat. “Lexi, you might want to get dressed.”
From the sounds coming behind him, Thorn knew she was gathering her clothes and walking to the bathroom with the sheet around her. Her hurried footsteps told him she sensed the situation was important.
When Thorn heard the bathroom door close, he turned on his heel and walked to the kitchen counter, leaving the door open for Con and Guy to enter.
Thorn turned on the coffeepot and crossed his arms while leaning against the counter. He had known Guy would tell Con about Lexi’s memories. It didn’t bode well that Con was here.
No one said a word. Guy stood near the door while Con walked the flat looking around as if he was interested. It was fake. Everything about Con was fake. The Dragon Kings accepted it because it was a mantle the King of Kings had to take with the humans.
Except that act had become Con’s mask that he never removed.
Ten minutes later, Lexi walked from the bathroom freshly showered. She wore her clothes from the day before and her hair was gathered at the back of her head in a messy twist of hair and elastic that she made look good.
Her gaze went to Con first. She turned toward Thorn and spotted Guy. Her entire body went taut at seeing him. Thorn walked to her with a mug of coffee in hand.
“Morning,” he whispered and handed her the cup.
She dragged her gaze from Guy and tried to smile. It failed. “Morning.”
This was not how Thorn wanted to start the day. He wanted to wake her making love. Instead, she was on the defensive.
“Hello, Lexi,” Guy said with a smile.
She blew on her coffee. “Hi.”
“It seems, Lexi Crawford, that you’re all anyone can talk about,” Con said. He had his back to them looking at a picture on Darcy’s wall with his hands clasped behind his back. “No one has ever had their memories returned after they’ve been taken by Guy.”
“I won’t apologize for something he had no right to do. They’re my memories,” she said.
Thorn waited for Con’s response, because though Lexi’s words weren’t meek, her tone hadn’t been bitter or angry.
Con turned to her then. “We’ve existed for a long time with mortals. For a short period, they knew of us. I know you know the story, so I willna go into details.” Con walked to them and took a seat at the table. He then motioned for Lexi to do the same. “The majority of that time, humans have had no inkling we’ve been here. It needs to remain that way.”
Thorn took the chair that situated him between Con and Lexi. He had no idea where Con was going with his statements, but Thorn didn’t have a good feeling about it.
“It’s imperative that our existence stays secret,” Guy said as he took the last chair. “It’s the reason I agreed to do as Thorn asked with your memories.”
Lexi looked at each one of them, a knot of uncertainty forming in her stomach. She had been woken by voices, and sat up before she thought twice about it. Now she wished she were back in bed pretending to sleep so she didn’t have to face whoever this man was.
She focused on the man in the dark gray suit. He wore no tie with his crisp white dress shirt. She caught a glimpse of dragon-head cuff links at his wrist. If he hadn’t been wearing a suit, she would think he was a beach bum with his shortish wavy blond hair that was longer on top.
Then again, with his piercing black eyes and controlled movements, there was no doubt he was a lethal predator. “Who are you?”
“Constantine.”
Of course. She should’ve known. Still, the King of Kings sitting next to her. Should she curtsy or something?
Lexi sipped on the coffee, the caffeine in her empty stomach doing nothing to calm her. “You want to know how my memories returned?”
“I do,” Con said.
Lexi set her mug on the table, but kept both her hands around it. She shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. I was sitting at the airport bar. I remembered how my friends wanted to go to a distillery, but I hadn’t been interested. I thought with it being my last hours in Scotland that I would try some whisky.”
She glanced at Thorn to see him frowning. “I told the bartender that I knew nothing about Scotch and to give me the best he had. He poured it and left the bottle, telling me to read the label for some history.