Ruined (The Eternal Balance #1)(71)

“I liked the way you looked with the bindings on your wrists.”

“The handcuffs,” I said, voice barely a whisper. The memory of being at Jax’s mercy made the flame burn even hotter.

“Do not fear. No harm will come—”

Too much talking. I spun around and silenced him with another kiss.

“Fuck,” he said with a sigh, and pulled away. His eyes had changed. Now, instead of black, they were gray. Jax ran a hand across my cheek, sliding it up and threading it through my hair. “Sammy, I—” With a shudder, his eyes changed again, black, and an animal-like roar spilled from his lips.

I was off the bed and crushed in his arms. Four steps and my backside hit the dresser. Something crashed to the ground and shattered. The lamp. He kicked it aside as his lips trailed a savage line down my neck and to my breasts.

“I know you’re in there,” I said, throwing my head back as his teeth grazed the skin through my bra.

At the sound of my voice, he shuddered, muscles twitching, and in a single, smooth maneuver, had me on the floor, the buttons of my jeans undone and the denim roughly shoved down around my hips. The cool air nipped at my skin as eager fingers dug into bare flesh.

I gasped and leaned sideways, trying to shake the jeans off, but he bore down, eyes black as night. “Leave them.”

Fine by me.

The jeans were forgotten as his lips worked their way down my stomach, and…then nothing. He pulled away, face hovering above mine, one eye now black, the other gray. “Sammy… I don’t know if I—I fed on another demon but…” He hesitated, but his resolve was obviously just as weak as mine. He brought a hand to my face, trailing a finger down the side to my neck, and frustratingly slow, between my breasts. “I want this, but it’s here. It’s here and I can’t ask you to—”

Without a word, I lifted my hips to meet his. The contact was dizzying. Electric and powerful. He inhaled sharply, muscles tightening, as the spark of need behind his gray eye exploded into an all-out inferno. We’d crossed the point of no return.

I guided his hand lower. “You should probably stop talking.”

His lips met mine again, and this time, the fire nearly broke me. A small sigh escaped my lips as his hand trailed across my belly and traced its way downward until he came to my center. I gasped as his fingers worked, stroking a feathery line back and forth until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I moaned, pushing up to increase the friction, and Jax chuckled. The sound alone almost sent me over the top. Dark and filled with the promise of something explosive.

Not Jax. Azirak. There was a subtle difference. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

For a moment the pressure of his fingers disappeared, and I was about to protest, but they returned, sliding beneath the elastic of my underwear. As he teased me apart, he whispered, “Is this what you want? Does this please you?”

I gasped again. The response was answer enough. The world exploded as he slipped his fingers inside, rocking them back and forth and sending the world shooting to the stars. No one had ever touched me there. I’d had sex, but this—no one had ever done this. I never imagined… Holy shit! I bit down on my bottom lip, sure I’d scream out as his pace increased. And I would have, too, if he hadn’t brought his mouth to mine. The kiss was all-consuming. Raw and possessive. I belonged to the man. I belonged to the demon.

“You feel so f*cking good under me,” he whispered against my lips as the movement of his fingers slowed, then disappeared. “So right.”

“…Jax?”

He was still staring, but his eyes had changed. Gray. Beautiful, amazing, and all gray. “Yeah, Sammy?”

The sound of his voice against the silence was like nails scraping down my back. Sharp and welcome. Like liquid heat. I didn’t know where it came from, but I suddenly had to know. “I need to know… Did you mean what you said? That you loved—”

A sound filled the air. A mix between a growl and a laugh. Jax dove forward and pinned me to the floor with his body, tongue darting in to open my mouth and lips moving furiously. He swung his leg over so he was above me, trailing scorching kisses along my jaw.

“Love you?” he whispered at my ear. Breath warm and voice a deep, velvety whisper. “I f*cking breathe you. Your face, your laugh, the way you chew at your bottom lip… All of it. All of you. Any light you think you see in me is an echo of you.”

My heart nearly exploded.

“This,” he breathed as he worked his way down my neck, “doesn’t change anything. I’m still leaving.” He moved back to my mouth, teasing my lips apart with the tip of his tongue. Pulling away for a single, agonizing second, he said, “But yeah, I love you. Always have.”

“Can we do this?” The heat between us had reached critical mass, but the thought of him in agonizing pain was enough to give me pause.

“It’s both of us, Sammy,” he said with a growl. “Azirak is here and in control, but its letting me—”

Good enough for me. I kissed him hard.

In a graceful swipe, my underwear was off, as was his, and the feel of him, hot as the sun and hard as stone, pressed up against my skin—and then suddenly with a growl, inside.

He moved slowly at first, the rhythm sending glorious tingles through my body. He kissed me, never breaking contact. Lips. Neck. The curve of my breast. He was everywhere and I was riding a wave of pure ecstasy.