Empire of Sin (Empire #2)(97)

And it boggles the shit out of me. The fact that she wants me, that she won’t shy away from any part of me.

Hell, she even wants to see me. All of me.

Not only the beautiful fa?ade or the charming character, but also every fucked up side I’ve swept under the rug for decades.

Bloody decades.

And yet, she manages to drag everything out in no time.

“Besides,” she continues. “Those who pick and choose what parts of you to keep and what to throw away should rot in the darkest pit of hell. Because those parts? Those are what made you the man you are. Those are what brought you to Jersey the day I decided to go against my upbringing and do one thing for me, not for my family or what’s expected of me. You are that thing, Knox. That night might’ve been about sex, but it was so much more afterward. You showed me things I didn’t know existed and opened my eyes to the world. You gave me the safety I didn’t realize I was searching for.”

“Then why did you leave?”

“I told you. It was to protect you.”

I squeeze my fingers on the side of her neck, my voice tight. “Can’t you fucking understand that what you’ve done is no different than stabbing me and letting me bleed to death? I got so used to your lively presence and nerdy talk, and now that you’re gone, my flat feels like a tomb. I used to fall asleep listening to you narrate those long fantasy books in an awed tone, but now I can’t sleep anymore. So I smell your orange shampoo like a damn junkie to get a whiff of you and still fail to fill the gap you fucking left behind. So if protecting me means I’ll live without you, I don’t fucking want it.”

A lone tear slides down her cheek. “Knox…”

I cut her off with my lips on hers and I kiss her with a ferocity that hardens my dick and tightens my balls. I kiss her while holding her neck, and she continues to clutch my cheeks.

I kiss her until she’s struggling for air and her tongue is so entangled with mine, I don’t know where she starts and I end. But she kisses me back with the same heat, my Anastasia, as if she’s waited as much as I have for a taste, for a fragment of what we have.

Still kissing her, I reach between us and lift her dress to her waist. She mindlessly clutches my belt and helps me unzip my trousers and free my hard cock.

It’s been in a constant state of arousal ever since she left, and no amount of hand jobs could substitute for her warmth.

I move her panties to the side, groaning at how soaking wet she is, then I drive inside her without breaking the kiss.

Her body instantly welcomes me, opening up and arching in invitation. It’s like she’s been waiting for me as long as I’ve waited for her. Her back lifts off the bed and she shudders, her mouth parting from mine as she moans.

“Fuck, baby.” I dig my fingers in her throat. “I missed you.”

“I…I…missed you, too. I missed you so much, it hurt.”

I lose control at the sound of her needy words, not that I have any when it comes to her.

She effortlessly turns me into a fucking animal who’s unable to survive without her.

My pace picks up and I kiss her as hard as I fuck her until she’s sliding off the bed and my hold on her neck is the only thing keeping her in place.

One thing doesn’t change even as I fuck her hard and rough—the way she’s looking into my eyes while holding my face.

I’m here for you, she says with those expressive blues. I want you no matter what.

And it drives me wild. Looking at her while being inside her, looking at her while her channel tightens around me, strangling me, drives me fucking insane.

But instead of upping my rhythm, I take it slow for the first time ever. I roll my hips and drive deep into her until she’s shuddering again and her walls close around me like a vise.

My kiss becomes more passionate than frantic, my tongue toying with hers as my dick pounds her tight little cunt with measured thrusts. She pulls her legs wider apart, raising one up a little to allow me more access and I take it, going to lengths I’ve never imagined.

And when she starts shaking, her walls clenching around me, and she’s moaning loudly, I’m right there with her. My spine tingles and I shoot my cum inside her in long spurts until my balls are spent.

I’m about to crush her with my weight, so I maneuver us so that she’s on top of me, her icy blonde hair at my chin. But I remain deep inside her. My dick twitching, slowly but surely readying for another round.

We remain like that for a while, until her breathing evens out and I think she’s fallen asleep. It’s a habit of hers after sex.

Still wrapping a hand around her back, I reach into my trouser pocket and retrieve the butterfly pendant. I’ve kept it ever since she forgot it in the hotel room that day.

Every time I’ve looked at it, I recalled how the black wings flattened against her pale back when I first saw her that night.

The memory seems far away, but I can never forget it. If anything, I might have become obsessed with her since then.

I gently fasten the chain around her throat. The other one was ruined so I got her a golden chain to go along with it.

She stirs when the weight of the necklace—or its coldness—rests against her skin. At first, her gaze is confused, but when she looks down, her eyes widen. “My butterfly.”

“You mentioned it has value to you, so I thought I’d bring it. I put it on a chain so you can have it on you all the time.”