The Viper's Nest (Kit Davenport #4)(41)

In my defense, it wasn’t a hard slap. It could have been a hell of a lot harder if I’d wanted to hurt him, but I didn’t. I just wanted him to shut the hell up, and he did.

For a second, we both stared at each other in shock. Austin’s cheek was rapidly turning pink in the shape of my hand, which clued me in to the fact I had probably hit him a smidgen too hard. But whatever, it was done now.

“You...” He recovered quicker than me, raising a hand to the cheek I’d slapped, then glaring at me with a look that said he wanted to rip my damn head off... or my clothes. Like I’d already pointed out, I wasn’t the best at reading his emotions.

The answer became pretty clear, though, when his hand shot out faster than a whip. Instead of the reciprocal slap I’d braced for—because I totally deserved it—his fingers closed around my wrist, yanking me into his chest, and he slammed his lips onto mine.

For a heavy, weighted moment, we both froze.

For once since we’d bonded, I actually paid a little more attention to what Austin was feeling, and what I found there left me with only one clear option. My lips parted under his, and my hands grasped hold of his head, returning his kiss with equal force.

How it happened I wasn’t altogether sure, but one moment we were standing there, kissing like our fucking lives depended on it, and the next Austin had lifted me onto the island. My bowl of flour and sugar went flying, but who gave a shit about flour?

We separated just long enough to yank each other’s shirts off, and then we were straight back on one another like we were starving. In some ways, I suppose we were...

“How dare you,” he panted after some time when he pulled back with swollen lips and lust-filled eyes, “get angry at me for my emotions when you know better than anyone how I feel about you?”

My breath caught in my throat, and I swallowed painfully. That moment... it had me more terrified than I could ever remember being in my life. Fuck torture and near death. Waiting to hear someone put voice to their feelings was unbearable.

“Say it then,” I whispered in a husky voice, thick with desire and panic. “Tell me out loud because I promise you, you’re as easy to read as a fucking hieroglyphic.”

His emerald-green eyes trailed over my face, catching on my lips as I licked them nervously and then returning to my eyes with so much... frustration...

“I’m in love with you, Princess.”

Floored. I was totally floored. That was not what I’d been expecting. I mean, sure, I was expecting something along those lines but more like, I don’t know, “I really like you.” That would have sufficiently stunned me, but he just jumped in there with both feet.

“This is the part where you say it back, baby girl,” he teased, but there was a tightness around his eyes that matched the spike of panic running through him.

“Sorry,” I blurted. “I wasn’t... I didn’t think you were going to say... that. Holy shit, Austin.”

“Seriously?” he scowled, pulling back from me a little farther. “Unbelievable.”

“Oh, crap! Fuck, that’s not what I meant. You just really took me off guard. Jesus fuck, yes, you infuriating piece of shit, I’m in love with you too.” I reached out and grabbed him by the back of the neck, slamming my lips against his and reigniting the fire that had just seen the downfall of my baking attempt.

“Thank fuck,” he groaned, his hands in a frenzy as he pushed me back onto the counter and climbed up on top of me. Dimly, I heard the glass measuring cup smash as it got knocked off, but my main focus was on getting Austin’s damn fly undone. Why was it being so hard to undo?

“What the fuck is this made of? Barbed wire?” I muttered, feeling my finger snag on the metal teeth.

“Oh my God, it’s not that hard,” Austin snickered, flicking my bra clasp open with a deft snap of his fingers and then throwing the flimsy garment across the kitchen. “Here.” He sat up a little, smacking his head on the low-hanging pots, and ending up ripping the button completely off his fly.

“Well, that works too.” I nodded, taking over from him once more as his hands returned to my body. I yanked his zipper the rest of the way down and greedily reached for his hard cock straining against the thin fabric of his boxers.

He moaned a low and sexy sound when my hand met his bare flesh, rolling my finger over the silky skin and tugging on his piercing. Breathing heavily, he claimed my lips in another bruising kiss while his hands worked some sort of magic that saw my yoga pants and lace panties end up on the floor.

Austin’s ink-covered hand cupped my cheek, and he pulled back for a moment as his pierced shaft met my naked cunt, rubbing down the length of me and making me shiver with delight.

“Say it again,” he demanded in a raw and sexy voice.

Meeting his eyes, I dropped the act, letting him feel the full scope of my emotions as I spoke what felt like the first truly honest words I’d ever given him.

“I love you, Austin.”

A deep shudder ran through him, and he groaned, dipping his head to kiss me again, and this time the rush of pure, undiluted, and burning hot love that crashed into me was his. There was not a single question left in my mind as to how he really felt.

Reaching between us, I grabbed his cock with sure hands, guiding him to my opening and pushing my hips up in encouragement. We didn’t need any more words between us; instead, we let our bond guide us as we fucked hard and fast on the kitchen counter.