Riven scoffs. “You’re not vulnerable yet, and I’m never a gentleman. If you wanted one of those, you wouldn’t be climbing me. I’m the villain, darling. A villain who lives and breathes to satisfy your every whim, but a villain nonetheless. Since you’ve turned me into a walking, talking vulnerability; it’s only fair I return the favor.”
My skin pebbles. I drag his hand to my neck and swallow, letting him feel it against his palm. “Return the favor, then... Please.”
TWENTY-FIVE
Excerpt from the Veydran Code of Conduct:
Show nothing until there’s nothing left to show.
RIVEN
She swallows against my hand, her brown eyes gleaming. There’s more life in them than I’ve seen since the gateway in Georgia locked her out.
I’ve watched her disappear further inside herself every day since, terrified to push her too far. After we found yet another locked gateway today, I knew I had to do something. I almost called the others, but I need to prove I can handle this. Can handle her. If I can’t, it’s better for us both to know now.
There are two perfectly good beds, but there will be plenty of time for that later. I want her boneless, thoughtless, and completely wrung out. For someone as strong as Celine, that’s going to take time.
Using my grip on her neck, I push her against the wall, kissing her because I can’t bear not to. She melts against me, sipping from my mouth in the sweetest surrender.
I shudder, pulling back to say, “If I do something you don’t like?—”
“Then I’ll fucking stop you.” Celine bites my shoulder, and heat twists low in my belly.
Gritting my teeth to keep from moaning, I yank the zipper of her jeans down and cup her through her underwear. She’s perfectly warm. I lose myself imagining how good it will feel to bury myself inside her.
Celine whispers my name, and it rips me back to reality faster than a shout.
Her cheeks are flushed, and that cursed bun is listing to one side, but none of that matters because she’s looking at me like I’m someone.
I kiss her again, but this time I can’t be anything but soft. Gods help me, I want her to feel better. I want her mean teasing to come back along with the cocky glint in her eyes when she knows I’m checking her out and puts an extra sway in her hips.
My grip on her neck relaxes until it’s more caress than control. She rocks against my hand, and I smile. “Take what you need, Celine.”
Her eyelashes flutter, and she moves. My pants hit my ankles; she wraps her fingers around my cock; and her thumb rolls over the head. All my blood rushes south.
The next thirty seconds are nothing but a frenzy of flying clothes.
Naked, we collide again. I fall backward. I mostly land on the mattress, but my shoulder smacks the edge of the hotel’s bedside table. The pain is intense and irrelevant. Celine is horrified.
“You’re bleeding,” she hisses. “Shit, Riven, I’m sorry. I should have been more careful.”
I sink two fingers inside her. Herpupils expand, doing more to erase my pain than anything else could. “Don’t apologize to me,” I tell her. “Never apologize to me.”
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
I lay back on the bed and stroke her, enjoying the subtle changes of her face and body. For the first time in my life, I’m grateful for my ability to read people. I don’t have to wonder if I’m making Celine feel good. Her body tells me. All I have to do is drown out my own needs and listen. I’ve never heard sweeter sounds.
Pure satisfaction rolls through me when she clenches around my fingers. Making her come is my new addiction. Gods, I would volunteer to get her off at any time, day or night.
Before she can come down, I grip her hips and yank her over my face.
I catch a flash of her grin before she spreads her knees and sinks down on my tongue. With one hand braced on the headboard and the other buried in my hair, Celine rides my face as if she was born to do nothing else, taking her pleasure unapologetically.
She tastes like something I shouldn’t be allowed to have. Gripping her ass in both hands, I sink my tongue inside her. I’m not good enough for her, but I don’t care about that anymore. If she wants me, she gets me, for however long it lasts.
And when she gets tired of fucking a faceless killer, I’ll disappear, leaving her to live the rest of her life with the good guys. I may be able to lie to everyone else, but I’ve never been able to lie to myself, and villains don’t get happily ever after.
“I need you inside me,” Celine gasps, scooting off my face and collapsing on my chest.