Page 60 of Branded By Shadow
“Good girl,” he says, voice wrecked. “Just like that.”
The praise melts through me.
I hollow my cheeks because instinct tells me to, and his whole body locks beneath me.
“Talia.”
My name sounds ruined in his mouth.
I pull back slowly, then lick him from base to tip, testing, teasing, watching his control fracture in tiny pieces.
A flex of his jaw.
A curse under his breath.
A rougher grip in my hair.
The blanket twisting in his other fist.
Shadow, dangerous and calm and impossible to shake, is shaking because of me.
Because of my mouth.
Because I want him this way.
I take him again, deeper, letting the weight of him press against my tongue. My eyes water a little. I ease back, breathe, then do it again.
His hand loosens instantly.
“You good?”
I nod as best I can.
His thumb strokes once against my scalp, rough and careful at the same time.
“Don’t push too hard.”
I almost laugh around him.
The man is half undone beneath me and still trying to protect me from myself.
Ridiculous.
Mine.
So I take him deeper until his control snaps.
He comes with a harsh groan, one hand fisted in my hair, the other twisted in the blanket. His whole body goes rigid beneath me, scarred muscle and restraint and raw male surrender.
His grip loosens the second it’s over.
The second.
Like even shattered, even wrecked, some part of him is still checking himself for me.
That does more damage to my heart than anything else.
I lift my head slowly.
