Page 104 of Torment Me Knot
He's rambling. Lex, who speaks in complete sentences for a living, is rambling at me in my greenhouse.
I want him to kiss me. Every reason I had to hold back has gone quiet and what's left in the silence is just this: I want him. I want him to kiss me and I'm done pretending I don't.
“I want you to kiss me,” I say. “Please, alpha. Kiss me.”
He goes still. His gaze moves over my face, tender and hungry at once. His fingers find my jaw and they're not quite steady. He leans down so slowly it's almost unbearable, closing the distance like he's giving me every chance to change my mind, like stopping would cost him everything.
His mouth touches mine and it's soft at first. Then I make a sound against him before one hand slides into my hair, and the other seizes my hip and hauls me flush against him. The full length of him presses into me, his erection hard at my hip. He pushes me against the bench, securing me there as he grinds against me with a deep groan.
Lex breaks the kiss to drag his mouth along my jaw, my throat. He bites softly at the curve of my neck and I arch into him, offering him more. His grip on my hip clenches and he presses his mouth harder against my skin. He pulls back just enough to look at me, his hair messy from my hands, and the sight of him undone like that pulls low and tight through my whole body.
“You're beautiful, Espie. I need you to know that. Not because of what you look like. Because of how you are.” He pauses. “All of it. Every difficult, contradictory, extraordinary piece of you.”
He traces his thumbs along my collarbones, the curve of my ribs, tracing me by touch, unhurried, in no rush to be anywhereelse. When he closes his mouth over my breast I arc into him, gripping his shoulders with both hands, a sharp breath tearing out of me.
He takes his time. God, he takes his time. I'd forgotten that pleasure could be unhurried. That it could build without anyone rushing toward an end point. My gardenia perfumes the whole greenhouse now, thick and sweet, and his sandalwood swells to answer it.
“Lex,” I whisper.
“I've got you, Angel. I'm not going anywhere.”
He tucks his fingertips behind the waistband of my pants, nails slightly scraping. The warmth of his hand spreads across my stomach and my hips tilt toward him. I claw his shoulders as he slips his fingers along my hip and between my thighs, cupping me.
“Let go, omega. Let me pleasure you,” he says.
He circles my clit with his thumb in slow, deliberate circles. I'm slick and swollen and he takes his time, building pressure until I'm rocking into his hand and pulling at his shirt and not caring even slightly how frantic I look. Then he slides a finger inside me, slow, and I exhale hard against his throat. Two fingers, curling, pressing right where I need it, his thumb still moving, and it builds, pressure on pressure, until I lose the thread of every thought I was holding.
I notice pieces of him between one breath and the next. The flex of his forearm. The set of his jaw, concentrated, present, entirely here with me. Watching my face while he touches me, reading what works and doing more of it, adjusting without being asked, like he's been paying attention to me long before this moment and he's putting all of it to use right now.
He holds me while I unravel on him. Every muscle pulls taut. My back arches, my thighs press together, my fingers dig into hisshoulders, and I'm right there, right on the edge, every nerve in my body wound to the point of breaking before I shatter.
When I can breathe again I lift my head and look at him. He withdraws his hand and gathers me against his chest, his arms closing around me. I snuggle against him and my tight muscles relax. His chin rests on top of my head. I feel his heartbeat against my cheek as he strokes down my back.
“You did so well,” he murmurs into my hair. “Such a good omega.”
The words sink in and stay. This is right.Heis right but Kev is striding toward us, his long legs eating up the ground. His jaw is set. His eyes are flat.
I clutch Lex’s shirt as he goes rigid. Lex adjusts my clothing as Kev passes through the door. White noise rushes through my ears. I don’t want to hear whatever is coming.
Kev draws in a deep breath, his gaze moving over both of us.
He’s hurting. The ache moves through the bond sharp enough to make my chest constrict.
Kev’s shoulders sag.
“I just heard from Levi.”
He drags in another breath.
“Sera’s gone dark.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Aubrey
Last night happened in fragments.
Calls that went straight to voicemail. Kev's voice getting quieter every time he left another message. Lex sitting at the kitchen table with his phone face-up beside him, pretending not to stare at it. Ezra making coffee nobody drank.
