Page 83 of Last Man Standing

“You’re not leaving.” Sebastion plasters his chest to my back, his furious, panting breath heady in my ear. He slides his fingers into my hair and tugs just hard enough to expose the side of my face, then he leans in and licks the tears from my cheek.

My heart stops. My entire fucking soul turns to ice.

“I can’t let you go, Scarlett.” He peppers a gentle kiss to my cheekbone. To my jaw. A pained sob bursts from the depths of my chest, but instead of his usual smug taunting, his eyes scrunch shut.

Like my pain is his pain.

But then he slides his tongue across the very corner of my lips and swallows my whimper of fear. Of need. Of primal desperation.

“Fight with me if you wanna.” He inches back just far enough to allow me room to turn, then he dives forward again and presses me against the door. “I love it when we fight, Scarlett. You have no clue how fuckin’ hard you make me every time you argue back. You get so down on yourself for freezing up sometimes, but I’m the biggest, baddest motherfucker you’ll ever meet, and you never back down from me.”

Groaning, I close my eyes and loathe the images that play through my mind: not of him. Not even of his mom, or his kid brother hanging from the ceiling. I see the pictures Serena sent, the pictures I was never supposed to receive, and then I see him walking with her just twenty minutes ago. Arm in arm. Out for a leisurely stroll in the morning sun. “This isn’t⁠—”

“Yes, it is.” He bites my neck and steals the breath from my lungs. He folds lower, too large to comfortably fit beneath my chin, but he manages and nibbles intoxicatingly on my exposed collarbone. “Whatever you’re gonna say, the answer is not no. It’s yes.” He releases the sensitive skin on my chest and brings his eyes up to mine. “I’ve never wanted a woman so fucking much in my entire life.”

“But that’s a lie,” I whimper. “You always want women. You’re always bitching about your dick and how I could soothe it.”

“I like to test you.” He presses an impossibly gentle kiss to my lips. “To tease you.” Another kiss. “To fucking torment you.” A third. “I never dreamed of what it could be like, though. Having you. Tasting you.” He nips at my jaw and thrills in his victory as goosebumps sprint along my skin. “The princess is not supposed to slum with her soldiers, Scarlett. But then you went and fucked us both over.”

“I…” I shake my head and ignore the potent, painful pounding between my legs. “What?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” He dives in and bites my bottom lip. “But thinking I have one makes you feral with jealousy.”

“I don’t⁠—”

“Don’t lie to me.” He scoops his hands beneath my butt and lifts me like I weigh nothing more than a feather. “You’re mad about my mom being a jerk, I know. But she’s been a jerk the whole time. You’re mad I brought you here without your permission…” He crushes me against the door and meets my eyes. “But that happened days ago, and you’re still here.”

My heart thunders wildly against my throat, blocking my windpipe and leaving me dizzy from lack of oxygen.

“That means you’re maddest of all cause you saw me and Serena walking together. That’s what pushed you over the edge, ain’t it, Princess?”

“Absolutely not. Now let me go.” I stare down my nose at him and pretend to believe my haughty act. “Now.”

“I can taste you in the air.” He dives in and steals my soul straight out from beneath me, slamming his lips to mine and snaking his tongue in until we’re dueling. Until my brain stops functioning and my body simply feels. Participates. Fights back. “Yeah,” he groans. “I can smell you.” He digs his hand into the back of my jeans and squeezes until I throw my head back and cry out. “I don’t have a girlfriend, Scarlett. But you have my loyalty.” He drags me away from the door and walks blindly toward his bed, tapping my asshole with the tip of his finger and catching my cry of surprise and delight. He swallows me down and tosses me to the mattress, but I’m not afforded even a moment to breathe. To find my common sense. He follows me down and slams his hardened cock against my core.

Tearing my tank up, he peels my bra down and takes my nipple between his teeth long before my brain registers his intent.

I cry out and wish for the strength to tell him no. To deprive him of the chance to make me just another notch on his bedpost. But he’s right. I am jealous. I am needy. God, I want him to give me something new to think about.

“I’m not gonna wait for your consent, Princess.” He pulls back breathlessly and searches my eyes. “But I will respect your no.” He tugs my tank over my face and along my arms, stretching them high above my head, but when I expect him to free them and toss the fabric aside, he stops at my wrists and twists. Twists. Tightens. “I’m gonna make you wanna stay.” He ties a knot in my tank and slides his tongue into my mouth. “Then I’m gonna convince you I’m worth tolerating. Then…” He releases my hands and drags my bra down to my belly.

A low, animalistic growl plays along his throat and vibrates against my sensitive flesh. “Then I’ll make you cry. But it’ll be the good kind of cry. The best kind of cry.”

Fear empties my lungs. Nerves make me weak. My head screams we can’t do this. But my heart asks why the hell not? “Sebastion…”

“If you don’t want me, just say no.” He dives in and takes my nipple between his teeth, suckling until I’m convinced I’ll come from that alone, then he switches sides and sneaks a hand down to the button of my jeans. “Just say the word, Princess. But you have to mean it.” He bites the swell of my breast. “You have to be really sure. Because I’ve spent years cultivating a reputation that enters a room long before I do, and that reputation paints me in a certain, disgusting light. People expect the worst from me, and though I don’t much give a fuck what they think—” He drags the flat of his tongue over the peak of my nipple. “I care what you think.” He yanks my jeans over my hips and groans when, instead of stopping him, I pull my legs up and frantically try to escape the tight denim. “If you say no, then that’s it. I won’t perpetuate that reputation. Not here. Not with you.”

“Oh God.” I slam my eyes shut and tilt my head back. “Sebastion.”

He grabs my jaw and slides three fingers inside my mouth. Tugging me down again, he hits me with a stare that glows molten hot. “Look at me while I’m with you.” He jerks me to my butt, wrapping one arm around the small of my back, then he releases my mouth just in time to trade his fingers with his tongue. “I’m gonna eat you up, Scarlett. Gonna eat until I die of gluttony, but then I’ll come back and find you again. Then I’ll eat some more.” He bites my bottom lip just hard enough to draw a cry from the depths of my lungs, then he releases me again and crawls down my body. He slides off the end of the bed and greedily buries his face against my soaked panties.

“Fuck!” I flop backwards and cry out at the bruising grip of his fingers on my thighs. “Sebastion…” I pant. “Shit.”

He bites my clit through the fabric of my underwear and growls in response to the first wash of pleasure escaping my body. “So fucking wet.” Peeling my underwear down, he pulls my legs up over his head and opens me wide. He tastes me from my asshole to my pussy, and when my body betrays me, gushing just a little more, he hums. “You’re gonna need that, Princess.” He sucks on my clit and sends me to the very edge of the world. “I’m bigger than you. Bigger by a long shot,” he groans. “Doing this dry would be torture for you. But this…” He slips his thumb into my pussy.

I release a soul-cleansing scream and fill his palm.

“This is gonna make it so much better for us both.” He trades his thumb for two fingers. Then three. He stretches me mercilessly, and when he circles my clit with his tongue, he draws me to another peak. “You always this creamy, Princess? Or is this just for me?”