Page 34 of Knight’s Salvation

“James had his hands on you. I can smell him all over you.”

She frowned. “He was comforting me.”

Was she afraid? He couldn’t tell. He felt too hot, restless. He craved Mia like a dying man in the desert craved water. His mind was fuzzy, and all he knew right then was Mia should be his, was his, and if he didn’t taste her right then he would fucking die. He reached around her and threw the lock.

Her eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

“No one touches you,” he growled then covered her mouth, crushing it under his in a bruising kiss that shot fire through his body. She gripped his biceps but didn’t push him away. No, she groaned into his mouth. So sweet, no resistance. But it wasn’t enough.

How would he ever get enough?

Lifting her off the ground, he spun and planted her ass on the bench. “Lie back.” His voice sounded wrecked, but he couldn’t soften his tone, his need to taste her too strong.

To his surprise and fucking delight, she did as he asked. No questions. She wanted him. The reality of that sent him into a tailspin. He didn’t deserve her, was tainted and marked by the kind of shame he could never wash off, but he was past turning back at this point. He kneeled on the floor at the foot of the bench, gripped her rounded hips, and dragged her closer.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and the smell of her arousal was heady, sweet. Helena’s scent turned his stomach. Mia’s turned him fucking feral.

He undid her jeans and she held his gaze as he slid them down her shapely thighs, taking her underwear with them. Her body was beautiful, round, soft. Not like his mistress’s.

At the sight of her delicate, glistening flesh, Zenon lost his grip on what limited control he’d managed to cling to.

He looked up and held her bright gaze. “Can I…can I taste you?” If her answer was no, he didn’t know what he’d do.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Spreading her open, he drank in the sight of her. Her soft gasp brought his gaze back to hers. Her face was flushed, her lips slightly parted. “I’m going to taste you now, Mia.”

She bit her lip and nodded then watched as he lowered his mouth. He couldn’t believe this was happening, that she would allow him to do this, to give her this.

When the heat of his mouth touched her tender flesh, she cried out. He growled with satisfaction, and his demon was right there with him. The dark side of him was just as happy about what was happening and caused his growls to sound rougher, then—God—turn into a purr of happiness, of joy.

He drank her in, drew his tongue through her center, and a shudder of pure pleasure shot through his veins, lit up his nerve endings.

Oh God.

He lapped at her, moaned at the exquisiteness that was Mia. She was heaven. Perfection.

So good.

He feasted on her, couldn’t stop, couldn’t get enough.

This, with Mia, felt so different than any other time he’d pleasured a female this way. But then he’d never done this to a female he’d chosen to be with. It had always been at the command of his mistress. At least in this, he knew he could please her, that he was skilled enough to make her feel good.

Mia cried out and jerked beneath his mouth. He gripped her thighs and pinned her down, loving the way she tasted as she came against his tongue. Then he did it again and again until she trembled uncontrollably and begged him to stop. And when he’d wrung one more shudder from her body, he sat back.

Her gaze was heavy, and her bottom lip was dark red, swollen, like she’d been biting the plump flesh. “That was incredible.”

Her satisfaction was his. Making her happy, pleasing her, pleased him like nothing ever had. His chest ached just looking at her lying there. He leaned forward, covering her body with his, and took her mouth in a gentle kiss for no other reason than he wanted to. Her legs wrapped around his back, pulling him in tight, and she ground her hips against him like she couldn’t get enough. But then she stilled and he inwardly cringed.

“Zenon, you’re not…you don’t…” He pushed away, and her gaze dropped to the front of his jeans and his soft, useless fucking dick. Heat slashed across her cheeks, and she sat up and began to yank her jeans back on. “Oh my God. I’m such an idiot.” She spun to face him. “Was this you teaching me some kind of sick, twisted lesson?”

What the fuck had he done? He shook his head, couldn’t speak, didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t tell her the truth, couldn’t admit to what he was, what he had to do to survive.

A sob broke past her kiss-swollen lips and she covered her mouth with the back of her hand. “Jesus. I knew you had a lot of anger inside you. But I didn’t think you’d be this cruel, not to me.” She shoved past him and ran from the room.

Zenon kept his feet rooted to the floor. Going after her would be pointless. Nothing had changed. He couldn’t have her, and he’d made sure of it. He’d hurt her again, and in the worst possible way.

Lifting the bench Mia had lay across only minutes ago, he let loose a cry filled with all the anger, all the hopelessness of his situation, and threw it across the room.

After staggering over to lean against the wall, he slid to the floor.

He had to let her go. It was for the best.

Then why did it feel like she’d torn his heart from his chest when she’d run through that door?