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Fuck me, she was delicious. A lost little lamb who’d stumbled into a demon’s den.
“Every choice we make is one we can’t take back.”
This girl? She wanted to live. And a monster like me would only destroy that.
take the name Charleigh Lowe.
In grief we must live.
The CEO of Pygus Software. The man who had been my father’s boss and the one who’d stolen everything from me. And I’d never wished more that one person could be dead.
“Think you should go before I ask you to spend the night with me.”
“Why’s it I fuckin’ love that I marked you?”
“Think you’re wrong about that, gorgeous. Haven’t been able to get you off my mind since the second you walked through my door. No forgetting you. Wreckin’ my mind the way you did.”
“Can’t stop thinkin’ about what would’ve happened had I actually asked you to stay. What it would have been like if you’d let me take you right on my chair. Wondering how good you’d taste. How good you’d feel.”
“Bye, Miss Charleigh, see you next time I take a tumble!” Nolan called over his shoulder as River led him out.
Okay, fine wasn’t anything close to what River Tayte was. He was a shock of chaos to my sanity.
I didn’t know how long I stood there, just staring at him as he stared at me, before Raven leaned in and muttered in my ear, “Not hot and bothered, my ass.”
“Miss Charleigh, we’re going to go dance now because dancin’ is what sets you free.”
“How’s it that I was the one supposed to be marking you, and you’re the one who left the imprint? And now I can’t stop thinking about marking myself all over you. Writing myself on every fuckin’ inch of this sweet little body.”
“And I’m terrified that you make me want anything at all,” she whispered.
It was exactly as I thought. The little runner was getting ready to bolt.
I’d pull the stars from the sky if it meant it’d erase the fear that had overcome her last night.
“And if you need someone? If you get scared or want to give into whatever the fuck happened last night? If you want to run like I know you were planning to do? Then you come to me. You understand? You don’t have to be afraid.”
Desperate for a breath but the only oxygen I could find was him.
“Promise you, these hands will never hurt you, Charleigh. They’ll only ever bring you pleasure.”
His words came out in short, heated rasps, panted a hairsbreadth from my lips. “Protect you. Do you understand?”
Devour me. Ruin me. Wreck me.
Only thing I ask is if you get scared? If you feel like runnin’? Then you run to me.”
Even though I meant it. There was something about him that made me feel protected. Watched over.
Another warning. The man was forever pushing me away all while drawing me in. He might as well have had a leash around my neck.
“I’m not your responsibility.” I dipped down until my lips were a breadth from hers. “Yeah, baby, you are. The second you ran through my door? That’s what you became. My responsibility. So, thank you, Little Runner, for runnin’ to me.”
My knees wobbled. This man was going to do me in.
River’s mouth came to my temple, his voice a rumble that tumbled through the center of me. “Let me be your shield, Little Runner.”
“The way I’m going to make you feel might knock you out for a minute or two, but believe me, Charleigh, pretty sure it’s me who’s not going to survive you.”
There was no question this mess was compliments of my baby sister. Should have known better than to have left her to her own devices. Taylor Swift was blaring from the built-in speakers, and a riot of laughter carried above it.
He leaned in and pressed his mouth to my ear, words so low as they raked across my cheek. “Nah. I saw you first. Wanted you first. Think that means you’re mine.”
A chill rolled through me, and River reached back and grabbed a throw blanket from the back of the couch and handed it to me, and he leaned in close to my ear and whispered, “Get cozy, Little Runner. You aren’t going anywhere.”
“If you really knew, you’d go running so far and fast there’d be no chance of me catching up to you.” Then his voice dropped to a seductive threat as he edged in an inch. “And even knowing it, I still think I’d chase after you.”
“I wouldn’t get very far because you already have me on my knees.”
An off...
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“Looking at you is like looking at the sun breaking on a new day and wishing I could hold onto that moment forever. That’s what I’m going to give you, Charleigh. A million new days where you get to wake up and shine all your light. Shower this world in your beauty because there’s so fuckin’ much of it, it’s a disgrace to keep it hidden. Gonna make you shine, Little Runner. Fuckin’ glow.”
“Fuck me. You’re a vision, Charleigh. A fuckin’ fantasy that I don’t ever want to stop dreaming.”
“Yeah, Little Runner, seems you’re here to wreck me.”
“Don’t act like you need to twist my arm, Charleigh. Otto is my very favorite subject.”
“You, Little Runner, I needed to take care of you. Don’t think I can wait a minute longer to get inside this body.”
My tongue stroked out across my suddenly dried lips. “Show me.”
“Exactly what I plan to do. Again and again. For the rest of my fuckin’ days.”
“Nah, baby, I think you’re the perfect accent to all my dark. A light when things always look so goddamn bleak.”
“Oh, Little Runner, I’m not the light. Already warned you about that. It’s just that I’m going to stand in front of every demon and ghost so you can stand on a pedestal and shine.”
“That’s right, Little Runner. You’re mine. This needy little cunt that’s dripping for me.”
“I need you. I didn’t think I’d ever need anyone or want anyone, but it’s you. It’s you.” The confession bled from my whimpering tongue, and River prodded me to move up into the middle of the bed.
He leaned in so his mouth was at my ear, and he rumbled in that low, vicious voice, “That’s because you belong to me.”