Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
What a dangerous path desire is.
Crane’s eyes turn molten for a second as he stares at me. “What are you thinking about?” he asks, his voice going low.
I shouldn’t tell him. I should stay focused on Brom and what we need to do about him. But there’s so much energy and anxiety coursing through my veins right now that I fear what will happen if it doesn’t have a place to go.
I hold his gaze and let the fire burn between us.
Then I take a chance.
“I’m thinking about you,” I tell him carefully. “About how safe you make me feel. All I ever wanted was to feel safe and protected and to have someone on my side and looking out for me and…” I pause, feeling more and more vulnerable, like my ribs are opening up so he can get a glimpse of my heart. “And I do. I have you. Or at least I think I do. Do I?”
He stares at me with disbelief in those stormy eyes, and for a moment, I’m afraid he’ll say something that will make all sense of safety disappear.
Then he takes two long strides across the stall and grabs my face in his large, warm hands, and instead of holding me there like he did this morning, he leans down and kisses me. It’s a hard kiss, a surprising one that nearly knocks me off my feet, and his hands are so strong, fingertips pressing into my cheekbones to keep me in place. His tongue is demanding, slipping into my mouth, and I open to him, and he takes all he can get. He moans at my taste, and I gasp as his tongue probes deeper, velvet soft and hard, and it feels like he’s using his tongue like he’d use his cock inside me, and I’m hit with a wave of desire that nearly drowns me.
My toes curl, and heat floods between my thighs, and suddenly, my clothes feel suffocating, the high neck of my blouse too tight around my throat, my skirt too long and bulky to feel any hardness from his body as he presses it against mine until I’m flat against the wall of the stall.
He pulls his head back, breathing hard, and rests his forehead against mine, the tip of his nose brushing against the tip of mine. “Here’s the thing about feeling safe, sweet witch,” he says, his voice rough. “It’s a baseline. A starting point you can always go back to. I will always take you back to where you feel safest. You can trust me on that. Will you trust me?”
I don’t know what he’s talking about, but I nod anyway because I do trust him. After the way he protected me when the horseman came after us, I know I trust him with my life.
“Yes,” I whisper. “I trust you.”
A wicked smile curves his lips, and I’m struck by how easily this man vacillates between being a good and proper teacher and a man who’s a slave to lust. “That’s what I needed to hear. Just remember that you trust me, and I trust you to let me know when you’re uncomfortable with something.”
I blink at him as his hands wrap around me to the back of my neck, fingers curling over the edge of my collar. He fingers the buttons there gently. “What would I be uncomfortable with?” I ask, my voice shaking slightly, but I’m scared and excited, my heart rate increasing.
“Letting me use your body,” he says, his gaze dropping to my lips. “Letting me fuck you until you’re rendered senseless. Letting me be in control of how you come and when you come and trusting that I’ll never let you leave unsatisfied.”
With a sudden display of power, he suddenly rips the collar of my blouse at the back, the sound of buttons popping and fabric tearing as the cloth falls away down my arms, leaving me exposed in my corset and chemise.
“Crane!” I admonish him. “What are you doing?”
“Being impatient,” he says, and with my neck exposed, his mouth goes to my skin, and he starts sucking. I gasp, my eyes fluttering back, my body immediately flooded with sensation. “I can’t stand how many layers you women wear, but I’ll rip them all off you if I have to.”
“Is this where I tell you I’m uncomfortable with this?” I ask.
He glances up at me, his eyes glimmering and devious. “Oh no, my sweet witch. This is nothing compared to what I’m about to do to you.”
But instead of ripping my chemise or tearing through the laces of my corset, he just yanks them both down until my breasts bounce free. My nipples immediately harden in the cold air, and his lips are on them in seconds, warm and wet, giving long swirls of his tongue.