Page 34 of Sinful Empire (Mount Trilogy 3)
She has never cowered before me. Not even the first night in the library where she threw off her trench coat and defied me with that henna tattoo.
But this is different from not cowering. Keira Kilgore has finally come completely into her own. She’s the most magnificent woman I’ve ever seen. Hands that have been bloodstained as often as mine have no business touching her, but I’m not letting her go. Ever.
I cross the room silently, a skill I acquired long ago out of necessity and now employ for my own purposes. With a flick of my wrist, I move the curtain aside and step inside to where there’s no shadows, no pale white light, but a rainbow of colors.
Maybe that’s where we belong.
Not in the shadows. Not in the light. But somewhere completely unique to us.
I shut the drapes behind me, sealing us inside. Her muscles tense, but not like she wants to run. No, it’s pure anticipation . . . at least, I assume so because that’s what’s running through my blood.
Despite my earlier injuries, I’m feeling no pain. Not when I look at her. I shouldn’t take her tonight; I know that. I should wait until she’s fully healed, but I don’t have the luxury of time right now.
Tonight, I have to right the wrongs of the past and forge a new memory.
I step closer, drawn to the fiery red hair that matches her temper, loving how she stills in anticipation. Instead of being transported back to that night, the night she thought I was someone else, I stay firmly fixed in the present.
Because tonight, she knows exactly who I am.
I close the remaining distance between us and sweep her hair to the side, satisfaction filling me when I see the crown on her head. She deserves all the jewels, and likely has no idea that the emeralds winking in the white-gold setting are real.
No more pretenses. No more imitations. Everything from today forward is as real as it gets.
Keira Kilgore is mine.
Keira
Goose bumps prickle along my bare skin in anticipation. When Lachlan’s mouth closes over that exact spot, the one where my shoulder meets my neck, a moan breaks free from my lips. My nipples peak against the bodice of the dress, and my clit pulses wildly, enhanced by my piercing.
I don’t know how my body can react to him so quickly, but it does. He barely has to touch me to set me on fire.
When he drags his teeth up the tendon of my neck, my fingers flex on the railing and I force myself not to let go. He nips my earlobe and I drop my head back, resting it against his shoulder. A gesture of surrender. Submission.
He tastes every inch of my bared skin before balling my skirt up and reaching around me to cup between my legs. A growl rumbles in his throat when he finds me already wet.
The sound that used to equally frighten and arouse me now causes goose bumps to form as he thumbs my piercing. I shudder as pleasure riots through me.
Any pain from earlier, including the headache that hounded me all day, has disappeared completely. I don’t know if it’s the man, the painkillers, or the sensations already flooding my body, but I’m ready for everything he has to give.
His palm slides up until his fingers wrap around the waistband of my thong, snapping it just like he did before. But this time it’s so much better, because I know exactly what’s coming.
Lachlan’s hands close over mine on the railing, squeezing them tight, as if reminding me not to move them. I push my ass into the hard bulge at his crotch as my assent. And as a way to urge him on.
His hands are gone as quickly as they appeared, and then one finger spears inside me, stealing another moan.
The hiss of his zipper follows before the head of his cock nudges against my opening. He presses inside just an inch, and stills. I’m not sure what he’s waiting for, but I turn my head just enough to meet his eyes, lit by the brilliant colors in a way I’ve never seen them before.
Maybe it’s fate that I’m seeing him in a completely new light.
His gaze flares with heat as his lips cover mine. I’m still captivated by his stare when he pushes inside me, one inch at a time. Slowly. Carefully. But still filling me so full, there’s no doubt to whom I belong.
Lachlan Mount owns me—body, heart, and soul.
Mount
Unlike on that night that changed bo
th our lives, I take her slowly, in absolutely no hurry, and with more care than ever before. Not only because of the injuries we both sustained, but because tonight is different, no matter how similarly it started. Everything has changed.
