Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Her orgasm rips through her, back arching violently as she cries out. I don't stop, working her through it until she's trembling, oversensitive, begging in broken syllables that might be my name.
Only then do I flip her onto her back.
She blinks up at me, dazed and wrecked, lips swollen from my teeth. I settle between her thighs, sliding back inside in one slow glide that makes us both shudder.
This time it's different.
I brace myself on my forearms, lowering until our chests press together, heartbeats competing. Her legs wrap around my waist, heels digging into my lower back.
I move slowly now, long rolls of my hips that make her breath catch. My mouth finds hers, and this kiss is nothing like before—it's deep and searching, tasting like salt and surrender.
“Ivy.” Her name on my tongue feels like prayer.
Her hands slide into my hair, not pulling, just holding me to her as we rock together. The anger burning away, leaving something raw and terrifying in its place.
“Look at me,” I demand, and when she does, her eyes are glassy. Not with tears—something deeper. Something that looks like drowning.
“I can't do this,” she whispers, but her body contradicts every word, meeting each of my thrusts with desperate need.
“You're already doing it.”
Her nails dig into my shoulders. “This is a mistake.”
“Probably.” I kiss her jaw, her throat, the hollow beneath her ear. “But I'm not stopping.”
She makes a sound that's half sob, half moan. “Why do you have to be like this?”
“Like what?”
“Like you care.” Her voice breaks. “Like this matters.”
I still inside her, forcing her to meet my eyes. “It does matter.”
“Don't.” She turns her face away. “Don't make it more than what it is.”
“And what is it?” I catch her chin, turning her back. “What is this to you?”
Her breath hitches. “A distraction. A moment of weakness.”
My hand lands on her throat as I pull back, driving forward hard enough to make her gasp.
“That feel like a distraction?”
“Asher—”
“Say it again.” Another thrust, deeper. “Tell me this means nothing. Lie to me, Venom.”
Her breath hitches, something shifting in her expression. Fear and need warring across her features.
I change the angle, grinding against her clit with each thrust, and she gasps. “That's it. Let me have you. All of you.”
“Asher—” My name sounds like a sob.
“I'm right here.” I press my forehead to hers, movements becoming urgent, desperate. “I'm not going anywhere.”
Her nails dig into my shoulders hard enough to draw blood. “Promise me.”
The plea destroys me. “I promise.”
She breaks.
It's not just physical—I feel it in the way she shatters beneath me, the way her whole body convulses and her cry sounds like grief and relief tangled together. Her walls clench around me in waves, pulling me deeper, and I'm powerless against it.
My own orgasm rips through me with violent force. I bury myself to the hilt, groaning her name against her throat as I come undone. Every muscle locks, spine arching, vision whiting out.
We stay locked together, trembling, neither willing to move first. Her hands slide down my back, gentler now, tracing scars she can't see.
“Fuck.” The word is barely a whisper.
She makes a sound that might be agreement. Her legs loosen around my waist but don't release me entirely.
I lift my head, needing to see her face. She's wrecked—hair wild, lips swollen, eyes glassy with unshed tears. Beautiful and broken and still holding something back.
“Ivy—”
“Don't.” She touches my lips, her hand shaking. “Please don't say anything.”
But I need to. I need to tell her everything churning in my chest, all the words I've never said to anyone. “This changes things.”
“I know.” The admission sounds like defeat. “That's what terrifies me.”
I pull out slowly, both of us wincing at the loss. She immediately curls onto her side, pulling the sheet around herself like armor.
I collapse beside her, reaching out to pull her against my chest. She resists for half a second before melting into me, face pressed to my heartbeat.
We lie there in silence, her breathing gradually evening out. My hand strokes her hair, untangling knots I helped create.
“What happens now?” Her voice is small, muffled against my skin.
I kiss her forehead, the conversation Atlas and I had an hour ago repeating in my head.
“I don't know, baby, but we'll figure it out.”
Chapter 21
Ivy
Iroll out of Asher’s bed the next morning, the sun bleeding through the windows of his room. I’d never come in here much until I needed to furnish it. Now I wish I did so more often.
Asher remains still, spread over the bed and tangled in sheets. Last night flickers through my head. The words we said, the secrets that almost spilled, and the way he feels inside of me.
Jesus.
I’d had sex many times before, but never like that. It’s like being touched, but not felt. Eating, but not fed. If this is what it feels like to fall… then I need to find my feet.