Page 96 of Venomous Throne

Filled with uncertainty, unable to focus on anything positive, I lay there, staring at the ceiling of the Mancini mansion.

There was only one thing to take my mind off the horror that was my life.

I summoned him.

One little white lie to Mancini’s guards about Jaxon being one of my soldiers, and he was allowed to drive onto the premises.

He might as well be one of my men.

The way he stood, black clothing against the backdrop of night, he seemed more lethal than any mobster I knew.

I flew across the drive as he advanced, leaping into his arms. Words weren’t necessary. He seemed tofeelwhat I did.

Jaxon took me into his arms without question. He lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his waist, clinging to him like the lifeline he was. His mouth pressed against mine. Tightening my arms around his neck, I kissed him back until we were both breathless.

He didn’t ask why we were here.

He didn’t pry the horrific details from my lips.

“Where’s your room, bella?”

Such a mercifully simple question. One, I was entirely capable of answering.

“Upstairs.”

His mouth took mine in a desperate, consuming kiss. Still standing in the driveway, for any guard or mobster to peek out and see, we kissed and kissed. Our bodies pressed tightly together. Our tongues entwined in an erotic dance. My fingers were on his arms, digging into the flesh of his shoulders, wrapping around his neck. His splayed possessively across my back. The other hand slid up to tangle in my hair.

“Hold tight,” he murmured. His voice was low and rough.

I was shaking so badly, I didn’t think I could walk if I tried. Safely cocooned in the tight embrace of his arms, I held him as he strode purposefully into the house.

He didn’t break a sweat climbing the stairs. He wasn’t even out of breath.

“Which room?”

I pointed haphazardly behind me. “Down the hall.”

The solid trunk that was his chest vibrated with a gruff exhale. “I’m going to need better directions than that.”

“The one that is open.” I leaned around. “The light is on.”

Jaxon nodded once.

The moment we were inside and the door was closed, his mouth was on me again. He kissed me hungrily.

It was all-consuming. Everything—the good, the bad, the ugly—vanished from my mind. There was only his mouth. His body.Him.

Jaxon pulled back. “I know exactly what you need. Do you trust me to give it to you?”

My pulse beat hard in my veins to the point the pressure was painful.

“Yes,” I gasped.

Jaxon pulled me off him. The carpet was shifting under my feet. Or maybe it was the floor. How structurally sound was this building? I felt like I would fall into the rooms below.

Something sharp flickered in the depths of his eyes. “On your knees.”

I thought we were having sex. I’d anticipated the rush of relief from such a primal, intimate connection.