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Khloé opened her mouth to argue … but she couldn’t. He was right. He was right about all of it.
He closed the space between them in one slow step. “People have been walking in and out of your life since you were a kid. Some were good, some weren’t. It probably became a reflex for you not to form attachments to anyone new, because taking a chance on them sticking around usually never worked out. And that’s mostly why you fear taking me as your mate—you don’t have any faith that I won’t leave you at some point.”
She swallowed hard and closed her eyes for a moment. She hated that he’d seen right through her. It made her feel too exposed.
“It’s no easier for me to take this risk, Khloé. I know what it’s like to get used to having people around, to learn to trust them, only to have them shit on that trust. I can’t promise you that our mating will be all flowers and rainbows. I can only assure you that I’ll give this all I have; that I’d never give up on us.”
He swept his thumb over her jaw. “We could play it safe and just go on as we are, sure. But neither of us would happily waltz through life with no regrets that we didn’t take a shot at mating. You know that.” He framed her face with his hands. “What scares you most? That there’ll be no going back—and there won’t be, Khloé; neither me nor my demon would ever let you go—or that you love me?”
She jerked back, but he didn’t release her face. “Love you?” she echoed. “You think I love you?”
“Don’t you?”
She spluttered. “Well, I … it’s … I don’t … Why are you …” She closed her eyes. “Fuck.”
“You love me,” he said softly. “And I get why you’d find that scary. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything, and it fucking terrifies me.”
Her eyes popped open. “You … you love me?”
He let out a soft chuckle. “Yeah. How could I not?”
“Easily. I’m the ultimate pain in the ass. Proudly. I put a whole lot of effort into it, as it happens.”
“Hmm, yes, you do. But you’re my pain in the ass.” He took her mouth, sweeping his tongue inside to flick her own, feasting and consuming and dominating.
Khloé broke the kiss as a spicy, aphrodisiac scent laced the air and seemed to curl around her. The room instantly felt too warm and humid. Heat flashed through her system, making her breasts ache, her nipples harden, her clit pulse, and her core spasm. “Wait. We’re not done talking.”
“Sure we are,” he said easily, sliding his fingers into her hair. “What is there to talk about?”
A phantom finger slid through her folds and then circled her clit. She sucked in a breath and moaned. “Not fair.”
His brows lifted. “Did you think I’d play fair when it comes to something this important to me? If I thought you didn’t want the same things I do, I’d back off. Maybe. But you do want this, Khloé.”
Fuck if she could deny that. “What about your demon? It might be possessive of me, but I highly doubt it’s interested in claiming me.” She gasped as phantom fingers pinched her nipples, making her pulse clench and ache.
“My demon wants to straight-up own you. Wants to brand you both inside and out. As far as its concerned, it has waited long enough for both you and me to get with the program. It doesn’t want to wait any longer, and neither do I.” He put his mouth to her ear and bit the lobe. “More importantly, neither do you.”
An image flashed in her mind of her tied spread-eagle to a bed while Keenan hammered into her, his skin glimmering with a fine sheen of sweat.
“Do you want me inside you, Khloé?” he asked, his voice low and velvety; it feathered over her tingling skin, teasing every nerve-ending. “Do you want to feel my cock filling you? Stretching you? Shooting my come in you?”
Phantom lips suckled on her clit, making her stumble backwards and collide with the side of the sofa. “Oh, Jesus.” Each wet tug on her clit made her pussy spasm and ache. “You need to stop.” But he didn’t. Those lips suckled a little faster.
She reached behind her to rest her hands on the arm of the sofa. “You’re such a prick,” she hissed. “You can’t seduce me into accepting your claim.”
Keenan combed his fingers through her hair. “You already have accepted it, baby. You just haven’t said it out loud yet. Do it, Khloé. Say it. Say you’ll take this gamble on me, on us.”
She drew in a shaky breath, trembling with the unadulterated need rocketing through her bloodstream. “I can’t think when my body’s screaming for you like this.”
