Page 88 of Knox

I closed my eyes, fighting tears and resting my forehead against hers. She was right to do this. I knew. But every protective instinct I had screamed at me to put her over my shoulder and run.

Chapter 28

Sloane

Knox held me for long moments, so much fear and heaviness on our hearts and shoulders. But only one thing came continuously back to mind.

“What happens when this is over?” I asked.

He raised his head to look at me, stroking hair behind my ear. “What?”

“I’m terrified, because I don’t know what happens to us. Are we supposed to just go our separate ways? Back to our pre-serial killer lives? As if we never met?”

Shock flashed in Knox’s careful eyes, then pain. “No. Of course not.”

“I don’t want you to go,” I said, tears strangling my words. “It’s selfish of me, and you have to do the right thing for you, no matter what that is, but I thought you should know that I’d really like it if you stay.”

Knox drew me closer, heartbreak on his handsome face. “Sloane, all I want is you.”

A wave of hope and joy hit so strong that it lifted me onto my toes.

Then Knox was kissing me. And it felt like coming home. As if we’d done this a thousand times in another lifetime and finally found our way back to one another. I reveled in the purity of it. The raw sincerity. But the initial sweetness burned away fast this time. And we were tinder catching fire.

I fisted my hands in the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer and demanding more. My heart thundered as I let myself feel everything I’d been holding back. I poured it all into that kiss. Every emotion running through me, all the fear and hope and desperate need.

Knox responded in kind, his restraint slipping away as his hands moved from my back and hair to my thighs.

A guttural sound escaped me, half gasp, half moan, and Knox devoured it. Heat burned through my system as his strong hands gripped my ass, needy and rough. Then he bent and lifted me in one strong swoop, bringing our bodies flush.

I wrapped my legs around him, hungry for more. “Bedroom,” I gasped between kisses. There were cameras downstairs now, and I didn’t want the things I planned to do to him caught on film.

Knox pulled back, breathing hard.

I could see him trying to think clearly. Trying desperately to be a gentleman while his body clearly wanted otherwise. I slid my hands under his shirt, palms flat against the hard planes of his stomach, exploring while I pressed my mouth against any inch of bare skin I could reach. His jaw. His neck. His earlobe. “Please,” I whispered, tasting the sensitive flesh beneath his ear. “I want you.”

His responding groan said I was winning the battle against his rock-hard restraint.

I wriggled against him, unlatching my ankles and pressing away, until he set me down. Back on my feet before him, I met his tortured gaze as I peeled away my shirt and dropped it on the floor between us.

Knox cursed, stepped forward, and kissed me like a man marking what was his.

And I was his.

When we finally broke apart, both breathing hard, I saw the moment of his complete surrender. Then, I took his hand and led him to my room.

We stood together in the moonlight streaming through my bedroom windows, trading kisses and caresses. Removing clothing and reveling in the intimacy of revealing ourselves fully to one another this way.

Knox skimmed his big hands over my shoulders and down my arms. He traced the curve of my waist and gripped my hips. Exploring me. Mapping me. Melting me with hot kisses that followed his hands. He curled his fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck and tugged, angling me for better access as I listed against him, unsure how my legs continued to hold me upright.

I moved to the bed, inching onto it for support before he laid me back and took a long moment to scan every inch with his hungry gaze.

Knox brushed the backs of his knuckles against my hair. “So fucking beautiful.”

He unfastened his dog tags with practiced ease and set them on the nightstand.

Then his mouth was back on mine and his hands were on my body. He stroked and cupped my breasts, dragging the pads of his thumbs across my nipples until they stiffened with goosebumps and arousal. He lowered his head to lave and suckle each tight bud, drawing moans of pleasure that bent my knees and opened them, making room for him to get closer.

I scooted back on the bed, but he didn’t follow. Instead, he kissed a hot, wet trail down my stomach, and my back arched with desperation and need. Knox knelt on the floor and dragged me to the mattress’s edge, before hooking one of my knees over his shoulder.