Page 103 of Hallowed Bones

Reyes drops his forehead against mine. The spice of his scent fills me with each inhale. His chuckle vibrates against my nipples. I bite down on my lower lip to stifle a moan.

“You’re right,” he concedes. “How inconsiderate of me—to tell you to stop thinking and then demand answers.”

My fingers curl into my palms where they’re trapped behind my back and I lift up against his hold, only to let my body drop back onto his and grind against his erection.

“I’ll answer you,” I promise, breathless, “but not now. Now I just want…” The plea drifts as I’m captured by the promise in his eyes.

“What?” Reyes asks, one brow—an old scar bisecting the hair there—raising in challenge. “What do you want, Haven?”

His hand against my thigh slides inexorably higher. His chest pushes against mine, the rigid muscles under the cotton pressing into my hardened nipples. I close my eyes. My skin is buzzing with energy that has nowhere to go.

“You can tell me,” he urges. When all I can manage is a gasping breath and small noise in the back of my throat, he chuckles again. “Or maybe you want me to guess? I can do that.” He breathes against my skin, little puffs of hot air that scald me. “Let’s see…”

Reyes’s hand travels up my outer thigh, pausing on my hip as his fingers dip beneath the hem of my shirt. Then, as they continue their trek, take the fabric with them until he’s cupping one full, swollen breast in his palm and squeezing with just enough pressure to tell me that sex with him is going to be anything but tame.

“Haven Wardwell…” He moves away, staring down at me, and the glimmer of wickedness hints at his intentions. It’s a silent promise of what’s to come. “Let’s see if I can guess what you want without using magic to see into your dreams, hmmmm?”

“Reyes.” His name is threaded with hunger and barely leashed restraint as it’s pulled from my lungs. It’s a plea that can quickly turn into a threat if he’s not careful. Just because he’s got me pinned doesn’t mean I’m vulnerable. I’m here because I want to be, because I want him.

“Do you have any idea how incredibly wreckable you look, Haven?” Once more, his mouth hovers over mine. As if he wants nothing more than to slam our mouths back together and take what we both so desperately seek. As if he wants me to close the gap between us.

“That’s my guess,” he tells me when I don’t offer an answer. “You want me to wreck you from the inside out. You want me to strip you bare, drag you from all you’ve ever known, lay you out, and feast.”

My pussy spasms with his words, clenching around emptiness that makes me pant and whimper in his grasp. I can picture it in my head. Everything he’s suggesting—and he’s right. It’s exactly what I want.

The hand cupping my breast releases me suddenly and pulls out from under my shirt. I cry out and bow forward, needing that connection. Just as quickly as his touch was taken, though, it’s back. This time, he grips my throat and forces me to arch and look up into his eyes.

“Don’t you?” he demands.

I nod in quick movements, unwilling to let any of my inhibitions stop us this time.

“I want you begging,” he mutters, bending closer. He breathes out the last word over my throat as he loosens his hold. Then his lips are touching my skin, moving over my flesh. He kisses his way down my neck, dragging his teeth along my skin like an animal prepared to strike. My heart races against the pulse point there—not in fear but in arousal. “Beg me to ruin you, Haven. Say the word and I will.”

Turning my head as his hair flutters in front of my face, I bend down, nuzzling against the side of his head. He raises up just enough for me to reach his ear, likely thinking I’ll quietly whisper my response.

Without giving myself a moment to consider the repercussions, I bite his earlobe, hard. Then, and only then, do I give him my answer.

“Ruin me, Reyes.”

CHAPTER 36REYES

Haven is hot to the touch, her skin like fresh-kindled fire, and I am a man ready to be burned alive.

Ruin me, Reyes.

Those three words ring in my ears like a death knell. It marks the end of whatever type of relationship we could have had. Platonic? Never again after tonight.

She wants this. She wants me, and I intend to give her everything she wants.

Cupping her ass and lifting my hips, I grind against her, letting her feel the hardness of my cock between her legs. The soft little whimpering noise that escapes the back of her throat is like music to my ears.

Fuck. I know I shouldn’t be doing this here. Haven deserves to be romanced—made love to in a bed, not fucked roughly on a couch in the coven house’s library. Even so, it would take a catastrophic event to stop me now. I’m too far gone. Thinking clearly is an objective of the past. The here and now is her and me, and I need to see her as undone as she makes me.

Lifting her ass to keep her grinding into my body, I keep her pinned to me as I rise to my feet. Her eyes widen, but her legs clamp down on either side of my hips, holding on as I stride away from the couch. Each jarring step rubs her cunt against my cock and drives me closer to the brink.

By the time I’ve made it across the room and have set her down on the edge of the long oakwood desk that’s been in this room since long before I was born, I’m nearly delirious with need for her. The second she’s on a flat surface, I sweep my arm behind her, shoving books and papers and pens off the surface of the desk. They crash to the floor, clattering and thumping with dull noises that I barely hear. She has all my attention.

Haven’s chest rises and falls as she gasps for breath, eyes glittering as she stares up at me. Her lips are wet with the evidence of our passion. I grip the hem of her shirt and yank it up. She helps—lifting her arms and letting me divest her of her clothes. The second she’s bare from the waist up, I know I’m going to need her to be naked all over. I touch the waistband of her shorts, and she wiggles as I peel them and her panties down her legs.