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Chapter Three
Linden
The last time I’d kissed Knox Morgan, he was barely a man, no need to shave daily. Yet now, as I lean in to slide my bottom lip across his jawline, the stubble there is so sexy, I forgot it’s foreign.
When I reach the lobe of his ear, I bite down gently and skim my tongue along the nearly-closed hole there, reminding the both of us, of us… and that time in eighth grade, when he’d begged me to pierce his ear — only to rip it right back out when he realized how silly he looked. I smile to myself and bask in a surge of empowerment knowing, that of all the women who’ve kissed their way to here over the years, not one of themknew this little spot exists, or why.
And much like his “claim” earlier, this is something of him that is mine.
“Mmmm,” I purr and his jaw instantly steels, hard muscle flexing beneath soft skin as he struggles for restraint.
“Linden,” he groans. “Be careful.”
“Of?” I purposely rasp.
“You know exactly, woman. You remember piercing my ear, you damn sure remember my threshold on letting you tease before I take over.”
Yes, at only seventeen, I’d given myself to Knox — as often as possible — one thing I have never, nor will I ever, look back on with regret or shame.
“Shhhh, I’m thinking.”
“About?”
“If I really want to stop, thinking, and… do this.”
“Two can play this game,” he grates in an unsuccessfully deceptive calm, pushing my skirt up another inch. “What do you want, Linnybug? You want me to beg for it?” Another inch lost, his fingertips begin scorching up the sensitive flesh of my thigh.
“Why not?” My panting’s blatant, and beyond my control. “Nothing else is the same anymore; might as well switch that up too.”
“But it could be.” He grinds his hips into me and I nearly come apart, nearly give in all at once.
Flooded with feelings, again, so foreign yet so familiar, temptation blurs with necessity. Now overshadows then. And hurt starts fading to black, dark desire. This isn’t the first, or twentieth, time Knox and I have found ourselves in a similar predicament… the back and forth. The foreplay. The dance. And while I’ve never been quite this brazen, the rest is classic Linden and Knox.
The one glaring difference? The last time I let him this close, close enough to play me, mind and body, like a fiddle, and close enough to touch me on the inside, at my core, my heart… we were in love.
Which reminds me…
“Knox,” I whimper, pushing at his chest. “I’m sorry, in more ways than one, but I… I can’t go back, do this again.”
He wraps my wrists with a strong, sure grip, keeping my touch to him. “No again, babe. New. Fresh start. We aren’t kids anymore and I’m not going anywhere.”
I find myself drifting back into my memories. Memories of what we once were. The love we had. The heat that was ever-present. I’m temporarily lost on the past, fighting to come back to the here and now.
“Linden, did you hear me?” He gives me an easy shake, in turn sparking me to shake off the fog of thoughts I’d escaped to. “You back?”
“Yes, and no. Knox, I, you, you should go home.” My voice, like my nerve, collapses.
“I’m going nowhere. Talk to me, dammit! Scream, cry, hit, scratch, I don’t give a shit how, but fucking talk to me!”
“No. If we talk, I’ll be honest, it’ll be too raw. I’ll cry, you’ll try to comfort me. Your arms will find their way around me, mine will reach for you, and we’ll be holding each other. Then my heart will come unglued, and those million little pieces holding on by a thread will scatter everywhere. No, no way.”
Nothing said, he speaks by cupping my cheeks and staring through my eyes for only a moment, yet long enough to sear my soul… and finishes me off, perhaps for good. Strong, greedy, familiar lips crash into mine, and with everything I have, except time to resist, I kiss him right back.
“Knox,” I moan, upon coming up for air.
“Yeah, me too baby, me too.”
“You. Always you. Only you.”
