Page 42 of Then We Shatter

“There had better be a fucking bed in here,” I say, pulling away so I can work out where we need to go.

“Second door on the left,” she says while peppering my neck with kisses.

When I see the size of her bed, I swear I die and go to heaven. I drop Katarina onto the mattress, none too carefully in my eagerness to make the most of all this space. She rests back on her elbows as she watches me strip. Fuck my holstered gun and the knife strapped to my ankle. When I crawl onto the bed, I’m bollock naked.

“You have no idea how much I’ve dreamed of getting you on a bed big enough to take us both and all the ways I’m going to fuck you,” I say as I settle between her legs. “How long do we have?”

Katarina presses her lips together and shakes her head. “I don’t want to talk about time limits. Fuck me, Killian,” she says, wrapping her fist around my pulsing cock and drawing the tip along the seam of her slick pussy.

My balls throb and the need to thrust is too much. “Put it in, Kitty.” Not an order. A plea.

Once I’m seated at her entrance, I snatch her wrist away and pin her arms over her head. I give no warning as I punch forward, and Katarina cries out as I bury myself deep inside her.

If it’s too much, she still wants more. She wraps her legs around mine, and the points of her stilettos dig into my calves as I drive into her again. My head hovers over hers and we hold each other’s gaze, tethering us while an animalistic lust takes over our bodies.

I thrust into her, over and over again, fucking her hard and fast. It’s sheer determination that has me holding back my release. I won’t go anywhere without my Russian princess, so I tense my body and slow my movements, pulling myself back from the edge.

“Don’t stop,” Katarina pleads, her hips rising to meet every slam of my body against her. “Use me. Punish me.”

I don’t want to know why she thinks she needs to be punished. “Then come for me, Kitty. Don’t let me down.”

Rolling my hips in a figure of eight, I grind against her clit. I can feel her pussy quivering. Going bare, I feel everything and I savor how we fit together.

Katarina starts to pant, her heels digging deeper into my flesh as her back arches.

“Killian… You fucking bastard… I’m going to…”

“Yes, you are,” I reply, watching in awe as her eyes glaze over, her cheeks pink and finally, she lets go. Her head tips back as she lets out a cry that might just be a sob. She tries to free her arms, but I keep her pinned to the bed.

“There’s my girl,” I hiss as I drive into her at a frenetic pace. “My good girl.”

My core is on fire and with a rush I give her everything I have and empty inside her. I see stars and maybe I see heaven too. It’s glorious. It’s beautiful. Our bodies undulate with the lasting ripples of our release. I fill her and she completes me.

My sweat-slick skin sticks to hers as I kiss my way from the valley of her breasts, to her collarbone, her neck, her jaw. When I kiss her cheeks, her skin isn’t just damp. It’s wet. I release her hands and sweep her hair from her face, pulling her gaze to mine. Tears pool in the corners of her eyes.

“Why are you crying, my love?”

I roll onto my back, my heart still beating like crazy after fucking her, but I’m numb.

Katarina has set the date.

She’s leaving me.

“We still have a month,” she says, staring up at the ceiling, but managing to find my hand. Our fingers entwine, holding on to each other by the smallest of margins.

“You’ll be too busy picking out a wedding dress and shit to worry about me.”

“Which do you think I would choose, Shorty? You or a dress?”

I won’t be appeased. “But you’re going to have to make it look like you’re invested in the wedding to pull off your escape on the same day,” I say, because as much as I don’t want her to go, I want her to be free. “And I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to insist the Moncriefs throw a huge birthday party for you the night before.”

“Why not?”

“Because I won’t be there.” We would already have said our goodbyes by then.

She squeezes my hand. “I wish I could invite you.”

“Twenty-one,” I say, reminding myself how much life Katarina has ahead of her. She deserves her freedom. And she can do better than me. I have to let her go.