Page 80 of Pistols & Peonies

I freeze, every muscle in my body on fire.

She meets my eyes, and for a second, we’re both animals. Snarling, staring each other down, alpha to alpha.

I pull out with a grunt, spinning her around and gripping onto her hips. She braces herself with both hands on the wall, legs spread, smirking back at me over her shoulder like a dare.

I drive into her from behind, hands roaming over her back, searching for anywhere I can mark her without drawing blood. I slap her ass hard enough to leave a handprint, then grip her hips and fuck her so hard she can barely keep herself upright.

My canines retract, but my wolf is still howling for a real mark, for something that says mine to the whole damn world. I hold back. Because she told me to, and because some part of me would rather die than hurt her for real.

She starts coming again, her pussy strangling my cock, and I let myself go, pounding into her until I lose control. My eyes roll back as I come with a savage growl, spilling inside her.

I band an arm around her waist, pulling her back flush to my chest, and we stay pressed together like that for a long moment, fighting to catch our breath. Then I pull out, ensuring she’s steady on her feet before letting go and taking a step back.

I drag a hand through my hair, trying to get my shit together. “Let’s go home,” I grumble.

“Fine.” She heaves a sigh, twisting to face me. “Take me back to the Tower, Commander.”

“We’re not going to the Tower,” I murmur, eyes flicking over her bare body. “We’re going to the lake.”

CHAPTER 27

Violet

I wake up wrapped in so much softness that I briefly wonder if I’ve died and gone to heaven. I’m cocooned in luxurious cotton sheets, resting atop a plush mattress that perfectly cradles every inch of my body. Kane’s signature leather and pine scent clings to the bedding, warm and grounding.

Wherever I am, it’s ridiculously comfortable.

But where am I, exactly…?

I squint my eyes open, peering up at a wood-plank ceiling awash with morning light. The pale glow of dawn filters in through gauzy white curtains, turning the whole room golden, but nothing about this place is familiar.

I blink a few times, waiting for the fog to clear from my brain so memory can surface. It comes back in fragments– Kane manhandling me in the locker room, the sharp tips of his canines grazing my neck, him shoving me into the passenger seat of his SUV to take me to his lake house. I didn’t argue. I’ve been curious about this place since he first mentioned it, but there’s a gap in my memory between leaving the club and waking up here. I don’t remember walking inside, and I definitely don’t remember climbing into this absurdly comfy bed.

Guess that hit I took from Reaper must’ve been harder than I thought.

The sound of a door opening snaps me fully awake, my gaze darting across the room in the direction it came from.

Kane steps out of the en-suite bathroom wearing nothing but a pair of black slacks riding obscenely low on his hips. He rubs at his jaw absently, and every muscle in his chest and arms shifts with the movement, rippling beneath tan skin. I get a full ten seconds of ogling him in before he notices, his dark-eyed gaze colliding with mine.

“You’re awake,” he murmurs, crossing to the dresser. He pulls open a drawer and retrieves a perfectly folded black t-shirt from inside while I watch him through the haze of lingering exhaustion.

There’s something unsettling about seeing him like this, barefoot and completely at ease, without the usual tension he carries in his shoulders. Like the Commander is just a uniform he puts on within the city limits.

He drags the shirt on over his head– probably a mercy, since the view was criminal– and pivots toward me.

“How’d you sleep?”

“Fine,” I breathe. “I don’t even remember getting here last night.”

“You passed out in the car,” he says nonchalantly. “I carried you in.”

Oh.

Heat rises to my cheeks before I can stop it. I burrow deeper beneath the covers as if that’ll somehow hide my embarrassment, the soft sheets brushing against my bare skin. Realization dawns, and I lift them to peek underneath.

“Why am I naked?” I ask, wrinkling my nose.

Kane’s expression shifts like he’s been caught stealing something. He drags a hand through his hair, gaze cutting away.