Scorpio (The Zodiac Queen Book 8), page 8
He lowers his gaze to my knees. “I didn’t want to rush it.”
His admission digs under the ever-present insecurities that plague me, even when I think they’ve been vanquished.
“I’m sorry,” I choke out.
He raises his head, and there’s no mistaking the shock in his expression. “For what?”
“For being attracted to Liam…and to Ford.”
He lets out a breath. “Don’t apologize.”
“But I didn’t mean to betray you. It just h-happened.” A sob escapes, and I bury my face in the haven of my palms.
Sebastian grabs my hands, forcing me to look at him. “I’d rather you be a willing participant than the alternative. I’m sorry it took me so long to figure that out.” He glances around the kitchen. “For weeks, I sat in this damn place alone, remembering every moment we spent together. Every sigh, every touch, every spark of life you lit inside me.” With a deep breath, he caresses my cheek, his thumb wiping away the tears there. “Finding you and Castle like that fucking hurt. I was pissed and stubborn and clinging to anger to get me through it.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I know that.” He places a finger against my lips. “When you told me what Pax forced you to do, I saw red. It tore me to fucking pieces. So don’t apologize for finding pleasure during these months, because nothing you do will make me love you any less.”
His declaration only heightens my regret. “I wish I could take it all back.” Every stolen moment with Liam. Even the ones with Ford.
“We can’t change the past, Novalee.”
“I know, but I hate to think of my mistakes standing between us…of being the reason you’re keeping your distance.”
“There’s zero distance.” He picks me up and carries me to the bedroom before dumping me onto the bed. “I didn’t want to trigger any trauma for you. That’s the reason I didn’t take you anally last night.”
“I’m not scared to be with you like that. I want to feel you inside me again. I need it.”
I need it more than his forgiveness. More than the easement of my guilt. I need it more than my next breath. When we come together, he makes me feel whole, stronger than I thought possible. Being with him rights all the wrongs in my world.
He peels off his shirt, kicks out of his pants, and then he’s positioning me on the mattress, two strong hands shackling my ankles as he drags my ass to the edge of the bed. He strips me bare, in more ways than one, before dropping to his knees.
I’m already wet, primed to fly apart when his tongue works at my throbbing clit. Holding onto his head, fingers sinking into his thick dirty blond hair, I wrap my legs around his shoulders and let him bring me closer to climax.
He clutches my breasts, rough and reckless, and I sense the blind urgency growing in him, feel it in the growling vibrations on my clit, the way his breath quickens with every flick of his tongue.
“Now!” I push his head away. “I need you inside me. Get the lube.”
He’s a man on the brink, his chest heaving, eyes blazing, cock straining to find home. With a flick of his tongue across his bottom lip, he grabs a small bottle from the nightstand.
“If you need to stop,” he says, applying a generous amount of lube to his erection, “say the words.”
“I won’t.”
“You might change your mind if I take you the way I want to.”
“I want it all, Sebastian. The pleasure, the pain. All of you.”
As he pushes into my ass, his muscular arms propping up my legs, I reach for my clit, and he grins. “That’s my girl.”
He thrusts to the hilt, stretching me into an uncomfortable grimace, but instead of bearing down, I will my body to open for his intrusion, my slick fingers circling the throbbing bundle of nerves between my legs.
“You okay?”
“I’m okay.” I hold his tortured gaze, recognizing that he’s still holding back. “Take me how you need to. I can handle it.”
“Holy shit, princess.” He pumps in earnest, blond hair flopping over his forehead with each thrust of his hips. Our sweat-covered bodies become one in a messy, lust-induced symphony of moans and madness. The echoing slaps of flesh on flesh filter through the bedroom.
We’re in sync, complementing each other like lightning and thunder. Just as I feel the tight pull of completion spreading down my limbs and curling my toes, he jerks to a halt inside my ass. There’s nothing more exhilarating than sharing this moment—of experiencing the beauty of intimate unison with him.
Afterward, we crawl between the sheets and allow the fire to cool.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
I shake my head, snuggling deeper into his spooning embrace. “No. It was amazing.”
His lips trail a path of kisses across the slope of my shoulder. “You’re amazing.”
“We’re amazing together.”
“We sure are.”
Sleep pulls at us, though we awake in the middle of the night for round two. And maybe that’s why it takes several drowsy moments for the incessant pounding to penetrate our sanctuary.
“What’s going on?” As I sit up in bed, Sebastian’s already pulling on his pants.
“Someone’s here.” He tosses me my dress from yesterday before striding toward the source of what woke us. Scrambling into motion, I yank the dress over my head and catch up to him as he opens the front door.
The sun has barely risen, and I gape as my brother waltzes in, followed by Liam, Vance, Ford, Tatum, and a man whose name I can’t recall, but I believe he’s from the House of Aquarius.
“What’s going on?” I ask, my disbelieving gaze touching on each member of the Brotherhood—the half currently present, anyway. As Sebastian pulls me against his side, running a hand through his bedroom hair, Landon takes it upon himself to answer.
“No one can know about this meeting, Novalee.”
“I don’t understand. Is something wrong? Is Elise okay?” My voice gains an octave with each rapid-fire question.
“Elise is fine.” Landon folds his arms, the picture of authority and leadership, despite the chancellor owning that role, officially.
Sebastian’s words from a few weeks ago come back to me, as clear in my mind as when he first said them.
“Your brother is the puppet master in this.”
He all but admitted to keeping a secret.
Narrowing my eyes at Landon, I step away from Sebastian and cross my arms, matching my brother’s pose. “You need to tell me what’s going on.”
“We’re here to discuss strategy.”
“Strategy for what?”
Taking the lead, Liam clears his throat. “We’re here to discuss how we’re going to rig the auction, my sweet girl.”
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PLAYLIST
1. “Destroyer” by Of Monsters and Men
2. “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” by Urban Sound Collective
3. “After Hours” by The Weeknd
4. “Madness” by Ruelle
5. “NDA” by Billie Eilish
6. “Can’t Hold Me Down” by Memory Spells, Maiah Manser
7. “I Could be” by Kyla La Grange
8. “Wild Eyes” by Bed and Beats
9. “Empires” by Ruelle
10. “Unsteady - Erich Lee Gravity Remix” by X Ambassadors, Erich Lee
11. “Queen” by Lauren Gray
12. “Infinity” by Jaymes Young
13. “Hard To See (Dynasty)” by LOVETRVTH
14. “Tears of Gold - Stripped” by Faouzia
15. “Wicked Game” by Daisy Gray
16. “Way That I Fiddle” by Clean
17. “I’ll Make You Love Me” by Kat Leon
18. “Goodbye (feat. Lyse) - Slow version” by Feder, Lyse
19. “Everybody Wants To Rule the World” by Lorde
20. “Drowning” by Anne Sila
Click here to check out the full series playlist on Spotify!
Gemma James is a USA Today bestselling author of sexy contemporary and dark romance. She loves to explore the darker side of human nature in her fiction, and she’s morbidly curious about anything dark and edgy, from deviant seduction to fascinating villains. Readers have described her stories as being “not for the faint of heart.”
She warns you to heed their words! Her playground isn’t full of rainbows and kittens, though she loves both. She lives in Oregon with her husband and children, a gaggle of animals, and bipolar weather. You can connect with her online at the following places:
Visit Gemma’s website
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Gemma James, Scorpio (The Zodiac Queen Book 8)
