Page 26 of A Corruption Dark & Deadly
This kiss was less gentle and more passionate. It was one that was staking a claim, marking territory, and taking possession. His tongue slid into her mouth like it belonged there, like he owned the place, and from the way she opened up her mouth to receive him, he probably did. She couldn't really think about the fact that those hands that had pulled the trigger, ending someone's life, were now caressing her shoulder, holding the back of her head. She didn't understand why she wasn't afraid of him, why she would allow him to touch her in this way, to kiss her in this way. And she realized that he had killed for her and she never knew she was worth killing for to anyone outside her immediate family. He was protecting her: she had seen his cold eyes, his tight mouth, but when he looked at her, that was gone. Vanished into the night like the stars and moon when the sun pierced the sky.
And that made her want him more than she really did. Because he was willing to do that for her, barely knowing her at all, and yet seeing her as this special being, this angelic entity worth risking everything for, and she didn't understand, couldn't understand, but maybe she didn't need to. Maybe that was okay. And maybe it made her fall a little bit in love with him.
His tongue danced inside her mouth to music only he could hear. Her eyes were shut but she could still see with her hands, with her skin, with her smell, with her ears. Jericho was surprisingly quiet during a kiss. Besides the sticky sounds of tongue dueling with tongue, he kept his noise to himself, which both disappointed her and challenged her. She liked knowing that what she did was pleasing to him, that he was feeling similar to what he was making her feel. Which meant that if he was this quiet when she really did something worth gasping or grunting or morning for, he would make some kind of noise indicating as such.
Which meant she needed to do something to get him to that point.
She nearly blinked, wondering why she cared in the first place, why she needed to hear him moan because of something she did. Just before this evening, she had successfully kept him at a distance, despite his ability to be... nice. Sweet. Two character traits she hadn't expected from him. Sensual, yes. Seductive and dangerous and intimidating, all yes. But sweet? Genuine? She had no idea. Even now, she still didn't think this was real. She didn't think that he genuinely cared about her.
He literally killed someone for you, a voice in her head pointed out. If that doesn't scream affection of some sort, I don't know what does.
How could she argue with that?
When they broke apart for air, Annie didn't waste any time. She moved closer to him so she could place her lips on his neck. His eyes closed and he tilted his head, giving her better access to the column of his throat. She inched closer to him so she all but sat in his lap. Her tongue swirled against his skin and she tasted the odd sensation of blood. Immediately, she pulled away and realized Jericho still had flecks of blood from the shooting. Her eyes widened, locking with Jericho. He stared back, his eyes hooded and dark, like he knew exactly why she stopped.
And then, she leaned forward and proceeded to continue to trail her tongue up and down his throat, licking up the stray blood and Jericho's sweat and feeling her body shudder with her own actions.
"Jesus Christ," he muttered in a husky tone.
He placed his hand on the back of her head and gripped it, not tight enough to hurt her but just tight enough to catch her attention and pull her away from his neck.
"You need to stop," he told her. "Because once we cross that line, I won't be able to." He traced her bottom lip with his thumb once more,his gaze intense as he regarded her lips with more than mild interest. Just his stare gave her goosebumps. "I'm a nice guy. I'm sweet and charming and a gentleman. But something happens to me when I make love. I'm not gentle or nice. I take and take and I promise I will bring you to your knees and make you scream my name. But it will hurt. You will be mine in every way and I will no longer be able to control myself around you."
"I don't want you to," she told him in a soft voice.
He clenched his jaw and nodded his head. “I want our first time in a bed,” he told her. “We’ll probably be more adventurous once we get to know each other better, but, for now, I want to experience you in a bed. Like normal lovers. But, I want to make it clear, I’m not typical. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Her voice was little more than a whisper. “We’ll be doing it more than once?”
He seemed puzzled by her question. “Of course we will,” he told her. “Why would you think otherwise?”
“It’s no secret that you go through dates,” Annie said, using a nice way to phrase lover. She had no idea what he did with them when they weren’t out in public and, quite frankly, it wasn’t any of her business. However, it was no secret, Jericho wasn’t the type to settle down, and just because he killed a man for her didn’t mean he was ready to commit to her. “I just, I’m not asking for you to be my boyfriend but I’d like to know what to expect from you.”
“Don’t compare yourself to anyone who came before,” he told her seriously, his eyes capturing hers in a way that indicated he didn’t plan to release them anytime soon. “They mean nothing now, they did not mean anything then. You… I have felt nothing until I met you. I would like to have you as mine on a consistent basis because I am drawn to you the way a moth is drawn to a flame. I will not give you up. So, to answer your question, I want you. All of you. In every way. For as long as you’ll let me have you. There will be more times. Many more times. Sometimes, in the same day. And whenever you want. But only with you.”
Annie swallowed and nodded her head. Jericho stood up abruptly and stepped out of the bathtub, completely soaked. He didn’t seem to care that the bath water, which was now lukewarm rather than hot, sloshed over the side of the porcelain bathtub and soaked the wooden floor beneath his feet.
Her eyes widened as she took the sight of him in – the transparent white collared shirt that clung to those broad shoulders and muscled arms, the black slacks that clung to his legs like a second skin, his tousled golden brown hair.
He was impossibly beautiful.
Once he was out, he turned to her and offered her his hand. She stood up, the dress was completely ruined, completely transparent. Somehow, Jericho‘s eyes were on her face rather than on her body. He seemed completely satisfied with this, as if her face was enough to stare at, and she felt as though she was placing her entire heart in his hand.
He swept her up in his arms and proceeded to lead her to the bedroom he slept in rather than hers. She wasn’t cold, not with the heater constantly thrumming with warmth. She wasn’t sure if he opted to take her to the master bedroom because it was bigger or if it was out of respect for her, not sure she wanted him to even step in her room yet, despite the progress they were making in their relationship.
The minute they were at the foot of his bed, he placed his lips on hers for a long, slow kiss. She opened her mouth to him, clutching his shoulders and feeling the muscles twitch underneath her touch. Because the material of his shirt was wet, there wasn’t much blocking from really feeling him.
“You taste delicious,” he told her when he pulled apart, his lips still caressing hers because he hadn’t quite pulled apart from her.
He set her down slowly in front of him so her front pressed into his. He reached behind her and undid the zipper in the back. Somehow, he didn’t even need to look to see what he was doing. Instead, his hooded gaze was focused on her.
Annie’s heart was in her throat, each beat like a pebble against water, rippling through her body. When he reached the end of her zipper, he slid his hands between the material of her clothing and slid it down so the dress toppled to the ground, leaving her in nothing but a thong. His lips descended on her, everywhere. They swept down her neck, across her collarbone, before slowly following the trail between her breasts. He kept his hands gingerly on her waist, his grip just enough to put pressure on her.
When his lips captured her nipple, she threw her head back and groaned. This sound seemed to spur him even further and his lips tightened against the nipple, as did his grip just in case it got to be too much and she pushed him away. She could feel it harden under his lips and her arms weakly grabbed onto him so her knees wouldn’t completely give out. He suckled on her breast and her toes curled from underneath her.
Jesus, she thought to herself. Her grip on him tightened to the point where her nails sunk into his skin. He hissed but didn’t completely release her nipple from his grasp.
“Oh,” she said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-“