“I don’t care, Briar. The next man who lays a hand on you loses it. Damn the consequences.”
Killian tips my chin up and kisses me softly. I lean into him, all my fears fading as I cling to his solid warmth—until he finds the damp spot on my ribs and pulls back.
“What’s this?” He lifts his thumb to his nose and sniffs. “Blood?”
He possesses the heightened senses of a hunter. He can detect the small amount of blood that made it through the corset to stain my gown even though it’s not enough to do more than create a small damp spot.
“Alistair pinched me.” I can’t help the slight whine that creeps into my tone. “I don’t think he meant to hurt me.”
I’m not entirely certain about that. He was certainly angry enough to have done it intentionally.
Killian rubs his fingers together, his brows pinching as he examines it. A knot of anticipation tightens in my belly when his fingers flex like he’s envisioning strangling his own friend.
“He did, though. Unforgivable. Let me see.”
Killian whirls me around, unfastening the dress with surprising deftness. Hot jealousy flashes over me as the gown sags from my shoulders. How many other women has he undressed with the same brutal efficiency?
The corset loosens and I inhale a deep breath of stale closet air. He takes my shoulders and turns me so the shaft of light falls over my ribs.
“It’s minor.”
“I could have told you that without you undressing me.”
“I needed to be sure.” He edges the corset aside, and apparently satisfied that it’s only a small wound, gently tugs thelaces back into place. Not as tight as before. I’m about to tug the cap sleeves of my dress over my shoulders when his hot, open mouth lands in the center of my spine.
Tingles erupt over my skin. I take half a step backward, pressing my back against his front. Killian’s greedy mouth moves to my shoulder. His teeth close over the curve where my neck meets my shoulder. The tingles transform into furious flutters in my stomach. Even through the many layers of our clothing I can feel him straining.
My dark knight skims his palms up my waist, hooks his thumb into the neckline of my hideously overdone gown, and yanks the entire bodice down. He captures my aching breasts in his rough palms and squeezes through the cups of my corset. Moaning, I reach up to wrap one arm around his neck and find his cheek scraping against mine. Our breaths mingle on an exhale.
Distantly, the vibrations of an orchestra reach my ear. We’re hidden in this tiny closet. I’m safe with him. This is okay. We are meant to be together.
Killian nudges my nipples free of their prisons and pinches. I squirm.
“Like that, Princess?” he growls roughly. His teeth close on the rim of my ear. All I can do is nod in affirmation. I cannot summon words through the haze of sensations.
“Take off your dress.”
Obediently, I shove it down over my hips and kick it away. My knight follows it down, finding my center. A low moan gusts out of me as he reaches the aching nub at the apex of my sex and rolls it hard. My knees crumple. Killian braces me upright with his free hand on my breast, worrying the tight bead in the center with his thumb.
“I can’t—” I pant.
“You can. Let go, Princess.”
He strokes the little bead at my core mercilessly. This is the revenge he promised. My punishment and my reward for going down on my knees for him earlier. I clasp one arm around his neck, working my way beneath his collar, hating all these layers of clothing between us.
“You love it when I touch you like this, don’t you?”
His rough voice scrapes my ear. He nips me there. I buck against his hand with a needy whimper. So close.
“Dirty little princess. Sneaking away from a ball in her honor to let a filthy knight put his hands all over you.”
“Please, Killian?—”
He senses what I need and gives it to me. I explode against his hand. Can’t drag in enough air to fill my lungs. Relentlessly he strokes my soaking wet center, dragging out the longest orgasm I’ve ever experienced.
I have to push his hand away when the pulsing fades and his touch becomes too much.
But Killian isn’t finished with me yet.
