Her eyes fluttered as she looked at me, her brow scrunched. “Meant what?”

“When I told Caroline how beautiful and sexy you are.” It fucking pissed me off that she’d been treated so badly. I still didn’t know the extent, but it was obvious it’d been bad. An ache settled into my chest just thinking about what she had possibly gone through. “I don’t know how anyone could ever tell you different, but they were wrong. Believe me, baby, they were so wrong about it all. It kills me and pisses me off to no end to know that there are more of their lies rattling around inside that head of yours.”

Her eyes began to water, and she turned away from me. “You can’t know they were all lies,” she said in a small voice.

I cupped her cheek in my hand and brought her eyes back to mine. “Yes, I can. I may be fucked up beyond repair, but I can still see the truth. You deserve so much…you deserve a loving heart and a caring hand, understanding and kind words to erase the false ones.”

There was nothing I wouldn’t give to be the one, but there was no way. One day, we would end. One day, the beautiful woman beneath me would meet someone who could do more for her than I was capable of.

Her arms wrapped around me, and she buried her head into my neck as a sob broke loose. She shook against me as I held her tight, petting her hair.

“It’s okay, Honeybear, I’ve got you.”

For now, I’ve got you.

Forever.

I wished I could agree with the beast, but I knew our reality.

CHAPTER 22

I hated alarm clocks. I especially hated them when they were early in the morning and took Lila from my arms.

Every morning I awoke with her in my arms was torture when she left them. I watched her slide off the side of the bed, her hair a knotted mess thanks to my hands. Inches of beautiful pale skin speckled with my marks slipped away from my body and into my view.

Naked, beautiful flesh for me to drink in. I watched her arms rise above her head, stretching her sinful body. She glanced back to check if I was awake, and our eyes met.

No “Good morning” or anything. That wasn’t our style.

It was in the way her lips parted. Sometimes she would bite her lower lip, other times her tongue would peek out and wet her lips.

I continued to watch as she walked into the bathroom and listened in as she started the shower. My getting up took longer. While she showered, I stretched. It was something I fought against, but it turned out to be the best thing for me to make it through the day. It helped reduce my daily dependence on pain pills, which always left my mind in a fog.

Over the span of a few months, I’d fucked Lila everywhere. In the elevator, in the office, the parking lot, almost every inch of her condo, and a lot of my own—I couldn’t get enough of her. The need to be inside her was a sickness, a madness that consumed me.

We fell into a routine of sorts over the following month, an unrehearsed dance where we both understood the moves, sliding through each day seamlessly together.

Every night with her in my arms is a perfection I never thought I would experience again. Even if was just in her room, we were something more than I ever expected.

As I stood, my hard cock bounced against my abdomen before sticking straight out. The question I asked as I stretched out my quads on my left leg was how I was going to handle my morning wood.

The shower turned off, and I heard the glass door open. It was short, which meant it wasn’t a hair washing day as those always took her longer.

There was a repetitive snap and pop as I pushed my shoulders back, my spine and ribs releasing muscular tension around them. Lila stepped out of the bathroom, her hair tossed up into a clip, a towel around her. She cocked an eyebrow at me as she moved to her dresser and pulled out some undergarments. The corner of her mouth pulled up as her gaze lingered on my naked body and morning erection. Our eyes locked for a split second before she disappeared back into the bathroom.

I glanced over at her bedside clock, then down to my cock.

There was time.

My dick bounced with each step I made toward the bathroom, toward the sweet smell of her soap and the delicious scent of her skin. It made my dick harder, and the site of her profile made it even worse.

She was naked with the exception of a tiny little thong, her skin still pink from the warmth of her shower. Her arm moved at a fast pace as she brushed her teeth. I was hypnotized, watching the rhythmic bounce as her tits jiggled. Soft, supple flesh I wanted to bite into. Her nipples were hard, probably from the cool air. I wanted them between my teeth, pulling, the combination of pain and pleasure making her walls lock down on my cock.

The lines of her body as she bent over to rinse out her mouth, the way her ass stuck out, made me twitch. I stepped through the door onto the cool tile floor. As she stood up, I was behind her and I pulled at her hips, forcing her back, bending my knees so that my dick rested between her perfect ass cheeks.

Our eyes met in the mirror, and she slowly returned to standing. My fingers flexed on her skin, a groan coming from deep in my chest. Her lips parted, eyes clouding.

I tugged at the thin fabric of her thong, pushing it to the side as I flattened my hand on her back, coaxing her to bend over. A small bend of my knees and the head of my dick found its home. She wasn’t wet yet, but she would be soon.

I pushed forward, the dryness taking a few thrusts before I was all the way inside. Her silence broke into the erotic song that only got me harder, cries of pleasure as I worked my way in and out, her juices soon coating my shaft.

“Fuck, baby,” I groaned, my eyes glued to our connection, watching my cock stretch her open with each thrust. “Such a good little slut taking my cock whenever I want.”

Every time I bottomed out inside her, she let out a mewling cry. One that drove me faster, made my cock harder. Each provocative sound was so erotic my balls drew up, making me come that much faster.

A few hard, fast strokes, and I slammed into her, my cock jerking with each pulsing stream of come.

She gave me the greatest high. Being inside her, all around her, consuming her. I needed her daily. She was the only reason I moved through any type of life.

The problem was the volatile situation my addiction put us both in. No matter how much I wanted her, how much I needed her to make it through the day, I knew the outcome. I knew the pain I was going to cause her, cause us both, but I couldn’t stop. Every time I tried, the inevitable outcome was a massive breakdown of will.