Fable of Happiness (Fable #2) by Pepper Winters

Heart, body, and fucked-up soul.

And if I admitted to that, it would be my Fable family all over again.

I would give up my life to keep her safe, even if that meant keeping her safe from me. I would do whatever was necessary to make her happy, and the key to her happiness was to release her.

To let her go home.

Where I wouldn’t be able to watch over her—wouldn’t be able to protect her from men like Storymaker. My gut churned with acid at the thought of Storymaker ever getting his hands on Gemma. Of guests making her scream.

Fuck.

My muscles locked with fury.

“Hey...” Her hand landed on my chest, her fingers pressing against my thundering heart. “It’s okay.” Her hazel gaze glittered with worry, ringed with gold and green, a wisdom that made me feel unworthy and adrift.

I felt so goddamn lost all the time.

I needed an anchor. I wanted her to be that anchor.

But even now, I felt the looseness in my thoughts. The haze of white just waiting for me to snap into forgetfulness.

She swayed closer, her nipples hard beneath her dress. “Do you want me to let you go?” she asked again, her fingers flexing on the chain she still held, keeping me trapped.

I looked down at her hands, one on my chest and one on the remnants of Parable, and I saw a fork in my future.

The chain had all the power to suck me back and keep me imprisoned. I could continue to be a toy for the ghosts inside this mansion and fight demons that would never die.

Or...or I could choose her.

I could finally admit that even though it would drive me insane in a different way, I wanted to be worthy of this girl.

Her.

I want her.

My stomach clenched as she sucked in a breath, sensing I’d reached a decision. The world fell away as I reached out and cupped her breast, running my thumb over her nipple.

She twitched as a noiseless moan escaped her.

I looked up.

I studied this girl who’d trespassed and made my life a living hell, and suddenly, it was all too much. Drawing my hand from her breast, over her throat, to her cheek, I pressed my palm against her softness.

Her eyes snapped closed as her entire body shivered. “You don’t have to hold yourself back with me,” she breathed. “I know...I know you want me.”

Dragging my thumb over her bottom lip, I forced words through a tight and gravelly throat. “But do you...want me?”

Her eyes flared, more gold than green, vibrant with lust. “If you are aware of who I am and where we are, then yes.” Her tongue touched my thumb with a sensuous lick. “I want you. I’ve always wanted you, even while I fought you.”

Pulling her to me, I smashed my mouth to hers.

She gasped in shock as I broke the seal of her lips, driving my tongue deep.

I wasn’t slow.

I wasn’t gentle.

I was hungry.

Fucking starving for things yesterday had given me, and today had wiped clean. I was jealous of myself. Furious that I’d had this girl, I’d come in her, we’d shared things I’d always craved, yet it was as if it never happened.

“You’re mine.” I kissed her rough and mean.

Chain or no chain, she would always be mine.

If I couldn’t remember, then I’d have to take her all over again. And again. I’d have to fuck her until I knew nothing else but her.

Wrapping my arms around her, I hauled her against my body, kissing her so damn deep. She wriggled, fighting for space, for air. Her hands landed on my chest.

I waited for her to push me away. To reveal she hadn’t wanted me, after all.

Instead, she tried to climb me.

A trigger had erupted in her too, sending her over the edge where I’d already fallen. “Kas. Yes—” Her head tipped left and right, her lips skating over mine, her tongue twisting deep as I kissed her. “Harder. Please? You can touch me as hard as you need.”

Harder?

That word wormed into my skull and obliterated everything else.

My arms bunched, locking her to me, holding her painfully tight as my hips thrust against hers. Our kiss turned manic. I kissed her with no mercy, taking advantage of her open, hungry mouth, capturing her tongue, her taste, and claiming every dark, wet piece of her.

She plastered herself against me, placing herself entirely into my control as our bodies writhed together. I shoved my thigh between her legs, pushing up her dress. She rode me. Her hand flew down and found my erection, stroking me through my jeans.

The kiss evolved from desperate to savage in one second flat.

All the pent-up fury, the forgetfulness, the ferocity gushed out of me, smashing like a tidal wave from my messed-up heart to hers.

Her left hand wrapped behind my neck, pulling me into her. Her right stroked harder, faster.

I needed inside her.

Now.

Grabbing handfuls of her ass, I yanked up and in. Her hand fell away as I ground my aching erection against her pussy, her dress spreading with her thighs.

She gasped.

I kissed her deeper.

She squirmed.

I thrust against her.

I consumed her body and soul. She kissed me as if she wasn’t just participating but imprinting me, making sure this moment couldn’t be stolen from her. Doing her best to make me remember. Hurting me all over again.

I’d done things to this woman. I’d promised things I couldn’t remember. I’d given her pieces of myself, and then I’d taken them away again.