Fable of Happiness (Fable #2) by Pepper Winters

I was happier in forests with rocks for company.

I embraced my senses to survive and followed in the footsteps of animals whenever I was off filming.

No one knew that.

No one knew I preferred it out there. That I was lonely in my perfect lavender house but out in the woods, I wasn’t alone.

And now, I’d found him.

And I didn’t want to hide that part of myself anymore.

I wanted to let loose.

I wanted him to know he wasn’t the only one with hungry appetites.

I spread my legs wider.

I was shameless and bold, and Kas replied to my wanton invitation with a viciousness that matched my own.

I was angry.

I hadn’t even known I was angry until I’d told him.

Joshua knew where I’d gone climbing. Ribbons would have led him to me. There were numerous clues in which a determined sibling could follow.

So where the fuck was he?

A month and no one had even come close to finding this valley. I’d been so wrapped up in my own battle with the very same man who had his fingers pulsing in my pussy to even admit that in the back of my mind, I’d been waiting.

Waiting for my PLB to work—for a fleet of helicopters to come to my rescue.

Waiting for my brother to arrive—with a battalion of soldiers to safeguard my virtue.

Waiting for my mother to...

God, I’d been waiting.

I’d been stupidly waiting and ignoring the sharp, cutting emotions I felt toward Kassen. Emotions that bypassed everything I’d felt for anyone else.

I was lost to so many others but to him, to me...I was finally found.

He shifted higher, sinking his hand deeper between my legs all while his mouth found my throat. He kissed me, bit me, licked me free of water. With each brush of his nose and nip of his teeth, I let go a little more.

I wasn’t embarrassed to writhe and moan for him.

I didn’t censor myself or worry about comments online from some jilted lover as Kas’s thumb conjured an orgasm from nowhere, causing it to arc and spark, ready to explode. He was made for sex. He’d been groomed and tortured and left to die, yet through it all, he’d survived.

He’d survived...for me.

My heart spasmed at the thought.

I’d been right. I wasn’t stupid to think the man I’d seen glimpses of was worth fighting for. He was messed up, dangerous, and highly volatile, but beneath all that was a core of goodness.

A core that spoke to my core. A core I desperately wanted to claim as mine.

“Gem...” His lips kissed all the way to my mouth. He hovered over me, breathing hard, his fingers pulsing and quaking inside me. We made eye contact for a second, and in that second, every question we could’ve asked was obsolete.

The only answer we needed was yes.

Yes, I want you.

Yes, I feel what you do.

“Fuck.” His lips crashed over mine, and we lost ourselves.

I submitted to him, and he snarled into my mouth. His tongue danced with mine, deep and unapologetic. His long hair stuck to my collarbone as the ends dangled in the water. My hands came up and locked around his neck.

He shuddered, biting my bottom lip as his thumb swirled, and his fingers dominated my entire body. He pushed me higher, higher, closer and closer to a release.

Every atom coiled with it, spindling tight, swirling and clenching and—

“Come all over my fingers, Gemma Ashford,” he growled, biting his way to my ear. His breath was loud and harsh, his voice no longer human but pure beast. “Your body likes me. You’re soaking because you want me. You fucking want me, and I can’t...I still can’t believe that’s true. You don’t look at me as if I’m your slave to command. You look at me as if I’m real. You look at me as if I’m worthy of you. And I want to be. Fuck, I want to be.”

I was done.

I came.

My orgasm rippled outward, sending wave after clenching wave all down his fingers. I jerked and gasped; I squirmed and screamed. I gave myself over to bliss. Utter, absolute bliss as my body tipped over the highest cliff and fell, fell, fell until I crashed upon his hand.

He groaned in agony as my body milked his fingers. His eyes were black and strained, his teeth grinding with need, his entire body brittle with lust.

And suddenly, one climax wasn’t nearly enough.

I’d only just let myself be free.

I didn’t want to lose this part of me so soon.

Grabbing his wrist, I yanked his fingers out of me.

His nostrils flared, and his face turned dark with fury, but that was the last I saw as I swooped up, snatched him by the T-shirt, and hauled him into the bath.

“What the—?” He splashed in behind me, fully clothed, spluttering and wiping his face free from water. The bath was big, but it still felt tight and intimate as I struggled to turn to face him.

For a few heartbeats, he let me struggle, slipping on the smooth surface of the bath, trying to twist to be close to him. He stretched out until his legs slipped on either side of me, forming a cradle for me to float in.

I wanted to spin, unbuckle his jeans, and sink down on him like I had in the library.

I wanted to finish what we’d started there. We could both come this time. Together.

But just as I got purchase and fought to face the right way, his heavy hands landed on my hips, keeping me exactly where I was. My back to his front. His nose buried in my hair and nuzzling my nape.