Whispers of a Broken Halo by Abbi Glines

This would be the first time I slept over here. Rio had been almost living with us the past five days. The nights I’d worked, he had stayed with Cullen, and then he continued staying on my off nights.

I went upstairs and pulled back the covers, and I only had to wait a moment before Rio arrived with a sleeping Cullen. I tucked him in and kissed his head, then turned back to Rio. He held out his hand, and I took it, smiling at him.

We walked out of the room, and instead of going back downstairs, Rio walked us directly into his bedroom.

“I liked your bikini,” he said as the door clicked behind him.

“You did?” I asked, turning back to him.

“It’s new,” he replied.

I nodded.

“You still have it on under that cover-up?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because I need to fuck you in it.”

“Oh,” I breathed.

“Take off that cover-up,” he ordered, coming toward me.

I pulled the cover-up off and stood there in front of him. I’d chosen a cotton-candy-pink bikini because I liked pink. I felt good in pink. It was pretty.

“Wearing this, you made it damn near impossible for me to think of anything else,” he said, trailing a finger along my cleavage. “I’m going to have to kill Archer.”

“What?” I asked.

“The way he kept looking at you during dinner. Only thing that will make me feel better is to kill him,” he replied seriously.

I laughed. “I think that might be extreme.”

He shrugged, then flashed me a grin. “Maybe.” Then, he lowered his head and kissed the tops of my breasts. “He doesn’t get to do this though, does he?”

I shook my head. “No.”

Rio tugged the left side of my top down and licked my nipple. “Or this,” he said before biting it and making the tingle between my legs start to throb.

“Just you,” I breathed out.

“Don’t go back, please,” he said as he pulled the other side of my top down.

“What?” I asked, dazed from his licking and sucking on my breasts.

He lifted his eyes to me and let my right nipple pop free of his mouth. “Don’t go back there. I can’t handle it. I tried. But I don’t want you working there.”

He was asking me to quit. I had wanted this.

Rio reached behind me and unfastened my top, then pulled it off me. “These should be for my eyes only,” he said, cupping my breasts in his hands. “Just mine. I don’t want you there.”

I wanted to quit. I never enjoyed it. The money was a security blanket I had never known though. It was scary to let that go. This was what I had wished he would say to me. It wasn’t a declaration of love, but it meant he was feeling things for me.

Rio took my face in his hands. “Please,” he asked again.

How could any woman tell him no? Even if I didn’t want to quit, I would have a hard time saying no.

“Okay,” I replied.

“You’ll quit?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Then, he kissed me. I could taste the whiskey on his breath. It was a dark, dangerous flavor, and I wanted more of it.

I ran my hands under his shirt and up his chest, loving the hard muscles that jerked in response to my touch.

Rio trailed kisses down my jawline, neck, and collarbone until he was once again at my breasts. “What have you done to me?” he asked. “I’ve never felt so damn possessive over a woman. I’ve never craved one. It’s controlling me, and I don’t give a fuck. I just want more of it, of you.”

His hands moved to my bottoms and tugged them down my legs. I stepped out of them.

“I thought you wanted to fuck me, wearing it,” I said, remembering his words.

He stood up and took off his shirt, then pushed down his shorts. “I will, but right now, I’m not going to fuck you.”

Before I could ask what we were going to do, he picked me up and threw me back on his bed. I bounced once, and then he was crawling over me.

“What is this then?” I asked as he hooked his arms under my knees.

He grinned up at me, then thrust into me. This was what I wanted. To be full of him. Having him stretch me and move inside me.

“It’s mating. You make me feel like an animal. I lose all fucking control with you.”

He put my legs up over his shoulders and grabbed my waist to pull me to him as he pumped into me. “So beautiful,” he said as he looked down at me.

His eyes raking over my body made me feel powerful. Knowing he wanted me so much and he craved this part of me—it was enough for now.

Rio reached down and started playing with my clit as he continued to move inside me. I bucked beneath him and cried out his name. That was almost too good. Too much at once.

“That’s it,” he said with a raspy voice. “You’re gonna come on my dick several times before I pull out of you.”

If he kept that up, I would be coming any minute. He pushed down on my clit and then pressed it between his two fingers. The sharp pain—paired with his length sliding into me, hitting so deep inside—was explosive.

I grabbed his hand and jerked wildly under him.

He dropped my legs and was over me now, moving. His chest pressed to mine. He began kissing my lips, then my jawline.

“I love watching you come,” he said. “Now, get on your hands and knees.”