Scholar Thompson had been nothing if not perfectly professional. Friendly, sure—but he’d given me no indication of interest, as far as I could tell. And yeah, to be fair, I couldn’talways tell, but even if hehad,it didn’t matter. The only cock in Sophrosyne that I had any interest in whatsoever was the one attached to this dickhead—the jealous, possessive, perfect bastard that he was.
“Oh please,” Kieran scoffed. “Half of this city wants to get in your pants, Arken. You’re probably his dream girl.”
Again, he buried his face against my neck, breathing deep but denying me succor.
“It drives me fucking crazy, you know that, right?” he groaned. “Knowing that half of this godsdamned city wants to fuck you. Knowing that they’d all kill to have who I have in my bed, right here,”—his fingertips trailed across my arm gently, raising gooseflesh—“right now.”
“How very unfortunate for them,” I mused, tilting my head and slipping a hand beneath his jaw, forcing him to look at my face and not my throat.
I claimed his willing mouth with a slow kiss, the taste of him dancing on my tongue. If half of this city would kill to fuck me, the other half would burn the world down just to be fucked byhim,and yet…
“I only want you,” I murmured as we parted.
It was meant to be a tease, a more sensual sort of confession than anything else, but my pulse scattered as I said those words out loud. They were so dangerously close to the truth.
I’ll onlyeverwant you.
“And Mason Park,” Kieran corrected. “And Avery Evanson, Conor Desjardin, Serena?—”
“Youfuckingstalker!”
Kieran scoffed again and rolled his eyes. “Hardly. It’s not like you were all that subtle about it.”
“I wasn’ttryingto be subtle! And how did you even have time to notice between Fionn Blackfriars, Caitlin St. Martin,JamesSt. Martin, Ruelle Wagner, fuckingRoshanna?—”
Kieran’s eyes widened before a sly grin spread across his face. “My, my, my Little Conduit. Who’s the stalker now?”
An irritated snort escaped my nostrils. “I didn’t need to stalk you for that information. People talk, Vistarii. Peoplebrag.”
“Are you feelingjealous,Miss Asher?”
“Areyou?”I shot back.
“Maybe,” Kieran answered, a touch of raw honesty surfacing behind the sensuality, breaking through the banter. “But should I be?Do I need to be?”
His tongue was tracing teasing little circles at the base of my throat now, delivering pleasure where I craved pain. I didn’t want his patience right now. I wanted his possession. Ridding myself of his markings had been a mistake, and I wanted them back.
“You know the answer to that already, Kieran.”
“Maybe I want to hear you say it out loud.”
His tongue paused its ministrations in exchange for a gentle, encouraging kiss. Soft enough to distract me from my frustration, long enough to draw the truth from my lips.
“No. You have no reason to be jealous. Never in my fucking life have I wanted someone the way I want you, Kieran Vistarii. They were allnothingcompared to this,” I confessed, my body pleading for him. “Now will youpleasejust fucking—Oh my gods.”
Having successfully teased me to Hel and back, he finally bit down without preamble, pinching at one of my nipples as he did it. Kieran worked his jaw so that his teeth weregrindingagainst the sensitive flesh of my throat, sucking the skin into his wet and eager mouth. I bucked my hips, pulling him in deeper as I cried out over the beautiful agony bursting between his lips.
Fuck, fuck, fuck—why does this feel so fucking good?
“That’s my girl,” he whispered, pausing before pushing the flat of his tongue against the stinging, bitten flesh. Had hebroken skin? Who could say? What did it matter? He could do whatever he wanted with me.
Lost in a swirl of euphoria, feeling wholly inebriated, my boneless body melted into the mattress beneath him. All I could do was tilt my chin higher, beckoning him back as I gripped tightly at the sheets. I received my reward as Kieran bit down again. And again.
“And by the way, Asher? The feeling isverymutual.”
DAY SEVEN
ON GOVERNMENT PROPERTY