Pawn (The Pawn Duet #2) - T.M. Frazier Page 0,51

own chest and tear my fucking heart out to stop the hurt.” His grip on my throat grows tighter. “You still think I’m a psychopath?”

“Yes,” I reply.

He grins.

“You still think I’m crazy?”

He bites my bottom lip. “Craziest bitch I’ve ever met.”

Crazy and psycho. A love story.

“I think I’ve finally figured you out, Pike.”

“I thought you already did that?” He dips his head, lightly brushing his lips over my collar bone.

My entire body tingles. Resting my hands on the mattress my head falls back to give him better access to my body. “No. I thought I had, but I was wrong. I saw simple observations and drew conclusions. I judged you, and I’m sorry for that. I wasn’t even close. You’re so much more than a man with a reading disorder. More than your loneliness. You’re complicated. Strong. The strongest man I’ve ever known. You’re loyal, and you’ll fight for what’s yours, even if it means your own life. I find comfort with you when I was never able to find comfort in my own father.”

His voice is low and rough, vibrating against my skin. “Because you’re mine.”

I try to sit up but he pushes me back down.“I’m not—”

Pike cuts me off. “You’re not mine like the shit in my pawn shop, Mic. But you’re mine as much as I’m yours. A part of me. But like the shit in my shop, you were right about all of it. I was trying to fill a hole inside, but with you, there ain’t no hole.” He licks a trail down my belly button. “And I’d fucking die for you.”

My entire body begins to tremble from the growing desire and from the idea that Pike believes I complete him. His words are both thrilling and terrifying. “I don’t want you to make that sacrifice. Not for me.”

“And I won’t, because I won’t die…” he looks up at me as he spreads my legs wide. He runs his nose through my wet folds. “But not because I’m not willing to.”

His confession inspires me to lower the shield around my heart to the possibility of a life with Pike. A real life. “What happens after this is all over?”

Pike crawls over my body, brushing his lips over mine. I shudder. “You and me. That’s what’s happens. Shit, it’s already happened. There’s no going back now, Mic.”

I wish it were that easy. I think about my sister. About her recovery. About what life outside of these walls will look like for us.

“Mic,” he says, looking up from where his mouth is presses against my chest above the swell of my breasts. “I can promise you this. After this shit is over, I’m taking you home.”

Home.

The word rolls around in my brain and in my heart as Pike raises up to kiss the tears from my cheeks. “Let me show you, Mic. I’m not good with words the way you are. I can’t explain how I feel, but I want to show you.”

He kisses me hard, breathing me in. His tongue meats mine and our fingers tangle in one another’s hair. After a minute, he pulls back. His eyes meet mine, posing both a question and a dare.

“Tell me you want me to show you,” he rasps.

“Yes. Show me,” I groan, throwing my head back and closing my eyes as Pike trails his lips across my neck and then down between my breasts. My nipples harden, and he moans as he takes one into his mouth. My back arches into his touch as he licks and sucks until my legs are kicking out beneath my body. He moves to my other nipple, and I rub my legs together, to create friction. Craving more of this. More of him. My thighs are slick with my own wetness as my body is assaulted and cherished in a way I never knew it could be.

He releases my nipple with a pop then presses me back against the bed. He’s both tender and passionate as he licks his down way between my legs, which he tosses over his shoulders. I tug on his hair while he flattens his tongue against my clit, stroking and licking. Teasing and pleasing. The tension in my lower stomach grows and I feel like I’m being wound up from the inside like a spring being pushed into place.

My vision blurs as he uses one and then two fingers to penetrate me. His scruffy face rubs on the inside of my thighs. “I love the way you