X: Command Me through Alexander's Eyes - Geneva Lee Page 0,56

More than that: I don’t want to. I roll to the side, cradling her against me, and rock in and out.

Gently, I brush her hands to the side and bring my mouth to hers. I kiss her softly. I call to her. It’s hard to find the way out of the darkness at first. I know that. These shadows can consume you, make you feel lost. Since I’ve met her, she’s been the light guiding me from that depth. I can be her way home now.

“Clara?”

She peeks at me from wet lashes, and when our eyes meet, the final tension melts from her. Her palms flatten on my chest, and I see her count her breaths, see her count mine, see her find peace again.

I roll into her, still hard, my own pleasure locked inside me.

“Your pleasure is mine,” I say softly. “I will push your body until it nearly breaks, but I will never hurt you.”

“And can I break you?” She reaches to brush a hand along my cheek, her touch asking another question entirely.

If only it were that simple. “I’m already broken.”

“Then maybe I can fix you,” she whispers.

Her hands slip down, finding the hem of my undershirt, and I force myself to let her. I look into her eyes and remind myself I trust her. Her hand moves to my abs, my cock pulses inside her, unaccustomed to the touch.

A cry breaks the silence, and I realize it’s my own broken moan. She pauses her movement, pressing her hand completely flat against my stomach. After a second, she slowly begins to move it up.

“Don’t,” I say sharply.

Her eyes close, and she stops.

For a moment.

But when she opens them again, she says the words I never knew I needed to hear, “I claim this body. You are mine, Alexander. All of you.”

And she does. Her hand strays to my scars—the mistakes marring my body, the proof of my selfishness. Her fingertips brush over them, not knowing how to decipher what she feels. Instead, she continues to press forward. Her hips circle, reminding me of all the ways we’re connected.

I lower my face to her breast, allowing my body to trap her hand under my shirt. My hands move to clutch her ass, and she grinds into me, taking and claiming until I empty inside her. I let go, releasing the last parts of me I’ve held back, filling her with me and salting her breasts with tears.

Chapter Twenty-Two

I wake to find her gone. It takes a moment to process where I am, and then the events of last evening rush back to me. The disastrous party and my sodding father. Pepper fucking Lockwood getting her hooks in Clara. The blind panic when I realized Clara had left the party without a word. The memories after that are painted in vivid strokes of red and black. Clara against a brick wall, the taste of her on my tongue. My cock shoved inside her, showing her exactly where she belonged. Fire and screaming—and then her, drawing me back to the light. Her hands drifting over my scars. Lies and promises and boundaries crossed.

My hand skims across the thin fabric of my undershirt, wondering what she thought when she discovered the monster I hide beneath these clothes. She glimpsed him last night. I can never show her all of him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I mutter to myself, rolling to the side and catching a lingering hint of her perfume on the sheets. My heart thumps hard against my rib cage, and suddenly, I need to find her. Drag her back to bed. Possess her. Show her the part of me she can…love.

Bollocks. That part doesn’t exist.

And even if it did, it’s not enough to make up for my father and his rotten courtiers. She deserves more than this life—and far more than me.

I slide out of bed, searching the floor to find my trousers. I yank them on, not bothering with anything else, and go to find her.

As soon as I open her bedroom door, I hear voices.

“Should I make a plate for Alexander?”

The question is accompanied by the smell of eggs and bacon, producing a rumble of hunger from my stomach. Apparently, last night’s caught up with me.

There’s no response, but Belle must be speaking to Clara.

Flatware clanks against the counter, followed by a harsh, male baritone. “Alexander is here?”

What the fuck? I’m two steps down the hall, fists clenched when I remember that Belle is engaged. I