Eighteen
1255 Words
Emma:
Everything inside me coils tight as a spring when he says it — like my body is already answering before my mouth can catch up.
His lips crash back into mine, but this kiss isn’t just hungry. It’s possession.
He kisses me like he wants to memorize every sound I make, like he wants to mark me from the inside out. His hands slide up my sides, slow and deliberate, thumb brushing the underside of my breast — not touching, not claiming, but close enough that I arch without meaning to.
He pulls back, breath sharp and ragged, forehead pressed to mine.
“Look at me.”
I do. Because I couldn’t not if I tried.
His eyes are dark, pupils blown, that soft restraint he’d been holding shredded into pieces.
“You listen,” he murmurs, voice molten. “You answer. You’re honest. And that means I’m going to give you exactly what you asked for.”
A tremor runs through me — anticipation, heat, need so strong it’s almost painful.
His hands slide beneath me again, strong and sure, and he lifts me gently — not rushed, not careless — settling me so I’m perched right on the very edge of the counter, knees bent around him.
His mouth brushes my throat, slow kisses trailing down to my collarbone. My fingers curl in his hair, tugging just enough to make his breath hitch.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish,” he murmurs against my skin.
I shiver. “I don’t plan to leave anything unfinished.”
He huffs a sound between a laugh and a groan, then draws back to look at me — mouth swollen, eyes sharp, chest rising like he’s gone a round with a heavyweight.
“You have no idea how close I am to losing every ounce of control I’ve got.”
“Kaden,” I whisper, “lose it.”
His jaw tightens. His grip on my hips flexes.
“You want me to break,” he murmurs. “You want me to take the restraint you’ve been testing and rip it to shreds, don’t you?”
I nod once, slow, sure. “I want you raw. I want you real. I want you exactly how you’ve been holding back.”
His breath leaves him in a harsh exhale.
“Then you’re going to hold on,” he growls.
I barely get the chance to process it before he slides one hand behind my back, supporting me, and his other hand drags along the outside of my thigh, pushing my legs wider, positioning me exactly where he wants me.
My heartbeat feels like thunder in my chest.
His lips return to mine, slower now — deliberate, deep, devastating — like he wants every heartbeat mapped into my memory. His tongue strokes mine, slow and claiming, and my body melts forward like I’m made of heat and hunger.
Then he pulls back again, breath trembling.
“You tell me one thing right now,” he murmurs, thumb dragging across my lower lip. “Do you want slow first… or do you want me to take the control you just handed me and run with it?”
My pulse jumps.
“Kaden—”
“No,” he cuts in, voice low and steady. “No hesitation. Tell me. Do you want gentle… or do you want rough?”
I meet his eyes, my voice not shaking this time.
“Rough.”
His restraint detonates.
The change in him is instant — like a switch flipped, like something primal and fierce woke up and recognized something in me that matched it.
He kisses me again, bruising and beautiful, and his grip on my hips tightens, firm but careful, like he knows exactly how far he can go and exactly how far I want him to.
I break away long enough to whisper, “Kaden…”
His mouth is on my jaw, my neck, my collarbone, everywhere, and when he speaks, his voice is nothing but gravel and hunger.
“Say my name again.”
“Kaden—”
“Louder.”
“Kaden.”
His lips curve against my skin — a wicked smile, a promise, a warning.
“You’re about to learn what happens when you give a man like me permission to stop holding back.”
His hand slides up my back, his body pinning me to the counter, his mouth at my ear.
“And you’re going to love every second of it.”
His hand slides down my spine again — slow, deliberate, sending shivers through every nerve ending.
“Kaden…”It’s barely a breath, scarcely a sound, but he hears it like a command.
“Turn around,” he murmurs.
Something in his voice leaves no room for uncertainty. I do exactly what he tells me.
My feet touch the tile, legs shaking as he helps me down from the countertop, steadying me with a hand at my waist.
“Good,” he whispers. “Now—hands on the counter.”
I obey.
The marble is cool beneath my palms, and his warmth is right behind me — not touching, just close enough that I feel the tension spiraling tighter between us.
His hand slides along the back of my hip, slow, claiming.
“You know what I want to do to you right now?”The words are quiet, resounding, sure.
I swallow. “Tell me.”
“No,” he growls, voice right at my ear, breath teasing the shell of it. “You already know. You asked for it. You wanted it. And now that I’ve got you right where I want you…”
His fingers feather down my side, making me gasp.
“I’m not letting you run.”
“I’m not running.”
“You’re staying right here. Bent over this counter. Listening to me.”
I nod, breathless. “Yes.”
“Say it.”
“I’m listening.”
His lips drag along the side of my neck, slow, deliberate, wrecking.
“Do you feel how close I am?” he whispers. “How hard I’m fighting not to lose every bit of control I have?”
“Yes,” I breathe.
“And do you want me to lose it?”
“More than anything.”
A low sound escapes him — not a laugh, not a groan. Something deeper. Something barely leashed.
His hand slides up my back, fingers curling around the back of my neck — not gripping, just holding, grounding, claiming.
“You trust me?” he asks, words thick and rough.
“With everything.”
“Good,” he murmurs. “Because I’m about to give you everything.”
The world narrows to heat and breath and closeness — his body crowding mine, his lips pressing to the base of my neck in slow, devastating kisses, his hands guiding me exactly where he wants me.
The charged air between us snaps like a live wire.
And then—
He bends me lower, chest flush to the counter, his breath a wicked promise at my ear.
“I’m going to ruin you for every man who ever tries to touch you after this.”
“Kaden—”
“Not gently,” he whispers.
“Not sweetly.”
“Exactly how you asked.”
His lips brush my shoulder, soft and dangerous.
“And I’m going to make sure you never forget how it felt to let me take control.”
- Writer
