Lowlander Silverback(25)

When he ghosted a glance at the bar, Layla had her back to everyone, and her shoulders sagged. “How did everything get so fucked up?”

That would be his fault. Or rather the animal inside of him. The birthmark. The traditions of his people. All of it was on him. Layla was perfect. A perfect rose in a summer garden, and he was the weed steeling her water, her life, clinging to her roots until she suffocated.

“Do you know how hard it is to love a man I can’t touch?” she whispered brokenly.

A soft growl rattled his throat, and he tossed a look to Kirk who was laughing with the Gray backs as Georgia sauntered over with a round of shots. She shoved two in Kirks fists as the rest of the crew lifted their tiny glasses and toasted him. It was now or never if he wanted to steel a moment with her. Rhett was back at the cabin, and Kirk was more relaxed in his guard duties, and if his slurring words were anything to go by, well on his way to three sheets to the wind.

“Meet me in the office,” he murmured.

“When?”

“Now.” He hung up the glittering phone and set it on the green felt of the table.

Willa gave him a wink when he muttered he was going to take a piss. Kirk didn’t even respond, so Kong weaved through the crowd and into the back hallway. Layla was already waiting, pacing when he stepped into the office.

“The door doesn’t shut,” she whispered, her bright blue eyes round. She smelled like worry and adrenaline.

But Kong was a problem solver, and a forceful shove to the door sealed that sucker tighter than a tomb. As he turned, Layla slammed into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. Layla, his Layla. Damn this felt good, right here with her body wrapped around his.

“Why are you going now? I thought you would have more time.”

“Fiona called me the day I dropped you off at Mac’s. Rhett got suspicious I met someone and ratted me out. I think it sped up the process.”

“I don’t want them to have you. I don’t want you protecting them. I want you for me,” she said in a voice as soft as a breath.

Kong winced as his chest crumpled inward with pain. Damn, he wished things were different. He wanted her to be safe with him, but he was only one silverback, and Fiona could sic the entirety of his people on him, and on Layla, if he wasn’t careful.

“I want you,” she said, stepping back.

He angled his head and frowned. “What?”

“If this is all I have with you for our whole life, I want you.”

“Layla…” Kong shook his head. “I signed…”

“I don’t give a good goddamn about some contract you were forced to sign, and I give even less fucks about tainting your seed. You’re mine, Kong, and if all you’re leaving me with is a memory to last my whole life, I want a good one.” She ran her hands underneath his shirt, over the ridges of his ab muscles.

His eyes rolled closed because, holy hell, she felt good against his skin. On her tiptoes, she kissed his tripping pulse at the base of his throat. His hands tightened around her waist. Be gentle. Layla likes gentle.

He’d prided himself on being an honorable man and following the contract, but it had all been shot to hell the day he’d given in and talked to his mate. He’d never wanted anything more than to bury himself deep in Layla and empty himself inside her, just to be close. Just to share a moment like that with the woman he loved before he ripped himself away from here and lived the rest of his life in numbing emptiness. Dammit, he wanted to feel! He wanted to know how mating should be. Not just some scientific humping to create offspring.

“Take off those fishnets, Layla,” he growled out in a voice he barely recognized. Her scent was filling his head, making it hard to think.

Layla’s pupils contracted. She swayed slightly, but regained her balance and began to kick out of her boots. Too slow.

With a snarl, he gripped the edge of the desk and shoved it against the door, then ran his hand over the surface, scattering everything onto the floor. He gripped her hips and slid her onto the table, then reached between her legs. Riiip. The fishnets weren’t an obstacle anymore.

Layla gasped and slid her arms around his shoulders just as his lips collided with hers. These weren’t sweet kisses like their first one had been. There wasn’t time for that. He unzipped his jeans and pulled them down just enough to unsheathe himself, then he pushed her panties to the side—lacy if his sense of touch was spot on—and cupped her sex. He wasn’t small, and he needed to make sure she could take him.

He pushed his finger into her. So wet. Warm. Fuck, he was losing his mind. He pulled out and slid two fingers in. Her hands were on his dick now, stroking as his lips moved against hers. He shoved his tongue past her lips as he jerked her to the edge of the desk. So wet. Wet and ready. The growl was constant in his chest, but he was in it now. If it scared her, she’d have to deal. This was him. This was what it was like to be with a silverback shifter.