Chapter 323
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Chapter 323:
The sheer audacity of his words, combined with the raw vulnerability of being pressed against the glass high above the city, dismantled the last of Jocelyn’s defenses. She closed her eyes. A single tear slipped from her lashes. She stopped fighting, let her head fall back against the glass, and surrendered.
Gaston took that as her answer.
All gentleness left him. The hunger he had suppressed for years erupted like a volcano. Clothes fell away and dropped to the floor. The cold light of the city illuminated their tangled bodies against the glass.
When the final barrier between them dissolved, a sharp pain shot through her — raw and disorienting — and she flinched, her body tensing instinctively. But then Gaston went utterly still, her name a desperate, breathless prayer against her lips, and the force that had threatened to overwhelm her softened into a deep, steady presence that held her with agonizing care. Slowly, the pain receded, replaced by a wave of profound, soul-shattering pleasure that made her cry out his name into the dark.
For the next two hours, the only sounds in the penthouse were ragged breathing and the city lights burning silently below.
Much later, Gaston wrapped a thick cashmere blanket around Jocelyn’s trembling, utterly exhausted body and carried her to the master bed. She sank into the mattress without the strength to open her eyes and fell instantly into a deep, heavy sleep.
Gaston did not sleep.
𝖣оn’𝗍 m𝘪𝘴𝗌 n𝖾𝘄 𝘳e𝗹𝖾𝖺sеѕ 𝘰𝗇 ѕ.сo𝗆
He sat propped against the headboard, the moonlight washing over his bare chest, his eyes tracing the dark red marks he had left on her pale skin. A deep, settled sense of absolute satisfaction settled into his bones.
He reached over to the nightstand and opened the bottom drawer, withdrawing a small, worn velvet box. He flipped it open. Inside was not a diamond ring. It was a single tarnished brass button bearing the crest of an Ivy League prep school — a button Jocelyn had lost from her blazer years ago, which Gaston had kept hidden ever since like a religious relic.
He pressed the cold metal to his lips.
“You are finally mine,” Gaston whispered into the dark. “And no one is ever taking you away p>
He returned the box to the drawer, slid beneath the covers, and pulled Jocelyn tightly against his chest.
The following morning, bright sunlight woke Jocelyn.
Her entire body ached with a deep, muscular soreness. She became aware, slowly, that she was locked inside Gaston’s iron grip. Then the memory of the window crashed into her mind, and a wave of burning shame set her face on fire. She wanted to disappear beneath the mattress entirely.
Gaston was already awake. He felt her body stiffen the moment consciousness returned to her.
A wicked, arrogant smirk curved his lips. He tightened his arms and rolled smoothly over, pinning her beneath his weight.
“Good morning, Mrs. Collins,” Gaston drawled, his eyes dark with renewed hunger. “Your stamina seems to have recovered. Shall we review the contract terms again p>
Wednesday morning at the Wolfe Hotel.