Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
We walked in ominous silence for a few minutes, until my heel twisted beneath me, and I let out a sharp cry.
Con turned in time to see me grab the nearest light post. I reached down and rubbed my ankle. It had been a quick pain, already fading. “Are you okay?” he asked, but his voice was devoid of any emotion. His leg jangled impatiently, like he wanted to keep walking.
“Go on,” I said peevishly. “You don’t have to wait for me.”
“Of course I have to wait for you,” he said in the same dispassionate way. “I’m walking you home.”
I straightened, putting my weight back on my ankle without bothering to test whether it was ready to take it. I wouldn’t be weak around him. “I didn’t ask you to walk me home,” I snapped. “Maybe I’m not even ready to go home.”
I’d have happily gone home if he was coming with me, but I didn’t even have to ask. Every muscle in his body seemed tensed to get as far away from me as possible. His eyes though—they were still drinking me in.
Con was staring at my ankle. Now his gaze traveled slowly up the length of my leg. I felt it like a laser beam. Heat bloomed in my cheeks when he reached my curve of my breasts and lingered before lifting his gaze to the hollow of my throat. He must have been able to see my heart pounding in it. Finally, he reached my eyes.
“You’re going home, Lily,” he said quietly. “And you’re getting in bed alone, like a good girl.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be a good girl.” I meant for my voice to sound defiant, but somehow it just came out sounding small. Pleading. I barely recognized it.
An unhappy smile jerked the edge of his mouth. “It doesn’t matter what you want.”
He was saying it to me, but something about his tone made me think he’d been saying it to himself, too. Maybe over and over again, the same way I had. Hope blossomed in my chest. “What do you want?” I asked, my heart pounding at my nerve. I was seconds away from throwing myself at him.
Con’s dark eyes flashed, then shifted in the direction of the tall white apartment building that rose up from the opposite side of the avenue. “It doesn’t matter what I want either. Neither of us can have it.”
Before I could think better of it, I reached for his arm. “Why not?”
He moved his arm out of my reach so smoothly that I grasped only air, but before my mind could even process what had happened, he was pulling me against him again and stepping backward until we were both in the shadowy alcove of a closed storefront. My body melted against his, and the relief of being against him made my knees weak. It wasn’t over, he was going to kiss me again. We were going to go upstairs together, and—
But no. His face was not coming closer to mine. His jaw was hard, and his voice unyielding. “You’re practically a kid. I’m supposed to be looking out for you, not thinking about doing things to you that I’d kill a man for doing to Halley.” His voice was harsh with self-revulsion.
“But I’m not a kid.” I reached up to skim my fingers along his iron jawline. “And I’m not your daughter. It’s okay to--”
He squeezed me more tightly, cutting me off. His grip was painful now, but I still didn’t want to pull away. Anything was better than the cold desolation hovering beyond the boundary of our interlocked bodies. This close, I could feel his heart pounding against his chest like an anvil. He lowered his head so that his mouth was at my ear. “There’s nothing okay about what I’m thinking, Lily. And I’m not going to let it happen.”
“Why not?” I whispered breathlessly. “No one would ever have to know.”
My own words shocked me. Not only did I want to give myself to him, and only him, but I was willing to do it without even the guise of respectability. I, who had never even kissed someone before a second date, was pushing up against him, practically begging him to take me on a public street.
And he wanted to. Even as we were both trying to think of Halley first, the immediacy of our connection to her was fading. He was considering it. His grip was still punishing, but his fingers were tangling in the ends of my long hair now. His breathing was changing. He was painfully hard against me, his eyes an unfathomable shade of black.
I tilted my head back, prey offering her throat to a wolf.
Hoping he would bite.
13
CON
She was pliant in my arms, breath quivering. For once, her eyes weren’t wide with surprise, but rather hooded and waiting. I could have her right there, and we both knew it. I flexed my fingers experimentally, imagining pushing her up against the stucco side of the wall and shoving that flimsy black fabric up around her waist. I’d lift her up, cover her mouth with one hand, and plow into her.