Dark fury suddenly blooms across Oliver’s face as he connects the dots.
“You’re fucking kidding me.”
“I wish I was,” I say dryly.
“Hold on, your own bloody father settled a debt by giving you to Barnes?”
I nod, and he snarls.
“Father of the fucking year, huh?”
His teeth grind together.
“So leave.”
“Can’t.”
“Yeah, Delphine, you fucking can.”
“You think I’d still be here if it was remotely that simple?” I spit back. “Well, it’s not. Because Barnes’s isn’t quite as stupid as you think he is. I’ve got one person left in this world that I care about—my grandmother, my mom’s-mom, and Bryce has some of his goons watching her, constantly. If I run, they hurt her.”
He swears viciously, and I shiver as he balls his hands into fists, his jaw clenching tight. Fuck, it’s disturbing how hot him getting so primal like this is.
“I—” I squeeze my eyes shut. “I do have to go back.”
“No, you don’t.”
I shake my head. “You don’t know him.”
“Yeah,” Oliver growls. “I do, actually.”
I frown. “Beyond the racing?”
He nods, and I suddenly get it.
“Shit, do you owe him money?”
Oliver looks away, and my face falls.
“Fuck, I’m sorry.”
I’ve seen what Bryce does with people who “owe him.” He doesn’t even want to be paid back most of the time, he just wants to own them, and control them. Because he’s a sick, twisted asshole like that.
“It is what it is,” Oliver growls. He reaches out, and I shiver when his hands slide over my waist and pull me back into him. I gasp as I fall against his chest and look up into those piercing, gorgeous blue eyes. He leans down, and I moan when our lips touch again. I melt into him, moaning again and opening my lips for his tongue as I sink into him.
He pushes me back until my back hits a tree along the side of the empty stretch of moon-lit road. The smell of pine and woods and wet asphalt sweeps over me, and my hands slide over his body as he kisses me fiercely.
But suddenly, I pull back, panting as I look up into his eyes.
“I’m not revenge against Barnes.”
“And I’m not an escape from him,” he growls, leaning in and kissing me hard again. I moan, eagerly kissing him back before I pull away with another gasp.
“I’m serious, I’m not your damsel.”
“And I’m sure as shit not your knight in shining armor,” he groans as we come crashing back together. “But you can’t go back there.”
“He doesn’t…” I shake my head. “I can handle a few slaps.”
Oliver snarls. “And beyond the slaps?”
I frown. “What?”
But then, suddenly I get what he means.
“Ask me.”
His jaw clenches. “No.”
“Ask me.”
“Fine,” he snaps. “Do you fuck Barnes?”
My lips curl. “It’s none of your damn business if I do.”
His eyes blaze fiercely, and I whimper at the look of pure animal lust and rage on his face. Fuck that’s hot.
“The answer is no,” I whisper, swallowing. “Never have, never will. He doesn’t…” I look away. “He doesn’t touch me like that, thank God.”
Oliver’s brow furrows and he’s staring at me when I look back at him.
“What?” I whisper
“He…” he shakes his head. “How?”
I smile thinly and roll my eyes as I hold a finger out, and then make it droop.
Oliver chuckles. “Well, shit.”
“It works well for me, and he goes off to ‘prove his manhood’ or that it’s my fault by trying to screw anything else with a pair of tits. I’m more than fine with it.” I shrug. “Truth is, I don’t even know if it’s about trying to screw me. I think he just likes the power over me. He likes parading me around as ‘his,’ since he ‘took me’ from my dad, the old crime king of our shithole town.”
“But you’re not his,” Oliver growls.
I shake my head.
“Not married, no boyfriend.”
I swallow, shaking my head.
“And what if I were to say you were someone’s?”
I frown. “What?”
But then I gasp as Oliver moves right into me, and his hands slide all the way around me until one is holding the small of my back and the other pushes lower to grab my ass possessively.
“If I were to say you were mine,” he growls lowly, his eyes blazing blue fire into mine.
“What makes you think I am?” I whisper.
He doesn’t answer, he just crushes his perfect lips to mine, and I sink into him. I moan deeply, clutching at his hoodie and eagerly finding his tongue with mine. He groans into my mouth, and I whimper right back, my hips rocking into his. He pushes me back against the tree, and I moan eagerly as I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him hard against me. But then, he slowly pulls away, leaving me panting and aching for more with my eyes still closed.
“That,” he purrs.
I open my eyes and immediately shiver at the ferociously hungry look in his eyes.
“That makes me know you’re mine.”
Time freezes for one half second while we just stand there staring into each other’s eyes, lips barely an inch apart. And then, the universe hits the play button, and suddenly we’re crashing together.
I moan as his lips taste mine, his tongue delving between them. His rock-hard body clenches tight against me, his hands sliding all over me at once until it feels like three of him touching me at once. My hands grip his hoodie and start to shove it up his torso, and he groans into my mouth. A hand slides up into my hair, gripping it in a fist as I moan eagerly into his mouth. I’m kissing him so hard it feels like I’m going to bruise my lips, but I don’t even care.
Wanting him is primal and doing this again comes as naturally and as certain as the fucking sun rising tomorrow morning.
I shove his hoodie up, and then his t-shirt—my hands sliding under them both to feel his bare, hot skin. His abs flex under my fingertips, and his own hands yank at my leather jacket, pushing it off my shoulders. I push him away and take my hands from his body just enough to shove the jacket off, and he does the same to his. But then we’re crashing right back together like two forces of nature slamming together.
He pushes my long-sleeved t-shirt up—up over my bra before he tugs it off of me completely. My hair comes loose and tumbles down around my face, and Oliver growls as he cups my chin and kisses me hungrily. His hands unsnap my bra, and I shrug to let it slip from my arms. My fingers slide under his shirt again, and this time, he pulls back and yanks both his shirt and hoodie off before he embraces me again.
My bare skin on his has me gasping, and when my hard, aching nipples drag over his muscled, tattooed chest, I moan into his lips. His fingers work the button of my jeans, and mine do the same to his.
Like I said, this is primal.
This is two forces of nature.
This is a hurricane and a typhoon crashing together.