“Don’t call me that.”
“Rose. Don’t be like this. Please. Just look at me.” I knew it was a mistake even before I did it, and sure enough, the moment our gazes locked, I wanted to slap myself. He had me, and he knew it. There was something about the earnest look in those chocolate-brown eyes that I just couldn’t turn away from, which was why he wanted to make eye contact. Fuck him.
“Listen Rosie. Just try to cool it a little, okay? Fuck, you’re shaking like a leaf.” He dabbed at my cheeks with his fingertips. When he was done, he held me by my shoulders.
“Trust me? Please? I know it’s hard, but what have I done or said over the past two weeks to give you any reason to doubt me? I went there to tear his face off and feed it to the dogs, just like we talked about, of course I did. I’ll be honest, I kind of still want to, just on reflex, but I don’t think we have cause to. Not for this particular thing, anyway. Will you just listen, and then if you think he’s up to no good, and I’m insane for trusting him, then we’ll move on, Scout’s honor. We can even keep the door open the whole time, if you like. What do you say?”
“Jesus, I think I need to get my head examined for agreeing to this bullshit. If he even glances at me in a way I don’t like, you’re both out, for good, okay?”
He raised an eyebrow, but I held firm. “Those are my terms. If you want to talk, it’s that or nothing.”
“Okay.” His voice was still soft and reassuring. “Whatever you need.” He slipped his arms around me and pulled me tighter to him. I didn’t miss the bulge of his erection as it pressed against me. How the hell did he have a hard-on at such a fraught time? He kissed the top of my head, then pulled back to lift my chin, and lower his mouth to mine. I hesitated a moment, trying to resist. I didn’t want to give in to him, but deep down knew I would.
He placed his lips on mine gently at first, waiting for me to respond to him, maybe fearing I wouldn’t. As soon as I did, he pushed down almost painfully hard, as though trying to meld us together as one.
His hands slipped from my shoulders, and I could feel the power in his fingertips digging into my hair, and squeezing at the base of my neck. He tilted my head back, and kissed me harder and with more urgency—desperation, even. He kissed me like he thought it was going to be the last time.
I kissed him back like I knew it wouldn’t, matching his urgency, and when his fingers tightened around my throat, I moved one hand to his waist and the other to his chest—one ready to push, the other to pull, my mind undecided.
Those opposing gestures kind of summed up the dynamic between us. At times I was sure about him, and about us, and at others—times like now, I couldn’t be more torn. I wanted him, I always did, but at that moment, I was uncertain which way I was going to react until I was jerking him toward me with the hand that had snaked around his back. I pulled so hard that if I didn’t know better, I’d say I was trying to get him under my skin literally, the way he already was figuratively.
I curled the fingers of the hand that was resting on his chest into a claw, with my nails digging like talons into his pecs with as much might as I could muster. Then I bent my leg upwards, and ground my denim-clad thigh into his straining dick, and rotated my hips slowly so that I increased the friction between us. As it continued, the kiss was increasingly ferocious, but then, our kisses always were.
The fact was, they were less kisses, and more ways for me to even the score some, and tip the balance of our dynamic a little more in my favor. They were a battle of wills, wits, and sexual dominance. I gave as good as I got, matching Kane every lick, nip and stroke, and trying my best not to let myself fall further under his spell.
It was only when Kane moved his hands to my waist and began pulling my t-shirt upward, to take it off, and Fox cleared his throat loudly that I even remembered that our “visitor” was there. So much for not letting Kane derail me. He pulled back from me sharply and met my gaze again. “You okay to do this?” He tipped his head back toward the door, though I already knew what and who he was referring to.
“Not really, but you asked me to trust you, so I’m going to. Once.” I was pretty sure the fact that my core burned with arousal after kissing so wildly had played a “small” part in my decision-making process. I was also sure that Kane knew that was the case, and although I hoped that he hadn’t manipulated me that way on purpose, but I had my suspicions.
Still, if we were going to be something, or if we were that something already, I was going to have to trust him, or there was no point.
“Leave the door open, like you said. One false move from either of you, and I’ll scream at the top of my lungs until everyone in the entire building calls the cops.” I looked directly at Fox. “Come in, and sit here.” I motioned to the exact chair I wanted him to sit in, at the extremely compact dining table.
I indicated for Kane to take a seat also, and when they’d both sat down, I joined them. I looked at Fox. “There’s only so long I’m prepared to listen to anything you have to say, so you’d better talk quickly.”
Chapter 8
Kane
She folded her arms to show she meant business, as though she was trying to ensure that we took her seriously. I smiled, which obviously wasn’t the reaction she was looking for, but I couldn’t help it. She was cute as fuck.
“Okay, so I don’t have all day...” That wasn’t exactly true. Since she was suspended from college, she actually did have all day. I knew for a fact that she didn’t have much to do at all. It was on the tip of my tongue to say something like that, but I decided against it. I liked my head firmly attached to my body, and I intended for it to stay that way.
“I’m not the one who got you suspended.”
“Bullshit. Wow. Well, that was over quicker than I thought it would be. I mean is that all you’ve got? For all of the trouble you went to for me to speak to you, couldn’t you at least have come up with something a little more creative than that? You really need to try harder.”
“It might not be the most outrageous ‘story,’ but what it lacks in craziness, it makes up for in the fact that it’s true. The first I’d heard of this was earlier, when Kane came to my place about ready to tear me limb from limb with his bare fucking hands. I know you have no reason or desire to believe a word I say, but believe this, not for my sake, but for your own.”
He shrugged as he continued, “If I didn’t do this—which I didn’t—it means that someone else did, and that someone is out to get you in some way, for some reason. The more I talk about it, the more absurd it sounds to think you’d believe me on this. Hell, if I was me, I probably wouldn’t believe me, either. It does sound fucking crazy considering the water that’s gone under the bridge between us. But I’ll swear to you, like I swore to Kane. On my brother’s memory, this wasn’t me.”
Her gaze jumped to me quickly. “You believe this shit?” She looked at me as though I was worse than a moron.
“Yeah. I know you think I’m insane, and obviously I misjudged him before, but I believe him. I do. He’d never swear on Jules if it wasn’t true. Call me stupid, but my gut is telling me this is for real.”