More touch.
Just… more.
If I can’t escape the beast or tame him, I can at least explore him.
My strokes become bolder as I pick up the pace. With each up and down, wetness coats the insides of my thighs. I suppress a moan with the back of my hand.
“You better be awake and well aware of what you’re doing, sweetheart.”
I freeze mid-rub, my ears heating.
Shit. Wasn’t he supposed to be a heavy sleeper?
“Did I tell you to stop?” His husky, sleepy voice sends a throb straight to my core.
Aiden slowly peels his eyes open. I always hated his eyes. That grey colour reminds me of clouds, storms, and metal.
And ruining my life.
But telling myself that I hated them was only a deflection method, wasn’t it? Because his eyes? They’re fucking gorgeous.
Heartbreakingly so.
He threads his fingers into my hair and tugs the band free before bringing a strand of hair to his face and inhaling. “Hmm, you smell like temptation.”
I offer an awkward smile. “Morning.”
“Screw mornings.”
I laugh. “Not a morning person?”
He’s watching me intently in that inquisitive way before he narrows his eyes as his hand skims down from my waist to grip my hip. “Don’t laugh in front of other people. Don’t even smile in front of them.”
“Why not?”
“Your smiles and laughs belong to me. I don’t like it when others look at what’s mine.”
“Seriously?” I roll my eyes. “What’s next? You’ll lock me up in your cave and put a dozen babies in me?”
His lips quirk in amusement. “Can you handle it?”
“Handle what?”
“Me putting a dozen babies in you.”
“Are you for real?”
“We should start now.”
My mouth hangs open as I search for any signs that he’s joking, but he has an impressive poker face.
It doesn’t help that his erection is pressing into me and he’s not even the least bit apologetic about it.
But then again, Aiden is never apologetic about anything.
I try to wiggle free. “Don’t joke like that.”
“Hmm, it’s curious that I never joke with you, but you still think that I do.” He flips me so I’m on my back and he’s hovering over me. “For the record, I do want to hide you where no one will see you.”
“Why?” That’s such a stupid question.
He’s just admitted to wanting to kidnap me, and all I care about is knowing why.
I’m beginning to think like the scientists at the behavioural unit. They don’t care about the acts as long as they know the why behind those acts.
“The thought of any other man touching you drives me fucking crazy. Especially since I haven’t staked my claim yet.” Aiden’s hand wraps around my throat and he caresses the pulse point. “It’s time to change that.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It’s time to change that.
My muscles lock at his words.
Aiden hovers over me like a looming danger, a force not to be reckoned with.
The boy with metal eyes, harsh glares, and unhinged character got under my skin. And since he did that, he has the power to break me.
I will destroy you.
His first words to me are the defining point of our relationship. He can’t just erase that with the few thoughtful things he did the past weeks or by holding me to sleep after my nightmare.
All of it could be another one of his mind games so I’ll lower my guard.
Once he has my virginity, he’ll drop me like a bad habit.
He’ll crush me and walk on the remains.
Call it old-fashioned or naive, but I always wanted to save my first to someone I deeply care about.
Aiden isn’t that person.
I place a hand at the centre of his broad chest. “I’m not ready.”
He tilts his head to the side, supporting himself on tense hands on either side of my head. “What do you mean by you’re not ready?”
“I… I need more time.”
“More time for what?”
I need more time to understand myself and make sure that I’m doing the right thing.
You’re too safe.
Kim’s words slice through my brain like razor-sharp claws.
“I’ve been patient with you, Frozen.”
I hate when he calls me that.
I fix him with a glare. “So that’s what you wanted all along? You’ve been patient to get your dick wet?”
“If I wanted to get my dick wet, I would’ve fucked you and gotten you out of my system a long time ago.”
Tears blur in my eyes and I loathe myself for ever feeling comfortable in his presence or thinking that there’s another layer beneath the suffocating smoke.
“Then why haven’t you? If you did, we would’ve gone our separate ways.”
Why did you have to trick me into thinking that there could be more?
“I told you.” His tone loses the nonchalance. “Sex isn’t my endgame. And I’ve been patient to communicate that. You should know by now that I’m not a patient person, so don’t push me.”
I’m tempted to scream obscenities and push him off, but that will surely trigger his predatory side.
I’ll have to be smart about handling this situation.
Seriously, I shouldn’t be burning neurons to get him to act like a decent human being, but this is what I get for being involved with someone who disregards normal.
I force my body to relax and suck in a few calming breaths. “What have you been patient for?”
He lifts an eyebrow, apparently taken aback by my course of action. I like thwarting his plans. He’s better to handle when he’s taken off guard.
“For you to want me,” he says with that air of casualty.
“Why is that important?”
“It just is.”
“You don’t care about the moral repercussions and you sure as hell aren’t scared about the criminal consequences, so why didn’t you just take it? Why didn’t you rape me that day?”
As soon as I say the word ‘rape’, I regret it. I don’t want to put ideas in his screwed up head. But then again, he’s a fucking lunatic, so he probably had worse ideas than that.
He arches an eyebrow. “Do you want to be raped by me?”
“What? No! Seriously? Is that your only deduction from what I said?”
“What am I supposed to deduce?” He lowers himself on his elbows so his chest grazes my breasts. “You just said that you wanted me to take from you.”
“I asked why you didn’t take from me, not that I wanted you to.”
“Semantics.”
“You’re delusional.”
His fingers find my hair, stroking it gently. Too gently. “You know, the more you say I’m delusional, the surer I am that you’re the delusional one. You want to deny yourself? Fine. You want to think you’re a politically correct person? Also fine. You can lie to yourself all you like, but you don’t fucking lie to me. You don’t rub yourself all over my dick then pretend you don’t want me.”
My lips tremble and I thin them into a line.