Huddled into his greatcoat, she lowered onto the bench to wait out the storm.
But really, he suspected, it was to keep an eye on him.
As if he couldn’t be trusted.
Or…
As if she couldn’t trust herself.
That irritated him, too.
He propped a shoulder against a column and crossed his arms over his chest. “Now, who’s staring?”
She ignored the question. “You’ll catch a chill now that I have your coat.”
“A real conundrum.”
He didn’t care about the blasted coat or potential chills.
The deeper source of his irritation with this woman struck him.
He was a man with something to prove.
He wanted to prove to her how he’d made her feel.
And how it could feel even better the second time.
Nay, the third.
He wanted to prove it so thoroughly, she couldn’t ever deny it again.
He wanted her to blush simply from setting eyes on him.
He wanted…surrender.
He recognized another desire, too.
A too-familiar desire.
The desire to vanquish.
He ever carried it within him, this desire.
“We could share the coat.” She made the offer offhand, as if it didn’t matter all that much to her one way or the other.
But her eyes told a different story.
“Would you like me to share the coat with you?”
“I would be warmer.”
He pushed off the pillar. “Once we start sharing the coat, there’s no going back.”
“I need you to share this coat with me, Dev. It’s all I can think about.”
It wasn’t irritation or the need to prove her wrong or himself right that had him closing the distance between them, but rather a sort of will.
The will to possess her—and for her to know herself possessed.
