“We will be,” I lie.
I back up to the door.
She watches me like she is memorizing the shape of my retreat.And just before I shut her in again, she says something that kills me.
“You come back tonight,” she whispers.
I close the door.
Hard.
Because if I go back in there now, I will not stop at kissing her, just finger fucking her.
I will claim her in a way neither of us can ever take back.
Chapter 24
Royal
The door ain’t fully closed.
That’s the first mistake.
I realize it half a second before Becki’s fingers hook the front of my shirt, dragging me back inside like she didn’t hear a single word I said about stopping.
Her breath hits my mouth first, ragged, reckless, wanting.Then her body presses into mine, hips first, chest second, her heartbeat slamming hard enough I feel it in my teeth.
“Lock it,” she whispers.
I don’t.
I can’t.
Some part of me wants someone to walk in, to see what she does to me, to put an end to this spiral before it eats us both alive.
“Royal,” she murmurs again, softer, dangerous.“Look at me.”
I do.
Her wild eyes are dilated.Her plump lips bruised by me.Her hands trembling where they fist in my shirt, not from fear, but from wanting me to break first.
She tips her chin up.
A dare.
A challenge.
A goddamn promise.
My hand comes up to her throat without me deciding it.Squeezing.Just… claiming the air she breathes.Her pulse rips against my palm, frantic and hot.
“You’re playing a game you don’t understand,” I rasp.
“Then teach me.”She rises on her toes, lips brushing mine again and the door slams back against the wall.
I spin, pulling her behind me out of instinct.
Oaks fills the doorway, chest heaving, eyes wide like he walked in on a crime scene.
