“No,” she says, the word trembling between us. “Not like this. Not with Olivia in this same club.”
I step closer, pinning her against the wall with my body. My hand slides from her throat to grip her jaw, forcing her to look at me.
“You want to know what I want?” My voice drops to a growl. “I want to tear that fucking dress off your body and bend you over right here. I want to spank that perfect ass until it’s red and raw and you’re begging me to stop.”
Her breathing hitches, pupils blown wide with a mixture of fear and arousal.
“I want to fuck you until you scream my name,” I continue, my words hot against her ear. “Until you forget your own. I want to mark every inch of your body so that everyone knows who you belong to.”
My free hand grips her hip hard enough to bruise.
“I’d make you come on my tongue first, taste every inch of you. Then I’d fuck you rough and deep until you’re ruined for any other man.” I drag my teeth along the sensitive skin belowher ear. “I want to see those pretty blue eyes water when you take me down your throat. I want to fill you up, claim you, own you.”
I press my erection against her, letting her feel just how hard she makes me. “This is what you do to me. This is what I’m going to give you.”
My fingers slide up her thigh, beneath the hem of her dress. “I’ll take what’s mine. And make no mistake, Aurora, you are mine.”
She trembles against me, but then her hands flatten against my chest.
“Stop.” Her voice cracks like a whip between us. “This isn’t happening.”
Her push catches me off guard, forcing me back half a step. Enough space for her to slip away from the wall.
“Whatever this is,” she says, gesturing between us, her voice shaking, “it stops now. I won’t betray my sister.”
She straightens her dress with trembling fingers and backs toward the door.
“Stay away from me, Hunter.”
She slams the door, leaving me alone with the ghost of her scent lingering in the air. The rejection isn’t what I expected, but fuck if it doesn’t make my cock throb harder in my pants.
My pulse thunders in my ears. The heat of her still burns on my palms.
This isn’t over. Not by a fucking mile.
The way she stood up to me and those blue eyes flashed with both desire and determination, makes me harder than I’ve ever been. Most women fold under my gaze alone. Not Aurora. She pushes back. Challenges me.
I adjust myself, my erection straining painfully against my suit pants.
I never wanted someone with this level of intensity before. The fact that she walked away, that she’s fighting thisconnection, only makes the hunt more exhilarating. She’s prey worth pursuing.
Stay away from me, Hunter.
Her words echo in my mind, but they’re not a deterrent. They’re a gauntlet thrown down, a challenge I’m more than ready to accept. Her resistance has transformed desire into obsession.
I’ve never backed down from taking what I want. And I want Aurora Harrison more than I’ve ever wanted anything.
The higher the walls she builds, the more satisfaction I’ll feel when I scale them and claim what’s mine.
8
AURORA
The coffee splatters across my keyboard when I jolt awake from yet another Hunter Reed daydream. Perfect. Just perfect.
“Shit,” I mutter, frantically dabbing tissues at my laptop. Three hours into my workday at Bloom’s Press, and I’ve accomplished exactly nothing except ruining office equipment. This job offer is the main reason I left Europe.
My assistant editor, Mia, pokes her head in. “Everything okay in here? That’s the second coffee casualty today.”
