So just to remind you—it was only one second.
I cave, humiliatingly fast. I snatch his hand, forcing his fingers under the lace, right inside me.
He growls approvingly, curling them deep and hitting the right spot like he marked it himself as I cry out.
The world? Exquisitely quiet for once.And I want more.
My head falls back against his chest just as his other arm snakes tight around my ribs to anchor me.
I clutch his wrist, grinding, chasing, trying to bury his whole hand inside, until the elevator turns into slick sounds and my crying pleas.
Someone could call us, stop the elevator, but I don't care.
I throw my hands around his neck and roll my hips like waves against the hard line of his fingers, hitting me deep.
Ben hasn't moved—he's watching me in the reflection like I'm his favorite indulgence, his mouth on my ear, his hot breath seeping in.
When I turn my head with an invitation to kiss me, he shakes his head and forces another finger inside, spreading me wider.
"Oh god..." The lights start glitching behind my eyes as I roll my hips against his big hand, feeling the sharp pleasure building into something that will soon snap.
"Don't stop. Don't stop," I moan.
Then his voice slices through the haze, dry and taunting. "Oh, right. You called usnothing."
And his fingers slip out of me, the shift so sudden my hips are still chasing what's gone.
My body seizes, spine licked up with hunger so much that I whimper—I just freakingwhimperedlike a loser.
I turn to him and explode with breath ragged. "What?!"
Ben leans back and lifts his hand, tilting it so the light catches every glistening streak of me running down his skin.
He cocks a brow, like he's admiring it and then snorts, obviously calling my bluff. His eyes flick to mine as he slides those fingers into his mouth, pulling back slowly, savoring me with a low, satisfied groan.
When he lets them slip free with a sound, he gives me a merciless smirk. "That's what I'm doing—nothing."
I feel the rage flare so fast it scorches my eyes. I hope I taste like poison, hope he falls to the ground and starts choking, and I wouldn't save him for the fire in my belly, for my blood still screaming for him.
But the only one about to faint is me, and the mirror proves it: I'm flushed, trembling, and my chest is rising like surf.
The numbers above him tick up.
12. Twelve floors is all that it took for him to dismantle me, for me to know I never stood a chance, because I don't. He was engineered in some cruel lab to be my undoing.
13. I whip away, pretending I'm not one breath away from breaking the walls.
"You love this, don't you?" I bite out. "The game. The chase. That's all I've ever been to you."
He doesn't respond, just breathes behind me, loud enough for me to hear.
14. I haul my skirt down, trying to erase the ache pooling low. Erase him. I swear, this is the last straw.
15. "From now on," I spit over my shoulder, "stay the fuck away from me. I don't want to see your face. I don't want to ever hear about you. Don't want to... don't want to think you even exist."
16. Silence. Thick enough to choke on. For me to start breaking the walls.
17. "And by the way—" I start, but don't finish.
