“No,” I whimper.
Hand in my hair, his fingers yank me closer. His teeth graze my lip, sending another bolt of need between my thighs.
“I can’t—I don’t?—”
“Skylar, shut up.” His affection is quickly escalating into lust. Heat pools between my thighs at that. “Let me take care of you. Let me keep you.”
Keep me? As what? A lover? As leather stretched over his frame once he’s finished using me?
“No.” My eyes fly open. My nails bite into his chest as I pull back as far as I can. “No, I want out of here.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he murmurs, his fingers sliding to the back of my head, massaging my scalp. Confusing me. “Shh. Easy now.”
I refuse to take solace in that. Even if I stay where I am, even if our foreheads press together and it feels so, so nice.
“Hides.” My lips brush his as the word forces itself out of me. “Living-hides.”
“Not you.” His teeth nip my lip, grounding me through pain. “Never you.”
“You might be lying.” I want to believe I can tell…but can I? “I don’t even know you.”
Knox grunts. His hands clamp down on my knees, and in one push, I’m shoved back into the chair. His stare pins me in place, hard and unrelenting.
I watch him, my curiosity tangled with terror.
He curses low, jaw tight. “Skylar, you aren’t?—”
“Aren’t what?” My question is a desperate one. I need him to give me the assurance my fractured mind is aching for.
“I told you, you’re not a living-hide.” Knox wipes away my tears, his thumbs are rough as they stroke my skin. “You’re something better.”
“Please. I don’t want to die like this.” My teeth chatter. I suck in a deep breath while he observes me. “Or be tanned. Or sold. Please. You like me, don’t you? I mean, I—I like you.”
This is worse than admitting to being curious, but just as true. I’m begging him to keep me alive while telling him I have feelings for him.
Feelings I’ve had since the moment we set foot in this town.
“No one’s going to kill you.” He scoops me up, careful about my bandaged thigh. “And I do like you. That’s why you’ll be treated better than the others. Like you’re mine.”
We get to the door leading to his basement.
I can’t fight him. Can’t escape. Exhaustion threatens to take me under. My eyelids are heavy.
Knox’s warmth doesn’t help my situation. Being in his arms is like curling beneath blankets on a winter night. The temptation to relax and let myself drown in him is painfully strong.
“I don’t want to be any kind of living-hide.” While he stomps down the stairs, I grab his face. Pull it down to me. “Don’t do this to me.”
He stops at the bottom of the stairs. The smells of tanning surround me. The sounds of the air vents and the rusty fan reach us.
Goosebumps rise all over my skin.
“Trouble.” His hands flex, pinning me tighter to him. “Just wait.”
“For what?” Ice shoots up my spine at the command.
“For me to show you that you can trust me.” His body heat seeps into mine. “That I’m going to make you last forever.”
Last? Who talks like that? Who is this man?
