“You’re wrong.”
“Am I?” His tone is harsh. “Tell me, when was the last time you were single and how long did that last?”
I fail to answer because uttering the truth will prove him correct.
At my silence, he shakes his head with a scoff. Taking a final drag, he throws the cigarette to the side and gives me a resigned look. “Go home, Arya.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I say, before he can turn around and leave. “But why are you so sure I’d want a relationship withyou?”
“The fact that you showed up at my house. If all you were feeling was horny and looking for someone to scratch the itch, you could’ve gone to any other man. Instead, you chose the one who will hurt you again, intentionally or not.”
His words are a warning.
A prophecy.
Yet I ignore it.
“I am not interested in your heart, even if it is on the table.” I stand my ground, letting every ounce of desire I feel for him shine through my unblinking gaze. “All I want from you is the pleasure you bring me with a single touch. The way you make my head spin with lust and my body come alive.”
Feral need flashing across his face, he cautiously asks, “What are you saying?”
“I’m asking for a no-strings relationship. Just sex while we’re working together or until we get each other out of our systems. Whichever happens first.”
He’s shaking his head before I even finish the sentence. His voice cracks like a whip through the crisp air. “No.”
“You sure?” I rasp, stepping into his personal space. “You can’t keep your hands off me whenever we’re alone. Or taunt me with your filthy words. Can you promise you’ll never do either again?”
His gaze narrows dangerously, chest rising and falling unevenly for two beats. A muscle tics in his jaw as he falters to answer.
“You think I can’t resist you?” he finally says arrogantly.
“I know you can’t.”
“You have no idea what you’re asking for.”
“I know exactly what I’m asking for,” I counter confidently. “What are you so afraid of, Nathan? That you’ll fall in love with me if we sleep together more than once?”
“If anyone’s going to make that mistake, it’s you, angel,” he taunts. “You wear your heart on your sleeve.”
“Why don’t you let me worry about it, hmm?” Running my palms up his arms, I curl them around his shoulders and give him a warning of my own, “If you let me walk away tonight,I promise you I will never allow you near my body again. Our relationship will be strictly professional. I mean it this time.”
A war brews on his handsome face while he makes no move to touch me. He knows I’m not bluffing.
His body is taut everywhere, like a raging bull seconds away from charging.
I need to entice him out of his cage.
“You think you can resist me?” I rise on my toes until my lips hover against his. We breathe the same air, and I taste whiskey on him. Smirking, I dare, “Prove it.”
Taking a step back while he watches me intensely, cautiously like I’m a ticking time bomb about to go off, I unknot the tie holding my trench coat together and pull the sides apart. My nude body is exposed as I peel the single barrier away, letting it hit the ground with a softwhoosh.
Nathan sucks in a sharp breath.
The low and rough inhale floats to my ears like a victory song.
He fights,reallyfights, to not stray his gaze away from my face. In the end, he loses the battle, sweeping his gaze down my vulnerable body, tortuously slow.
I arch my back so he can see my hardened nipples, making his nostrils flare and jaw grind harshly. Each expanse his eyes roam over, they darken further into two pools of carnal lust. When they stop between the juncture of my thighs, my soaked pussy clenches. Bringing forth an ache so visceral that my knees buckle.
