I’d wanted to know what it felt like.
I hadn’t expected it to feel like this… like the floor shifting, like all the rules in that damn Game contract blurring and fading into dust.
No kissing. No falling in love with the wrong person. No names.
I was breaking at least two of those already.
Maybe all three.
I slid one hand down, the tips of my fingers brushing the line of his scar, tracing it lightly from his temple to his jaw, and down the column of his throat. His breath hitched against my mouth, like that small touch undid him more than anything else.
He deepened the kiss once, twice, then tore himself back with a ragged inhale, forearm braced against the wall above my head like he needed it to stay upright.
We stared at each other.
His chest rose and fell in sharp, uneven pulls.
Mine wasn’t doing much better.
“You have to keep that to yourself,” he said hoarsely. “For your own sake. If Henry finds out, you’re gone. And Mr. Stonewood…”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
I didn’t ask him to.
“I won’t tell anyone,” I promised. “I swear.”
Slowly, he stepped back, and the loss of his heat stirred a physical ache in my chest. He reached for the door, fingers tight on the knob.
“I’ll lock this behind me,” he said. “You’re not a prisoner, but… rules are rules. For now.”
“Jacob,” I said softly.
He paused.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “For the tire, for volunteering to be my partner, and for this.”
His shoulders rose and fell once.
“Don’t thank me yet, Miss Jones,” he said without turning. “The Game hasn’t really started.”
The lock clicked when the door shut behind him.
I stood there with my back against the wall, lips tingling, heart hammering, the faint taste of him still clinging to my mouth.
Somewhere in this house, a billionaire recluse was watching cameras and deciding whether or not I got to stay long enough to ruin my life for the person I loved most.
To make things worse, Jacob was walking toward the West Wing to answer for the way he’d thrown himself between me and elimination.
I pressed my fingers to my mouth and let out a shaky breath.
Don’t fall in love with the wrong person, the game requirement had said.
Too late, I thought.
The wrong person had already kissed me senseless.
Chapter
