And he could obviously sense that.
That was what pissed me off the most.
He’d seen the way I came apart under his hand. He’d seen how I melted, even while my mouth spat venom at him. He had the audacity to know exactly what I’d never even admitted to myself—that I wanted someone to take control, to force me to surrender.
Without meaning to, I’d become soaking wet and rubbed myself against his thigh, against his hand like a bitch in heat.
My entire body had betrayed me, and I wanted to scream.
But instead, I stood here, acting like a deranged girl with blood smeared down my face, a wet T-shirt clinging to my every curve, my legs trembling as he lorded over me.
What the hell was wrong with me?
I didn’t even recognize myself. This wasn’t a version of me that made any sense. The one I knew was driven, focused, hellbent on achieving her dreams in a world that rarely offered success. No, this was someone who wanted to be ravaged by the very man she should hate.
But somehow, I didn’t hate him.
Not really.
That was the worst part.
This wasn’t about survival anymore. It was about the edge I stood on, and what I was about to give up.
He, a man who took what he wanted, had no way of knowing that he held a woman who had never been taken. He had no idea I was still a virgin, that I’d never done any of this before.
I’d kept it to myself, thinking I would know when the right time would be for my first lover.
And now, somehow, the right time looked a hell of a lot like being pinned against a wall and fucked by a man who’d stalked me for weeks.
Was I seriously going to lethimbe the one?
He’d invaded my life like a damn virus. From the first moment at Cipher, when he’d sat down at my table, he’d been watching me. Learning me.
And now here we were.
Trapped in this violent storm of blood, lust, and power. And all I could do was stand here—barely breathing—as he devoured me with his eyes.
I didn’t know why I was fighting him so hard.
Maybe it was because I wanted him to prove he was interested enough in me to fight for me.
Maybe I was resisting him because I was fighting for my dreams, and he was trying to convince me to walk away from them.
This man didn’t know who I really was, didn’t know what drove me to give up everything and come to the city and work my ass off to succeed. He had no idea how it felt to go without. He’d been born into money and power.
Maybe I was acting like a holy terror because it wasn’tmyidentity he was trying to extinguish. It was my sister’s. I’d never imagined it would come to this. I’d wanted to make it big using her identity and seehername up in lights.
Maybe I wasn’t fighting him to get away.
Maybe I was fighting so he’d come closer.
His gaze locked on mine, his eyes full of that predatory lust, and the second he stepped forward, I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Not because I was afraid, but because I wanted him too badly to stop him.
He gripped my face in both hands, pressing his thumbs along my jaw and forcing me to look up at him.
Then he leaned in and kissed me like I was the only oxygen left in the world.
It wasn’t sweet.
