I blaze a trail to my bedroom in a stupor. There is fire in my veins, blistering me from the inside out. Consuming me.
I shouldn’t think about her.
I fucking know that.
But I am.
She’s all over me. My head is full of the way her eyes went dark before she ran. Those emotions all over her face weren’t fear. I know what that looks like on her. Her face looked like the heat clawing up my spine now.
Janella wanted me.
And she still ran.
I press my palms against my desk, trying to breathe through the arousal strangling me. This is nothing new, right? I’ve wanted women before. I’ve fuckinghadthem, six ways to goddamn Sunday. I’ve never had to agonize over sex. When I want it, I take it. I’ve always taken it, any fruit that’s been ripe for the picking.
I can’t do it to her.
Not even with her face and those breathy moans of hers in my head. Her perfume clings to my clothes, and a memory of her breath is on my tongue. I crave more.
All I can do is think about the way she’d taste. About what sounds she makes when she comes. What she would look like in the morning, with my touch branding her all fucking over. That plush mouth of hers swollen from being claimed by mine.
Something deep inside me knows she’d like it.
Wouldn’t she?
Fabric gives way beneath my frenetic touch.
I sigh as my fist wraps around my hard cock. It isn’t one of relief.
Chapter 10 - Janella
If he didn’t think I was weak before, he does now.
Why did I run? Why do Ikeeprunning?
Frustration crests like a wave in my chest. My breath leaves me in shallow pants. The door against my back is the only thing that holds me up. But it’s me barricading myself in. It’s me—being the scared, spineless girl Iosif accused me of reverting to. And I’m not one. I know I’m not.
I could have you on your knees,he’d said to me earlier.Moaning, pleading for me.
The dark undercurrent of those words had felt like a threat before. So quickly, they’ve turned into a prophecy. One that’s coming true. The fever has already spread—my body is alive, my skin abuzz.
I can’t run from this—We almost kissed tonight.
We wereso close.
Until I fled, slamming a door shut between us.
I listened to him, even then. I counted each of his footsteps down the hallway. I heard his door shut. Now I have to shove myself away from my own.
I’m so aware of his coat, still cloaking me. When I shed it, it’s not because I want to. The luxurious wool can’t hold a candle to the way the cedar and citrus of his cologne warm my body. I drape it over the desk chair out of self-preservation.
I can’t keep still. I pace.
The plush carpet muffles my heels clicking back and forth until I kick them off altogether.
This is ridiculous, isn’t it? I’m being ridiculous!
We just got caught up in the moment. That’s all! It happens! It was an emotional night for me. Between meeting his family, spinning out about it being a foreign experience for me, and the unexpected heart-to-heart he’d treated me to with a side of ice cream? That charm would have lured any girl. He can be sonice.
