He lifts his hand. Slowly. And cups my cheek with unbearable tenderness. It’s scorching, like he’s branding my very being.
He caresses my skin, thumb swiping gently under my lip, sending a shudder through me.
His gaze is locked on my mouth. “That would imply you had a heart.”
Chapter Twelve
ADAM
Jackie’s face falls, then her jaw squares, and her back straightens. “Give the lovebirds some space,” she grits through her teeth. “They were…having a moment.”
She edges toward the stairs, but something in me is not ready to let her slip away. Not when she’s so close, I can feel the warmth from her sun-kissed skin bleeding into mine.
I plant my hand on the wall, beside her head, blocking her path. “Jealous, sweetheart?”
She doesn’t say anything, but the scathing look she gives me could melt steel. It’s a warning sign I stupidly ignore.
Even though I know it’s wrong, and I shouldn’t play these games with her, shouldn’t corner her like this, a part of me is desperate to get a reaction out of her.
After the night of the storm, I’ve barely seen her. She’s been gone every day since that smug bastard rolled into town. I’ve heard her telling Eliza about him. And he didn’t come alone. Blanca’s also here. Possibly the only woman on earth who despises my existence more than Jackie.
Withhim, she doesn’t hide. Has no problem walking around in public, hand in hand. Letting him be close, giving him her time. Talking to her mother on the phone about him.
Fucking William Errington.
“I could help you with that.” I tilt my head, drinking her in. Glowing skin, her chest barely covered by that flimsy fabric. “After all, I’m the one who sleeps around with anyone, right?” Isneer, repeating the words she loves to hurt me with. “Might as well be you.”
My fists clench. Because I ache to touch her, to grab those curvy thighs, and wrap her around me. Fist her hair and devour her. That’s what being so close to Jackie does to me. I can’t think straight.
Maybe if she hates me enough, it won’t matter how much I want her.
She takes a step back. Then another, until her back hits the wall and a strangled gasp slips past her lips. For a fleeting moment, the stony lines give way to something so vulnerable. She’s unguarded and raw. The girl I once fell in love with stares back at me.
Her chest is barely rising. Eyes shimmering like an ocean of longing, and fuck, I want to feel her lips, even though I shouldn’t. Just one more time.
“Hm.” Her hum drips like poison. “Is that what you’ve been thinking about for the past couple of weeks? Needing your fix?”
The set of her jaw hardens, her gaze narrows, and she leans forward. Enough that our noses nearly touch. My breath stalls.
All the thoughts in my head scatter, and I’m suspended in the one heartbeat her chest brushes mine, her hands coming up and fisting my shirt, dragging me closer. Jackie’s gaze doesn’t waver, and the world comes to a stop. My lips part, and for one stupid, hopeless second, I think she might…kiss me.
Instead, sudden pain shoots from my groin, up my spine, when her knee slams into my balls with a vicious snap. I double over, choking on the sharp and deep ache radiating up my abdomen.
Holy shit, I deserved that.
“You can’t help yourself, can you?” Jackie’s voice lashes down from somewhere above me, cutting and furious. “You wantto pile on top of me being scared for my life? You hate me so much you want to see me break? Is that what you want?”
I can’t answer through the pain. She spins away and storms up the stairs, leaving me crouching on the floor, wheezing.
I keep making things worse. I can’t stop myself from wanting her. My pride alone should stop me, but she’s rooted too deep. I keep trying to rope the old Jackie back. The one I thought loved me. The one I had before she slammed me right against the hard truth. In her world, my love was never enough.
She’s further from me now than when she was across an ocean.
And this time, I’m the one pushing her away by acting like this.
Chapter Thirteen
JACKIE
