“And miss your sparkling wit? It bothers me how hard you’re tryingnotto want me.”
“But I do,” I growl, staring down at her succulent lips. “More than I want my next breath. But if we were meant to be together, I like to think we’d have met under different circumstances. The fact we didn’t?—”
“Says the universe is cruel and mean.”
She presses a kiss to my wrist, the gentle brush of her lips the most electric sensation I’ve ever known. Her lashes on my skin, surely, how it feels to be touched by angels. She could undo me so easily. Destroy my will with a single request. She could be the reason we both die, because she doesn’t realize the danger she’s in, and I can’t tell her without admitting painful truths.
She wants to believe in the universe. But in our case, it wasn’t divine intervention that brought us together.
“In my personal experience,” she murmurs, licking her lips and bathing my flesh with her soft exhale, “I’ve found it constantly errs on the side of cruelty. But there’s no one left to hurt me with, Lincoln. I have nothing else to lose, so I figure I can do whatever I want.” She nips at my wrist and smirks whenmy cock springs to life. I feel it. She feels it. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Youcould die.” Fuck my heart, and fuck the way it aches for her. “You still matter, Nova. And you have to understand, they died for you.”
Slowly, she brings glittering eyes back to mine.
“If you believe nothing else, because you can’t or won’t or simply hurt too much to try, believe that your family only ever wanted you to be safe. They loved you. You’re worth so much more than cheap thrills with a guy you just met.”
She’s so beautiful even when she’s sad. So magnetic, even when she cries. Her lips curl into a shaky, devious grin as she drags her arms up and drapes them over my shoulders.Put her in a car, Lincoln! Send her away!
“I don’t know that I’d call thesecheapthrills.” She stands on her toes and brushes a gentle kiss over my jaw. Then another to my chin. “I’ve paid for burritos twice, and you donated all that pasta back to the Italians.”
“You insist on fucking with me.”Don’t do it, Linc. Don’t do it. Don’t you fucking do it. But I slide my hand to her clavicle. I swear to God, I don’t mean to touch. To savor. I don’t mean to cross the boundaries I’ve put up for us both. And yet, I trail my fingers over her breasts and down to her hips. “Nova?—”
“You can have me,” she whispers, nipping at my jaw. “For tonight, at least. You can take what you want, and nothing bad will happen.”
“You’re playing with fire.”I’m your enemy! Those three words are like a siren blasting in the back of my head.I work for the guy who killed your brother. “Nova. I think sexual attraction is normal and healthy and a?—”
“We’re havingthe talk?” She pulls herself nearer and uses me to climb higher. Closer. “Chemistry is a normal human function, and boosted hormones are a completely natural side effect after adrenaline. I, of course, have been in a constant state of heightened adrenaline for weeks, so it makes sense—” She bites my lip just fucking hard enough to make it hurt “—that I’m a littleneedyright now.”
“I’m calling bullshit.” I release her supple body and stare over the top of her head, robbing her of a chance to captivate me with her spellbinding eyes. “You could have anyone you wanted. Any guy at the bar, anyone at the car dealership, or grocery store, or while you’re walking down the fucking street. You’re not needy because you’ve suffered trauma. You’re a succubus, and my mistake is trying to save you from yourself.”
“A succubus?” She mulls over the term. “But you’re not even asleep.”
“Nova…”
“Am I a she-devil, Lincoln, set out to seduce you for the sake of hurting you? Or are you simply searching for the moral high ground?”
“If I say yes—” I risk a glance and catch myself in her gaze.Fuck. “If I say yes, I won’t be able to let you go again. If I have you, I won’t be able to stop.” I give up on pride, too weak to even pretend, and search her beautiful eyes. “We aren’t meant to be together, Nova. This isn’t your happy ending.Iam not your happy ending.”I’m your fucking enemy, the guy your brother warned you about.“But if you think I can have a taste andnotwant to keep you, then you’re wrong.”
“You want me so much you won’t have me?” She licks her lips, her stare dancing with amusement. “You sound a little… indecisive.” She bites again and grins when I hiss. “Would you rather lie down, and I’ll decide for us?”
“Nova! You need to?—”
“I’m wet for you.” She takes my hand and slips it beneath her dress, her heart a thundering staccato against my chest. She chews her lip, placing our hands at her core. And then she waits… waits… waits…
Until, against my better judgment, I slide my fingers inside her panties and discover her dripping with moisture and pounding against my palm. “Fucking hell, Nova.”
I drag my fingers along her slit, and she releases a whimpering exhale. Her mouth drops into a delicious pout, and her cheeks warm with a rosy blush now that she got her way. Her seductive act is gone as quickly as it came, leaving behind a woman hovering on the tips of her toes, her eyes darkening and her breath hitting my chin on every exhale.
“Lincoln…”
“Not so in control now, are you?” I don’t plunge my fingers into her pussy, taking all I want with no care for what happens when we’re done. Because the more I take tonight, the less I’ll be able to give up tomorrow. But I bring her just a little pleasure. Giving, but not taking… “You think you’re the puppet master, Nova Nichols.” I tease her clit, circling it with my wet fingers and inhaling her panting exhale. “You think you can bat your lashes and tell me what you want, and I’ll just give it to you?”
She rolls her hips, searching for more.
“You think I’ll mindlessly fuck you, knowing tomorrowmustcome, and when it does, this is all over. If I have you, I’m notgiving you up. So, stop fucking tempting me when all I want to do is keep you alive.”
She chases my fingers, sliding her hand under her dress again and attempting, but failing, to force mine where she wants them. “Lincoln!”
