I snatch my jacket from the ground and shove my arms into it. I refuse to give her a reaction.
Haven marches over to me and pushes me, but my feet are braced. Her brows furrow in anger when I don’t shift under her small hands.
“Admit that you want me,” she says. “What ifyoudragged me onto your chest so you could grab my ass? What if you’re the one who can’t keep his hands to himself? Sounds like you have an issue with resisting temptation.”
“There is nothing tempting about you,” I say roughly. “You are…you are the most infuriating person I have ever met.”
It angers me that she has a point. I did use my powers in that test to kiss her. There was no purpose to that scene other than for me to see her in that white silk dress and to imagine a world where she did not hate me. I couldn’t contain my desires, and as someone whose life was built on rules and control, it is a travesty that I can be brought so low by one mouthy, insufferable brat.
Even though her words are pissing me off, all I can think about is shutting her up. With my mouth.
“Fuck!”
My patience fractures. I push her against the wall, coiling my hand around her throat. Her eyes flash in fear, which only ramps up my desire.
“Do you enjoy getting under my skin?”
“Kind of,” she whispers.
My mouth collides with hers, fingers tightening around her throat, robbing her of the very air she requires. Right now, all she needs to survive is me. Her mouth is stiff for one split second, and then she melts. Her surrender feels like the greatest gift. I bite her lip hard, making her gasp. Once her lips part, my tongue slides in, feasting hungrily.
A moan escapes her, and I yank her closer, feeling her body flush against mine. I slip my palms under her knees and raise her so she can hike her thighs around my hips.
“Vale,” she breathes. “This is wrong.”
“Shut up, recruit,” I say against her mouth. “Let me decide what’s wrong and what’s right.”
“You’re so demanding,” she mumbles, sliding her fingers through my hair, yanking painfully hard on the strands. She tilts my head back, forcing me to look up at her. “But right now I’m in charge.”
I swallow.
Fuck, she looks so hot, glaring down at me, her mouth raised in a sassy tilt.
I lean forward, hungrily chasing her mouth, but she doesn’t relinquish her hold. My roots ache as her fingers tighten in warning.
“Do you understand?”
I clench my teeth.
“Vale,” she warns. “Put me down.”
Damn it. I don’t want to let go. From the wicked gleam in her eyes, she knows this, too.
“I’m at your service, Warrick,” I say. I intend to sound sarcastic, but I just sound desperate. “I’ll do anything you want. Break me. Hurt me. Tear out my heart, if you will. But do not leave me, not now, not when I need you.”
I stare at her eyes, my voice strained and tangled.
As wretched as I am, I still starve. And she fuels me in ways that I cannot describe.
“You are destroying me,” I breathe.
Her mouth falls on mine. Her fingers are tracing my jaw. Her touch soothes me. Just like her presence did last night when I told her about my old illusions and the life I couldn’t run from. I’ve never spoken about my past to anyone, not even Knox. But somehow I was able to share it with a girl who can’t stand me, a girl who drives me insane.
My touch softens. She was injured yesterday during the bombing.
“Am I hurting you?” I ask.
“No,” she says, tracing her tongue along my bottom lip.
