My jaw locks. “And then?”
“I pushed him away and locked myself in my room. I called Millie. She and Wilder came and got me.” She wraps her arms tighter around herself. “I still don’t get why he won’t leave me alone.”
I flex my fingers at my side. The picture of a kid fending for herself, and now, a grown woman running from a predator, makes me want to do real damage. My anger is a loaded weapon, waiting.
“You’re brave, Cammi,” I say, firm. “You’re safe now. I won’t let anything happen to you.” My hand brushes hers lightly. Careful. Light.
“Thank you,” she says.
“You don’t have to handle it alone anymore. Not ever. I’m not going anywhere.”
She meets my eyes—shy, hesitant, but trusting—and something shifts in me. Something older, darker. Protective, and yes…possessive. I don’t care. I only care that she’s here. That she’s safe. That she’smine, even if she doesn’t know it yet.
We walk the last stretch in silence, the night wrapping around us. At Wilder House, I take her to the door. The air between us pulls tight and charged. She digs in her bag for her keys, then opens the door.
“Goodnight, angel,” I say as she turns back to me.
She rises up on her toes—and presses a soft kiss to my cheek. “Thank you. For everything,” she whispers.
And that’s all the restraint I’ve got.
I catch her chin and bring her mouth to mine.
It’s soft for half a second. Then it breaks open like a dam.
My hand slides into her hair, cradling her head, and I feel the slight tremble in her lips against mine. Every nerve in my body lights up. Heat unfurls low in my gut. It sends sharp jabs of current to my cock.
She’s hesitant at first, uncertain, her hands climbing my chest in shy, uncertain movements to the back of my neck, and it drives me out of my mind.
I want more. I want everything. So I take a little—I sweep my tongue past her lips. She gasps softly and shivers in my arms.
I bet she didn’t know it could feel like this. This might even be her first real kiss. The thought drives my possessiveness even higher, and my dick grows thick and hard. I swallow her soft, breathy moans as her tongue tentatively meets mine.
I take one last nip of her lower lip and pull back just enough to press my forehead to hers. “You’re going to be the death of me, Cammi,” I rasp, our breaths mingling.
She eases back, eyes wide, lips parted and swollen, cheeks flaming. “I—I should go,” she stammers. “Goodnight.” She hurries inside her room, and the door clicks shut.
I smirk at the closed door, my pulse still racing. I’m amused and…wrecked. “Yeah,” I murmur.
A few seconds later, I’m still staring at her closed door.Dick hard and mind racing, very aware of just how much I want her.
I head down the hall to my place with my blood still up. The second the door shuts behind me, I’m done pretending.Back against the wall, I grasp my cock, already hard, already aching.
I let the night replay—her mouth opening under mine, the little gasp, the way she shivered when I licked into her. The taste of her. The tremble in her lips. The way her hands circled my neck like she didn’t know whether to pull me closer or hold herself up.
I work myself slow at first, then not slow at all. I think about what she’d sound like if my hands were on her. What she’d look like underneath me, flushed and wrecked and saying my name the way she whispered goodnight. I think about being the first—the only—to touch her like this, and the thought rides me hard.
It doesn’t take long. I come with her name on my tongue, head pressed against the door like she’s on the other side of it. Like if I press hard enough I’ll feel her through it.
I stay there for a moment, breathing. It doesn’t take the edge off. If anything, it’s worse now—I know what she tastes like.
I thought she was too good for me. Wanted her anyway. And I couldn’t let myself have her.
Now that I’ve tasted her, she’s all I want. I should keep my distance. Instead, I can’t wait to see her again.
Chapter Four
Cammi
