Page 184 of Maddening Fixation

Shock robbed me of speech.

My heart battered against my ribs so violently it hurt.

“What are you doing?” I whispered, panic strangling my voice.

His left arm wrapped firmly around my waist, hauling me back until there wasn’t even an inch of space between us.

My spine pressed against the hard planes of his chest, every steady beat of his heart reverberating through my body.

I had never been this close to him before.

Never been this aware of him.

Fear coursed through every nerve, yet beneath it lurked something infinitely more dangerous—a longing I had buried for years.

It terrified me.

His breath skimmed the side of my neck.

Warm. Steady.

Far too close.

“You’ve made it perfectly clear where your loyalty lies,” he murmured, his Irish accent roughened into something colder. “But I will not tolerate a wife—even a temporary one—whose allegiance belongs to another man.”

His hand came to rest against the center of my chest, lingering just long enough to make my pulse race before sliding upward with slow, deliberate control.

Every muscle in my body locked.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

This was wrong.

Everything about this moment was wrong.

He hated me.

He had humiliated me in front of both our families.

He had vowed to make my life miserable.

Yet being trapped against him like this awakened emotions I despised myself for feeling.

Heat pooled low in my stomach.

My breathing became uneven.

I hated that my body refused to separate fear from the years I’d spent secretly loving him.

I hated myself even more for it.

Then his lips brushed the side of my neck.

The contact was fleeting.

Barely a kiss.

Yet it sent a violent shiver racing through me.