Page 16 of Coal Hearts

His gaze narrowed on Sam, but he didn’t answer the question.

Terror ricocheted down my spine. “Look, this has all gotten completely out of hand. Stop it. Both of you.”

Sam spared me a glance. “Yeah...you might be right.” He rolled his shoulders. “I might curse the very ground you walk on, Ily, but I’m not so dickish that I want someone to—”

“I won’t hurt her,” the guy muttered. “Not unless she asks me to.”

What the—

“So you do want to fuck her?” Sam raised an eyebrow.

The guy looked at me, winced, then nodded just once.

My eyes popped out of my head. “I can’t believe you think you can pay to sleep with me. Y-You’re delusional.”

The man jerked me into him, his lips skating over my ear. “Am I delusional that the moment I set eyes on you I wanted you? Am I delusional that I’m doing something completely against my wishes, yet somehow, the longer I go along with this, the harder it is to stop?”

I froze.

I couldn’t catch a proper breath.

He nipped at my lobe, sending a gush of sensitivity down my spine.

“Merde, if you could feel how hard I am...how fast my heart is pounding.”

I shivered.

Violently.

“If you knew why I’m doing this and why I need you...” He let out an involuntary groan right against my cheek. “If you knew how hard I’m fighting to stay human...you’d know that the helplessness you feel right now is exactly how I feel.” He nuzzled me. “You don’t know me and I don’t know you, yet every cell in my goddamn body is snarling to bend you over this bar and claim you.” He chuckled. “So yeah, maybe you’re right: I am delusional.”

I stumbled backward as I sucked in a shaky breath. I hated the visceral reaction he caused. The heat. The awful, awful flush of awareness and shock and rage and...want.

I had no idea what to say.

He successfully gagged me with brutal honesty or conniving lies.

Twisting my arm in his fingers, I croaked, “You said you’re doing something against your wishes? Well, you have my permission to stop. Let me go. Take your money. And leave.” My gaze flickered down to his trousers, my heart skipping at the bulge between his legs.

He wasn’t lying.

He was hard.

And somehow, that turned every part of me into a traitor.

What was it about this man that irked me, infuriated me, and intoxicated me quicker than any other substance on earth?

“I can’t do that,” he said almost sadly, his fingers pulsing around my wrist.

Self-preservation shot like a sobering cure through my veins. Squirming again, I bared my teeth. “Yes, you can. You can’t buy me, rent me, sleep with me, or do whatever it is that you think you’re doing. If you don’t let me go this instant, I’m going to knee you in the balls, then call the cops, and—”

“Shit.” He wrenched me closer. His face twisted as his lips returned to my ear, hot and seducing, feeding his sins directly into my blood. “I should warn you, I don’t do well with threats. I wish I was free to do exactly what you demand, but I can’t. The only thing I can give you is advice....the more you fight me, the worse this will be for you. So, don’t fight. Just give in...like I have. Surrender, Ily, and this...this can all be over soon.”

My name.

He claimed my name without it being his to use.

The way it rolled on his tongue and clung to his teeth. It felt as if the soft sunshine I’d been named after just had its light smothered and heat frozen over with his arrogant, dangerous tone.