Page 36 of White Noise

I swallow, his gaze stays locked on mine.

“But I don’t want scraps, little echo.”

The room feels smaller.

“I don’t want five minutes.”

His steps slow.

“I want the part of you that thinks it can still hide from me.”

My pulse jumps, and his expression changes immediately. Satisfied and predatory.

“There you are.”

“Stay the fuck away from me.”

His smile deepens and I grab the closest thing on the counter and throw it.

The energy drink slams into his shoulder and bursts, spraying liquid across his chest and stomach.

Silas stops and looks down at himself, before looking back at me. For one horrible second, neither of us moves.

“Feel better?” he asks.

“A little.”

His smile disappears and the look that replaces it sends a cold rush straight through me. There's no anger. Not even annoyance. Fuck, if anything he looks interested. Excited.

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy you.”

He comes toward me and this time he moves fast.

I barely make it around the island before his hand closes around my wrist and yanks me backward. I gasp and twist hard, but his grip doesn’t shift. The first thing my brain registers is heat.

He isn’t cold.

He’s hot.

Not normal body heat either. There’s something underneath it, a low vibration that hums through his skin and into mine the second he grabs me.

His fingers lock around my wrist, thumb pressed directly over my pulse, and the static snaps there first.

I suck in a breath.

The sensation spreads fast, a sharp electric buzz rolling up my arm and across my chest while he drags me back against him. His body is solid behind mine, all hard muscle and heat, but that faint current never stops moving beneath the surface.

Fuck.

My whole body goes rigid.

Silas lowers his head until his mouth is close to my ear, and I feel the low vibration in his chest when he laughs. His free hand slides slowly over my side, not gentle enough to be comforting, but curious. Testing.

“Humans are fucking interesting.”

My breath catches.

His fingers press lightly into my waist, and the static under his skin pulses harder. The reaction is immediate. Heat flashes through me, my muscles tightening before I can stop them.