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“Casper.” Her voice is steady and certain. “Hear me now . . . I am yours. And you are mine. You don’t have to wonder if you’re wanted . . . I am exactly where I want to be—with you.”
It slams harder than anything she’s previously said to me. Harder than when she told me she loved me, harder than learning she trusted my touch before any other man’s.
My breath stutters.
No one ever chose me.
I was placed. Moved. Passed around and around. My mom didn’t have the capacity to choose me—no matter how much she wished she could.
Anna didn’t force her way into my life—quite the opposite. She never demanded space, she just stayed. Quiet things at first, small, and now this . . . she’s mine and I’m hers.
You never have to wonder if you’re wanted.
I stand there, peering at her bewildered like a fucking idiot, but she has no idea what those words do to me.
“Oh . . . and you fuck me.” She holds my stare. “They can watch.”
We’re halfway home when Anna places her hand on my thigh. Her fingers roam, and they’re determined enough to have me gripping the steering wheel tighter. I’m already keyed up from the club; this isn’t helping.
“Duchess,” I warn.
She hums a weak acknowledgment like she doesn’t hear me, and continues glancing out her side window as we pass under streetlights. By the time we walked out, I wanted her shoved up against the brick wall outside the club, but resisted because . . . because I was pretending to be a gentleman with noble intentions—something I’m not actually capable of.
“I’m not doing anything,” she says, trying to sound innocent but we both know better.
“You know exactly what you’re doing.”
We stop at a red light and I inhale through my nose, focusing straight ahead and waiting for the light to turn green, tapping the steering wheel as if it speeds up time. What the fuck, the intersection is empty, we shouldn’t even be stopped! My thighs clench under her touch. Her fingers climb higher and my cock twitches. Goddamn it.
“No,” I say immediately.
She pauses. “No?”
“No.”
Anna withdraws from me and sighs. The light finally flashes green and I quickly accelerate out of there. She shifts in her seat and I glance over in time to see her hand disappear under the silk of her dress. I tuck my tongue in my cheek and shake my head, moving my gaze back to the road. The needle climbs a few degrees higher on my speedometer. I need to get her home.
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter under my breath.
“Eyes forward, Casper.”
“Sounds boring,” I reply.
She laughs, low and sexy like she knows she’s holding all the cards. “Keep your eyes on the road.”
“That is a wildly unfair instruction.”
“It’s the law.”
I scoff. “Let’s leave my archrival out of this.”
Anna wriggles some more in her seat and from my peripheral, I see her bend forward; there’s a slow drag and now I realize what she’s doing.
My vision strays to her and she replies with a sharp “Road.”
“You’re trying to kill me. This is attempted murder.”
“Now who’s bringing legality into it? I’m simply trying to have fun with you.”
