Lover (Court University 4)

So much debate in my hands, my chest and maybe even a little in my eyes too. I knew when Bri brushed her thumb across my eyebrow. It felt like fucking heaven, and I wanted to bite her flesh.

I did, goddamn me, teeth sinking into her palm. I sucked her skin, the taste akin to cherries, that juicy, that succulent. We both moaned in my running car and when she probed again, for me to come inside and for me to join her, I forced my mouth to let go of her.

I pulled her hand away, lacing our fingers. “Should we?” Should we do this? Should I jump with her? What a time for a conscience, right? I shook my head. “I mean, I don’t want to do something you don’t want to do.”

Weak, I knew. Placing the ball in her court, for her to deny me and not the other way around. I suppose, in a way, it was a bit telling of our age difference. I didn’t want to be the reason to shut this shit down, but it was the only way to clear my conscience from the possibility of a heavy guilt. I didn’t want to take advantage of the situation. Take advantage of her.

I wet my lips. “There were a lot of emotions tonight.”

A lot of feelings and I saw each of them play in that moment. They ghosted across her hooded eyes and smoked eyelashes, the soft glow of her highlighted cheeks and flushed skin. This woman was a work of art.

And she was pulling away from me.

She physically tugged free from my hand, grabbing her purse.

“Bri—”

“You know, if you don’t want to do this, just say,” she said, laying my shit bare when she whipped around. Her dark mane fell in a flourish over her rosy chest, the heat of before returning to her dark eyes. I hated to see it. See her like this. She shook her head. “Not whatever the hell this is.”

She waved her hand, but I took it. Definitely not wanting to let her go and most certainly not like this. “Bri, we just... we said a lot tonight.” Honest. It had been a lot. “I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”

“Well, thanks for looking out for me,” she snapped, once again, forcing her hand away. She got out, heeled pumps to the ground. “I hope you think about that while you’re jerking yourself off tonight. I’m thirty-five years old, Ramses. I can handle myself.”

“That’s not what I—”

Door slammed in my face, cutting off my words. I watched her huff as she made her way to the elevator, her head thrown back as she shot inside it like a bullet.

I touched my head to the steering wheel, my car still running before I growled and peeled off to the closest parking space. I was definitely going to regret this. I definitely shouldn’t give in to this. I’d been impulsive before. I’d been stupid before.

Pocketing my keys, I hit the same elevator punching the five once inside. I was amped the hell up. I didn’t fucking care. I was going to chase this woman.

I just hoped she was ready to be goddamn chased.

Chapter Six

Bri

Man child, my only thought as I gobbled a glass of wine in a swallow. I downed that crap like a frat boy.

I mean, he said no to me.

I was embarrassed, on fire. I’d basically thrown myself at the guy when he had no interest in me.

He’d actually been trying to be nice about it.

I didn’t want nice. I wanted savage and wanted someone to help me get out of my head. I wanted escape, to feel lack of control but on my terms. I wanted to be able to make the calls, the shots. I wanted the power.

For once.

I poured another glass as a fist hit the door, one then two swift knocks. No way in hell should my landlord be knocking at my door at such an hour, even if I had called earlier in the week about a slow-flushing toilet. This condo had been new when I rented it, the first tenant, but they were obviously working out the kinks still. This place was flawless outside of that hiccup, polished marble countertops, sleek hardwood floors, and fresh ivory paint. They’d even added an accent wall in a cool silver, making the place just as masculine as it was feminine, something I hadn’t minded since I didn’t fall into the stereotype of a woman in need to fill her life with pink and flowers. Nothing wrong with pink and flowers, but that was something I’d never been into.

Thump, thump, thump.

What the hell?

I chugged the last bit of my wine, ready to lay into someone’s ass and failed to check the peephole before opening the door. I just opened it, ready to unleash the fiery gates of hell, but before I could the back of my neck was grasped and lips crashed down so hard on mine I drew blood.

I tasted his blood, Ramses’s lips between my teeth and my lower lip clamped tight between his, a fluid exchange.