His hand on my waist slides around in a caress, and I close my eyes. It takes a lot of strength not to taste the hand that is covering my mouth.
“You avoid me for two days so you can come watch me, while you hide in the shadows? That’s not fair, Kya. I’ve wanted to see you too.”
His warm breath fans the side of my face as he leans over and gently scrapes his lips over my neck. My entire body shivers in response, and I feel him smirk against me.
Slowly, he removes his hand from my mouth, and I lick my lips, wetting them as I try to get a handle on my rapid, ridiculously erratic breaths.
His newly freed hand removes my hood, tugging it down. I stare straight ahead, refusing to turn around and face him.
“You forget my senses are really good. I knew the second you got close.”
“How?” I whisper, watching as the others go on about their interests, unaware of us.
“Your scent and my scent. You have my scent all over you, despite the showers you’ve taken.” He pushes my hair to the side and flicks his tongue against the sensitive flesh he’s revealed, and I bite back a moan. “Which means he hasn’t touched you.”
“I’ve never touched Slade like that,” I say, feeling the unnecessary need to announce that.
“Good. I don’t want anyone else touching you.”
Anger bubbles up inside me at how weak I feel in his arms. A puppet. A lusty puppet. I’m not supposed to be anyone’s puppet.
“Says the man who walked away with no explanation and left me naked and alone in the woods.” The snarky bite to my tone definitely cuts the strings between puppeteer and puppet.
He stills against me, going rigid. Suddenly, my breath leaves in a harsh rush as my body goes weightless. It doesn’t take but a second to realize what he’s done, and I screw my eyes shut until we’re suddenly stopping somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
“That was probably the shittiest thing I could have done,” he says on an exhale, his hand moving across my stomach again as I study the new surroundings.
“It was damn close,” I agree. “Where are we?” I ask, trying to move away from him.
“Somewhere private where we can talk.”
His hands fall away, and I stumble forward, trying to get my bearings again. I finally turn to face him as he cocks his head. He looks eerie in that mask, and his stance is definitely predatory right now. I’m nothing but prey in his eyes.
“You’re fighting me now?” he drawls, taking a step closer.
It feels like déjà vu.
“Do I need to remind you again what you did?”
“Why were you at our cabin?” he asks instead.
“Why did you just leave? What did I say that was so wrong?”
I can’t help it. I have to know. It’s been driving me crazy, even though he’s obviously not worth the trouble. My mind and body don’t seem to be on the same page with that last bit.
“You said you only fucked me to calm me down,” he states flatly, confusing me. “I thought it was a little more than that, so... I reacted poorly. It pissed me off.”
“I didn’t say that,” I immediately point out.
“You did.”
“You’re putting words in my mouth. I said I calmed you down, but I didn’t say that’s the only reason I did that, Chaz.”
My arms wrap around myself to essentially shield me. Not that anything is shielded. I’ve always felt exposed around him. With everyone else, I’ve felt comfortably guarded. He strips me bare with just one look every single time.
He groans before finally pulling off that damn mask and tossing it aside. His hat stays on, and he moves toward me too fast for me to move away. In a blur, he’s on me, pushing me against a tree, and I try to remain angry as he pins me in place. Because... That’s how I’m supposed to be, right?
He’s making it hard to think as he tilts my head up and stares into my eyes like he’s trying to find something.