“Do you want me?” I ask, my voice husky and low.
“What?” Her eyes snap to mine, and I have to blink to clear away the fantasy.
“Do you want me to get you a knife?” I say, looking down at our plates.
“Please.”
The butcher block filled with mismatched cutlery is right next to me, and I grab one out for her. Jesus, Tidas, get it together. My hands almost shake as I place it on the table next to her and take a deep breath. I’ve never been this close to her for this long, and it’s fucking with my head.
“So why don’t you tell me all your ideas and I can tell you why they won’t work.” When her eyes narrow on me, I smile.
This is familiar territory, and this is where I’m safe. It’s in the quiet softness between us that I feel like I can’t breathe. Like she’s somehow stolen my soul and I won’t live without her. But when she’s aggravated, it’s pure sex, and I fucking love it.
Chapter Seven
Valerie
He keeps touching me. It’s only small brushes, but his fingers linger a bit longer than they should. He even offered me bites of his food. He has to be doing it on purpose, I just don’t understand why.
“You don’t want the last bite?” He brings the spoonful of cheesecake toward my mouth, and I open, not willing to answer. He smirks when my lips close around the spoon. Sometimes he can be sweet and other times he’s just a jerk. Tidas is confusing me and has my emotions all over the place. I don’t like it.
I freeze when he lifts his hand to my face. My breath catches in my throat as his thumb grazes the side of my mouth. Then my heart stops as he brings it to his mouth, sucking it clean. Heat pools between my thighs and my nipples tighten. Oh god. This is not happening.
“Thanks for dinner.” I jump up from my chair, needing to get away from him. Not that there is much space in my small apartment. Especially with someone as big as him. Even when he leaves, I know his presence is going to linger.
“I’ve barely told you my ideas.” That smirk of his turns to a full smile.
“Does it really even matter? You’re going to do what you want. You always do.” I grab my plate and take it over to the sink.
I watch out of the corner of my eye as he gets up from his seat. His big body comes right up behind me, and his chest brushes my back as he leans around, placing his plate in the sink. When I feel his arm rub against mine, I close my eyes.
“Breathe,” he whispers in my ear, and his hand comes to rest on my stomach. “There’s no reason to get worked up.” I swear I can feel him smile against my ear.
I try to spin around, but he stops me from moving as his body presses into mine until I can feel every single inch of him.
If anything, fear should shoot through me, but that’s far from what hits me. A rush of desire sizzles through my body, and I close my eyes. He’s turned on by me. How is that even possible? He's supposed to only tolerate me because he has to.
“What are you doing?”
“What I’ve wanted to do for a long time.” He brushes the hair off my shoulder so his nose can graze along the column of my neck. I grip the side of the sink when he touches my skin. “Do you taste like apples too?” He must be talking about my body wash, but he doesn't wait for me to respond as his mouth latches on to me, and he sucks.
“Tidas.” I gasp at the sensation.
“Fuck,” he groans, and the hand he has on my stomach flexes. It pushes me farther into his erection as my body falls back against him. My heart starts to pound when he tugs at the string of my pants, and need like I’ve never felt throbs between my legs.
I should stop him. This is wrong. We really shouldn’t be doing this. It’s going to make everything so much worse than it already is.
When I open my mouth, all that comes out is a whimper as his hands slide into the front of my pants.
“Bare,” he groans, and I don’t know if he means bare as in I didn’t have panties on or the fact that I shave everything. “You’re a naughty girl.”
“Oh god.” I am a naughty girl, aren’t I? I don’t even like this man and I’m letting him do this to me. I’ve thought about him doing a lot of things to me when I was alone in my bedroom at night, but that’s totally different than it actually happening. Right?