“I already told you I was.” His answer is clear and lacks the arrogance and dismissiveness he’s given me so far today. I don’t have to ask him to expand on his answer, since he does that himself. “Her death has caused ripple effects. When I have a name and a reason, you will too.”
I can’t help that I flinch when he lays a hand on my shoulder. I can’t control the way I feel, and I struggle to hide that from him.
I’m so alone. In a room with this man I’ve been thinking about for days, I feel so fucking alone. Maybe I made the memory of that night more than what was actually there.
I stare at the flames lingering among the pure white crystals. I let them mesmerize me and tell myself I don’t have to go through with this. I don’t have to rely on Jase Cross.
But the alternative crushes me; I can’t risk never knowing what happened and having to say goodbye without giving her justice.
His left hand finds my hip and he rubs soothing circles there over the sweater. Which only makes me hate him more until he lowers his lips to my ear and whispers, “Does it make a difference to you… if I admit I feel that chemistry too? That I have a desire to be near you?”
With a gentle kiss on my neck, that hard wall around me cracks and crumbles.
“It’s no longer only business for me, cailín tine.”
His words are a soothing balm. One I didn’t realize I needed. My hand covers his, and I lean back into his chest, where he holds me. This man holds me because he wants to do just that. And I lean into him, because I want to do just that.
“I like it when you touch me,” I whisper into the room, hoping it will keep my secret.
“And I like touching you,” he says softly and runs the tip of his nose down the back of my neck, causing my eyes to close, my head to loll to the side and the pain to drift away slowly.
I don’t want to be alone. I almost speak the realization aloud.
“I promise you, I will find out who hurt her.” His words cause my eyes to open and when they do, I stare at the fire as Jase pulls my sweater over my head. It falls to the floor and then he whispers against the shell of my ear, “I will make them pay for what they did. And you will know every detail.”
Jase
When she turns in my arms, I don’t expect her to devour me with a kiss full of need and hunger. She can only hold up the hate routine for so long before her arms get weak and tired, and her body gives in to what it needs.
Pressing her lips to mine and spearing her fingers through my hair, she pulls me lower to her, standing on her tiptoes and holding her body against mine.
My tongue dives into her hot mouth, feeling the heat and need and lust she has to offer.
Her head falls back so she can breathe, deep and chaotically. I don’t need air. I need to devour her.
With my arms wrapped around her and my lips traveling down her neck, down her bare shoulder, I take in every inch of her. Inhaling her sweet scent, memorizing the alluring sounds she lets slip from her lips. Dragging my teeth back up her neck, I hear her hiss my name, “Jase.”
“Make me forget,” she whimpers against my lips before I can ravage her.
Make me forget.
I don’t speak the only response I can give her. I will, if you do the same for me.
Slamming my lips against hers, I grab her ass and lift her into my arms. Her legs straddle my waist as I carry her to the table.
Her hips need to be nestled against the padding, and the strap is meant to keep her in place. But I have no time for any of it. The urgency of our heated kiss fuels a primitive side of me with the need to have her under me as soon as possible.
With her heels digging into my ass, spurring me on, I groan in the hot air between us, “I need to be inside of you.”
Her lips part, and I can almost hear her say the words. I know what she’s going to say before she says it, I need you too.
But her gaze lingers, time pauses and the truth is lost in a haze of want and need.
Instead she kisses me, long and deep. Massaging my tongue and taking everything she wants with our kiss.
With her ass supported by the bench, I unbutton and unzip my jeans, letting them fall as I stroke my cock.
“I need you,” she whispers into my mouth and then kisses me reverently again.