I walk toward the lake, his gaze never leaving my body.
His Adam’s apple rises and falls as he swallows.
Fearless, I step into the cold water, knowing full well what he could do to me. How he could touch me. Kiss me. Use me. Splay me. Fuck me.
The water is cold to the touch. My nipples instantly harden from the chill, but nothing can quench this fire growing inside me when he looks at me like that.
I pause midway toward him, hiding my body underneath the water, wondering what he plans to do with me. Why he lured me to this spot to begin with.
Because it’s definitely not a coincidence. He’s got ulterior motives.
“What do you want, Liam?” I ask.
“Why are you still asking?” he replies, wading closer. “Isn’t it obvious?”
I push down my nerves with sheer will and force myself to focus on the beautiful scenery, but my eyes keep coming back to his fully naked, ripped, tattooed body.
He inches closer and closer until there’s little to no space between us, and it suddenly feels as though this entire planet isn’t big enough for both of us.
His hand rises, one finger stretched out, touching my skin with the tip, and it sets off a chain reaction in my body I’m not prepared for. His hand goes up my chest and up to my face, still inching farther until his hand is around the back of my neck.
And he draws me closer. Closer. Even closer. Until his lips are right next to mine, hovering dangerously close.
Fuck.
I can’t.
I pull away, my heart going a million miles an hour as I swim out to the middle of the lake until I come to a stop in front of a rock formation that makes it impossible to swim across.
A hand on my shoulder spins me around forcefully, and I’m face-to-face again with the one man I vowed to destroy.
He comes close enough until my back is pressed up against the rock, and he plants both hands beside me, trapping me inside.
“Why did you bring me here?” I ask.
“Because it’s beautiful …” He leans in. “It reminded me of you.”
Fuck.
How could I not blush and smile from that?
Even if he’s a monster, he’s never been so kind to me.
It confuses the fuck out of me.
One moment, he’s the devil incarnate, and the next, I could almost … kiss him.
“I like seeing you smile,” he says, his voice ragged and strained. “I don’t want you to be angry with me.”
“Then why do you keep trying to hurt me?” I ask.
He knows what I mean.
This isn’t just about Jill or my choice to save her by sacrificing myself.
This is about him wanting to make me suffer.
Wanting to see me bleed, beg, cry.