His steel-gray eyes darkened a shade. “Is that what you want to believe? That I’d kill you?”
She looked away. His hand fell on her shoulder, startling her.
“Do I still frighten you?” he asked.
The touch was far from frightening. It was a memory etched into her DNA. It was a need that, if she allowed it, would blossom and grow into something huge, something insatiable and incurable.
He gripped her chin and turned her face back to him. “Time isn’t on our side. You have to help me keep you safe.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” she asked, licking her dry lips.
“Help me to find Erwan.”
“Help you to arrest him, you mean. I can’t do that.”
He trailed his fingers along her jaw. “I’m not asking you to betray him. I’m asking you to help me find the truth.”
The gentle caress was disarming, but she kept her face stoic. “I don’t believe you. You’re hiding something.”
“I said I’d get you out of this. Don’t you trust me?”
“How can I? I’m your prisoner. I don’t trust the people you work with. You can’t guarantee they won’t harm Erwan.”
Working his jaw from side to side, he only stared at her.
Yeah, she didn’t think so. “This is bigger than just the fires or finding a criminal.”
“You have no idea.” Wiping a thumb over her bruised lip, he dragged it down her neck. His gaze shifted to the marks he’d left. “Does it hurt?”
Sparks ignited under her skin. “No.” Her throat moved against his thumb as she swallowed.
He locked his hand around her neck and pressed closer, making her lean backward. “I didn’t mean to.” His voice dropped. “You know why it happened.”
“What are you doing?” she exclaimed.
He kept going until his weight pushed her down on the mattress. “I want the truth. You’re hiding something.”
The hardness growing against her thigh was unmistakable, another truth with dire consequences, one that would destroy them if they didn’t stump out the embers before they had time to burn. Still, sparks of lust crackled in her stomach. Her breath caught.
“That little gasp is a truth in itself.” He rotated his hips, pinning her down not only with his body but also with the hand he kept clamped around her neck. “Feel what you do to me?”
“This is a bad idea,” she said through dry lips.
He dragged his hand down the column of her neck and traced the outline of her collarbone. “The truth, Cle.”
“What truth?” she croaked.
Trailing a finger over the upper curve of her breast, he drew a slow line to her nipple. Satisfaction bled into his gaze when he found the tip hard. “Why are you doing this to me?”
Her skin burned where he’d touched it. Desire and longing mixed together, a powerful cocktail of emotional and physical need. They had to stop. She couldn’t fall harder for him than she already had. He was still her enemy. Erwan’s enemy.
She pushed on his shoulders. “Joss, get off.”
He brushed a palm over her breast to her stomach, an unhurried path of exploration. “I told you what you wanted to know.” His jaw set into a determined line. “Now it’s your turn.”
“Tell you what?” she asked, already breathless.
“What I do to you. If it’s the same.”
“I’m not telling you anything.” She pushed harder, but he didn’t budge. “You can’t do this.” He couldn’t force her to confess her feelings. Her body was already betraying her, but he wanted her to say it, to admit she still wanted him. Her pride wouldn’t let her. It was all she had left.
“Can’t I?” he asked with a challenging smile.
Fire coursed through her veins when he dipped his hand lower, and when he cupped her sex her body combusted. She bit her lip to prevent herself from moaning.
“I can shove my hand into your panties and find out for myself or you can just tell me.” He curled his fingers. It was the gentlest squeeze, but it made her gasp. “I know this body, even if I can’t remember. I can’t wait to get reacquainted with every inch of your skin.”
She moaned as he aligned his hard-on with her clit through their clothes and rotated his hips. It was impossible to think.
“Those sweet sounds make me think you want me,” he taunted.
“Joss—”
He caught the protest before she could utter it, swallowing her denial with a kiss. Her lips parted for his tongue as her legs parted for the hips he thrust between her thighs. Like a flower opens up to the sun, she let him inside her heart, not Joss the boy, but Joss the man. If it hadn’t been for their clothes, she would’ve let him inside her body too.
Taking the lead, he shaped her lips with his kiss and set the pace of their hips. It was easy to follow. Wrapping her legs around him, she showed him what he’d demanded to know.