My back was against the locker again in a heartbeat. Reno pressed into me, victory shining
in his beautiful brown eyes and satisfaction practically oozing from his pores. But it was the possessive, hungry way his gaze scored into my features that caused me to choke on my next breath.
His voice was gruff, his breath brushing over my lips when he growled, “Damn fucking right.”
My eyes slid closed and my head rolled to the side. The cool metal of the locker caressed my flaming cheek, but Reno’s firm hands closed around my face and brought my head back to center. I had no plans on looking at him after what I'd just inadvertently admitted.
“Riley, look at me.”
I didn't react, not a damn twitch.
“Dammit, Riley. Look. At. Me.”
He breathed heavily, his voice laced with frustration, maybe even desperation, as his thumbs stroked over my cheekbones.
“Why the hell are you fighting this so damn hard?” he asked, his lips tracing my cheek. “I like you. You like me. What's the worst that could happen?”
My eyes snapped open with no instruction from my brain. I caught and held his dark gaze. Pure instinct drove my response.
“Everything.” The word broke from me with conviction.
It was his turn to close his eyes. His head dropped forward to lean against the metal door of the locker. His warm breath tickled the skin on my neck, and his coarse whiskers brushed against my cheek.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
My heart hammered, my chest rising and falling unevenly, matching his.
“Can I go, please?” I mumbled quietly.
Wagging his head in defeat, he moved back, releasing me. My feet ate up the ground, putting distance between us in case he decided to change his mind, but I couldn't outrun his voice, or his words. My steps halted before I could order them not to.
“We're not done here, Riley,” he declared to my back. “I won't let you run away from this because you're scared. I am coming for you... but I'll give you a minute to get used to the idea.”
My hands clenched. My heart rate soared.
But damn if my lips didn't twitch.
Thirteen
Riley
“He hasn't laid a finger on her all week. Her ass hasn't so much as graced his side of the table, never mind his lap. She looks pissed AF.”
Keeping my eyes firmly on my side of the cafeteria, I shrugged. I could almost feel Liss' inquisitive stare boring into the side of my head.
“Know anything about that?” she queried.
Taking a long gulp of water, I swallowed before saying “nope,” as if I hadn't noticed the fact that Reno had practically strapped a do not touch placard to his back this week. When, let's be honest, it was all I’d noticed.
“Huh. That's strange.” Liss’ body shifted, legs swinging under the table as the weight of her gaze lifted, and she turned her attention away.
Man, I hated when she did that, forced my hand. “What's strange?”
“That you claim to know nothing about the sudden end to the daily fuck fests between those two, yet Reno hasn't quit staring at you long enough to move a fry from his plate to his mouth without poking his damn eye out with it. And you can’t look his way without your entire face firing up. And yet you tell me this has nothing to do with you.”
Simmer the eff down, my heart.
Schooling my reaction, I made a point of putting a fry in my mouth, stabbing no part of my face, and tipped up a shoulder. “Don’t know what to tell you, Liss.”