“No!” My fingers fist into his shirt, and I haul him back to me. He catches himself with his hands braced against the wall on both sides of my head but his body smashes into me, the hardest part of him jabbing into my thigh. He hisses a breath through his teeth and I pant, feet sliding down the wall as I fight the magic levitating me to rub myself further against him. “Stay, Please—just stay.”
He groans an agonized sound that echoes through my blood and strengthens my resolve.
He wants this.
But he’s fighting it.
I can feel him trying to remove himself and I cling to him. “Sitri—“
His eyes are suddenly too much, too piercing. I look down at my fingers still clutching at his shirt.
I am starved.
Starving.
I will beg.
Lay everything down.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I…I only did that because I thought you...and I—I—I don’t want anyone else.” I force a swallow down my parched throat, the last three words coming out in an almost inaudible whisper. “I want you.”
Three words that split my ribs wide. Reveal the fleshy heart underneath.
It pounds between us.
Poundsandpoundsandpounds.
Sputtering when he makes an angry sound deep in his throat. His hands fist into my hair and my lips part with a silent gasp as he tugs hard, tipping my head back up to meet his gaze. His eyes are hard, unyielding as they flit over my face, and then lowering, half hooded as they settle on my lips. He moves on me yet I remain petrified like prey caught in the grasp of a great beast. Survival instincts finally surface and I move back reflexively, head clanking against the wall.
His nose grazes mine, one gentle nudge, and then our open mouths barely brush in a lip-quavering moment of hesitation—my inexperience cages around me. The culmination of emotions is too much, going up inside of me like the crackling embers of a fire. My head jerks slightly as I suck in a sharp breath.
He steadies me, fingers digging into my cheek as he pries my lips open and douses me in a hit of his liquid warmth.
A soft sound snags in my throat, involuntary and he presses in harder, his lips as demanding and pushy as he is.
He maneuvers us, molding me into submission as he smothers me in the warm, smoky flesh taste of his skin.
Confidence building, I push back against him, vying for control. Surprised when he immediately yields to make room for me, allowing me to take the lead. I kiss him hard and he kisses me sweetly and we’rekissing each otherandkissing each otherandkissing each other. The simple awareness of it erupts my chest into bursting. We build it up frantically and then slow it to something calmer, more languid, a steady reassurance with his thumbs painting soothing motions against my cheeks.
When his tongue slides over my bottom lip, I burn all the way to my molten middle. I meet him there eagerly, licking at his lips and then his tongue. He cradles my face in his hands delicately, humming out an amused sound when I dip my tongue all the way in to graze it across the bottom of those two crooked teeth.
My hands inch up his neck, claiming his jaw and then the shaved sides of his head I’ve so longed to touch. Appreciating the strong shape of his skull before tangling my fingers in the thick decadent curls.
It’s everything I’ve been longing for if it weren’t for the fact of him keeping our bodies maddeningly just out of reach. I tug at his hair, trying to draw him closer, only succeeding in coaxing out a few deep, rumbling groans that only entice me further yet punctuate his refusal to come any nearer.
He softens the kiss in tender motions, tide growing smaller, tinkling like soft chimes in my chest but does little to sate the yearning fire between my legs. He pulls back, panting warm breaths over my face as he brushes his lips to the tip of my nose, one cheek, the next, and the last to my forehead.
He’s already trying to end this but I’ve just barely begun. I stretch forward, searching. He presses a firm peck to my lips and darts back. My brows crumple and he does it again. When I look up, there’s amusement in his eyes.
Playing.
I huff a breath in frustration and he laughs softly. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I give another pleading tug. He doesn’t even budge.
“Don’t test me, Pandora.” His husky rumble pebbles over my skin as he traces a finger down my forehead, my nose.
“Why?” I whisper.
“Because it’s difficult enough as it is.”
