The sound made me pause, made my fingers tighten. Even in the dark of the room, I could almost feel him staring at me with wide, anxious eyes. His breath came in ragged little pants that played heat against my lips.
When I yanked on his hair again, he squirmed, the gasp turning into a little whine that caught at the back of his throat. He tried and failed to hide it. Tried and failed to stop his body from rocking forward, to press closer to me like he couldn’t help it.
Nikkihadn’tliked pain. If I’d been rough at all, he’d complained. He’d been able to take it just fine, and he’d dished it out as though he was doing something as casual as cooking breakfast.
But he didn’t like it.
Judging by the way London’s cock jumped against my leg where he was plastered to me, I’d say that was another difference between the two of them.
Fuck…
I liked this one.
There were so many little cracks and divots, so many places where someone else had crept in from one life to the next—while I’d beendead. When I looked at him, when I felt him against me, it was hard to wrap myself around the shape of my hate. It was hard to feel anything but… London.
Everything wasLondon.
I pulled back with a snarl, and froze when I realized his small hands were fisted in my shirt, keeping me from moving away. He was shivering so hard his teeth were clattering together, and even in the low light of the room I could see how wide his blue eyes were as he searched the darkness, trying to make out my face.
Nikki never looked at me like that either.
Fuck.
He looked terrified, but at the same time it was like finding my eyes was the only thing he could think to do, the only thing that would let him breathe. I leaned in, close enough that I could feel the heat of his shuddery breath against my skin again. Close enough that I could make out the slightest shine of tears in his gaze.
“London…” I whispered his name softly. So soft that it was more a sigh than a word. Soft enough that I fed it to his trembling lips in the darkness and wondered if he could hear me.
Apparently he could, because he nodded—quick enough that it brushed his nose against mine—and pulled himself closer.
“I’m not who you think I am. I didn’t hurt you. I wouldn’t… I…”
I didn’t think when I leaned forward and brushed my mouth against his—didn’t think when my arm slid around his waist and pulled him until there was no space left between us. His terror made him shiver, and apparently the effect of that terror made him hard where he pressed against my stomach.
No… this wasn’t Nikki.
And it wasn’t like Nikki’s kiss when I swiped my tongue against his lips… Because that’s why I was kissing him; I would know that kiss anywhere.
I knew his taste, his touch. I knew what it felt like to completely lose myself to him, and I could tell as soon as London’s body jerked against me, trying to pull away while hiships bucked almost of their own accord, thatIwasn’t falling into anything. He wasshatteringunder my touch.
Just that brief brush of lips.
Just a moment.
A second.
And when his hands suddenly slapped against my chest and he twisted back with a low sound, Iknew.
He was…
Fuck, he was different.
My brows drew together. I couldn’t let this change my plans—I hadplans.
I wanted to hurt him.
I wanted to make him pay.
I wanted…
