“If I say yes,” I begin, my tone tentative as I push away from the bookcase, “there will be no more spontaneous declarations of ‘love’ of any kind, got it?” I hold up a finger in Damian’s face. “And you won’t ever speak for me again regarding my opinion aboutanything, especially the bucket list. And don’t for one second think I forgive you for it either, despite what the world might believe.”
Damian gives me a curt nod. “Understood.” A smile tempts the corners of his lips as his solemn expression slips a little. “Does this mean you’re still in this thing with me?”
I release a weary breath through my nose. “What the hell. What’s another seven months?”
An eternity,my conscience whines.
His face splits into a grin, and he chuckles. “Say what you want about me, Dornan, but either you have a serious cosplay addiction that requires immediate psychiatric attention…or you like being around me.” He holds up one hand, bringing his thumb and pointer finger within an inch of each other, peering at me through the gap with one eye shut. “At least a little bit.”
I choke out a laugh as I roughly push past him to return the books still bundled in my arms to their rightful homes on the shelves. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Damian trails my every step, his mouth uncomfortably close to my ear as he says, “Oh, I amveryflattered, Dornan. And for what it’s worth, you aren’t such bad company either, even when you are being prickly.”
“I seriously hate you,” I mutter, dipping my head to hide the heat that flares across my cheeks in response to how infuriatingly close he is to me.
“Sure, you do,” Damian taunts, his presence nipping at my heels, even when I make a pointed display of quickening my pace to escape him. “Though, for someone who ‘hates’ me, you put a lot of energy into fighting with me when you could just walk away.”
Am I literally not attempting to do that?I nearly shout at him. Instead, I fire back, “Maybe because you make it so easy,” and stick my tongue out at him over my shoulder.
What is his problem? Is this just his personality, or does he get some sick pleasure out of riling me up?
“Or maybe,” he croons, stepping in front of the exact shelf I’m looking for when we reach the mathematics section, his lips peeling back in a wicked grin, “because you don’t actually hate me nearly as much as you pretend to.”
I flash him a shit-eating grin of my own as I raise my arm to return one of the books, moving to slide it into a spot over his shoulder. “My homicidal urges around you would suggest otherwise.”
He grabs my wrist, holding it and the book clutched in my hand out of reach of the shelf, his eyes piercing. When he speaks, his tone is equal parts flirty and teasing. “Are yousurethat’s what those urges are?”
There’s that heat in my face again, except now, it’s spreading throughout my whole body, starting at the exact place where his fingers are touching me. They burn into my skin, setting my entire nervous system ablaze. If someone were to come in here with an infrared scanner, I would light up like a damn Christmas tree.
What is happening right now? Damian is still holding my arm, and I’m not trying to pull away, and there’s virtuallynospace separating us now. I can feel his heat on my face, and it’s only matched by the heat building between my legs, and…oh, shit. That heat is going to make me do something really,reallystupid.
“Care to find out?” I challenge in a voice I don’t recognize because it definitely doesn’t belong to me. It one hundred percent belongs to my evil, soul-possessing vagina.
That feral grin turns predatory. “You are positively adorable when you’re angry. Has anyone ever told you that?”
Sense slams back into my body, and I glower at him, my words coming out in a gravelly rasp as I snipe back, “And you are insufferable when you’re breathing, which isallthe time. Has anyone ever toldyouthat?”
Damian lets go of my arm and leans into my space, forcing me to take a step back. “Insufferable, huh? Hm. Well, it didn’t stop you from fucking me. Twice.”
His voice is sultry, like a kiss of silk against my skin.
This is dangerous, that line between reality and the lie more blurred than ever.
“Biggest regrets of my life,” I retort, digging my heels in and holding my ground.
That irritatingly kissable mouth curls into a lopsided smile. “Don’t lie, Dornan,” Damian chides, his face so close all I would have to do is rise up on my toes if I wanted to kiss him. Which I don’t. Not at all. Nope.Definitelynot. He chuckles again as if he can read my thoughts on my face. His breath ghosts over my lips, near enough to steal the air between us, but not quite touching mine. It’s like he’s testing me.Teasingme. “We both know I rocked your world.”
I scoff as several different comebacks battle for prominence in my head.
Bold claim for someone who doesn’t even remember us fucking.
My world? Please, you didn’t even rattle the headboard.
I’ve had more memorable paper cuts.
Do you ever get tired of the sound of your own voice? Asking for a friend.
Wow, you’re even more impressed with yourself than I thought possible.
