It’s come to my attention that all libraries do not smell the same. The one at my other school could have been mistaken for a potpourri factory. Mrs. Feiss, the librarian, had an obsession with everything peach-and berry-scented. Hence, bowls of dried flowers and twigs were on every table. Being a historical castle-turned-library, this one smells like damp stone and ancient secrets. The pages of old books permeate the air. I can’t decide which is worse, peaches or history.
Before I contemplate an opinion, another scent tickles my nose—the faint smell of cinnamon. Without turning around, I know Edge stands directly behind me. The carnal need that he awoke earlier is still keyed up and has me begging for release. I shove it back into a dark cave. I’ll tend to that need later… alone.
No doubt Edge has come to mock me. He’s so close that the heat from his body seeps through my blazer. I refuse to turn around. I can’t. If I do, his mouth will be close enough to?—
“Did you like what you saw?”
Even with only those few words, that whispered question ignites the embers I’m trying so hard to ignore. I have to gripthe chair in front of me to stabilize myself. I close my eyes and inhale.
Breathe in. One-two-three.
Breathe out. One-two-three.
Stealing my resolve, I answer, “Can’t wait to do it again tomorrow.”
He leans against me, his front against my back, and rests his hands on the back of the chair, caging me in. His fingers brush mine. The light touch creates tiny electric impulses to zap along my skin. “Oh, little Ninja, I’ll do it with you anytime.” He doesn’t give me a moment to react before he continues. “Imagine me bending you over this table, my hands firmly on your waist, holding you exactly where I want you as I slide my hard cock into your dripping cunt.”
The deep seduction of his voice lulls me into a visceral trance. As if on their own accord, my eyes close, and I do just like he asked and imagine his words.
“I bet the moans that would fall out of that pretty mouth of yours sound like fucking music.” He lets out a sigh. His warm breath fans across my neck.
It’s not like me to lose my voice, but fuck him and his torturous imagination. I’m no virgin, but I’ve never felt this turned on by another guy—and he hasn’t even touched me.
Edge drops his hands from the chair and then slowly backs away from me, giving me much-needed breathing room. I look over my shoulder and up at him. The heat in my face is no match for the fire raging between my legs. Thank fuck he can’t see that. But from the way he’s studying me, there’s no denying he can sense it.
His next words are nothing more than a whisper. “I can’t think of a better way to break you in and welcome you to Monarch.”
And just like that, the balloon of orgasmic bliss bursts. Reality rains down like confetti. And thank God he’s back to reminding me of what an asshole he is. I can’t ever let him affect me like that again.
Gathering all my senses and making sure they are on the same page, I force myself to focus on the only reason I came to Monarch. It most definitely isn’t to get swept off my feet just to be someone’s—the enemy’s, no less—quick fuck. There’s enough distance between us to turn around and face him without the threat of engaging in something I would regret.
When I see his smug, knowing look, anger bubbles to the surface. “You’re kidding me, right?”
His stoic expression gives nothing away. “Kidding? No. I am definitely not kidding.” He moves a fraction closer to me. “I would bend you over right now and fuck you until you came so hard my name would be the only word you’d ever speak again.”
Again, my traitorous body responds to his promise. Threat? Promise? Whatever it is, fuck my hardening nipples straining against my bra and the repeat of the tightness low in my belly. Control, Kinsley.Getcontrol of yourself.
I take a deep breath and look him directly in the eyes. “No thanks.” I pull out the chair to sit and flip open the book in front of me, opening it to a random chapter because I can’t think straight with this muscle-head talking about sex, standing over my shoulder. “I think I’ll pass. You and Brielle seem to make the perfect couple.”
“Trust me, we are not a couple.”
I click my pen and tap it on the open book. “Does she know that?”
Dammit.I mentally slap myself for asking that question. All it does is make me look like I give a shit what their status is. I don’t!
“It’s an understanding.”
For some reason, I don’t think it’s amutualunderstanding. “I doubt that.”
Why am I even having this conversation? I don’t give a fuck what their relationship is. He’s got to leave now—right now!—seeing that I turned down his fuck session proposal in the middle of the library or that I have any interest in pursuing this conversation.
He does the exact opposite and pulls out the chair next to me, then proceeds to make himself comfortable. Fuck me to hell.He’s so close I can smell the light fragrance of his cologne. Thankfully, it’s only cologne I smell and not the scent of sex on his skin.
He leans into me, his mouth only inches from my cheek. “So, you like to watch?”
I stiffen but refuse to let him bait me. Watching isn’t my thing. But at that moment, when I walked in on them, he captured my attention so hard that it was impossible to break free. It was like he was lying in wait, prepared for me to be snagged in his trap. And it had nothing to do with Brielle. It was all him, his alluring eyes, his slow and intentional thrusts, and the way he made it feel like he was fucking me instead of her.
Clearing my throat, I rub my sweating palms over my skirt. “No.”
