His jaw ticked. “Isn’t it?”
Her voice was nothing more than a whisper when she admitted, “No.”
“What do you want then?”
She bit her lip, looking up at him through her lashes, debating. She couldn’t say it. Didn’t want to think it.
“Nothing,” she said. Cedric had been right when they were at The Keg. She was a fucking coward.“I don’t want anything from you.”
And she strode toward the door.
Cedric shook his head as she passed him, something like disappointment echoing off him with every swing of his neck. “Liar.”
It was so quiet she wasn’t sure at first if she’d heard him correctly. She paused. Turned slowly, eyes narrowed.
“Say again?”
He puffed his chest, moving toward her with such speed, such confidence that it had her backing up until she nearly hit the wall behind her. “I called you a liar.Again.”
Heat burned in her cheeks. “Bold words for a man who lies to himself about who he is—whathe is,” she hissed.
And then he was there, strong arms boxing her in, flexing as he flattened his palms against the wall on either side of her face. He wasn’t touching her, but she felt him anyway. The heat coming from him. The tension, so thick she thought it might have become a tangible, physical thing, pressing her against the cold stone.
“Maybe,” he said, anguish in those golden-brown eyes. “But I’ve never lied to you. Not about this.”
Her chest heaved, her breaths coming too fast. “And what isthis?” she whispered.
Cedric bent his head, his forehead touching the wall next to her, his breath on her neck. Her breasts grazed his bare chest, the touch sending a spark through the thin fabric of her blouse directly to her core.
“Do you truly not see what you do to me?” he said. “Sometimes, it seems like you don’t. Other times, I think you must torture me on purpose.”
Her brows drew together, the corners of her mouth turning down. “Tortureyou? I?—”
“I can’t—I can’t think when you are around.The instant you walk into a room, I can barely breathe. You steal my very air, consume my every waking thought—the dreams I might have, were I able to sleep. I see onlyyou. Think only ofyou.” He fisted his right hand and pounded it against the wall. “It isenough.”
Despite the heat radiating off him in palpable waves, Elyria shivered. Her thoughts were muddied, tangled, the shadows in her chest flaring,tuggingat her. Warmth of her own making blossomed deep in her core, tightening behind her navel.
“Please,” he said.Begged.“Put me out of my misery.”
His other hand fell from the wall, latching onto the side of her hip, grazing the thin band of skin between her blouse and waistband. His touch lit her up, every nerve on fire, yearning, needy.
Elyria didn’t want to fight anymore.
She simply wanted.
So, without another second’s thought, she reached up and gripped the back of Cedric’s neck, pulling his face to hers.
And they ignited.
25
IGNITE
CEDRIC
Four hells,she’s so fucking soft.
I seal my mouth on hers and we are nothing but a clash of lips and tongues and all-consumingneed.My fingers dance down her skin, snaking into the waistband of her stars-forsaken leathers, pulling at the strings binding them to her.
