The little menace broke skin this time.
Before I can catch her, she wrenches free, eyes wild.
Then she bolts. She actually runs, skirt snapping around her legs, hair flying, heels pounding the hardwood as she disappears up the stairs.
I stand there, with my bleeding lip and my hard dick, and deep in my ribs something hungry and feralcrawls up. Need. And everything else she keeps dragging out of me.
My tongue drags over the cut on my lip, tasting iron and her. I breathe once, smile, and take off after her.
Chapter thirteen
~JESSICA~
My heels hammer against the stairs, adrenaline ripping through my veins, breath coming out in stupid, panicked little gasps. I hear him behind me, each footstep landing with violent intent. I glance over my shoulder and see Dom taking the stairs two at a time.
I whip my head forward and nearly scream. “Shit, shit, shit,” I squeak, grabbing the banister and launching myself up another step.
I bolt, scrambling the last few steps toward the bedroom. My fingers fumble with the doorknob before I finally wrench it open.
I spin and try to slam it shut, but his hand shoots out and stops it cold. I barely have a second to bracemyself before Dom shoves the door inward without an ounce of effort, sending me stumbling back a couple of steps.
He fills the doorframe and my heart jumps in my throat. He looks like a storm in human form—breathing hard, lip bleeding, eyes almost black.
We stare at each other for two long heartbeats. Then his tongue drags across his bottom lip, collecting the blood I drew there.
“You bit me.” His voice is low and gravelly, too calm for how wrecked he looks.
I back up instinctively as he steps inside, slow and deliberate, savoring every inch he takes from me.
“You deserved it.” My voice comes out harsh.
I wanted this. I wanted to crack that perfect composure and force him to admit that he wants me. And he did. But I don’t feel like I’ve won. I feel like I played myself, because I’m the one unraveling.
I’m the one who already cares too much. If he doesn’t feel this too, I’m not ready for the heartbreak.
I’m so turned on, and so scared of wanting him, that I’d rather claw at my own chest than admit itout loud. There are always going to be women like Valencia—beautiful and ready to throw themselves at him—and he might choose them.
That’s why I need distance. Safety. But he’s not giving me any.
He keeps coming, a slow, unstoppable storm, stepping deeper into the room, deeper into my fear, deeper into my need for him to feel something for me too.
His gaze drops to my body, lingers, then lifts back up with something dark and hungry simmering behind it. “You didn’t seem so scared when you slid your hand up my leg. When you came down in a towel. When you laid out on my sunbed half naked,” he says quietly, stalking toward me. “And now you run from me like a scared little rabbit.”
“Get out,” I snap, but it comes out weak.
“Mm,” he hums. “Such a little tease.” His voice drops to a taunt. “I should’ve known you couldn’t handle the consequences.”
My pride flares, hot and reckless. “I can handle anything.”
Dominic stops right in front of me, looming with his bleeding lip and feral eyes. Close enough that hisclean, masculine scent wraps around me again. His hand lifts slowly, sliding up my arm, and I shiver. He slides his fingers into the back of my hair, gripping the strands at my nape in one firm, unhurried fist. The tension forces my head up, my chin tipping toward him.
A soft gasp escapes me, and his mouth curves. “Can you really?” he whispers.
My pulse beats fast against his fingers. He angles my face higher, eyes burning into mine. “Are you gonna run again,” he murmurs, voice a dark drawl, “or are you going to take what you’ve been begging for?”
I feel the truth clawing its way up my throat as his fingers slip deeper into my hair. “Answer me.”
My pulse is throbbing in my throat and between my legs. I swallow hard, pride and fear and desire tangling in my chest. “Do you think your pretty face will get you whatever you want?” I narrow my eyes, giving more defiance than I feel.
