“Tell me to stop,” I muttered, my lips brushing her collarbone.
She lifted her hips into my hand. “I don’t want you to fucking stop,” she whispered.
That was all the permission I needed. I popped the button on her shorts and pulled the zipper down, grabbing the sides and sliding them to her ankles in one quick motion.
Her body shook against me, anticipation written all over her flushed face. I kissed her again, this time rough and hungry, my tongue forcing her lips apart.
The thin barrier of her panties was damp, and the second I brushed my fingers over the material, her whole body went taut like a bowstring.
“Christ, Trouble,” I groaned against her mouth. “You’re soaked.”
She whimpered, shoving her hips into my hand, her nails digging into my skin.
I pressed harder, circling the tips of my fingers against her clit through the fabric of her underwear, swallowing her moans as they vibrated through my mouth.
“Max, please touch me, pleasssseee,” she begged.
I grasped the sides of her underwear, preparing to slide them aside, when the speaker suddenly shrieked from the front of the cabin, jolting us out of our trance. We quickly separated.
God damnit. I was crushed.
I watched her. Her beautiful chest heaving with rapid, shallow breaths. Her eyes were blown out, wide and hungry for me. Her cheeks flushed. I was captivated, completely ensnared in her web.
I’d do anything she wanted me to do. She wanted to put a collar around my neck and drag me around like a dog? I’d bark for her, and I’d take it like a fucking champ.
She giggled like she was reading my thoughts, and then said, “Come on,” as she bent down and put her bra and shirt back on.
I watched her walk through the door. My fingers were soaked from her arousal. I put my fingers in my mouth, tasting her. Damn. She tasted as good as she smelled. I had never wanted to eat out a girl so badly before, but with Mackenzie, I was starving, and I wanted to ruin her.
Fuck that speaker.
14
MACKENZIE
He looked wrecked, sad, and disappointed, as if he was trying to hold himself together. That only made me smile. His body had felt too good pressed against mine—immense, overwhelming, like he could crush me if he wanted. And maybe that’s why I couldn’t stop thinking about it. About him. About how he’d spent seven years just being my best friend, and how, in one kiss, he’d become something entirely different. Someone I wanted to devour whole. I wanted him to consume me.
I wanted to tear him apart. The Mackenzie I became around him was new to me. She waspowerful.Maybe it was born out of every shadow that had followed me, every secret I carried. Perhaps it was because Max wasn’t afraid of the parts of me that were dark. He fucking craved every single part I hid. He could handle me.
I hadn’t sketched a single thing since arriving at camp. My sketchbook used to be my only escape, the only way to breathe free from the ghosts of my father and the violence woven into my blood. But Max had devoured every part of me, body andsoul. He forced me to stop fleeing and ignited a desire to play with the fire rather than hide from it.
The dining hall was buzzing with its usual chaos when we entered: trays clattered, campers shouted, and a small speaker blared summer tunes. But all I could feel was him. Max sat close, so close our legs brushed under the table, and every nerve ending in my body ignited.
I was still raw from the cabin. I was wet. Wound up. Hungry.
Jackson sat rigidly across the room, glaring at us with a feral intensity, as if swallowing shards of glass. His tray remained untouched, his jaw clenched in silent rage. Max leaned in closer, his voice a tense whisper.
“You hanging in there?”
“I’m fine,” I said roughly.
Max’s hand slid onto my knee under the table. Electricity shot up my thigh, hot and fast, pooling low in my stomach. I licked my lips without thinking.
How could my body react so quickly to his touch?
Max froze, like he felt it too. His jaw clenched, and his hand flexed just slightly on my knee.
“Are we still faking?” he murmured, voice strained. “‘Cause this doesn’t feel like pretend anymore.”
