He can’t be lying. He can’t feel something here.I can’t allow it. That’s not how this works. Him and I—it’s only going to get us both killed.
He inches back, knowing this moment defines it all, and his chest heaves once again, slower now. Controlled. “I’m not lying, Kiara,” he says evenly. Too evenly.
My trembling worsens, and I take another step, having absolutely no idea what I’m trying to achieve. All I know is that I have to keep pushing this. I have to know. “You couldn’t,” I challenge, my tone a breathy whisper that hangs heavily between us. “Not me.”
His jaw tightens, and I start to realize this is one of his tells, a tell he thinks I don’t notice. “I could and I would,” he insists, darkness and deceit swarming in his stare. “Don’t romanticize this.”
Romanticize. The word hits me like a slap, and I close the distance between us, forcing him to either turn and run, leaving this behind, or hold his ground to see it through.
He holds, and I should have known better.
His stare consumes me, heated and feral as he tries to grasp onto just a semblance of control, and when his gaze drops to my mouth for only a second, I finally understand it. This is more to him now. I’m not just the girl who fakes orgasms through the wall. I’m not the feisty woman who bangs on his door and gets in his face. It’s something neither of us knows how to navigate.
My chin lifts, looking up at him, and I inch even closer, pausing when his voice cracks through the silence. “Don’t,” he warns.
I swallow over the fear and keep moving, keep bringing myself closer until I press up onto my tippy toes, my lips gently brushing past his. “Or what?”
Any sense of control burns to ash between us as a deep groan rumbles through his chest, and not a moment later, his hand snaps around my waist, pulling me in hard against him, his lips crushing down on mine.
I sink into him as though coming home, my hand weaving up around the back of his neck as his lips work over mine, claiming everything that I am.
“This doesn’t change anything,” I say against his lips, trying to convince myself that whatever this is between us isn’t real, despite having spent the last ten minutes trying to convince him that he’s lying to himself. Perhaps I’m a hypocrite. Perhaps he’s not the only one lying around here.
“It changes everything,” he fires back. “But sure, whatever youneed to tell yourself to sleep at night.”
My body trembles, and he scoops me up into his strong arms, grabbing my ass and lifting me as I automatically lock my legs around his waist.
Our fury and denial detonate between us, colliding like two blind ships in the night, both floundering and terrified of what comes next, but we can’t look away from the wreckage, can’t seem to come up for air or even attempt to save ourselves.
All I know is that I need his lips on mine. Need his hands brushing my skin. Need his strong thighs pushing between mine. I need to be completely and utterly consumed by everything that is Raiden Kane.
He walks us into the kitchen, his lips not leaving mine for even a second before propping my ass on the counter, and I immediately make a grab for his clothes. His shirt is gone in a matter of seconds, and damn it, I will never tire of the feel of his body against mine. Those strong arms and chest, but shit, nothing beats the way my fingers glide over the defined ridges of his abs.
He’s pure perfection.
His mouth moves to my neck, and a breathy moan slips from my lips as I tilt my head, offering him more. My hand circles to the back of his head, my fingers knotting in his dark, messy hair and holding him there.
“Oh shit,” I breathe, my chest rapidly rising and falling, the intense hunger already consuming me.
Raiden grips the hem of my workout crop, effortlessly pulling itover my head before locking his arm around my waist and lifting me off the counter just high enough to rid me of my bike shorts.
I’m naked and ready for him in only a matter of seconds, my thighs pushing wider, silently begging him to touch me. He grips both my thighs, firmly squeezing as his tongue rolls over my throat. “Fuck, Firecracker,” he murmurs against my skin, his fingers inching toward my core until they brush over my clit and find my entrance, slowly pushing inside me. “I’m gonna fuck that attitude right out of you. When I’m through with you, there’ll be no question who’s better.”
A grin rips across my lips, and as he pushes his fingers in and begins to work me, I throw my head back, pure elation pulsing through my veins. “You can fuck the attitude out of me,” I tell him, “but no amount of pristine dick is going to ever have me questioning whether I’m the best. It’s a fact, and it’s time you got on board. Challenging me isn’t going to bode well for you.”
His fingers curve inside me, pressing directly over my G-spot, my eyes widening as I suck in a forceful gasp.
“Is that so?”
“Oh fuuuuck, Raiden.”
He works me right there, teasing, tormenting, and tangling my world into a mess of unknowns, but if this is what the unknown is like, then I want to drown in it every minute of every day for the rest of my natural-born life.
He takes me right to the edge, driving me wild with need, when he suddenly pulls his fingers free and drops to his knees beside thecounter, gripping my thighs and yanking me right to the edge. Then, before a gasp can escape from my lips, his mouth closes over my clit, and his fingers are right back there, pushing deep inside of me.
“Shit,” I hiss, heavily panting as I knot my fingers into his hair again, my other hand braced against the stone counter, desperately trying to hold myself up.
His skilled tongue works over my clit, and my eyes flutter as the intense pleasure takes hold, my walls clamping around his thick fingers, but he’s relentless and doesn’t give up, pushing me closer and closer until the world narrows around us.
