“I more than like you,” he answered quickly and heat burst onto my face at once. “And itisboth. But that’s not what you want to know, is it?”
I shrugged and shook my head, having no clue what that meant.
“What you’re asking is…which version is the real one. Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I responded right away, relieved that he understood me. Alex’s arms were folded over his chest, his tattooed biceps popping out of his white shirt. I tried not to notice. “I want to see the real version, not the curated Alex who says all the right things. Not the Alex whocaters.”
That was the wrong thing to say; I’d figured that out immediately. Alex stood up so suddenly that I flinched. His eyes trained on me, he stepped closer. And closer. Until he was an inch away from me.
And there was no warmth from him.
“You think I’ve been lying to you,” he stated, confirming all my worst fears. “You think I’ve been playing a role? So I can, what? Fuck you?”
He waited for an answer patiently, pinning me to the wall with his gaze. I gulped, having no strength to admit anything.
“If you think I’ve been pretending… If you think I’m only the Bratva version, Jade…I would have fucked you that first night.” His tone turned light, even mocking. “But what you’re more scared of, Malyshka…” My breath caught in my throat when his fingers pressed into my jaw, possessive like never before. He leaned in and dropped his voice. “Is figuring out which version of Jade Morettiyouare.”
Oh God.Oh God, oh God, oh God.
“The good girl? The attorney working away to bring justice to the world, or…” His hands—they were suddenly all over me. My thighs, my waist, my legs. “Or the one who fell for a criminal.”
Deny. Deny, deny, deny.
“You’re so full of yourself,” I breathed out and pressed my back against the wall, fruitlessly trying to steady my racing heart. “And I didn’tfallfor you.” That was a lie. He knew it. I knew it. Instead of calling me out on my bullshit though, he chuckled, the sound sending a shiver down my spine. “I’ve been doing what you’ve been doing: just having fun.”
My own words cut medeep.
“Oh, really?” Amusement filled his eyes just as his chest pressed against mine. “We’re going to find out. Right. Fucking. Now.”
I closed my eyes from his touch—the way his hand trailed over my hip and right underneath my dress. The way his fingertips dragged on my inner thigh—slow and teasing.
“I’m going to reach underneath your dress,” he warned me quietly. I gulped, my eyes wide, the smell of him intoxicating. “And I’m going to feel how fucking wet you are for a guy you’re…just having fun with.”
His fingers barely brushed over me, but I gasped loudly, unable to control myself. He latched onto that.
“Mm-hmm, just as I thought.” His lips were right at my ear, whispering the dirty words, “Your pussy is fucking soaked through your flimsy little panties. But go ahead—lieto me again that this is just fun.”
My own body betrayed me. My arms clasped around his neck and my leg wrapped around his hip, offering him better access. He didn’t wait for anything. He hooked his thumb into the lace of my panties and yanked them aside, his fingers sinking into me with ease. My knees nearly buckled, but I managed to form a disjointed sentence.
“You’re…imagining things.”
Alex laughed in my ear—low and predatory.
I pushed my hips into him further.
“Am I? Because it seems that you like this version of me too, Malyshka,” Alex teased me, wrapping his free arm around me like a tentacle. “You like the version thattakes.You like the version that doesn’t wait for permission, hm? You like the version that’s beensalivatingat the thought of ruining the good girl, yeah?”
“Yes, yes, fuck, that feels so good, right there!” I cried out, turning into mush from the way Alex’s fingers fucked into me. “But also, f-fuck you!” My head thudded against the wall and my eyes were closed, just focusing on this all-encompassing moment.
Fuck him for reading me like a book!
“Right here?” He echoed the first night I laid my eyes on him. “You’re going to help me this time.”
I didn’t recognize myself—it was like something detonated inside me. I pulled on his shirt, hungrily watching the way his naked shoulders flexed.For me.
With that indulgent thought, I lunged forward and sucked him into a kiss of a lifetime. Alex groaned loudly, sticking his tongue in my mouth and pressing me against his warm skin. Tattooed. Rough.
Mine.
