Page 46 of The Heart Breaker

Fuck.

She’s too close. I should shove her off. Tell her to go back inside and pick one of the dozen idiots in there who’d drop to their knees for her. But I don’t move. I just stand there and take it, every nerve in my body lit up as her hands slide higher over my ribs, her nails scraping lightly across my stomach, burning her touch into me.

She rises onto her toes, still shorter than me, even in those ridiculous heels, and for a split second, I think she’s about to break her own rule and kiss me.

Instead, she drags her mouth along my jaw, her breath warm against my skin as she whispers, “Beg.”

My brows snap together. Did she just?—

“The fuck did you just say?”

Her eyes somehow glitter when she looks up at me. “You heard me.” Her gaze drops to my throat, pauses at the ink there, then climbs back to my mouth. “You want to fuck me again?” she breathes, close enough that I feel every word against my lips. “Then beg for it.”

My hands move before my brain catches up. I grab her by the hips, turn us, and pin her back against the tree hard enough to pull a gasp out of her. I catch her chin between my fingers and tip her face up, leaning in until there’s barely space for either of us to breathe.

“I’m not fucking begging you,” I grind out.

I’d rather die than give her the satisfaction.

She tsks, shaking her head. “Shame,” she says, letting out a sigh. “After how you fucked me…” Her gaze drops, right to where I’m already hard, before she glances up at me, her lips tugged into a smirk. “I really thought you’d have the balls.” She sighs dramatically—teasing me, antagonizing me. “Guess I’ll find someone else who wants it more than you do.”

She pushes at my chest and steps out from under me, walking away.

A sharp breath punches out of me. I know I should just let her go. Let her flounce off and keep running that bratty mouth, let her think she’s proved whatever point she came out here to prove, let her think she doesn’t affect me.

But I can’t.

She gets under my skin and stays there, turning every argument into this heavy pressure in my chest until I can’t tell if I’m furious with her or just desperate for her. I hate that she knows how to push my buttons. Hate that it works every single time.

I hate her.

But I want her more.

My hand shoots out before I can stop myself. My fingers close around her wrist and yank her back, making her stumble a step toward me and suck in a startled breath.

“Please,” I bite out the word through gritted teeth.

She just stares at me. Doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t move. Just stands there looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.

Maybe I have.

Christ. This is humiliating.

This girl blew my life to pieces, and yet, here I am,beggingfor her.

My jaw clenches so hard it aches. “Please,” I grind out again. “Let me fuck you again.”

Her hair blows across her face, hiding part of her expression. And after making me stand here and humiliate myself, she pastes on an annoying smirk that drives me insane.

“I’m not really in the mood to fake an orgasm.”

A low groan drags out of me as I yank her closer. “I swear to God, Aurora.”

Her brows lift. “Oh, now it’s Aurora? Aren’t I Viper to you?”

It should be a warning. Should be enough to knock some sense into me, to remind me exactly who she is and what she cost me when I was inches from everything I’d worked for. But right now I can’t seem to make myself give a fuck about any of it. Not when I’m tipping her chin up and looking into those bright blue eyes I’ve spent way too much time trying not to picture rolling back while I fuck her senseless.

“Don’t act like you’re unaffected,” I whisper, leaning in until my lips brush her ear. “You want this too.”