Page 69 of The Ache That Stayed

Before I could react, he caught my other wrist and pinned it behind my back, pulling me flush to him. This position made my back arch and pushed my breast out, pressing them against the hard contours of his chest. Every nerve in my body woke at once, awareness crackling through me. A breath punched out of me.

“You look beautiful, all angry and flushed.”

The way he looked at me was different. Not like a friend. Not like someone he was protecting. Not even like an enemy.

Like we’d known each other on a deeper level—a soulful level, and he’d spent years noticing things he was never supposed to notice. And now he had finally stopped pretending otherwise.

He lowered his head to my ear.

“You hitting me,” he said, voice low, rough, dark enough to make my stomach drop, “is only making me harder.”

Awareness unfurled humiliatingly low in my stomach.

“Disgusting,” I snapped.

“Yeah?” he said.

He brushed his nose on the shell of my ear before licking the lobe.

“Then stop grinding against me.”

My body went still. Because I realised I was. My hips had been moving against him without permission. And immediately felt him. Hard.

God.

One second I was fuming with anger, wanting to hit him again. The next—I couldn’t breathe.

I hated that. I hated him for it.

My eyes dropped instinctively to where our bodies pressed together. I could feel the embarrassment climbing up my throat so fast I felt it in my cheeks.

“You’re unbelievable,” my voice barely a whisper.

He pushed back slightly and tilted his head to look at me.

“Am I?”

I tried to wriggle free, but it only made me push into him further. His grip loosened slightly. Just enough for me to twist free and take a step back.

“You think this is funny?” I said.

“No.” His voice was low, steady. He stepped closer, eyes burning.

“I think you’re angry.”

I laughed bitterly. “Kind of you to notice.”

“But I don’t think that’s all it is.”

My brows pinched.

“You aren’t just upset that I disappeared on you.”

His thumb brushed my wrist again.

“I think you’re terrified to admit how your body reacts to me and how much you wanted what almost happened under that bridge.”

A shiver rolled through me. I swallowed hard, my throat closing on itself. My nipples tightened painfully, making them peak under the thin tee. His gaze dropped to them briefly before returning to mine slowly.