Page 115 of Bend

I drag my nails lightly down his stomach, watching his jaw tighten.

“Careful, Thorne.”

The warning in his voice only makes me push closer. “Or what?”

His hand closes around my hip and pulls me flush against him. “Keep going and find out.”

I should take the piss. Say something smart enough to hide how badly I want him.

Instead, I hold his gaze and murmur, “Maybe that’s the point.”

Whatever control he was hanging onto gives way. Wolfe kisses me hard enough to knock me back a step, his arm catching around my waist before I can lose my footing.

He walks me farther down the beach, away from the fire and toward the darker line of palms near the shore.

My back meets the rough trunk of one, and then he’s braced against me, mouth moving along my jaw and down my throat. My head tips back before I can stop it, every inch of me wound tight beneath his hands.

“Tell me if it’s too much,” he says against my skin.

“It isn’t.”

“If you need me to stop—”

“I’ll tell you.”

His hand slides up to my chin, turning my face back toward his. “Good.”

The praise goes straight through me, and of course the smug bastard notices.

His mouth curves. “Mmm, you like that.”

“Like what?”

“You know exactly what.”

“Don’t start, mate.”

“Want to hear you say it.”

I fist the front of his shirt and drag him closer. “You always this bloody annoying when someone’s trying to let you have your way with them?”

“Only when they’ve spent months pretending they don’t want it.” He smirks.

I swallow as his thumb drags slowly over my bottom lip.

“You don’t get to come looking for me, kiss me like that, then hide behind sarcasm when I tell you what I see.”

“And what do you see?”

“I see a man who’s finally done running from what he wants.”

The words hit harder than any touch could.

I stare at him for half a second, then grab him and turn us sharply.

His chest meets the palm tree with a rough thud, and I pin one of his arms behind his back before leaning in, my mouth brushing the shell of his ear.

“I am done running,” I murmur. “Tonight, I’m taking what I want.”