Page 50 of Big Bad Wolf

Ruby stepped forward again until there was nothing more than a sliver of charged air between them. Rafe stepped back, colliding with the wall behind him.

“Stop looking at me like that, Ruby,” he growled.

“Like what?”

“Like I’m the hero here.”

Her smile grew.

Rafe shook his head, his hair rasping against the wall behind him. Ruby took the last step and laid her hands on his chest, right over his racing heart. He had to go. Now.

“Then what are you, Rafe?” Her breath skated over the skin of his neck. Her face was tipped up to look at him, and her lips were right there, so fucking close. He could have her if he wanted to. She was making that abundantly clear. And goddamn, he had never wanted anyone more, not since Scarlet. Not since the last time he’d made this same mistake.

He grabbed her by the arms and held her back. Her eyes filled with hurt.

“I’m the monster.”

Rafe’s fingers dug into the flesh of her upper arms as he held her away from his body. His words, I’m the monster, hung in the air between them. Ruby watched the rapid rise and fall of his chest. His hair had come loose, shadowing his face again, but not before Ruby saw the desperate desire in his eyes, the same desire that was tearing through her body, but he was fighting it. Fighting it so hard his hands trembled against her skin.

“Monsters don’t cook breakfast,” she said.

“Ruby, don’t.” He shook his head.

“Monsters don’t check on your sister for you.” She wriggled out his grasp.

“Ruby.” Her name was a growled warning, but she didn’t listen.

“Monsters don’t hold you while you cry.” She pushed the hair from his face and tucked it behind his ear. The muscle in his jaw ticked. She leaned in, rising on her toes just enough to brush her lips against his. She felt the rumble in his chest as it vibrated through her, but his hands remained at his sides, his huge body rigid against her kitchen wall.

“Rafe,” she whispered against his mouth.

He froze. For a brief second, she was the predator and he was her prey.

She couldn’t help it. She said the one thing she’d been wanting to say since she met him.

“Kiss me.” She pressed her body against the full length of his, and his restraint broke.

He grabbed her ass with both hands and lifted her, his lips crashing against hers. His kiss was hungry and wild, like he hadn’t done it in a long time but like he’d really fucking missed it. She slid her hands through his hair, and he groaned, breaking the kiss only to scatter more kisses along her cheekbones, his lips feather-light. He claimed her lips again, his tongue sweeping in and tangling with hers.

Ruby was suddenly very aware of the thinness of her shirt, the rub of it against her breasts as she squirmed against Rafe’s chest. She tugged his hair again just to hear another low growl, to feel it vibrate between her legs.

Rafe turned them so Ruby was the one pinned against the wall, so he could take a hand off her ass and skate it up her useless shirt, so she could feel his calloused fingertips against her stomach, tickling the dip in her waist, running across the underside of her breast. Rafe’s breath caught, a quiet stutter against her throat.

“Shit, Ruby. You’re so fucking soft.” He nuzzled against her neck, kissing and sucking, his fingers still toying with her, his thick erection pressed into her middle.

God, she wanted him. She had never wanted anything like this, like she was on fire. She squirmed between him and the wall, shamelessly pressing herself into him, needing to get closer…

“Uh … good morning?” Lena’s voice broke through Ruby’s fog of lust. Rafe dropped her so fast she nearly landed on her ass.

“Shit,” he muttered, backing away from her and running a hand through his hair.

“Morning,” Ruby squeaked, attempting to smooth down her shirt and act like this was all perfectly normal. She cleared her throat. “Rafe made breakfast.”

“Did he? How nice.” Lena’s gaze flicked between the two of them, a smile dancing on her lips. “What a productive morning you two are having. Thanks, Rafe.”

Rafe wouldn’t meet her eye and instead seemed to be finding the old linoleum floor infinitely more interesting. He muttered some unintelligible response and moved toward the door.

“I need to go.”