Page 146 of Unravel Me

We stare at each other.

"What do you want? What can you give me, Mauro? Uncertainty? Having to hide from that motherfucker for the rest of my life, living in secrecy? I think you knew that perfectly well, because you weren’t the one who came to me. You knew well that the life you could offer me wasn’t meant for someone with a child."

A pained grimace appears on Mauro’s face.

He looks away for a moment, then reaches for his phone, but I take a quick step toward him and slap my palm against the surface of his phone, knocking it out of his hand and onto the ground. I stare at him defiantly, my eyes blazing.

"No!" I growl irrationally, but as a result of my movement, my hand is now resting on his hand instead of the phone, and I feel such an intense, pleasant rush that I become completely still, simply surrendering to it.

Fuck.

I can’t fight it, I can’t, so I close my eyes.

His energy is intoxicating.

I can’t get enough of it.

My hand remains clasped against his palm, but then slowly, his fingers move until they intertwine with mine…

It’s like he’s a massive planet with a powerful gravitational pull, and I, like an asteroid, am drawn helplessly toward him.

And so I lean into him, my forehead resting against his chest. I breathe deeply, all that effort, all those nerves, finally finding an outlet in this sudden rush of sensations, in emotions so completely opposite to what I should have in a situation like this.

"I like you, so fucking much…" I suddenly mumble.

Maybe I should hate him, push him away… but I’m drowning in him instead.

Before I even realize what I'm doing, I find myself wrapping my arms around Mauro, and I don't remember telling my hands to do it.

I can hear his heart pounding loudly.

What's astonishing is that Mauro smells different now. Something is breaking through his usual mix of scents from his grooming products, something powerful, alluring, utterly irresistible to me. I take a deep breath, and my head starts spinning.

I feel his hand slide over my back and then over my head, tenderly, so tenderly that it almost kills me… tearing through me with pain.

His thumb brushes against my ear, that strange, pointed ear I've hidden beneath strands of hair.

The touch tickles me, excites me, sends me soaring on a wave of pink bubbles. Instinctively, almost playfully, I raise my hands and, responding to his gesture, slip them beneath his thick curls, placing them over his ears, and then… in a split second, I feel them changing, becoming more like mine, pointed.

As an elf and a fae, apparently we share this trait… Interesting. My fingers lightly play with the shape of his ears, my eyelids squeezed shut, my face buried against his chest. And for a moment I forget the entire world. It's as if everything else has been cut off.

I float, oblivious to all the tragedy surrounding us, existing only in the world created by his touch. I breathe him in deeply, drawing in that new scent, and one question keeps echoing through my head: Did Mauro stop taking pheromone blockers?

And when? It must have happened within the last few hours. I know there’s a pill that can get rid of the effects of blockers within a few hours, and I have a feeling that must be the case.

A deep inhale…

Why am I getting so lightheaded? Why does this scent smell so fucking divine? Could this be the first time in my life I've actually breathed in the actual Allure scent of my True Mate?

It works so much more powerfully than any aphrodisiac. My body starts trembling, my fingers clutch desperately at his leather jacket, and my lips search for closeness. I turn, finding the side of his neck, and press my wet mouth against his hot, impossibly delicious-smelling skin.

All I want right now is for him to sink into my body, hard and deep. No foreplay, just rough, hard sex. I unbutton my pants in a flash and shove them down over my ass, then twist around and press my front against the tree bark, pushing my ass out toward him as I feel my opening throbbing.

"Fuck me!" I blurt out, barely recognizing my hoarse voice.

I feel his breath against my cheek, his lips sliding down my neck as his groin presses against my ass. Through the fabric of his pants, I can feel the hard, long shape of his dick.

My pulse races, everything before my eyes turns almost luminous, and my breath catches with arousal.