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I took off toward the house, unable to stand and listen to this. I wasn’t Ragnor. I couldn’t open up my heart for another person. Even though so much of me wanted to know what it was like to relax into someone’s kindness. It was so draining.The running. The hiding. The fear.
My pace was clipped though Easton was on my heels, his warm fingers wrapping around my bicep to slow me. He pulled me to a stop, aligning me so I was flush with his body, his eyes pleading as he looked at me.
“Heartbreaker,” he said softly, with so much tenderness behind the endearment, it nearly sent me to my knees.
He palmed my face, and I leaned into the touch, my resistance failing. I was so tired of fighting him. This battle hadn’t started a few months ago. It had been going on twenty years, and every reason why he was a bad idea had dissolved to the point where they were no longer valid.
“Please don’t do this,” I whispered.
“Do what?” he asked, inching his face closer to mine. “You mean this?” The bottom fell out of my stomach when his lips touched mine, a reminder of who he was to me and what that meant.
I shoved at him, but his tongue coaxed my lips apart and slipped inside, the last of my resolve fading. My hands slid up his chest and around his neck, my fingers working their way into his hair. His arms banded around me like I’d stepped into a trap and he’d captured his prey.
The kiss grew more possessive, victorious even. He’d waited me out, been patient, and I’d finally caved. Shame filled me that I had no more resistance than this. When I knew I was being selfish, succumbing to something I wanted so desperately but couldn’t have, I told myself it was wrong to lead him on. Wrong to give myself this false hope. Yet I couldn’t manage to rip my lips from his. In fact, I was scrambling to get closer to him. Just one more touch. One more moment of insanity and clarity.
I hated the moan that escaped into his mouth. It took all the self-control I possessed not to grind against him. I hated that I handed every bit of power to him.
I hated it most when he unsealed his lips from mine. I’d been with my fair share of men, but none of them reduced me to this. None of them had ever made me need them. I was fighting a losing battle by trying to deny what I felt for Easton, but I wasn’t ready to concede yet.
“Say the word,” he whispered seductively against my swollen lips.
“I already said the words. Ones I can’t take back.” I took my hands from his hair, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop touching him.
“I’m halfway to getting what I want. I’ll have it all. You can either help me or make things more difficult. The outcome will be the same.”
I stabbed an index finger into his chest and glared at him. “Thiscan’t happen again.”
“You sure as hell didn’t put up much of an objection,” he pointed out.
I couldn’t deny it. Even though he’d started that kiss, it hadn’t taken much for me to become a willing participant. I twisted in his arms, trying to escape. Easton held me steady, too solid for me to have a chance against him.
“It was a mistake. Stop making me pay for it,” I pleaded, growing desperate.
“It wasn’t, and you’re punishing me by depriving me of what’s mine.”
“Fuck you.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere.” He scooped me off my feet and started carrying me God only knew where.
“Put me down,” I shouted. “Easton, I swear I’m going to knock you on your ass.”
“You already have,” he returned easily, not slowing.
I pounded on him, and he laughed. “Damn it. I mean it.”
“So do I.”
The main house’s back porch light was flipped on, and Ruby came outside. “What’s all that hollerin’?”
The screen door swung open, and the whole damn lot of them came out.
“Mulaney got tired, so I’m giving her a lift,” Easton said.
“I did not. He’s a—”
“Careful there, Heartbreaker. You don’t want to say something you can’t take back.”
“I already have.”
