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She whimpered as he reached for her. His smell invaded her nose—like the air blowing in from the ocean before a storm. It was dark and glorious, and for a second she felt almost grounded in her senses. Grounded and incredibly aware of his presence. There was something faintly burnt in the mixture.Stardust. He smelled like elemental starlight and rain and every good thing in the universe.
Her eyes rounded as his hand spread over her chest—oh my god he’s touching me—right over her pounding heartbeat.
His palm was strong and hot. She felt it spreading over her skin, radiating out from the point of contact.
But he was only feeling her heartbeat.
His expression didn’t look kind or welcoming. His posture remained stiff, his breathing as ragged as hers.
That didn’t stop the arousal that doused her in heat. In fact, she felt strangely closer to him than ever. This was as real as it got—even if he hated her, even if she was terrified of him—thiswas real.
“I’m not going to kill you, Lucca,” he said in a rough voice.
The hand over her chest felt like she had a silencer on her throat, constricting her airway. She swallowed loudly, whispering, “What, then?”
His hand trailed down in an excruciating, slow path. She stood frozen in place and… let him. Let him do whatever he decided to do, unhurried and at his own pace. His broad fist closed around the knot holding her towel between her breasts. Every inch of her skin drew tight. She didn’t dare move a muscle.
A question passed through the air, unspoken.
Would he rip the towel away?
He could. She wouldn’t be able to stop him.
She wouldn’t even try to stop him.
The anticipation kicked a sickening thrill into her bloodstream. An acute, almost uncomfortable awareness of his impossible, massive size came prickling over her body. He was right there—so close, so overwhelming, so fucking compelling she wanted to break down and cease to be or explode. Either way, she didn’t care. She fixed her pleading stare on his eyes, begging silently,Please just get it over with, if only to balance all the things that are wrong in the universe.
What she saw in his own eyes shook her at her core. Hunger. An edge of something so merciless that it made her knees weak.
His eyes glittered. His pupils subtly changed size, and Lucca was overcome with sharp longing. No longer thinking of what was wrong. She’d stopped comprehending even the danger. For a mindless minute, she stood captivated before him, willing to do anything.
It dragged on until her burning lungs lurched with need for air. “Caligher.” Her quiet gasp snapped the spell.
He released her at once and she stumbled back, pressing her hands to her face, feeling confused. Feeling small. Feeling desperate to know what her fate would be, but too afraid to voice her deepest fears lest he confirm them.
“You have to be upset with me,” she said in a tiny whisper.
He paused for a beat, seeming to clear his head from whatever the fuck just happened. The lust in his eyes evaporated and she questioned whether her eyes had tricked her.
“I am,” he said.
She heard him sidestep her and make for the door, leaving her in pitch darkness.
CHAPTER11
CALIGHER
Caligher had nearly fucked her right there.
His hands dug into the nearest surface as he put his back to the door.
He’d beenso close. His hand had been on her… her heart pumping frantically, provoking him—matching him—the electricity in his veins singing with a singular drive.
When those dark eyes lifted to his, shining with a mix of alarm and longing, he almost took her right there in the dark. His instincts promised that it was truly that simple—take the human, mate with her, nothing else matters. What was right and wrong never mattered. Even the spoken truth, even the lies, were all merely flourish. The ragged truth was in the physical, in their heartbeats and chemical exchange, in the raw, immutable facts. His mind had started shutting down, soothed by that ancient drive.
Then she’d gasped his name and realization had slammed into him.
Now he stood in the kitchen wrestling every mutinous impulse to turn around andhaveher. He had the perverse sense that he could make her do anything. It disturbed him how satisfying it would feel to put that to the test.
