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When my eyes flutter closed, the image of him pressed against that other woman flashes behind my lids, accompanied by an unexpected jolt of jealousy. With a growl, I press my hands into his chest and shove.
“Just like you couldn’t control yourself with your ex? Or whoever the fuck she is.”
Volethos falls to the side, and I quickly wrap myself in the sheet. The shocked look on his face is believable. Except I know what I saw.
Rolling to his back, he covers his face with his hands. “No, you have it wrong.”
“Do I?” With a yank, I pull the sheets out from under him and roll off the side of the bed, putting some much-needed distance between us. “And did I mishear her too? When she told you she still loves you?”
He groans. “Where is this coming from? I thought you wanted me to seduce her!”
My stomach suddenly drops, and I freeze mid-step. Whereisthis coming from? And he’s exactly right, I’d asked him to do this. So what is up with this sudden anger?
“No, you’re right,” I say. “I—I still think you should use your connection to her. Nothing has changed, but I don’t like being turned into theother woman.”
“Other woman?” Volethos rolls to his hands and knees and starts stalking toward me across the bed. “What the fuck is another woman?There is nothing between Raela and me.”
My nostrils flare as I recall the way she was pressed against him. “That’s for sure. I doubt I could have slid a credit card between you two.”
The snarky comment is out of my mouth before I can stop it, and in the blink of an eye, he vaults over the edge of the bed and lands directly in front of me. His golden eyes seem to glow in the dark; pupils that were wide open a moment ago have narrowed back to slits. His large hand clamps around my throat, and he squeezes. Not hard enough to hurt, but definitely enough to get my attention.
“Listen to me, Shae,” he says as he presses my back into the wall behind me. His voice is low, barely above a whisper, and has my sex clenching. “Whatever Raela and I might have felt for each other ended a long time ago. Whatever she might think she still feels for me? I do not reciprocate it.”
The look on his face is earnest. What he’s saying is true.
He loosens his fingers but doesn’t take his hand away.
“I am not a good male,” he tells me as he strokes a finger down the side of my neck, tracing the artery pulsing just beneath my skin. “I have done things in my life I will never be able to atone for, and Raela is a part of that. But that was long ago.” He leans forward and rests his forehead against mine, not taking his eyes from me. “For reasons I can’t begin to explain, I want to be a good malefor you.”
I want to ask him what is so special about me that would make him want to change. But before I have a chance, he’s speaking again.
“I’m realizing, though, deep down I will never be the male I wish I was. I’ve got too many scars.” His voice drops to a whisper, and he rubs his nose against mine. He’s so close, I can feel the faintest brush of his lips over mine. “But I have no intention of rekindling akurvingthing with Raela. Ever. Not even to get information she may or may not even have.”
Before I have a chance to suck in a sharp breath, his lips clamp over mine, stealing that breath, my air, my fucking soul. And I like it. I want him to have it. To take from me because I want to take from him too.
My whole life, I’ve been trying to live up to others’ expectations. When Volethos looks at me, instead of seeing disappointment, or annoyance that I’m not living up to my ultimate potential—whatever that might be—I see desire. Acceptance.Fucking pride.
My hands curl around his shirt, the sheet I was holding forgotten as it drops to the ground. I pull him against me, fusing our bodies together, driving my tongue into his mouth to lick and taste. For a moment, he is still. So still, I think I’ve misread this.
But then… he detonates like a powder keg.
CHAPTERTWENTY
Volethos
* * *
With my fingers wrapped around her slender throat, I can feel the rapid flutter of her pulse through my fingertips.
I had no intention of laying myself bare to her, but the words flooded my tongue and poured out of me before I could stop them. The look she gave me was unreadable as I waited for her reaction. A reaction I was certain would be to push me away. To flee. A smart female would have done just that. No, that’s not right, because there is nothing wrong with my female’s intelligence. At least, until it comes to me.
When her small hands curl around my shirt and she pulls me into her, fusing our mouths and thrusting her slick little tongue down my throat…all rational thought evaporates. Before I realize I’ve moved, I’ve stepped into her so our bodies are flush, with my hand still clamped around her throat. I feel her swallow, the muscles working beneath my palm, and I groan.
Her eyes are wide and locked with mine. But there is no fear. Well, maybe a little fear. Mostly, I seeheat, lust, desire.All for me.
My hips pin her, and my fingers tighten. Just enough to cause her face to flush the slightest shade of rose. For her lips to part and for her to suck in a breath with just a hint of resistance.
I growl.
