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I can feel my heart pounding in my throat and heat gathering low in my belly. Ihaveto get away from him before he gets that twisted mouth on me again.
There’s a lot of kicking and slapping and struggling involved, but I finally get my body free enough to roll toward the other side of the bed.
I don’t know what the plan is. All I can think of is getting away, but where? Out to the hall. Do I call for help?
If I do, it’s all over. There’s no way in hell Mom’s staying here after this. Or, I guess I should say there’s no wayLandonis, because his dad would surely kick him out over this.
Shit.
If he were anyone else sneaking into my bedroom in the middle of the night to prey on me, I wouldgleefullythrow him to the fucking wolves.
But he’s Landon.
I remember how I felt watching him and his dad argue before he went to stay with Malek for a few days.
Can I really throw our family into another tailspin like that?
Can we even survive another one?
He takes advantage of my faltering determination to drag me down the bed and climb on top of me. I’m tummy down, so he uses his weight to pin me, then slides his hands up my arms. He stops when both of our arms are stretched over my head, his bigger hands covering mine while he uses nothing more than his thumbs to corral my wrists and keep them from breaking free.
“I can do this all night. Can you?”
The hairs on the back of my neck prickle as his hot breath hits my skin. They’re the first words he’s actually spoken to me since I woke up to him eating me out, and the fact that he’s only speaking now to let me know how futile my efforts to stop him are…
His audacity makes me so mad, I try to slam my head back quickly and headbutt the asshole, but he’s too quick and moves before I can make contact.
He chuckles, injecting a fresh burst of fury straight into my veins. “Nice try.”
“Go to hell,” I snap back.
“So feisty,” he murmurs almost playfully, sending a shudder through my body. “Unfortunately, you’re alsosopredictable.”
My breath catches as he brings my hands together and locks his right hand around both of my wrists.
“Unfortunate for you, not for me,” he specifies.
His hand skims my side, making my body tense up as awareness dances down my spine.
“And, to be fair, only unfortunate because you insist on fighting this thing between us. I don’t mind it anymore when you fight me. It used to annoy and confuse the shit out of me. I knew you liked me, so why wouldn’t you just stand still? Why did you run every goddamn time I tried to catch you?”
My chest seems to be shrinking as I fight to breathe beneath his crushing weight.
“But then I figured it out. You weren’treallyrejecting me. You didn’tmean it. You were just making me work extra hard for you. It makes sense. I was such an asshole to you in middle school, you couldn’t let it be easy. And besides, you like to be chased.”
I fight to free my wrists, but he’s too damn strong. “You think you stopped being an asshole to me in middle school? Maybe you need to spend some time at that hospital Anae went to last year.”
Ignoring my commentary as his hand slides over my ass, he goes on. “We’ll dig into why that is eventually. Maybe it’s Parker-style daddy issues. Can’t love a man you believe would ever leave you, even if you ran from him.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re an asshole,” I fling back.
He chuckles. “Maybe.” His lips graze the back of my neck while his fingers dance across my lower back, and he murmurs, “But I think you like to be hunted. It really clicked for me tonight when you and Hannah were talking about those books you used to like. You weren’t into the nice guy who was willing to sacrifice himself so she could carry on without him. You were drawn to the hunter who proved himself a capable partner and only didn’t get the girl because at the exact moment she wanted to run off with him, he put something else before her. Something noble, sure, fighting to save civilization, but who cares? He committed the ultimate sin in your book. He let go ofher. I bet you lost interest in him after that, didn’t you?”
I refuse to answer him.
I can hear his satisfaction. “Yeah, you did. You don’t give up on people easily, so you probably gave him a chance to win you back over, but he didn’t manage it, did he? He was no longer her fearless hunting partner, focused on taking care of her and their family above all else. He took his eye off the ball and turned you off. I know you think you’re more rational than anything, Parker, but you’re not. You run hot. You’re primal. A lioness who can’t accept a weak, unfocused mate.”
I gasp as he wrenches my thighs apart and wedges himself between them.
