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After fending off Magnus and Ari, who followed me out, I left them at Lourde’s apartment and pushed them out of the elevator doors.
The elevator descended as I cracked my jaw, grinding my teeth, and as I reached the lobby, anger had utterly consumed me.
The doors opened, and I walked out into a vision of red.
Pepper.
2
Pepper
The elevator doors pinged open, and Connor looked up. The frown etched above his sky-blue eyes was replaced with a fiery stare when his eyes met mine. Mesmerizingly dark with a layer of desperation like he was lost, he halted my movement, and I stopped in my tracks. A fiery warmth climbed my neck while my breath caught in my throat.
He rocked his blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up and tan pants that pressed to his thick thighs. With his height, it was as if he was floating toward me. Or perhaps that was the champagne talking. I couldn’t be sure.
“What’s wrong, Connor?” I asked, slightly on edge at the intensity of his gaze.
Did he know about Lourde and Barrett?It was the first thing that came to mind.
I’d only slightly sobered from the fresh Manhattan air, but I was still hazy from the night’s events. Lourde had kept her distance from Barrett all night, hadn’t she?
He grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. My body responded to his rough and dominant touch, coming alive after being dormant for so long. In Tribeca, where the streetlights glowed and the air was sticky, Connor held onto my wrist.
“What are you doing?” I eventually asked.
He pulled me around the dark corner. I knew Connor wouldn’t hurt me, but I knew he was not okay by the force of his hand. My body trembled with anticipation.
“Connor, tell me, what’s wrong?”
He pinned me against the brick wall and pressed his body against mine. My back scratched against the roughness in this position, and my heart thundered in my ribcage. Connor’s heated stare rendered me speechless. Yet, fear was the last thing running through me. There wasn’t anywhere I could go and no place I’d rather be. With his muscles pressed against me, the unspoken promises he could give me flooded my body.
Oh God.
Without warning, he slammed his lips against mine in a heated kiss. He tasted of whiskey and sadness. On the tips of my toes, I titled my head up and kissed him back, throwing my hands around his neck. I pulled him closer, wanting his entire body on me.
He groaned in my mouth, then suddenly pulled back. “Not here,” he groaned out.
I pulled away breathless to find his pupils dilated, slithers of dark blue surrounded by black.
I wanted him. It was wrong, so very wrong, but I needed to forget my broken heart.
And Connor? Connor was always there.
Familiar.
In the background.
My best friend’s older brother.
“Come with me,” he commanded, taking my hand and pulling me off the wall.
He hailed a taxi, and on the short ride to his place, his hand discreetly climbed underneath my dress, hovering on the inside of my thigh. He brushed against the lace of my barely-there panties. An indescribable tension pooled inside me, and I couldn’t wait to get out of the car to the safety of prying eyes.
As soon as our ride came to a stop, Connor leaped out of the taxi and held out his hand. After he helped me out of the car, his hand slipped from mine as he scanned the area.
We walked side-by-side into the lobby as he greeted the concierge with a polite nod. As soon as the doors closed to the elevator, his hands were on me, biting my shoulder. He inched down my dress, fumbling at the zipper.
“Connor,” I breathed out, the rush of blood pooling between my thighs.
