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I blink in confusion. “Why?”
“Because, Emily, the answer to my question is that shadows drown out the light. Inevitably, it goes out under the weight of darkness.” He places a kiss on my lobe. “You were right. Iamdangerous. I’m going to hurt you if you don’t tell me to leave.” He pulls away slightly, far enough that he’s able to glare at me with an intensity that startles me. “Say it!”
I take him in, his lips, his chiseled jaw. His achingly beautiful gaze.
He wants me to say the words that will send him away while he’s pressed so intimately against me that I can barely remember my own name? If he doesn’t have the will to pull away, how can he expect it of me?
“Why were you here that night after the exhibition?” I demand. “I saw you down there watching me from the street.”
“I’ll answer that if you answer this. Did you like it? Did you like me looking at you?”
“Yes,” I admit.
“Were you going to undress for me?” Trailing his fingertips over my bare arm, he wraps one of the shoulder strings around his finger.
“Yes,” I manage to blow out.
Noah tugs the string and the bow comes undone. The fabric falls from my skin, exposing my right breast. My chest heaves as his eyes trace a line downward. He raises his hand to it, cupping it reverently before he runs the pad of his thumb over my nipple oh so softly.
I whimper, wanting it to slide down further, to between my legs, where an incessant throbbing has begun. Wanting him to touch me there. Desperate for it.
“I came because I couldn’t get you out of my fucking mind.” He lifts his gaze to mine. Then, as if he’s just fought some inner battle and lost, he lets out a groan of frustration. Then his mouth is on mine in a brutal kiss.
Teeth clash against teeth and tongues meld as he wraps his arms around me like a vise—hard, unyielding, and crushing. My hands are trapped between us. I can barely breathe, and I’m not sure if it’s his hold on me that prevents it or my reaction to his fierce invasion.
I’ve never been kissed like this. A kiss that takes over every part of my being.
It hurts. Physically and emotionally, the way I’m sure he means it to. It’s a bruising punishment because I didn’t tell him to leave. An I told you so.
Even so, I respond to it the only way I can. With wild abandon. Not because I want to. But because I don’t have a choice.
With my brain clouded by his nearness, his scent in my nostrils and his taste in my mouth, my body is left unchecked.
I fist the front of his shirt, wishing I could move enough to tear it off him.
Before I can wedge my fingers between his buttons, he yanks away from me, leaving me feeling blistered from his heat and so damned cold with the absence of it. He takes several deep breaths, then one long one.
From his coat pocket, he tugs out his phone and answers it. I was so lost in our make-out session, I hadn’t heard it ring. That’s why he pulled away from me.
“Es—” His gaze flicks to mine. “Noah speaking.” He listens intently for a moment. “Where are they?”
I watch him carefully as he talks. Whoever is on the other end of the line must be telling him something he really doesn’t like. His eyes narrow and the lines in his face become sharper.
“Is everything okay?” I mouth.
He turns away from me and moves to the other side of the room. “I can be there in one hour.”
When he hangs up, he returns to my side. To my surprise, he takes my dress strings he pulled apart and reties them on my shoulder. I was standing there with my breast hanging out but was so focused on him, I completely forgot.
He goes to the door and, without looking at me, says over his shoulder, “Something’s come up.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Tomorrow we’ll finish this. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
I follow him out and down the stairs, but just as I’m about to ask where exactly he plans on taking me tomorrow evening, my father appears on the second floor landing.
He pauses, his blue eyes immediately taking in the sight of Noah and me coming down from my studio. My cheeks flame as I imagine what I must look like after such a savage kiss. Hair mussed, lips swollen, skin flushed.
