“That’s it,” he says, feigning anger. “With that, you shall be punished!”
“Eek!” I shriek as he lunges on top of me, straddling me with taut, strong thighs. He wiggles his fingers menacingly above me. “Any last words?”
I open my mouth, trying to buy time, but he plunges both hands down right at my waist, and the sensation explodes over me as I both shriek uncontrollably and try to buck him off. It’s not unpleasant; it’s actually a nice distraction from the storm, but I still can’t seem to keep from screaming at him. I’m too intensely sensitive. I’m only vaguely aware that we might wake someone up.
Then a loud bang startles us both, and we look up to see the door swinging back to hit the hand of the person who kicked it open.
We both freeze as a large, angry shadow reaches for the light switch.
“What in the hell is going on here?” That’s Alex’s voice. Before I can say anything, he switches on the light, and looking at Ethan’s face, I can tell he’s thinking what I’m thinking. That this is a bad position to be in right at this moment.
Chapter 7
I freeze, breath caught in my chest, as Alex takes in the scene. His jaw clenches as he notes Ethan on top of me, my red face, Ethan holding my hands so I can’t get away. I can see the anger build on his face, his brows pulling down and together as his eyes widen.
“Get off her.” Alex’s voice is low and lethal, suggesting Ethan should be very careful with what he says next. But somehow I don’t think Ethan’s going to care.
“You said I could do whatever I wanted,” Ethan quips.
Yup, I was right. It’s the wrong thing to do. Alex covers the space to us in a second, lifts Ethan by the collar like he’s an unruly puppy and tosses him to the ground.
Alex looks me over from head to toe, and I feel myself blushing at his perusal. “Are you okay?” he asks, eyes intense.
My mouth falls open. I’m not sure what to say. I’m a bit flattered that he would care, but he has also completely misunderstood and possibly hurt Ethan. Then my breath catches as I get a good look at him. I was too busy worrying about Ethan’s fate to notice that, right now, Alex Dumont is breathtakingly shirtless. Just a sea of abs and pecs.
All he’s wearing is a low-slung pair of pajama pants, low enough that I can see two defined Ken doll lines, a full eight-pack, and a square, powerful chest situated between large, defined shoulders. He doesn’t notice that I’m drooling over him. He’s still angry.
“Alex, he didn’t do anything. He was just tickling me.”
A muscle in his neck twitches. “He wasn’t…? I mean—” He breaks off and looks to the side.
“No,” I say. “Of course not. He’s my friend. Our friend.”
Another twitch, this time at his temple. “Then why were you screaming… and on his bed?”
“Sad day, Alex,” Ethan mutters, standing and brushing himself off. “I guess you probably don’t know this, but women are supposed to scream on your bed. And if I make Kira scream on mine, what business is it of yours?”
“Bastard,” Alex grates out. He reacts too fast for me to stop him, spinning and catching Ethan with a sharp hook, sending him spinning backward to land with a dull thud on the ground. I roll off the bed and grab him around the waist, trying not to note the firm, luscious abs under my hands as I pull him back.
“You’re wrong, Alex,” I say. “Calm down.” I grunt, trying fruitlessly to keep him from walking toward Ethan. He simply ignores me, marching forward with my legs dragging on the ground. Alex is scary when he’s angry.
“You don’t touch her,” Alex growls at Ethan. “You don’t even come near her.”
“Oh yeah?” Ethan sneers sardonically. “I thought you said it was no longer your concern.”
My heart still hurts at the words, though it’s the second time hearing them. But Ethan is right. Alex has no real reason to be angry right now, given that this was all wholly consensual.
Alex flinches. He seems to realize he can’t pretend not to care and still care at the same time. He runs a frustrated hand through his hair, thinking it over. “I… While Kira’s here, she’s under my protection. I’m not going to let you molest her while she’s working for me.”
Ethan raises an eyebrow. “Is that what it is? Hm. Sure.” He shakes his head. “And for the last time, I didn’t molest her.” He gestures to me. “Ask her.”
“He didn’t,” I say against his back. “I came to his room. I got on his bed.”
“What?” Alex stops fighting me. He turns around slowly, expression deadly. He seems almost angrier that I came of my own volition. “Why would you do that?” He jabs a finger in Ethan’s direction. “You don’t know him.”
“For Pete’s sake, Alex. He’s your best friend.”
“Right, I know him and you don’t. He’s a player, Kira.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“He could have,” he grates out.
“He didn’t.”
“He’s right here,” Ethan says lamely. “Bleeding, I should mention. Paying for a crime I didn’t commit. Wishing there was a cute nurse around to tend to my wounds.” He sighs mournfully, and I stifle a laugh but let go of Alex to try to check on him.
Alex lets out a huff and grabs my arm. “What are you doing?”
“I—He’s hurt. I should check on him.”
“Go back to your room.”
I snap my gaze to him, eyes flashing. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“I do when it’s my house,” he says, a dark expression flitting across his face.
“That’s all it is for you? Someone causing trouble in your house?”
“Don’t push me, Kira…”
“Yes, Kira,” Ethan says sarcastically. “Don’t push him when he’s acting like a constipated wildebeest.”
I let out a squeak of laughter at the image and can literally feel the tension in the room move up a notch, can feel the last of Alex’s patience give way.
“You really want to stay here, with him?” he asks, eyes narrowed.
“I am going to stay here,” I grit out, jutting my chin stubbornly. “With him.”
“Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble for one night?”
“The only one causing trouble tonight is you!” I yell angrily. I give him a snide grin. “We were doing just fine until you got here.”
For a split second, I see the anger in his eyes and realize I should run. But before I can, he grabs my arm and hauls me forward, catching me over his shoulder as I fall. I struggle and kick and he clamps an arm over my legs and walks easily toward the door.
“What are you doing?”
“If you’re incapable of seeing what you’ve done wrong, then I’m done trying to reason with you. We’re going back to your room.”
“I’m a grown woman. I can do what I want! I want to stay with Ethan.”
He ignores me, carrying me toward the door.
“Ethan! Don’t just sit there!” I screech.
Ethan sits up, looking after us with a wry grin. “Sorry, babe. I leave Alex alone when he’s in full wildebeest mode. But if he tries anything, just give a yell and I’ll be there in two secs.”
I stick out my tongue at him and then continue to fight Alex as he walks with me down the hall to my bedroom. “Put me down,” I hiss.
He does, just inside my bedroom door. “We have to talk,” he says.
“Yes, let’s talk,” I say, frustrated beyond belief. I fold my arms and glare up at him. “Let’s talk about how you don’t just get to pick me up and haul me around whenever you want to, Alex.”
“But it’s so easy,” he deadpans. “You should eat more.”
I jab my finger into his chest. “I’m tired of letting men manhandle me.”
“Funny, that’s what I was just trying to prevent,” he says sardonically. “And then you got mad at me.”
“Ethan was just trying to distract me,” I mutter, folding my arms to ward off the cold
that comes when adrenaline starts to wear off. “Don’t just go off on your own erroneous assumptions.”
“Oh, so what were you doing on his bed?”
“Is it any of your business?”
He folds his arms and mirrors me, but he’s so much larger, and his bare chest muscles bunching against his arms cause my throat to go dry. “It’s my house.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“We’ve been getting along just fine. I don’t need you messing that up.”
“Messing that up how?”
“Fraternization.”
My stomach sinks like a rock. It’s classic Alex. Not being interested in me, but not wanting to let me be with who I want. “Excuse me? Who I choose to fraternize with is none of your business. Haven’t you learned that by now?”
“And haven’t you learned to think with the right part of your body and not go running into crazy situations with the first man who invites you?”
Hurt strikes through me and my hand flies out, slapping him across the face. It’s not a hard slap. I glare up at him, breathing heavily. “How dare you?”
“It’s the truth.”
“You know what else is the truth?” I ask, my tone scathing. “If you had just once thought with the other part of your body, maybe I wouldn’t have run to Nate in the first place.”
Genuine confusion flits across his face, warring with his righteous indignation. “What does that mean?”
“It means put up or shut up. Do you really care about keeping the peace in this house? Or is it something else?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks, folding his arms and walking toward me. I gulp and back up.
“It means you got a little too angry in there for it to just be about the house,” I say, jabbing my finger in his chest.
“Was that supposed to hurt?” he asks arrogantly, looking down at his chest and back at me with a bored expression.
“You’re impossible,” I grit out.
“I hardly think so. You’re the one that’s going to make it impossible to live here in peace if you keep doing…” He trails off, looking confused. “What you’re doing.”
“Oh yeah? And what exactly was I doing, Alex?”
“You tell me.”
“I don’t have to.” I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that it was just fear of thunder that sent me to Ethan’s room. The alternative seems to make him much madder.
“I could make you,” he says flatly, taking a step forward.
“No, you couldn’t,” I blurt out. Oh mouth, why you always want to get me in trouble?
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” I swallow and back up a little, ready to run at any second. The tension in the room that’s been crackling since we both came in here is reaching an unbearable level.
He makes his move in a split second, whirling me in his arms until my back’s to the door and he’s pinning me there with his hand and his gaze.
“Tell me,” he says.
“No,” I say, trying to move around him fruitlessly. “I don’t have to tell you about my sexual needs.” I smirk up at him as his face twists in anger.
“Needs?” He sneers. “You’re willing to complicate the dynamics of the whole house over some silly needs?”
“Is this really about the damn house?” I shout.
“What else would it be about?” he shouts back.
“I think you’re. Just. Jealous.” I give him a triumphant smirk and wait for his response. It feels good to just say it out loud, to not skirt around it.
Storm clouds build overhead. His face tightens, just barely, the calm before the explosion. I hold my breath, waiting for him to yell, to deny it, to say I’m wrong and I mean nothing. I’m expecting anything but what happens next.
His hand whips around my waist and pins me to the door, taking my lips in a harsh, punishing kiss that makes my knees immediately weak.
Chapter 8
So this is kissing Alex Dumont. My insides are melting.
His lips are perfectly curved, his breath minty even though he was just asleep. His deft hands move up to hold mine, keeping me pinned against my own door. He intertwines his fingers with mine, an intimate movement that makes me gasp against his mouth.
I’ve never felt so needed, so wanted, as when he lets out a soft groan and deepens the kiss, gently forcing my lips open to move his tongue inside. He plunders me utterly, forcing each cell of my body into submission as his tongue strokes and dives. I meet his tongue with mine, enjoying the sensation, the battle where we both win due to the delicious pressure.
He licks over my bottom lip, then catches it and bites softly, teasing it as he lets it out slowly between his teeth. I moan and sink against the door, legs all but non-existent, but his hands hold me up and his lips claim mine again in a way that’s rough but soft at the same time. Sort of like Alex.
Kissing him is heady, intoxicating. I can barely think, barely breathe, as he pulls out of my mouth and then plunges back in. He leans into me, pressing his hard body against mine. It’s primal and possessive and rough. Nate, the lightning, and everything else in my mind faded to oblivion the minute he touched me. He knows everything I want before I want it, and he gives it to me with a bitter rage that doesn’t make it any less arousing.
I know he’s still angry with me, but I don’t care because he’s here with me, letting me know it. I’d rather have him close and hating me than far away and cold. I don’t even know if this means he hates me or loves me, but I just know we’re communicating right now, and that’s enough for me. It doesn’t hurt that pleasure is pooling deep inside, making me ache for more.
He pulls back and his green eyes reflect the swirl of emotions I’m feeling—arousal, confusion, passion, anger. I can feel the past rising between us, threatening this perfect moment. Then he takes my mouth again. I struggle just to feel his strength when he doesn’t let me escape. I surrender and pleasure washes through me, drugging me. I’ve wanted this for so long. Maybe not exactly like this, but for him to want me at all.
I wish he’d let my hands go, move his over me. My body aches to be touched. Something is pulsing deep inside me, slowly building, not fast enough.
I could collapse now against this door. I let out a soft noise of frustration, not sure if I’m mad at Alex for doing this much or for not immediately taking me to bed to finish it. At the sound, he freezes and then pulls away, breathing heavily.
I start to sink and he catches me with a hand around my back, holding me floating in space like it’s nothing. I look up into his eyes, still panting. He looks down, rapid breaths matching mine. He swallows. I watch the movement in his long, fine neck. Even his neck is perfect.
“I…” His green eyes are wells of confusion. His perfectly curved lips part slightly. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
“I… guessed as much,” I gasp quietly. “That was…”
“A mistake,” he says, his voice a harsh rasp.
“I was going to say overwhelming.”
He pushes away from me, jamming a hand through his hair. “I’m supposed to be protecting you, and I molest you against a door. What is wrong with me?” He looks terrorized now, a trapped animal for giving into his own urges.
“It’s not molestation if I wanted it,” I say, taking a step toward him, wanting to soothe him. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
He turns to me, anger flashing across his face. “That can’t happen again.”
“No?” I ask, suddenly angry, suddenly wanting to get him back for saying something so wonderful could be a mistake. “Why not, Alex?” My gaze flicks below his waist. “Judging by that, you enjoyed that just as much as me.”
He shakes his head. “We aren’t doing that again. There’s too much between us.”
“Too much or not enough?” I spit out, exasperated. “Just tell me what you want, Alex.”
“I just want to be left alone!” he yells, turning to me with a cold
expression. “I just want you to stop bothering me.”
“Fine,” I say, letting hurt cool the burn inside me, the part that still aches to pull him back to me. “Fine, I guess if I want something like that, I’ll go elsewhere.”
His gaze snaps to me again, eyes flashing. “No, you won’t.”
“Yes, I will. Because you don’t get to reject me and then tell me what to do. Though you like to think so.” I sneer.
“I… Things wouldn’t work between us.”
“Yeah, so you think.” I shake my head. “But there’s a part of you that disagrees. If you could shut off that infernal brain and be impulsive for once in your life—”
“But I can’t,” he says harshly. “I can’t be impulsive. I don’t have that luxury anymore, Kira. You do. So fine. Do what you want. But don’t do it in my house.”
“Fine,” I say.
“Fine,” he says.
I swipe at my eyes, trying to preclude any tears. I never thought we could be so harsh to each other after something like that. I should have known. You can push someone like Alex past the snapping point, but you can’t make him like it.
“So I can do what I want as long as I go outside the house? Anyone I want, and you don’t have a problem with it?”
His eyes flash furiously. “Why are you pushing me like this?”
“Because someone has to, Alex. Someone has to make you be honest with yourself, if not others.”
“And how would you know what’s honest?” he asks. “You aren’t inside me.”
“Right,” I say.
“You say you don’t even know what happened while you were gone.”
I flinch. “I would if you told me.”
“Just stop it, Kira.” He narrows his eyes on me.
“Stop what?”
“Trying to force something between us that’s never going to happen.”
“Never going to happen? Is that why you pushed me up against a wall?”
He shoves another frustrated hand through his hair. “I lost it for a moment. You do something to me, Kira. You always have. Something I wish didn’t happen.”
Play Me: A1pha (Alpha) Part 1 Page 6