A fresh round of possessiveness ricocheted through the boundaries of my chest.
“That was years ago,” he spat.
Bitter laughter ripped from her throat. “And you think that changes a thing? Because it’s been years since you took everything from me. You’re truly a fool if you think it does.”
She glanced around. Resentment and old hurt trembled around her mouth. Her voice hardened with the accusation. “Where’s Chastity, anyway? Did you leave her at home to wait for you?”
“We aren’t together anymore.”
She laughed a scoff, her head shaking as she struggled to stand her ground. “Isn’t that a tragedy.” Her entire body quivered her own suppressed rage. “Things make so much more sense now.”
I stepped closer to her and lowered my mouth to her ear. “Come on, darlin’. Let’s get you out of here.”
Furiously, she nodded.
I turned her away, and we took another step while the bastard took a desperate one behind us. “You can’t seriously be leaving with that guy.”
She didn’t look his way. “Yeah, I am.”
He scrambled behind us. Took about all the strength I had not to turn around and lay this guy flat out in front of the audience steadily gathering around us. “Do you even know who he is?”
She ignored him.
“He’s dangerous, Willow.”
I scoffed. Damn right I was, and I was getting more dangerous with every offensive word that fell from his corrupt mouth.
We kept right on moving. I had to get us out of there before I lost it.
Snapped.
I could feel my control splintering beneath the pressure.
And this was not the place.
“Did you know he fucked Billy’s girl? Did you know they broke up over it? Wedding’s off.”
Like it was my fault that bitch lied when I asked her straight up.
She inhaled a sharp breath and stumbled on her feet as she came to a stop. I tried to urge her to keep moving, but her heels dug in. She didn’t understand how close I was to losing it on this asshole in the middle of this reunion.
She blinked what seemed a million times before gritting out four clipped words. “What did you say?”
Slowly she turned around to face him.
Emily was suddenly there. “Willow,” she said, her voice damned near as protective as I felt. Her attention darted between each of us, worry and angst plastered all over her face.
Bates just stood there looking smug.
Like he held all the cards and he was getting ready to lay down a straight flush.
“I said he fucked Billy’s girl.”
Emily gasped at the mention of the name and Willow swallowed hard. “Billy? Your best friend, Billy?”
“Yeah,” he said.
She started nodding, but it was shaky all over, sliding through her shoulders and heaving her chest. “You were a part of it.”
Her statement punched the air like a gavel strike.
He paled. Obviously, he was expecting a total different reaction from her than the one he got.
Her eyes moved to me. Horror filled her own recognition.
Sorrow. Regret. Empathy.
All of it this twisted protectiveness over me.
Slowly, her focus moved back to the rat bastard still standing there like he had something to prove.
“You did this? You and those worthless jerks you call friends? You attacked him? Left him in front of my store to die? How could you?” It was all an appalled accusation.
“He had it coming.”
“Oh my God,” Emily wheezed, both hands pressed to her mouth.
Shock rippled through the gaping crowd.
Rage curled through my muscles, and I bounced on my toes, giving it my all to restrain myself. Because if anyone had it coming, it was him.
Instead it was Willow I was restraining as she moved to get in his face. From behind, I hooked my arm around her waist and started hauling her back.
Her voice shifted to a whisper. “I can’t believe I ever loved a man like you. You disgust me.”
She turned into my hold, and I started striding toward the door when the bastard reached out and grabbed her by the arm.
She yelped.
In a flash, I had him by the throat.
It was instant.
The violence that skimmed across my flesh. My teeth gritted and strain pulsed through every muscle. A rustle of anxious energy billowed through the room. People closed around us, eyes wide in morbid curiosity. I only saw him, my narrowed sight tinged in red and violence and hate.
“Don’t touch her. Not ever again.” I tightened my fingers and yanked him close. “If you do, I’m gonna make sure that meeting in a dark alley happens, and I promise next time, you aren’t gonna like the outcome. Do you understand what I’m tellin’ you?”
Not giving one flying fuck if he understood, I tossed him from my hold, making him fumble back. He landed hard on his ass, sliding across the slick marble floor.
Fury raced through me on a circuit of destruction I felt desperate for. I wanted it. Whether I wanted it more for me or for her, I couldn’t tell. But it was there. Burning hot.
I grabbed her, hid her face in my shoulder to protect her from the mess playing out in front of us. I hauled us out of there before things got uglier than they already were.
My gaze remained vigilant, watching over my shoulder while we waited for the valet to retrieve my car. Willow kept breathing all her breaths into my neck, filling up my lungs with peaches and sweet and honey every time I panted for that elusive cool.
The valet pulled up. I helped Willow inside and was quick to round the front and get into the driver’s seat. I gunned it, taking to the street with a peel of tires, getting us out of there before I did something that couldn’t be undone.
I jammed my finger at the sunroof button. Needing air.
It slid open to the night and ripping wind and glimmering stars.
While I took all my aggression out on the road and steering wheel I squeezed in my hands.
Fuck.
I wanted to pound something to pieces.
Taking in a steeling breath, I chanced a glance at the girl I could feel staring at me from the other side, knowing I probably looked a madman.
Vicious.
Savage.
She was pressed sideways to the door.
And I thought maybe she’d be scared by my outburst back at the resort.
But her chest was heaving, expression wild as those long pieces of hair whipped around her gorgeous face.
She stared back at me with big chocolate eyes.
Molten.
Her gaze washed over me like lava.
Burning up everything in its path.
“You are so beautiful,” she said, voice hoarse.
“Peaches,” I whispered as a warning. Wasn’t sure I trusted myself with her right then.
“You are. Did you know…did you know the first time I saw you…when you were lying covered in blood and you opened your eyes and looked at me, that I saw it? Something so beautiful and raw and powerful. Even when you’d been broken. The way you looked at me shook me straight to my bones. And then tonight…what you did for me…I don’t…”
I roughed a hand through my thrashing hair, a perfect mirror to my thrashing heart. “Peaches.”
Another warning.
I didn’t deserve the way she was looking at me. Like I was good and right when I was no better than the bastard we’d left lying back there on the floor.
So slowly, she reached out, shaking fingers gentle as she traced them along the scar that marked that night beneath my eye.
A tremble took me whole.
Energy pulsed and shivered and shook.
Shit.
I gripped her by the wrist and pressed the underside to my nose. “You’re killing me, darlin’.”
“And you’re saving me.”
A hard frown hit me. “It was you who did all the saving.
”
Sitting back a fraction, she shook her head. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be home tonight, hiding in the dark.” Her tongue darted out to sweep across her lips. “I never would have been brave enough to go there or to stand up to him. To say those things.”
“But that’s where I think you’re wrong, darlin’.” This time it was my turn to reach out and touch her. I cupped the side of her face, glancing between her and the road. “I think you’re so much braver than you’ve been giving yourself credit for. I see it there. Feel it every time I look at you. You’re incredible, Willow. Every time you walk through my door, I know it. So good that I know I shouldn’t be doing whatever the fuck it is I think I’m doin’ with you.”
She was still panting those breathy pants, and she leaned into my touch.
“I…” she attempted before she looked down, averted her gaze. Even with her head downturned, there was no missing the blush creeping to her cheeks. She hesitated before she spoke. “When you kiss me…it doesn’t feel like pretending. It feels like the best thing I’ve ever felt.”
I swallowed hard, crossing a line. Pushing into the boundaries that should have been firmly set in place. “That’s because when I kiss you? It’s not pretend. When I tell you you’re gorgeous—the best thing I’ve ever seen? I mean it. And when I look at you…”
I touched the center of my chest, feeling ripped open wide. Exposed. Maybe telling her the truth when it wouldn’t do either of us any good was wrong. But there was no hiding when this girl was looking at me that way. “I feel it right here. We might be pretending, but you can’t fake this.”
Like she didn’t trust herself, she pressed farther against the door. “You make me want things…things I know I shouldn’t want.”
“And what is it you want, Peaches?” I prodded low, knowing full well I was pointing us in the direction of no return. “Told you when I came into your store that I’d give you anything.”
“I want…” She tucked her bottom lip between her teeth, nervous or unsure whether to give me the truth.
Blood pounded mercilessly through my veins. Thickened with lust. All of it clouded my judgment, knocking loose my center of gravity.
Because I knew the look on her face. Desire was written across her like a musical score.
The way her body rocked and trembled and silently pled.
Desperate to be played.
I knew I should close my mouth. Shut this down. Drop her at home. Instead, I let the words slide free. “Tell me, Peaches.”
The needy rasp fell from between her lips. Quietly. Honestly. “I want you to touch me. I…I don’t…know what it’s like…”
That blush was back full force, eyes wide and telling.
“Shit.” I hissed it almost silently while a shot of lust kicked me in the gut. Realizing what she was saying. What she was implying.
“You want me to make you come?”
Her mouth dropped open and she nodded slow. “I’ve never…”
I rubbed a hand over my face, hoping it might help me see straight. All the resolutions I’d ever made gurgled to the surface, vying for me to take note, and that tiny spec that was left of my conscience was screaming at me to see reason.
For once, not to be the bastard who was at fault.
This girl was good.
Pure.
Waiting on what was right.
And right was most definitely not me.
But none of that seemed to matter to my subconscious that had already jumped into action. Before I even realized it, my car had changed direction and was blaring down the sleeping, desolate road, headed toward my house.
I struggled to find a balance.
Looking for boundaries.
Maybe asking for a wider line because toeing this one was becoming impossible.
“Never?” I asked.
She just shook her head.
“Just how far are we taking this pretending, Peaches? Because I can’t go messing you up. Refuse to. You and I both know you deserve more than that. I know you want more than what I can give you.”
“Just…let me feel something. Something different. Something better. Something good.”
She twisted her fingers so tight I was sure she was cutting off blood flow. “I’m not…I’m not very good at these things,” she quietly confessed.
Mother. Fuck.
“Idiot.” I gritted it out into the torrent of air that ripped between us. I couldn’t begin to imagine the bullshit that asshole had fed her for all those years. If she were even capable of thinking it was her who was lacking, Bates must have done a bang-up job fucking with her head.
I took a sharp right into my driveway, a little faster than necessary. The tires kicked up a storm of dust as we barreled up toward my house. I jammed on the brakes as I slid into the garage, threw it in park, and killed the engine. Half a second later, I was holding that gorgeous face in the palms of my hands, forcing her to focus on my words.
“Listen to me, and listen good. He’s nothin’ but an idiot, Willow. That bastard didn’t have the first clue how to take care of you. How to touch you right. How to make you feel good. Only a selfish prick would turn that blame on you.”
Her eyes fluttered in doubt, in want, and I pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “Come on…let’s go show that fucker up.”
She giggled the softest giggle. So sweet. So perfect and light. It managed to weave its way in to take hold of that dark, dark space. That space that was hidden deep inside. One that for years I’d tried to forget. One I hardly recognized anymore.
Yet, somehow, it recognized her.
My chest tightened. All that shame I’d stuffed so deep, the regret and remorse begged me to take heed, to watch what I was doing. To check my intentions.
This wasn’t some groupie looking for a one-night stand.
You’re shaking her from that shell. Showing her that she’s beautiful. Reminding her of all she has to offer. So when that lucky bastard out there finally finds her, she’ll be ready to demand it in return.
That seemed to be enough of a reason to have me climbing out of my car and rushing around to her side. Helping her out, I took her by the hand, hauled her inside and up the stairs, and flung the door open to my room.
Instantly, I could feel her nerves ratchet high, the way her urgent steps slowed as she followed me in. I needed to slow the fuck down. Keep my cool when all night it’d been slipping away. I released her hand, thinking maybe she’d choose to bolt, knowing it’d be for the best.
Instead, she moved over to the line of windows, staring out at the night.
That energy pulsed around us.
“You sure this is what you want?” I asked from where I stood by the doors.
She slowly turned around to face me.
Moonlight filtered in behind her, illuminating her in shimmering shadows and soft, milky light.
She was fucking stunning.
So stunning I couldn’t stop the lump from forming at the base of my throat or the heaviness that suddenly weighed down on the center of my chest.
“I shouldn’t, but I do.”
I started for her, my footsteps measured as I approached. I slid the suspenders from my shoulders, the words rumbling from my mouth, “I’m gonna make you feel good, Peaches. Give you what that asshole was too selfish to give. Then, it’s going to end right there. If you feel uncomfortable for even a second, you say it. You say it.”
She dropped her gaze to the floor.
I touched her chin, gave it the gentlest nudge, urging her to look at me.
Chocolate eyes stared back. They swam with trust and desire and lingering fear.
Anger fisted my spirit.
I wanted to slaughter that bastard.
I got the feeling he’d never lifted a hand against her. His abuse? His abuse was all the words he’d clearly spewed that’d cut her down. Insults that had made her question.
I set my palm on her cheek, tilted my head, made sure my voice was sincere so she wo
uld know I meant every single one of the words that I let roll from my tongue. “This is for you, Peaches. Because you want it and you chose it.”
I let my hand slide down the slender, delicate slope of her neck. My skin burned against her pulse point that ran wild beneath my touch.
“So beautiful,” I said, filling her with the truth. “So kind. So good. Did you know those are all the things I see when I look at you?”
I ran my hand around to the back of her neck and pushed my fingers into her hair where it was twisted into a tie. I freed it from its hold, letting that beautiful mess rain down around her.
She exhaled a needy breath.
I inhaled it. Like it might draw her closer to me. I was such a fool, wanting more of what she had to give but knowing I had so little to offer in return. Praying the whole time that this might be enough.
I edged her back toward my bed. “And this body,” I murmured as I was undoing the knot of material at her waist that acted as a belt. “Every time you walk through my door, my mind heads straight into the obscene. Wondering what you look like underneath all those clothes. Knowing it’s spectacular and only my fantasies to vouch for it.”
She shivered.
I backed her up another step. “And now, I’m gonna know firsthand.”
Chills skated across her flesh.
Palpable.
My stomach twisted in a whorl of heated knots.
Shit.
I had no fucking clue how I was going to make it through this in one piece. I was dying to get messy with this girl. Filthy. Touch her everywhere. Fuck her every way.
If we were pretending, I was gonna be all her fantasies.
I steeled myself as I set my palm against her flat belly, told myself to go slow, to take it easy. The only finish line being crossed tonight was hers.
I ran my nose along her cheek to her ear as I rounded her to the back, murmuring the whole way. “Tonight belongs to you. I’m going to touch you until you’re dancing somewhere with the stars and then I’m going to catch you when you come back down. Then, I’m going to send you flying again.”
She whimpered and pressed her thighs together, and I knew I already had her where I wanted her.
Shivering and wet and ready.
Needing this so damned bad her nerves wouldn’t get in her way, the girl so worshipped by my words that Bates’ would be deleted, one by one.
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