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I blinked over at him as he gazed out at the water. The semblance of light seeping into the truck brightened the slow-fading bruise still painted on his jaw from my father. Swallowing, I parted my lips to speak. “That day…at the roller rink,” I started. “How did you know that was my father?”

Reed inhaled a breath as he glanced at me. “I just knew.”

My brows furrowed curiously.

“That look on your face, like you’d just seen a ghost,” he continued. “I know you, Halley. And I knew there was only one thing in this world that could shake you up like that.”

I grazed the pads of my fingertips over his knuckles. Evidence of the fight still lingered in a dappling of healing cuts. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know.”

“You risked too much.”

“You’re worth it.” Shifting in his seat, he inched forward, his grip on my hand tensing. “No one’s ever stood up for you like that before, have they? No one’s ever fought. And that’s bullshit. You deserve to have someone in your corner, fighting like hell for you. For your honor, your worth. I want to be that person.” He stared at me with an intensity that etched lines across his entire face. “I’ll be that guy…even if that’s all I’ll ever be.”

Something came over me.

A needy, clawing urge rippled through me with sharp teeth, like a dark possession.

I sucked in a breath and leaned over the console. Reed’s own breath faltered as he let go of my hand and lifted it to my cheek. His words had been tameless, but his touch was gentle. A caress. A kiss in the form of the back of his fingers against my jaw.

My neck bowed. My lips drew apart as a moan-like sound danced up my throat and infected the air around us with everything wrong and everything right.

Reed’s grip on me turned feral, his fingers splaying and curling around the side of my neck as he tugged me closer. I felt his lips graze my throat. Whatever entity had taken me over wanted Reed and only Reed and didn’t care about the consequences.

His thumb extended, pressing along my bottom lip and unhooking my jaw. “You have so much power.” His words breathed fire on my skin. “I wanted to give you all of it. I wanted to watch it take you over, consume you.”

“Reed.” My head was tilted back, my hands raising to fist the lapels of his leather jacket as I brought him closer.

“But, goddammit, I gave you too much.” He opened his mouth wider, a hot, wet trail coursing up the length of my throat until his lips were a millimeter away from mine. “I gave you power over me.”

Then he closed the gap.

A light kiss.

Whisper-soft.

He was giving me a taste, but I wanted a feast.

Whimpering, I stole more, parting my lips and tracing his with the tip of my tongue. Reed panted softly, a shiver rippling through him as he fought against the draw.

“Please.” I peppered more kisses to his bottom lip, my hands curling around his neck.

“God, Halley. We can’t.” He wasn’t moving away; he was only strengthening his grip on me, like his words weren’t formidable enough to keep him away.

I felt his weakness, the shake in his resolve. The cracks split wider and wider, allowing me to slip inside. Arching back, I lowered his face to the swell of my breasts. I lured him with temptation. Begged for him to crumble and submit.

Reed trembled, inhaling deeply, grazing his nose along the heaving swells as his head swung side to side like he hated himself for this.

Lashes fluttering, he released a groan of surrender. Shot back up my body. Snatched me by the back of the head and hauled me forward.

He kissed me. Viciously.

Fire tore through me as I grabbed his face between my hands, pulling him closer, taking him deeper. Mouths wide open, he lashed his tongue against mine, one hand wrapped around my throat while his other arm circled around me and dragged me across the console.

It was foolish, wrong, senseless. Everything and more.

Moans poured out with pure relief and purer passion. Our tongues twisted, tasting, yearning for something deeper. He smelled of smoky oak and amber, tasted like mint. An elixir that had me sinking into him, gripping him desperately, dragging my nails down his face and neck.