Page 86 of The Scarab's Game

Emmett Reynolds was trouble. People had been saying that from the day they found out who his father was.

None of it had mattered to me. I’d wanted Emmett for half my lifetime. And maybe my horrible track record with men wasbecause of him. I’d fallen in love with every bad boy I crossed paths with, trying to find the same thrill Emmett had given me. Trying to fill the void he’d left when he dumped me at fifteen.

None of them had quenched my thirst.

One night with him would close the open loop in my heart, and I could finally move on. No more cheaters, no more liars, no more men who put themselves ahead of me. I’d find myself a good man, settle down, and have the picture-perfect life I’d always wanted.

I undid another of his buttons and slid my fingers under the loose fabric of his shirt, doing my best to hide the nervous tremble.

“Just one night.”

That would solve all my problems.

He dragged his teeth across his bottom lip and finally moved his damn hand. It landed on my hip, and he clenched hard. “She’ll kill me.”

Summoning every ounce of courage and sex appeal I could find, I purred, “It’ll be worth it.”

His nostrils flared, and his gaze dropped to my lips. Heat pulsed through my body as his mouth eased open, his breaths growing ragged.

He was going to say yes this time.

He had to.

His other hand locked onto my waist, and he forced me back two steps until I touched the wall.

“This is wrong,” he growled, grabbing my arms to take my hands off him.

“I don’t care.”

He lifted my hands over my head and pinned my wrists against the wall. Leaned in close, so his hot breath skated over my cheek. Teeth grazed my earlobe, and I moaned, bowing myback to find his body with mine. There was too much space between us.

Chapter 31

Emmett

Fuck me.

Fucking fuck me.

What was I doing? Why did I grab her?

How had I already undone three of the buttons on her blouse?

Because you want her. You want to kiss those lips, rip those clothes off her, and taste every inch of her. Fuck her against the wall until she screams your name.

Because you’ve always wanted what you can’t have.

I held her hands steady over her head, ghosting my free hand along her arm, down the side of her breast, and stopping at her waist. I pulled back only far enough to see her face.

Jenn’s wet, swollen lips parted. She knew what she wanted, but hadn’t planned on asking, had she? Or she didn’t think I’d take her up on it.

Raw need slammed through me as my fingers traced her hip, keeping a razor-thin space between our bodies. Blood pounded through my veins. My body screamed to consume her. My cock demanded I claim her. But my brain?

It was the only part of me that realized I had to stop.

Scarlett had been right to warn me away from her. I wasn’t what a good, smart woman like Jenn needed. I was little more than a con artist.

I was a man whose father betrayed his country.