Page 82 of The Dark Side

Then there was his father.

When the movie was over, Adrik glanced at her, against his will, but found she had fallen asleep. It allowed him to look at her when no one was watching, and he found himself drowning in her. She had perfect eyebrows, which was insane, because they weren't drawn on or colored in. She wore little to no makeup, except around her eyes, which didn't need much help. Her thick black glasses rested on her small, perfect nose. She only wore her glasses at night, and he had rarely seen her in them, yet they fit her, were a part of her. Her brown hair lay against her cheek, and he almost reached out to move it, but it looked like it belonged there.

Jolie questioned the women in his life. It would be a lie if he didn't admit they were all beautiful. They had perfect bodies that only money could buy. They knew how to please and strived to do so. They had talents that could only be learned from years of sexual conquests. But Jolie failed to realize that none of them even compared to her.

And he barely even knew her.

How could he let her go?

Adrik pushed his seat back up, planting his feet on the floor. The movement woke her, and she stretched, moaning. A sound that he'd loved to provoke one day.

It was nearly two-thirty. He still needed to visit Katia to keep up the act of their coupling. "It's late."

Jolie smiled at him. "I enjoyedthis,"she emphasized.

It's funny because he figured she would. Unlike all the other women, it didn't take much to impress her. Material things were barely on her radar. He would have to change his entire mentality to make her happy. Was that something he could do?

Adrik stood and held out his hand. She was hesitant, but only momentarily, before her fingers slipped into his palm. He pulled her to her feet and stood her in front of him. She was half a foot shorter, and though she tried to bow her head, he had a hand on her cheek, lifting her face to meet his eyes.

He was never good with words. Emotions were another thing altogether. But showing physical affection was something his family never had trouble with, and he hoped if they continued this forbidden affair, she'd learn that his touch held all the words he could never say.

Jolie struggled to make eye contact. "Don't look at me like that."

"You cannot control how I look at you." His thumb brushed her lips, and she leaned into it, closing her eyes. The movement nearly broke him. "All day today," he began in a whisper, "I've been thinking of everything about us that would not work."

Her eyes snapped up to his in a sudden panic.

"But I don't care. I want to try."

Her brows knitted, and the yearning returned to her gaze. She gripped his wrist, the other hand resting on his chest. Then she dropped her eyes. He attempted to get them back onto him, leaning down, but she refused.

"It's easy for you to say that," she murmured. "You aren't the one going against everything you've ever learned. You aren't betraying your morals. You aren't risking your life."

"I think we are more alike than you realize."

"Then, why are you choosing this?"

"There's a saying in my family. Big risk, big reward. There are no small bets in my life. Everything is a big risk. It makes what I do worth it.Thiswill be worth it."

Jolie clenched his shirt. He was so sure and confident that fighting it was hard. But what if she didn't fight it? What if, instead of going against the current, she allowed it to take her away? It may drown her, but it could also bring her to land.

"Okay," she found herself saying.

A smile flashed on his face before it faltered. "Are you sure?"

She shook her head. "Big risk, right?"

Adrik felt a flash of pride in her words. It made him believe she could handle everything that came their way.

He leaned down, his eyes on her lips, unable to stop himself. "Big reward," he finished as he graced her skin. Their lips collided like a gentle wave against the shore. It was unsure at first, concerned she'd change her mind, that he was dreaming. But then her fingers clenched the back of his head, pushing him against her, and he wrapped an arm around her waist, aggressively pulling her to him. The speed of their kiss intensified as the desire swallowed them. He could feel the rate of her breathing rapidly increasing, and every time they broke, the desperation only got stronger. There would be no waiting. He was going to take her here in the fucking theater.

"Wait, wait, wait," she panted as his lips traced her jawline. "I'm not ready."

Adrik's lips descended down her collarbone. "Yes, you are." He didn't need to slip his fingers in her pussy to find out, but it didn't mean he wasn't going to.

"I…umm—" Jolie struggled with words as she fought herself. A curse was on her lips. "Crap, I'm sorry. I didn't shave."

Adrik chuckled against her skin. Like that mattered to him. She could be hairy as a wolf, and it still wouldn't stop him. A hand slipped down her ass, a place he’d been dying to touch, and gripped the fat, shoving her against him so she could feel what awaited her.