Page 22 of Twisted Obsession
“Don’t do that,” he growled. “You’re too smart for that game.” He drew in a breath. “We kissed.” The gruff confession was seemingly shredded through his teeth. “That’s enough.”
“For who?”
Eyes the dark of night pierced through me, penetrating straight to my soul. If possible, he grew in size, expanding to loom over me with the power and strength of a bull.
“Back down, kitten,” he murmured, so quietly I almost didn’t hear him. “I mean it. Stop now and go to bed.”
“But I want—”
“What?” he snarled, a mask of something hot and primal darkening his features. “What do you want, Kami?”
“You,” I confessed so softly, I almost didn’t hear it myself. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
His nostrils flared. His fingers clenched at his sides. “Do you know what comes with wanting me? Pain. Death. Long, lonely nights. You think what I am, what I do is romantic. It’s not. I will ruin you, kitten. I will steal everything you are and everything you have. I will leave you in broken pieces and you will hate me. Is that what you want?”
I was breathing too hard. My blood was roaring between my ears, muffling everything, but the anguish in his voice.
“What if I still want it?”
“Then you’re fucking crazy.” He looked away from me to something along the far wall behind me. A muscle danced in his jaw, a vicious flex of a man chewing steel. “Go to bed, Kami.”
“No.”
Eyes wide with the same surprise I felt snapped back to me with such force I almost jumped. “What?”
“You want me, too,” I forced through the sandstorm raging in my throat.
He blinked as if I’d just said the stupidest thing he’d ever heard. “Of course, I fucking want you. All I’ve wanted everynight for four years was you. You’re all I think about all the fucking time. Wanting you isn’t the problem, Kami. Taking you, destroying you, and you loathing me afterwards with every breath…” he sucked in a breath as if bracing himself to finish. “I would rather die than have you hate me.”
My heart hurt with a ferocity that made my stomach hurt. Hot tears of anger and pain welled in my eyes, obscuring the sight of him.
“Why do only you get to decide?” I threw at him. “Why don’t I get a say?”
“Because,” he took a single step forward, but the heat of his fury slammed into me, “you won’t make the right decision.”
“Then you are an idiot,” I snapped. “You’re a fool and a coward—”
“Enough!” he growled, lips pulling back over gritted teeth. “I am a lot of things, but I am not a coward.”
“Then touch me.”
His head snapped back as if I’d struck him. “I’ve been in prison for four years, kitten. I haven’t had a woman in five. If I fucking touch you right now … if you keep pushing me…”
He broke off abruptly and spun away. I watched him stalk to where he’d dropped the blanket and bend at the waist to snatch it up with a vengeance that made the corners snap.
My insides were quivering. My heart was a mess and I felt almost faint, but my mouth opened, and the two most damning words spilled out.
“You’ll what?”
CHAPTER 4
Darius
“You’ll what?”
The challenge had been issued.
The ball was in my corner.