Page 33 of August

“You didn’t call the whole time you were away.” The accusation blurted from her lips. “Not once. Five months of nothing and I was supposed to put my life on hold indefinitely?”

All the emotion she’d been hanging on to, all the hurt, singed the space between them.

August swung his hot, penetrating eyes to her, searing her to the spot. But he said nothing.

The elevator dinged and Gigi got inside, fighting to keep her mouth from trembling. In truth, August’s leaving had hurt. Sure, he’d given her the whole “it’s my duty” spiel, but how was she to know he hadn’t just been blowing her off? Or, if he really was on a mission, that he’d even think about her once he was off U.S. soil?

August followed her in and stared at the rows of buttons. The door whooshed shut and she waited several heartbeats. Friction saturated the air. She wet her lips, tempted to reach forward and hit any one of the dozens of buttons so they’d at least leave the parking garage.

He turned toward her before she could budge. His hand swooped forward to cradle her neck, and his large palm settled on her jaw, his thumb touching her cheekbone.

Vibrant, possessive green eyes ensnared hers. “I didn’t call you because I couldn’t. Every waking minute in that hellish jungle was a struggle to survive, and the only thing that kept me alive was the thought of you.”

All the air left her lungs. Every word she’d ever spoken vanished from her memory bank as his statement fell around her in the deathly quiet room.

She blinked twice.

He continued, speaking slowly and deliberately. “If you think for one minute that I didn’t want to murder your new boyfriend with my bare fucking hands, you’re dead wrong.”

Oxygen left their little cubicle, and she swallowed with the effort it took to absorb his menacing admission.

“Because in my mind, he took you from me.” August’s hungry gaze tethered her to the spot. And then he dipped his head, pressing his lips to hers.

His bristly stubble was a sharp contrast to his soft, warm lips. She clutched his shirt, the world tilting as she sank into the heat of his body. He slipped his tongue between her teeth and his heady flavor filled her senses, making a moan escape from her throat.

He brought his hands to her waist and urged her backward until she leaned against the elevator wall. The elevator hummed as if waiting for them to push a button, but the beating of her heart almost drowned out the sound.

Need fissured through her as she moved her hand down the hard wall of his abdomen. Her fingers ached to discard the material separating their bodies. August’s palm slid beneath her shirt, his skin hot and rough on her belly.

She wanted more.

Gripping the back of his neck with her other hand, she held him in place and arched her neck to allow him deeper access to her mouth.

August groaned. The rumble was deep and unbridled. His mouth broke away for a second. “Goddamn,” he mumbled, his breath warm on her face.

She crushed her lips to his again, and his fingers went to the waistband of her jeans. They slipped inside before she could stop him.

Not that she would.

His fingertips brushed over her clit and her eyes kicked back.

Oh, god.

“Mmm,” she purred. He was already touching her, the tips of his digits spreading her heat. She cried out, the sound high-pitched and desperate.

“That’s it, honey,” he ordered quietly. “Let go.”

She wanted all of him. Without fear of someone walking in on them, without being heard, without—

He sank the length of his fingers into her.

Holy shit.

She gasped, clinging to his shoulders for support. His face burrowed into the crook of her neck, nuzzling and kissing the sensitive flesh beneath her ear. Goosebumps erupted on her hypersensitive skin, bringing her to the threshold.

Her nerve endings sang as pleasure swarmed through the lowest part of her abdomen. Wetness pooled between her legs as August stroked gently. Her heavy panting filled the tight space, but she didn’t care.

The possibility of someone walking in both excited and terrified her. August touched his thumb to her clit and her body jerked. She cried out, the gush of release too great to contain.

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