Page 22 of Hero

But I’m not afraid of him. I’ve never been afraid of Zed.

He will never hurt me.

“Damn it, Esther.”

“Don’t saydamn itlike that to me. I might have been a girl when your brother married my mom, but I’m not a pesky kid anymore.”

That’s a foolish thing to say. I know it even as the words come out.

He reacts exactly as I expect him to—with a choked sound of outrage. “I do not think about you as a child, and you know it.” He looms closer. “You have concrete evidence of it.”

I’m breathing in fast pants. My fingers clench at my sides. I’m about to make a grab for Zed and have to force my hands to hold back.

It’s happening again. That sudden surge of lust. Need. A hunger that goes all the way down to my core.

I’ve been trying to convince myself it was a onetime fluke, but this hot reaction is clearly proving that flimsy belief to be a lie.

And now that Zed has alluded to our having sex, it’s in the air between us again. That thick, aching desire.

Shit, it’s overwhelming me.

Swallowing me up.

“Esther.”

“Don’t.”

He’s not touching me, but he’s about two inches away, and it feels like he’s all over me anyway. “Don’t what?” he asks thickly.

“You know.”

“I haven’t said anything, and I haven’t touched you. If you want me to back off, then say it.”

I gulp. Try to speak. Can’t.

“If you want me to back off, then stop looking at me that way.”

“How am I… how am I looking?”

“Like you want me to do this.”

He kisses me. Rough. Ravenous. Just on the edge of rough. And it’s exactly the way I need to feel him.

I grab for the back of his head and hang on, opening my lips to the advance of his tongue.

After a few seconds, he pulls away just far enough to mutter, “Tell me to stop. If you don’t want this, tell me to stop.”

I dig my fingernails into the nape of his neck. “Don’t you dare stop.”

He makes a pleased, guttural sound and kisses me again, this time pushing me all the way back against the door.

He’s hard. Already. I can feel the shape of his erection as it presses into my middle. My pussy clenches in response to the sensation, and I whimper into his mouth.

Maybe it’s the helpless sound I make, but Zed is suddenly on fire. He makes a growling sound and palms my ass with one hand, lifting me up against the door in a quick, carnal move.

I wrap my legs around him, partly because I need it for stability and partly because I want to feel the thick form of him between my thighs. His tongue is deep in my mouth, and he starts making a humping motion against me.

It’s ridiculously hot. I squirm and gasp and try to squeeze him between my legs.

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