Page 22 of The Forbidden Secret

I wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and wound my fingers in his hair.

“I see you, Zeke.”

The words seemed to unravel some semblance of control he had been maintaining. His lips collided with mine like there was no control left in his body—like I was the only thing he couldthink about, and kissing me was the only way to appease those thoughts long enough to think clearly.

I understood the sentiment as the hooped lip ring scraped along my bottom lip, and we both groaned as the sensation engulfed us.

My core throbbed as his hand tightened on my wrist, the other coming behind my head and tugging my hair as he pulled me even closer. I arched into his touch, my hand winding into his shirt front between our bodies. His soft, warm tongue swept into my mouth, and I dug my fingers into his shirt and skin.

More. I wanted so much more than this.

I wound a leg around his hip, and he pushed me hard into the wall as I jumped and ground into him. Proof of his arousal stood stark between us. It pressed into me through my pants, and I moaned into his mouth at the reminder of what I could have again.

Logic and reason had nothing to do with this.

I listened only to the lust that had been growing in his presence over the past week. What else mattered, anyway?

“Jesus, Princess,” he groaned against my lips, dragging my wrist up the wall and pinning it beside my head. “Do you even know what you do to me?”

I shook my head, grinding my hips into him. The pressure of him between my legs pressed so hard into me that I cried out and pulled him closer. Could he even get closer? Probably not, but it didn’t matter. I tried anyway.

“Zeke,” I cried against his mouth.

He went still at my voice.

His tongue stopped the gentle caress of mine, and his hand immediately released my wrist as he met my eyes.

Panic sat in the blue of his irises, and he shook his head as he stepped back, taking only a moment to ensure I found proper footing.

“I can’t do this,” he said. “Everyone close to me ends up dead. It’s my job to keep you safe, and I won’t let the opposite happen.”

Just like that, despite everything he had said and admitted, he turned his back and walked away.

Chapter Eight

Zeke Coleman

I had a job to do, and sitting on my ass and waiting for information wasn’t getting me anywhere.

It was time to hunt.

Jaimie was at the house with Evelina, and after my lapse of control, she had seemed relieved to have someone other than me at her side. We spent the five days in the third safe house tenser than before, and when we switched to the fourth house, I knew something had to change.

For the sake of my sanity and willpower, I neededout.

I needed to separate myself from Evelina. Because if I had to watch her turn her questioning gaze on me and lick that damned bottom lip one more time…

My control was a small fracture away from being obliterated, and Evelina didn’t deserve that. She didn’t deserve inconsistency. She certainly didn’t deserve a monster like me. She deserved safety and someone who would be kind to her. Someone who wouldn’t come home covered in another man’s blood every night.

As I tried and failed to regain even a semblance of control, I set my scene. I laid out all the tools I would need for the job to come, and I tarped the floors to facilitate an easy cleanup.

Then, I turned on my phone and waited.

For someone with seemingly endless resources, Clide didn’t bother to utilize them if it took his men over two hours before sniffing out the cell signal that had become my phone. I waited outside the empty storage unit where I left my phone, and a group of three men arrived, looking around as if they expected someone to be waiting for them.

They scanned the general area for a minute, struggling to hone in on the exact location of the cell signal just like before. It didn’t take long for one of them to point to the storage shed that I had arranged.

Bingo.

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