Page 137 of Vicious Games

“Not fucking close enough,” I say through clenched teeth.

“Captain!” she shouts, half-laughing, half-begging. “Can this boat go any faster? Step on it!”

I want to laugh at her urgency, but I’m way past the point of amusement.

I pull her into my lap and tilt her chin toward me, my mouth hovering just over hers. “Are you sure about this?”

She meets my gaze without hesitation, her voice low and sure. “That depends… Do you want me?”

“Yes,” I grunt, my fingers tightening around her waist as if she were the only thing tethering me to this world.

“How much do you want me?” she teases, arms draped around my neck, relishing torturing me.

“How much time do you have?”

“Apparently, all night,” she murmurs, brushing her nose along mine, the gesture intimate and infuriatingly soft.

“Then I’ll use every second showing you exactly how much.”

“How about starting with a kiss?” she whispers, batting those lashes as if she didn’t already own my ass.

“Is that all you want? Just a kiss?” I ask, my gaze devouring every inch of her face as if I were starving.

“It’s a good start,” she smirks. “Unless you’ve got something better to offer.”

“Does my heart count?”

The words are out before I can stop them, raw and real, stripped of all bravado.

Her body stills in my lap. The playfulness in her expression slips away as her eyes search mine.

“What did you just say?” she asks, her voice catching.

“You heard me,” I say quietly, brushing her wind-tossed hair away from her face, needing to see every inch of her clearly.

“Lucky—”

“No,” I cut in, the words barreling out now, unstoppable. “Let me say this before I lose my damn nerve.” I take a shaky breath and dive in. “I love you. I fucking love you, Frances O’Malley. More than I knew was even possible. So if you don’t feel the same… if you’re not in this with me like I am with you, then maybe… maybe we shouldn’t spend the night together.”

What the hell am I doing? Did I just lose my goddamn mind?

Sex was on the table—finally. And I just flipped the whole fucking thing over because of what?

Feelings?

It’s official. Love is the biggest cockblocker there is.

Argh.

Instead of pulling away, bolting, or flinging herself off the side of the boat to escape my emotional ambush, Frankie just stares at me. Her eyes shimmer under the city lights, lips slightly parted as if caught between shock and something deeper.

“You love me?”

“Yeah.” My voice cracks a little. “I do. With all my fucking heart. Do you…” I swallow hard. “Do you think you could ever love me back?”

Her expression softens like dawn breaking. And then… she laughs.

“God, you’re dumb.”

---